Reasons to be Cheerful

For the homeless women who board the Panarosa bus on the streets of Caracas, their first point of contact might be Mariannys Quintero. Quintero, a nursing assistant, welcomes them to the bus, where they will receive gynecological care. She explains what they can expect and emphasizes that they are not... The post The Bus That Brings Reproductive Care to Homeless Women appeared first on Reasons to…

Forget AI — in Iceland, the truly exciting startups are working in fish. From medical bandages to sustainable furniture, the Icelandic fishing industry has learned to extract value from virtually every part of its catch, putting the country at the forefront of a global “blue economy.” It wasn’t always this... The post Could This Fish Be a Notebook? appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly celebration of how people just like you are creating positive change, one meaningful step at a time. The Spark is generously supported by Laura Rice. Sign up to Reasons to be Cheerful’s weekly newsletter here and you’ll get The Spark in your inbox at the... The post The Spark: How Death Teaches Us to Connect appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on solutions for equitable and just cities. Get Next City’s stories in your inbox: nextcity.org/newsletter. This story is part of In the Shadow of the Server, a Next City series on the fight over urban technology infrastructure — who builds... The post The Small Wisconsin City That Defeated a Giant Data Center appear…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Train dreams During his campaign, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to make city buses free to ride. But what if... The post What We’re Reading: A Better Idea Than Free Buses appeared first on Reaso…

When Martin Aufmuth, a math teacher in Erlangen, Germany, read in 2009 that hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffered from vision impairment but could not afford glasses, he could hardly believe it. “It was the book Out of Poverty by Paul Polak,” Aufmuth remembers, “I thought, ‘This can’t be... The post The $1 Visionary appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

When foodies head to Newport, Oregon, one place is always at the top of their list: Local Ocean. Repeat diners rave about the roasted garlic and crab soup, studded with fat lumps of local Dungeness; the lightly battered fried rockfish tacos served with citrus slaw, Huichol mayo and pickled veggies;... The post The Beloved Oregon Restaurant Rewriting the Rules of Seafood appeared first on Reasons …

Robert Gallery looks like a picture of perfect strength. Broad-shouldered at 6-foot-7, heavily muscled arms inked, the former NFL offensive lineman’s frame fills the chair at his home in Lake Tahoe, California. For eight seasons with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks, and before that at the University of Iowa,... The post Can Psychedelics Help Athletes Recover From Brain Injuries? appeared…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. When things click How much do you have in common with a sperm whale? More than it would seem: New research has... The post What We’re Reading: Sperm Whales — They’re Just Like Us appeared first on Reasons to …

It was the winter of 2011. The stage was set, the audience in place on a cold Delhi evening. The audience gasped audibly when Rewben Mashangva walked into the spotlight with his son Saka. Oblivious to the chill, he was dressed in the sleeveless woven red and black jacket worn... The post The Musician Racing to Preserve a Disappearing Soundscape appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

Last April, at the James Beard Foundation’s Chef Action Summit, food industry leaders gathered to discuss the political and economic landscape with one concern hanging grimly in the air: undocumented and immigrant workers were increasingly afraid to come into work after ICE raids ramped up at the outset of Trump’s... The post When ICE Shows Up, These Businesses Will Be Ready appeared first on Rea…

This story was originally published by Canary Media. Big batteries have begun reshaping the U.S. grid. Now, the country has made surprising strides in making those energy storage systems itself, rather than depending on imports from China. Batteries were always crucial for the effort to scale up renewable energy production, but they... The post The U.S. Is Manufacturing a Ton of Grid Batteries ap…

Cigarette butt. Gatorade bottle cap. Part of a Clif Bar wrapper. Cigarette butt. Fake nail. Styrofoam piece. Drinking straw. Styrofoam piece. Cigarette butt. With gloved hands, Mallory Willem sorts quickly and efficiently through trash pulled from a storm drain in Cedar Key, an island town off Florida’s Gulf Coast. She... The post Meet Mr. Trash Wheel and His Trash-Catching Friends appeared first…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Giveaway What happens if you trust people to be generous? That’s the question behind Drop Dead Generous, a social experiment that is... The post What We’re Reading: What Good Deed Would You Do With $500? appe…

A herd of goats makes its way through a stubbly, dry grassland to a hilly grove. As they get closer, the air becomes noticeably cooler, the vegetation denser, the grass greener. A couple of buffalo wallow in a shallow pool of water, and beyond, a forest path leads to a... The post The Verdant Refuge of India’s Sacred Groves appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

When he walked out of prison after 28 years, the first thing Allen Burnett did was drive to the ocean. “I just stood there for a minute,” he recalls. “I wanted to feel the air.” For most of his life, Burnett never expected that moment to come. He entered California’s... The post Formerly Incarcerated Mentors Are Changing Lives in California appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

This story was originally published by Civil Eats. Every Wednesday morning, a refrigerated solar-powered truck arrives at the Mt. Hope Community Garden in Southeast San Diego. The driver hops out and lifts an awning on the side of the truck, revealing shelves that will soon be filled with leafy greens,... The post Creating Community Wealth and ‘Food Dignity’ in San Diego appeared first on Reasons…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Crawling before walking More Americans are able to access paid parental leave than ever, but federal paid leave — the norm in almost... The post What We’re Reading: Baby Steps Toward U.S. Paid Parental Leave …

The Butterfly Grove at Pismo Beach used to sound alive before you even saw it. The first time I visited on a winter morning over a decade ago, I stood beneath the towering eucalyptus and heard a faint rustle, like distant rain, as thousands of monarch butterflies shifted their wings... The post Can We Bring Back the Butterflies? appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .