The Media Love Negative Trends, but America Keeps Moving in the Right Direction
Remember the bee apocalypse? The U.S. reversed that trend. What other trends can we reverse?
A few years ago, the media were abuzz with some bad news: Bees were dying out in record numbers.
Many culprits were suggested. Climate change. Insecticides. A mysterious disease known as "colony collapse disorder" seemingly caused worker bees to spontaneously go on strike, wander off, and die. There was little consensus about what was happening, but the decline was noticeable and worrying.
The trend is now different. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, the twice-per-decade federal counting of all domestic and farm animals in the United States, the number of bee colonies is up 31 percent since 2007. Due to how the Department of Agriculture collects those data, the bee renaissance may be somewhat less dramatic than reported—private organizations that also track the number of beehives say the recovery has been more gradual. Still, the line is moving in the right direction.
The same is true for many human health trends. After a few years of decline, life expectancy in the U.S. is once more on the rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2024. The average American now lives to be 77.5, up from 76.4 last year (though still a bit short of the all-time high of 78.8, set in 2019).
The reversal of that downward trend is primarily due to two factors. First, the ebbing of the COVID-19 pandemic, which ended far sooner than it might have thanks to the rapid development of a vaccine. Second, a turning of the tide in the long battle against opioid overdose deaths, which declined by 14 percent between June 2023 and June 2024 relative to the previous 12 months.
Our political and media culture often seems to thrive on negative trends. But one measure of the strength of any society is what happens when things are going in the wrong direction. It requires clear ideas, people unwilling to accept decline with a shrug, and leaders who seek change rather than scoring populist points by blaming others for problems.
Wealth helps a lot too. The fact that so few Americans—about 11 percent, according to the Census Bureau—live in poverty means more resources are available for solving other problems, and more people have more time to spend thinking up solutions.
Simply reversing a bad trend is not cause for declaring "mission accomplished." Much more could be done to alleviate, for example, the opioid crisis—including the legalization of alternative ways to get high. The same is true for violent crime, which is once again falling in most American urban centers but could always be lower.
What will be the next negative trend to get reversed? Perhaps automobile deaths, which have climbed in recent years as Americans have opted for bigger vehicles and more distractions. Cars that do more (or all) of the driving for you will be a revolution for safety. In its latest public report, automated vehicle developer Waymo claims its newest technology is 3.5 times better than human drivers at avoiding accidents in real-world tests.
Disappointments and failures will always remain. Scarcity and death are still with us. But as America enters the second quarter of the 21st century, it is a resilient place where people—and bees—are living better lives.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "The Line Goes Up."
