I stumbled on a bit of environmental good news this month. Amid tales of climate problems, declining honeybee populations and invasive carp it’s rare to hear good news stories about the environment. Since 2004, Americans are driving less. Much less. In the last ten years, every measure of driving distance has significantly dropped: per person, per vehicle, per household and per licensed driver.

What good news.

Whenever we share big topics with kids – taking care of our planet, caring for people, stopping injustice – we need to be sure to share buckets of good news. Children need a chance to approach their world with a sense of optimism and change.

It’s easy to impart the bad news. But too much bad news can be paralyzing. As a child growing up in the 1970s, my schoolmates and I were bombarded with messages of destruction: environmental destruction and cold war nuclear destruction. I grew up convinced the planet I lived on was doomed and there was nothing I could do about it.

All the topics we care about – racial, environmental, inequality or other – are complex, on-going challenges. We can make progress in our lifetime, but we’ll need the kids to make progress, too. Share the problem, but share the good news, too. We all need a dose of both to make things better.

Good news environmental stories make us all realize we can change our direction.

Curious about the study results? See pages 4-5 here.

Have you shared wonder and good news with your kids lately? How’s your outlook? Have you been ingesting too much bad news media? There’s both good and bad out there.