The top 10 Positive News stories of all time

For 22 years Positive News has pioneered solutions-based journalism. As we set to hand ownership to our readers and journalists with the launch of our community share offer last week, we look back at our content and reveal our most viewed online stories

11. Portugal addiction rates halved after community, not jail, is trialled as solution
Almost 15 years ago Portugal decriminalised drug use and recent figures reveal that addiction rates have been cut in half as a result.

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2. Work less, play more
The future of the 40-hour working week has been a hotly debated topic in recent times. Earlier this year Lucy Purdy investigated alternative working models that do away with the idea of the nine-to-five.

 

 

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3. Goodwill campaign frees thousands of Americans from $15m of debt
A group of former Occupy Wall Street activists abolished nearly $15m (£9m) of Americans’ medical debt as part of a goodwill campaign to free debtors at random.

 

44. Ten reasons green people are happier
Positive News Ecohustler columnist Matt Mellen argues that by fundamentally changing our cultural values we can create societies that collaborate for increased wellbeing rather than compete for increased wealth.

 

55. Beyond money: living without the illusion of independence
Money separates us from what we consume and the impacts of our behaviour, claims Moneyless Manifesto author mark Boyle. But, he says, there is an economic model that could bring us closer to each other and to the effects of how we live.

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66. Simple living: president of Uruguay leads by example
Despite being the president of a country on the up from 2010 – 2015, José Mujica donated his earnings to charity and lived on a small modest farm while in office.

 

 

77. Bolivia gives legal rights to the Earth
Back in 2011, the Law of Mother Earth saw Bolivia pilot a new social and economic model based on protection of and respect for nature.

 

 

88. Mindfulness is sweeping the western world ‘at a momentous rate’, says its pioneer
Billed a “social phenomenon” by its leading advocate, Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is changing the face of health and humanity.

 

 

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9. Flash mob meditations awaken public interest
We reported on the wave of public mass meditation sessions that swept across London nearly four years ago.

 

 

 

1010. ‘It’s the most ecstatic thing, to just be yourself’
Positive News editor Seán Dagan Wood caught up with the award-winning filmmaker, musician and ‘creative catalyst’ Jamie Catto to discuss his series of innovative workshops aimed at inspiring people to realise their potential.

 

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