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Desertification Is Devouring India. But There's Hope in the Dunes

Rishika Pardikar

November 13, 2019 |

OZY |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: India, Laporiya, Rajasthan

The people of a small village on the edge of the Thar Desert have managed for decades to resist "desertification" -- degradation of arid land to the point that it is uninhabitable -- by storing monsoon waters for use later. The storage device, rectangular plots of land called chaukas, have worked well enough to be copied by dozens of other villages in the area. It is uncertain if this approach can reverse the loss of land, but it is at least holding off the rapid pace of desertification, which risks mass displacements of people as hundreds of millions of acreage is lost.

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After cyclone Fani, women in a migrant fishing community start resilience fund

Sahana Ghosh

November 12, 2019 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Penthakatha, Odisha

After an unexpected summer cyclone in the Indian state of Odisha, hundreds of women from slums across the region formed a community fund for disaster preparedness. The women all try to contribute 10 rupees per month to the fund, slowly building their security net in case of another natural disaster.

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In Borneo, healthy people equals healthy forests

Adam Wernick

November 12, 2019 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Indonesia, Borneo

Those who live on the island of Borneo understand that their well-being comes from the Gunung Palung National Park, but logging remained rampant because it was the only way to make money to pay for healthcare. Thus, an organization named "Health in Harmony" was borne through "radically listening" to locals to find out what they needed. This organization accepts creative forms of payment for healthcare and offers incentives to cease logging, including a chainsaw buyback program. As a result, ten years later they saw a 90% drop in logging households and a re-growth of 52,000 acres of forest.

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Are D.C.'s Streets Finally Getting Safer?

Andrew Small

November 11, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

As the District lagged on its Vision Zero goals, bike and pedestrian advocates in Washington turned traffic fatalities into a rallying cry, and got results.

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Turning Paris's underground car parks into mushrooms farms

Dougal Shaw

November 11, 2019 |

BBC |

Video |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: France, Paris

Mushroom farms are popping up in underground parking lots in Paris. The city, facing a surplus of lots as car ownership declines, has been holding competitions to find creative, new purposes for them. Urban farmers, Cycloponics, won one of these competitions and now operates three of these mushroom farms, selling their crops to local organic grocery stores in the area.

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This Wyoming Greenhouse is a Place for Employees with Disabilities to Grow

Jodi Hausen

November 08, 2019 |

Bitterroot |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Jackson, Wyoming

A company called Vertical Harvest in Jackson, Wyoming employs people with developmental and physical disabilities to work in their 3-story greenhouse to address the exclusion of people with disabilities in the labor pool. Vertical Harvest, which offers positions growing and handling local produce, acts as both a safe space and source of income for employees, following a trend to open employment opportunities to often overlooked populations.

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In Memphis, a Lab Experiment for Local News

James Fallows

November 08, 2019 |

The Atlantic |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Memphis, Tennessee

Over the past dozen years, The Commercial Appeal, once the top morning newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee, slowly succumbed to the same ownership changes and downsizing that has plagued numerous other local papers across the country. Hungry for local news after The Commercial Appeal had left a gap, Eric Barnes and Andy Cates created the Daily Memphian. The paper is an online-only, subscription-based service owned by a new 501(c)3 non-profit, Memphis Fourth Estate Inc., which has no editorial control over the paper's content.

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The Three Keys to a Thriving Rural Economy

Jake Bullinger

November 08, 2019 |

Bitterroot |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Salida, Colorado

As the Mountain West transitions away from mining and other industrial economic drivers, rural cities find their way into successful economies by relying on local entrepreneurial spirit and the surrounding landscape. Businesses like SmartLam in rural Montana rely on local resources - in SmartLam's case, timber - and sustainable, future-oriented strategy to make a ripple in the economy of the rural West.

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Colorado's newest farmers are YouTube-taught, social justice-minded and preaching the gospel of microgreens

Kevin Simpson

November 07, 2019 |

The Colorado Sun |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Bennett, Colorado

Emerald Garden farm in Colorado is a microgreens hydroponic farming operation that is using a comprehensive approach toward conducting business. From experimenting with new practices to reduce food waste to diversifying partnerships to enhance crop development, the owners have successfully scaled the initial operation and are providing food for fine restaurants as well as grocery stores a local school district and potentially hospitals.

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Pollution Solutions

Bobbi Murray

November 06, 2019 |

Making Contact |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Fresno, California

The Central Valley of California has an air pollution problem, so community groups are joining forces under the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition to work together towards change. Although progress is slow, the group has been able to teach citizen science in order to collect data as well as advocate for and get a state policy in place that "directs support and resources to environmentally and economically distressed California communities."

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