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

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  • These Unsung Countries Are Vanquishing the Virus

    May 22, 2020 |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Finland

    During the onset of the pandemic, countries around the world took a variety of different measures to protect its citizens and economies. While some countries continue to be negatively affected by the coronavirus, places like Vietnam, Canada, Croatia, Finland, and New Zealand reacted by taking restrictive measures from the start and have successfully contained the virus. Responses include distributing funds to individuals and businesses on the honors system, closing down everything except grocery stores, hospitals, and pharmacies, as well as rapid implementation of widespread testing.

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  • Emptier Jails Could Stay That Way

    May 04, 2020 |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

    Cleveland’s city jail has released close to 900 inmates in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its overcrowded facilities. And the response isn’t unique – New York, LA, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, and Houston are just a few of the other cities that have taken similar measures. While an immediate response to the pandemic, advocates say the release of low-level offenders could bode well for larger prison reforms that have been slowly taking hold.

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  • Can We All Be Like Texas?

    April 27, 2020 |

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    Response Location: United States, Georgetown, Texas

    West Texas, traditionally known for its oil business, has become a thriving home for wind energy. Beyond political ideology, wind power as a form of renewable energy is thriving for economic reasons, as it can be more profitable in the long run. In Texas, tax incentives and legislation helped develop the industry, and the proliferation of wind power is being replicated in places like Wyoming and Oregon.

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  • How a Group of Political Novices Ended Gerrymandering in Michigan

    April 24, 2020 |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Michigan

    Voters Not Politicians (VPN) is a grassroots initiative that, with the help over 4,000 volunteers who knocked on 125,000 doors and canvassed at public events, collected the 400,000 signatures needed to get an anti-gerrymandering initiative on the statewide ballot. The initiative passed with 61% of the vote in 2018 and requires district boundaries be drawn by average citizens. The group’s founder also started The People, another group to help residents in other states apply VPNs model to stop gerrymandering. So far, residents in Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire are at various stages of applying the model.

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  • The Coronavirus-Proof Nation

    March 16, 2020 |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Taiwan

    Taiwan has emerged as an outlier in the fight to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, having not imposed strict or aggressive containment strategies, yet still seeing few cases reported. The country's success is linked to a culture of collective action, which also benefited from early prevention strategies.

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  • The Beautiful Place that Stopped Big Bottled Water

    March 02, 2020 |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Cascade Lockes, Oregon

    Washington State could pass one of the toughest restrictions on water bottling operations in the United States, thanks to activists who raised environmental concerns over a bottling facility that wanted to open in a town. Their advocacy is modeled after a similar legal fight in Oregon, where environmentalists, Native American tribes, and labor unions came together behind the campaign. Their success could provide a plan for similar efforts in other communities.

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  • Meet the Detectives Solving Crimes Against Trees

    February 28, 2020 |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Germany, Hamburg

    The Center of Competence on the Origin of Timber in Germany is using innovative methods to help determine timber products’ origins in order to stop illegal wood trading. Scientists can identify wood’s anatomical features and compare them with microscopic samples in the center’s digital database to determine where a piece of wood originally grew. While the process can sometimes take a while, the center has had some successes in detecting illegal logging from some manufacturers.

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  • Illegal Fishing You Can See from Space

    February 21, 2020 |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Indonesia

    A space-based initiative called Global Fishing Watch is using satellite imagery and data to hold companies accountable to their promise of providing sustainable sourced seafood. While the volume of data and cost of obtaining it can be a challenge, the organization has partnered with key collaborators to help with the effort. Countries like Indonesia and Panama are working with them to stop illegal fishing.

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  • How South Africa Ended Its Secret Births

    February 07, 2020 |

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    Response Location: South Africa

    By expanding access, using financial incentives, and increasing transparency, the South African government increased universal birth registration rates from under one-quarter of the population to 95 percent of the population over 30 years. Long associated with restricting access during Apartheid, registration rates now help residents gain access to more resources and opportunities and help the government maintain more accurate demographic data.

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  • Reforesting the Ocean

    December 17, 2019 |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Australia, Port Stephens

    In Australia, scientists have developed a method to seed the ocean floor with healthy plants as a way to regrow dying ocean forests vital to the ecosystem. They have also crowdsourced the process, with volunteers collecting healthy seagrass and depositing it in bins along the beach.

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