Skating Around the World – Episode 1

From forced wildlife relocation to a global first in free period products 

The world is complicated and messy. Every day, we doomscroll through news feeds that provide us with myriad heart-breaking, headline-making stories about the issues we face, which can leave us feeling powerless in the face of creating any real change. 

But, as a creative social and environmental impact consultancy whose main purpose is the delivery of real change, we believe it’s important to take a moment and highlight the successes and achievements being made for a better world. 

In our new series ‘Skating Around the World’, we at Skating Panda are inviting you to share a moment with us every fortnight. We invite you to enjoy a few of our favourite significant news stories from around the world driving impact on issues from gender inequality to health innovations to fighting climate change. 

• After being proposed in 2020, Scotland has now officially passed the Period Products Act, making it the first country in the world to introduce to provide free sanitary products to all regardless of gender identity. 
• Experts from the Conservative Environment Network are advising the government to provide more funding to insulate the UK’s 29 million homes to help counter rising gas and electricity bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
• Maven Clinic, the largest virtual clinic for family health, now offers menopause care with guidance on early symptoms, treatments, and educational resources. 
• Conservationists in the USA suggest a new environmental measure called “managed relocation” to protect wildlife by gathering members of a threatened species and moving them away from areas at risk due to the climate crisis. 
• Rwanda is a frontrunner to becoming the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer, due to their expanding cervical cancer testing programme, deployment of community health workers, and successful HPV vaccination programme for 12-year-old girls that surpass other countries.  
• Recent research into the impact of COVID-19 on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) suggests that COVID-19 responses may significantly impact AMR across communities, highlighting the need in the future to monitor resistance during pandemic waves. 

Instead of focusing just on the enormity of the problems we face, we are enjoying sharing news with you that reflects the path to real impact. And if it can uplift our mood and tilt us a little further and quicker in the right direction, then why not?