The Short Tale of How One City Got Its Citizens to Revamp Their Daily Commute

In 2013, 75 percent of Americans drove by themselves to work each day. In Chattanooga, Tenn., that figure was 90 percent, and the city had the poor air quality, high obesity rates and gridlock to show for it. Something needed to change, but how do you convince thousands of dedicated drivers to overhaul their method of getting to work?
Funded by a $600,000 Federal Highway Administration grant, GreenTrips launched in the southern city in June 2013. The program encourages residents to record each trip they make by foot, bike, bus or carpool and rewards them with swag, such as meals at burger joints and burrito restaurants, gift certificates to local florists and gyms, free bikeshare memberships and more. The hope is that great local incentives, along with a ridesharing app that encourages carpooling and a dashboard that shows how much a person saves on transportation, will motivate Chattanoogans to rethink how they travel.
“We felt like if we could get people to see there are other ways to get around, and make it easier for them to do so, we might not have some of the problems that we had,” says Melissa Taylor, director of strategic long-range planning for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County/North Georgia Transportation Planning Organization, the group overseeing the program.
So far, only 1,491 of Chattanooga’s 173,000 residents have enrolled, but the results are startling. In three years, more than 2.4 million miles of healthier, greener travel have been logged — that’s enough to save 82,552 gallons of gasoline and prevent 1.6 million pounds of pollution from entering the atmosphere. Additionally, participants have burned 14 million calories.
Especially satisfying is that what began as a program embraced by urban professionals has slowly expanded its reach, including many participants that reside in economically disadvantaged areas. “It’s not just the $1,000 urban biker. It’s a lot of people who are using carpools better to reduce some of their household costs,” explains Taylor.
Despite its success, challenges remain. GreenTrips needs to recruit more members and get another federal grant to extend the funding that ends at the end of this calendar year. But internal surveys have found that once people give new kinds of travel a try, they tend to do it again. “Not only are they receiving rewards for trips they’re already taking, but [GreenTrips] makes them more likely to take those kinds of trips in the future.”
In order to reduce this country’s greenhouse gas emissions, more Americans need to change their behavior. But as the results
MORE: Will Cars of the Future Run on Algae?

The Unlikely Activists Putting a Stop to Sexual Trafficking, A Better Way to Harness the Power of the Sun and More

 
Truckers Take the Wheel in Effort to Halt Sex Trafficking, NPR
Rarely spoken about in America, forced prostitution is typically thought of as a crime that’s committed in other countries but not our own. A new awareness group — Truckers Against Trafficking — teaches those spending their days on interstate highways how to spot enslaved or “owned” young women.
New Concentrating Solar Tower Is Worth Its Salt with 24/7 Power, Scientific American
The sun is a fabulous source of clean, renewable energy, but it has its limitations. Until now. California’s Crescent Dunes’ solar power facility utilizes unique technology that stores enough electricity to power 75,000 homes, even when it’s dark or cloudy — overcoming a problem that’s baffled scientists for decades.
Sandra Bland, One Year Later, The Marshall Project
Bland’s jailhouse death prompted calls to reform the Texas criminal justice system. So far, jailers have been trained in de-escalation techniques, new intake forms are being used statewide and workers must complete annual suicide prevention training. Is reforming bail and how jails deal with mental health issues up next?
MORE: Going Solar Is Cheaper Than Ever. Here’s What You Need to Know About Getting Your Power From the Sun
 

Giving Mickey Mouse an Energy Boost Helps the Environment, How One Neighborhood Transformed Itself from the Country’s Worst and More

 
Want Power? Fire Up the Tomatoes and Potatoes, National Geographic
In Florida, scientists discovered that the tomato can be transformed from a lycopene storehouse into an electrical powerhouse. Considering that the annual surplus in South Florida could power Disney World for three months, is a new type of utility — one that’s fueled by food waste — in the state’s future?
How Cincinnati Salvaged the Nation’s Most Dangerous Neighborhood, Politico
Simply put, in 2009, Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood was the nation’s worst. When city government couldn’t provide a lifeline to the downtrodden area, a nonprofit private development company stepped in. Now, in just seven short years, the community is experiencing a blossoming transformation.
New California Law Could Keep Guns Away from People Like Omar Mateen, Reveal
After a mass shooting tragedy in 2014, the Golden State proved that it’s possible to pass sensible gun legislation. Its gun violence restraining order can prevent someone from purchasing or possessing a firearm for 21 days if law enforcement or a family member is worried they’ll turn violent.
MORE: The Surprising Second Life of Urine

Renewable Energy’s Role Model, The Written Word Brings Life to the Homeless and More

 
Guess Which State Towers Over All the Others on Wind Energy?, onEarth
In a state known for caucuses and cornfields, renewable energy has taken root. More than 30 percent of Iowa’s in-state electricity generation already comes from wind — and it’s only going to increase, thanks to a new wind farm housing a turbine that’s taller than the Washington Monument.
Using Literature as a Force for Good Among Austin’s Homeless Population, CityLab
Barry Maxwell, a former resident of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, is paying it forward. As founder of Street Lit, he collects donated books and provides a creative writing class (participants write short stories, poetry, blog posts) to create a sense of community among those living on the streets.
Choosing a School for my Daughter in a Segregated City, New York Times Magazine
More than 60 years after the monumental Brown vs. Board of Education court ruling, New York City public schools remain some of the most racially- and economically-divided in the country. So where does a middle-class African-American family enroll their daughter: A segregated, low-income public school or a “good” public or private one?
 

A Problematic Industry Joins the Climate Change Movement, Much-Needed Health Care Reaches the Latino Community and More

 
U.S. Agricultural Secretary Thinks Farmers Can Help Solve Global Warming, Scientific American
Those that work the land inflict some of the worst harm on it. But as a recent report reveals, members of the agriculture community — farmers, ranchers, foresters — are beginning to change their planet-damaging ways. As they reform what they grow and how they grow it means that farmers soon could cease being one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas pollution.
Students Fill a Gap in Mental Health Care for Immigrants, NPR
For immigrants in need of mental health care, a lack of documentation or insurance often means illnesses remain untreated. Across the nation, understaffed health clinics and universities are joining forces to improve access to services for depression, anxiety and more. Through these partnerships, Master’s and Ph.D. students play a vital role in treating mental illness in the Latino community.
Vermont Becomes First State to Require Drug Makers to Justify Price Hikes, STAT News
Last year, the pharmaceutical industry got a bad rap when Martin Shkreli hiked up the price of an HIV drug by more than 5,000 percent. In response, the Green Mountain state passed a law holding drug companies accountable for price increases. Could this move stunt medical innovation or will it protect citizens from unreasonable costs?

The Volunteer Army That’s Powering Denver’s Environmental Revolution

A decade ago, inspired by Al Gore’s documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Denver residents Sue Okerson and Kevin Suchlicki met up with other neighborhood activists to chat about climate change. Grand ideas like protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and tax credits for wind and solar energies were mentioned, but everyone really wanted practical ways to help the planet right now. Having a light bulb moment, Sucklicki tossed out, “Well, what about something as simple as changing out everyone’s front porch light?”
Soon after, Okerson and Suchlicki started by handing out compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) at a local food bank and canvassing their neighborhoods. “We just went out and bought the bulbs, knocked on the door, talked to people and said, ‘What do you think?’” The pair explained to homeowners that CFLs use only one-quarter the energy of a traditional incandescent bulb — saving about $30 in electricity costs over the light’s lifespan. (Not to mention the greenhouse gas emissions it removes the environment.) After hearing the benefits, most let Okerson and Suchlicki switch out their porch bulb.

This team is taking sustainability to Denver’s streets.

After they’d covered nearby blocks, this two-man light bulb brigade reached out to Groundwork Denver, a local nonprofit that could take their idea across the Mile-High City, focusing on low-income neighborhoods. Today, the Porch Bulb Project’s work goes beyond spiral-shaped light bulbs, offering to revamp homes with the latest green technology — all for free. To date, 4,500 volunteers have swapped out 21,400 front porch bulbs, completed 2,480 home energy assessments, made major energy improvements (like adding insulation or replacing furnaces, water heaters or refrigerators) in 1,132 houses and planted 2,660 trees. “The light bulb just became the foot in the door for a bigger conversation about climate change,” says Wendy Hawthorne, executive director of the Porch Bulb Project.
When Okerson first started knocking on doors, she had a dim view of how quickly Americans could change their ways. “People are lazy,” she remarks. “It isn’t going to happen in my lifetime that the seas will rise and everything will go to hell in a hand-basket… It’s not a crisis in their face.” Yet when Okerson last went out to with a Porch Bulb Project delegation, she noticed many houses with CFLs already lighting their entryways. “Okay, so we have done something,” she thought to herself. “That’s a really good feeling.”
Hopefully that feeling will keep these environmental soldiers dedicated to their mission for a long time.
MORE: Can Americans Accept This Environmentally-Friendly Burial Method?

The Surprisingly Simple Way to Improve Child Development, A State Protects Its Residents From Contaminated Water and More

To Help Kids Thrive, Coach Their Parents, New York Times
When it comes to nurturing healthy, successful children, the focus is usually on improving education and nutrition. But research proves it’s much more basic than that; coaching parents to create loving, stable environments at home has the biggest impact of all.
The Flint of California, Politico
The poisonous drinking water in Flint, Mich., dominates the news headlines, but contamination is a problem numerous low-income communities face. With a landmark bill, California law now protects citizens’ need of H20, declaring that everyone has the right to “safe, clean, affordable and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking and sanitary purposes.”
How to Clean Up the Dirtiest Vehicles on the Road, CityLab
Individuals can lessen their carbon footprint by opting to drive a Prius or Tesla instead of a gas-guzzling SUV. But to really reduce the greenhouse gas created by transportation in the U.S., those pumping out the most emissions — buses and medium- and heavy-duty trucks — must green up.
MORE: This Engineer Co-Founded Tesla. Here’s His Next Electric Idea

The Counterintuitive Solution to California’s Drought Crisis

As drought lowered reservoirs and scorched front lawns, California residents looked longingly to the great body of water at the continent’s edge: the Pacific Ocean, tantalizingly close but undrinkable. At least, until recently.

This December, Poseidon Water, a Boston-based infrastructure developer, opened the world’s largest desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif., a coastal city just north of San Diego. Seventeen years in the making, the new facility removes the salt and purifies 50 million gallons of ocean water every day. At the moment, the technology is expensive — nearly double the price of importing water from outside the county — but Poseidon’s executives believe that extreme weather events and population booms in the future will make water scarcer and, by extension, drive up the price.

“Seawater desalination is the only water supply in the county that’s drought-proof,” says Jessica Jones, spokesperson for Poseidon. “It’s not dependent on snowpack or rainfall.”

Reverse osmosis membranes, inside the Carlsbad Desalination Plant.

A water source like it has been a dream of humankind’s since ancient times, when marooned sailors first tried to remove the salt from seawater by catching the steam rising from boiling pots. In the 1960s, scientists hit upon a way to extract pure water molecules from a tainted source. Using reverse osmosis, the briny water (already treated to remove algae and silt) flows through pipes equipped with a porous membrane, its holes barely one-millionth the diameter of a human hair, Jones explains. At extremely high pressures, the water molecules pass through these microscopic holes, but salt ones are too large to fit. Jones compares the process to trying to fit a baseball into a tennis ball can.

The process works so effectively that Poseidon is in the final stages of obtaining permits to open a similar plant in Orange County’s Huntington Beach. Environmentalists have voiced concerns about damage to sea life sucked in by the facility, but to offset any loss of marine life, Poseidon is restoring wetlands south of San Diego to be a bird and fish habitat.

Could Poseidon’s executives be correct in their belief that technology like this will be the only way to prepare for a harsher, dryer world that’s rapidly approaching?

MORE: This Sustainable ‘Farm of the Future’ Is Changing How Food Is Grown

Sin City Goes Green, Philanthropic Investments That Reap Incredible Returns and More

 
 
Behind the Bright Lights of Vegas: How the 24-Hour Party City Is Greening Up Its Act, The Guardian
It may be known as Sin City, but that doesn’t mean the indiscretions taking place in the Nevada desert must include harming the planet. A new leafy oasis now offers vacationers a respite from the bright-as-the-sun neon lights that illuminate the Strip all night long. The Park, which features native Southwestern plants, a 40-foot-tall statue originally from the Burning Man festival and large metal structures that keep visitors shaded and cool, might be the only actual green space amongst the seemingly-endless stretch of casinos, but it’s one of many ways that Las Vegas is reducing its environmental footprint.
How to Bet Big on the American Dream, The Atlantic
Despite politicians’ proclamations, the American Dream isn’t dead or even on its last legs. But how much philanthropic investment is necessary for low-income residents to have a shot at upward mobility? The nonprofit advisor Bridgespan Group examined how impactful $1 billion dollars invested in each of 15 different philanthropic ventures would be at reducing poverty. As with any investment, the payout isn’t certain. But with returns estimated at being between $3 and $15 for each $1 spent (not to mention a high probability of drastically increasing program recipients’ lifetime earnings), these are bets that seem to be worth taking.
New MOOCs for Rising Leaders, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Why is it that things are usually out of reach to those most interested? Social entrepreneurs often can’t afford or get to leadership development programs. But now, educational seminars are going to them, thanks to the release of two new MOOCs (massive open online course). Free video classes from Philanthropy U provide students insights from social enterprise greats such as the cofounder of Kiva.org; Leaderosity, which charges tuition, touts among its instructors leaders from The Presidio Institute. Both programs provide access to personnel development that’s desperately needed in this sector.
MORE: Big Bets: How a 12-Month Boot Camp Transforms Low-Income Youths into Whiz Kids

This Is How You Reduce the Amount of Organic Waste Tossed in Landfills

Many people know Jack Johnson as a musician. But far fewer know of his commitment to sustainability and green touring practices.
Recently, NationSwell and Sustainable America visited Johnson at the Lanikai Elementary Public Charter School on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. He was there with his Kokua Hawai’i Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to connect local students and communities to their food through gardening and proper waste management, giving composting lessons to a third grade class.
NationSwell also visited Hawaiian Earth Products, a composting facility that contracts with the City and County of Honolulu to handle green waste. Although proper organic waste disposal is important everywhere, the issue is particularly acute on Hawaii since the majority of its food is imported and food waste is either incinerated or landfilled.  Hope is on the horizon, though.  The Big Island recently announced it would build a composting facility for food waste and compostable packaging.  Hopefully, Oahu won’t be far behind.
Watch the video above to see how to instill good sustainability habits at a young age.
MORE: This Sustainable ‘Farm of the Future’ Is Changing How Food Is Grown