There is an indisputable consensus that 2020 was a complicated year: 12 months in which, almost from beginning to end, we experienced innumerable misfortunes on a collective and individual level.
A pandemic changed the world as we knew it: we suffered isolation, we survived loved ones, we watched our favorite restaurants and stores go bankrupt.
We saw (or participated in) protests that taught us that racism is not over in America.
And sports and art stars said goodbye forever, some of them too soon.
But 2020 was
not only a year of calamities, it also recorded a myriad of hopeful milestones
: NASA found more water on the Moon than previously thought, more Hispanics who were never recognized as influential artists on the American music scene, Africa eradicated the dangerous wild poliovirus and, following an unprecedented presidential election, more than 200 LGBTQ candidates won political races that will help show a more diverse government and country.
Many more than these happened, but here we collect 10 of the positive things that this year leaves us:
✔️
NASA confirmed that there is more water on the Moon than previously thought
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, for its acronym in English) confirmed at the end of October that they detected the presence of water in several craters of the Earth's natural satellite.
The finding was made on the illuminated surface of the Moon with the help of the SOFIA observatory, an airborne infrared telescope, the largest of its kind in the world.
NASA confirms that the Moon has more water than previously thought
Oct. 26, 202000: 34
While there had previously been signs of water on the lunar surface, these new discoveries suggest that the compound is more abundant than previously thought.
This was good news for astronauts at future lunar bases who could access these resources to drink and make rocket fuel, according to the scientists.
It would be much cheaper to produce rocket fuel on the Moon than to have it shipped from Earth.
✔️
For the first time in history, a feature film in a foreign language won the Oscar for best film:
Parasite
The
South Korean
thriller
Parasite
made history in February at the 92nd Academy Awards, becoming the first foreign-language film to win the night's top honor.
South Korean director Bong Joon Ho and the cast of Parasite celebrate the film's triumph during the 92nd Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.Reuters
Director Bong Joon Ho's film, an amusing but disconcerting satire on the class struggle, also won awards for best international feature film, director, and original screenplay.
It was the first South Korean film to receive an Oscar and it led to more diversity within Hollywood.
Bong's victory as director also broke for a moment the tendency to award industry idols such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Sam Mendes, nominated alongside the South Korean.
✔️
A 103-year-old Mexican grandmother became an example of resistance by defeating the coronavirus
A 103-year-old Mexican grandmother who fell ill with COVID-19 and recovered despite the fact that the disease is particularly hard on the elderly, taught us that the virus can be difficult to defeat, but not impossible.
The old woman, identified as María, was admitted on September 22 to a hospital located in Jalisco after presenting a picture of fever and difficulty breathing.
Despite the fact that he suffered from a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease "derived from cooking for a long time with firewood," the absence of hypertension, diabetes or obesity, aggravating in patients with coronavirus, contributed to his improvement.
The old woman did not need a respirator during her stay at the medical center and was discharged after 11 days of admission, to the applause of health personnel.
✔️
Eight Hispanic albums made it into the top 50 of the year on Billboard
Latino representation continued to gain ground within popular culture in the United States and showed a more diverse country: eight albums by Hispanic artists, most in Spanish, were selected by Billboard within the 50 best released in the year that ends.
Bad Bunny is the most listened to artist on Spotify this 2020
Dec. 1, 202000: 40
The highest Latin artist on the listed list, with the number four position, was the Puerto Rican
Bad Bunny
, with his album YHLQMDLG.
It was followed by the album Colores, by Colombian
J Balvin
, in 24th place;
Before Love Came to Kill Us
, by Canadian artist
Jessie Reyez
of Colombian parents
, in 28th place;
the corridos album Trapped in a dream, by
Junior H
, at 35;
the album Emmanuel, by the Puerto Rican urban artist
Anuel AA
, in position 38.
The last Latin albums on the list were Mesa para dos, by
Kany García
, at 44th place, and Made in Mexico, by
Alejandro Fernández
, at 48th.
✔️
A cat missing for three years was reunited with its owner in the UK
A dirty and skinny white cat accidentally sneaked into a Berlin city hospital in the early hours of November.
The on-call staff at Androscoggin Valley Hospital ended up taking him to the Humane Society, hoping that he could be adopted.
But after a photo of the animal was posted on a Facebook page about missing pets, a woman named Andrea Fortin, a resident of the city, responded that the cat was hers and had been missing for three years, after
one night she failed. will return home.
The cat, who goes by the name Turtle, seemed to recognize its owner when they began to interact.
She said she was delighted to have her pet back.
✔️
Almost obsolete open-air drive-
ins
made a comeback with the pandemic
In a year in which it was necessary to move away from recreational places in closed environments such as theaters, clubs and concert halls, an almost obsolete modality returned in many parts of the world: drive-ins.
Steven Spielberg's movie Jaws is screened at a drive-in theater in Pasadena, California, on July 2, 2020.REUTERS
In the United States, from the parking lots of chains such as Walmart to squares, parks and sports stadiums have been equipped to receive customers in the midst of the health crisis caused by the coronavirus, offering many for the first time
the now retro pleasure
of watching a movie at the same time. fresh air.
This modality has ensured social distancing, as cars are often parked six or more feet apart.
The drive-in was at its peak in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in rural areas.
At some point, it became a symbol of the 'American way of life', but as digitization progressed it was almost forgotten ... until 2020.
✔️
The Supreme Court reinstated DACA, benefiting hundreds of thousands of Latinos in the United States
After outgoing President Donald Trump in 2017 dismantled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protects some 650,000 undocumented youth from deportation, the Supreme Court ruled in late June that it would remain in effect.
The Trump Administration restores DACA after court ruling that reinstated the program
Dec. 8, 202002: 07
Although in the following months there was an intense legal fight by the Trump Administration against restoring the full benefits of the program, a federal judge ordered the Government to accept new applications and to restore benefits such as longer work permits, foreign travel permits entitled reentry and others.
President-elect Joe Biden has also vowed to push through Congress a path to citizenship for about 11 million immigrants.
✔️
Africa eradicated the wild poliovirus, which takes its toll on children
After a vaccination campaign that spanned decades, in August the African continent was declared a wild poliovirus-free territory by the African Regional Certification Commission, an independent body charged with certifying the eradication of the virus.
In this April 24, 2013 file photo, a Somali baby receives a polio vaccine in Mogadishu, Somalia.
The Commission made the announcement after four years with no reported polio cases.
The disease caused 75,000 cases of infantile paralysis a year in Africa.
Wild poliovirus is a highly contagious waterborne disease.
Now it is only present in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
✔️
Crayola released a box of crayons with different skin tones, for children to learn about inclusivity
The Crayola company announced in May the launch of a box of specialty crayons that do not include the classic red, green or blue, but a wide range of different skin tones.
Colors of the world, the crayon box with different skin tones launched by Crayola.
Crayola
Crayola's announcement came the same month George Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis, died as a result of a violent police arrest that sparked protests over racial violence.
The box includes a range of crayons designed to reflect and represent more than 40 different skin tones.
Crayola said the goal of launching the box called Colors of the World was for children to be able to "paint themselves exactly in the world."
✔️
More than 200 LGBTQ candidates won state or federal elections, for the first time in US history
Another positive milestone of 2020 was the record presence of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and
queer
candidates
on ballots across the country, showing a much more diverse government with opportunities for a historically excluded community.
Increasing LGBTQ Representation in Congress and State Senates: Learn Who Made History in 2020
Nov. 11, 202001: 41
More LGBTQ candidates than ever (over 500) ran for different positions in these elections, both in Democratic and Republican states.
Of that unprecedented number, more than 200 rose to top positions at the state and federal levels.
The
first transgender person in American history
was elected to
a state Senate, with Sarah McBride
from Delaware.
The first openly gay black men were also elected to seats in Congress, with Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, for New York.
Torres, who identifies as black and Latino, will also be the first openly gay Latino member of Congress.
After these elections, only Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi remain as the states that have never elected an LGBTQ legislator.