As sustainability efforts expand across the country, a growing number of initiatives are rethinking how packaging waste is handled in industries like wine and spirits — from glass bottles to shipping boxes and plastic wrap. In Northern California, one program is offering a practical, scalable model that reduces landfill waste while building green career skills […]
With cutbacks to federal government programs and layoffs of civil servants around the country, there’s been a lot of confusion about funding for wildfire prevention and mitigation under the new presidential administration. Yet, Santa Rosa, California resident Lynn Garric feels encouraged. “I’m a very hopeful, optimistic person,” she explains. “I’m the one who came back […]
Ami Vitale has spent her career on the front lines of our planet’s most urgent crises, using her camera not only to witness the world but to change it. A National Geographic photographer, writer, documentary filmmaker, and Nikon Ambassador, Vitale began her career covering conflict zones — places where human suffering was raw and unrelenting. […]
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Award-winning photographer Cristina Mittermeier’s new book, HOPE, offers a powerful counterpoint to the growing sense of despair that often surrounds conversations about our planet’s future. As Mittermeier poignantly observes, “Hope may not be a plan or a strategy, but it is vital for our survival.” For decades, Mittermeier has traveled the globe, documenting both the […]
Protecting the planet for future generations is a cause we all have a responsibility to support. The threats posed by climate change can be overwhelming, but experts remain hopeful that our environment can still be healed. In honor of Earth Day (April 22), we’re highlighting individuals and organizations — in Chicago and nationally — that are focused […]
Curbing climate change seems a nearly impossible feat, so daunting that many Americans give in to “climate fatigue” and avoid taking action out of a sense of hopelessness and avoidance. But the enormity of a challenge has never stopped paleontologist Dr. Lonnie Thompson, whose very career defies the odds and represents the triumph of determination […]
Japan holds a very special place in my personal and professional life. I have walked the Nakasendo, hiked the Michinoku Coastal Trail; paddled the mangroves of Amami and Iriomotejima; climbed Mt. Fuji; bathed in countless onsen and sento for my book, “The Way of the Japanese Bath”; documented the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in the […]
Looking back on the past three years, we can finally see some of the silver linings of the pandemic. The ability to work at home more often; more precious time with our kids; adopting a pet that is now a treasured family member; discovering gifts and talents that we never knew we had in the […]
In 2015, the United Nations proposed a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere by 2030. Seventeen goals were adopted by all UN Member States as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Although progress is being made, with less than a decade […]
