Inspiring people with an optimistic, hopeful vision of the world and our future. Tune in to the Blue Sky Podcast! https://xitter.cf/t.co/HyiZf9JPkP
Joined September 2022
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The Optimism Institute retweeted
An unsung form of progress: We drive way more, but crash far less, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Some of the lifesavers were unbelievably simple (yet someone had to think of them, and fight opposition to get them implemented): the white line at the right edge of the road.
wsj.com/business/white-line-…
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Me:
I try to look at data and trends rather than headlines, because headlines can give you a misleading picture of the state of the world. Something goes wrong every day — that’s guaranteed — and if you just look at something goes wrong and say, oh, things are getting worse, you might be forgetting all the things that went wrong in the past.
Andrew Marr:
And what we call the news is a long litany of all the things that are getting worse or going wrong.
Me:
Well, yes, it’s much easier for something bad to happen suddenly than for something good to happen. Good things either creep up on you a few percentage points a year, and sometimes can compound.
So the fact that, for example, extreme poverty in the world has been declining and a billion people have escaped extreme poverty over the last 30 years — but not on Thursday — so it was never an event from the news. One of the biggest events in human history is something that most people have never even heard of.
@AndrewMarr9 @LBC
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Your actions can lead your emotions. If you want to feel more grateful or more joyful, begin by acting that way, even if it does not feel natural at first. The brain follows the body more than we realize. Simple behaviors like saying thank you, offering a smile, or showing kindness can start to shift your emotional state from the outside in.
Become the person you want to be by practicing the habits that reflect that kind of character.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Gratitude: 2025 🙏
One of my favorite @RBIPodcast episodes every year — a celebration of thanks, Foolishness, and what matters most.
Join me. 💚
Fool on!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
The Optimism Institute retweeted
🌍📈The Daily Dose via @OurWorldInData 📈🌍
In 1900, 31% of primary school-age boys and 23% of primary school-age girls were enrolled in school globally.
By 2023, that number had shot up to 91% of boys and 89% of girls worldwide were enrolled in primary school.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Phone bans in schools motivate kids to read.
When a Kentucky district eliminated phones, students checked out 2.3x as many books from the library. At one school, twice as many students borrowed books in the first month as all of last year.
Without smartphones, kids get smarter.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Explore this data for every other country in the world: ourworldindata.org/grapher/c…
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Declining child mortality, fast and slow—
As this chart shows, two centuries ago, about one in three children in Sweden died before they were five years old.
Since then, the child mortality rate in Sweden has declined to 0.3%.
South Korea achieved a similar reduction much faster.
This is often the case: the first countries to improve living conditions usually needed much longer than some of those countries catching up later — the latter can learn from what worked elsewhere.
(This Data Insight was written by @MaxCRoser.)
ALT The image depicts a line chart illustrating child mortality rates, specifically the estimated percentage of newborns who do not survive past the age of five. The chart has two distinct lines: one representing Sweden in blue and the other representing South Korea in red. Starting in the early 1800s, the blue line for Sweden shows a gradual decline in the child mortality rate, fluctuating around 35% at the beginning and continuing to decrease steadily over the years, reaching nearly 0% by 2023. In contrast, the red line for South Korea begins more steeply in the mid-20th century, experiencing a rapid decline after 1950, ultimately approaching a very low percentage by 2023. The sources for the data are listed at the bottom as Gapminder (2015) and the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (2025). The entire chart is labeled as CC BY for Creative Commons licensing.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
"I hope you don’t mind if I pierce the general gloom with a piece of wonderful news," writes TPN member @nytdavidbrooks.
"More people around the world report that they are living better lives than before. Plus they are becoming more hopeful about the future."
nytimes.com/2025/08/07/opini…
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Max has written more about this in “The history of the end of poverty has just begun”, where he explains why economic growth is key to ending poverty: ourworldindata.org/history-o…
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Exposure to nature doesn’t only make us happier. It makes us kinder too.
Data: Just recalling or seeing photos of forests, oceans, landscapes, or the stars is enough to evoke awe and motivate helping.
The outdoors strengthens our connection to something larger than ourselves.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
🌏📉The Daily Dose via @WHO 📉🌏
Since 2010, maternal mortality in Southeast Asia has dropped by 53%!
The Optimism Institute retweeted
Looking for optimism you can actually use?
The new issue of Positive News magazine features inspiring people doing meaningful work – plus tools, ideas and stories for better rest, better workplaces and better futures.
Out now: positive.news/subscribe
The Optimism Institute retweeted
When you live in gratitude, everything is easier.
When you live full of complaints, everything is harder.
Here is how to make the switch: after you complain, say something you are thankful for.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
"'The dead outnumber the living 14 to 1, and we ignore the accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind at our peril."
@nfergus on studying history.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
🌎👴The Daily Dose via @OurWorldInData 👴🌎
The global average life expectancy has more than doubled since 1900!
It has climbed from 32 years to 73 years.
The Optimism Institute retweeted
I still cannot believe that I can:
- look at a world map and tap anywhere to zoom in at street level
- instantly access any song, book, movie, tv show, or podcast ever made
- have any conceivable question and get an immediate answer or video explanation
- take a photo or video wherever I am and add it to my massive, searchable, always accessible personal archive
- video call anyone in my life, at anytime, no matter where they are
- watch live sports on a little wireless glass rectangle
- type out these thoughts and have them read by thousands of people, all over the world, a few seconds later
The Optimism Institute retweeted
“When you hold back your kind thought you are depriving somebody of a gift that can fill a void in their life.”
Excellent podcast from @OptInstitute on the power of a few kind words.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…