Howdunnit

Community refrigerators full of free food for anyone in need have popped up in the New York metro area. "Fridge keepers" help keep the fridges stocked either personally or through the help of locals and restaurants who want to help their neighbors. With federal aid ending for those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, some locals have relied on the stocked fridges for their next meal.

Many young TikTok users are sharing videos about environmental issues, like climate change and biodiversity, and it is leading to resource sharing, personal connections, and people reaching out to learn more about environmental topics like gardening, soil restoration, renewable energy, and environmental racism. Some believe the Covid-19 lockdown has increased engagement even further. A subculture called “grass TikTok” emerged to share information about plant species and has nearly 380 million views. The potential ban of TikTok in the US could lead to declining biodiversity engagement online.

Logically is an app that fact-checks news in real time using artificial intelligence and 30 employees. They review more than 500,000 articles a day. In 2019, the app found 12-14% of articles about the U.K. and Indian elections were unreliable, amounting to tens of thousands of fake news pieces. Recently, the app exposed QAnon groups co-opting dozens of child-trafficking events, which started as legitimate but eventually were canceled. Logically also introduced a fact-checking browser extension. While useful, misinformation will still spread if people are resistant to changing their minds.

Co-ops that have historically brought electricity and telephone services to rural America are now providing internet service. Broadband companies don't make a profit when covering a large area with limited households per mile so co-ops have filled the need under the "Smart Grid" program funded by the USDA. Thousands of households have been connected to fiber-optic internet as a result.

Educators in California are exploring "looping" as a way to offer students and families some semblance of stability and continuity as schools prepare for what's to come amid the pandemic. Looping means a teacher, or a set of teachers, stays with the same group of students from one grade to the next. This method helps teachers "dive-in deeper", and explore their students' strengths, allows students to create stronger bonds with teachers and other students, as well as foster a larger sense of community.

California’s wildfires historically were contained through periodic but limited burning. But “misguided fire police” over many decades, focused on overzealous fire suppression, has accumulated more dry fuel, resulting in wildfires that have grown progressively larger and more dangerous. Climate change only increases the likelihood of more fires. And the inventory of unburned acreage that has accumulated is now so great that it makes it increasingly difficult to ever catch up.

Robot pet therapy, which uses a social robot designed to look like a small animal, weigh the same as an infant, and communicate in a socially comforting way, is helping isolated seniors find a sense of companionship during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although some have raised ethical concerns about "the role of robots in caretaking," others point to evidence indicating success such as "reduced reliance on psychotropic drugs, improved blood pressure and oxygenation levels, and stirred the emotions of patients who otherwise often appeared disconnected."

Facing the economic strain from the financial fallout caused by the coronavirus crisis, Tenino is printing its own money like it once did in the wake of the Great Depression. The small town in Washington has issued at least $2,500 worth of wooden bills to exclusively be used for small businesses on Main Street. Thirteen residents have applied for the funds and $150 have been spent by residents on necessities as of June. Other small towns across the country have already sent inquiries to the mayor of Tenino, seeking to imitate Tenino's effort.

Beyond These Walls launched a crisis phone line to provide emotional support for LGBTQ+ people who are incarcerated and to hold prisons and jails accountable for their virus-containment practices. Trained volunteers have fielded 369 calls so far, more than a quarter of which concern fears that reporting virus symptoms could land people in solitary confinement. Beyond These Walls and its coalition partners can provide safety by letting jailers know their practices are being monitored.

Some schools in Italy held trial reopenings after having to close due to the pandemic, and are modeling their new classroom environment after Denmark's "forest schools," where classes are held outside. In order to maintain social distancing, and high safety measures for both students and teachers, students are kept in small groups with assigned zones, and school days have been shortened. More schools across the country are also re-opening slowly and in small groups after seeing the results from the trial run.