There is an old newspaper maxim that says, “If it bleeds, it leads,” which means bad news sells newspapers. This belief goes back at least to the turn of the 20th century, when lurid stories about the plight of the poor and newly arrived immigrants were exploited to sell newspapers.

That notion of what sells newspapers might help to explain why people today think they are being bombarded with bad news. The difference now and 100 years ago is the profusion of media on print, telecommunications, and digital platforms. The 24-hour news cycle gives us little respite from terrorist attacks, weather catastrophes, or some tragedy anywhere in the world.

But there is good news out there, and 24/7 Wall St. is here to report the best news of the month. To compile our list we used information from media outlets such as the BBC.com, CNN.com, theweek.com, as well websites that focus on reporting inspiring news like positivenews.com, and thegoodnewsreport.com.

Click here to read about best news of the month.

Good news comes in many varieties. One of the most uplifting stories so far this month was the rescue of the youth soccer team in Thailand. There were also feel-good stories about a hero dog who prevented a snake attack on its owner; a bank that restored stolen funds to the account of one of the nation’s oldest military veterans; and a young woman who saved her boyfriend’s life after he was struck by lightning.. Then there were truly good news items such as the fact that the world’s largest coral reef is no longer endangered and that a method developed by a 23-year-old woman can break down recyclable plastic into valuable liquid.

Stories like these are the kind of items newspapers used to dismiss as mawkish “puff pieces” and did not consider them serious journalism. Yet if social media has taught us anything, it is that there is an audience for good news. Positive News is a United Kingdom-based magazine and online news organization focused on reporting inspiring stories from all over the world.

The legacy media has taken notice of the attention these stories are receiving and is devoting more time and resources and applying more rigorous reporting standards to note the good works of everyday people. There are sound business reasons for the media to do so. Media mogul Arianna Huffington has said content about good news on the Huffington Post is more likely to be shared than other stories. Newspapers such as The New York Times offer a good news of the week newsletter to subscribers.

There is also the belief that people are thirsting for good news because studies have found that Facebook and other social media make people feel isolated. That zeal for good news suggests people are searching for an affirmation of the human spirit.

1. Champion tree planter
> Date: July 1
> Location: Munich, Germany

When he was 9 years old, Felix Finkbeiner founded a global youth movement called “Plant for the Planet.” The movement trains kids to plant trees to help combat global warming. Impressed by the success of the effort, the United Nations has tasked Finkbeiner to lead its “Billion Tree Program.” Finkbeiner plans to enlarge the program to plant 1 trillion trees in the next 30 years.

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2. Plastic conversion
> Date: July 1
> Location: Menlo Park, California

Miranda Wang, the 23-year-old co-founder of BioCellection, has developed a process that turns plastic into liquid. The liquid can then be used to make materials like nylon, further reducing the need for petroleum. Wang’s method focuses on polyethylene, which is recycled less 3% of the time.

3. Life-saving invention
> Date: July 1
> Location: Indianola, Iowa

A device invented by local tinkerer Joe Gazelle might have saved the life of a neighbor. Harold McClue requires the use of an oxygen tank and that needs power to be refilled. When power went out in their Iowa town because of a storm, Gazelle’s device, which attaches to a lawnmower and had been invented five years earlier, was used to continuously refill McClure’s oxygen bottle until power was restored.

4. Vet’s stolen savings restored
> Date: July 3
> Location: Austin, Texas

After the savings of one of the nation’s oldest military veterans were stolen, Bank of America stepped up to restore them. The bank account of 112-year-old Richard Overton, whose identity was stolen, was looted, but the bank said in early July it would replenish the account.

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5. Hero dog
> Date: July 3
> Location: Anthem, Arizona

A golden retriever named Todd prevented a rattlesnake from attacking its owner in Arizona. The hero dog was bitten by the rattler and taken to a hospital in Anthem where he was treated.

6. Kidnapping prevented
> Date: July 3
> Location: Uttar Pradesh, India

Adarsh Shrivastava was traveling on a train through the Uttar Pradesh region of India in early July when he saw a group of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 seemingly in distress. He created a Twitter account and sent messages to authorities saying he thought the girls might be victims of human trafficking. The Ministry of Railways’ Twitter account responded to the message and soon after, authorities boarded the train and arrested two men for human trafficking.

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7. Ahead of schedule
> Date: July 4
> Location: Sweden

The nation of Sweden is fast-tracking renewable energy. Swedish utilities and power generators have installed so many wind turbines that the country is on track to reach its 2030 renewable energy target by the end of the year. By December, Sweden will have 3,681 wind turbines in place, according to a Swedish wind energy association.

8. Cops say ‘freeze’
> Date: July 4
> Location: Pittsfield, Massachusetts

In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, when the police say “freeze,” they are most likely referring to their ice cream truck. Officer Darren Derby wanted to buy an ice cream truck to distribute free “copsicles” as a form of community outreach. With support from the small business community, the copsicle truck swung into action for the July 4 holiday.

9. Dog helps deaf woman
> Date: July 5
> Location: Crow Pass Trail, Alaska

Amelia Milling, a hearing-impaired college student from Tennessee, was hiking the Crow Pass Trail in Alaska when her hiking poles broke and she fell down a hill. She said a white dog appeared — a husky named Nanook — and would not leave her side until she was able to resume walking the trail.

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10. Transcontinental medical aid
> Date: July 5
> Location: Flight to Los Angeles from Zurich

Recent medical school graduate Dean LaBarba put his physician skills to use in a transcontinental flight to Los Angeles from Zurich, Switzerland. During the 12-hour flight, a passenger collapsed and lost consciousness as she was getting up to use the restroom. LaBarba applied chest compressions to the passenger who regained consciousness and was able to complete the flight.

11. Surviving lightning strike
> Date: July 7
> Location: Near Denver, Colorado

Juliette Moore and boyfriend Isaiah Cormier were camping near Denver when a lightning storm hit. Cormier was standing outside their tent when authorities believe a lightning bolt struck a tree and leaped into Cormier’s neck. Moore, who had just taken CPR classes, found Cormier on the ground and started giving him chest compressions and eventually revived him.

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12. Reef no longer endangered
> Date: July 7
> Location: Belize Coral Reef

There was good news on the environmental front in July. The Belize Coral Reef, the second largest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, was removed from the endangered list of UNESCO. The world heritage organization credited the nation of Belize for taking “visionary” steps, such as a moratorium on oil exploration, to protect the reef.

13. Thai boys rescued in cave
> Date: July 8-10
> Location: Northern Thailand

In a story that riveted people around the world, 12 boys ages 11 to 16 playing for a youth soccer team and their coach were rescued from a cave system in Thailand earlier this month. The team entered the cave on June 23, but floods from monsoon rains trapped them there. They were not found for nine days. A massive rescue operation ensued, and it took several more days until divers were able to help the boys out of the cave. Sadly, though, one diver lost his life while delivering oxygen to the boys.

14. Cyclist saves dog
> Date: July 10
> Location: Columbus, Georgia

Cyclist Jarrett Little was outside of downtown Columbus, Georgia, when he and other cyclists saw a dog running toward them. The Great Dane mix had assorted injuries, including a broken hind leg. Little understands dogs in distress; he already had four rescue dogs at home. He put the 5-month-old canine on his back and rode the 7 miles into downtown Columbus. There, the dog met an attorney from Maine who was in Columbus on business. She adopted the dog, named him Columbo, and took him back to Maine.

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15. Kidnapping averted
> Date: July 11
> Location: Waterford, California

A quick-acting gas station clerk ended a kidnapping ordeal for a woman in California. A surveillance video showed a young woman pleading for help to Savannah Pritchett, an employee at the gas station store. Pritchett locked the store’s front door, then put the woman in a restroom and locked that door and gave the woman a cellphone to call 911. To avoid arousing suspicion, Pritchett then let in the alleged kidnappers, who were later caught by police.

16. First pitch at Fenway
> Date: July 12
> Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Hailey Dawson, an 8-year-old with a robotic arm, tossed out the first pitch before a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. It was the 21st Major League Baseball stadium where she has thrown out the first pitch and she plans to do so at all 30 MLB parks. Dawson was born with a birth defect that left her without three fingers on her right hand and without a pectoral muscle.

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17. Landfill yields toy
> Date: July 13
> Location: Daphne, Alabama

Three-year-old Madison Rachal left a stuffed animal at a Publix grocery store in Alabama early in July. After her mom went on social media to see if anyone found the toy, the post was spotted by Mike Gayheart, a local manager at Publix. On surveillance video, he saw the toy discarded and eventually dumped in a landfill. Undeterred, Gayheart convinced three other employees to pick through the landfill and they eventually found the stuffed animal and returned it to Madison.

18. Rain doesn’t dampen nuptials
> Date: July 13
> Location: Pascagoula, Mississippi

When a rainstorm threatened to ruin the beach wedding of Ariel and Dulce Gonzalez in Mississippi, Cynthia and Shannon Strunk went into action. Even though they did not know the couple, the Strunks offered to host the wedding and quickly got their beach house ready for the 50 guests on hand to witness the nuptials.

19. Charity is his goal
> Date: July 16
> Location: Moscow, Russia

France’s Kylian Mbappe, a 19-year-old soccer wunderkind, made history by becoming the youngest player to score a goal in a World Cup final since the incomparable Pele. Mbappe scored during France’s World Cup victory over Croatia. That wasn’t enough for Mbappe, who donated his World Cup winnings to charity.

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20. Don’t mess with granny
> Date: July 16
> Location: Hart County, Georgia

A bobcat made a fatal mistake earlier this month when it pounced on DeDe Phillips. The grandmother from rural Georgia was able to strangle the animal to death while keeping quiet to avoid waking her 5-year-old granddaughter and keep her from coming outside. Phillips suffered cuts and bite marks and received shots for rabies.

21. Friendly skies
> Date: July 17
> Location: Flight to Florida from Chicago

During a flight to Florida to visit her parents, Chicago charter school teacher Kimber Bermudez struck up a conversation with a fellow passenger about the financial challenges facing her school of mostly low-income students whose English is limited. Other passengers overheard the conversation and gave Bermudez more than $500. Some passengers gave her all the money they had in their wallet.

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22. More teens living clean
> Date: July 19
> Location: Boston, Massachusetts

More teenagers are eschewing drugs and alcohol, according to a new study. The proportion of teens in their last year of high school who have never tried drugs or alcohol leaped fivefold from 1975 to 2014, according to the study’s author, Dr. Sharon Levy, director of the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. The study said that in 1976, just 5% of high school seniors said they abstained from all substance use. By 2014, the proportion of 12-graders who said no to drugs and alcohol had soared to 26%.

23. Saved from Philly fire
> Date: July 20
> Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Two good Samaritans who did not know each other rescued two small children trapped in a burning building in northeast Philadelphia. The children jumped out of a second-story structure into the arms of good Samaritans Terry Phillips and Ronald Burgess.

24. All for one
> Date: July 21
> Location: Riverside, Illinois

In a show of solidarity, police officers in Riverside, Illinois, donated their sick days to fellow officer Chris Kudla, who was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer in November, so he can get cancer treatments and still continue working. That’s not all. Riverside municipality workers, civil servants, and city staff members all donated their sick days to Kudla.

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25. Semper Fi
> Date: July
> Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Former Marine Cody Nichols tries to help veterans adjust to civilian life by employing them in his landscaping business in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When thieves stole thousands of dollars in equipment from his business in May, he feared the business would fail. Then the nonprofit Soldier’s Wish stepped up to help Nichols replace his equipment and keep the vets employed.

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