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‘Operation Fish Drop'

Meghan Sullivan

March 31, 2021 |

Indian Country Today |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

Sam Schimmel, a college student and member of the Siberian Yupik and Kenaitze tribes, helped organize a food drive on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. The initiative, known as Operation Fish Drop — delivered more than 12,000 pounds of salmon to 400 families. It Brought together tribal councils, local fisheries, and volunteers to help address food security in Alaska Native communities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The Clever Architectural Feature That Makes Life on Bermuda Possible

Luke Fater

March 31, 2021 |

Atlas Obscura |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Bermuda

There is no natural freshwater source on Bermuda, so residents turn to rainfall as a way to fulfill their water needs. The white limestone Bermuda roofs are used to catch and redirect rain into underground tanks that serve as their primary source of freshwater. Droughts happen, which has led to other solutions, but the limestone roofs are still primarily their largest source of freshwater.

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Indigenous Food Sovereignty Movements Are Taking Back Ancestral Land

Melissa Montalvo

March 31, 2021 |

Civil Eats |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Quapaw, Oklahoma

More and more Indigenous communities throughout North America are reclaiming their ancestral lands as a way to access traditional foodways. For example, a group of Mi’kmaq tribes in Nova Scotia bought a majority share in one of the largest seafood businesses on the continent, allowing them to use the company’s fishing licenses to harvest more scallops, lobsters, and crabs. The Quapaw Tribe in Oklahoma is restoring their land that had been polluted by mining. Under the Quapaw Cattle Company, they are able to sustain more than 1,000 cattle and bison as well as growing two crops.

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Can California's Organic Vegetable Farmers Unlock the Secrets of No-Till Farming?

Gosia Wozniacka

March 30, 2021 |

Civil Eats |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

A trial experiment with three farmers and several California universities is looking to better understand how to farm with little or no chemicals. No-till farming can boost soil health and better store carbon, but it’s not a perfect system. These farmers are testing how to reduce soil disturbance, use cover crops, and diversify their species of crops, yet so far, they haven’t found much success. “Figuring this all out has been ‘a school of hard knocks,’” says one of the farmers.

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The secret ingredient in Paris' green public housing

Colin Kinniburgh

March 30, 2021 |

Grist |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: France, Paris

Paris Habitat, the city’s main social housing agency, used hempcrete — a concrete-like mixture of hemp, lime, and water — as insulation in one of its apartment complexes. This material helps maintain temperature and reduces a building’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The cost of using hempcrete can be expensive but making the material is more environmentally friendly, and has shown that it can be implemented for affordable housing and not just for those who already have the means to pay for it.

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'Virtual rangers' help South African reserve keep poachers away

Akhona Matshoba Tanisha Heiberg

March 29, 2021 |

Reuters |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: South Africa, Johannesburg

Over 55,000 people have become “virtual rangers,” helping to protect South Africa’s Balule Nature Reserve from poachers. Officials at the reserve teamed up with Samsung and Africam to increase the ability to keep watch over the park, which is home to some of the most vulnerable animals to poaching, including rhinoceros, leopards, and elephants. Camera phones, held in protective cases, are mounted around the reserve and stream images to “virtual rangers” worldwide who have already reported hearing gunshots, which could indicate the possibility of poachers, and seeing trapped animals needing rescue.

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India trashes 100 million tires a year. She turns them into playgrounds.

Kamala Thiagarajan

March 29, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Bengaluru

Anthill Creations has built 275 "playscapes" across India, mostly using discarded vehicle tires as the affordable raw materials. In many parts of the country, children lack outdoor play spaces and toys to enliven their play. By "upcycling" some of the 100 million discarded tires the country generates annually and painting them bright colors, the 5-year-old project has benefits ranging from the environment to children's safety and happiness.

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Minneapolis restaurants offer takeout food without a side of guilt for using wasteful containers

Richard Chin

March 29, 2021 |

Minnesota Star Tribune |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

A clean tech startup called Forever Ware created reusable, stainless steel containers for restaurants to use instead of single-use takeout containers. So far, four restaurants in Minneapolis are participating in the program, where customers pay a deposit for the container and can return it to any restaurant in the network. Within two months, the containers were used about 1,400 times, which probably cut back on some plastic waste ending up in landfills.

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The mechanical stomach powering homes by digesting old food scraps

Gian De Poloni

March 27, 2021 |

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: Australia, Cockburn

The electricity powering 3,000 Perth homes might have started out as moldy bread and rotting lettuce. The city of Cockburn collects food waste from supermarkets and restaurants to be fed into a mechanical "stomach" that converts the waste to energy. Methane is trapped and used to power electric generators. The remainder of the "digested" food is turned into compost and liquid fertilizer. The operation has recycled 43 tons so far, removing 81,000 kilograms of gases that otherwise would escape landfills and warm the atmosphere.

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Simple hand-built structures can help streams survive wildfires and drought

Brianna Randall

March 26, 2021 |

Science News |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Idaho

Conservationists, government agencies, scientists, and landowners are working together to restore streams using low-cost solutions from sticks, stones, and even beavers. Restoring these floodplains is important to help communities combat drought and wildfires. In Idaho, scientists relocated nine beavers to Birch Creek so they could help repair the dried-up stream. In three years, the beavers built dams, which helped the creek flow for longer in the summer. This method might not work everywhere, so scientists have also tested stone structures, which also proved effective at improving the ecosystem.

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