The Best News You Missed in 2021
Breaking News: 2021 wasn’t all bad
December 2021
Script
This video is part of our Kite & Key Shorts series—easy to understand...but hard to forget.
2021 was such a turbulent year; there’s a chance you overlooked a few pieces of really good news.
The first ever malaria vaccine1 was approved in October — a major step towards beating a disease that kills half a million people annually.2 The vaccine could prevent 5.3 million cases of malaria and save 24,000 children under five each year.3
There was good news on the high seas as well.
A non-profit called The Ocean Cleanup pioneered a new way to remove plastic waste from the ocean. Using a giant net, they swept more than 20,000 pounds of plastic from the Pacific. With this method, they aim to remove 90% of the ocean’s floating plastic by 2040.4
Speaking of water, scientists at the University of Texas at Austin developed a tablet that can purify a liter of water in an hour.5 The “hydrogel tablets” are 99.999% effective at killing bacteria … and could change the lives of the 2.2 billion people worldwide without access to clean drinking water.6
So, maybe 2021 was better than you think.
It definitely beat 2020.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- The first ever malaria vaccine could prevent 5.3 million cases of malaria and save 24,000 children under five each year.
- A new garbage collection device removed 20,000 pounds of plastic from the Pacific Ocean.
- Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin developed a tablet that can purify a liter of water in an hour.
Sources
- "A ‘Historic Event’: First Malaria Vaccine Approved by W.H.O." (Apoorva Mandavilli) — New York Times
- Ibid.
- “Estimated Impact of Rts,S/as01 Malaria Vaccine Allocation Strategies in Sub-saharan Africa: A Modelling Study” (Alexandra B. Hogan) — PLOS Medicine
- "This New Installation Pulled 20,000 Pounds of Plastic From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" (Corryn Wetzel) — Smithsonian Magazine
- "Hydrogel Tablet Can Purify a Liter of River Water in an Hour" — University of Texas at Austin
- “1 in 3 People Globally Do Not Have Access to Safe Drinking Water” — World Health Organization
Shownotes
SOUND: "Samba Envy" (Papo Gely)
FOOTAGE: The Ocean Cleanup, UT Austin / Youhong Guo, Digital Buggu (Pexels)
CITED SOURCES AND NEWS OUTLETS ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH AND HAVE NOT ENDORSED OR SPONSORED ANY PORTION OF THIS PRODUCTION.
Sources
- New York Times
"A ‘Historic Event’: First Malaria Vaccine Approved by W.H.O." (Apoorva Mandavilli)
- PLOS Medicine
“Estimated Impact of Rts,S/as01 Malaria Vaccine Allocation Strategies in Sub-saharan Africa: A Modelling Study” (Alexandra B. Hogan)
- Smithsonian Magazine
"This New Installation Pulled 20,000 Pounds of Plastic From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" (Corryn Wetzel)
- University of Texas at Austin
"Hydrogel Tablet Can Purify a Liter of River Water in an Hour"
- World Health Organization
“1 in 3 People Globally Do Not Have Access to Safe Drinking Water”
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