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This Coastal State's Approach to Flooding May Be a Model for Illinois Communities

Laura Stewart

May 16, 2024 |

Illinois Answers Project |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Woodbridge, New Jersey

Officials from Woodbridge Township in New Jersey bought and demolished almost 200 homes to create a flood-absorbing restoration area after Superstorm Sandy. The program assigns each homeowner a case manager to help them through the process from the appraisal to moving. Much of the area is now wetlands, which act as a natural sponge to prevent flooding.

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This Utah County Will Buy Your Lawn to Save Water

Morgan Sjogren

May 14, 2024 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Utah

A turf buyback program run by the Washington County Water Conservancy District in Utah pays residents to swap their lawns for native plants. It's reducing the amount of water used for landscaping amid a drought.

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The 'Save the Oceans' Tax Break: Recycling Oyster Shells

Kailyn Rhone

May 11, 2024 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Sometimes bolstered by state tax credits, oyster recycling projects across the United States are encouraging restaurants to save their oyster shells, which are used to restore reefs instead of ending up as waste.

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Moroccan Farmers Are Banking Traditional Seeds for a Hotter, Drier Future

Soukaina Almouhtadi

May 10, 2024 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Morocco, Sidi Ifni, Guelmim

A seed bank was established in Sidi Ifni, a farming community in Morocco, to revive drought-ridden land by enabling the cultivation of traditional, drought-resistant crops. An accompanying training program is helping farmers market these crops to improve their livelihoods.

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Chatham Flooding Mitigation Program Flounders, But Oak Park Sees Success

Sidnee King

May 09, 2024 |

Illinois Answers Project |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Illinois

The RainReady program helped some residents of flood-prone towns in Illinois keep their homes dry by assessing which measures they can take to direct rainwater away from their homes. Then, the homeowners receive grants to install the flood-control devices, such as rain gardens and backflow valves.

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A Peruvian river with rights: the defenders of the Marañón

Silvia Viñas, Eliezer Budasoff

May 04, 2024 |

El Hilo |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Peru

A group of Kukama women, a native community of the Peruvian Amazon, worked with lawyers from the Legal Defense Institute to sue the Peruvian State. The lawsuit was intended prevent and clean up oil spills and pollution in the Marañón River that they’d been fighting against for years. In a historic ruling, the judge recognized that the river has rights and must be protected.

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Crowdfunding and suitcases full of cash: How Gazans are paying to escape war

Yasmine Salam, Tavleen Tarrant

May 02, 2024 |

NBC News |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Palestine, Rafah

Palestinians trying to cross the border into Egypt to escape the war are starting crowdfunding campaigns with the help of strangers from other countries on social media to afford the rising cost of doing so.

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Results are in for a Los Angeles cool pavement experiment

Ysabelle Kempe

April 26, 2024 |

Smart Cities Dive |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Pacoima, California

A partnership between local nonprofit Climate Resolve and roofing and waterproofing manufacturer GAF covered 700,000 square feet of dark asphalt surfaces with a solar-reflective coating to help keep residents cool in the summer. Research found that during an extreme heat event, the area with the pavement coating saw ambient temperatures 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than an adjacent neighborhood.

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Mexico's Floating Gardens Are an Ancient Wonder of Sustainable Farming

Peter Yeung

April 26, 2024 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Mexico City

Farmers in Mexico are keeping a 1,000-year-old tradition alive to produce reliable yields of healthy crops despite facing historic droughts. They're using chinampas, which are man-made “floating gardens” created by placing soil from the lake on top of reeds and grasses.

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Fighting fire with beavers: How dam-building rodents are deployed to prevent megafires, restore scorched wildlands

Bay Stephens

April 19, 2024 |

The Colorado Sun |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Riverscapes inhabited by beavers fare far better than other areas during extreme wildfires because they hold back and spread out water, pushing it further into the ground. These spaces become critical pockets of habitat for animals to shelter in and can function as fire breaks. Restoration experts in Colorado are building structures that mimic beaver dams in hopes of replicating the effect and, if they’re lucky, incentivizing beavers to return.

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