July 27, 2016

Are you ready for some good news?

editor:	Vanessa Ellingham

Ok, this might not be enough to temper terrorist attacks, gun violence, a failed coup, Donald Trump and ever-looming climate change, but it's a start.

Remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? 2014's viral social media trend that saw people dumping buckets of freezing water and ice on their heads, reportedly for charity?

Media - including me, right here at fairplanet - were quick to criticise the action as nothing more than a classic case of slacktivism that focused more on looking good and feeling good than doing any real good.

Research on moral licensing backed this theory. But the Ice Bucket Challenge has proven itself to be an exception to the rule.

In a 30-day period, the Ice Bucket Challenge raised 100 million USD for the ALS Association which funds research to find a cure for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

This money has been able to fully fund a number of research projects working in search of a cure for the neurological disorder that slowly kills off the motor neurons that control muscle function.

According to the Guardian, "One of these was Project MinE, a large data-driven initiative funded by the ALS Association through ice bucket challenge donations, as well as donations from the organization’s Georgia and New York chapters. The project’s researchers announced on Monday that they have identified a new gene associated with the disease, which experts say could lead to new treatment possibilities."

“It’s very exciting because it shows everyone who contributed to the ice bucket challenge that their donation had an impact on the research,” said Brian Frederick, executive vice-president of communications and development at the ALS Association. “The work that Project MinE is doing is really important, and the discovery of this new gene will help us better understand ALS.”

Those are real, tangible results.

Whether this will encourage participants to go hard for the next viral fundraising trend or not remains to be seen - for many the challenge may be a distant memory.

But the idea that individuals can raise money for a worthy cause while having some fun and encouraging others to do the same. Well, it's not all bad news.