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How A 24-Year-Old CEO Makes Sustainable Tees from Milk

Frank Sesno Dan Reed Eugenia Harvey

December 15, 2020 |

Planet Forward |

Broadcast TV Talk Show |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

After witnessing milk going to waste on his uncle dairy’s farm in China, Robert Lou came up with the idea to turn the leftover milk into clothing. It takes five glasses of milk to produce one t-shirt and he’s sold over 3,000 of them since launching his company Mi Terro. He hopes to use 15 percent of the world’s food waste in 20 years to lower greenhouse gas emissions and supply income to farmers. He’s also piloting a new flexible packaging material out of grain products.

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Coat as shelter: Designer Bas Timmer creates for people who have no home

Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

December 08, 2020 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Netherlands, Amsterdam

Since 2014, the Sheltersuit Foundation has distributed more than 12,000 combination jackets and sleeping bags in multiple nations to protect unhoused people from cold weather. Dutch clothing designer Bas Timmer designed the Sheltersuit, and a warmer-weather version, using donated leftover fabrics with liners from sleeping bags donated or discarded at festivals. Since the pandemic increased homelessness, the foundation has distributed the clothing to nearly 2,000 people in the Netherlands and South Africa. The foundation's workforce is made up mostly of refugees and the formerly homeless.

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An African American quilter confronts racism amid COVID-19

Jingnan Peng

November 17, 2020 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

The killing of George Floyd inspired a series of exhibits in Minneapolis featuring quilts made by over 100 artists depicting stories of racial injustices and also empowerment in the United States. These protest quilts join a long tradition of sharing stories of fear and perseverance experienced by Black people, especially Black women, in society. Today, these same quilters responded to Covid-19 by making masks. The over 500 members of The Women of Color Quilters Network have made close to 20,000 masks, many of which they have given for free to health care and other front line workers.

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Wacky tube men could keep dingoes away from livestock in Australia

Max G. Levy

October 20, 2020 |

Science Magazine |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Australia, Melbourne

Those wacky waving inflatable tube men normally seen outside car dealerships may also have a dual purpose: stopping wild dingoes from killing livestock. Inspired by a similar attempt in Oregon, scientists tested the approach in Australia, where nine of the 12 dingoes ran away in fear after seeing the tube man compared with a control group. While some conservationists aren’t convinced that the tube men are a practical solution, it could be combined with other methods to protect livestock in the Outback.

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The Kitchen Garden Series upends the textiles industry by reviving an old Philly tradition: producing local linen

Courtney Duchene

August 13, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Pottstown, Pennsylvania

A former costume designer and a farmer in Pennsylvania are partnering together to grow flax to produce their own linen. Since the fashion and textiles industries produce a lot of waste, the duo are reviving the crop that was traditionally grown in the area to raise awareness on the importance of a strong local textile supply chain. While harvesting the crop can be labor intensive and they don’t plan on making a profit from it this year, they hope to show that growing flax could be a staple crop in urban agriculture.

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Inmate-Made Masks Help Community and Those Incarcerated, Jailer Says

Liz Carey

July 09, 2020 |

The Daily Yonder |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Versailles, Kentucky

When a pandemic lockdown idled the men jailed at Woodford County Detention Center, they replaced the jobs they previously had performed in the community with work in the jail that served an immediate need: sewing protective masks. They sewed more than 28,000 masks in the first four months of the pandemic, using donated clothing as the fabric and distributing them at no cost. While the incarcerated men were paid little for their work, they said they benefited with new skills, staying active, and feeling pride in their community service.

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For Indigenous Zapotec Families, Spinning Becomes a Lifeline

Tracy Barnett

June 17, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Oaxaca

Mark Brown has brought Ghandian economic principles of economic justice and local autonomy to the Mexican countryside to form a farm-to-garment textile business that employs villagers who once made woolen textiles until the industrial clothing era started producing cheap synthetic clothing and rendered their craft unprofitable. Khadi Oaxaca aims to regenerate the village way of life in a sustainable way and employs several hundred villagers who grow the cotton, spin the thread, design the clothing and bring it to market for tourists - bringing a previously economically depressed village out of poverty.

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The ancient technology getting a second wind

Nick Holland

May 26, 2020 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Costa Rica

Old ships, powered by the wind, are being refurbished to sail small amounts of cargo around the world. While there are only a few hundred still in use, newer ships and sails are being designed and built with new technology to make the vessels more fuel efficient and produce zero emissions. While many of them are in the prototype phase, some of these ships are able to go into smaller ports and harbors that larger vessels can’t reach.

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A volunteer army has answered Colorado's need for masks. Denver's jails are one recent beneficiary.

Kevin Simpson

May 04, 2020 |

The Colorado Sun |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Across Colorado, grassroots groups have come together to create homemade masks for the state’s most vulnerable populations to protect against COVID-19. Two of those populations are Denver’s Downtown Detention Center and Denver County Jail. Groups like Dena’s Mask Making Army, the Mask Mavens, and even some AA and sober living communities have rallied together – virtually, of course – to use their sewing skills to fill the mask needs, about 3 masks per person, for those experiencing incarceration.

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‘Everyone wants to do their bit': The volunteers sewing scrubs for NHS workers

Emma Reynolds

April 15, 2020 |

Positive.News |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom, London, England

In the United Kingdom, a grassroots network called Scrub Hub is gathering groups of volunteers to sew scrubs for hospital workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups are self-organizing, raising money on their own to buy the fabric, and have so far gathered thousands of people across the UK to help.

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