Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Rats are the world's best land mine hunters

    In countries like Cambodia, Angola, and Mozambique, rats are saving lives by detecting untriggered land mines. An international nonprofit, Apopo, provides funding a training and works with local organizations to operate at the local level. The rats are light enough that they don’t trigger the explosives and can cover up to 2,000 square feet in just 20 minutes – something that would take a human up to four days to complete.

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  • Could we better handle catastrophes if we knew they were coming?

    Experts warn us about disasters. Climate change, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the rise of ISIS were all predicted ahead of time. Listening to these warnings requires pushing past the desire to shut down when contemplating big catastrophes, looking critically at available data, and being willing to entertain the possibility that an event can happen that has never happened before.

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  • Communities band together to protect El Salvador's last mangroves

    Hurricane Mitch, deforestation, and flooding, were all factors that led to the decline of mangrove trees in El Salvador. The Mangrove Association, a coalition of 80 communities, is bringing the mangrove population back up.

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  • Jordan's Water Wise Women

    The country of Jordan has one of the scarcest water supplies of any country on earth - one that can barely sustain its population, especially with Syrian refugees pouring in and further straining limited resources. Poor piping infrastructure and leaks greatly contribute to the shortage. An organization called Water Wise Women is training women in plumbing skills, empowering them to repair leakages in their homes and communities to help save precious water.

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  • Ladakh's Ice Stupas

    Nearly a billion people living in the arid regions of the Himalayas depend on glaciers for their water supply. But with climate change, glaciers have been retreating drastically every year, threatening the life source of villagers like those in the Ladakh region of Kashmir. One engineer, Sonam Wangchuck, has come up with an ingenious feat of engineering to help the villages store glacier water by constructing stupas - or towers - using thorn branches that retain ice in tall structures, which melts and provides clean water for drinking and agriculture during the dry season.

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  • Getting Help in Emergencies in Super-Quick Time

    Jason Friesen, an American paramedic who had served in Haiti after the earthquake, realized that many poor communities in the Caribbean were lacking the equivalent of the United States’ 911 emergency medical services, and were facing increased death tolls as a consequence. Friesen realized he could help such communities set up emergency response systems through the use of volunteers and a simple text message exchange. Now, his organization Trek Medics simplifies and democratizes the emergency dispatch system, and, as a result, saves lives in rural communities.

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  • How do you solve half a century of bloodshed in Colombia?

    Local civil society groups are at the forefront of rebuilding Colombia. With decades of armed conflict officially ended, efforts to support a lasting peace focus on inequality and land issues and work to advance sustainable rural development.

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  • Kenyans turn to camels to cope with climate change

    In agricultural communities across Kenya, global warming has led local farmers to turn to camels -- as an alternative to cows -- for dairy products both to feed their families and take to the local markets to sell. Furthermore, with an uptick in demand both regionally and nationally for camel milk, farmers are finding themselves with new purchasing power for various goods and services.

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  • Reclaiming native ground: Can Louisiana's tribes restore their traditional diets as waters rise?

    Tribal areas in Louisiana are suffering from massive land loss due to flooding, which has taken away a lot of food sources and livelihood. In response, the First People's Conservation Council has been created, which includes tribe members, government representatives and nonprofit representatives in order to develop solutions.

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  • This Is How We Can Tackle Climate Change, Even With a Denier in Chief

    With little action happening to reverse or prepare for climate change at the federal level, local communities have taken initiative on their own. From voters in Flagstaff passing a $10 million bond to bolster forest management to the city of Tulsa buying over 1,000 flood-prone properties, across the United States people are taking non- or bi-partisan steps to increase their towns’ resilience. Core to each initiative is not a parachute, one-size-fits-all approach, rather, it’s taking a hyper-local approach, centering community strength, and moving disadvantaged populations to the forefront.

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