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This entrepreneur is plugging the world's drinking water into the (digital) cloud

Brianna Baker

November 20, 2020 |

Grist |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

“In 2015, nearly 21 million U.S. residents relied on water systems that violate the standards set by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.” Meena Sankaran is helping to reverse the trend. Her startup, KETOS, uses analytics and sensors that provide real-time data that can be sent through a mobile app. Instead of having to wait for people to monitor and process the data, or for people to get sick, data can be delivered instantaneously. “So far, the company has compiled 13 million data points from municipalities across all 50 states, spanning the last 18 years.”

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Trenton's Urban Gardens Foster Food Sovereignty and Civic Engagement

Brianna Baker

July 01, 2020 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Trenton, New Jersey

Isles, Inc. provides plants, seeds, and support to over 70 community gardens in Trenton, 20 of which belong to schools. In a city where many residents experience food insecurity, Isles also maps food-assets and food deserts, runs a training garden to teach new growers the basics of at-home gardening, and hosts a free summer camp to get young people interested in agriculture and nature. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Isles has distributed over 100 pounds of seeds, 1,000 pounds of fertilizer, and thousands of seedlings to its garden network members and shifted many instructional workshops online.

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Why This New Jersey Forager Thinks Weeds Are the Future of Food

Brianna Baker

May 19, 2020 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Jersey

Meadows + More is a farm in New Jersey that specializes in edible wild plants and its owner, Tama Matsuoka Wong, seeks to educate people about the important role wild plants could play in future food systems if disasters and climate change were to eradicate plant species. She tends over 200 varieties of wild plants that she sells to top chefs and restaurants and to home cooks. While the community of wild plant enthusiasts is small, her business has received renewed interest during the COVID-19 pandemic as people looked for alternatives to grocery stores.

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As a North Jersey Farmers Market Goes Virtual, It Finds a New Kind of Community

Brianna Baker

April 30, 2020 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Metuchen, New Jersey

In order to keep local farms and businesses afloat, the Metuchen Farmers Market in North Jersey went virtual. Volunteers for the market enlisted the help of the Canada-based Local Line to build the market's platform, which allows customers to place orders online for a weekend pickup.

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Dumplings Against Hate

Brianna Baker

April 20, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The NYC-based campaign, Dumplings Against Hate, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Asian Americans for Equality’s Emergency Small Business Relief Fund by bringing together a virtual community of support. As the COVID-19 pandemic picked up in early 2020, Chinatown restaurants and businesses saw a decrease in revenue because of xenophobia and racism, inspiring the group’s creation. Since then, it’s acted as a model for similar groups across the country, and is creating a toolkit for cities to create their own campaigns.

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Once-Struggling New Jersey Farm Offers Bounty of Vegetables and More to Social-Distancing Customers

Brianna Baker

April 16, 2020 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Pennington, New Jersey

With grocery stores at capacity with delivery services, and people not wanting to leave their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, local farms like Honey Brook Organic Farm are seeing huge increases in business. The New Jersey farm had already started shifting from a CSA model to delivery, so they used that infrastructure to easily pivot. Collaboration with other local farms has been key, so beyond their produce, they’re partnering with their network to deliver meat, eggs, and even prepared meals from local restaurants.

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How medication donation programs could be a game-changer in PA

Brianna Baker

February 25, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Cheyenne, Wyoming

Unused prescription drugs can often end up in landfills or in "the hands of those who may be vulnerable to misuse and addiction," so Wyoming has introduced a program to decrease those likelihoods from happening. This program, like that of other programs in 38 other states, collects unused medications and redistributes them to uninsured residents.

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This Philly-made "fruit hacking" tool fights food waste and saves farmers thousands

Brianna Baker

February 04, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Monitoring spikes in ethylene allows produce distributors to reduce food waste. The Philadelphia based company, Strella Biotech, uses sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) to track when produce begins to emit ethylene and ripen. By paying closer attention to the status of their produce, distributors partnering with Stella Biotech have reduced food waste and saved money in the process.

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Reusable Bag Share

Brianna Baker

November 18, 2019 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Collingswood, New Jersey

When the town of Collingswood started deliberating a bag ban, a leader from Friends of the Farmers’ Market stepped up, creating the Collingswood Bag Share. Community members were worried about the economic impact of fewer sales at the market if consumers did not have bags, and they can now purchase or borrow reusable bags in a sustainable way.

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Plans for a solar community in West Philly are halted by legislative red tape

Brianna Baker

October 23, 2019 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Gardner, Massachusetts

Pennsylvania law is preventing a Philadelphia neighborhood from converting an empty lot into a solar farm, but community members are working to fight against this by citing neighboring states that are seeing positive impact from similar projects. One such project is in Massachusetts where shared solar energy systems is helping to offset "80 percent of the power needs of a nearby assisted living facility, an affordable housing development, a family-owned hardware store and a non-profit serving those with disabilities."

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