Seeing as how it’s Winter Solstice, which is traditionally a time of hope, a time of turning to the growing light and looking for the good, I thought a hopeful post would be nice.  The news today is not as hopeful as one would like – the economy is being talked about as worse (which may not be the same as being worse), climate change is a real bear, and we have a host of international problems to deal with.  But there are good things, too.

So here’s a small list of hope:

• The incoming president is actually appointing real scientists to his cabinet
• The broadband Internet is coming to many places, even here, albeit more slowly here than some countries!  Verizon’s investment in FIOS should help us close that gap a little over the next few years.  At any rate, more users is more possibility.
• There’s more real work than ever directed at creating more sustainable energy and travel.  In the 3rd quarter of this year, venture capital investment in clean tech was a record 1.6 billion
• Cancer mortality is reported to have has declined 13 percent since 1990 and new cases have declined.
• Housing may soon become affordable for more people.

There’s more hope out there – if you have a hopeful bit of information, drop it in comments.