This week female readers piled in to offer books, toys and money to Yazidi women trying to turn their lives around

Firstly, a big thank you. We have always maintained that perhaps the best thing about Upside journalism is it encourages readers to hope, to engage, even to take action to make the world a slightly better place.

And that’s what happened this week. Within hours of publishing a moving article by Bethan McKernan on a group of Yazidi women who have somehow turned their lives around, we were inundated with offers of help. Books, toys, sewing machines and financial contributions.

Just a quick line to say how thoroughly beautiful the recent article about Yazidi women forming an all-female commune was. It isn’t often you hear positive news about Yazidi women, but to hear of such a wonderful project brought such hope in a consistently worrying news cycle.”

Roisin, by email

We have connected the benefactors (all of them women) with the community, and will report back on how your donations made a difference.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Girls in Jinwar, Syria, where Yazidi women have formed an female-only commune. Photograph: Bethan McKernan/The Guardian

And now, another small way you can help. We all recognise that climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world. But the Upside team is not convinced that simply repeating dire warnings about global warming will galvanise any sort of adequate response.

Instead, we’d like to show the world what people, towns, communities and government can and are doing to address the carbon splurge that is threatening to destabilise our climate.

Hundreds have responded already. Simply fill in this short form and let us know what you, your family, your business or your community is up to. And watch for the upshot in a future edition of the Upside Weekly.

In other Upside news this week, the Observer’s Robin McKie looked into a new initiative to get to grips with illegal logging, our US team spoke to a nun helping people survive by collecting cans discarded in New York, and our video team found out more about the women who give food and water to migrants riding the infamous freight train north towards the US.

And in Japan, Justin McCurry tucked into possibly the healthiest school lunch in the world.

Our data team didn’t have to look far for positive numbers this week. Air quality may not be great in parts of Europe – but it’s a lot better than it was 10 or 20 years ago.

But how much better? That depends on the gas. Sulphur oxide, produced by the burning of fossil fuels, has fallen more than 80% since 1998, nitrogen oxides by about 46%.

Progress is slower on particulates such as PM2.5 and PM10 – but are still down more than 25% over the 20 year period. Europe wants to rein in air pollution still further. It has already done a lot.

What we liked

Terrific work from BuzzFeed to report on the town that beat the US opioid epidemic, which includes the memorable line: “Like a mouse nibbling cheese, she’d steal $30 at a time from her dad’s stash to buy bags of brown powder.”

Also, Norway is showing the world what to do with its old plastic bottles, as Positive News found out.

What we heard

Large numbers of readers contacted us in response to our week of coverage about concrete, particularly the Upside article on alternatives to this dirty building block of the global economy.

I am following your articles on concrete and am really glad that you are covering this issue at last. You’ve asked for other possible solutions and I have two major ones. As a design company we have several alternatives to concrete foundations that can be used for ANY building – not just ‘eco’ ones. If you are in London, you could go and look at our building at Tulse Hill for the Holy Trinity Church, using rammed car tyre foundations.

Barbara Jones, of eco-building company Straw Works, via email

Where was the Upside?

It’s been a particularly good spell for otters, in the UK at least, with news that numbers have recovered spectacularly in recent years.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Otters: back from the brink of extinction. Photograph: Tony Margiocchi / Barcroft Media

Also, this is fun, if fairly irrelevant: a map with the old mottoes of every county in the United Kingdom. The Upside is taking its cue from Morayshire, in Scotland, whose motto is simply “In Hope.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The mottoes of UK counties. Photograph: On Stride

If you have a thought, comment, criticism or suggestion for story ideas or subjects, please email us at theupside@theguardian.com. Which global crisis might best benefit from some Upside treatment?