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More stories for tomorrow – already today and everywhere: in German and English and as Creative Commons articles to encourage broad distribution and sharing.
©imall imall, a philanthropic online store for universities, is the first Chinese Online-to-Offline (O2O) community e-commerce business. The imall team uses an online platform to create a philanthropic cycle of goods and capital.
Karihwanoron-Schule | © Caroline Montpetit When we speak to the Mohawks of the Kahnawake Indian Reserve in their mother tongue, if only to say thank you or goodbye, we immediately see a smile appear on their face.
Photo (CC BY-NC): Dana Ritzmann A resourceful skater is on a mission to develop public spaces in Amman. This is the story of Jordan’s first skate park.
Photo (CC BY-NC): Dana Ritzmann “48 millones” is an initiative designed to make visible and connect regional leaders in Colombia, thereby strengthening their efforts to rebuild the country after the long awaited end of the armed conflict.
Foto (CC BY-NC-ND): El-Takeiba Center for Artistic and Cultural Development Ahmad Hassan wants to offer culture for all – that is why he opened a cultural center in a suburb of his hometown of Cairo, inspiring the locals with theater, film and photography.
© Colourbox/Hardyuno A German couple with a vacation home in Witless Bay, Newfoundland have called to life an initiative to save puffins, the famous seabirds of Canada’s Atlantic coast, from stranding on the coastal streets due to light pollution.
Photo: Noom Peerapong / Unsplash “It’s not enough to say how many people saw a film or how many Facebook likes it got,” says impact producer Hattie Archibald. “At Screen Impact, we help documentary films create real social change.”
Photo (CC BY-NC-ND): Michael Schrenk / FUTURZWEI Computer geeks in Rostock have set up a communication network for citizens that blocks intelligence agencies and businesses that use data for commercial purposes.
Photo (CC BY-NC-ND): turntoo Forget about energy-efficient construction – architect Thomas Rau is a step ahead already, getting manufacturers and companies to handle raw materials sustainably and take responsibility even after they sell them.
Photo (CC BY-SA): Antonio Moya The scene is almost always the same: a traffic jam at the doors of Spanish primary schools. Hardly any children are seen without their parents. An initiative in the town of Jávea seeks to counter this way of doing things. It has rediscovered the street for schoolchildren.
Photo (CC BY-ND): Kostas Katrios More and more Greeks move away from the cities and start over as farmers. A beekeeper, an olive farmer and a mushroom grower tell us their stories.
Photo (CC BY-SA): Karen Olsen / Cedarsong Nature School Children at Cedarsong Nature School spend their first school years – rain, shine, and snow – in five acres of Washington State forest.
Photo: Sumando Energías A hot shower, even where there is no electricity: low-income families in Argentina build their own solar water heaters using recycled materials. A non-profit organization hosts the workshops, gathers helpers and shows participants how to utilize renewable energy.
Photo (CC BY-NC): Dana Ritzmann A Jordanian journalist teaches Hebrew to her compatriots. There is a lot of interest in the neighbor’s language in Amman, yet classes are hard to find.
Photo (CC BY-NC-ND) Dutch “butcher” Jaap Korteweg is on a mission to compete with industrial meat production. No animals are harmed in the process.
Photo (CC): Kevin Ahearn The US start-up Bureo fights ocean pollution and supports Chilean fishing communities by upcycling discarded fishing nets into skateboards.
Photo: © Sweet Beginnings, LLC In Chicago, Sweet Beginnings helps people returning from prison learn how to make a living with bees – changing ideas about ecology and imprisonment along the way.
Photo (CC): Jessieca Leo The ancient culinary craft of fermentation is bubbling up once again. In a climate-constrained future, it could preserve both food and cultural diversity.
Photo: Tapis Brigasques French sheep breeders and wool crafters join forces to restructure an ancient trade.
Photo (CC BY-SA): Tegan Gregory Arcadia Mobile Market tackles food insecurity in Washington, D.C., by driving the grocery store around. Is food security just a school bus away?
Photo: Jun Michael Park North Korean defector Lee Ae-ran introduces South Koreans to the food of the North. With her restaurant Neungra Bapsang, she also helps other female defectors make a living.
Photo (CC BY-SA): Fleet Farming Bike-riding farmers in Orlando, Florida, are helping communities produce their own food—right on their own front lawns.
Photo: Richard Walker Coral reefs are vital for the health of the planet, but they’re dying. In Fiji a coral gardener is trying to save the world, one reef at a time.
Photo (CC-BY-SA): Real Good Fish Community-supported fisheries bring the benefits of community-supported agriculture to the seas. Customers support their local economies, while receiving the freshest of seafood.
Photo (CC BY-SA): Jeremy Koslow The Allegheny Mountain Institute is finding innovative ways to replant a local agricultural economy in rural Appalachia.
Photo: Mary O'Brien Two California artists are creating public sculptures that heal damaged ecosystems and eventually disappear back into nature.
Photo (CC BY-NC-ND): Zacharias Thiel / ProSpecieRara The project Urban Tomatoes has Swiss urbanites enthusiastically farming tomatoes while producing free seeds for all.
Photo (CC BY-NC-ND): Lígia Nassif The choir group Meninas de Sinhá, comprised of women from 54 to 97 years old, has presented its members with an alternative to aches and depression for 20 years.
© SquareOne Villages Tiny houses in Eugene, Oregon, provide the formerly homeless with a sense of ownership and community.
Photo (CC BY-NC-ND): Ardelaine In 1975, five penniless friends began restoring an old spinning mill in an attempt to revive the local wool industry. Today, the coop Ardelaine and its partners employ about 50 workers.
Photo by Jack Baran. An artist uses her creativity to fight the construction of natural gas pipelines.
Photo (CC BY-NC-ND): Diego Buarque A collective contributes to the transformation of a neighborhood in Recife through action taken by residents.
Foto (CC BY-SA): Leslie Malone The University of the District of Columbia is leading the charge in transforming the food system in a city challenged with high levels of poverty, obesity, and population growth.
Photo (CC BY-SA): Little Free Libraries A free community book exchange launches the Little Free Library movement—with 40,000 locations in 70 countries worldwide.
Knotting carpets by hand, programming apps, opening up new possibilities: with the Berlin initiative Kommen und Bleiben (Come and Stay) designers and artists harness their resources to support refugees. In so doing, they aren’t only shaping Germany’s immigrant-friendly culture but also rekindling the notion of political art.
An abandoned brewery site near the very heart of Australia’s largest city has been reborn, and it’s becoming the toast of the town.
At CUCULA, a “refugees’ company for crafts and design”, five young asylum seekers are building sustainable livelihoods for themselves by making and selling designer furniture.
Josef Sichler has switched his farm to organic. And become an activist: He convinced his dairy distributor to accept milk only from farmers who rear their livestock GMO-free.
