Big Little Ideas Archives - Page 3 of 3

The Keene Valley Library in Keene, New York

Allie Kuroff
February 8, 2022

Not all bridges are physical. The ways communities are connecting with one another, and themselves, is happening differently in light of COVID-19 and with new tools like OurStoryBridge: an online platform that captures and houses community stories.

The University of Charleston, through the mist, in a scene from Our Towns. (HBO)

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Civic Life

The Past, the Future, the Present: Updates from Coast to Coast

James Fallows
January 28, 2022

A Fellow named, college services goes big, and scenes from a Day of Enlightened Living—here are three updates on stories we've been following on this site over the years.

Gas is out. Battery is in. Sign sitting in a snowy yard.

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Environment & Sustainability

Bringing a City Together: How Leaf Blowers Did It

James Fallows
January 19, 2022

This is the story of how citizens worked together toward a common goal in Washington, D.C. The story involves a change on the local level with significant, positive implications for other parts of the country and beyond.

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Governance

Ajo, Charleston, and Eastport take to the digital stage to talk rural resilience

Ben Speggen
November 7, 2021

What do Ajo, Arizona; Charleston, West Virginia; Eastport, Maine have in common? For starters, they were all featured in a recent panel discussion that Our Towns hosted at the Rural…

Students on university campus at tree-planting event

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Civic Life

‘New Old Ideas’: A Modern CCC

James Fallows
May 24, 2021

American history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. Crises keep cropping up—and so do ideas and solutions. Many innovations from the 1930s have new relevance for the post-pandemic 2020s. Here is an example, and the thinking behind it.

Three people holding shovels planting trees.

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Trees

A Plan to Grow 90,000 Trees in Los Angeles

James Fallows
May 17, 2021

Using tree planting as an axis to connect job creation, climate sustainability, urban renewal, and economic equity and inclusion.

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Libraries

Why Some Libraries Are Eliminating Fines

Deborah Fallows
December 4, 2020

Are fines consistent with a fundamental mission of libraries: to serve the public with information and knowledge? And to address that mission equitably across the diverse population of rich and poor library users?

Hand holding camera lens that is magnifying a city.

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Arts

Photos Can Trigger Change in a Town

Deborah Fallows
November 22, 2019

In 2008, National Geographic photographer Jodi Cobb and photographer and former Second Lady, Tipper Gore, talked about the role of photography at the then Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The…

Mehmet McMillan, founder of WildPlaces, and Shelley Forbes, of Otis College, at the seedling-shipping ceremony last week.

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Trees

Planting a ‘Trail of Giants’

James Fallows
November 11, 2019

Last month, as part of a “Big Little Ideas” series, I mentioned a surprisingly valuable short-term step that communities can take, on their own, for positive climate effects. That is to start planting…

City of Asylum houses on Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh

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Language

A River of Words in Pittsburgh

Deborah Fallows
October 21, 2019

As we've traveled around the country with our American Futures and Our Towns projects since 2013, my husband, Jim, and I have evolved from being skeptics to evangelists about the impact of public arts on communities.

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Trees

Start Planting Trees

James Fallows
October 13, 2019

Recently Deb Fallows kicked off a series of “Big Little Ideas”—innovations or reforms that could be applied fairly easily at the local level and that might have cumulatively very important effect.…

The Nashville Public Library (Wangkun Jia / Shutterstock)

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Libraries

A Big Little Idea From Nashville

Deborah Fallows
September 30, 2019

During our travels visiting towns and cities across the country for American Futures and now Our Towns, Jim Fallows (my husband) and I have encountered story after story of short, sweet initiatives…