Unlocking Potential
At-risk youth in North Carolina hold the keys to flipping a decommissioned prison into a sustainable farm and community asset.
Environment & Sustainability
39 posts
What’s the Quickest Way to Make a Big Difference, Through a Little Step? It’s Right There in the Backyard.
Change comes slowly, then all at once.
Another Look Into the ‘Heart’ of America
First, a geographic perspective. Then, the country's struggle to recognize ways in which it is changing—and might be improving.
UW student project aims to spur climate change conversations
New website features local voices to help encourage people to take part in conversations about a changing environment.
A Delicate Balance – Marrying Recreation and Preservation in Iowa
Local climbing coalition and authorities found a way to collaborate and keep access to a popular climbing area and preserve the environment.
Turning the Tides
Turtles, and people — a connected story, with an outcome you might not have guessed.
‘Mapping Common Ground’: What I learned this summer in San Diego
New reason to “think globally, and act locally.”
Past, Present, and Future on the Water: Using StoryMaps to Explore Bucksport, Maine
What does a mile-long stretch along the Penobscot River tell the walker about Bucksport, Maine? As it turns out, a lot.
A Look at Lobstering and Craftsmanship
Eastport, Maine has a long history of resilience. It’s still there today in Elijah Brice.
The River Walk Theory of Life
Bucksport's waterfront is a major natural asset for the Maine town. And along it runs Bucksport's Walkway. Here's a look at the river walk and why it matters.
Bringing a City Together: How Leaf Blowers Did It
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.
‘New Old Ideas’: A Modern CCC
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.
A Plan to Grow 90,000 Trees in Los Angeles
Using tree planting as an axis to connect job creation, climate sustainability, urban renewal, and economic equity and inclusion.
A ‘Climate Corps’ of California Volunteers
Designed to address both the causes and the effects of California's exposure to climate change.
Planting a ‘Trail of Giants’
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…
Start Planting Trees
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.…