Latest Stories
French Cuisine Has Gone Off the Grid
As other businesses go green, food service remains an energy-intensive outlier. Europe’s first solar-powered restaurant wants to change the recipe.
From a Prison Garden Sprouts Real Growth
Amid rows of snap peas and summer squash, incarcerated gardeners cultivate job skills, inner peace and fresh produce for the cafeteria.
The Gay ‘Green Book’ Is Going Online
A digitization project will ensure that a series of 20th century guides for LGBTQ travelers aren’t lost to history.
This Seattle Affordable Housing Project Is a Transit Rider’s Dream
The city’s transit agency is building apartments by light rail stations that folks can actually afford.
Maine Will Charge Companies to Encourage More Recyclable Packaging
The more easily a product’s packaging can be recycled, the lower the fees.
This Is the First Ecosystem With Its Own Insurance Policy
A 100-mile stretch of coral reef in Mexico is now insured just like any other valuable asset. Is this the future of conservation?
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“Community Sponsorship” Is Diversifying the Refugee Resettlement Process
Involving local groups means newly arrived refugees can be greeted by someone whose culture they recognize as their own.
A System for Sharing Household Heat Is Growing Beneath France
Green energy is generated at a central location, then shuttled through underground pipes to homes in suburban Paris.
Cleveland Is Taking Its Voter Registration Drive Literally
Registration caravans on wheels are making sure Latino communities don’t get missed.
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World’s Largest Seagrass Project Proves “You Can Actually Restore the Oceans”
A “game changing” 20-year effort suggests that even severely depleted marine ecosystems can be brought back to life.
Keeping People Out of Jail Keeps People Out of Jail
To reduce incarceration, some counties and cities have stopped automatically prosecuting minor nonviolent crimes — and crime overall has gone down. A wave of policy and policing reform has followed.
The Sounds of Healing
When musician Yoko Sen ended up in the hospital, she was overwhelmed by the cacophony of noise. What if all those beeps and alarms could sound like music instead?
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