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A River's Right to Flow

Sara Van Note

October 22, 2021 |

bioGraphic |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Mexico

In order to preserve and protect rivers a new movement that grants rivers personhood rights is growing. In places like New Zealand and Oregon, where some of these measures have passed rivers have the right to flow without having to be used as a resource for consumption. In New Mexico, the state engineer approved a water lease submitted by the National Audobon Society. The lease allows about 13 million gallons of water to flow annually solely for its own sake, similiar to personhood rights. The creative approach is one way conservationists are fighting for water preservation.

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The Clever Architectural Feature That Makes Life on Bermuda Possible

Luke Fater

March 31, 2021 |

Atlas Obscura |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Bermuda

There is no natural freshwater source on Bermuda, so residents turn to rainfall as a way to fulfill their water needs. The white limestone Bermuda roofs are used to catch and redirect rain into underground tanks that serve as their primary source of freshwater. Droughts happen, which has led to other solutions, but the limestone roofs are still primarily their largest source of freshwater.

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An ancient people with a modern climate plan

Jim Morrison Jovelle Tamayo

November 24, 2020 |

The Washington Post |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Swinomish Reservation, United States, Fidalgo Island, Washington

The Swinomish tribe in Washington state is combining traditional knowledge and science to combat the effects of climate change and improve the health of its land, water, and people. In recent years, their salmon harvest has diminished due to warming waters, but they’ve instituted salmon recovery efforts by restoring tidelands and channels and planting trees along stream beds to cool the waters. Their focus on ecosystem and community health could be a model for other Indigenous tribes looking to create their own climate plans.

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Bridging the gender gap through groundwater monitoring in a Rajasthan village

Sahana Ghosh

June 29, 2020 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Hinta, Rajasthan

A group of farmers in India have been trained to monitor their village’s groundwater levels to help its residents make more informed decisions about irrigation based on water availability. The farmers-turned-researchers are known as “Bhujal Jaankars” and they monitor rainfall, dam water levels, and water quality to notify residents so they can plant crops that don’t require a lot of water. While there is a lack of gender diversity in the group, they are working on developing training to include more functional literacy skills to encourage participation from others.

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WFP uses new tech to fight refugee food shortages in Jordan

Melanie Saltzman Christopher Livesay Alessandro Pavone

February 01, 2020 |

PBS NewsHour |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Jordan

Jordan is dealing with an influx of Syrian refugees that are putting a strain on already scarce resources like water. In response, the United Nations World Food Program has started to grow barley and other foods hydroponically in a process that uses 90% less water than traditional methods. Beyond the innovations in the lab, new technology is also allowing refugees to shop freely in local supermarkets and use their irises—checked with eye scans—to pay for their groceries from their given funds. This eliminates the threat of theft and is improving food access across Jordan.

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Desertification Is Devouring India. But There's Hope in the Dunes

Rishika Pardikar

November 13, 2019 |

OZY |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: India, Laporiya, Rajasthan

The people of a small village on the edge of the Thar Desert have managed for decades to resist "desertification" -- degradation of arid land to the point that it is uninhabitable -- by storing monsoon waters for use later. The storage device, rectangular plots of land called chaukas, have worked well enough to be copied by dozens of other villages in the area. It is uncertain if this approach can reverse the loss of land, but it is at least holding off the rapid pace of desertification, which risks mass displacements of people as hundreds of millions of acreage is lost.

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Water from air: ASU professor's technology produces clean drinking water around the globe

Chelsea Hofmann

November 07, 2019 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Phoenix, Arizona

An elementary school program is teaching students about renewable energy in action. By working with the startup Zero Mass Water, educators can share lessons from the company’s hydropanels, which use solar energy to capture water from the air and turn it into drinking water. The technology is now being used worldwide.

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Coastal Recovery: Bringing a Damaged Wetland Back to Life

Jim Morrison

May 09, 2019 |

Yale Environment 360 |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Milton, Delaware

A coastal recovery project in Delaware Bay is using a technique that they call "engineering with nature" to bring back the 4,000 acres of wetlands from the disastrous effects of human interference and climate change. They use a multitude of strategies, such as stabilizing the dunes and replanting native grasses, and although they approach the project as a research study without progress yet, they have already begun to see a return of wildlife including birds, eels, and crabs. Similar efforts to restore wetlands are also taking off across the globe.

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pH7

Chad Reich

May 02, 2019 |

Ohio University School of Media Arts & Studies |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Appalachia, Ohio

After the legacy of acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines in Appalachian Ohio, there are several initiatives working to clean up the rivers and streams. Change-agents from universities, local organizations, and the government joined together in the 1990s to use both active and passive methods of neutralizing the pH level of the streams. Since then, they've brought the pH acidity down from 4.5 to 7 and grown the number of fish species from 4 to 37, and efforts are still ongoing and optimistic.

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Could Hawaii Be Paradise For Hydrogen-Powered Public Transit?

Laura Bliss

April 22, 2019 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Hawaii

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.

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