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  • University of Arizona researchers unveil new model for desert farming in warming world

    September 20, 2020 |

    Arizona Daily Star |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

    In an experimental garden in Arizona, scientists are seeing how to produce sustainable and local food in a desert environment. They’re growing plants under a photovoltaic “canopy” of solar panels that provide necessary shade for the crops and, at the same time, generate cheap, renewable energy for irrigation systems and farm equipment. So far, they’ve been able to grow basil, Anasazi red beans, and a special bell pepper. While not all crops will work in this system and scaling the garden has its challenges, learning how to grow food in the desert is necessary to adapt to a future with climate change.

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  • The art of fire: reviving the Indigenous craft of cultural burning

    September 20, 2020 |

    The Narwhal |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Tsilhqot'in Nation, Canada

    A 3-year pilot is developing a traditional fire management program for First Nation communities using cultural burns, a practice banned for over a century. Cultural burns are used to reinvigorate the landscape so that seeds and berries grow and animals return. The low intensity, slow burns also reduce wildfire risks and other issues linked to climate change, such as infestations. Stories about cultural burns are being recorded from tribal elders to preserve the rich cultural knowledge about traditional fire management techniques. First Nations hope to be able to use cultural burns on their tribal lands.

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  • Program offers alternative to calling police

    September 19, 2020 |

    Rockford Register Star |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

    For 31 years, CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) has used unarmed medics and crisis intervention experts to respond to mental health and other non-violent crises, saving money and preventing potentially violent reactions that can result from having police respond first. No effects on police officers' use of force have been measured. But CAHOOTS estimates it saves taxpayers $8.5 million annually in police costs.

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  • The US police department that decided to hire social workers

    September 19, 2020 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Alexandria, Kentucky

    When Alexandria, Kentucky's police chief realized how many of his officers' calls were for mental health crises or minor interpersonal disputes, and then how many of these unresolved problems resulted in repeat 911 calls, he hired a social worker to follow up with people to offer health and social services after the police leave. Now the department's two staff social workers do that work, costing less than hiring more police and reducing repeat calls. Alexandria is a small town, but now its approach is being copied in nearby Louisville.

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  • ‘Vigilantes' on a mission to reunite owners with their stolen bikes Audio icon

    September 19, 2020 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: England, Cambridge

    Facebook groups are reuniting bicycle-theft victims with their property by creating a place to report thefts and alerting others to be on the lookout for the bikes. A pandemic-inspired boom in bicycling, as a means to avoid public transportation, has fed a concurrent boom in bike thefts. Police praise the Facebook groups' public spirit and effectiveness, but warn of risks when confronting those trying to sell stolen bikes. More than 90% of bike theft reports to police hit a dead end, lowering faith in the police as a solution.

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  • Citizens' assemblies are increasingly popular

    September 19, 2020 |

    The Economist |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Ireland

    Citizens' assemblies have been used in a number of countries to give groups of ordinary people the chance to grapple with big, difficult problems and then recommend what actions their governments should take. Assemblies in Ireland led to referenda on subjects long considered intractable, same-sex marriage and abortion, leading to public approval of liberalized policies. As in France, the key to success is when politicians actually listen. By hearing from experts and giving a range of views space to be heard, citizens' assemblies can move people off extreme positions toward compromise.

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  • Could 80,000 family woodlot owners be the key to saving the Acadian forest?

    September 19, 2020 |

    The Narwhal |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Canada, New Brunswick

    Community Forests International created a carbon project to preserve Acadian forest. They measured and quantified carbon storage on small family-owned forest land, certified it by third-party standards, and sold the carbon offsets to an architecture and engineering firm. A conservation easement was also put on the land to ensure the forest’s longevity. The organization has stored enough carbon dioxide to equal the greenhouse gas emissions of 8,229 passenger vehicles driven for a year in three Wabanaki-Acadian forest preserves. The money raised helped buy some of the land to practice sustainable agriculture.

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  • Hi, There. Want to Triple Voter Turnout? Audio icon

    September 19, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    Vote Tripling is a get-out-the-vote strategy where volunteers set up outside of polling places, a safer pandemic option, and ask voters to text three friends with a reminder to vote. A randomized trial showed turnout was nearly 8 percentage points higher among people receiving texts. The message to vote holds more weight coming from a friend and it empowers those doing the texting, who also receive an election day reminder to send the texts. To be most effective, the technique requires a busy polling place where proximity to the polling place is legally allowed.

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  • Can't Pay Your Rent? ‘Lawtech' Is Here to Help.

    September 18, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    Soon after the federal government imposed a second moratorium on evictions, SixFifty, a tech firm, released Hello Landlord, a mobile app for tenants to generate a legally compliant form letter invoking the law with their landlords to block a threatened eviction. In the first nine days after its release, the app was used by more than 200 people. The free service is an example of what's called lawtech: technology giving access to legal information to individuals and small businesses. Hello Landlord asks 19 questions that serve to automate what a tenant's lawyer might do – if only the tenant could afford one.

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  • How schools are finding thousands of students they couldn't reach when the pandemic began

    September 18, 2020 |

    KXAN-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Leander, Texas

    For one school district in Texas, using personal relationships established before the pandemic, proved the best way to reach bilingual students in rural parts of the district who weren't showing up to remote classes. One librarian and a parent “went door-to-door there to track down students and find out how they could help families transition to virtual learning. They also had parents fill out note cards showing how many children lived in the home to make sure no child was left behind.” Other Texas districts are similarly relying on home visits to check on students. Data shows those methods work.

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