How Coal Country Is Cleaning Up Its Act

Austria rolled out the KlimaTicket, an annual pass that gives the holder access to all forms of public transportation in the country, to encourage increased use of public transport with an eye toward climate change mitigation. The uptake has exceeded expectations with 134,000 tickets sold within just the first two months, but it's still unclear what effect the program will have on the country's carbon emissions.

With the prices of solar technology dropping and the opportunity to save drastically on energy usage and costs, businesses and organizations across the country are investing more in solar infrastructure for their buildings and facilities. The Better Buildings Initiative of the US Department of Energy is helping by providing guidance and documenting effective approaches and financing for renewables installations - from hotels, to schools, to big box retail.

New York is determined to become a national leader in the renewable energy sector, and they are leveraging numerous approaches to help integrate better and more environmentally conscious technologies into the grid. The multi-faceted approach includes updating laws and regulations to be more renewables-friendly, hosting competitions to foster entrepreneurship and creative solutions in the field, piloting new technologies, and creating better incentives for utility companies.

Funded by federal grant money, the state, and the Office of Naval Research, Hawaii County public transit has developed its first hydrogen-powered shuttle bus. What’s been called the “fuel of the future,” hydrogen fuel cells create a power source that’s only emissions are clean water vapor. While a seemingly viable and scalable clean-energy source, such development and infrastructure requires large financial investments that many states have yet to prioritize.

Pennsylvania law is preventing a Philadelphia neighborhood from converting an empty lot into a solar farm, but community members are working to fight against this by citing neighboring states that are seeing positive impact from similar projects. One such project is in Massachusetts where shared solar energy systems is helping to offset "80 percent of the power needs of a nearby assisted living facility, an affordable housing development, a family-owned hardware store and a non-profit serving those with disabilities."

To replace lost business and keep their employees on staff, Tasmanian businesses quickly diversified into new product lines to meet COVID-19-related demand. A camera accessories firm that saw nearly all of its sales to the film and TV industries dry up became a manufacturer of face shields. A plastic manufacturer increased its business by turning out acrylic counter-top protective screens. And a whiskey distillery began producing 2,000 liters of hand sanitizer per week.

The South Central Leadership Academy was started in Los Angeles by a college student who believes that gun violence survivors like him should lead the community response in finding solutions to violence. Its first year of paying more than a dozen student survivors to learn community organizing skills succeeded in attracting funding to expand to Nashville, Baltimore, and Atlanta. COVID-19 put the latter two expansions on hold, but LA and Nashville continued with well-attended classes learning remotely. Founder Marco Vargas hopes to turn this startup into a national network of youth leadership academies.

More than 2,700 police departments in the U.S. have crisis intervention teams aimed at responding to mental health crises with fewer arrests and less violence, but the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester police custody offers clear lessons in the shortcomings and misuse of the CIT model. A lack of adequate mental health services across the country, coupled with superficial training of the police, too often means a police response to a crisis will not de-escalate the situation or lead to meaningful help for the person in crisis. A recent study found CITs have not shown they will lower violence.

The Society for Family Health developed a digital learning curriculum that intends to improve the knowledge base and train healthcare providers on how to properly administer hormonal IUDs. The digital training is available on the global learning platform Kaya and has proved to not only be more convenient and accessible, but is also more cost effective than traditional, in-person training.

Hempcrete, a combination of hemp, water, and lime, can be used as a more sustainable insulation option for buildings. The material improves energy efficiency, produces less carbon than options like fiberglass and foam, and will continue to capture carbon while used as insulation.