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  • Coat as shelter: Designer Bas Timmer creates for people who have no home

    December 08, 2020 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Netherlands, Amsterdam

    Since 2014, the Sheltersuit Foundation has distributed more than 12,000 combination jackets and sleeping bags in multiple nations to protect unhoused people from cold weather. Dutch clothing designer Bas Timmer designed the Sheltersuit, and a warmer-weather version, using donated leftover fabrics with liners from sleeping bags donated or discarded at festivals. Since the pandemic increased homelessness, the foundation has distributed the clothing to nearly 2,000 people in the Netherlands and South Africa. The foundation's workforce is made up mostly of refugees and the formerly homeless.

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  • An African American quilter confronts racism amid COVID-19

    November 17, 2020 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

    Video |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States

    The killing of George Floyd inspired a series of exhibits in Minneapolis featuring quilts made by over 100 artists depicting stories of racial injustices and also empowerment in the United States. These protest quilts join a long tradition of sharing stories of fear and perseverance experienced by Black people, especially Black women, in society. Today, these same quilters responded to Covid-19 by making masks. The over 500 members of The Women of Color Quilters Network have made close to 20,000 masks, many of which they have given for free to health care and other front line workers.

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  • Wacky tube men could keep dingoes away from livestock in Australia

    October 20, 2020 |

    Science Magazine |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: Australia, Melbourne

    Those wacky waving inflatable tube men normally seen outside car dealerships may also have a dual purpose: stopping wild dingoes from killing livestock. Inspired by a similar attempt in Oregon, scientists tested the approach in Australia, where nine of the 12 dingoes ran away in fear after seeing the tube man compared with a control group. While some conservationists aren’t convinced that the tube men are a practical solution, it could be combined with other methods to protect livestock in the Outback.

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  • The Kitchen Garden Series upends the textiles industry by reviving an old Philly tradition: producing local linen

    August 13, 2020 |

    The Philadelphia Citizen |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Pottstown, Pennsylvania

    A former costume designer and a farmer in Pennsylvania are partnering together to grow flax to produce their own linen. Since the fashion and textiles industries produce a lot of waste, the duo are reviving the crop that was traditionally grown in the area to raise awareness on the importance of a strong local textile supply chain. While harvesting the crop can be labor intensive and they don’t plan on making a profit from it this year, they hope to show that growing flax could be a staple crop in urban agriculture.

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  • Inmate-Made Masks Help Community and Those Incarcerated, Jailer Says

    July 09, 2020 |

    The Daily Yonder |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Versailles, Kentucky

    When a pandemic lockdown idled the men jailed at Woodford County Detention Center, they replaced the jobs they previously had performed in the community with work in the jail that served an immediate need: sewing protective masks. They sewed more than 28,000 masks in the first four months of the pandemic, using donated clothing as the fabric and distributing them at no cost. While the incarcerated men were paid little for their work, they said they benefited with new skills, staying active, and feeling pride in their community service.

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  • For Indigenous Zapotec Families, Spinning Becomes a Lifeline

    June 17, 2020 |

    Yes! Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Mexico, Oaxaca

    Mark Brown has brought Ghandian economic principles of economic justice and local autonomy to the Mexican countryside to form a farm-to-garment textile business that employs villagers who once made woolen textiles until the industrial clothing era started producing cheap synthetic clothing and rendered their craft unprofitable. Khadi Oaxaca aims to regenerate the village way of life in a sustainable way and employs several hundred villagers who grow the cotton, spin the thread, design the clothing and bring it to market for tourists - bringing a previously economically depressed village out of poverty.

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  • The ancient technology getting a second wind

    May 26, 2020 |

    BBC |

    Podcast |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: Costa Rica

    Old ships, powered by the wind, are being refurbished to sail small amounts of cargo around the world. While there are only a few hundred still in use, newer ships and sails are being designed and built with new technology to make the vessels more fuel efficient and produce zero emissions. While many of them are in the prototype phase, some of these ships are able to go into smaller ports and harbors that larger vessels can’t reach.

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  • A volunteer army has answered Colorado's need for masks. Denver's jails are one recent beneficiary.

    May 04, 2020 |

    The Colorado Sun |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Across Colorado, grassroots groups have come together to create homemade masks for the state’s most vulnerable populations to protect against COVID-19. Two of those populations are Denver’s Downtown Detention Center and Denver County Jail. Groups like Dena’s Mask Making Army, the Mask Mavens, and even some AA and sober living communities have rallied together – virtually, of course – to use their sewing skills to fill the mask needs, about 3 masks per person, for those experiencing incarceration.

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  • ‘Everyone wants to do their bit': The volunteers sewing scrubs for NHS workers

    April 15, 2020 |

    Positive.News |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United Kingdom, London, England

    In the United Kingdom, a grassroots network called Scrub Hub is gathering groups of volunteers to sew scrubs for hospital workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups are self-organizing, raising money on their own to buy the fabric, and have so far gathered thousands of people across the UK to help.

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  • A Sewing Army, Making Masks for America

    March 25, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    As hospitals and healthcare workers face a shortage of protective gear in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, an army of independent craftspeople have stepped up. Around the United States, they are sewing protective masks by hand, and they are making an impact. For people who are stuck at home or out of work, this is a way they can contribute, and many hospitals have begun relying on these DIY masks that are already saving lives.

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