Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Let us know what you think at [email protected].
Open house
Singapore is introducing new designs to its famed public housing — which RTBC founder David Byrne wrote about for us back in 2020 — including units with no interior walls so that kitchen, living room and multiple bedrooms are all in one space. Why? The idea, according to a Bloomberg CityLab story Executive Editor Will Doig shared this week, is to increase sustainability so that owners don’t knock down brand-new walls.
Will says:
Fun fact: All Singapore public housing built since 1996 includes a storage room with reinforced walls that can double as a bomb shelter.
Splashy plans
Soon, water projects in the Colorado River Basin will get a long-anticipated surge of federal funding: A whopping $450 million will be up for grabs. As a story shared by Editorial Director Rebecca Worby from the Colorado Sun reports, the funding minimum is $300,000, so organizations have begun dreaming and scheming for big, ambitious projects.
Becca says:
Some funding could be used for solutions RTBC has already covered, such as artificial beaver dams in Colorado.
What else we’re reading
☀️ Here’s how $4 billion in government money is being spent to reduce climate pollution — shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas from NPR
♻️ The Paris Olympics Are a Lesson in Greenwashing — shared by Contributing Editor Peter Yeung from Scientific American
🚸 Think NYC’s Roads Are Crowded? Good Luck on the Sidewalks. — shared by RTBC founder David Byrne from the New York Times
Elsewhere in our channels…
Contributing Editor Michaela Haas was interviewed for an International Journalists’ Network story on why African journalists should adopt a solutions approach in their reporting.
