How a city鈥檚 hardship opened eyes to wider problem-solving
Staff
A decade after its water crisis, Flint, Michigan, has replaced 11,000 lead pipes
The city became a flash point in the country鈥檚 aging water infrastructure crisis in the 2010s.
After emergency managers changed the city鈥檚 water source to the Flint River in a cost-cutting measure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated nearly 100,000 residents were exposed to lead. In October 2015, the city switched its water system back to the one used by Detroit.
The national attention brought a new focus on water policy and some communities鈥� disproportionate burden of environmental harm. In 2018, Michigan required water system advisory councils for communities of over 50,000 customers. Since then, local efforts have led to landmark policies at the state and federal levels to install lead-reducing filters and the removal of lead pipes 鈥� all spurred in part by Flint.
Why We Wrote This
In our progress roundup, national focus on a crisis in one community 鈥� Flint, Michigan 鈥� helped the rest of the country think about resources that can be taken for granted and whom a problem affects. And in one state in India, a first-ever emissions-trading scheme worked where other solutions haven鈥檛.
鈥淭he politics that happened [around water quality] in Michigan have really played a big role at the federal scale,鈥� said Olivia David, a policy researcher at the University of Michigan.
Following a lawsuit settled in 2021, Flint agreed to replace lead pipes for free.
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A Panamanian聽farm program is rebuilding trust, boosting reforestation, and providing Indigenous landowners with income
The project, run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and local leadership, pays farmers to plant native trees that sequester carbon on their land. Seeds and materials are free, and farmers can eventually harvest the trees for profit if they wish.
After a year of meetings to earn the community鈥檚 informed consent, the project now stretches across 247 acres and 30 families鈥� plots in the district of 脩眉r眉m. Farmers are taught 鈥渆nrichment planting鈥� with commercial timber species that create an overstory to protect saplings. Funding secured by the institute pays annual carbon payments after five years.
The initiative also builds collaboration between locals and scientists: 25 forestry students from the University of Panama studied in the region, teaching locals how to collect scientific data, while residents shared their knowledge of plants and animals.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to understand how to reboot ecosystems, how to restore hydrological cycles, and how to ensure livelihoods and rural landscapes for the future,鈥� said project director Jefferson Hall.
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Slovenia鈥檚 history and culture make it a leader in preventing child poverty
Last year the percentage of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion was half that of the European Union, 12% versus 24%. While prioritizing children鈥檚 welfare as a shared responsibility, Slovenia鈥檚 success is also product of a safety net with 20th-century roots in socialism, say analysts at WPI Economics.
Social workers prioritize caring for entire families, a strategy advocates say helps children thrive. The government gives new parents 260 shared days off on top of maternity and paternity leave, and families with children generous monetary allowances. Other policies also promote children鈥檚 access to inclusive education, particularly for Roma, an ethnic minority that has long faced discrimination across Europe.
Still, other gaps are widening. As the poverty rate has fallen for children, it has risen for people over 65 years old. Yet Slovenia ranks high in other metrics: It is among the world鈥檚 safest countries, and Freedom House, a U.S.-based democracy watcher, rated it 96 out of 100.
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South Africa cultivated a robust astronomy program that is growing alongside the world鈥檚 largest radio telescopes
The Square Kilometre Array, which began construction in 2022, will comprise 131,072 tree-shaped antennas in Australia and 197 dish antennas in South Africa. Once completed, the SKA telescopes will make up the most advanced radio telescope observatory in the world, allowing scientists to observe everything from black holes to neutron stars with improved resolution, sensitivity, and speed.
The project kicked off with a proposal from South Africa and partner countries in 2005. South Africa has invested heavily in building talent to operate the telescope and to advance the field of astronomy. In the past two decades, a government-funded program has created five research-chair positions and provided nearly 1,400 scholarships for students.
Today, 200 astronomers work in South Africa 鈥� up from 40 two decades ago. The SKA is scheduled to go online by 2030. It captured its first image in Australia in March.
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Allowing coal-burning plants to trade pollution permits lowered emissions and costs
The first market-based trading scheme pilot began in 2019 in India鈥檚 Gujarat state.
Companies in the study that could reduce particulate matter by changing their fuel or technology were allowed to trade their permits with plants that found it harder to cut emissions, a target that is periodically lowered.
Permit trading among the 162 plants reduced emissions by 20% to 30%, with nearly 100% legal compliance, meaning there were enough permits in the group to cover their emissions. In comparison, the plants outside the group met their limit only 66% of the time.
India鈥檚 entire population breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organization鈥檚 guidelines for particulate matter.
Experts caution that such schemes are not appropriate for industries where standard controls can be effective. And for low-income countries, monitoring capacity and regulatory ability still present a challenge in scaling the trading scheme.
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