After struggling to sell their pasture-raised pork, Virginia farmers Eric Canfield and Lauren Lovejoy launched Red Hen, a mobile app that helps small farms sell directly to local consumers without the hassle of markets or middlemen. Since launching nationwide in April 2025, Red Hen has onboarded over 1,000 farms across all 50 states and is already helping rebuild the broken link between local food producers and the communities they serve.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In late 2024, Eric Canfield was tired. He and his wife, Lauren Lovejoy, had spent years building Blue Horn Farm in the rolling hills of Newport, Virginia, where they raised rare heritage pigs on pasture and grew their own food—but getting their product into the hands of customers? That was another story.

“The market is hard for us to break into,” Eric said in a local interview this spring. “It’s word of mouth. It’s me telling you, ‘Hey, I have really good grass-fed pork, do you want to pick some up?’”

One afternoon, after driving two hours just to meet someone halfway to buy beef, they looked at each other and asked: “Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app for this?” So they built one.

That app is Red Hen, a mobile platform designed to help small farms like theirs sell directly to consumers. Launched nationwide in April 2025, Red Hen already has farmers signed up in all 50 states, over 5,000 consumer downloads, and a simple promise: local food, available for pick-up or delivery, with the tap of a button.

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Pecking at the Problem

America’s small family farms are disappearing. An estimated 2,000 acres of farmland are lost every day to closures or consolidation. Many farmers struggle to compete with large distributors, who dominate grocery store shelves and claim the lion’s share of each food dollar. According to the National Farmers’ Union, farmers and ranchers receive only 15.9 cents of every dollar that consumers spend on food, whether at home or away from home.

The traditional options for small-scale farmers—farmers markets, CSAs, local drop-offs—are time-intensive and unpredictable. For those raising animals or tending produce seven days a week, adding part-time marketing, ecommerce, and logistics can be overwhelming. Red Hen cuts through that chaos by offering a digital farmers' market where farmers set their own prices, list their own products, and connect directly with local buyers—all without needing a tech background or a marketing plan.

Red Hen operates much like any other ecommerce platform, but instead of selling a vintage item on eBay or a homemade handicraft on Etsy, farmers list what their farm produces. When consumers open the app, they can browse local farms on a map, search by product, or look up producers by name. Orders can be placed for pickup, local delivery, or—coming soon—nationwide shipping.

For farmers, the appeal is clear:

• No upfront fees: Red Hen is free to join and list products.

• Fair pay: Instead of middlemen, farmers keep up to 95 cents of every dollar.

• Simple setup: A web portal guides producers through creating a profile, uploading photos, and adding inventory.

Red Hen also manages the back-end: secure payments, order notifications, and customer communication. For tech-savvy farmers, onboarding takes about 15 minutes. However, “most farmers don’t have time to build online storefronts, manage payments, or market themselves,” according to Burton. “We’re solving that by building a platform that does that for them so they can focus on what they do best: growing healthy, nutrient-dense food.”

Laying a Foundation

To get Red Hen off the ground, Lovejoy and Canfield didn’t turn to Silicon Valley, a venture capital firm, or investment bank. Instead, they raised money through a community loan campaign on Honeycomb Credit. More than $56,000 was raised from supporters across the country—enough to complete development and launch the app on both iOS and Android in April.

They knew there was demand and they just needed to build the tool. And they were right. More than 300 farms signed up before launch. Today, Red Hen has over 1,000 producers on the platform, with about 250 actively selling products and hundreds more onboarding each week.

One of those early adopters is Mystic Hills Farmstead, a small family ranch in Routt County, Colorado. They raise grass-fed beef and lamb and were among the first in their region to test Red Hen. “It’s just a little different for us, and we’re just trying it out,” said Mikinzie Taylor, who runs the ranch with her husband. “We just wanted to see what would happen if I signed up for it, and if anyone would be using it in the area.”

In Vermont, Hubbard Farm is now using Red Hen to connect with customers who want pasture-raised chicken, pork, and beef. In Virginia, Verdant Acres offers a variety of products, including seasonal vegetables, lamb sausage, and honey. And of course, Blue Horn Farm—Eric and Lauren’s own operation—is now taking orders for pork through the app.

And the team behind Red Hen, well, they’re just getting started. Nationwide shipping is expected to roll out by the end of summer, which is just a few weeks away, meaning a customer in Boston will soon be able to order bison meat from Nebraska, or Florida oranges shipped fresh from a small citrus farm. And while 5,000 downloads is just the beginning, the Red Hen team is confident that a larger wave is on the horizon. Rising consumer interest in local, ethical, and regenerative food is making small-farm shopping more than just a niche.

Red Hen is helping to close the gap between producers and consumers by recentering food systems around relationships, not supply chains. And it makes it possible for the next generation of small farmers to do what they love—without going broke in the process.

“My dream is that when you go into the app, no matter where you are in the United States, you can find some small special farmer close to you,” Lovejoy said.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the Netherlands, there’s a modest apartment block in Purmerend where something extraordinary is growing—not in the ground, but up the side of the building. Installed in late 2023, the northeast facade of this social housing complex has been transformed into a living, breathing wall of moss. Covering 250 square meters and requiring no soil, planters, or permanent irrigation, this façade is more than just green. It’s a high-performance, climate-adaptive technology that absorbs CO₂, filters pollutants, and cools the building, all while looking surprisingly great.

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A Greener Building

The project, known as "D’Groene Citer" (The Green Zither), was installed by HeMuBo and Intermaris, two Dutch firms committed to sustainable housing. They partnered with Respyre, a startup spun out of TU Delft that specializes in bioreceptive concrete. The technology at the heart of the facade—called VertiScape—is deceptively simple: a porous, nutrient-rich concrete made from recycled materials that provides an ideal surface for moss to colonize. With minimal watering during the first few months, the moss takes hold and begins to thrive on its own. Once established, it lives on rainwater and humidity alone.

From a distance, the effect is transformative. What was once a cold, gray wall is now a vibrant living surface that changes with the weather, the seasons, and the light. But what makes the project more than aesthetically pleasing is what it does for the people living there, and for the climate. This single wall is estimated to absorb over 350 kilograms of CO₂ annually, trap more than 7.5 kilograms of nitrogen oxides, and filter out 75 kilograms of ammonia and 1.5 kilograms of fine dust. That’s the equivalent of planting 17 mature trees, all on a surface that used to be dead space.

The Purmerend installation isn’t the only one. In the past year alone, Respyre has completed similar projects in Oostrum, Alphen aan den Rijn, and even internationally in Kortrijk, Belgium. At an industrial site in Oostrum, a 450-square-meter moss facade now cloaks the side of a commercial building, sequestering CO₂ and lowering wall temperatures by more than 10 degrees Celsius. In Alphen, the office of Bloemen Architecten now features a moss wall, serving as both an environmental element and a design statement.

Moss Effect

What sets Respyre apart is that they’re not in the business of green walls as we typically think of them. There are no steel frames, no soil beds, no complex irrigation networks. Their bioreceptive concrete is the wall. And that subtle distinction changes everything. "Our system is passive, low maintenance, and light-weight. It doesn’t require you to retrofit a building with extra support structures," said Respyre CEO Auke Bleij in a statement. "We see moss as a pioneer organism—resilient, adaptable, and incredibly efficient."

And they have a point. Moss is an underrated powerhouse. Unlike typical green wall plants, moss requires no root systems or soil, meaning it can grow in places most vegetation can’t. It clings to vertical surfaces using rhizoids—tiny filaments that anchor without damaging the material beneath. It survives on rain, dew, and ambient humidity. And it thrives in polluted environments, even feeding on airborne particulates and gases.

The science backs this up. According to performance data released by Respyre, a single square meter of moss facade can absorb approximately 0.5 kilograms of CO₂ per year. Multiply that across a city block, and you're not just creating a greener aesthetic—you're building real climate infrastructure. The panels also reduce the urban heat island effect by passively cooling their surroundings. In trials, moss-covered facades registered surface temperatures up to 15 degrees Celsius cooler than bare concrete on hot days.

There's also the question of water. Because of its high porosity, the concrete acts like a sponge, absorbing and retaining rainwater, then releasing it slowly through evaporation. That makes it a tool not just for air quality, but also for stormwater management. In a time of increasingly frequent and intense rainfall, that matters. And because the moss requires no trimming or pruning and doesn’t attract pests, maintenance is minimal. Once it's in, it's in.

Circular Center

Bleij and his team have also prioritized circularity. The concrete itself is made from up to 95% recycled material, including construction waste. It’s low-carbon from the start, and gets more climate-positive as the moss matures. The system is flexible enough to work on new builds or retrofits. It’s being tested on wind turbine bases, apartment balconies, and the facades of schools and office buildings. "We want to make it easy to integrate nature into places it’s usually excluded from," Bleij explains.

They're not alone. A handful of similar companies have emerged in recent years, most notably Green City Solutions in Germany, whose CityTree and CityBreeze units combine moss with smart air filtration systems. Another is BryoSystem in Germany, which uses prefabricated moss modules with solar-powered irrigation. These are exciting, but often require more technology, more energy, and more maintenance. Respyre’s offering is humble by comparison—and that may be its superpower.

For cities looking to scale green infrastructure without the overhead, Respyre offers something rare: a low-cost, low-complexity, high-impact solution. It’s elegant, effective, and largely invisible in its operation. As climate adaptation moves from concept to necessity, materials like this become essential. We need buildings that do more than just shelter. We need buildings that clean, cool, and care.

So far, Respyre has stayed close to home. Most of its projects are in the Netherlands, where the company benefits from a strong culture of urban planning and climate innovation. But international interest is growing. The project in Kortrijk, Belgium was their first step abroad, and there are whispers of pilots in the UK, France, and beyond. As cities scramble to retrofit their infrastructure for a hotter, wetter, more uncertain future, Respyre's moss may be just the quiet revolution we need.

Because maybe the best way to rewild our cities isn’t through grand gestures, but through simple, scalable shifts. Like turning a blank wall into a miniature forest. Like letting moss do what it’s done for millions of years—grow, adapt, and endure.

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Buffalo’s West Side Bazaar, run by the Westminster Economic Development Initiative, has helped launch over 1,600 immigrant- and refugee-owned businesses through mentorship, microloans, and affordable vendor space. Entrepreneurs like Zelalem Gemmeda are now building wealth, creating jobs, and reshaping the city’s economy.

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Zelalem Gemmeda will tell you that freedom smells like the aroma of berbere spices and the warmth of fresh injera pulled straight from the griddle.

She fled conflict in Ethiopia, spent years in Yemen running a restaurant where she wasn’t allowed to speak directly to customers, and eventually made her way to Buffalo as a refugee with the hope of building a new life. It wasn’t clear at first whether she’d ever own a business again. But inside the West Side Bazaar, a crowded food hall on the city’s West Side, she found something she’d been missing for years—independence.

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“I got my freedom here,” she told Bon Appétit in 2022, beaming behind a table filled with her signature wot stews and spiced lentils. With help from the Westminster Economic Development Initiative, or WEDI, Zelalem launched Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine. She built a loyal customer base, saved for her future, and is now planning to open a full-service restaurant of her own.

She’s one of dozens of refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs who’ve turned a modest business incubator into one of the most vibrant cultural centers in the region. “We are like a family,” she said of her fellow vendors. “We help each other a lot.”

The West Side Bazaar is more than a food court. It’s a proof point that economic empowerment and integration go hand in hand. It’s also part of a broader story that shows how cities can build resilience not just through policy, but through trust.

Building Something from Scratch

WEDI started small. In 2006, a group of volunteers from Westminster Presbyterian Church began tutoring refugee youth on Buffalo’s West Side, helping them learn English and succeed in school. However, it quickly became clear that their parents needed support as well. Many of them came from entrepreneurial backgrounds but had no access to capital or credit in their new home.

In 2011, WEDI opened the original West Side Bazaar in a former Blockbuster video store on Grant Street. The space was just over 3,000 square feet. There were no frills, only twelve vendor stalls and 47 seats for diners. But what it lacked in size, it made up for in spirit.

Vendors came from Myanmar, Sudan, Iraq, Korea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They served handmade dumplings, flatbreads, stews, and sweets. Others offered textiles, jewelry, and home goods, giving new meaning to the idea of shopping local. Despite its small footprint, the Bazaar drew more than 90,000 visitors a year.

“The space really became a cultural hub for the city of Buffalo,” recalled WEDI Executive Director Carolynn Welch. “People came in droves.”

That early success was proof of concept. But demand quickly outgrew the space. By 2019, more than 100 aspiring entrepreneurs were on a waitlist for vendor slots.

A New Home for a Bigger Vision

After years of planning, fundraising, and persistence, WEDI opened a new and expanded West Side Bazaar in late 2023. Housed in a renovated 16,000-square-foot warehouse on Niagara Street, the new facility is five times larger than the original.

The two-story space features a bustling food hall, dozens of vendor stalls, a full commercial kitchen, a coffee and bubble tea bar, and seating for over 200 customers. Upstairs, there’s classroom space for financial literacy and entrepreneurship training, office space for WEDI staff and partners, and a stage for events and performances.

“Providing this new, five times larger space where more entrepreneurs can launch and build economic security for their families is the fulfillment of WEDI’s mission to eliminate barriers to systemic economic equity to create a Western New York where all may thrive,” said Welch. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the Bazaar “a testament to the wide variety of foods, cultures, and products that make Buffalo so special.”

Today, the Bazaar incubates 24 businesses at a time and draws visitors from across the region. At full capacity, it’s expected to attract more than 250,000 people annually. An economic study projected it will contribute more than $34 million in local direct and indirect spending over the next five years and create 25 to 30 new jobs.

The Power of One Good Bet

Behind each of the Bazaar’s businesses is a story.

There’s Htay Naing, who came to the U.S. from Myanmar after years of working as a dishwasher in Malaysia. He spent three years on the Bazaar’s waitlist before opening Nine & Night Thai Cuisine. His food quickly became a neighborhood favorite. With help from WEDI, Htay saved money, brought his fiancée to Buffalo, and bought a home. He now has a daughter and a thriving brick-and-mortar small business.

There’s Nathalie Zola Malu, originally from Congo, who worked as a pharmacist in France before moving to Buffalo. She launched Malkia & Co., blending African and American flavors into comfort food that connects across cultures. And there’s Garang Doar, who, along with his father, opened Nile River Restaurant, serving a blend of Egyptian, Sudanese, and East African dishes.

These entrepreneurs found space and support at WEDI through mentorship, microloans, and hands-on training in various areas, including inventory management, food safety, digital marketing, and bookkeeping. Since 2009, WEDI has issued more than $2.2 million in microloans, helping over 1,600 business owners start or grow enterprises across Western New York, creating real jobs that contribute to the tax base. And it’s demonstrating what’s possible when cities invest in people, not just projects.

What Buffalo Got Right

Buffalo’s model isn’t flashy, but it’s practical. It centers the idea that economic development doesn’t need to be top-down or capital-intensive. Sometimes it just needs to be accessible.

Most of the Bazaar’s vendors come from backgrounds that would make traditional financing impossible. Some have no credit history or collateral. Others speak limited English. But with the right support, they’ve built something powerful.

The businesses they launch are often the first of their kind in Buffalo. Their menus introduce new ingredients, their storefronts reflect lived experience, and their stories ripple out into the community. And they’re staying. Many graduates of the Bazaar now operate standalone restaurants, boutiques, and cafes throughout the city. Their kids attend local schools, their taxes fund local services, and their presence brings energy and investment to once-vacant corridors.

City leaders have noticed. “It’s wonderful to see the West Side Bazaar continue to grow and flourish here in the city of Buffalo,” said former Mayor Byron Brown. “The variety of foods and wares offered at the Bazaar complements the cultures we have in our city.”

That’s the power of civic trust, and a time when immigration is often framed as a threat, Buffalo has embraced it as an opportunity to be nurtured and developed. The city’s immigrant entrepreneurs aren’t just participating in the local economy—they’re helping shape its future.

The West Side Bazaar demonstrates that inclusion can be a central component of civic strategy. And when done right, it builds wealth, stability, and pride, not just for those who are new to a place, but for those who’ve called it home for generations.

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Baltimore just posted its lowest homicide total in over 50 years—and it didn’t happen by accident. This is the story of how Mayor Brandon Scott is reshaping public safety with data, community trust, and a plan that other cities should be watching.

BALTIMORE—For many Americans, this city is The Wire.

The hit HBO series, which first aired more than two decades ago, etched into the national psyche an image of Baltimore that’s gritty, chaotic, and often lawless. It told a powerful story of a post-industrial America cracking under the weight of racial inequality, police dysfunction, political malaise, and systemic poverty. It was nuanced, tragic, and brilliant, widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time. But it also froze the city in time. For those who’ve never been, or for those who haven’t returned, the perception stuck that Baltimore is a violent, dangerous, and broken place.

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Yet that’s not the story on the ground anymore.

Today, Baltimore is in the midst of one of the most significant and underreported public safety turnarounds in the United States. In the first six months of 2025, homicides fell nearly 23%. Nonfatal shootings dropped almost 20%. Carjackings, robberies, arson, and auto thefts are all down double digits. And through the end of June, the city had recorded just 68 homicides, the fewest in more than half a century.

A Plan Rooted in Prevention, Not Punishment

The credit for this historic shift largely belongs to Mayor Brandon Scott. Since taking office in 2020, Scott has championed a radically different approach to public safety—one rooted not in mass incarceration or hyper-policing, but in prevention, accountability, and investment.

“You can’t just think you’re going to police your way out of these problems,” Scott said back in 2021. Doing things differently for him meant treating gun violence like a public health epidemic. That included identifying the people most at risk of shooting or being shot, and offering them a choice to stop the violence and receive help, or face focused law enforcement attention.

This strategy, known as Group Violence Reduction, started as a pilot in the city’s Western District. It combined targeted enforcement with social services and community support, like job training, therapy, education, relocation assistance, and credible messengers from the neighborhood who could interrupt cycles of retaliation. Within 18 months, gun violence in the Western District dropped by a staggering 33%, and the city subsequently scaled up.

Community at the Core

At the heart of Scott’s vision is the belief that public safety can’t just be reactive. That’s where MONSE—the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement—comes in. MONSE coordinates a network of community-based violence intervention programs like Safe Streets, which employs trusted community members to mediate conflicts before they turn deadly.

This isn’t soft-on-crime idealism. It’s a data-backed strategy. A Johns Hopkins study found that Safe Streets is associated with a 23% drop in nonfatal shootings in the neighborhoods where it operates. In some of its longest-running sites, entire years have passed without a single homicide.

Baltimore has also invested in young people. The city’s Summer Youth Engagement Strategy created safe spaces and events during school breaks, including late-night basketball, open pool parties, block parties, and arts programming. The result? Youth shooting victimizations dropped by two-thirds last summer.

These programs work not because they’re flashy, but because they meet people where they are. They rebuild trust, and they give people something to live for.

Law Enforcement Still Matters, But It’s Smarter

Policing still plays a critical role in Baltimore’s public safety gains, but it looks different than it did in the zero-tolerance era. The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) under Commissioner Richard Worley has doubled down on precision and accountability.

That means:

• Creating a Crime Strategies and Intelligence Division to analyze trends and respond with targeted enforcement rapidly.

• Removing over 1,300 illegal firearms from city streets in the first half of 2025 alone, including more than 150 ghost guns.

• Achieving a 64% homicide clearance rate, well above the department’s 10-year average.

• Hiring new officers committed to reform and community policing.

• And working closely with state and federal partners to prioritize the most violent offenders.

“We’ll continue to strengthen community policing efforts, build trust, and stay focused on reducing gun violence and crime in our neighborhoods,” said Worley.

This coordinated, interagency model ensures that when arrests happen, they’re deliberate and backed by strong prosecutorial alignment. Scott’s administration worked closely with the State’s Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney, Maryland State Police, and the Office of the Attorney General to create what’s essentially a coalition of consequence, so that the worst actors are held accountable. At the same time, low-level offenses don’t clog the system.

“We’re focusing our efforts where they’re needed most and not relying on policing alone,” Scott said. “This is about changing systems, investing in people, and making safety equitable across every neighborhood.”

It’s an approach that respects civil liberties and achieves results. And it’s helped the city begin to emerge from the shadow of a decades-long consent decree with the federal government, prompted by earlier patterns of police abuse and misconduct.

A Mayor Betting on Belonging

Brandon Scott grew up in Baltimore. He’s lived what he governs. And he hasn’t shied away from calling out the systems that broke his city. But he’s also fiercely focused on building something better.

“Our continued progress is the direct result of the comprehensive, evidence-based public safety strategy that we have implemented in partnership with residents,” he said in a recent statement. “While we acknowledge the historic lows we are experiencing, we must simultaneously acknowledge that there is much more work to do.”

There’s no victory lap here. Just a clear-eyed recognition that 68 lives lost is still 68 too many, and a renewed commitment to driving that number even lower.

For years, Baltimore was a case study in American decline, and The Wire told the story of its breaking point. Now, it's becoming a blueprint for what’s possible when policing is rethought and the right investments are made in people and place.

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Millions are escaping heat, crowds and chaos by visiting some of the last places on Earth where the sky is dark enough to reveal thousands of stars and offer hours of inspiration

MACKINAW CITY, Michigan —For some of the 847 people who live here, this month’s travel news coming out of Europe has been nearly impossible to believe or even imagine.

In Barcelona, thousands of angry residents, to protest over-tourism, have been shooting high-powered water guns at hundreds of tourists to protest overcrowding. Venice is now charging its record number of visitors stiff entry fees. Officials policing Italy’s Amalfi Coast are banning non-residents from driving most days on the coastal road. And in Japan, local security officers built metal barriers to block a popular view of Mount Fuji, saying the high number of photographers arriving there this summer to get the perfect shot of Fuji’s snow-covered peak are refusing to pick up their litter. Copenhagen, meanwhile, is now offering free food to tourists, but only to those who agree to help clean up after their kids.

Here, in, Mackinaw City—a small village located on the very tip of the northern-most coast of mainland Michigan— there are no big crowds. Visitors I met said they didn’t come here to buy much or even to create a quick selfie. Many came here to escape the extreme summer heat of places further south—and also to experience something very rare and unimaginable: one of the best naked-eye views of the Milky Way in the world.

Mackinaw City has a Dark Sky Park—one of the 203 such parks now operating internationally to protect public access to the world’s decreasing number of completely dark skies unspoiled by artificial light. Here, there are no street lamps, no neon, no office buildings nor many house lights that could diminish anyone’s pure view of the night sky. Officials prohibit most uses of artificial lights after dark, giving residents and visitors, alike, small infrared lights to make their way to the beach for star-gazing. “We’re nearly a hundred miles from any city,” says Amanda Hubbard, an area resident hosting me here. “It’s why there is very little light pollution, which makes it possible to get a 360-degree, 3-D view of thousands of stars and the universe we’re a part of.”

An inspiring sight? Yes, but that hardly covers it. For a growing number of tourism industry officials and climate scientists, the dark skies also now offer a clear vision of the future.

Noctourism

Tourism officials now call dark sky tourism “noctourism”— a portmanteau of “nocturnal” and “tourism.” They have begun increasing their focus on developing after-dark events, cultural activities and dark sky viewings—in part, to build climate-change resilience into the industry’s peak tourism season, increasingly challenged by rising heat and forecast to get hotter.

Also driving the trend is rising public fascination in astronomy, chiefly in new opportunities to witness rare celestial events like eclipses and meteor showers. Tours now available to view the Northern Lights over Nuuk, Greenland or to go truffle hunting at night in Piedmont, Italy or to do some “Aurora hunting” from a hot spring in Iceland are becoming especially popular.

According to a recent survey of 27,000 travelers by the Dutch travel company, booking.com, one of the world’s leading digital travel companies, 62% said they “plan to ditch the daylight crowds for midnight magic” this year and next, with 72% saying they want to visit a dark sky destination offering experiences to help visitors both learn about “and contemplate the vastness of the universe and our place in it.” Another 57% said they want star guides to help families identify different constellations and learn how to track them over time. And 59% also said they want to visit dark sky parks to provide “a cooler, and less crowded experience” that will also focus on opportunities to mix star-gazing with meditation and wellness exercises and “help people learn new ways to create calm.” Nearly all respondents said they want to see celestial events.

Old to New

After dark tourism isn’t new. It’s just not always been taken with the help of a tour guide. One such independent all-nighter, in particular, remains etched in my memory—the time many years ago when I and the late New York Times journalist Joel Brinkley, and several other friends working at NPR at the time, organized our own trip from Washington, D.C., to Hawaii’s dark sky observatory, located above the clouds at 10,000 feet in Maui, near the Haleakala Crater, to catch a glimpse of Halley’s Comet, the famous periodic comet that orbits the Sun approximately every 76 years. Back then, there were no formal tours of such events. Today, their draw is more widely understood. The world looks, feels and sounds different under the cover of darkness, and as experienced here, too—this summer in Mackinaw— peering at the night sky with friends and people from all over the world can add both a sense of eerie mystery and instant camaraderie.

Bill Wren, a special assistant at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas, a Dark Sky Park, says Mackinaw City’s Headlands Observatory, along with the Grand Canyon’s dark sky parks in Arizona, offer people access to the darkest natural skies in North America. “More people want to see the night sky now because light pollution is increasing,” Wren says. “Places in America where you can go to see a naturally brightly starry sky are vanishing.”

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Next Steps: “The Sky’s the Limit”

Here in Mackinaw and across the country, new talks have begun among tourism leaders to expand today’s dark sky parks into larger and more complex eco-tourism hubs and regional centers for advanced environmental research—to help track how our changing climate will be evolving over time.

Some dark sky parks have already begun to move ahead on this, with some creating strategic tourism partnerships with some of the country’s universities, national parks, travel companies and wellness centers.

The City of Tucson, for example, has already introduced its Astro Trail, a network of 11 sky-watching spots which include access to a 32-inch public telescope at Mount Lemmon Sky Center and Saguaro National Park, one of the first places to win Dark Sky certification in 2023. (Certification recognizes and protects areas with exceptional starry nights and minimal light pollution.)

This fall, Phoenix will welcome a first-of-its-kind International Dark Sky Discovery Center, a 23,000-square-foot astronomy hub being built in Fountain Hills, with an observatory, a deep space imaging camera, a planetarium and immersive exhibits for kids.

Canada, meanwhile, is continuing to draw growing numbers to the country’s Yukon Territory, which borders Alaska and which has seen a spike in aurora-season visits, with local outfitters developing out-of-the-box ways to enjoy the phenomenon. North Country Outdoor Adventures, for example, is running Northern Light Tours and nighttime ice-fishing tours near the small, low-light city of Whitehorse to combine angling with night-sky viewing, while the new Yukon Spa in Dawson City has installed a rooftop barrel sauna and whirlpool which guests can use while star-gazing.

Interest in eclipse tourism is also ramping up, with solar eclipse spectacles visible in Spain in 2026 and in Egypt in 2027, with some trips already sold out. Many small-town wellness centers and big-city resorts are also adding astronomy-meets-wellness experiences, such as full-moon sound baths and starlit meditations.

“More people today are discovering that there’s definitely a sense of awe to stand and look up and see the stars slashed across the sky—and realize the three-dimensional depth that you can see when you look into the plane of the galaxy,” Wren says. “The size and scale of it all provides one with a sense of context, perspective, and reminds us that we’re all a part of something bigger.

“There’s a chill that goes up the spine when people realize why the dark now is just as important to our lives as the light.”

Have a favorite stargazing site to recommend? Please mention it here, and thank you, as always, for sharing your light with our growing community!

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NOTE: This piece was updated on July 30th and 31st to add additional details on the expanding role of dark sky parks as climate-driven antidotes to the rise of extreme weather, now and next.

Pittsburgh International Airport is shedding its hub-era legacy and building a terminal for today’s travelers. The $1.57 billion project is a case study in rightsizing, resilience, and regional pride.

PITTSBURGH—If you've flown through Pittsburgh International Airport in the last few years, you've likely sensed a disconnect between its scale and its current purpose. Wide corridors echo with fewer footsteps than they once did. An underground people-mover shuttles passengers between terminals originally designed for an airline hub that no longer exists. The entire facility, once futuristic in its distinctive post-modern style, now feels like a relic of a bygone era of aviation. But that’s about to change.

Pittsburgh is in the final stages of a $1.57 billion reimagining of its airport, which is a deliberate “rightsizing” of a facility built for a model of air travel that no longer exists here. The project eliminates inefficiencies, focuses on the passenger experience, and positions the region for growth in a changing economic landscape. And it's doing so without using a single dollar of local tax revenue.

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Built for Yesterday, Reimagined for Tomorrow

When Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) opened its state-of-the-art midfield terminal in 1992, it was a marvel, built primarily to serve as a hub for US Airways. At its peak, 80% of passengers at PIT were connecting through the airport, not starting or ending their trips there. Enough land was purchased to double the airport's size, if needed.

Then came airline consolidation. US Airways closed its hub operations in Pittsburgh in the mid-2000s, and the airport's traffic collapsed. Today, more than 95% of passengers at PIT are origin-and-destination travelers, not connectors. And yet, the infrastructure remained built for connections—a disjointed, two-building setup with an eight-mile baggage system, a half-mile people mover, and energy-intensive operations.

In 2017, the Allegheny County Airport Authority announced a plan to construct a new, consolidated landside terminal, directly connected to the existing airside concourses, eliminating the costly tram, simplifying baggage operations, and dramatically improving the passenger experience. As then-Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald put it: “The current airport finds itself built for the past. This new terminal will make the airport more efficient, provide an enhanced customer experience, and be even more cost-competitive to airlines. This is a win-win for our region.”

Strategic Efficiency: The Business Case for Rightsizing

The Terminal Modernization Program is more than just a glow-up. It’s a long-term cost-cutting strategy with real savings. By eliminating the people mover and consolidating groundside and airside operations, the airport anticipates saving more than $23 million annually in operating costs. That includes:

• $4.5 million annually from retiring the train.

• $2 million in energy and maintenance savings from a streamlined, modern baggage system.

• Additional savings from consolidated staffing, reduced utility usage, and simplified maintenance.

“This project reduces our costs,” said Paul Hoback, the Airport Authority’s Chief Development Officer. “Not only that, it’s improving the passenger experience.”

The new terminal will also improve passenger flow. Currently, getting from the curb to the gate can involve multiple level changes and a ride on the underground tram. The redesigned facility will halve that journey time. And for international arrivals, the time from plane to curb will be reduced by more than 60%.

For travelers, that means a smoother journey. For the airport, that means more satisfied passengers and more opportunities for revenue from shops, restaurants, and parking.

Funded Without Local Taxes

A project of this scale could easily become a political flashpoint, especially if taxpayers were asked to foot the bill. But Pittsburgh has managed to avoid that entirely.

The project is being funded through a combination of:

• Airport revenue bonds, backed by future airline fees, parking, and concessions.

• Federal infrastructure grants, including $28.8 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

• Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) and Customer Facility Charges (CFCs) on rentals and tickets.

At every stage, airlines have had a seat at the table, and they’ve supported the plan. In March 2021, at the height of COVID-era uncertainty, American Airlines and others unanimously approved the funding strategy and design revisions.

“Right-sizing and modernizing PIT is the right path forward,” said Patrick Bowes, former chair of PIT’s Airline Affairs Committee. “It’s doing the right thing for this airport, the airlines, and all of our customers.”

Such alignment between public officials, the private sector, and infrastructure planners is rare these days. And it speaks volumes about the long-term value of this investment.

More Than Steel and Glass

If the previous terminal was a monument to the Jet Age, the new terminal is a celebration of place. The design draws inspiration from the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania, the bridges of Pittsburgh, and the surrounding forests. Tree-like columns hold up a wooden ceiling that evokes the region’s natural canopy. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls allow natural light to flood in. Outdoor terraces provide fresh air and open views.

“We’re building Pittsburgh’s airport,” said Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis. “One that’s optimized for the needs of the local passenger and today’s aviation environment… a facility that is truly built by Pittsburghers, for Pittsburghers.”

It’s also designed for flexibility. The new terminal includes a 4,300-space parking garage and an integrated rental car center. It’s wired for future technology and built to LEED Silver standards, with a solar-powered microgrid that already offsets more than $1 million in annual electricity costs.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, planners found that their original design held up. With wide-open spaces, touchless systems, and robust air filtration, the terminal was already well-positioned to meet post-pandemic travel needs.

How It Compares Nationally

Pittsburgh isn’t the only mid-sized airport rethinking its infrastructure. Other formerly hub-dominated airports, like Memphis and Cleveland, have also downsized to match current demand.

Memphis, for example, consolidated its operations into a single, renovated concourse for approximately $245 million. Cleveland mothballed an entire concourse after United pulled out in 2014, and is now planning a multi-billion-dollar rebuild. Kansas City, meanwhile, recently opened a $1.5 billion new terminal to replace outdated 1970s facilities.

What makes Pittsburgh’s approach different is the balance it strikes. It retains functional parts of the existing infrastructure (like the airside concourses) but eliminates redundancies that no longer make sense. It’s neither a patchwork renovation nor a complete teardown. It’s strategic, efficient, and adapted to its new role as an origin-and-destination airport with global aspirations.

The airport is both a literal and symbolic gateway to that future. With construction now more than 80% complete, the new terminal is scheduled to open this fall.

For Pittsburghers—and for anyone watching how mid-sized cities can rethink their infrastructure for the next generation—the new airport is a case study in vision, collaboration, and what happens when we stop clinging to the past and start building for the future.

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In Northern Virginia, Dominion Energy is replacing gas-powered mowers with flocks of sheep at its solar farms—a practice known as “lambscaping”—to reduce emissions, restore soil health, and reshape land management. What appears to be a PR stunt is actually a powerful model of regenerative agriculture and energy production that’s revitalizing rural economies, supporting biodiversity, and mitigating public resistance to solar infrastructure.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just outside of Washington, D.C., in Fauquier County, Virginia, a herd of 125 sheep is transforming the way we think about energy, agriculture, and the environment. At Dominion Energy’s Remington Solar facility, the sheep—under the care of Carrington Farm’s Bill Renaud—aren’t just grazing. They’re replacing lawnmowers, reducing emissions, restoring soil health, and reshaping the future of land management.

This is lambscaping. And for the first time, Dominion is bringing it to Northern Virginia—a region not typically associated with pastoral experimentation. The flock clears 30 to 40 acres every few days, keeping vegetation in check around thousands of solar panels. It’s eco-friendly, cost-effective, and oddly revolutionary. “It’s less fuel, it’s less labor,” Renaud says. And soil samples from the site show a 3–4% boost in organic matter—a marker of healthier, more resilient ground.

What might appear to be a quirky PR stunt is, in fact, part of a serious strategy to decarbonize operations while reimagining what working land can be. It’s not just sheep on a field. It’s a blueprint for a different kind of energy transition—one that doesn’t leave nature, or people, behind.

"It's a win-win for everyone involved,” said Renaud.

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The Case for Lambscaping

Across Virginia, that blueprint is gaining traction. In Sussex County, Jess and Marcus Gray of Gray’s LAMBscaping shepherd flocks through Dominion Energy’s solar farms, guided by their border collie, Dot. The sheep graze on clover and wildflowers while fertilizing the soil and eliminating the need for gas-powered mowing equipment.

This type of agrivoltaics—dual-use land that produces energy while supporting agriculture—offers a lifeline for small and mid-sized farmers. Dominion pays the Grays a regular monthly fee, a rarity in an industry often defined by commodity price swings and seasonal income. In Climax, near Pittsylvania County, a flock of 165 sheep is already at work on a 1,000-acre solar site. That number is expected to triple by spring. In Texas, one farmer who had lost $200,000 growing cotton reported earning a $300,000 profit grazing sheep on solar land.

For newer farmers or those shut out of high-priced land markets, solar grazing offers access without ownership and a reliable income stream. It’s a model of regenerative economics, where the land supports multiple uses, and rural livelihoods are reinforced rather than displaced by green infrastructure.

The environmental case is equally strong. Sheep are low-impact, heat-tolerant, and ideally suited for solar installations, where they can graze beneath panels and reach vegetation machines often miss. Their hooves lightly aerate the soil; their manure enriches it. No fuel required, no herbicides needed. Dominion reports that sheep cover up to 75% of the vegetation needs at their solar farms. Machines are now the backup, not the default.

And unlike mechanical mowing, grazing helps restore natural ecosystems. Wildflowers and native grasses return. Pollinators like bees and butterflies flourish. Ground-nesting birds, including quail, find habitat in the safe, low-grass understory left behind. It’s a quiet rewilding—tucked beneath a canopy of solar panels.

In a time of increasing drought and climate disruption, sheep also bring resilience. Their hardiness in heat, adaptability across various landscapes, and consistency offer a low-tech solution to a high-stakes problem: maintaining solar output without contributing to environmental degradation.

Soft Power, Stronger Communities

Sheep offer another, often overlooked benefit: they change the story. Large solar farms can provoke backlash in rural communities. People worry about aesthetics, property values, or cultural displacement. But when a flock of sheep appears in the mix, public perception softens. It’s no longer just industrial infrastructure—it’s working land. They’re familiar, approachable, and even beloved.

Dominion’s expansion into Northern Virginia is especially telling. Bringing the practice closer to an urban and suburban population shows that lambscaping isn’t just for the backcountry. It can work—and be welcomed—wherever solar is needed. In an era of polarized climate and energy debates, these small, sensory cues matter. They humanize the transition.

“We absolutely love what we do and that’s what I tell everybody,” said Jess Gray. “The best part about my job is when I get to come here and I watch the girls walk around. It’s so peaceful. Now, I know when people say when you can’t sleep, count sheep, we do it all the time.”

The Path Forward

Lambscaping isn’t a plug-and-play solution. Flocks must be rotated to prevent overgrazing. Predators require the presence of guardian dogs, like the Great Pyrenees. And scale is still a challenge, because demand is growing faster than herds.

But that gap is also an opportunity. Imagine job training programs for solar shepherds—young people learning to work at the intersection of food, fiber, and energy. Imagine partnerships with land-grant universities, cooperative extension services, or conservation corps. Lambscaping could be a gateway not just to cleaner energy, but to a more just and inclusive agricultural economy.

Beyond sheep, the broader promise of agrivoltaics is coming into view: combining solar with pollinator gardens, experimental crop plots, and even cattle in some regions. What Dominion has begun in Virginia could serve as a national model—an exportable playbook for dual-use innovation.

From Pittsylvania to Northern Virginia, lambscaping is more than a novelty—it’s a new kind of infrastructure. One that doesn’t just generate kilowatts, but restores topsoil, supports pollinators, reduces emissions, and revives rural economies.

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Sweltering heat has been scorching nearly three-quarters of the U.S. population in recent days and weeks, exacerbating deadly floods in Texas and North Carolina, and trapping more than 30 million of us in triple-digit temperatures under a “heat dome” covering 17 states. “It’s as if we’re being cooked under the lid of a giant pot,” says climate writer Jeff Goodell. Red and blue states are starting to demand more federal protection.

CHICAGO— What’s cringe-worthy, always, when it gets really hot?

It’s when somebody says it’s so hot, you can fry an egg on the sidewalk.

This past week, that was actually possible.

Pavement buckled in Wisconsin and Illinois. [Chicago’s annual NASCAR race organizers had to re-surface a street segment of the track blistered by heat.] Trains in the Northeast were slowed or stopped to avoid heat-induced “sun kinks” in the rails. ERs filled up fast in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York with patients suffering heat stroke, and TikTok began buzzing again with videos of people in Phoenix, Dana Point, California, Palm Springs, New York and Las Vegas trying, with some success, to fry eggs on sidewalks, patios and in solar-heated pans on urban rooftops. (Paris also got hit with extreme heat).

Tourism also took a hit. The Washington Monument in D.C. and the Centennial Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier in Chicago closed down when the temperatures exceeded 100. And then, in the most freakish event of them all, high heat exacerbated the speed and intensity of the heavy rains that pummeled Texas Hill Country, causing the Guadalupe River, at one point, to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes—an extreme heat-induced catastrophe which, at latest count, swept more than 104 people to their deaths in the floodwaters spanning six counties.

These kinds of events aren’t outliers, says Ashley Ward, the director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University. “Events like these are signs that a new era of more frequent and intense heat waves have already started to test infrastructure, public health systems and communities.”

Quiet Killers

The challenge heat poses isn’t as flashy as twisters and hurricanes. “Heat doesn’t, by itself, leave behind eye-catching wreckage,” Ward says. Adds climate writer Jeff Goodell, author of the 2023 book, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet: “When I look out my window, extreme heat looks the same as pretty much anything else. It’s invisible. Tornados, on the other hand, have funnel clouds and hurricanes push trees to the ground.”

Trouble is, the impact of extreme heat, created by heat domes, is no less profound—and it’s global. Western Europe just endured two, back-to-back heatwaves packing extreme heat, both linked to heat domes trapping warm air over affected regions, prolonging the stifling weather and worsening pollution and wildfire conditions.

The heat dome millions of Americans have been experiencing also has been expansive, extending above and across much of the United States, with its effects chiefly felt in 17 states.

Why does extreme heat pose the deadliest threat to public health and safety? When air heated by the sun gets pushed vertically into the atmosphere, it can create a heat dome of high pressure that traps the hot air beneath it, as if it’s bounded by a lid. Heat domes can hover over a city, state, region or country for days—or even weeks. Scientists say heat domes are becoming more frequent and intense due to human-caused climate change largely fueled by the burning of fossil fuels.

In America, according to the National Weather Service:

• The average number of heat waves the U.S. experiences today has doubled since the 1980s, and the length of the most dangerous heat season has increased from about 40 days to roughly 70.

• Last summer (2024) was the hottest summer on record, globally—ever— since countries began documenting their temperatures in the 1880s, and this summer is likely to be hotter still.

• In the U.S. annually, extreme heat remains the deadliest form of extreme weather in the U.S., and since 2023, has been contributing to more than 800 deaths annually.

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The good news?

Leaders are beginning to act on this—regardless of their politics.

Business and civic leaders—and even some congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle—are creating some new rules to help navigate the rise in extreme heat. “These sectors aren’t waiting for political consensus on climate change,” Ward says. “They’re adapting to the effects that are already here.”

Included in their work:

• Congress just formed a bipartisan Extreme Heat Caucus to focus on how extreme heat is affecting workers and creating economic challenges for companies and institutions. The Caucus is also looking into how extreme heat may be posing the kind of health and public safety risks that could be partially mitigated by legislation.

• Local governments in Miami and Los Angeles have created the new executive position of Chief Heat Officer, to help them discover the impact of extreme heat on residents, businesses and local infrastructure. Jane Gilbert, Miami’s first Chief Heat Officer told us that one of the first things she did when appointed was ask a group of the city’s community organizations to conduct a series of focus groups and surveys of local residents, to discover what concerns them the most about climate change. “It wasn’t sea level rise,” Gilbert said, “and it wasn’t even hurricanes. It was extreme heat, because that’s the reality they are living day in and day out, with utility bills becoming less affordable, their AC systems needing upgrades, their job needs requiring them to spend more time outdoors, and so on. …It helped us to put together a Heat Action Plan to tell us what we need the most to keep Miami residents and organizations safe and thriving.”

• The Pentagon is researching how extreme heat is emerging as a threat to troop readiness, the strength and efficiency of military outposts and the security of supply chains critical to defense operations. The First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that provides climate risk data for properties in the United States, is helping the Pentagon to assess the rising heat and climate risk to its facilities and energy consumption.

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• Business leaders are beginning to address how extreme heat can slow worker productivity, heat-damage electronics, and render pharmaceuticals unusable. Extreme heat also hits rural economies the hardest. Power outages and supply chain disruption that affects inventories can drive up costs for producers and consumers, alike—if, for example, heat spoils food in warehouses and in grocery stores before their expiration dates. Delta Air Lines is developing policies to protect its passengers and ground crews, who are exposed to high temperatures during flights and on the tarmac when working in proximity to jet engines. United Parcel Service, in a new heat-safety agreement with the Teamsters, recently provided cooling hats, towels and water to its delivery workers, and added exhaust fans and heat shields to each of their vehicles. [In Europe, where extreme heat is also challenging the workforce, Italy and France have begun restricting outdoor work on very hot days, following the lead of Spain and Greece.]

• Insurance companies are also beginning to rethink how they should respond to the rising frequency of extreme heat waves. One emerging tool is parametric insurance, a kind of policy that is building climate resilience by issuing automatic payouts when specific temperature thresholds are met to help businesses, farms and independent workers absorb shocks and keep operating.

“Extreme heat is not a niche environment issue,” Ward wrote in a recent guest essay for The New York Times. “It determines whether construction crews can safely finish a job, whether school buildings without adequate air-conditioning can stay open and whether crops make it to market or wither in the field.

“If we start getting really serious about heat, we won’t just weather the summer,” Ward says, “we’ll strengthen the systems communities rely on every day and build a more resilient economy for everyone.”

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts. As always, we thank you for your readership and value your input!

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NOTE: This story was updated on July 10th to include additional data on the recent impact of extreme heat domes on Americans and Europeans during the same period.

As America faces a new age of disruption—from institutional decline and economic inequality to climate volatility and technological upheaval—communities across the country are quietly pioneering bold alternatives. From mutual aid networks to cooperative ownership and portfolio careers, these emerging models offer a blueprint for a more resilient, equitable future—one built not by elites, but by ordinary people reimagining what’s possible.

Washington, D.C. — If the story of America is, as historian Jon Meacham wrote, a constant tension between "our worst instincts and our better angels,” then today we are living through a reckoning. Political violence is on the rise. Trust in institutions is near historic lows. Economic inequality has reached levels not seen since the original Gilded Age. But in every rupture lies a chance to rebuild.

History teaches us that in moments of crisis, Americans have always found ways to renew, reimagine, and rise. The future is not yet written. It is, as ever, ours to shape.

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The Legacy of Renewal

The first Gilded Age, for all its excess and injustice, ultimately gave rise to an era of reform. The Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Great Society were not inevitable—they were forged by ordinary people who refused to accept the status quo. Settlement houses, labor unions, women's suffrage campaigns, and the civil rights movement all originated at the grassroots level, not in the halls of power. These movements expanded democracy, protected workers, and built the social safety net that would define the American middle class for generations.

Today’s equivalents are just as vital. In FY 2024, approximately 41.7 million Americans, or about 12.3% of the population, received SNAP benefits each month, at an annual cost of roughly $93.8 billion, with average monthly payments of $188 per person ($352 per household). With pandemic-era emergency allotments expiring in March 2023, this reduction of approximately $90 per month per person underscores the continuing fiscal strain.

Mutual Aid

One of the most striking developments of recent years is the resurgence of mutual aid. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as government systems faltered, communities mobilized to provide food, medicine, and support to neighbors in need. These networks, often organized through social media and messaging apps, filled gaps left by both the formal economy and the state.

Unlike traditional charity, mutual aid is rooted in solidarity, not saviorism. It’s neighbors helping neighbors—not institutions managing need. In Los Angeles County, for example, the Dignity and Power Now Mutual Aid program has supported over 2,100 individuals since 2020. In 2023 alone, 533 were supported at community events, with 136 referred to other services, showing how those organized efforts persist.

During the pandemic, Google searches for “mutual aid” surged by more than 400%, signaling nationwide grassroots interest. Many of these networks are now evolving into sustained civic infrastructure.

The Rise of Fourth Spaces

Sociologists once described “third spaces”—libraries, churches, union halls—as vital places of community outside home and work. But as these traditional hubs decline, a new civic frontier is emerging: “fourth spaces.” These are hybrid, often digital communities that blur the boundaries between gathering and activism.

Platforms like Discord (now over 150 million monthly users), WhatsApp, Substack, and Patreon have become hubs for coaching circles, peer support groups, and value-driven micro-communities. These are not just digital water coolers—they’re incubators for new ideas, relationships, and solidarity.

Universal Basic Income

The idea of a universal basic income (UBI)—regular, unconditional cash payments to all citizens—has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. Pilot programs in Stockton, California, Jackson, Mississippi, and countries like Finland and Kenya have shown that UBI reduces poverty, improves mental health, and enhances civic engagement.

In Stockton’s 2021 pilot, recipients of $500 per month primarily spent their funds on food, utilities, and childcare, while the rate of full-time employment rose by 12 percentage points, debunking the myth that cash leads to idleness.

Kenya’s large-scale UBI trials showed recipients became more entrepreneurial, investing in education, health, and businesses, reinforcing the argument that economic security enables innovation.

Crowdsourced Safety Nets

While traditional institutions struggle to meet basic needs, communities are pioneering new models of shared wealth that go far beyond individual crowdfunding. Platforms like Kiva, which have facilitated over $1.7 billion in microloans to entrepreneurs in 77 countries, demonstrate how technology can democratize access to capital. But the real innovation is happening at the intersection of digital tools and community organizing.

In Detroit, the Kresge Foundation's BUILD program combines crowdfunding with technical assistance, helping Black and Latino entrepreneurs raise capital while building local networks of support. Rather than relying on distant donors, these campaigns mobilize neighborhood investors who understand the local context and stay engaged beyond the initial funding.

Meanwhile, participatory grantmaking is redistributing philanthropic power. Organizations like the Disability Rights Fund and the National Domestic Workers Alliance now involve community members directly in funding decisions, moving resources to grassroots leaders who know their communities best. This isn't charity—it's community members controlling the flow of capital to address their own priorities.

These models are scaling. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) now manage over $222 billion in assets, providing loans and investments that traditional banks won't make. Crowdfunding platforms specifically designed for social impact, like ioby (In Our Backyards), have funded thousands of community-led projects from urban gardens to bike lanes, proving that when people control the capital, they invest in what actually improves their daily lives.

The question isn't whether generosity can replace justice—it's whether these emerging models of community-controlled capital can grow into the infrastructure for a more equitable economy.

Institutional Hybrids and Public‑Private Partnerships

Between 2001 and 2016, USAID leveraged nearly 1,400 public-private collaborations, attracting $3.74 in private investment for every government dollar. These partnerships funded broadband expansion in places like rural Virginia, where counties like Bland used public-private models to deploy wireless networks to underserved mountain communities, and supported housing development and green infrastructure across dozens of countries. Companies have adopted these same collaborative approaches in their own operations, with Salesforce committing $500 million to climate justice and thousands of businesses experimenting with employee ownership and profit-sharing.

But these examples represent the foundation of what could be built, not the scale of what's needed. Salesforce's $500 million climate fund, while substantial, is a fraction of what climate adaptation will require. Employee ownership remains limited to a few thousand companies when millions exist. The infrastructure for cross-sector collaboration exists, but it hasn't yet been deployed at the magnitude our challenges demand.

The question isn't whether these hybrid approaches work. The evidence suggests they do. It's whether they can be scaled to match the problems they're meant to solve.

Cooperative Ownership and Community Wealth

As regions across the U.S.—and globally—face aging populations and declining birthrates, a quiet revolution is taking shape: the rise of cooperative ownership. Worker-owned businesses and community-based enterprises are emerging as durable responses to demographic and economic stress. In places where traditional employers are leaving or aging out, cooperatives are stepping in to preserve jobs, build local wealth, and keep communities intact.

One of the leading examples is Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives, a network of worker-owned businesses launched to revitalize disinvested neighborhoods. Evergreen includes a commercial laundry servicing major hospitals, an urban greenhouse, and an energy efficiency company. Profits are shared with workers, and governance is democratic, ensuring that ownership stays rooted in the community.

In Western North Carolina, where rural depopulation threatens small businesses, a growing number of owners nearing retirement are transitioning their firms to employee ownership. The Industrial Commons, based in Morganton, has helped incubate worker cooperatives in manufacturing and textiles, reviving a region once hollowed out by globalization.

Globally, the cooperative model is gaining traction as well. In Japan, where population aging is most acute, consumer cooperatives have expanded into eldercare, retail, and even funeral services. These cooperatives often employ older adults, creating intergenerational workforces in shrinking towns. Meanwhile, in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, home to over 8,000 cooperatives, cooperative enterprises account for approximately 30% of the region's GDP, demonstrating how shared ownership can scale.

Cooperatives aren’t just economic models—they are civic engines. They build resilience by anchoring ownership locally, distributing profits more equitably, and embedding democratic practices in the workplace. In aging and depopulating geographies, they offer a path forward: not just to preserve what’s left, but to reimagine what’s possible.

Portfolio Careers and the Redefinition of Ambition

The forty-year career is dying, and in its place, something radically different is taking shape. The numbers tell the story of a quiet revolution: 76.4 million Americans—more than one in three workers—piece together their financial livelihood through portfolio careers, a mosaic of freelance work, side hustles, creative projects, and part-time roles, generating $1.35 trillion in economic activity. By 2028, this will be the majority of the American workforce. We're witnessing the largest transformation in how humans organize their working lives since the Industrial Revolution.

This shift, while resourceful, comes with real costs. Over 60% of gig workers can't cover a $400 emergency without borrowing or selling something, revealing how our safety net was designed for a different era. Yet younger workers keep choosing this path, trading traditional security for something their parents' generation rarely had: the ability to define success on their own terms. They're building careers that flex around children, passions, and purposes that extend beyond quarterly earnings.

What we're seeing emerge isn't just individual career choices—it's the scaffolding of a new economic model. Platforms like Patreon, Substack, and Discord have become more than tools; they're infrastructure for creative independence and community-driven work. Freelancers are forming collectives, sharing health insurance, and creating professional development networks. Like the mutual aid networks that surged during the pandemic, portfolio workers are building the support systems that institutions failed to provide. The question isn't whether this transformation will continue—the demographic and technological forces driving it are too powerful to reverse. The question is whether we'll build the infrastructure to support it, or continue trying to fit a 21st-century workforce into 20th-century systems until both break entirely.

The Power of Imagination and the New American Story

What ties these movements together is not ideology but imagination—the courage to ask: What if we built something better?

Imagination begins with naming a problem but succeeds through experimentation, persistence, and the willingness to learn from failure.

The future we can build is not a return to the past, but a leap forward. It asks us to be honest about our failures, bold in our ideals, and united in our agency. It invites us to see each other not as competitors but as fellow travelers on a shared journey.

This new American story unfolds in classrooms, community gardens, city councils, maker spaces, picket lines, and digital platforms. It’s a story of resilience, creativity, and hope.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. And the arc of history bends toward justice only when enough hands reach out to pull it.

Hope is not blind optimism. It is the belief, born of experience, that things can get better. In this uncertain moment, that hope is not only justified but necessary for the collective good.

Let’s build a future worthy of our highest ideals, together.

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ASPEN, Colorado—Even now, one of the most frequent questions de-extinction entrepreneur Ben Lamm says he gets asked is: “Are you going to bring back the dinosaurs?”

With the latest sequel to Jurassic Park opening this week in theaters across the country, it’s no wonder that many attending the annual Aspen Ideas Festival here this past weekend kept hitting Lamm up with that same question.

“De-extinction” is science’s new endeavor to bring back extinct species [or create close facsimiles of them] using modern biotechnology. Lamm and his Dallas-based company, Colossal Biosciences, shocked the scientific community and the world in April by announcing it had brought back the Dire Wolf, an animal that has been extinct for some 12,000 years.

Lamm—appearing here this past week—caused a new round of jaw-dropping by announcing Colossal also plans to bring back even more animals lost to history, including the Dodo bird, the Tasmanian Tiger and next? Maybe even the Woolly Mammoth.

“We’re working on mammoth DNA now,” Lamm told Aspen festival-goers.

Did Jurassic Park get it right?

Yes and no, Lamm says. The original movie, which hit theaters for the first time in 1993, told the fictional story of a mad scientist who extracted dinosaur DNA from ancient mosquitoes preserved in amber to bring dangerous velociraptors and deadly carnivores, like the T-Rex, back to life on a remote island.

“Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg didn’t have it all wrong,” Lamm said in a quick interview with us over the weekend. [We met Lamm earlier, at the SXSW conference in March and caught up with him again in Aspen.] “We do have to find ancient DNA, but we get it from a combination of ancient teeth and bone, not mosquitos. We can go back 1.5 million years, but not 65 million years (the time of the dinosaurs). But we’ve also got people who travel the world to bring stuff back to us, like ancient bones, ears and teeth from thawing permafrost sites in Alaska, Siberia, northern Canada, Greenland and New Zealand, so it can sometimes feel a bit more like something out of Indiana Jones than Jurassic Park.”

Colossal Biosciences, founded in 2021 by Lamm and award-winning Harvard geneticist George Church, employs 130 bioscientists, and is the first company to use CRISPR gene-editing technology successfully to create a process for de-extinction of a variety of lost species.

The technology and a vast global network gives scientists new and better ways to compare the DNA from extinct animals with the DNA of their closest living relatives. “Today we use genetic engineering and ancient DNA and modern computer models to reassemble DNA—and then use AI to help us compare it to that of an animal’s closest living relative—and then use CRISPR and new cloning technologies to bring lost animals new life.”

For the Dire Wolf, Colossal was able to take DNA from museum samples of a 13,000-year-old tooth found in Sheridan Pit, Ohio, and a 72,000-year-old ear bone discovered in American Falls, Idaho, to analyze the Dire Wolf genome and identify positive genetic differences between Dire Wolves and modern gray wolves, which have 99.5% of their DNA in common.

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Why bother?

And why now? Lamm says more animal species are becoming extinct, and faster than ever—largely driven by humans. The World Wildlife Fund says there has been an average 73% decline in wildlife populations since 1970, and “nature is disappearing at an alarming rate.” Colossal’s mission, Lamm says, is to use genetic engineering and de-extinction methods to help reverse the decline in the Earth’s biodiversity and solve some of the challenges of a warming world.

“What we are learning is that there are all kinds of special, unique factors in life and that if we eradicate this life before studying it, we miss the opportunity to see how it can it help the other parts of the planet, including us.”

The planet has experienced five previous “mass extinction” events, the last one occurring 65.5 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs from existence. Today, experts believe, we’re in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, but this one is made by humans—not nature.

The National Museum of Natural History says the rate of modern-day animal extinctions first began skyrocketing with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, and then spiked further after World War II, when exponential growth in the world’s population spiked again, growing to what is estimated to be over 8.2 billion people today. Humans are now using some 40% of all land on the planet to produce food, the museum reports, and that “land grab” is now responsible for 90% of the Earth’s de-forestation. Humans also now use an estimated 70% of the planet’s fresh water, and are elbowing out thousands more species each year. “All over the world,” says the WWF’s 2024 Life of the Planet report, “we are cutting down forests, using too much water from rivers, choking our oceans with plastic and pushing many animals to extinction.”

Learning resilience

Working on de-extinction, says Colossal’s Chief Science Officer, Beth Shapiro, “is helping us keep more existing species alive.” Lessons from the company’s work with the Dire Wolves, she says, are now being used to expand the population of red wolves, an existing species now just 20 animals shy of total extinction. Teams working on de-extincting the Woolly Mammoth, Lamm says, are learning how to help today’s elephants, and ourselves, to become better able to survive the warming climate.

Being able to bring animals back, or even to create hybrids of extinct animals from both our recent past and the Ice Age, Lamm adds, could also help to restore damaged ecosystems and “fix the Arctic tundra.”

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Fear and skepticism

Not everyone is supportive of Colossal’s work and experimentation.

Some critics say that de-extincting could negatively disrupt today’s animal communities. Others worry that some “de-extincted” species would behave differently from their existing descendants and become more dangerously invasive than helpful. “And there are some concerns that scientists using the process ‘are trying to play God,’” Lamm says—and disputes.

Paul Ehrlich, for years a leading bioscience scholar at Stanford University and author of a 2014 essay in the Yale 360 Review—entitled The Case Against De-Extinction: It’s a Fascinating but Dumb Idea—wrote that “spending millions of dollars trying to de-extinct a few species will not compensate for the thousands of populations and species which have already been lost due to human activities.”

Ehrlich, like some other critics, instead advocates “putting all limited resources for science and conservation into preventing extinctions, by first tackling the causes of demise: habitat destruction, climate disruption, pollution, over-harvesting and so on.”

Good idea, Lamm agrees, but says that in today’s politically polarized society, “it’s not happening” and there needs to be other ways to achieve those same goals. More work to save endangered species is critical, he says, but new ways are also needed to slow the pace and demise of increasing numbers of species—if for no other reason than to keep the planet safely and more richly biodiverse for future generations by applying new breakthroughs in technology and science to hurry things along.

Says Colossal’s Science Chief, Beth Shapiro: “If we want a future both biodiverse and filled with people, we should be giving ourselves—now— the opportunity to see what our big brains can do to reverse some of the bad things we’ve done to the world already.

“I can’t wait to see what other species lost to time can teach us next.”

For a deeper dive into de-extinction, check out Colossal’s step-by-step description of the process it followed for the Dire Wolf. Also see the recent cover story, “Extinct” in TIME magazine about the Dire Wolf experiment and explore The Hastings Center for Bioethics and its take on de-extinction here. See also WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024 on the rapid rise of animal extinctions over the past 50 years.

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A lot of frontline managers still don’t have a clue about what their employees encounter, believe, struggle through and strive for every day—but should, says work culture expert Ethan McCarty. “It can drive the behavior needed to generate the business results we’re all on the hook to deliver.”

NEW YORK—Don’t like your job? Your ‘boss’? Maybe in today’s still-tight labor market you’re doing the minimum—or maybe pursuing a more gratifying side hustle, thinking nobody will notice (nor care much), even it if might pose a conflict of interest or limit your collaboration. [Pew says 35% of Gen Zers are now running side gigs.] Worst case scenario? You’ve begun dissing your company or your talented workmates publicly (wrongly)—to justify your sudden desire to start plotting an expensive escape.

The old rules for companies? Let these folks go.

New rules? Whoa. Not so fast.

Today, a company’s frontline managers hold the key to improving employee performance. Trouble is, the latest Integral Index reveals, many of them are still using ineffective, top-down management tools and practices—or don’t have the communication skills needed to guide and affirm the unique value of the people they manage and to fully activate them to collaborate for positive change and success.

“When you activate managers, you activate the enterprise,” says Ethan McCarty, the founder and CEO of Integral. “Learning more about what drives employees can drive the behavior needed to generate the business results we’re all on the hook to deliver.”

Compassionate Culture

The Integral Index, conducted with the Harris Poll, surveys more than 2,000 employees annually about how they feel they’re being treated at work. “Improving how employees experience work isn’t a perk, nor a line item in a budget,” says McCarty, a pioneer in the relatively new field of employee experience, which integrates internal/external communications, HR and change management to improve work culture and increase employees’ emotional commitment to the organization, productivity and the quality of work. “Focusing more on employee experience is a strategic lever that every business should prioritize if it wants to compete and grow—and that means investing in manager training, holding executives accountable for culture and creating feedback systems that actually get used, not just lip-serviced.”

In this year’s Index, for example, nearly half of survey respondents cited irresponsive or uninformed managers as a major source of dissatisfaction—an insight that sheds new light on a variety of other HR sector indicators.

“In one study after another, whether it’s exit interviews or looking at the returns on Glassdoor,” McCarty said in an interview, “you’ll see comments that yeah, this place was a great place to work, had some awesome benefits, my compensation was fine, and I was given some amazing opportunities but my manager was just really out to lunch and I quit.”

What to do? According to Integral’s Index, an employee whose manager consistently supports her/his development is 42 points more likely to predict positive behaviors at work. “For starters,” McCarty told us, “if a you’re a leader and want to find the most effective place to spend your energy to improve an organization’s communications and culture, I don’t think you have to look very far, really. Maybe rather than sending managers a set of talking points, start sending them some listening points—along with some budgeted time to learn how to be better coaches.”

We caught up with McCarty recently to explore today’s work culture battles, “mixternal” communications—the merger of internal and external comms teams—and the benefits and challenges of having, for the first time in history, five generations working side-by-side, each with unique technological and formative experiences.

What follows are some highlights of that conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity. We’ll be airing a complete version as part of our forthcoming New Rules Media podcast series on resilience.

MARCIA: In many ways, you say one of the biggest things challenging companies are first-line managers, some of whom aren’t being very transparent about company goals and projects, nor as attentive as needed to individual employees’ career goals and need for support. Your research says many of them need communications training to do better, but that they, too, aren’t always getting what they need, and it can have a discouraging, negative impact on the employees they manage—and on company outcomes.

ETHAN: Managers, especially first-line managers, are the linchpins of culture. They are expected to interpret strategy into action, reinforce norms, provide feedback, but—only when they’re supported—can they also become trusted guides. When they’re overwhelmed, inconsistent or misaligned with leadership, they become a significant source of confusion and disconnection.

Our data shows that in fact, employees’ experience of their direct managers can have a disproportionate influence on their mindset and performance. Everything else can be okay, but if employees think their managers don’t understand them, aren’t communicating with them enough about what matters to them, aren’t listening and aren’t giving them the tools and experiences needed to succeed, they’ll quit. On the other hand, workers who believe their manager enables their growth, provides resources and lives the organization’s values? The data proves that employees will then experience a significant increase in how well they feel about the company.

…Employee experience, mindset and engagement are the three behaviors which underpin the set of behaviors employees exhibit and they can either support or sabotage business outcomes.

MARCIA: What about Gen Z?

ETHAN: These feelings, beliefs and behaviors, good and bad, start early. Among Gen Z workers (ages 18-24)—who, by the way, are quickly becoming the largest cohort in the workforce—only 56% feel their company genuinely cares about them, and just 66% of them feel they have the support needed to do their jobs well. Perhaps most concerning? Half (51%) say senior leaders’ behavior doesn’t align with the company’s stated values.

That kind of misalignment doesn’t just erode trust, it bleeds our into performance, motivation and retention. In fact, Gen Z is the most likely generation to believe their company’s best days are behind it.

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MARCIA: You recently wrote a piece for Forbes, as a member of the Forbes Business Council, entitled, Your Best PR and Marketing Agency is Already on Your Payroll. Why do you think so?

ETHAN: We must think differently about how we’re engaging people, not as audiences, but as individuals. The public we need to reach now is right under our noses. It’s the people we work with every day. They’re as important as a company’s customers, if not more so. And it’s now all about how companies and organizations are getting their attention, too. Attention is now the prize. It’s what determines success in today’s media ecosystem.

MARCIA: How does that play out? You’ve said that the most effective leaders recognize that brands are built from the inside out. Employee behavior plays a big role in that. How do companies win the employee attention and respect you reference? Values play a big role. What else?

ETHAN: Our latest survey says that 75% of employees report only positive emotions about work when their employer speaks with the same voice internally as it does externally. And even more employees, 91% of them —say they experience positive emotions at work when their organization’s stated values align with their own. So yeah, values play a big role. Employees who see their own values reflected in their employer’s values are more than twice as likely to go the extra mile for a client or colleague, advocate for their employer on social media and stick with the company when it has a crisis.

… Executive communication and behavior are also critical. They set the tone for trust and belief. Purpose and impact of the work is important to communicate to all employees, in regular, frequent communication and shared results and data points. It’s important to convey how the work being done matters—makes a difference—but that’s not always happening, or at least not as fully nor as frequently as needed.

When senior leaders embody the organization’s stated values, and regularly communicate about purpose and strategy, employee belief in the future rises. When they don’t, employees will fill in the blanks—and the blanks are rarely generous.

MARCIA: In the forward of your company’s latest survey with the Harris Poll, you say that “data representing our human behaviors is particularly susceptible to misuse by leaders, often to justify their own perspectives.” What does that statement reflect in your research?

ETHAN: Leaders who listen (to their employees) with a modicum of bravery and humility will always outperform those who either fail to listen to their teams or listen only to validate their own points of view. My team and I have been in this work for long enough to pretty quickly ascertain whether leadership seeks to understand and confront what's really going on in their company, or if they're running an employee survey as a kind of inauthentic theatrical performance of listening.

Honestly? I get it. It sucks when you get the results of employee feedback and see some tough truths. I've personally been on the receiving end of these! And yet the very best thing to do is to admit where you are wrong or where you could do better and then, well, do that thing that needs to be done.

Interestingly, we found that when employees say their employer is willing to admit mistakes there is a whopping 39% improvement in positive, business-driving behaviors, like going the extra mile for clients and defending the company in a crisis.

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MARCIA: You say this survey also indicates, “in sharp relief, a gulf between many leaders’ perceptions of their own experience of work and what their employees encounter, believe, struggle through and strive for every day.”

ETHAN: If your employees think their boss has a better experience at work than they do, they’re probably right. In many dimensions of our survey research, participants higher in management seniority indicate higher levels of positive emotions, a greater understanding of the company’s strategy, and higher levels of satisfaction with where they physically work, whether remotely, hybrid or on-site.

For example, 94% of senior managers report positive feelings when they’re clocked in. While that is important, it’s even more telling that 78% of these leaders believe their organizations reward high performance. That said, only a measly 45% of non-managers and 62% of first-line managers hold this belief about their employer.

It is hard to imagine really putting your heart and soul into a company if you do not believe you’ll be mentored, recognized and rewarded for the effort. This effect is extensible to the perception of the whole organization—only 23% of non-managers believe their employer’s best days are ahead by comparison to more than twice that for senior leaders.

MARCIA: Compassionate work culture is key. Cross-generational communication skills—to more meaningfully and authentically serve those managed—can build on employees’ emotional commitment to the organization and its goals. Improving everyday interactions is huge.

ETHAN: In organizations where managers are trained communicators, trusted coaches and effective translators of strategy, their employees are more likely to stay, grow and advocate. Johnson & Johnson, for example, was able to elevate employee belief in its vision from 70% to 87% in under a year; a multi-billion dollar semiconductor company we worked with drove a 126% growth in employee content engagement by improving management communication, alone.

If you want business transformation, brand advocacy, innovation and customer loyalty, you must begin by equipping, engaging and empowering your people—especially your frontline managers and leaders.

The results are clear. When you activate managers, you activate the enterprise. Employee experience is the starting point of everything else.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s Pride Month—a time to celebrate visibility, identity, and the hard-won freedoms of LGBTQ+ people worldwide. But this year, the mood feels more complicated than celebratory.

Across the United States and around the world, LGBTQ+ rights are under attack once again. From book bans and drag bans to anti-trans legislation and attempts to erase queer history from classrooms and public spaces, there’s a sense that the progress of the past few decades is at risk of unraveling.

That’s why an exhibition like The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869–1939, currently on view at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago, is so important. It’s a reminder that we’ve been here before. And that queer people, even in times of fear and repression, have always found ways to live, love, and express themselves.

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This is a show about visibility, but not in the way we usually talk about it. Before Pride parades and rainbow flags, before the word “homosexual” even existed, queer people were already making themselves known. They were writing poems, painting portraits, staging plays, and posing for photographs. What they didn’t have was the vocabulary we use now. But they still told their stories. They still found each other. They still lived.

We’ve Always Been Here

The First Homosexuals tells that story across 70 years of global art, from the moment the word “homosexual” first appeared in print in 1869 to the eve of World War II, when fascist regimes sought to eliminate the very idea of sexual and gender difference. More than 300 works by over 125 artists from 40 countries are gathered in this show, making it one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of early queer art in history. Curated by Jonathan D. Katz, one of the leading figures in queer art history, and his associate Johnny Willis, the show is rigorous and revelatory.

What this exhibition does so powerfully is remind us that queer identity is not a modern invention. It didn’t appear in the 1960s or come fully formed after Stonewall. Queerness has always existed. But the language to describe it, and the laws used to police it, are modern constructs. As Katz puts it, before 1869, homosexuality was understood as something people did, not something they were. Once labeled, queer people became easier to criminalize, marginalize, and control. But that same label also gave rise to new forms of solidarity, creativity, and resistance.

Art filled the gap where language failed. The exhibition opens with scenes of same-sex intimacy that predate our modern definitions, including Japanese shunga prints that depict male-male desire without shame or stigma, 19th-century oil paintings of Two-Spirit ceremonies among Native American tribes, and Greco-Roman-inspired neoclassical sculptures that coded homoerotic longing in mythological form.

Reading Between the Lines, Painting Outside the Frame

As the word “homosexual” entered public consciousness, often through the lens of criminal trials or sexological studies, artists began to lean into identity, sometimes overtly, sometimes covertly. We see this in portraits of Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Walt Whitman, and Romaine Brooks. We see it in photos of women in drag at tea parties on Staten Island. We see it in Florine Stettheimer’s cheeky self-portrait as a modern Venus, attended not by cherubs but by her bohemian inner circle.

One of the most moving aspects of the show is how it insists that modern homosexual identity was born alongside and in conversation with gender nonconformity. The exhibition doesn’t separate “gay history” from “trans history.” It recognizes that these identities emerged in tandem. That many early sexologists believed homosexuals had “the soul of the opposite sex.” That figures like Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo gender confirmation surgery, were not anomalies but pioneers of an evolving queer continuum.

This show explores how identity is formed through culture, shaped by history, and expressed through art, as well as how systems of power can weaponize identities. The exhibition doesn’t shy away from the role colonialism played in imposing Western notions of sexuality onto other cultures, often casting colonized peoples as sexually deviant or “invert” while outlawing local traditions of gender fluidity and same-sex love.

As Katz notes, the global spread of the homosexual identity followed the same route as empire, and was often used as a justification for conquest. But the show also highlights how local artists and communities resisted those impositions, asserting queer visibility on their own terms. Whether through sacred ceremonies, coded symbolism, or brazenly modern art, queer people made themselves known.

The Closet Was Never Soundproof

There’s a lot of beauty in The First Homosexuals. But there’s also grief. The show ends with a chilling image: Nazi stormtroopers burning the library of Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science in 1933. That moment marked the end of a vibrant, visible queer culture in Weimar Berlin, one that included bars, magazines, support groups, and some of the first public celebrations of gay and trans lives. It reminds us how quickly progress can be reversed, how visibility can become vulnerability. And how the first great flourishing of modern queer identity was nearly destroyed by fascism.

Which brings us back to today.

In the past year, hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures across the U.S. In some communities, teachers are being told not to say the word “gay.” Health care for trans youth is under attack. And the rights we thought were settled, like marriage, adoption, and access to care, are being contested once again. The old playbook of fear and scapegoating has been dusted off. The pendulum is swinging. But history has a lesson here, and that’s that the attempted erasure of queer lives is not new. And neither is the resistance.

The difference is that this time we know better. We have the tools to fight back and history on our side, not just the recent history but the deeper, older history captured in this exhibition. It’s a history of people who loved without permission, who created without language, and who thrived under scrutiny.

Queer history offers an invaluable map for navigating transformation and building resilience during disruption. LGBTQ+ people have always had to adapt, hide, reveal, and invent new ways of being. We’ve always been writing the new rules for living in uncertain times.

That’s the lesson of The First Homosexuals. That visibility is not a given, but a choice. That identity is not static, but evolving. And that queerness, far from being a threat to tradition, is often the most honest expression of what it means to be human.

This Pride Month, amid the noise and the threats and the setbacks, let’s remember where we came from. And let’s hold fast to where we’re going.

Because the first homosexuals weren’t just subjects of history. They were architects of the future.

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One of today’s most compelling metaphors compares synthetic media to food. If someone handed you a cheap hot dog made of who-knows-what, you’d want a label. You’d want to know what’s in it, who made it—and how. Should the same be true for the AI-assisted content we consume? A new data safety movement is emerging to take up the challenge.

NEW YORK— Still one of the most memorable deepfakes that rocked the world last year (and which we wrote about then) featured the late Pope Francis decked out in a white Balenciaga puffer jacket to greet parishioners on the streets of Rome.

While this was an endearing scam to some, another deepfake that made the AI-generated hit parade last year was far more troubling—Taylor Swift’s likeness woven onto an adult film star’s body in a porno film and viewed 47 million times.

And let’s not forget that someone supporting Donald Trump last year doctored recordings of Joe Biden’s voice to piece together a false audio message, or robocall, to Democratic voters—to discourage them from voting at all.

Regardless of how silly or outrageous these and other deepfakes have been and are becoming, a lot of people fall for these lies—hard. According to a 2023 survey conducted by Pew, only 42% of Americans can recognize a deepfake image when they see it. And today, the fakes are getting even tougher to spot.

But what hits hardest now is not the spectacle of tech, but the realization that as AI-driven fraud becomes increasingly common, we’ve started living in a world where almost everything might be a lie—and that nearly every photo, video and every sentence or controversial utterance by Trump and other politicians demands a forensic audit to be believed. Just ask Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has recently become a popular AI target.

Deepfake videos are getting so good, in fact, that longtime email scammers are pivoting to impersonate people on live video calls. “Most troubling is that dictators and authoritarians thrive in an environment in which we trust no one and nothing, including ourselves and our own senses,” says deepfake expert Sam Gregory, the executive director of witness.org.

But let’s be clear: the idea that we can fact-check ourselves out of this crisis is a fantasy. It’s a slow process. We also need to make sure the data is free of bias and error before distribution.

“(DIY factchecking) is a con,” says Baratunde Thurston, a comedian, writer and cultural critic. It’s difficult in today’s polarized environment. DIY fact-checking is important, he says, but much more is needed to guard the truth. “It’s a con designed to shift responsibility off the platforms, the politicians, the profiteers—and dump it on ordinary people—the underpaid, over-policed, under-connected communities who already get ignored when they tell the truth. Now they get to be ignored and accused of spreading lies unless they come with receipts, watermarks, and chain-of-custody documentation. It's surveillance culture with a trust tax.”

Is reality sustainable if it always has to be proven?

Cleaner data can help, AI researchers say, but as synthetic media become more sophisticated, we need more AI literacy—plus a more formal and global effort to verify the good data and flag the bad.

Thanks to OpenAI's DALL-E2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, deepfake images are more realistic and more available now than ever. Technology to create videos out of whole cloth is also rapidly improving. According to the Federal Trade commission, job and employment scams on LinkedIn and other platforms nearly tripled from 2020 to 2025, and HR losses from those scams have increased from some $90 million to roughly $500 million.

Daniel Schiff, a policy scientist and the co-director of the Governance and Responsibility AI Lab at Purdue University, says people struggle to separate reliable and unbiased information from AI-generated content that can sound authoritative but can be a hit or a miss. “AI shapes the information people find. It shapes what they learn. It shapes now what they think,” Schiff says.

Anton Dahbura, the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy, also reminds us that AI can hallucinate. It can reference sources that don’t exist—“and leave out important opinions in an effort to offer a digestible consensus” about a consumer product or important medical research.

New Rule

But one of the newest ideas—and most promising ways to fight back, say data experts, are data safety labels, similar to those used to rank food for health. A new group of data researchers and scientists are working now to develop this new framework.

“We need a food safety system for information,” says Kasia Chmielinski, the Project Lead for the Data Nutrition Project —a national research organization which is compiling a nutrition label metaphor for the data going into training datasets for AI systems.

The Project is being lauded widely for its research internationally, and its push to create a standard labeling system for interrogating datasets. “It’s long overdue,” says Chmielinski. “It’s our belief that deeper transparency into dataset health and accuracy will help us move forward without mirroring social biases and disinformation in what AI delivers.” She says the scale of false data being used and created is rapidly expanding.

The Data Nutrition Project takes its inspiration from nutritional labels on food. The safety labels it is creating for data highlight the key ingredients in datasets, such as metadata, demographic representation, distribution, missing data—along with transparency around its intended use and the potential risks or limitations of the data, itself.

“We need to make it easier for people using AI to assess the health and fitness of the datasets they intend to use to train AI algorithms,” Chmielinski says. “That has been a missing step in the AI development pipeline.” She said the Project is working on packaging the nutritional data as quality recipes and an easy-to-use Dataset Nutrition Label which will soon become internationally accessible.

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The appetite for data safety labels is growing, to make deepfakes harder to make and easier to spot. Other groups using the food label metaphor and contributing research to the Data Nutrition Project are the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University, the United Nations Humanitarian Data Exchange, the AI Transparency Project at the Harvard Kennedy School and the MIT Media Lab, among others.

“We don’t need more panic over AI,” says Thurston. “We need recipes. We need labeling laws. We need a nutritional panel for information and we need to regulate the informational supply chain the same way we regulate what goes into our groceries. Because if we don’t, we’ll keep getting sick. We’ll keep ingesting narratives designed to confuse, distract, and divide. And the people feeding it to us? They’re banking on us being too burnt out to ask what’s in the sausage.”

For more information on the data safety labeling project, check out the Data Nutrition Project’s additional work and draft label here.

Got a comment on the use of AI and the need to make the data it gets trained on more accurate? Share your take here—and thank you, as always, for your readership.

Masculinity is in crisis—and transformation. Across music, politics, and business, a new generation of men is challenging long-held ideals of stoicism, strength, and control. From pop stars to political streamers, they’re forging a different path—one that values vulnerability, emotional fluency, and authenticity.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There’s a quiet change happening in plain sight. While political leaders bicker and culture wars rage, an older system is breaking down—one that governed how men were expected to show up in the world. Masculinity, once rigid and seemingly unshakable, is now in flux. And for many, it’s deeply disorienting.

Traditional markers of manhood—strength, stoicism, dominance—are being questioned, if not outright rejected. But what replaces them? In the void, confusion has taken root. In some corners, this shift is met with defensiveness and backlash. In others, with experimentation and redefinition.

Some men, especially younger ones, are beginning to rewrite the script entirely. Pop culture is reflecting this shift. What once looked like rebellion now looks like reinvention. Artists, creators, and thinkers across music, media, and business are helping us reimagine what masculinity can be, and why the old version may never fully return.

The New Swagger

British rock star Yungblud is one man showing a new way forward.

Born Dominic Harrison in Doncaster, England, Yungblud is the poster boy for the post-gender, post-binary generation. He struts onstage in plaid skirts and combat boots. He paints his nails. He cries openly. And he punches hard, both lyrically and culturally, against the idea that being a man means fitting into a narrow box.

What makes Yungblud compelling isn’t just his aesthetic; it’s his ethos. He’s not rejecting masculinity altogether. He’s remaking it.

“There’s a big [anti-men] narrative online, and a lot of bull****. Look at Andrew Tate; young males experience that and see the world through that lens, but masculinity also needs to showcase rich emotion and love,” he told The Telegraph last month. “You’ve either got to be hard as f***, or you’re wet and soppy – and there needs to be a hybrid. With me I’m like, I am ­masculine. I am aggressive. I like boxing. But also, I’ll cry and might put on a skirt. Whatever, it makes me feel more masculine when I wear a kilt.”

The Hidden Cost of Staying Silent

But the cultural shift isn’t just stylistic. It’s psychological. It’s existential. And the toll of failing to evolve is staggering. This redefinition is a matter of life and death.

Men are more likely to die by suicide, suffer from untreated mental illness, and fall behind in education and workforce participation. In the United States, men account for nearly 80% of suicide deaths. The highest rates? Middle-aged white men—those often raised with the most traditional masculine expectations and the fewest tools to talk about their mental health.

And yet, without a new, widely accepted model of masculinity, many men feel unmoored. Into that vacuum have stepped figures like Jordan Peterson and others from the so-called “manosphere,” offering direction and a place to those who feel abandoned or even attacked by modern culture. Peterson’s message is straightforward: stand up straight, take responsibility, impose order. For some, that guidance feels like salvation. But too often, the broader manosphere promotes a return to rigid patriarchal hierarchies, where emotion is weakness, feminism is the enemy, and the past is held up as an ideal.

Peterson and the larger manosphere’s popularity reveal just how desperate many men are for guidance. But the answer to a changing world is not regression. It’s reinvention.

The Cultural Rebuilders

That reinvention is happening—not in lecture halls but in live streams, concert venues, podcast episodes, and fashion editorials. And it’s being led by men who are not interested in reclaiming lost power but in redefining what power looks like in the first place.

Online political commentator Hasan Piker is one person rewriting the script. With his muscular frame and unfiltered style, Piker might appear to embody a classic alpha male aesthetic. But he’s fiercely progressive. He challenges toxic masculinity, rejects misogyny, and frequently uses his platform to advocate for empathy, equity, and social justice. His masculinity doesn’t shrink from confrontation, but it channels that energy into systems change, not scapegoating.

Then there’s Steven Bartlett, host of the hit podcast The Diary of a CEO. At first glance, he checks every box of modern entrepreneurial success: wealthy, self-made, charismatic. But listen closely, and you’ll hear a man actively deconstructing the old masculine script. He speaks openly about abandonment, insecurity, and trauma. “I thought vulnerability was a repellent,” he wrote recently on LinkedIn. “It turns out it’s the world’s greatest magnet.”

And perhaps no one is more globally recognizable in this shift than Bad Bunny. The Puerto Rican trap and reggaetón artist has worn skirts, danced in heels, and regularly challenges Latin America’s machismo culture, while topping global music charts. “I have always felt like there was a part of me that is very feminine,” he told Rolling Stone. “But I never felt as masculine as I did the day I dressed up like a drag queen.”

A More Human Future

For many men, especially those raised with the old code, change can feel like loss. Letting go of that script often means grieving not just a cultural identity but a sense of certainty. Some respond with curiosity, others with fear.

The future of masculinity must account for these differences. It must be expansive enough to hold the full range of experience, and inclusive enough to listen to those who were once excluded entirely.

There’s something powerful about watching someone like Yungblud take up space—not through aggression, but through self-acceptance. Something equally powerful in seeing Hasan Piker channel charisma toward social change. In watching Steven Bartlett turn emotional truth into professional strength. In seeing Bad Bunny tear down machismo, one glittery outfit at a time.

They’re not dismantling masculinity. They’re reimagining it. And they’re reminding us that the future of manhood doesn’t lie in a return to order. It lies in embracing complexity in an age of near-constant disruption.

Maybe this is what masculinity should look like next: less armor, more honesty, less control, more curiosity, less shouting, more listening.

This is what masculinity can look like now: skirts and boxing gloves. Muscle and mindfulness. Tears and truth. It’s not weaker. It’s just more honest. More inclusive. More human.

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While most governments are stuck in gridlock, the UAE is letting AI help write its laws, pushing governance into a faster, more adaptive future. It’s a bold move that challenges the old rules and demands a new balance between innovation, transparency, and human judgment.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Political polarization has become the norm just about everywhere. Each piece of legislation seems to spark a political firestorm, and it can take months or even years for governments to pass basic laws. Gridlock has become commonplace. In Washington, Brussels, and beyond, debates drag on, seemingly more about scoring political points than solving problems. Even in times of crisis, swift action feels like the exception rather than the rule.

Now, halfway around the world, a very different experiment is underway. In April, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it would become the first country to use artificial intelligence to help write its laws. It’s a move that could mark the start of a new era, one where governments rethink not just what they legislate but how they legislate.

The UAE’s decision may seem radical, but it speaks directly to a growing global frustration that traditional lawmaking is too slow, too reactive, and increasingly ill-suited to the pace of change we’re living through. Instead of patching up an outdated system, the UAE is asking a bigger question. What if the way we create laws could evolve just as fast as the world around us?

A New Approach to Lawmaking

At the center of the UAE’s plan is a newly established Regulatory Intelligence Office. This office will oversee the deployment of AI technologies, including natural language processing, predictive analytics, and large-scale data modeling, to assist in drafting new laws, amending existing ones, and suggesting reforms based on real-time feedback.

Officials believe the system could accelerate the legislative process by as much as 70%. It could also cut development costs in half. Instead of laws being static documents, updated only after lengthy review, they would become living frameworks that evolve with new information and changing needs.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE’s Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, said, “This new legislative system, powered by artificial intelligence, will change the way we create laws, making the process faster and more accurate.” And at a time when even minor changes to laws elsewhere are mired in partisanship and delay, the UAE’s bet on AI feels less like a gimmick and more like a genuine strategy for resilience.

The New Rules of Governance

Innovation often begins with simple questions. In this case, what if legislation could keep pace with technology, economics, and society itself?

The UAE’s plan reflects several "new rules" emerging in governance:

• First, lawmaking needs to keep pace with disruption. With accelerating change—technological, demographic, and environmental—slow, rigid lawmaking is increasingly a liability.

• Second, data must become a feedback loop for governance. Laws shouldn’t just be written and forgotten. They should be monitored and adapted based on measurable outcomes, ensuring that policies deliver the results they intend.

• Third, transparency and human oversight are non-negotiable. Even as AI accelerates drafting and analysis, final decisions must remain firmly in human hands. Citizens have a right to understand how their laws are made and by whom.

• Finally, public trust must be earned through clarity, not complexity. If AI plays a role in legislation, governments must be prepared to explain that role clearly, openly, and without techno-utopian promises.

Small Steps Elsewhere

The UAE is the first to make AI a central part of lawmaking, but other countries have been moving in the same direction, albeit cautiously.

In China, AI is already embedded in the court system, helping to manage filings and even assisting judges in drafting rulings. Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court uses AI to triage appeals. Estonia has considered using an AI “judge” for small claims cases. Even here in Washington, the federal government is testing the waters with AI to streamline operations within agencies.

Each of these experiments hints at a future where AI doesn’t just support governance but helps shape it. Yet until now, most efforts have kept AI behind the scenes. The UAE is bringing it front and center.

Innovation, with Caution

There are real risks. AI can hallucinate. It can reflect the biases hidden in its training data, a reflection of society writ large. It can make decisions in ways that are difficult for humans to fully understand or explain.

Critics rightly warn that moving too fast could erode democratic accountability and its institutions. Lawmaking is not just a technical process; it is an exercise in values, negotiation, and moral judgment. Even the most sophisticated AI cannot understand human dignity, fairness, or justice as well as people can.

The UAE’s leaders seem aware of this. Their AI-generated legislative drafts will still pass through human review, and the final authority will rest with human lawmakers. In this sense, AI is being positioned not as a replacement, but as a tool—one that can make governance faster and more adaptive without sacrificing the essential human elements of judgment and accountability.

The Future Is Here, Almost

The UAE’s experiment will be watched closely. If it succeeds, it could become a model for other innovation-driven nations. If it stumbles, it will offer valuable lessons on the limits of automation in public life.

Either way, one thing is clear: the rules of governance are changing. Technology is not just something governments must regulate; it is now something they must integrate into their very operating systems.

The old model of slow, reactive lawmaking no longer fits the realities of today’s world. In its place, a new model is emerging, one that is faster, more data-driven, and more responsive to real-world needs.

The question for the rest of the world isn’t whether AI will shape governance. It’s whether we will shape it wisely, with clear rules, transparent processes, and human values at the core.

A new resilience movement is on the rise, to encourage ordinary citizens, executives, work teams and community members to exhibit small acts of courage to reshape what’s possible—for ourselves, our organizations and our world.

NEW YORK—As I prepared to leave New York to co-run a workshop at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, several weeks ago, there was something bothering me: fresh storms of clickbait media perpetuating some of the factual errors, disinformation and misinformation being planted by Trumpworld to justify its attacks on civil society and its challenges to free speech and the rule of law.

I grabbed my copy of futurist Andrew Zolli’s 2012 book, Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back, to include in my carry-on luggage, to re-consider a question he would often ask a while ago, pre-Trump—when he was the curator of PopTech, and again more recently. “Are we merely subject to the whim of forces beyond our control?” he queried in Resilience, and asked again, now, during a recent interview in our podcast studio. “Or, in the face of constant disruption, can we build better shock absorbers—for ourselves, our communities, our economies and for the planet as a whole?”

Zolli, now the chief impact officer at Planet, a breakthrough space and AI organization, was one of the first thought leaders to say we could, and now works on new systems that will. He was, and still is, one of the leading thought leaders focused on this century’s emerging field of inquiry focused on resilience.

Zolli’s book, written four years before Trump became President the first time, defined resilience as “the ability of people, communities and systems to maintain their core purpose and integrity amid unforeseen shocks and surprises.”

In today’s political turbulence—there’s a new resilience movement on the rise, with business and civil society leaders stepping forward now to expand that definition of resilience to include what is being widely referred to as “micro-bravery “—everyday acts of individual courage that can transform our work cultures, citizen organizations and political climates for the better.

'Micro-bravery’

“Every day we encounter moments that call for resilience as being a different kind courage, a gentler kind of resistance, the courage to speak up, to question the status quo and to lead with vulnerability,” says Tony Martignetti, the chief inspiration officer at Inspired Purpose Partners, where he advises business leaders to stay grounded in chaotic times.

Scott Simon (not the NPR anchor) —the founder of a consultancy called Scare Your Soul—leads what he calls “courage training.” It’s resilience as a form of public health and a new form of social activism—to help individuals and community leaders experiencing trauma to push through their comfort zones to do and say what they didn’t think to be possible, successfully.

Journalists also are now pushing micro-bravery. In Perugia, at the international journalism conference, a panel defined resilience for the journalism profession to include “continuing to tell the truth” and challenging lies— and also to continue asking vulnerable questions in rooms full of experts and anti-press politicians. “From safety to censorship to authoritarian pressures, the global assault on press freedom, the message was consistent,” said Djordje Padejski, associate director of the John S. Knight journalism fellowship program at Stanford University. “If we want journalism to survive and matter, we need more creativity, more innovation, and a serious injection of energy — adrenaline for change.”

Martignetti, in a recent article for Fast Company, said all of us—and elected politicians, business leaders and others—“need to choose courage in the face of subtle resistance, fear or inertia” and “make the decision to act with integrity and openness, even when it would be easier to stay silent or conform.”

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“Courage is contagious”

In my own work as a leadership advisor, media professor and editorial consultant, what is now being called “micro-bravery” has, for a while, been a component of change management, the kind focused on creating successful, intergenerational work cultures.

For a legacy news media brand I worked with recently, the chief executive was being challenged by what a group of young team members called “group-think”—old ways of defining the news and what gets covered—and how. But rather than shut down the conversation, the executive acknowledged his mistaken support for the status quo, and used his younger employees’ input, over time, to promote those brave enough to speak up and suggest new forms of coverage to co-lead the creation of new formats and focus areas. The result? A more courageous and effective culture—riskier but built more courageously and transparently, with intention.

In today’s rapidly changing workplace cultures, political turbulence and AI disruption, “the need for more agile cultures has never been greater,” Martignetti says. “Micro-bravery is the emotional infrastructure for innovation.”

Zolli agrees. “We’re definitely in one of the world’s going haywire moments, in which all of our foundational assumptions about institutional stability, climatological stability, the stability of nations, and all of those things are going haywire, moving with incredible speed and volatility and disruption.”

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Looking Inside Out

“…Resilience is not just an adjective,” Zolli told us. “It’s also really a verb.. it’s really a series of verbs. When people say, how can I be more resilient? How can people become resilient? A better question might be, how do we do resilience? …Our curiosity and listening to each other and the world is a sure way to enact it.”

Zolli said that we now have, in Donald Trump, a leader who builds walls. There’s a temptation among some leaders to “look inward instead of outward because they want to create a zone of safety around themselves. …But that is not being curious about the world around them, near or far…and resilience is about looking out at the world to better map and manage our interdependencies.”

Leadership is also critical to pushing through uncertainties and rewarding curiosity, Martignetti writes. “The moments that shape culture need to be intentional”— and we need to be more comfortable with risk now, amid the turbulence. “It’s about if you’re willing to start with the next conversation, the next decision and the next choices that have been previously avoided, so that over time, small acts of courage—of speaking up and challenging assumptions— don’t just change conversations. They shrink our perceptions of fear and expand our curiosity and perceptions of what’s possible.”

Being intentional about speaking up, questioning the status quo, asking tough questions of leaders and leading with vulnerability matters. It’s a way forward that can be advanced in small steps, and over time can make us all more collaborative, less fearful, better seen and heard and resilient—come what may.

And more courageous, in spirit and action—starting now.

Have a comment to share? Please do, here. As always, we love to read and hear your input and reflections—and in these times of turbulence, especially, your thoughts on resilience, and what it means to you.

Trump’s sweeping tariff plan is driving up prices on imported goods. It may cause shortages, too, prompting U.S. consumers to turn to secondhand marketplaces, thrift stores, and discount retailers as affordable alternatives. This shift is fueling a rapid expansion of the resale economy, benefiting companies like eBay, ThredUp, Goodwill, and TJ Maxx, while signaling a broader transformation in how Americans consume.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The latest salvo in the trade wars is here, and it’s not just aimed at Beijing.

Donald Trump’s tariff plan, which includes a blanket 10% duty on all imported goods and targeted hikes on Chinese products exceeding 100%, isn’t just about punishing geopolitical rivals or reviving American manufacturing. It’s about reshaping consumer behavior. And it’s already doing that in one overlooked corner of the economy: resale.

Yes, the same thrift stores and resale apps once associated with student budgets and vintage hunters are suddenly poised to become economic powerhouses.

Secondhand is the new smart.

Tariffs as a Catalyst

Let’s be clear: tariffs are taxes. They don’t directly punish foreign manufacturers—they raise prices for American consumers. And with Trump’s plan to revoke the “de minimis” rule, which allowed cheap Chinese goods under $800 to enter the U.S. tax-free, entire business models built around ultra-low-cost e-commerce, from Shein to Temu, are being upended.

Apparel is particularly vulnerable. According to the American Apparel & Footwear Association, 97% of clothing and 98% of shoes sold in the U.S. are imported. Tariffs on China, Vietnam, and others mean consumers can expect sharp price increases on everything from jeans to sneakers.

This is a setup we’ve seen before when consumer finances were strained. During the Great Recession, resale boomed. According to the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops (NARTS), 66% of thrift stores saw sales increase by an average of 31% during the downturn. Today’s economic anxiety, compounded by tariff-induced inflation, and possible stagflation, is primed to produce a similar response, but potentially at a much larger scale.

Resale’s Resurgence

Americans are already thinking twice about buying new. According to ThredUp’s 2025 Resale Report, 59% of consumers—and 69% of Millennials—say they would seek more affordable secondhand options if new government policies, like tariffs, make new apparel more expensive. Younger generations are especially leading the charge, with Gen Z and Millennials planning to allocate nearly half (46%) of their apparel budgets to secondhand purchases over the next 12 months.

Alon Rotem, ThredUp’s Chief Strategy Officer, summed it up best in a recent interview with The Guardian: “If ultra-fast fashion is now 30% more expensive, it really makes the value proposition that much more compelling for resale.”

That value is translating into real market growth. Online resale expanded 23% last year—its fastest pace since 2021 during the pandemic—and is now projected to nearly double, reaching $40 billion by 2029. The report also shows that 48% of consumers now find secondhand shopping just as convenient as buying new, thanks to AI-powered personalization and smarter search tools.

Platforms like eBay, Poshmark, and The RealReal stand to gain immediate traction as higher-end consumers seek quality goods without the tariff premium. So, too, do physical thrift giants like Goodwill and the Salvation Army. These organizations already serve as de facto safety nets for millions of Americans. With prices rising, their role may soon become foundational.

Savers Value Village, a for-profit thrift retailer that went public last year, is seeing early signs of a sales lift. Winmark Corporation, which owns consignment franchises like Plato’s Closet and Once Upon a Child, is similarly well-positioned. Each has the infrastructure, supply chain, and consumer trust to absorb an influx of new shoppers and sellers alike.

The Return of “One Giant Yard Sale”

Retailers themselves are recognizing the shift. According to ThredUp’s 2025 report, 54% of retail executives now view resale as a more stable and predictable source of clothing than traditional imports, especially amid ongoing tariff uncertainty. Nearly half (44%) are actively looking to reduce their reliance on imported goods, and many are integrating trade-in incentives or secondhand inventory as part of their customer acquisition strategy.

Tariffs are also reviving another very American tradition: the local, peer-to-peer sale.

Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and OfferUp are all reporting upticks in listings and activity. OfferUp, in particular, is seeing higher usage in categories like furniture and appliances—exactly the areas where tariffs are hitting hardest. Their 2024 Recommerce Report shows that 58% of users cite price as the primary reason they buy secondhand.

As new goods get pricier and more people clean out their closets to make extra cash, America could become, as one analyst put it, “one giant yard sale.” The stigma of secondhand—what little remains—is eroding fast.

And let’s not overlook the generational driver here. Gen Z and Millennials already like thrift and resale, not just for the cost, but also for sustainability and style. When their favorite Shein or Temu finds suddenly cost more and ship slower, many will turn to Poshmark or Depop instead. Not out of necessity, but preference.

Beyond Fashion: Who Else Wins?

The ripple effects go beyond clothes. As new cars and auto parts get more expensive, companies like CarMax, AutoZone, and O’Reilly Automotive are seeing more foot traffic and higher sales. Consumers are choosing to repair, not replace. That means more oil changes, more purchases of used tires, and more demand for mechanics.

Repair services across categories—appliances, electronics, even shoes—stand to benefit as well. The “right to repair” movement, which advocates for consumers' right to access parts, tools, and documentation to repair their products themselves, regardless of the manufacturer, just got an unexpected ally in trade policy.

Even the shipping sector sees upside. With fewer cheap imports flooding U.S. mailboxes and more domestic secondhand packages changing hands, UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service could all see increased demand for domestic deliveries.

Off-Price Retail’s Strategic Position

If you’re not buying secondhand, you’re likely buying discounted. That’s where TJ Maxx, Ross, and Burlington step in.

These companies source unsold inventory, often from other retailers or overstocks, and sell it at steep discounts. Most importantly, they usually aren’t the importers of record, which means they avoid much of the tariff burden. That allows them to continue offering low prices even as others raise theirs.

Off-price retailers are uniquely positioned to gain market share during a trade disruption because they have flexibility in sourcing and aren’t locked into traditional buying cycles.

In other words, while department and retail stores panic over pricing, off-price chains are quietly buying up their distressed inventory.

An Economy in Transition

Tariffs are usually framed in geopolitical or economic terms: who wins, who loses, who pays. But there’s a deeper story developing here. It’s about a consumer base in flux. About a generational reimagining of value, ownership, and sustainability.

And it’s about resilience.

In the short term, the resale and repair economy will act as a pressure valve, allowing Americans to bypass some of the financial pain these tariffs will bring. In the longer term, we may see a structural shift in how goods are consumed and recirculated. If that happens, resale won't just be a response to crisis—it'll be a new baseline.

The resale boom is not a fad. It’s not just vintage-loving Gen Zers or budget-hungry parents. It’s a systemic shift toward a more circular, flexible economy—one that’s better suited to the current volatility.

Whether by design or by accident, Trump’s tariffs are accelerating that transition. And the winners? They’re not just the thrift shops and resale apps. They’re the companies—and consumers—smart enough to adapt.

Netflix isn’t just changing what we watch — it’s transforming how stories are made, shared, and experienced around the world. By empowering local creators, expanding into immersive fan experiences, and embracing cultural specificity over global sameness, the company is rewriting the rules of entertainment for a new era.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In this city where policy is still too often shaped by yesterday’s industries, Netflix’s Co-CEO Ted Sarandos took the stage yesterday at the Semafor World Economy Summit to remind the capital that streaming is no longer just a sideshow. It’s one of the main events.

“If we were building a plant to make a billion dollars worth of cars, you can be sure the president would show up,” Sarandos said. And while that acknowledgment hasn’t yet happened here in the U.S., it did earlier this year in Mexico, where Sarandos shared the stage with President Gloria Sheinbaum to announce plans to spend $1 billion on film and TV production there over the next four years.

No matter how you cut it, Netflix’s contribution to the U.S. economy alone is staggering — $125 billion since 2020, 140,000 production jobs created, and 500 productions across all 50 states. However, Netflix’s broader strategy is to rewrite the rules of global storytelling, one country at a time, decentralizing Hollywood’s oversized role in entertainment and creating something new and more authentic, more local.

Rule #1: Local is Global

Netflix’s massive global footprint isn’t just about where it streams — it’s about where it creates. The company’s cultural and economic model has upended traditional assumptions that entertainment needs to be built for the biggest market to succeed.

The trick, according to Sarandos? Don’t try to go global. “There’s no discussion about making anything from a local country global,” he said. “The more authentically local it is, the more likely it is to travel.”

That’s how Squid Game — a hyper-Korean, dystopian thriller — became the most-watched show in Netflix’s history. “It was not romantic, it was very straight, but very Korean,” Sarandos noted. “If you’re into Bong Joon Ho’s early horror, it was like Parasite but fun. The more rooted it was, the more it worked.”

The success of Squid Game wasn’t engineered, but it was a windfall. Netflix didn’t greenlight it with the intent of creating a global smash. It greenlit it because it was a compelling Korean story. And viewers everywhere responded.

Rule #2: Give Creators Real Autonomy

At the heart of this new entertainment economy is trust, not in algorithms, but in local creative teams.

“What’s unique about what we’re doing is that teams in each country have absolute autonomy,” Sarandos said. “They program for the country, not for the world. But if it works at home, it might just work everywhere else too.”

That principle birthed Adolescence, a chilling British series about a 13-year-old boy radicalized online, released in March this year. It quickly became Netflix’s most-watched English-language original in the UK, overtaking even BBC programming — a first in the country’s broadcast history. It also soared to the top of the charts in other countries around the world.

“It’s so British that most of you will probably watch it with subtitles — even though it’s in English,” Sarandos quipped. But the story — raw, timely, and expertly told — resonated across borders.

The show sparked outrage, empathy, and political debate, including a viral moment when UK Conservative party-leader Kemi Badenoch was shamed on air for not having watched it. “I’ve never seen anyone get shamed for not watching a TV show so much,” Sarandos said, half-laughing. “But everyone in the country was talking about it. And globally, it’s been enormous.”

Rule #3: Redefine Cultural Exports

For decades, cultural exports meant one thing: American movies and TV shows, translated or subtitled, for the rest of the world. Netflix flipped that model — not by rejecting American stories, but by widening the aperture of what’s considered export-worthy.

From Korean horror to German thrillers, Spanish heist dramas to Nigerian rom-coms, Netflix has turned cultural specificity into a global asset.

The takeaway? Entertainment doesn’t need to be sanitized or simplified to cross borders. “The thing that travels best,” Sarandos said, “is not the softest version of a story. It’s the hardest.”

Rule #4: Expand IP Into Experiences

Sarandos doesn’t shy away from talking numbers. Netflix’s subscriber base tops 260 million. Its revenues are booming. And yes, he has talked about turning Netflix into a trillion-dollar company — a long-term ambition, he admits, not a prediction.

But to reach that goal, Netflix is doing more than streaming. It’s building experiences — not theme parks like Disney and Universal, but something more fluid, more personal.

Think Broadway productions (Stranger Things: The First Shadow), immersive fan experiences (Bridgerton balls, Squid Game experiences), and even physical spaces (Netflix House). These are all part of a broader experiment: what happens when storytelling comes to life off the screen?

“The fandom is real,” Sarandos said. “We’ve had seven marriage proposals at Bridgerton Balls. We’re not just making shows — we’re creating relationships between fans and stories.”

Consumer products, Sarandos concedes, may have low margins. But they also have a high impact. “We sell Surfer Boy pizza (from Stranger Things) at Walmart. It’s now the number one frozen pizza brand there,” he said. “Is it marketing? Sure. But it’s also connection. That’s what matters.”

Rule #5: Personalization Is the Brand

If Disney is family-friendly and HBO is prestige, what’s Netflix?

According to Sarandos, “Our brand is personalization.” That means no one-size-fits-all storytelling. No neat genre labels. Just a platform where a Mexican viewer can fall in love with a Turkish drama, and a British crime thriller can top charts in Brazil.

In this world, Squid Game and Bridgerton don’t compete. Rather, they coexist. The magic lies in the algorithm’s ability to connect people to what they didn’t know they needed.

That’s why the idea of Netflix House isn’t so far-fetched. “It’s a house with many rooms,” Sarandos said. “You come in through your own entrance. That’s the point.”

The Netflix Blueprint

What Sarandos outlined wasn’t just a defense of Netflix’s role in the U.S. and global economy — it was a blueprint for the next phase of entertainment.

It’s a model rooted in radical creative autonomy, global-local synergy, experiential storytelling, and audience-driven personalization. One where the boundaries between local and global, passive viewing and active participation, are not just blurred — they’re erased.

Netflix didn’t just change what we watch. It changed how we watch. And in doing so, it’s forced an entire industry — and increasingly, the world’s policymakers — to pay attention.

In Sarandos’ words: “People forget this is a real business.” That’s no longer just a reminder. It’s a challenge.

Global aging is reshaping economies and societies, with the population of people aged 60 and over expected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050, prompting urgent innovation in financial systems, workforce strategies, and caregiving infrastructure. A new World Economic Forum report highlights that while the challenges are profound, the longevity economy offers immense growth potential—especially as healthier, wealthier older adults become a force in labor markets and consumer spending.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Global demographics are experiencing a seismic shift. By 2030, one in six people globally will be 60 or older; by 2050, this demographic will nearly double to approximately 2.1 billion. This profound transformation presents significant economic and societal implications that demand immediate attention and innovative solutions.

According to the World Economic Forum's recent report, "Future-Proofing the Longevity Economy: Innovations and Key Trends," the aging population introduces both substantial challenges and unique opportunities. Haleh Nazeri, lead for the longevity economy at the World Economic Forum, emphasizes this urgency, stating, “The ‘future’ of the longevity economy is not in some distant moment – it is already here. Around the world, innovative solutions are emerging to meet the challenges of this demographic transition — these can be scaled, adapted and integrated into broader financial and social frameworks.”

Economically, the implications of an aging populace are clear. A shrinking working-age population could result in labor shortages, potentially hindering economic growth and increasing the financial burden on younger generations. Japan, with nearly a third of its population over the age of 65 and one-tenth over 80, exemplifies these challenges. Similar trends are seen in China, Italy, and South Korea, prompting these nations to introduce policy shifts such as increasing retirement ages and incentivizing younger people to have babies.

New Rules for Navigating Demographic Shifts

The World Economic Forum's report identifies five critical areas for ensuring financial resilience amid demographic shifts:

1. Building Resilient Public Retirement Systems: Modernizing pension systems to accommodate the increasing elderly demographic and ensuring financial inclusion for informal and gig economy workers.

2. From Accumulation to Decumulation: Enhancing financial security in retirement as individuals manage greater responsibility for their lifetime savings. According to the OECD, just over a third of adults are financially literate, highlighting the critical need for targeted financial education, especially around retirement planning and decumulation strategies.

3. Role of Employers in Financial Well-being: Encouraging companies to actively support employees' financial health, benefiting both workforce retention and productivity. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that workers aged 65 and over will account for over 60% of labor force growth by 2030, underscoring the importance of age-inclusive employment policies.

4. Economics of Caregiving and Long-term Care: Addressing the financial and infrastructure challenges in caregiving, recognizing the role this sector plays in an aging society. AARP estimates that unpaid family caregiving in the U.S. has an economic value of around $600 billion annually, equivalent to major economic sectors like retail or construction, highlighting the urgency of supporting caregivers through financial innovation and policy support.

5. Pathways for Economic Growth: Leveraging workforce opportunities and fostering financial innovation to capitalize on the aging demographic as a potent economic force. AARP reports that the 50+ age group already contributes roughly $8.3 trillion annually to the U.S. economy alone—a figure projected to nearly double by 2050, indicating the vast economic potential of older adults.

Opportunities for Change

While the challenges are significant, the report highlights potential opportunities. Older adults today are healthier and wealthier than previous generations, presenting a growing consumer base ripe for innovative products and services. According to advertising giant Ogilvy, this demographic represents "the most important consumer growth market globally."

Michael Clinton, founder and CEO of ROARforward, a business intelligence platform, sees many companies seizing the opportunity.

“Traditionally, financial services and healthcare companies have been focused on this cohort, but now we are seeing beauty companies like Estee Lauder, travel brands like Backroads and fashion leaders like Burberry build strategies for this segment,” he shared. “The entertainment world is catching on too with new programming from The Golden Bachelor and Bachelorette to Matlock and Mid-Century Modern, all appealing to the 50+ consumer.”

Innovative approaches are already shaping this emerging market. Integrating age-inclusive artificial intelligence in workplaces helps older employees maintain their productivity and value, demonstrating the economic benefit of fostering inclusive work environments. Additionally, sectors such as healthcare, travel, technology, and wellness are rapidly adapting to meet the unique needs of older consumers, illustrating the dynamic potential of the longevity economy. WHO data indicates healthcare expenditure for individuals aged 65 and over is, on average, three times greater than for younger individuals, highlighting the importance of innovations in preventive care and technology to reduce healthcare costs significantly.

Governments, businesses, and civil societies must collaborate to fully capitalize on these opportunities. By modernizing financial systems, investing in elder health and wellness, and embracing age-inclusive policies, societies can transform aging demographics from potential liabilities into powerful economic assets.

As Nazeri notes, the longevity economy's future has arrived, demanding immediate action to harness its benefits. The steps societies take today will shape the economic landscape for generations, transforming demographic challenges into substantial opportunities for global growth and innovation.

From Front Porch Forum in Vermont to Citizens’ Assemblies in Oregon, Indiana, Arizona and Montana, new forms of civic engagement are being created to build bridges, not walls, to better deal with our divides, locally—regardless of who’s in the White House.

CHICAGO—Democracy isn’t just about voting. It’s about how we live, work, and talk with one another, every day.

This past weekend, a lot of people weren’t talking. They were shouting—and here, in this city’s civic center, their rage was on full display, as an estimated 25,000 Chicagoans flooded Daley Plaza to join the international “Hands Off!” protest against Donald Trump’s new social and economic orders. Some of the Chicagoans using megaphones to yell “F-Trump” said they voted for him six months ago. Most others carried painted cardboard signs and waved around dozens of pictures of a grinning Elon Musk taking a chain saw to the federal government.

One of the more provocative posters was one that read, “The protests will get bigger until democracy is followed and respected”—an acknowledgement, perhaps, that our democracy isn’t working very well, at least not well enough in many people’s minds to stop President Trump’s continued efforts to side-step the rule of law; mute free speech; reject government norms; trigger trade wars with U.S. allies and enemies, alike; illegally deport a wide range of legal immigrants and create economic policies designed to help the super-rich at the immediate expense of America’s rich and poor, alike.

[Chicago’s protest was one of more than 1,200 anti-Trump demonstrations staged on Saturday, spanning all 50 states and some European cities—including Berlin, Lisbon and Paris.]

I asked a few dozen protesters—both Democrats and some who said they voted for Trump—whether they thought their demonstration would change anything. Some said they had no such illusion. “Today we’re here for us,” said John Serra, a Republican business consultant who brought his two teen-age sons with him to the Plaza. “We’re here to show the rest of America and overseas that Americans’ opposition to Donald Trump’s actions this term exists and is widespread.” He added: “Our democracy isn’t working very well but we should be able to use it to find better ways to fix it.”

I don’t want to make too many assumptions, but I’m guessing that if you’re reading this, you probably still care about democracy—and also might be thinking Serra’s right. Waving signs around is one thing. Protest helps to let off steam and convey dissent. But is our democracy broken? Can it be made to work better?

I’ve got a bit of good news, and some bad news to share about that. Keep reading.

The good, bad, and different

The good news is that 75% of our fellow Americans, in a recent Pew survey, say they still support democracy, and that our desire for a better-working democracy is something many of us still insist we commonly share.

The bad news? Americans continue to be deeply divided over how to fix it, and have been for a while. If you go back to 1984—the year, not the book—roughly two-thirds of Americans said then that they were “satisfied” with “the state of democracy.” Today, only about one-third of Americans say this.

“We’re stuck, and it’s a feeling that isn’t just something unique to this administration, nor the last one, nor the one before that or before that,” says Kevin O’Neil, the Managing Director of New Frontiers at The Rockefeller Foundation, a team focused on discovering and scaling new solutions to global problems. “It’s rather a feeling that democracy’s been slipping for a while, and that social trends are leading to our disconnection—which we need to get a grip on and fix.”

O’Neil, the moderator of a recent panel on democracy I attended at last month’s SXSW conference, says he wonders if there is something we can do differently to reverse democracy’s slide. “…Innovation isn’t just something we are expected to create in technology or in science or in media arts or business. Democracy is something that also needs to be innovated,” he says.

Wait. Reinvent democracy? O’Neil and many others in civic society today say yes—to help it keep pace with how communications tech, global challenges and communities are changing.

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New Governance Models

Some of that innovation work has already begun. Here are a few such notable models being tested locally and nationally:

• New_Public, a new nonprofit, designs and builds new online networks and social platforms powered by algorithms that prioritize and encourage civic engagement—not just commerce. “We go into a lot of towns where there is no newspaper anymore; there’s no community center anymore; the town square is shut down,” says Deepti Doshi, co-director. “And we go in and broker collaboration with them to rebuild their public spaces online, kind of like Next Door but so much more focused on catalyzing non-partisan, civic engagement and local problem-solving.” Doshi and co-founder Eli Pariser, backed by millions of philanthropic dollars, are creating these new digital public spaces for communities to better digitize civic engagement. “At present, our physical communities have public spaces—parks, libraries, schools—that are actually built for the public and serve the public. But our digital spaces? They’re mostly created, algorithmically for advertisers, to sell people things” Doshi says, or to accentuate people’s differences and stoke their fears. “ …When we can create social media using algorithms to bring people together in a virtual civic space, we can then help to de-polarize our own neighborhoods, the ones that we’re a part of—and find pathways out of the divided situations we’re in now to create a more vibrant democracy.”

• Front Porch Forum. This social network in Vermont is called, by many, “the friendliest social network you’ve never heard of.” Front Porch counts nearly half of Vermont’s adults as active members, and thanks to a small part-time staff of volunteers, it is moderated carefully to keep things civil. “It’s the nation’s best example of a kinder, gentler online community,” Doshi says. It has rules for engagement. Nothing gets posted until it has been reviewed. It also doesn’t have a real-time feed, nor any “like” buttons, and also doesn’t have a recommendation algorithm nor any way to reach audiences beyond the local community. “It exists to stimulate real-world interactions among neighbors, and doesn’t exist to help advertisers,” says founder and CEO Michael Wood-Lewis. Adds Pariser: “Front Porch demonstrates that local conversations don’t have to be toxic. Careful moderation and prioritizing civility over engagement can lead to a vastly different experience of social media.”

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• Citizens’ Assemblies are groups of people selected by lottery from the general population to deliberate on important public policy questions so as to broaden local input on the issues lawmakers are considering—or should. “It’s a kind of on-ramp for citizens to get re-involved with government to come up with change they decide they all need,” says Josh Burgess, who leads Democracy Next, a citizens’ assembly project funded, in part, by the Rockefeller Foundation. Burgess’ current project is with Bend, Oregon citizens, to create a proposal for solving youth homelessness in the community. “The voices we’re hearing on this now are not the same special interests but 30 delegates who are representative of the area’s demographics. We had an elk hunter sitting next to an acupuncturist, an 84-year-old riverboat captain sitting next to a high school student and so on. None of these people would have found themselves in the same space without this assembly,” Burgess says. Citizen assemblies also are being held in Japan, Ireland and in Canada, and U.S. experimentation with them is expanding, to include Indiana, Montana, California, Colorado, Illinois and Arizona. According to Pew Research, people across 24 surveyed countries say their democracies could improve by expanding public participation in civic engagement. Citizens’ assemblies, Burgess says, “are a promising model for building co-governance, increasing trust in government and encouraging representative groups of everyday people to build the kind of knowledge and understanding of each other needed to help mend the social fabric.”

De-polarization

Kurt Gray, a psychology professor and author of Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics, says “people are motivated not by hate or wanting to destroy things, but rather are motivated, mostly, to find protection from harm.” Gray says making this distinction matters “because it shows how we might change the way we interpret the actions of others, and better understand someone’s reasons for taking one stand or another.”

“If everything we see now in society is seen as an ideological threat rather than a reaction to a common problem that needs solving,” Burgess added, “we’re stuck.”

Democracy isn’t a spectator sport, he said.

“If we’ve lost our ability to connect with those around us, we’ve lost our democracy. It’s time to turn things around, and not just look to our politicians to solve things. We need to step up, too—regardless of who’s in the White House.”

For further information on new civic engagement models, check out Democracy Next’s guide on how to create a citizens’ assembly, and What to Know: A Beginner’s Guide to Closing Divides, published earlier this month by The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s section, The Commons. Also see Dangerous Cracks in US Democracy Pillars, an article in a series by the Brookings Institution exploring the challenges to democracy in America today.

NOTE: This post was updated on 4-9 to include additional data.