20 Positive Trends

The Holiday 2010 edition of the “Good Neighbor” by State Farm lists 20 “Positive Trends”.

Good news seems hard to find these days.  But if you look around, there's actually plenty of it out there.  Here are 20 reasons to be optimistic in the new year.

1. We are safer. Crime is down.  The number of murders, robberies, rapes and assaults in the United States decreased 3.5 percent in 2008 compared with the previous year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most recent statistics.  Property crime levels have dropped as well -- 25 percent since the early 1990s.  Auto theft volume in 2008 dropped 39 percent from the year before and 42 percent from a high in 1991.  Likewise, burglary rates have declined 43 percent since spiking in 1989.

2. We use less energy. Despite our increasing standard of living and the greater consumption of energy in the U.S., the average per-person consumption of energy has fallen about 9 percent from its peak during the oil and energy crisis of 1978-1979.  Furthermore, the economy as a whole is becoming more energy efficient.  From 1970 to 2008, the amount of energy needed to produce a dollar’s worth of goods and services dropped 53 percent.

3. We give and give.  More than a quarter of U.S. adults volunteered with nonprofit organizations in 2008, contributing more than 8 trillion total hours of service.  Apparently this philanthropic initiative is setting a good example for the country's youth:  441,000 more young adults volunteered in 2008, a 5 percent increase from 2007 numbers.  But it's not just time we're generous with.  Despite last year's economic turmoil, Americans gave $300 billion to charities in 2009.

4. We conserve fuel. While the United States remains a nation of automobiles, the use of public mass transit grew 38 percent from 1995 through 2008, helping to lessen individual fuel consumption.  Mass transit ridership is higher than at any time since 1956.

5. We live longer and feel better. According to a survey of 340,000 American published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, once people reach the 50-milestone, their levels of stress, anxiety and worry all decline.  Feeling of happiness and enjoyment increase -- even factoring in the presence (or absence) of children, job or spouse.  It's a good thing we feel happy in our later years, since we keep getting more of them.  People alive today will live about 10 years longer than their parents did.

6. Young people make smarter decisions about their well-being.  From 1997 to 2007, the percentage of high school students who smoke has fallen steadily, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  At the beginning of the period, about 36.4 percent of students smoked.  Ten years later the number had fallen to 20 percent.  Likewise fewer teenagers are using alcohol and hard drugs, including methamphetamines and cocaine.  Between 2004 and 2009 there were declines in: the use of meth by eighth graders, the use of amphetamines and cocaine among 10th and 12 graders, the use and binge use of alcohol among all three grades.

The percentage of 12th graders using hallucinogens and LSD dropped in 2009.  Greater numbers of students perceived drug use to be harmful, which often foretells of a change in use.

7. We network with wonderful results. Research from University of California reports that within a social network, happiness is, well, contagious: for every happy friend you have on social sites like Facebook, your chances of being happy increase by 9 percent.  And if you're single and searching for Mr. or Ms. Right, you can skip the nightclub scene and just log onto a dating portal: for one out of every six marriages, the newly betrothed parties met via online dating -- more than the one out of 10 who met are bars and other traditional singles hot spots.

8. We can connect easier… even in the air. We're a wired country.  With more than 10.5 billion uses of WiFi in the U.S. each month, in more than 4,100 cities at approximately 76,000 locations, we can connect almost anytime, anywhere.  And now nearly one out of every three domestic flights offers Internet access to passengers.  While much of it is currently fee-based, airline technology experts say we can expect it to become free sometime next year.

9. Our bonds are stronger. The rate at which couples are getting divorced continue to fall, from 4.0 per every 1,000 people in 2000 to 3.5 in 2008.

10. We give away before we throw away.  In 2003, 20 or so people decided to get together and give a few odds and ends away, hoping to keep that stuff they were done using out of a landfill.  Fast-forward seven years, and the online site freecycle.org has mushroomed: 7 million members in 123 countries giving what they don't need or getting what they don't have.  All these free things -- from sand for a landscaping project to a girl's pink snowsuit -- equal 800 tons of stuff each and everyday that isn’t thrown away.

11. Our forests are growing. Despite the perception that suburban sprawl has gobbled up unused land, the total acreage of forested land in the United States has increased during the last 30 years, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights on National Trends.  Forest ecosystems remain intact in parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, West Coast and Southeast.

12. We breathe cleaner air. Since 1990, levels of six common and important air pollutants have fallen: ground-level ozone (down 14 percent), particulates under 2.5 microns (down 19 percent since 2000), particulates 2.5-10 microns (down 31 percent), lead (down 78 percent), nitrogen dioxide (down 35 percent), carbon monoxide (down 68 percent) and sulfur dioxide (down 59 percent).  In most of the country concentrations of carbon monoxide, lead and nitrogen dioxide are below the federal standards to protect human health and the environment.

13. We drive more carefully.  The average driver has less chance of being involved in a fatal traffic accident, and fewer Americans are dying in car crashes overall.  In 2009 an estimated 33,963 people died in auto wrecks --  8.9 percent fewer than died just a year earlier and the lowest number since 1954, when records were first kept.

14. We grow more of our own food and enjoy the benefits. Seed sales are increasing -- an indication of how much gardening we're doing these days.  And all that fresh and healthy home-grown produce is feeding another appealing trend: canning.  The maker of Kerr and Ball-brand mason jars reported canning equipment sales increases of 30 percent in 2009.  Suburban canners number almost as many as those in rural areas.  Half of all people preserving their fruits and veggies are under 40.  Even better: Growing, canning and eating your own food allows you to get good exercise and reduce food bills.

15. Our hearts love anti-smoking laws.  According to a comparison of fee-for-service Medicare patients in 2002 and 2007, the amount of hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped 23 percent during that time period.  One possible reason?  Public smoking bans that are now law in 32 states and many cities.  A 2009 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed cities with "no butts" policies saw a decline in emergency room visits for heart attacks within three months of the ban.  Heart attacks continued to decline in these smoke-free areas, sometimes dropping as much as 25 percent below pre-ban numbers.

16. We buckle up. Every year more drivers and passengers get the message.  Seat belts save lives.  According to the National Highway Administration, from 2007 to 2008 (the latest year available for figures) seat belt use went from 82 percent to 83 percent.  The youngest (16-24) and oldest (70 and older) among us seem to be the smartest: their stats jumped by at least 3 percent for each age category.

17. Bees make a sweet comeback. Bees have been disappearing in the United States, threatening crops, flowers and eventually the health of our food supply.  But more than 100,000 estimated backyard beekeepers are fighting back by helping farmers pollinate their blueberries, cucumbers and corn.  The keepers are also buzzing about honey's health value.  Researchers have found that honey has antibacterial properties and is better for you than other less-complex sugars.

18. Women are healthier. In the U.S., incidences of breast cancer decreased 2 percent per year from 1999 to 2006.  The incidences dropped among white, African American, Hispanic and Native American women.  Likewise, deaths from breast cancer decreased 1.9 percent per year.

19. We move more. Strength training, working out with personal trainers, and fitness programs for older adults were among the top 10 fitness trends for 2010, according to an American College of Sports Medicine survey.  And average marathon times indicated exercise among the general population is on the rise.  According to Runner's World, the median times for U.S. marathoners in 2007 were 4:30 for men and 4:49 for women.  That's up by nearly 50 minutes from 1980, when men clocked in at 3:32 and women at 4:03.  Those slower times mean lots of folks are logging miles for health and enjoyment.  [That's right, the slower the better.]

20. We know the power of positive. An update attitude does more than boost spirits. Research published in 2009 by the American Heart Association showed that women who expected good rather than bad lived longer. They were less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure or diabetes. In 2010 researchers at the University of Kentucky published a study they conducted of law students at five points during the academic year. What they found was that a bright outlook didn't just affect class performance, but the immune system too.

That means that increasing optimism -- and, conversely, decreasing pessimism -- has the potential to affect day-to-day interactions as well as general health and welfare. Those rose-colored glasses don't look so bad anymore, do they?

-- December 28, 2010 / By Staff [started 8/22/11, finished typing in 12/1/15 so only took a little over 4 years to finish]