If you're a glass-half-empty kind of person, there are plenty of dispiriting headlines these days -- from the U.S.-China trade war to partisan feuding over impeachment proceedings -- that could ruin your holiday cheer.

Here at Kiplinger, we're more optimistic. We'd prefer to raise that half-full glass and make a toast to any of a number of important things going right in the world today. We've rounded up 12 developments, economic and otherwise, that reveal brighter days ahead in 2020. Take a look.

Cleaner Air

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The nation's air is getting cleaner as pollution drops and clean energy rises. Emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide have plunged 88% and 76%, respectively, since their 1997 peaks. Mercury and particulate emissions are down, too.

Coal simply can't compete with cheaper natural gas and renewables. Coal-fired plants keep closing, despite President Trump's easing regulations on the industry. Coal accounted for more than 50% of U.S. electricity in 1997. Now it's less than 30%. The trend won't abate, and it helps make folks healthier, especially in coal-reliant areas.

Low Unemployment