Climate-conscious Indians tap carbon credits for greener fun

Evidence continues to build that humans are contributing to a climate change issue that is nothing but bad news for the planet. Hopeful stories from seven countries, including India, Indonesia, and China, show that efforts to combat climate change might finally be working.

A overview of 2014's Fixes columns - connecting the dots between 60 or so ways that people are trying to change the world.

The breakdown of the ozone layer is one of the most well-known effects of climate change. Citizens enact different ways to protect the atmosphere from a build up of methane gas.

The 2008 recession’s job losses spurred a development of a Do-It-Yourself economy. With the advent of Uber, Etsy, Airbnb, and others, the marketplace has become full of micro-entrepreneurs who thrive with independent web-assisted businesses.

Sexual assault, rape, and sexism are social problems that young women face and many feel powerless to create change. Non-profit organizations such as SPARK and WAM have trained teenage girls to be advocates for themselves. Online campaigns and social media have also made teenage girls feel empowered to express themselves and make social change.

New York City black tar roofs cause a number of environmental problems, including air pollution, heat absorption that raises energy consumption, and storm water runoff in the sewer system. Efforts to turn these old roofs into green spaces cool the buildings, enable the containment of more rainfall, reduce sewer discharge, generate energy, and absorb carbon emissions. New York City has a pilot program offering financial help for green roofs.

Accessible affordable health care is needed for millions of uninsured Americans. The Affordable Care Act is a viable solution that helps the uninsured. Although the launching of the website had some glitches, many states designed their own insurance marketplace and have successfully signed up people for coverage.

Colorful volumes of books have aided teaching for centuries; however, the scope of engagement in the internet age demands newer methods for pedagogy. Pinterest, a social media-constructed visual bulletin board, has become a venue in which teachers share their pinned visual media, lesson plans, and charts with students and other teachers. The success of Teaching Pinterest expands pedagogy, reduces teacher alienation, enables collaboration with other teachers, and directs readers to other sites that offer teachers’ curriculum ideas for a cost.

Teenagers around the world are at risk of indoctrination by Islamic extremism and volunteering to fight for the Islamic state. Different European nations seek to make Islamic extremism unattractive to youth by bolstering surveillance efforts, internet outreach, and teaching the Islam of peace.

Prisons in the United States are overcrowded with many non-violent offenders and the cost to keep them in jail consumes public budgets. Criminal justice reform has attracted bipartisan interest with diverse proposals to aid adjust the incarceration rate. The Urban Institute has developed an interactive “prison population forecaster,” which helps citizens to assess the impact of different policies.