10 reasons 2016 wasn’t so bad, from an astronaut’s bird’s-eye view
He has nearly 2 million followers on Twitter , wrote a couple of best sellers, drew some 34 million views with his viral rendition of a David Bowie song and conducted what was once hailed as “the coolest AMA in history” on Reddit.
Oh, yeah, he also served as commander of the International Space Station.
Now, retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is feeling the love over a year-end tweetstorm that put a positive spin on a bruising 2016.
The social-media legend got the ball rolling with this New Year’s Eve tweet:
With celebrity death and elections taking the media by the nose, it’s easy to forget that this year saw a great many positives. Let’s look.
From there, courtesy of “memory and a substantial bit of help from google,” Hadfield rattled off 46 reasons to smile back on the past year, although, as he acknowledged, “there are countless more examples, big and small.”
For now, let’s focus on the 10 developments he highlighted that resonated most across Twitter:
1. “The Giant Panda, arguably the world’s second cutest panda, has official been removed from the endangered species list.”
2. “Tiger numbers around the world are on the rise for the first time in 100 years, with plans to double by 2022.”
3. “The Colombian government and FARC rebels committed to a lasting peace , ending a war that killed or displaced over 7 million people.”
4. “The number of veterans in the U. S. who are homeless has halved in the past half-decade, with a nearly 20% drop in 2016.”
5. “India’s dogged commitment to reforestation saw a single-day event planting more than 50 million trees, a world record.”
6. “Costa Rica’s entire electrical grid ran on renewable energy for over half the year, and their capacity continues to grow.”
7. “An Ebola vaccine was developed by Canadian researchers with 100% efficacy. Humans eradicated horror, together.”
8. “Juno, a piece of future history, successfully flew over 588 million miles and is now sending back unprecedented data from Jupiter.”
9. “Malawi lowered its HIV rate by 67%, and in the past decade have seen a shift in public health that has saved over 250,000 lives.”
10. “Finally — The Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, giving hope to Maple Leafs fans everywhere. Happy New Year.”
10. “Finally — The Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, giving hope to Maple Leafs fans everywhere. Happy New Year.”
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