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Saving the Great Lakes, one laundry load at a time

Erika Engel

May 13, 2022 |

CollingwoodToday |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Parry Sound, Ontario

A pilot experiment in Canada shows that adding a filter on a washing machine can prevent microfibers from entering the wastewater system and ending up in marine ecosystems. After installing these filters on machines in a community, there was a 41 percent decrease of microfibers in the washing machine liquid waste. This will not keep all microfibers from ending up in the environment, but legislators are working on passing bills requiring manufacturers to get these filters installed on new machines.

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How San Antonio prioritizes helping low-income residents with their water bills

Conor Morris

May 05, 2022 |

The Land |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio’s water discount program has a higher enrollment rate compared to other cities, making it a successful initiative worth emulating. An emphasis on outreach to increase enrollment, a donor-funded emergency relief program, simpler applications, and bilingual representatives have all helped to increase the number of households enrolled in the program.

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What can Philadelphia learn from Cleveland's water department?

Conor Morris

May 04, 2022 |

The Land |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland’s water affordability initiative has provided relief to qualified homeowners in the city. The Homestead Water program alleviates debt and locks in reduced water utility rates. The program also has a streamlined application process, which has led to higher enrollment rates.

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A tale of two cities' water bills: how one place was able to reduce mounting utility costs for low-income households and how Ohio may follow suit

Conor Morris

May 02, 2022 |

Eye On Ohio |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia’s Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) provides water debt alleviation and locks water bill rates to 2-3 percent of a household’s income. The program provides a unique security net to qualified homeowners in the city. Cleveland has the potential to provide a similar benefit to its residents with a few manageable changes.

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What can Cleveland learn from Philadelphia's ambitious experiment in water billing?

Conor Morris

May 02, 2022 |

The Land |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia’s Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) provides water debt alleviation and locks water bill rates to 2-3 percent of a household’s income. The program provides a unique security net to qualified homeowners in the city. Cleveland has the potential to provide a similar benefit to its residents with a few manageable changes.

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Solar Power Is Clean and Cheap, But Still Has Challenges to Overcome

Ethan Brown

March 25, 2022 |

The Sweaty Penguin |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, San Jose, California

Solar energy is a clean, cheap, renewable, and land-efficient resource, making it a valuable technology to scale up in the face of climate concerns and clean energy. Diversifying the supply chain for creating and sourcing solar panels can help make solar energy more reliable when faced with geopolitical and human rights issues.

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Oregon Is Turning Sewage into an Endless Supply of Green Energy

Britany Robinson

March 17, 2022 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Clackamas county, Oregon

A wastewater treatment plant in Oregon not only cleans water that is released into the local river, but it also creates fertilizer that is sent to farmers to use on non-food crops and it produces renewable power from methane. The green energy created at the plant heats five buildings on the site and produces half of the energy the facility uses. This kind of co-generation system is growing in other places in the United States, China, Brazil, and Norway.

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How to recycle the unrecyclable

Kai Steinecke

February 11, 2022 |

Deutsche Welle (DW) |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Germany

A chemical recycling plant in Germany is taking old tires and turning them back into their original components. From there, those materials can be used in the production of insulation, steel, and oil. The gas that is discharged during the process is also used to power the whole plant. Other plants around the world are also exploring how to take plastic waste and chemically recycle it instead of burning it, so there are less carbon emissions.

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The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world

Chelsea Wald

February 09, 2022 |

Nature |

Photojournalism |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Gotland

Companies and research initiatives around the world are developing and testing new toilets that can collect human urine and turn it into fertilizer. These urine diversion toilets have been implemented in places like South Africa with mixed results. However, researchers in Sweden are using portable toilets to gather the urine, dry it into fertilizer pellets that are then used to grow barley for beer. This work could show how to implement these kinds of toilets on a large scale.

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Relief for Northeast Ohio renters' sewer bills is here, but will they take advantage of it?

Conor Morris

January 21, 2022 |

ideastream |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

The Sewer Affordability Program helps low-income sewer customers is expanding and allowing renters to apply, offering a 40% discount for those who are eligible. The change will make an additional 20,000 customers eligible for the program, for a total of 40,000 newly eligible customers.

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