Caroline Keohane ‘24
“Wow, I can’t even choose what to put in here. There are just so many amazing things that happened this year!” - Okay, so that is not how this article is going to go because, honestly, 2020 was terrible. It was like really, really bad. We all got to see the real us without haircuts or nail appointments and probably spent more time staring at our computer than talking to real people. There were some good things though. I mean, we all got to wear sweatpants for a year! Seriously, 2020 wasn’t all bad, so let's look at some not-so “2020” type things that happened this year!
1)
In the 2020 election, the United States saw the highest voter participation in 120 years. This year, 66.3% of eligible voters turned out to vote, which is the highest percentage that the United States has seen since Theodore Roosevelt’s election in 1904. Despite fears of actually going to the polls amidst a pandemic, Americans found a way to partake in democracy, with 46% choosing to vote by “absentee” or mail-in ballots, but the majority (54%) still voted in person. Interestingly, 58% of Biden’s votes were cast absentee while only 32% of Trumps were, and a whopping 37% of Trump voters voted in person on the day of the election, compared to only 17% of Biden’s voters doing so. But these are all percentages. To give a real scale, this year, about 170,792,173 Americans voted out of the 257,605,088 eligible people. There is much room for improvement, but we are on our way to a higher functioning democracy in which all voices are heard through the vote. As for what caused this increase, people were likely more inclined to vote because of how strongly different the candidates were, whereas in a more neutral election, people don’t care as much. It is also shown that social media has a substantial impact on voter turnout. From 2010 off-year elections, the New York Times released an article stating that Facebook, through hashtags, ads, etc., caused an increase of 340,000 votes. With an increase in social media use, that number has most likely increased as well to greatly affect the 2020 election.
2)
Space exploration thrived in 2020. Even though the pandemic made it harder, most of the planned space ventures ended up happening in 2020. It was an especially good year because this summer, Mars was especially close to Earth, something that only happens every 2 and a half years, causing three countries to go to the planet this year. The United States is on its way with the Perseverance rover that was tasked with finding remnants of ancient life and collecting soil and rock samples to bring back to Earth. If all goes well, the rover will land very soon (February 18th, 2021) into the Jezero Crater where it will explore. China also launched a mission to Mars; the Tianwen-1 spacecraft is projected to reach Mars’ orbit on February 10th, 2021, but not land on the planet until May. With subsurface exploration radar instruments, it is hoping to gather information about what lies beneath the surface (possibly water!). Finally, the UAE launched the Emirates Mars Mission Hope Probe. Its goal is to understand the atmosphere of Mars, like its composition, and the UAE hopes it will be the first to provide real insight and images of Mars’ atmosphere. It will specifically look to understand Mars’ climate dynamics and weather conditions. The probe will not land on the plant but will beat the other missions with plans to make it into orbit on February 9th, 2021. With the new technological advances, these space missions will hopefully increase in 2021 as well.
3)
Scotland took the lead in feminism in 2020 by making period products free. Legislation like this has been circulating in recent decades with more recognition of the worldwide issue of “period poverty” that leaves financially struggling women without the proper sanitary products. Scotland was the first country to take action with their parliament unanimously voting on a bill to provide free period products in late November. It mandates menstrual products like tampons and pads to be available in all schools and public places so that anyone who needs them has access. This bill costs the country around 32 million dollars annually, but Scotland's leaders believe that it is fundamental for equality and human dignity. This is also possible in the United States; however, there is more opposition to a similar bill here, despite 4 in 5 women in the United States saying “period poverty” is a real issue and 49% saying they’ve had to choose basic necessities over period products, according to the New York Post. Scotland's new bill is progress to a more equal society, and hopefully the United States will soon follow in its footsteps.
4)
America elected its first woman, black, and Asian-American Vice President ever. When President Joe Biden won the election, it was not just a new beginning, but a lot of firsts for the United States. With California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, history was made by electing the first woman and woman of color to the executive office. As a child, V.P. Harris had big shoes to fill with her father being a professor at Stanford and her mother being a cancer researcher. She was born in Oakland, California in 1964 and later earned her bachelor's degree at Howard University and a law degree at Hastings College. She gained her first leadership position as the Deputy District Attorney of Oakland in the ‘90s and then became District Attorney in 2004, paving the way and being a role model for women of both Asian and Black heritage. She first broke boundaries when she became the first female and person of color to serve as Attorney General of California, but this was clearly controversial because she won by less than 1% of votes. However, she did not let these barriers break her as she continued to break them when she easily won an election to the Senate in 2016 by preaching ideas of safer immigration, protection of female reproductive rights, and equality. She is also widely admired for her independence and unwillingness to settle, as highlighted when she refused to defend Proposition 8 in 2008, which banned same-sex marriages and was a leader in helping get it overturned in 2013. Now she has done it again, breaking another boundary in becoming the first female and person of color to be Vice President, becoming a role model and icon for people everywhere.
5)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is finally free of Ebola. The virus shocked the world when the first case was confirmed on December 26th, 2013 in West Africa. The virus reached the United States on October 2nd, 2014 when a man in Dallas, Texas was hospitalized with it. Ebola is contagious, but not highly; it can be contracted through bodily fluids like sweat, saliva, and blood entering another person's body through the eyes, nose, and mouth. What incited fear in the public about the Ebola outbreak was when the World Health Organization stated that the virus has a death rate of about 50%. However, experts didn’t have too much fear because the virus is not airborne, so it cannot be contracted by being around someone infected without contact. However, the virus ravaged developing countries, like tropical areas in Africa, resulting in the largest outbreak ever seen since Ebola was first discovered in 1976. With a total of about 28,652 cases and 11,325 deaths, the virus was a severe loss of life and had economic impacts on Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (places where the outbreaks were the most severe) estimating in about 2.2 billion dollars lost in their GDPs. Because of all this, it’s obvious why there was a great relief when the last patient in the Congo was released from care on March 10th, 2020 with no other confirmed cases.
When looking back on 2020, it will be hard to not think negatively about what we endured between the isolation, fear, and stress of a global pandemic. However, I hope from this article you can take away that even in what seems like the darkest of times, there are always glimmers of light. When remembering 2020, let's remember the history that was made, the discoveries uncovered, and the lives saved, but thank goodness it is a new year!
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