Wired to be Inspired Ever feel a thrill when you see someone act with courage or compassion? Psychologist Jonathan Haidt calls that feeling “elevation,” and his studies of it may provide a key to understanding what inspir...

Tom calls this "the ripple effect". But you could call it "elevation", as @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social defines it: a warm, uplifting feeling, sparked by seeing unexpected good­ness or courage, that makes you want to help others:

greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item... @greatergoodedu.bsky.social

The generosity experiment A social experiment is giving away half a million dollars to fund acts of kindness globally – it’s already having a positive impact

Kay donated a kidney to a stranger, then Tom read about it and did the same; then he set up a project to encourage acts of generosity, that in some cases sparks further acts of kindness.

www.positive.news/society/the-...

Government to unlock philanthropic investment into England's most disadvantaged communities Government today launches plan to make it easier for the wealthiest in society to give back to communities that need help most

UK govt announces plan to connect philanthropic donors with local organisations outside of London - " helping spread donations across the country":

www.gov.uk/government/n... #philanthropy

Record number of homes in Great Britain turn to green energy as fuel prices soar Iran war drives demand for solar panels, heat pumps and EVs, with energy bills expected to rise 18% from July

"Demand for solar panels, electric vehicles and heat pumps in Great Britain has leapt since the war began on 28 Feb"

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Fewer Britons giving to charity, study says, with donations down by £1.4bn Charities Aid Foundation says giving no longer a ‘deeply embedded cultural norm’ amid rising cost of living

'49% of higher-rate taxpayers said they were “not interested in charities”' - ouch

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

One year since UK aid cuts, 97 INGO leaders highlight devastating impact | Bond One year on from the UK aid cuts, the UK INGO sector has issued a joint statement, reflecting on the devastating consequences of the cuts and calling on

UK aid cuts "set to be the steepest across the G7, steeper even than the US" and will above all hit women, people with disabilities, children, and people affected by conflict

NGO statement via @bondngo.bsky.social

www.bond.org.uk/press-releas... #ukaid

So the Epstein scandal is about politics? Silly me for thinking it’s about the mass abuse of women and girls | Marina Hyde Obsessing over individual players and political chaos leaves less time to focus on the misogyny. And that’s for the best, isn’t it guys, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

Well said by Marina Hyde

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The People They Killed When the Trump administration destroyed USAID, people died. We know some of their names.

"[An estimated] 800,000 people have died who otherwise wouldn’t have due to the (illegal) shuttering of USAID... We don’t know most of their names. But thanks to the essential work of journalists, we know some of them"

timhirschelburns.substack.com/p/the-people...

@timhirschelburns.bsky.social

The Affordable Daycare That Keeps Parents Close At Little Break, parents get work done on-site while others help care for their kids, keeping costs down and making sure moms and dads don't miss any milestones.

'The conclusion is that women can’t, after all, have it all. Ariel Wan disagrees: “F*ck that. We can. Let’s just build it.” So she did.'

New story by me, for @reasonstobecheerful.world

reasonstobecheerful.world/little-break...

#childcare #entrepreneur #femalefounder #solutionsjournalism

Video: Videos Contradict Trump Administration Account of ICE Shooting in Minneapolis An analysis of footage from three camera angles shows that the motorist was driving away from — not toward — a federal officer when he opened fire.

A New York Times video analysis of an ICE agent’s fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis contradicts the Trump administration’s account. Watch our investigation here.

Do-gooders: disliked – and attempting a comeback Jacinda Ardern, the former New Zealand prime minister, calls herself a “do-gooder”. It’s an unusual choice: the term is mostly an insult, and she was apparently mocked at school for her do-gooding.…

Why are do-gooders so universally disliked, and are they making a comeback...?

Some thoughts on social comparison, the do-gooder dilemma, and moral envy: howcanwehelp.blog/2025/12/31/d...

‘Checkout charity’ requests often backfire, leaving shoppers feeling guilty: new study Our research found many customers feel pressured, anxious or pushed into making a donation.

"The discomfort of the checkout charity request makes customers more sceptical, and they start to doubt the real motives behind the request"

theconversation.com/checkout-cha...

#fundraising #charity @theconversation.com

Urbania: The Colombian enterprise using great coffee to do good Good Stories podcast episode 7: Colombia is famous for its top quality coffee, but the brew can offer more than just a pick-me-up. Anna Patton meets the co-founders of Urbania, who are creating jobs f...

New episode from us at @pioneerspost.bsky.social, recorded in Medellin with @juliepybus.bsky.social. (Enjoy my lame attempts to slurp the coffee while tasting, and my terrible Spanish...)

www.pioneerspost.com/podcasts/202...

#bcorp #colombia #medellin #socialenterprise @soljourno.bsky.social

More universities are banning fossil fuel industry recruitment Since the start of 2025, eight UK universities have committed to excluding oil, gas and mining companies from their careers and recruitment

18 UK universities now exclude oil, gas and mining companies from their careers and recruitment activities, according to the charity People & Planet

www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025... @thecanaryuk.bsky.social @peopleandplanet.bsky.social

What Could Go Right? - Did Anything Good Happen in the US in 2025? Yes, and we have the receipts.

😬2025 has been rough going for America.

🧐But did anything good happen at all?

🥰Thankfully, yes.

theprogressnetwork.org/good-news-un...

The latest @reasonstobecheerful.world newsletter is all about giving - and it includes my story from a little while ago, about the wealth advisors helping their clients to give more money away.

Read it here: reasonstobecheerful.world/giving-away-...

#philanthropy #wealth #giving

Latest in our Earth Fixers series - this time, we look at some of the organisations making nature "bankable"

@hoganlovells.bsky.social @unep.org @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social

Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

The Telegraph’s Record of Climate Falsehoods The Telegraph, which has accused the BBC of bias and a lack of editorial rigour, has been forced to amend a swathe of climate inaccuracies. The BBC’s director-general and CEO resigned this weekend aft...

🔴 The Telegraph’s Record of Climate Falsehoods

The newspaper has been scolding the BBC for its editorial failings, while issuing a string of climate corrections.

📝 @writesbright.bsky.social

Farage: epic grifter

Mapping a fairer future: The open-source movement that's mobilising for climate resilience Huge swathes of the planet barely appear on commercial maps, leaving open-source maps – built and updated by volunteers around the world – to fill in the gaps. Now, the nonprofit Humanitarian OpenStre...

New feature from us at @pioneerspost.bsky.social - this time on how #openmapping - plus drones, AI and community engagement - can help people better prepare for and respond to climate disasters.

immersives.pioneerspost.com/openstreetma... #opensource @hotosm.org

What Are Business Schools For? With crises converging, the call for radical change in business education has never been stronger. Can MBA programs equip students to serve society?

New story by me for @proximate.bsky.social

www.proximate.press/latest-stori...

@escp.bsky.social @nyuwagner.bsky.social @timabansal.bsky.social

Climate scientists raise a middle finger to Trump's censorship efforts Hundreds are collaborating to make sure accurate data is available to the public.

Researchers across the US and the world who raced to protect climate data, public reports and other information from the Trump administration’s budget cuts, firings, and scrubbing of federal websites are launching their own climate information portals.

From our friends at @insideclimatenews.org:

The text reads: "Less than two weeks left! Call for submissions for The Magazine | Changemakers | Submit by: September 30, 2025"

📣 Less than two weeks to submit! #TheMagazine is still seeking pitches from #Indigenous storytellers for our next edition about Indigenous changemakers in 2025.

📆 Deadline: Sept 30

Read the thread for the details.

🔗 Find the guide for submissions here: crushingcolonialism.org/call-for-sub...

Kent councillors decide there is no climate emergency Plus Medway school u-turns on Reform essay contest, more from KCC this week, news in brief, and more

"Kent County Council has scrapped its declaration of a climate emergency, making Kent one of the few places in the country to row back from acknowledging the crisis."

thank you to @kentcurrent.news for covering this:

www.kentcurrent.news/p/kent-counc... #climateemergency

"This gets me kicked out of all the family office conferences: taxes! We’re big proponents of any kind of #wealthtax... This irritates everyone, even the impact investors."

I spoke to the Hyatt heiress & impact investor, who's not afraid to get *very* political:

(Free to read, for now!)

To even allow the appearance of this — Starmer’s No 10 adopting Trumpian media management policies — seems extraordinary to me. Very depressing.

A body of research shows that risky play can set children up for life - and even insurance companies agree.

Interesting read by @reasonstobecheerful.world:

"Diabetes is not a scary word for people. It should be"

Untreated diabetes is associated with serious complications - vision loss, TB, kidney disease - but its seriousness is often underestimated, making it hard to attract funding.

I wrote about a new initiative that hopes to change this:

But also: "There’s this strange disappearance of humility before the incredible complexity of the world. It’s sort of an epidemic. The deep value in checking is just as a confirmation of how hard it is to know stuff.”