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Bug Breeders Are Cultivating Waste-Guzzling Flies to Gobble Up America's Trash

Colleen Stinchcombe

October 05, 2020 |

Future Human |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Camas, Washington

A growing number of bug breeders in the United States are raising black soldier flies to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, and food waste. The larvae can convert waste into fertilizer for crops, while also reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In one experiment at Louisiana State University, about two tons of cafeteria food waste is processed by the fly larvae. Creating a similiar system on a larger scale for municipalities can be expensive, but the flies could be a multifaceted solution to the country’s trash problem.

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Locals Question the Relevance of First Solar Power Plant in Soroti

Noah Omuya

October 03, 2020 |

Aica |

Photojournalism |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Uganda, Soroti

Four years later after a solar grid was installed in Uganda, residents of nearby villages are wondering when they will get some of that power. The 10-megawatt facility, which cost $19 million to build, was expected to provide electricity to about 40,000 homes, schools, and businesses in the area. However, almost all households in the 10 surrounding villages still use firewood for cooking. The lessons learned from this renewable energy project could help inform others as the country looks to power more parts of the country with solar panels.

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The Big Dance: Saving the Great Bear Rainforest

Andrew MacLeod

September 24, 2020 |

The Tyee |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, British Columbia

Finding common ground between environmentalists, logging companies, and indigenous communities to protect the Great Bear Rainforest in Canada took years of discussion and even a dance at an Elton John concert. But these groups were able to negotiate an agreement to make 3.1 million hectares of rainforest off limits to logging, allow 500,000 hectares available for forestry, and strengthen First Nations rights. The process could be a model for what reconciliation can look like among competing interests.

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The Sudbury model: How one of the world's major polluters went green

Sara Miller Llana

September 24, 2020 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Sudbury, Ontario

After being known as a polluted mining town, politicians, scientists, industry officials, and residents of Sudbury, Ontario, were able to come together to restore its land. After 40 years and $33.5 million, they are about halfway through recovering about 200,000 acres of land. So far, they’ve been successful at restoring air quality, neutralizing soil to allow for replanting, and restocking lakes with fish. While some locals think the mining companies should have done more, the collaborative spirit could be a model for other communities looking to improve the environment.

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

Henry Brean

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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How Efforts To Save Hawaii's Forests Are Preventing A 'Freshwater Crisis'

Claire Caulfield

September 06, 2020 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Hawaii

Landowners, state employees, environmental groups, and local hunters are working together to protect Hawaii’s forests and drinking water by eradicating invasive plants from the state’s protected forests. By allowing native plants to flourish, these forests could help combat climate change by sequestering carbon and allowing freshwater quivers to recharge with rainfall. Since 2013, the state has built 132 miles of fence to keep grazers away from forests to prevent the spread of seeds of invasive plants. However, this method can be expensive; a 1,400-acre fence cost over a million dollars.

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They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won't Anybody Listen?

Elizabeth Weil

August 28, 2020 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

California’s wildfires historically were contained through periodic but limited burning. But “misguided fire police” over many decades, focused on overzealous fire suppression, has accumulated more dry fuel, resulting in wildfires that have grown progressively larger and more dangerous. Climate change only increases the likelihood of more fires. And the inventory of unburned acreage that has accumulated is now so great that it makes it increasingly difficult to ever catch up.

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Organic fertilizers to lift African farmers out of poverty

Morgane le Cam

August 27, 2020 |

Heidi.news |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Burkina Faso, Koubri

After realizing that chemical fertilizer was doing more harm to the land than good in Burkina Faso, a Burkinese agronomist created a fertilizer from organic waste that has allowed the land to once again become fertile. Although the organic fertilizer promises a much higher increase in yields, chemical fertilizer is still widely used in the region.

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‘It's like paradise for us': the Cree Nation's fight to save the Broadback Forest

Sarah Cox

August 22, 2020 |

The Narwhal |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Quebec

Canopy works to preserve the untouched Broadback Forest, which stores twice as much carbon as the Amazon and is central to the Cree Nation. The nonprofit works with 750 corporations, including fashion brands, commercial printers, and publishers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and eliminate sourcing from biodiverse, ancient, and endangered forests. They help source waste from grain and other food harvests for packaging, paper, and fabric production and enlist companies’ support of conservation initiatives. They also partner with other groups to lobby the government to protect the Broadback forest.

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Amazon ‘women warriors' show gender equality, forest conservation go hand in hand

Rosamaria Loures Sarah Sax

August 21, 2020 |

Mongabay |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Maranhão

Women “warriors” of the indigenous Guajajara people in Brazil use drones to patrol their territory of the Amazon rainforest in an effort to prevent deforestation. Because of their work, they have been able to cut deforestation down to just 63 hectares in 2018 compared with 2,000 hectares in 2016. While the work can be dangerous and difficult at times, the women are committed to protecting the forests as a way to combat climate change. “If we don’t act, there would be no forest standing,” says one of the women warriors.

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