POSITIVE CORNER #0: Welcome!

We live in and with a world of global networking – especially when it comes to communication and access to knowledge, information and media content. This creates ever new opportunities that previous generations would never have dared to dream of.

At the same time, the instantaneous possibility of disseminating and obtaining information and news worldwide shapes and influences our perception of the state and development of the global community. The tendency of global media to highlight negative news is proverbial: ‘bad news is good news’, and so one could get the impression that the state of the world is much worse than a more balanced view of actual or perceived negatives AND positives would suggest.

An example: the distinguished statistics experts at Our World in Data impressively demonstrate that the perception of an increase in the number of natural disasters worldwide is significantly influenced by improved global reporting. Since the rise of global reporting, especially in the second half of the 20th century, we have been receiving much more frequent reports of incidents, some of which are comparatively minor, that were previously unnoticeable. In addition, the experts prove: ‘The number of deaths caused by disasters has fallen significantly over the last century thanks to early warning systems, better infrastructure, more productive agriculture and coordinated measures’, although there is still much to be done.

Despite all the challenges facing the global community, it is important not to lose sight of the many positive developments in the world. There is much to report here, and none of it must be taken for granted.

The Positive Corner is a contribution to what we believe is a necessary, more balanced view of the world, with a special focus on positive developments, opportunities and solutions. New, curated posts on this topic appear weekly in this blog, and we hope you enjoy reading them and find them a source of optimism!