Solutions Journalism Network

Gas flaring penalties have done little to prevent the practice in Bayelsa, Nigeria, so locals are calling for changes like diverting it to produce usable energy and creating strong policies to regulate it.

In an effort to lower electric rates and move toward more renewable energy, Kauai residents raised funds to acquire and turn the area’s for-profit utility company into a locally owned cooperative, the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC). When it was formed in 2008, KIUC pledged to reach 50% renewable electricity by 2023, and last year it was already generating 60% of its energy from renewables like solar power.

Energy Savers Network helps people cut down on their energy waste by making home improvements like tightening air seals, insulating hot water heaters and replacing lightbulbs. The Network has helped more than 1,000 homes since forming in 2017 and, on average, the improvements have helped cut energy use by about 15%.

After experiencing extreme flooding, Hoboken, New Jersey, has reduced its flood risk by rebuilding its sewers to add capacity and designing new infrastructure, like parks, to collect and redirect storm water.

The Colorado-based mycology center Boulder Mushroom is spreading fungi mycelium — the underground, root-looking part of a mushroom — across forest floors that were thinned to mitigate wildfires. The mushrooms quicken the pace at which sawdust and other potential fire fuel decays and improve soil health.

People across Argentina are earning an income during a severe economic crisis by joining recycling cooperatives. Members collect recyclables off the street and are paid by the co-ops by material and weight.

The startup Puna Bio collects microbes that live on the high-altitude La Puna plateau and turns them into a product that farmers can apply to soybeans to increase yields and improve soil health. Since they adapted to survive in such a harsh climate, the microbes can survive depleted soil and extreme weather to pass along key nutrients and antioxidants to crops.

In Spain's Bay of Cádiz, locals have spent years collaborating with universities, scientists, and government entities to restore their bay's traditional salt marshes. The results? A revived economic sector, a community adapted to rising sea levels, and protected migratory birds.

Germany is a world leader in recycling, specifically in the city of Kiel, which was recently declared a “zero waste” city. The city achieved this status through a series of eco-friendly initiatives, aimed at increasing recycling and reducing waste, from bans on single-use items to bottle buyback programs to simply encouraging locals to make more environmentally-friendly behavior changes.

With funding and support from the Heritage Foundation Pakistan, a remote, off-grid village installed a solar energy system that supplies residents with free power and has improved their quality of life.

Two Texas-based companies are 3D printing homes in an effort to combat the housing crisis and produce fewer emissions than a typical home construction. The companies lay the foundation and rebar for support. Then, a machine with a robotic arm builds up the walls by printing layers of a cement-like material.

As the drought in Kenya drags on, people are collecting water from the air by using plastic to funnel fog off of trees into buckets at night or a machine that pulls water from hot, moisture-filled air like a dehumidifier would.

The concept of “sponge cities” is taking off as a way to prevent flooding. This style of urban design focuses on creating environments that absorb more water with plants and open ground as opposed to pipes and concrete.

Cities in California are turning to goat herders to manage the dead trees and shrubs that become fuel for wildfires. Goats will eat almost anything and are adept at getting to places humans find difficult to reach.

A hydraulic network of man-made water tanks built 2,000 years ago, called an ellangawa, collects rainwater that locals in Maeliya, Sri Lanka, can release during the dry season to support the rice crop and recharge the groundwater.

Residents of Cambridge, Massachusetts, are planting Miyawaki forests to help regenerate the local ecosystem, sequester carbon, and cool the air. Originally created in Japan, these forests consist entirely of native plants made to mimic a natural forest in a small area of urban land.

The Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) framework combines analytics and local expertise to assess fire risk by marking out locations on a map where fire can best be stopped. The risk is then used to identify where best to suppress the fire and where it can continue to burn to benefit the environment and prevent future fires. From there, experts decide how to respond to a fire in each section of the map in advance, which can also include prevention tactics.

As extreme climate events become more common, farmworkers are banding together to demand preparation, transparency, and resilience so they can stay safe while on the job.

Schools in California are offering more plant-based options to make lunch more climate-friendly, healthier, and more inclusive for those with dietary restrictions or preferences.

Farmers in Iowa are slowly turning to irrigation systems instead of relying solely on rain to combat more frequent droughts.

For two decades, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds has restored native trees on ​​São Miguel Island to increase the food and nesting habitat available for the Azores bullfinch. As a result, the population of the bird increased enough to be downlisted from critically endangered to vulnerable.

Federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act and added incentives from the state of Colorado and its municipalities is drawing in clean energy companies, creating new jobs, and helping the state meet its decarbonization goals.

The nonprofit Marine Cultures is teaching single mothers and divorced women in Zanzibar, Tanzania, to farm sea sponges to increase their income and improve gender equality. Sea sponges are a better option than typical seaweed farming because they are more resilient to climate change impacts like increasing water temperatures.

ElectrifyPDX educates residents of Portland, Oregon, about the importance of decarbonizing their homes and the rebates and tax breaks available to do so. The nonprofit hosts events, webinars, giveaways, and open houses at local electrified homes.

As deadly heat waves become more common, cities are looking to increase social infrastructure and community connections to keep vulnerable community members safe from the heat.