In May we asked you: what are the alternatives to endless economic growth? Dozens of you got in touch with tips and suggestions.

And so we persuaded the Guardian economics correspondent Richard Partington to try to make sense of it all by taking a good hard look at GDP and the alternatives.

His conclusion: GDP is an anachronism, but it’ll take a major systemic upheaval to shift over to a more nuanced measure of progress. Coincidentally, the alternatives to GDP were also the subject of the latest Reasons to be Cheerful podcast by Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd.

Perhaps a better metric would be the number of trees planted annually. It’s a figure in the billions, as Patrick Barkham discovered, and a number that is also growing strongly. Will it be enough? After all, trees are not just good for the environment, they are good for mental health too, as Harriet Sherwood learned.

Lucky numbers

Alcohol sales in Scotland have fallen to their lowest level in 25 years. Alcohol-free beers are among the fastest-growing beverages in Germany.

Among the world’s poorest communities, more than 2 billion people gained access to a decent toilet in the first two decades of this century. And among the richest, Americans gave almost half a trillion dollars to charity in 2018.

What we liked

In stories about ageing, these glorious centenarians, featured by Positive News, are an example to us all.

We also loved this Atlantic article on how to deal with life after you’ve peaked professionally, particularly because it includes the great quote: “Unhappy is he who depends on success to be happy.”

What we heard

Kostas Karoubas emailed in from Greece to share his experience with reforesting in arid terrains.

Reforestation in tropical climates is “easy” (relatively)! Planting and rehabilitating arid zones becomes more difficult. Here is my experience over the last 16 years, and I hope it will be helpful.

Aminul Hoque Chowdhury got in touch from Bangladesh.

We are the Green Ukhiya Star Team, a team of volunteers gathered as part of relief operations during the Rohingya influx in Cox’s Bazar.
To compensate the great disaster and protect the environment we are planting 1 million trees. It is essential to gradually bring back vegetation cover in this area for an adaptable living condition for the displaced Rohingya people while they stay in their temporary shelters and also for the local host people.

We need your kind consideration to promote our initiative towards a global audience.

Like and Support us http://www.facebook.com/Green-Ukhiya-Plant-Tree-Campaign-454352661794462/

Aminul, we hope this shout out finds supporters for you out there.

Elaine Coburn got in touch about our new editorial series on global mental health.

In response to Prevention: the new holy grail of treating mental illness. I could not agree more! See this article for more information on prevention.

Where was the Upside?

In Gaziantep, a city in southeastern Turkey, which is showing the world how to integrate refugees.

Also on the Norwegian island that wants to abolish time.

Thanks for reading. Tell a friend about us. Get in touch with your best ideas, so we can then pretend they are ours. Write to theupside@theguardian.com.