Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • The Feat in Hojancha, the Town that Lost its Forest

    January 21, 2019 |

    La Voz de Guanacaste |

    Multi-Media |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Costa Rica, Hojancha, Guanacaste

    In 1976, the Costa Rican city Hojancha preserved only 2% of its land as forest, and as a result their water supply (the Río Nosara river basin) dried up from the lack of vegetation. Sixteen years into the crisis, two friends conceived and ran an initiative to reforest the land by asking every family in the city to donate ¢1,000 a month until they could buy back the land in full from the ranchers who owned it. Now, the land is thriving again, though the project of regrowing the forest continues still today.

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  • The Brazilian photographer and the 20-year reforestation project of over 2.7 million trees

    January 17, 2019 |

    BrightVibes |

    Multi-Media |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Brazil, Aimorés, Minas Gerais

    A Brazilian photographer and his wife set out to restore devastated land in the late 1990s by replanting the forest, which would in turn bring back the wildlife. To date the pair and their organization, Instituto Terra, have replanted more than 2 million trees, seen the return of over 500 different species of birds, mammals, amphibians, and flora, and brought back to life the 8 natural springs on the land. There only remains 10% of the land to restore, and at the same time they've also developed more than 700 educational projects that reach over 65,000 people across the nation.

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  • How Poop-Eating Worms Could Help Save Thousands Of Lives Each Year

    January 16, 2019 |

    The Huffington Post |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Kenya, Nairobi

    The Bill Gates Foundation is currently funding a number of organizations that seek to solve the rate of open defecation by creating low-cost toilets that utilize the feces within them. One organization, called Sanergy, operates in 11 neighborhoods across Nairobi and uses a systems-based approach that takes into account financing and maintenance of the toilet as well as selling the waste as fertilizer. Another, called Tiger Toilets in India, uses a septic tank toilet that places worms within the drainage layer who then consume the feces and produce fertilizer to be used or sold.

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  • Former British intelligence specialists training network of spies to save Rhinos and Elephants 

    January 12, 2019 |

    The Telegraph |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Malawi

    The illegal wildlife trade is consistently a big problem across Africa. To help tackle the issue of poachers, a company called Retarius uses counter-terrorist operations experience by training and mentoring locals involved in the prevention fight. The program is still growing and takes place in Malawi, Cameroon, Benin, and Zambia. In Malawi specifically, the training has resulted in 114 arrests made and 1000 kgs of ivory seized in 2018.

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  • In India's Fast-Growing Cities, a Grassroots Effort to Save the Trees

    January 08, 2019 |

    Yale Environment 360 |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: India, Mumbai

    In booming cities across India, residents and nonprofits are fighting to save trees from rampant development. One protest in Delhi brought 1,500 citizens out, stalling a proposal to fell 14,000 trees in the city. And the Center for Environmental Research and Education in Mumbai plant's new trees with an unusually high survival rate of 90 percent. But to stem destruction, these groups must help city planners and politicians understand the many benefits that urban trees provide.

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  • After A Run Of Tainted Food Scandals, Women In This Country Took Control Of The System

    January 08, 2019 |

    The Huffington Post |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Japan, Koriyama City, Fukushima

    Following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, a group of women took the initiative to ensure that the food they consume meets radiation standards twice as strict as the government's. The Seikatsu Club formed in 1965 and has since built itself up to 400,000 members (about 90% of whom are women) and works with 200 producers. The group is highly productive: they run their own milk factory, join with worker collectives to sell goods like jam or cookies, operate a fund for farmers whose products are tainted, offer child and elder care, and much more. Seikatsu is a success due to its local citizens' control.

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  • LA Foodways: Explore the History of Los Angeles Agriculture

    January 07, 2019 |

    KCET-TV |

    Documentary |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

    The history of Los Angeles, a farm town-turned metropolis, leads to the present-day food situation, in which the quantity of food produced is insufficient to feed everyone - yet food insecurity persists. Food Forward distributes produce that might not sell and brings it to partners across the city. Their food justice work has been supported by groups such as the Watts Labor Community Action Committee.

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  • This old coal plant is now a solar farm, thanks to pressure from local activists

    January 03, 2019 |

    FastCompany |

    Multi-Media |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Holyoke, Massachusetts

    Turning a coal plant carbon neutral requires a community effort. In Holyoke, Massachusetts, community organizers from the Toxics Action Center and Neighbor to Neighbor, a local Latinx organization, succeeded in getting the coal plant in their city shut down and transformed into a commercial solar farm. Today, Holyoke’s electric utility uses the solar energy as part of a carbon-neutral plan.

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  • How a Guatemalan Town Tackled Its Plastic Problem

    January 03, 2019 |

    Atlas Obscura |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: Guatemala, San Pedro La Laguna

    San Pedro La Laguna, a town in Guatemala, has banned single use plastics including plastic bags and straws after realizing that plastic pollution was ruining the ecosystem of Lake Atitlan and that a new waste facility would be unable to handle the amount of garbage created in the village. To ensure that people follow the new regulation, there are heavy fees - but the town also bought traditionally made biodegradable replacements; the change is being framed as a way to return to traditional, indigenous ways for the communities.

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  • With no oil cleanup in sight, Amazon tribes harvest rain for clean water

    December 27, 2018 |

    Mongabay |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Ecuador, Lago Agrio, Sucumbíos

    Following decades of oil companies contaminating the water, indigenous groups in Ecuador’s Sucumbíos province have built systems for rainwater collection and filtration. These systems have provided people with clean water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing--a potentially powerful tool for other contaminated rural areas.

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