New York, New York - 2021 had more downs than ups, which makes it all the more important to highlight the good things that happened this year. Breathe in the optimism with TAG24's handpicked uplifting climate stories!

Fossil fuel big wigs were grilled in a Congressional hearing in October, which is the another big step into ensuring fossil fuel companies take responsibility for the climate crisis they knew they were causing.

Polluting companies may soon have to take the fall for their products' impact on the climate, the decades of climate change denial and misinformation campaigns, and a congressional hearing is a bright spotlight on all of those missteps.

Meanwhile, for people who are still looking for a way to take individual action, changing what they eat, is a popular option, and Impossible Foods wants to give people more choices by ramping up its meat-alternative product line.

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In early September, the company launched its Impossible Nuggets, a healthier, better-tasting, non-meat alternative.

Not only did meat-lovers prefer them in a blind taste-test, they're also far healthier than traditional chicken nuggets, and moving away from meat, especially beef, is proven to have a huge impact on your personal carbon footprint.

Early in July, ABC covered the triumph of a Black community in Memphis, Tennessee, who won their fight against plans to build a new oil pipeline, after being called "the path of least resistance" by the project from energy companies Plains All American and Valero Energy.

The community pulled together for months and showed what a united front can do, even when going up against companies worth billions of dollars.

The pipeline plan was scrapped, serving up a priceless victory for community activism.

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On that note, the UN's Youth for Climate conference dropped a particularly dirty sponsor, which was even connected with human rights violations at Guantánamo Bay, thanks to activist efforts from Fridays For Future Scotland and the youth climate activists who went to the #youth4climate summit.

The pressure from activists to stop allowing polluting companies to be major sponsors at climate conferences is gaining traction.

COP26, the UN's main climate summit, also excluded fossil fuel companies from the ranks of its main partners, even if the industry did have the largest delegation at the conference.

Finally, in September, the Guardian reported on a major win at Harvard University. Students in the Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard group campaigned for nine years to get the university to stop funding fossil fuels, and they finally did it!

Harvard University, which waved around a massive $42 billion sack of cash for spending on fossil fuel companies, has finally stopped funding the polluters.

Community and student activists are winning massive battles against the fossil fuel industry, and proving that all is not lost, change is still possible!

Thanks to climate activists on the grind, change is happening, and there's still time, if climate action happens immediately, to turn this ship around.