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

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  • Can 'the people' solve climate change? France decided to find out.

    In order to cut carbon emissions in France, President Emmanuel Macron created an assembly of 150 randomly selected citizens. The citizens "convention on climate" met and deliberated for months before releasing 149 proposals on how the government should address climate change. Although only 10 made it into law without being altered, and 36 others were included form, the final legislation was one of the most comprehensive passed in the history of the country. The recommendations also garnered conversations and inspired the creation of other assemblies.

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  • From Heaps of Garbage, Lagos Improves on Waste Disposal, Sanitation

    The Cleaner Lagos project works to clean up the state, aiming toward maintaining a clean and healthy environment at all times. From waste management services to incentivized waste sorting and stricter regulations, the project has helped to reduce the spread of diseases caused by poor sanitation across the state.

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  • Alone in eviction court: Alabama looks to provide lawyers

    Legislation in cities like Cleveland, Louisville, New York City, provides legal representation for economically-disadvantaged people who are facing eviction. The city ordinances have drastically reduced evictions as well as the government costs associated with homelessness caused directly by evictions. A public awareness push - through social media, billboards, and door knocking - was also made in these cities to encourage people to show up to their eviction court dates.

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  • A record number of cities used ranked-choice voting this week. Will it make elections more inclusive?

    Ranked-choice voting has been adopted by a record number of municipalities. The system allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, and votes for the bottom candidates are reallocated to the voters second choice until one candidate wins a majority. The system has expanded opportunities for independent and third-party candidates to win elections and, in some jurisdictions, has led to greater numbers of people of color and women winning elected office.

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  • Killing gas guzzlers: what can Lithuania learn from Denmark?

    Transportation accounts for some of the most emissions in the EU, one-third, out of those 72 percent are from road transportation. In Denmark, the government places high tax-rates on vehicles and tax reductions on electric cars. The tax cuts are leading some to switch over to electric cars, and the method might be replicated in other EU countries like Lithaunia.

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  • How Zurich Blazed a Trail for Recycled Concrete

    Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, is paving the way for sustainable building. Concrete is a major contributor of climate change due to the process it requires to make it. Zurich is making steps to reduce its use. A school building was constructed in 2002 with 80 percent recycled concrete. Three years later city officials passed a requirement that required all publicly-owned buildings to be made with recycled concrete and in 2013 ordered the use of CO2 reduced cement. According to a study the effort has saved 17,000 cubic meters of virgin materials.

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  • ‘Better' podcast shines light on solutions

    Taiwan responded to COVID-19 quickly, which helped keep cases low and avoid widespread shutdowns. The country had closely tracked its PPE stockpiles since the 2003 SARS outbreak, has a national health command center to coordinate responses, and uses a well-defined set of procedures to track and manage people under infectious risk or quarantine. Masks are required and provided to every citizen, inbound travelers were quickly regulated, and contact tracing and testing is widely used to prevent outbreaks. Citizens generally listen to authorities, though fines and other sanctions also encourage compliance.

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  • Could A Ward Map Drawn By Citizens, Instead Of Aldermen, Become A Reality In Chicago?

    California residents passed Proposition 11, a redistricting reform ballot initiative, in 2008 and in 2010, voters strengthened that reform by passing a bill to allow an independent commission to redraw state and congressional lines. Fourteen people, who were selected from 30,000 applicants, spent a year holding public hearings across the state to make informed decisions on how to fairly redraw district maps. As a result, more than a dozen Congressional incumbents lost their seats, which was not an intentional outcome but rather what resulted from decisions made based on the public testimony they heard.

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  • Can we keep lumber out of the landfill?

    Pollution caused by demolition is expected to be 2.2 billion tons by 2021. However, up to 75 percent of materials in a demolition can be recycled. An alternative method to demolition is deconstruction or unbuilding. The method always for lumber and other materials that are recyclable to be salvaged. Cities like Vancouver that have passed ordinances encouraging recycling saw results. One company, "Unbuilders," that specializes in deconstruction shows that using methods like tax receipts and appraisals can lead to both profit and better results for the environment.

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  • How Bogotá's Waste Pickers Reinvented Their Jobs for a Modern City

    In Colombia, there are about 50,000 waste pickers, they collect and sort through trash to findrecyclabless to make a living. Their livelihood was threatened in the 1990s after Colombia adopted neoliberal policies that privatized trash collection. However, in 2016 the government officially recognized wastepickers as recycling service providers under a decree. That same year, the government introduced a "second payment," that supplement the income of waste pickers. Coupled, these two policies have improved the livelihood of wastepickers.

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