A morning after Mardi Gras – credit, Grounds Krewe supplied Flung plastic beads, coins, and other trinkets can seem like treasures in the heat of a Mardi Gras moment, but if you’ve ever seen the streets of New Orleans the morning after, you’d recognize only trash. That’s why a coalition of government agencies and nonprofits … Read more
A Fish and Wildlife Service biologist holds a handful of endangered Topeka shiners – credit, Kimberly Emerson / USFWS Across Iowa, a tiny fish has inspired an enormous conservation program that has seen hundreds of ponds restored to their natural state. Though originally for the sake of this small federally-endangered fish, the lakelets soon demonstrated … Read more
Erwin Bosman via Unsplash From Germany comes the story of mountains of potatoes as far as the eye can see going to feed anyone and everyone in Berlin and nearby towns. For German potato farmers, the early winter potato harvest has been a bumper crop—no, a banner crop—nay, it’s a full-on food-bank-buster crop. The “potato … Read more
Brothers in India recycled a million kg of trash in 14 cities – OneStepGreener’s YouTube channel Youth comes with gifts: one of them is the inability to recognize when you should be intimidated. When two teenagers in New Delhi wanted to do something to improve the city’s waste collection, age and experience would have told … Read more
Mesfin and Kauten reunite – credit Allen Dollar Each of these men had to walk a long hard road, paved with blood, sweat, and tears, to arrive at this moment, embracing each other as both patient-physician and colleague-colleague. From his birth in a powerless, waterless village in Ethiopia 41 years ago, Mesfin Yana has often … Read more
Charlotte makes a home among the trees after being released back into the wild – credit, the Orangutan Project A female orangutan that was captured as a juvenile has been released back into the wild after four years of “jungle school.” Found chained to the rafters of a wooden cabin on the Indonesian side of … Read more
Volunteers, staff, and contractors removing derelict fencing – credit, American Prairie The largest private land conservation project in America passed a milestone of rewilding the Great Plains last year. The nonprofit American Prairie recently celebrated the new year with a report that it had successfully removed the 100th mile of derelict barbed wire fencing on … Read more
The Moosi Rani Sagar – credit, Environmental Foundation of India Ancient Indian stepwells are being restored to modern water storage facilities to help cure modern water shortages. Recently, an Indian environmentalist and editor was invited to share his incredible work restoring hundreds of natural and man-made water sources all across India on CNN. His nonprofit, … Read more
Drone dog rescue – Gina Manfredi / USAR Drone Team More than twenty-four hours had already passed with frigid temperatures outside. Gina Manfredi’s five-month old puppy was lost. The American Bully mix named Shade was headed out for a walk with Gina when a sound startled the pooch and he took off into the cold … Read more
Tim with his daughter at their tiny home Village – Courtesy of Veterans Community Project When his 2-year-old daughter Majesty fell into the foster care system, a U.S. Navy veteran faced a significant barrier in his fight to assert custody: He didn’t have a permanent address. At that point, Tim had gotten his life back … Read more