Tonic for tumultuous times. If your kid is grumbling about going back to school, they probably don’t go to Brightworks, a K-through-12 institution so popular that students…
Reasons to be Cheerful
Ways to get involved in the issues we report on Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly newsletter that’s all about how people just like you are…
Tonic for tumultuous times. As the sun rises over the hills, a centuries-old, stone-lined chamber fed by icy spring water cools a brimming vessel of fresh milk.…
Tonic for tumultuous times. “There’s something hopeful in beekeeping,” says one social worker who brings teens and bees together to help treat depression, anxiety and trauma. The…
Tonic for tumultuous times. “There’s something hopeful in beekeeping,” says one social worker who brings teens and bees together to help treat depression, anxiety and trauma. The…
or centuries, architecture made of earth has sheltered people in the desert. Now, that same building technique could help to protect a very modern city. As Los…
Tonic for tumultuous times. “It’s a form of freedom,” says one user of CargoB, an on-demand electric cargo bike share that’s popping up around Boston. Now, residents…
Tonic for tumultuous times. Imagine if you grabbed a crowbar and went outside right now, pried up a slab of the sidewalk, threw it away and planted…
Seasonal migration is common for many Yemeni people. Now, the country’s beekeepers have adopted the nomadic practice, toting their hives with them in pursuit of blooming flowers.…
Tonic for tumultuous times. Many people in jails are being detained until their trials, meaning that they are considered legally innocent and maintain their voting rights. Problem…
Los Angeles has been heralded for its effective, empathic response to the wildfires. Now, as the long road to recovery takes shape, residents are asking themselves how…
Hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines pose economic, environmental and safety risks. One solution? Repurposing old mine shafts as “gravity batteries” — a promising new model for…
Amid the rustling of trees, the enormous, mossy brown head of a bison, with two impressive curved horns, emerges from the forest. Hoof by hoof, its entire…
A Hopi tradition for several millennia, the practice of dry farming continues to this day. Even in areas that get only a few inches of rain per…
Back in 2003, the Indian state of Sikkim set a goal of transitioning to 100 percent organic farming within a decade. It spent the next ten years…
I’m hosting a show for my magazine - tickets on sale now Five years ago this month, I started an online magazine called Reasons To Be Cheerful.…
Beavers Are Back in London — and Gnawing the City into Shape By: Peter Yeung After a 400-year absence, nature’s best engineers have returned to the British…
Dear Reasons to be Cheerful reader, Thanks for reading. It means a lot to us, and it gives us a reason to continue the kinds of reporting…
A touring theatrical production is doing something incredible. Starring former prisoners, it is showing audiences what solitary confinement feels like –– and in the process, convincing lawmakers…
It was a sushi dinner that lit the lightbulb floating above the head of Felix Böck: Across the world, billions of chopsticks were being used once and…
The Reasons to be Cheerful project I started about three years ago is back.About six months ago I realized 1) that this project was going to keep going, and 2)…
Representative Government is Coming to the USA! Political parties in the United States have, for a long time, taken advantage of Gerrymandering — or the manipulation of…
Divest! To be realistic, wind and solar power are not yet feasible ways to provide for all our energy requirements. Better batteries would help. Nuclear would cover…
Education in Prison: Defying the Odds 97% of the students who graduate from the Bard Prison Initiative leave prison and never come back. In today's edition of…