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Every thought, every word, and each action we generate in the world carries a unique ripple. Sometimes, we can trace the path of thought to action, of word to speech, or of action into the impact it splashes into the world. But, more often than not, such a tapestry is impossible to trace; it weaves its roots organically, often unnoticed by the business and bustle of our day to day lives. This week, we decelerate and zoom into small inflection points that unveil the strength of our intertwining roots. From a teen exchange that connects youth from disparate backgrounds to an eco-conscious designer's face masks that literally bloom into flowers when discarded on the ground, to a hotel that opened its doors to people sleeping on the streets, and more -- this week's newsletter invites us to take a closer look at the resilience that arises from our inextricable shared humanity.
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Steven Kamenar | Unsplash
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Planting trees to fight climate change and restore biodiversity is nothing new. But a project in Washington State, U.S., has brought inmates out of their cells to create a lush forest of 100% native species on barren prison land -- and its benefits go beyond helping the environment to helping rehabilitate the prisoners and reconnect them to nature. Part of the philosophy is to bring a type of rehabilitation program to our inmates that would get them out of the detention facility, said Chief Vernon Alvarez, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Idaho and Chief of Yakama Nation Corrections. You know I am going to be able to come by here and show my kids that I did that, said one prisoner. It feels great. It makes my heart feel good. This forest is planted based on a Japanese planting model, in which the trees are planted close together, which increases the amount of carbon dioxide the trees capture and helps them grow faster.
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John Schnobrich | Unsplash
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More than 175 students at 39 schools in 14 states are taking part in weekly online hangouts as part of a new program that offers high school students a chance to meet others from varied backgrounds, regions and world views. Founder David McCullough developed the American Exchange Project after realizing that US teenagers, growing up in their own bubbles, wanted to experience something else. He hopes it will become the first nationwide domestic exchange program and that, post-pandemic, students will be able to travel to meet their new friends.
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Fed up with seeing discarded single-use masks everywhere, Dutch designer Marianne de Groot-Pons created a nature-friendly alternative that helps bees. Her Marie Bee Bloom masks, made of rice paper and seeds, can be planted in the garden after use. They are such a hit that in only five weeks, she had to move production away from her kitchen table and hire 30 other people to help make the masks.
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Paolo Verzone | VU for TIME
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Chef Angel Leon of Cadiz, Spain, has a vision that goes well beyond his kitchen. He and his team have experimented for years with unique applications of sea life in their cuisine. Now he has bitten off a huge task that has huge potential implications for the world: He plans to domesticate eelgrass, both for food production and for carbon sequestration. The eelgrass produces a rice that he plans to use in a variety of culinary applications. But the bigger payoff is eelgrass’s ability to sequester carbon -- scientists have long identified seagrasses as one of the most vital ecosystems in the fight against climate change. Leon’s even bigger vision is isolating the genes that allow this grass to grow in salt water and using that to crossbreed into other staples, such as corn, lentils or lettuce. “It’s not just the rice. It’s the dream of having an underwater garden for human beings,” Leon said.
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Renata Brito | AP Photo
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When hotel director Calvin Lucock and restaurant owner Unn Tove Saetran said goodbye to one of the last groups of migrants staying in one of the seaside resorts they manage in Spain's Canary Islands, the British-Norwegian couple didn't know when they would have guests again. They had been sheltering migrants under a contract with the Spanish government, which was struggling to accommodate 23,000 people who disembarked to the islands in 2020. Shortly after their contract ended in February, the couple realized there were migrants sleeping on the streets after being expelled from the government-funded reception centers. The couple re-opened the hotel to the immigrants, this time providing food and shelter at their own expense. They were very scared, they didn't have anywhere else to go, and there wasn't any other solution, said Saetran. The people have left their homes in Africa for a variety of reasons, including lack of economic opportunity. The couple hopes to continue helping young migrants even after tourism kicks off again, and are setting up a charity.
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