Category: CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Two Wheeling, London-Style
Londoners are trading their cars for bicycles in record numbers, and if the trend continues cycling will overtake motor vehicles as the main mode of transport within two years. Londoners are swapping cars for bicycles at a rapid pace, data shows https://theprogressplaybook.com/2025/04/29/londoners-are-swapping-cars-for-bicycles-at-a-rapid-pace-data-shows/ Related Reading
Get Ready for Super Wood!
A new company is turning low-value wood chips into structural beams that are 10 times stronger than wood. The product, which could replace hardwood taken from rainforests, is expected to be on the market soon. The World’s First ‘Super Wood’ is Weeks Away from Full Production https://woodcentral.com.au/the-worlds-first-super-wood-is-weeks-away-from-full-production/ Related Reading
The Resurgence of ”Jim Crow’ in Our Schools
Nearly 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education promised a new era of educational equality by declaring that “separate but equal” has no place in American schools, American schools are more racially segregated today than they were in the late 1960s. Separate and Unequal Again: The Resegregation of America’s Public Schools https://www.levelman.com/separate-and-unequal-again-the-resegregation-of-americas-public-schools Related Reading
Tiny House Villages Offer Dignified and Affordable Housing
Rent and teacher shortages are rising, so this school district is building a village of tiny houses on a school’s soccer field that offers dignified and affordable housing for service professionals like teachers, nurses and firefighters. Another one is being built on a basketball court that offers affordable housing, life skills, therapy and job training…
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History Teaches Us How to Push Back on Authoritarianism
A Boston political scientist wrote the blueprint for undermining autocrats that activists used successfully in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Across Asia. He identifies three approaches that have worked especially well. Three Well-Tested Ways to Undermine an Autocrat https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/opinion/authoritarianism-democracy-protest.html Related Reading
WATCH: ‘Street Leagues’ Documentary on Homeless World Cup
“STREET LEAGUES” is a documentary film available for viewing on WATERBEAR, a “free platform that brings inspiration and action together through award-winning, certified films and documentaries that you can stream at any time, and on any device for free.” “Street Leagues” follows a group of players as they rise from their daily struggles with homelessness and…
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INTERVIEW: Robin Wall Kimmerer on Sharing Economies & Sustainability
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s new book, The Serviceberry, explores reciprocity and gift economies as alternatives to market-driven scarcity and competition. Recognizing the intrinsic value of all life and fostering mutual responsibility is a key step toward better environmental sustainability. Reciprocity: Rethinking Our Relationship with the Natural World https://e360.yale.edu/features/robin-kimmerer-interview Related Reading
Pizza with a Purpose, Philadelphia Style
Down North, a Philadelphia pizza joint, offers lemonade to local kids, free lunches for the neighborhood in times of need, and it only hires ex-convicts to work in its kitchen. Down North, a Philly pizza joint, provides a lifeline to people who need a fresh start https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/north-philly-pizza-shop-cookbook-rcna187631 Related Reading
Shared Housing Trend Growing Out of Necessity
With the U.S. facing a nationwide housing shortage, and with developers having largely abandoned building new entry-level homes, families sharing their living spaces with non-relatives is on the rise. Why Americans are moving in with strangers twice their age https://www.vox.com/housing/396042/why-more-americans-are-living-with-strangers-twice-their-age Related Reading