JUST WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE?

We are more than our current physical bodies and circumstances!

Exploring Past Life Stories, The Power of Our Thoughts, and What Happens When We Die

by Shari Harris

www.shari-harris.com

GOOD NEWS STORIES FROM 2022

Greetings!

For the third year, I want to fill the last yearly issue of this newsletter with good news stories gathered by Future Crunch, a group from Australia whose purpose is to search out and publish good news from around the world. We hear so often of only the distressing events that happen and become accustomed to the bad news that it's easy to overlook positive accomplishments or perhaps never hear of them. I love that Future Crunch focuses on progress in the world and news stories we may have never heard!

Their newsletter describes 2022 this way:

"[This] was a year defined by a lingering pandemic, rampant inflation, unstable economies, multiple humanitarian crises, a summer of climate hell in many parts of Asia, Europe and North America, and more than anything else, the outbreak of a devastating war in Ukraine. Wherever you turned, it was hard to escape the sense that things were falling apart."

"Unlikely as it may seem, 2022 was also a year of uplifting human rights victories, extraordinary conservation wins, big milestones in global health and development, and an unprecedented acceleration in the clean energy tradition."

This is what I want to share with you as this year comes to a close and we begin a hopeful new year. I believe our focus on the positive and on what we want for ourselves and others will benefit our own well being and possibly the world's!

Included in this issue are just a few of the stories Future Crunch has gathered in some of the categories listed above. There is a link to their website where you can read all 99 stories and/or sign up to receive their free monthly newsletter or their in-depth newsletter for subscribers. The information below is quoted verbatim from the site and words in red are links to the original articles.

Hope the good news is enlightening and encouraging!

Best wishes to you for a Happy New Year!

Be well and enjoy your amazing life! 

Sending my love,

Shari

GOOD NEWS STORIES OF 2022

from

"99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn't Hear About in 2022"

We report good news and stories of progress from around the world.

The best way to follow us is through our free email newsletters: 

Future Crunch and The Progress Network

STORIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Countries tackled discrimination against women on several fronts. Pakistan passed a new law significantly strengthening protections for women in the workplace, India's Supreme Court ruled police could not take criminal action against sex workers, and gave them access to social welfare, bank accounts and voting rights, and teenage mothers in Tanzania were allowed back to school after the reversal of a 20 year old ban.

Indonesia passed a landmark bill to tackle sexual violence, the Philippines banned child marriage, a big moment for a country with one of the world's highest rates, and Nigeria recorded a significant decrease with the proportion of girls married before their 18th birthday falling from 44% in 2016 to 30% in 2021.

The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade was a huge setback for reproductive rights in the United States, but around the rest of the world, it was the opposite story. Colombia decriminalized abortion and India's Supreme Court upheld the right to choose for 73 million single women - the first time a legal question about abortion in India has been approached from a women's perspective.

Finland and San Marino liberalized their abortion laws, France’s National Assembly passed a bill enshrining the right to choose, and Spain approved a draft bill removing the requirement for 16 and 17-year-old girls to have parental consent before terminating a pregnancy. Spain also made it a criminal offence to harass women attending reproductive health clinics, and passed a historic 'only yes means yes' law for sexual consent.

STORIES OF CONSERVATION

In 2022, Mexico agreed to expand the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve from 726,000 to 1.3 million hectares, making it one of the largest protected areas in the world's tropics, Chile created a new national park, covering 75,000 hectares of the Andes, and after seven years of lobbying, the largest wetland in South America, the Ansenuza National Park in Argentina, was declared as a new protected area.

Norway unveiled a plan to create ten new national parks, the Rainforest Trust protected over a million acres of forest in Belize, Ecuador, Guatemala, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and Colombia established the new Isla Ají marine protected area, spanning 24,600 hectares of pristine tropical forests and tidal ecosystems, and launched a plan to create three million hectares of new protected areas and 15 million hectares of marine protected areas in the next decade.

Our favorite conservation story of the year came from Indonesia's incredible Raja Ampat Archipelago, where fish populations have rebounded, coral is recovering and livelihoods for local communities have improved. Our most unexpected find? The International Dark Sky Association, which has protected over 110,000 km² of dark places around the globe.

STORIES OF GLOBAL HEALTH

Guinea Worm inched closer to being the third ever disease to be fully eradicated. In 2022, only nine cases were recorded in two countries, an extraordinary reduction for a disease that infected 3.5 million people in 21 countries 35 years ago. At least 80 million cases have been averted since then thanks to the heroic efforts of The Carter Centre.

There was some really encouraging news about the fight against cancer, the world’s second most common cause of death. Cancer death rates have fallen substantially in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan, and Rwanda revealed it is on track to become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer.

Millions of Alzheimer’s patients were given hope this year, after a new drug was shown to slow memory decline by 27% over 18 months. It's the biggest breakthrough in a generation, offering real optimism that dementia can be beaten and one day, perhaps even cured. BBC

Most importantly of all, scientists at Oxford released results of trials of a new malaria vaccine with 'world-changing' potential, giving up to 80% protection from the bite of the Anopheles mosquito, the world's deadly animal. A deal has already been reached to manufacture 100 million doses a year, and the charity Malaria No More said it might mean children dying from malaria could end in our lifetimes.

STORIES OF CLEAN ENERGY

Amidst the relentless barrage of stories about the war in Ukraine, the global energy crisis, climate catastrophe and the disappointments of COP27, the most important story of the year was largely missed by the world's media: the climate fight is working.

In 2022 the clean energy transition kicked into a new gear. The IEA raised its global forecast for renewables growth by 76% compared to two years ago, in what it called its largest ever upward revision, and said renewables are now on track to overtake coal in global electricity production by 2025 - an astonishing shift beyond the wildest dreams of green campaigners just a few years ago.

Vladimir Putin arguably did more for the climate than any individual in human history, by turning clean energy into a national security issue. 19 European countries accelerated their decarbonization plans, nine countries bordering the North Sea announced a massive increase in offshore wind deployment, the continent cut its demand for gas by a quarter, and increased its clean energy target to 82% by 2030.

The vibe shift in US energy was strong this year. Households installed record numbers of solar panels on their rooftops, utilities finally stopped trying to slow down the energy transition and started spending money on transmission instead, and wind, sun and water generated more of the country’s electricity than either coal or nuclear. The day they said would never come has arrived: clean now beats coal, and gas is next.

Oh, and the United States Senate passed an international climate treaty so powerful it could avert nearly 1°F of global warming, and nobody noticed.

These are just a few of the amazing accomplishments which happened all over the world in 2022! I am very encouraged about the progress made in so many areas and am hopeful for much more advancement in 2023! If we become discouraged by unwelcome daily news, we can search out the positive stories to uplift our spirits and to share with others. The Future Crunch website is a great place to begin!

About Future Crunch: "We are a team of science communicators based in Melbourne, Australia. We curate stories of good news, mind-blowing science, human progress, and we support small charities using science and technology to make the world a better place. More than 40,000 people subscribe to our free, fortnightly email newsletter." (https://futurecrun.ch/). There is also an in-depth subscription newsletter.



"The world didn't fall apart this year. You just got your news from the wrong places."

Future Crunch

www.futurecrunch.com

I have three primary topics about which I collect authors' thoughts and which I love to share with others who are interested. I feel that the world will be more loving and inclusive when these ideas are better understood, and individuals will have more clarity about who they are and why they are here.

My focus is on Reincarnation, The Law of Attraction, and The Afterlife which are expressed in my statement of belief:

Just Who Do We Think We Are?

Shari Says...

I believe we are eternal spiritual beings who are currently

living one of our many lives on Earth and who are the co-creators

of our experiences through our thoughts and beliefs.

Shari Harris

Please feel free to forward this free newsletter to friends who may be interested!

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Previous Issues of

"Just Who Do We Think We Are?"

are available on

Shari's website under the "My Two Cents" tab.

1-30-22: Just who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 3 #1/Gregg Braden: The Science of Self Empowerment

2-28-22: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 3 #2/Do We Plan Our Lives Before Birth?

4-17-22: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 3 #3/What is Channeling?

6-14-22: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol.3 #4/ Are Civil War Reenactors Remembering a Past Life?

7-31-22: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 3 #5/Lee Mitchell/Past Life Regression

8-22-22: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 3 #6/What Do NDEs Teach Us About Death?

9-26-22: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 3 #7/Reincarnation from Antietam to Ground Zero/Jeffrey Keen

10-24-22: Just Who Do We Think We Are? Vol. 3 #8/Origin of Consciousness?