One hive at a time, backyard beekeepers try saving Detroit, the world

Bees and other pollinator populations have been rapidly declining, threatening food production nationwide, but urban beekeeping is helping to fight against this trajectory. In Philadelphia, rooftop beekeeping has become the norm for one section of the city, where the honey harvested goes directly to the businesses in the area.

When a people in Playa El Jobo, La Cruz realized that their beaches were home to sea turtle eggs, they took action to protect the species by joining together. What started as a neighborhood effort to patrol the beaches has now turned into a successful NGO that collects data for research purposes and teaches tourists, students and children how to become research assistants.

Grassroots organizations, Empowered by Light and Empower Generation, are killing two birds with one stone: bringing clean energy to rural Nepal, and creating jobs for Nepalese women in the environmental sector. By helping to install electricity-generating solar panels, which simultaneously prevents illegal animal poaching, women are provided not only with a stable income and a ladder to reliable economic growth, but also with a rich work-life balance, allowing them to become “clean energy entrepreneurs” while continuing to care for their families and tend to their village’s needs.

Cooperative ownership provides an avenue through which local nonprofit organizations and businesses can retain ownership of real estate. In Oakland, California, the Oakland Community Land Trust uses federal grants and donations to then acquire and retain ownership of commercial and residential properties. In cases where funds offered by the Trust or from crowdfunded donations are not sufficient, as with the Hasta Nuerte worker owned co-op coffee shop, offering up equity in the venture to private investors can help raise capital.

As a new railway is built in Kenya, conservationists are using satellite collars to study elephant movement and how they interact with the transport system. There are some overpasses at various points throughout the track for the elephants to cross through, but little is known about how they are passing under the railway. While building overpasses can be costly, conservationists hope the data can convince the government to ensure that any future infrastructure will include this design to allow the animals to migrate.

Two columns on microconsignment, a new variation on microcredit that helps poor people living in developing countries - particularly women in rural villages - start small social businesses without taking on debt or requiring previous business skills. The organization, Soluciones Comunitarias, partners with a non-profit and a university student program to manage the supply chain and other components of the business necessary to support the social entrepreneurs in successful micro-ventures.

Ivan Lozano Ortega went from running a wildlife rescue center to breeding and selling critically endangered poison dart frogs, legally. He’s trying to stop poachers from taking the few frogs remaining in the wild in Colombia by making the species readily available to collectors.

The Restaurant Resiliency Program, which was adapted as a government initiative during COVID, tied up restaurants with charities with the aim of ensuring that vulnerable communities had access to meals while the restaurants were able to keep their business running in those uncertain times. However, when the funding abruptly ended on February 3 without reaching all the beneficiary restaurants, it showed how the much-needed program required better implementation and thought.

A startup in California called Crop Swap LA is converting unused front yards into community gardens that can grow crops like kale, rainbow chard, and tomatoes as a way to feed neighbors. Community members can pay for subscriptions for up to $43 a month to receive a bundle of greens and vegetables from the microfarms and homeowners get a share of the profits. Each garden needs to have the proper maintenance, which can make it difficult to scale, but these gardens can help provide access to food to those who don’t have a grocery store in their area.

The 8th Street Collective, a loose organization of Oakland food industry workers, and Oakland Bloom, a group that supports refugee and immigrant chefs, opened a new restaurant, bar, and community hub space. A team of four worker-leaders rotates operational roles of Understory, the restaurant, and are working with lawyers to become cooperatively owned. The restaurant serves a pop-up-style rotating menu four days a week, including dishes by Oakland Bloom chefs and the other days are dedicated to the nonprofit’s incubator and training program called Open Test Kitchen, as well as other programming.