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Meet the young lawmakers crossing party lines for a green future

Scott Shigeoka

April 01, 2020 |

Grist |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Iowa

As the youngest state legislators in Iowa, Zach Wahls, a Democrat, and Joe Mitchell, a Republican, are working across party lines to find solutions to climate change. While there has been pushback about their bipartisan work, the duo is bridging the political divide and engaging in dialogue to find common ground on several environmental initiatives like renewable energy.

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(Environmental) Justice for All

Courtney Duchene

March 18, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Serenity Soular is a worker-owned cooperative that installs solar panels in an affordable way, focusing on communities of color in North Philadelphia. They employ local residents through an apprenticeship program, training high school dropouts to install affordable clean energy options. Because the solar energy nonprofit was rooted in Serenity House, a community center, they have successfully been able to get buy-in from local residents to help bring more solar energy to their community.

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Here comes the sun canoe, as Amazonians take on Big Oil

Francesc Badia i Dalmases

March 13, 2020 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Ecuador, Kapawi

The Kara Solar Foundation is looking to connect indigenous communities in Achuar territory in Ecuador to learn about solar power as an alternative to oil. By building solar-powered canoes, they can replace vessels that burn fossil fuels into the atmosphere. While the two boats in operation have run into technical problems, the intercultural training programs are instructing Achuar people on how to fix the technology. “Sustained and truly intercultural collaborations can create technological solutions that serve indigenous communities, rather than destroying them,” says Oliver Utne, the foundation's founder.

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In Kenya, herders turn an invasive cactus into biofuel

Robert Kibet

March 12, 2020 |

Deutsche Welle (DW) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya, Laikipia County

The invasive prickly pear cactus is spreading over grazing lands in Kenya and is harming herders’ livestock. So a local environmental science graduate is testing a system to turn the cacti into biogas. While the system can be expensive to install, the gas can be used for cooking and fertilizer, which can free up time for pastoralists and reduce the amount of firewood used. The graduate is training eight women’ groups to use the system.

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Energy efficient homes mean less air pollution. But are they affordable?

Heather May

March 09, 2020 |

The Salt Lake Tribune |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kearns, Utah

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and air pollution, Habitat for Humanity Salt Lake Valley is building airtight homes that will also reduce energy costs and be affordable for people experiencing economic hardship. The home are largely being built by volunteers, so the process has been slow and there have been mistakes in building the homes. However, the homes are estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.9 tons a year.

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University of Notre Dame converts tons of dining hall leftovers into energy

Catherine M. Odell

February 25, 2020 |

National Catholic Reporter |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Notre Dame, Indiana

The University of Notre Dame installed three Grind2Energy systems, which aims to reduce the amount of food waste from the campus’ dining halls. The systems process the waste and send it to a local dairy farm where they break down the material to produce biogas that is used to generate electrical power for 1,000 homes each day in Plymouth, Indiana. While not everyone at the university has committed to the sustainability efforts, these systems can be scaled to be used on other college campuses.

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How Farms Turn Food Waste Into Renewable Energy

Ally Donnelly Jim Haddadin

February 19, 2020 |

WBTS-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Food waste diverted from the landfill to anaerobic digesters can be used to create electricity. In Massachusetts, farmers and businesses participate in a waste-to-energy project in partnership with Vanguard Renewables. Discarded food waste is mixed with cow manure and fed into a digester. The gasses created are then used to power electric generators.

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Can rationing carbon help fight climate change?

Frank Swain

February 17, 2020 |

BBC |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Australia, Norfolk Island

As countries wrestle with how to reduce their carbon emissions, grassroots carbon rationing experiments are taking shape around the word. On an Australian Island of 800 people, a quarter of them participated in a test that calculated their carbon footprints with a goal of reducing their fossil fuel use by 10 percent. The average household reduced their usage by 18 percent and almost two-thirds of participants wanted to continue. Other experiments in Finland and the United Kingdom have taken place, yet some question if carbon rationing is equitable.

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Mountain athletes push progress over perfection in climate fight

Jason Blevins

January 31, 2020 |

The Colorado Sun |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Since 2007, Protect Our Winters (POW) has engaged outdoor athletes to advocate for climate change. They believe in “imperfect advocacy,” in which they focus on corporate polluters whose habits can create larger-scale change, rather than putting the impetus for change solely on individuals. In doing so, they have been able to successfully engage athletes in their mission, build a partnership with the Climate Action Corps, a coalition of outdoor outfitters working for change at a corporate-level, and host rallies to sway public officials.

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Phoenix replacing diesel-fueled garbage trucks with natural gas ones

Christopher Howley

January 31, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

Multi-Media |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Phoenix, Arizona

Arizona has the second most-polluted air of any state in America, but local government leaders are championing the Cleaner Trucks Initiative as one tool to improve air quality. The city of Phoenix received $1 million from the EPA to transition garbage trucks from diesel to compressed natural gas to reduce emissions and pollution.

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