Category: The Conversation – USA

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Dana Zartner, Professor of International Studies, University of San Francisco

While the dangerous effects of climate change continue to worsen, legal efforts to address a range of environmental issues are also on the rise.

Headlines across the globe tout many of these legal actions: South Korea’s Climate Law Violates Rights of Future Generations; Ukraine is Ground Zero in Battle for Ecocide Law; Paris Wants to Grant the River Seine Legal Personhood; and Montana Court Rules Children Have the Right to a Healthy Environment, to name a few recent examples.

As an environmental lawyer, I see that most of these suits use one of five legal strategies that have been developed over the past couple of decades. These approaches vary in terms of who is filing the lawsuit, against whom, and whether the underlying legal perspective is based on protecting human rights or the rights of the environment itself. But they all share an innovative approach to protect all life on this planet.

1. Right to a healthy environment

In 2022, the United Nations declared that humans have “the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment … essential to protecting human life, well-being and dignity.” More than 150 countries have similar declarations in their constitutions or laws, often alongside protections for other human rights, such as those to education and medical care.

These rights are held by humans, so people can sue for alleged violations. Typically they sue one or more government agencies, whose responsibility it is to protect human rights.

One recent case using this approach was Held v. Montana, in which a group of young people in 2024 won a lawsuit against the state of Montana for violating the state constitution’s right to a “clean and healthful environment.” The state Supreme Court agreed with the plaintiffs and struck down a law barring the consideration of climate effects when evaluating proposals for fossil fuel extraction. Similar cases have been heard in the U.S. and other countries around the world.

2. The rights of future generations

A legal concept called “intergenerational equity” is the idea that present generations must “responsibly use and conserve natural resources for the benefit of future generations.” First codified in international law in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, the principle has been gaining popularity in recent decades. International organizations and national governments have enshrined this principle in law.

Focused on humans’ rights, these laws allow people and groups to bring claims, usually against governments, for allowing activities that are altering the environment in ways that will harm future generations. One well-known case that relied on this legal principle is Future Generations v. Ministry of the Environment and Others, in which a Colombian court in 2018 agreed with young people who had sued, finding that the Colombian government’s allowance of “rampant deforestation in the Amazon” violated the pact of intergenerational equity.

3. Government responsibility

Another human-centered approach is the public trust doctrine, which establishes “that certain natural and cultural resources are preserved for public use” and that governments have a responsibility to protect them for everyone’s benefit.

While the concept of “public trust” has long existed in the law, recently it has been used to bring suit against governments for their failure to address climate change and other environmental degradation. In Urgenda Foundation v. the State of the Netherlands, a Dutch court held in 2019 that the government has a responsibility to mitigate the effects of climate change due to the “severity of the consequences of climate change and the great risk of climate change occurring.” Since the decision, the Dutch government has sought to reduce emissions by phasing out the use of coal, increasing reliance on renewable energy and aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Government responsibility for the public trust was also a basis of the Juliana v. U.S. case, where a group of young people sued the U.S. government for breaching the public trust by not doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately declined to hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling, but the lack of a specific ruling by the nation’s highest court has given continued hope to new cases, which continue to be filed based on the same principle.

4. Rights of nature

The rights of nature is one of the fastest-growing environmental legal strategies of the past decade. Since Ecuador recognized the rights of Pachamama, the Quechua name for Mother Earth, in its Constitution in 2008, more than 500 laws on the rights of nature have been enacted around the world.

The principle recognizes the legal rights of natural entities, such as rivers, mountains, ecosystems or even something as specific as wild rice. The laws that grant these rights don’t focus on humans but rather nature itself, often including language that the natural entity has the right to “exist and persist.”

The laws then provide a mechanism for the natural entity – whether through a specific group assigned legal guardianship or other community efforts – to protect itself by filing lawsuits in court. In the 2018 Colombian case, the court found that the Amazon ecosystem has rights, which must be respected and protected.

Similarly, in Bangladesh in 2019 the courts recognized the rights of all the country’s rivers, requiring, among other things, a halt on damaging development along the rivers that block their natural flow. The court also created a commission to serve as legal guardians of the country’s rivers.

5. Defining a new crime: Ecocide

In 2024, the governments of Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa formally proposed that the international community recognize a new crime under international law. Called “ecocide,” the principle takes a nature-focused approach and includes any unlawful act committed with “the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment.”

Put another way, what genocide is to humans, ecocide is to nature. It is being proposed as an addition to the 2002 Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

While the idea is relatively new, in addition to the international efforts, several countries have incorporated ecocide into their laws – including Vietnam, France, Chile and Ukraine. A Ukrainian prosecutor is currently investigating the June 2023 destruction of a dam in a Russian-occupied area of the country as a potential crime of ecocide, because of the widespread flooding and habitat destruction that resulted.

The European Union has also incorporated ecocide into its Environmental Crime Directive, which applies to all EU member countries, providing them with a mechanism to hear ecocide claims in their national courts.

Using these ideas

Each of these legal concepts has the potential to increase protection for the environment – and the people who live in it. But determining which strategy has the greatest chance of success depends on the details of the existing law and legal system in each community.

All of these legal strategies have a role in the fight to protect and preserve the environment as an integral, interdependent living thing that is vitally important to us as humans but also in its own right.

Dana Zartner is a volunteer with the Earth Law Center assisting with the editing of toolkits and guides, but has not worked on any of its lawsuits.

– ref. How the nature of environmental law is changing in defense of the planet and the climate – https://theconversation.com/how-the-nature-of-environmental-law-is-changing-in-defense-of-the-planet-and-the-climate-258982

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Ian Smith, Research Scientist in Earth & Environment, Boston University

When summer turns up the heat, cities can start to feel like an oven, as buildings and pavement trap the sun’s warmth and vehicles and air conditioners release more heat into the air.

The temperature in an urban neighborhood with few trees can be more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 Celsius) higher than in nearby suburbs. That means air conditioning works harder, straining the electrical grid and leaving communities vulnerable to power outages.

There are some proven steps that cities can take to help cool the air – planting trees that provide shade and moisture, for example, or creating cool roofs that reflect solar energy away from the neighborhood rather than absorbing it.

But do these steps pay off everywhere?

We study heat risk in cities as urban ecologists and have been exploring the impact of tree-planting and reflective roofs in different cities and different neighborhoods across cities. What we’re learning can help cities and homeowners be more targeted in their efforts to beat the heat.

The wonder of trees

Urban trees offer a natural defense against rising temperatures. They cast shade and release water vapor through their leaves, a process akin to human sweating. That cools the surrounding air and reduces afternoon heat.

Adding trees to city streets, parks and residential yards can make a meaningful difference in how hot a neighborhood feels, with blocks that have tree canopies nearly 3 F (1.7 C) cooler than blocks without trees.

But planting trees isn’t always simple.

In hot, dry cities, trees often require irrigation to survive, which can strain already limited water resources. Trees must survive for decades to grow large enough to provide shade and release enough water vapor to reduce air temperatures.

Annual maintenance costs – about US$900 per tree per year in Boston – can surpass the initial planting investment.

Most challenging of all, dense urban neighborhoods where heat is most intense are often too packed with buildings and roads to grow more trees.

How cool roofs can help on hot days

Another option is “cool roofs.” Coating rooftops with reflective paint or using light-colored materials allows buildings to reflect more sunlight back into the atmosphere rather than absorbing it as heat.

These roofs can lower the temperature inside an apartment building without air conditioning by about 2 to 6 F (1 to 3.3 C), and can cut peak cooling demand by as much as 27% in air-conditioned buildings, one study found. They can also provide immediate relief by reducing outdoor temperatures in densely populated areas. The maintenance costs are also lower than expanding urban forests.

However, like trees, cool roofs come with limits. Cool roofs work better on flat roofs than sloped roofs with shingles, as flat roofs are often covered by heat-trapping rubber and are exposed to more direct sunlight over the course of an afternoon.

Cities also have a finite number of rooftops that can be retrofitted. And in cities that already have many light-colored roofs, a few more might help lower cooling costs in those buildings, but they won’t do much more for the neighborhood.

By weighing the trade-offs of both strategies, cities can design location-specific plans to beat the heat.

Choosing the right mix of cooling solutions

Many cities around the world have taken steps to adapt to extreme heat, with tree planting and cool roof programs that implement reflectivity requirements or incentivize cool roof adoption.

In Detroit, nonprofit organizations have planted more than 166,000 trees since 1989. In Los Angeles, building codes now require new residential roofs to meet specific reflectivity standards.

In a recent study, we analyzed Boston’s potential to lower heat in vulnerable neighborhoods across the city. The results demonstrate how a balanced, budget-conscious strategy could deliver significant cooling benefits.

For example, we found that planting trees can cool the air 35% more than installing cool roofs in places where trees can actually be planted.

However, many of the best places for new trees in Boston aren’t in the neighborhoods that need help. In these neighborhoods, we found that reflective roofs were the better choice.

By investing less than 1% of the city’s annual operating budget, about US$34 million, in 2,500 new trees and 3,000 cool roofs targeting the most at-risk areas, we found that Boston could reduce heat exposure for nearly 80,000 residents. The results would reduce summertime afternoon air temperatures by over 1 F (0.6 C) in those neighborhoods.

While that reduction might seem modest, reductions of this magnitude have been found to dramatically reduce heat-related illness and death, increase labor productivity and reduce energy costs associated with building cooling.

Not every city will benefit from the same mix. Boston’s urban landscape includes many flat, black rooftops that reflect only about 12% of sunlight, making cool roofs that reflect over 65% of sunlight an especially effective intervention. Boston also has a relatively moist growing season that supports a thriving urban tree canopy, making both solutions viable.

In places with fewer flat, dark rooftops suitable for cool roof conversion, tree planting may offer more value. Conversely, in cities with little room left for new trees or where extreme heat and drought limit tree survival, cool roofs may be the better bet.

Phoenix, for example, already has many light-colored roofs. Trees might be an option there, but they will require irrigation.

Getting the solutions where people need them

Adding shade along sidewalks can do double-duty by giving pedestrians a place to get out of the sun and cooling buildings. In New York City, for example, street trees account for an estimated 25% of the entire urban forest.

Cool roofs can be more difficult for a government to implement because they require working with building owners. That often means cities need to provide incentives. Louisville, Kentucky, for example, offers rebates of up to $2,000 for homeowners who install reflective roofing materials, and up to $5,000 for commercial businesses with flat roofs that use reflective coatings.

Efforts like these can help spread cool roof benefits across densely populated neighborhoods that need cooling help most.

As climate change drives more frequent and intense urban heat, cities have powerful tools for lowering the temperature. With some attention to what already exists and what’s feasible, they can find the right budget-conscious strategy that will deliver cooling benefits for everyone.

Lucy Hutyra has received funding from the U.S. federal government and foundations including the World Resources Institute and Burroughs Wellcome Fund for her scholarship on urban climate and mitigation strategies. She was a recipient of a 2023 MacArthur Fellowship for her work in this area.

Ian Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. 2 ways cities can beat the heat: Which is best, urban trees or cool roofs? – https://theconversation.com/2-ways-cities-can-beat-the-heat-which-is-best-urban-trees-or-cool-roofs-260188

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Erran Carmel, Professor of Business, American University Kogod School of Business

In the first months of Donald Trump’s second term as president, his policies – from sweeping tariffs and aggressive immigration enforcement to attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion – have thrown U.S. businesses into turmoil, leading to a 26-point decline in CEO confidence.

Yet despite this volatility, many American corporations have remained notably restrained in their public responses.

This might come as a surprise. After all, in recent decades, CEOs have become increasingly willing to speak out about social and political issues. But while some universities and law firms have publicly pushed back against the Trump administration, business leaders are seemingly opting for caution.

What would it take for these titans of corporate America to speak out against Trump’s policies? We are a professor and a graduate student who study business, and back in 2018, one of us – Dr. Carmel – conducted an analysis asking this very question. More recently, we gathered new data looking at how business leaders are responding to Trump’s second term.

The 2018 analysis, involving data from about 200 leading U.S. CEOs, found that most business leaders remained publicly neutral on Trump, and only a handful expressed strong opposition. Silence was often a strategic choice, with many leaders staying mum due to fear of retaliation. The evidence also suggested that Trump could one day cross a line that would prompt a broader CEO backlash.

Seven years later, that line hasn’t yet appeared, even as Trump’s footprint on corporate America is now far more direct and substantial.

Most notable are Trump’s tariffs, first announced in April 2025, which have roiled global markets and unnerved CEOs. And there are many other ripples: Some companies, such as CBS’ parent company, Paramount – which is seeking the Trump administration’s approval for a merger – have decided to self-censor. Others, including Disney and Meta, gave in to Trump’s lawsuits and paid multimillion-dollar settlements, against the counsel of many outside experts. CEOs also have to deal with the threat of backlash from both the right and left.

Against this backdrop, we collected new public data to see how corporate leaders are responding to the second Trump administration. Just as in 2018, we examined the 232 companies that make up the Business Roundtable – a club of the most powerful American businesses.

We assessed the actions that these companies took regarding DEI and whether they experienced any backlash. We focused on these criteria as a way to assess whether CEOs are seeking either to support or placate Trump, or to stand on other principles. We also collected other data, including public statements from CEOs and campaign donations.

DEI as a bellwether

Corporate DEI actions were an early, useful way to gauge a business’s stances, since, from the outset, the Trump administration identified DEI as a “scourge” to be eliminated. Although the White House’s anti-DEI directives have applied to the executive branch and federal contractors, some private businesses rushed to make changes as well.

By May, just a bit over 100 days into Trump’s second term, a significant number of companies had decided to go along with Trump’s preferences. Sixty-nine of the 232 companies in the Business Roundtable rolled back their DEI initiatives in some way, while just 20 companies announced that they kept their DEI programs in place. There’s no information either way on the remaining 61% – likely because they decided it’s better to stay out of the news.

DEI-related actions have tapered off since May, but there’s still an impact. For example, the Federal Communications Commission pressured T-Mobile to eliminate DEI. Only then was its merger approved.

Companies that scaled back their DEI initiatives sometimes pointed to the political environment as a factor. Meta, for example, said in an internal memo that it was ending its DEI efforts due to a “shifting legal and policy landscape.” Other companies, including Verizon and Comcast, reportedly rolled back DEI programs because they feared legal action by the federal government.

Some corporations announced changes through internal announcements, legal filings or quiet updates to their websites, suggesting they want to stay out of the media spotlight.

A small number of Business Roundtable companies stood firm on their DEI policies – to mixed results. When Marriott’s CEO voiced support for DEI at a corporate leadership event, he reportedly received 40,000 appreciative emails from employees. On the other hand, after Coca-Cola reiterated its “commitment to sponsoring an inclusive workplace,” the right-wing activist Robby Starbuck — who The New York Times has described as “the anti-DEI agitator that companies fear most” – said Coca-Cola “should be very nervous about continuing with its woke policies.”

Bracing for backlash

Overall, 22% of Business Roundtable companies saw some sort of backlash to their actions. Most came from the political right: 36 companies were called out by conservatives, another eight by progressives, and eight more faced bipartisan backlash.

With more than three years left in Trump’s second term, it’s worth asking what lies ahead. We think the most likely scenario is that companies will continue to try to stay off the president’s radar and placate him when they must. After all, following the split with Elon Musk, Trump quite explicitly threatened to use presidential powers to hurt Musk’s businesses. Any CEO gets the implications.

While our analysis primarily focused on social issues, policies at the business core may push U.S. companies to confront Trump. Tariff policy is a prime example. Back in April, major retailers like Walmart quietly warned Trump that tariffs could lead to empty shelves and higher prices. More recently, the CEO of Goldman Sachs publicly warned that tariffs “have raised the level of uncertainty to a degree I do not think is healthy for investment and growth.”

These are voices of criticism – but worded quite softly.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Caution in the C-suite: How business leaders are navigating Trump 2.0 – https://theconversation.com/caution-in-the-c-suite-how-business-leaders-are-navigating-trump-2-0-260557

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Corey Hutchins, Manager, Colorado College Journalism Institute, Colorado College

Over the years, the crisis facing local news has meant the disappearance of reporting on the arts, politics, sports and local government.

Newspapers have disappeared from many local communities, and the ranks of individual local journalists have plummeted over the past two decades.

The retrenchment has also led to a loss of something else: reporters and columnists at local news organizations who decades ago regularly focused on their local media as a beat.

There are very few of them left.

I’m an instructor at Colorado College, where I manage the Journalism Institute. I also compulsively keep track of our state’s shifting media landscape.

Recently, I produced a nationwide study called “Local News as a Public Good: Increasing Visibility Through University-Led Statewide Newsletters.”

The Center for Community News at the University of Vermont solicited and published the report. The goal was to find out who is doing similar work and where.

The Center for Community News is interested in fostering partnerships between academic programs and local newsrooms. The center is also seeking to find other ways higher-ed institutions are supporting their state’s media ecosystem — so they were especially interested in media newsletters being produced at a college or university.

Few state-based newsletters

The problem is, there weren’t many to track. I found just six, including my own, while researching for the report.

Very few states, it turns out, “have a dedicated publication, site, or newsletter that regularly and independently reports on and analyzes ongoing developments in the local media scene,” the report found.

My own weekly Substack newsletter is called “Inside the News in Colorado.” Each week, I report on, comment on and analyze the goings on in Colorado’s media scene. I connect local developments to what’s happening nationally, and I explore what makes the state’s local news ecosystem unique.

My newsletter also pokes and prods, critiques and uplifts, and seeks to spark debate and a better understanding about the practice of local journalism. And it maintains a weekly running tab on the health of the state’s media landscape.

Other newsletters across the country include NC Local, authored by Catherine Komp. The Newsroom Digest, out of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University in New Jersey, is another. Gateway Journalism Review from Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Journalism, in the College of Arts and Media made the list. And Media Nation by Northeastern University professor Dan Kennedy in Massachusetts is another.

Kennedy has been producing Media Nation for more than 20 years and writes more about national media issues. But he mixes it with plenty of local and regional happenings.

If someone were to, say, leak an internal email from The Boston Globe, it is likely they would do so with Media Nation.

The NC Local newsletter’s format is a mix of digestible roundups and some original reporting.

A recurring item titled “Well Done” offers “noteworthy work from the NC news & information ecosystem.” The most-clicked links each week tend to come from a bulletin board section where Komp rounds up job postings and opportunities.

The chunky Newsroom Digest newsletter highlights notable local journalism in New Jersey. It comes with a “Media Moves” section that introduces its audience to new local journalists and tracks newsroom personnel changes.

While they differ in style and delivery, each is filling a gap in coverage in their state or region by reporting on an important industry: their own.

“When I was at the (Boston) Phoenix, I think all of us at the alternative press thought big local media were a powerful local institution that ought to be held to account just like big business and everything else,” Media Nation’s Kennedy said for the report.

Where to house the news about the news?

I believe colleges and universities make good places to produce these kinds of state-based media newsletters.

Journalism departments in particular are likely equipped to run them, especially if they have practitioners on the faculty. They are outside of a state’s established media organizations but also adjacent to them.

Richard Watts, the director of the Center for Community News, commissioned the “Local News as a Public Good” study. He says there are important reasons for more newsletters consistently reporting on local media in individual states.

“They draw attention to the key role local news plays by writing about the stories and the impact of those stories,” he said. “They help amplify and they showcase the importance of the media ecosystem for a vibrant democracy.”

Furthermore, such newsletters can serve as the “canary in the coal mine to draw attention to media platforms in trouble, or actions by unscrupulous owners,” Watts added. “And they can share ideas and best practices across the system to help strengthen individual media platforms. And, lastly, they help create a community of stakeholders committed to the importance of a free press.”

To that end, the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont is looking to help anyone in a higher-ed program who might be interested in launching a state-based media newsletter.

“I think a really good person to do something like this is, first, someone who is doing more than just reporting on the industry or ecosystem,” said Komp of NC Local in the Center for Community News study.

“It does need to be somebody who is engaging with journalists, with publishers, with journalism educators, with students, with funders, in ways that are not just reporting on what’s happening but in ways that are looking to always find solutions and address challenges.”

Read more of our stories about Colorado.

Corey Hutchins consults for the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont where he is working on a project to help colleges and universities create state-based media newsletters.

– ref. I teach college and report on Colorado media — there should be more professors doing the same in other states – https://theconversation.com/i-teach-college-and-report-on-colorado-media-there-should-be-more-professors-doing-the-same-in-other-states-260891

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Lisa Cuchara, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Quinnipiac University

On hot summer days, few things are more refreshing than a dip in the pool. But have you ever wondered if the pool is as clean as that crystal blue water appears?

As an immunologist and infectious disease specialist, I study how germs spread in public spaces and how to prevent the spread. I even teach a course called “The Infections of Leisure” where we explore the risks tied to recreational activities and discuss precautions, while also taking care not to turn students into germophobes.

Swimming, especially in public pools and water parks, comes with its own unique set of risks — from minor skin irritations to gastrointestinal infections. But swimming also has a plethora of physical, social and mental health benefits. With some knowledge and a little vigilance, you can enjoy the water without worrying about what might be lurking beneath the surface.

The reality of pool germs

Summer news headlines and social media posts often spotlight the “ick-factor” of communal swimming spaces. These concerns do have some merit.

The good news is that chlorine, which is widely used in pools, is effective at killing many pathogens. The not-so-good news is that chlorine does not work instantly – and it doesn’t kill everything.

Every summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues alerts about swimming-related outbreaks of illness caused by exposure to germs in public pools and water parks. A 2023 CDC report tracked over 200 pool-associated outbreaks from 2015 to 2019 across the U.S., affecting more than 3,600 people. These outbreaks included skin infections, respiratory issues, ear infections and gastrointestinal distress. Many of the outcomes from such infections are mild, but some can be serious.

Germs and disinfectants

Even in a pool that’s properly treated with chlorine, some pathogens can linger for minutes to days. One of the most common culprits is Cryptosporidium, a microscopic germ that causes watery diarrhea. This single-celled parasite has a tough outer shell that allows it to survive in chlorine-treated water for up to 10 days. It spreads when fecal matter — often from someone with diarrhea — enters the water and is swallowed by another swimmer. Even a tiny amount, invisible to the eye, can infect dozens of people.

Another common germ is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that causes hot tub rash and swimmer’s ear. Viruses like norovirus and adenovirus can also linger in pool water and cause illness.

Swimmers introduce a range of bodily residues to the water, including sweat, urine, oils and skin cells. These substances, especially sweat and urine, interact with chlorine to form chemical byproducts called chloramines that may pose health risks.

These byproducts are responsible for that strong chlorine smell. A clean pool should actually lack a strong chlorine odor, as well as any other smells, of course. It is a common myth that a strong chlorine smell is a good sign of a clean pool. In fact, it may actually be a red flag that means the opposite – that the water is contaminated and should perhaps be avoided.

How to play it safe at a public pool

Most pool-related risks can be reduced with simple precautions by both the pool staff and swimmers. And while most pool-related illnesses won’t kill you, no one wants to spend their vacation or a week of beautiful summer days in the bathroom.

These 10 tips can help you avoid germs at the pool:

• Shower before swimming. Rinsing off for at least one minute removes most dirt and oils on the body that reduce chlorine’s effectiveness.

• Avoid the pool if you’re sick, especially if you have diarrhea or an open wound. Germs can spread quickly in water.

• Try to keep water out of your mouth to minimize the risk of ingesting germs.

• Don’t swim if you have diarrhea to help prevent the spread of germs.

• If diagnosed with cryptosporidiosis, often called “crypto,” wait two weeks after diarrhea stops before returning to the pool.

• Take frequent bathroom breaks. For children and adults alike, regular bathroom breaks help prevent accidents in the pool.

• Check diapers hourly and change them away from the pool to prevent fecal contamination.

• Dry your ears thoroughly after swimming to help prevent swimmer’s ear.

• Don’t swim with an open wound – or at least make sure it’s completely covered with a waterproof bandage to protect both you and others.

• Shower after swimming to remove germs from your skin.

Lisa Cuchara is affiliated with American Society for Microbiology

– ref. How germy is the public pool? An infectious disease expert weighs in on poop, pee and perspiration – and the deceptive smell of chlorine – https://theconversation.com/how-germy-is-the-public-pool-an-infectious-disease-expert-weighs-in-on-poop-pee-and-perspiration-and-the-deceptive-smell-of-chlorine-260996

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Tracy Gleason, Professor of Psychology, Wellesley College

The coach, the specialized equipment, the carefully tailored exercise regimen – they’re all key to athletic performance. But imagination might be an unexpected asset when it comes to playing sports.

The idea that athletic achievement depends on the mind isn’t new. Sport psychologists have known for years that working with an athlete on their mental game – visualizing the skill, kinesthetically feeling the swing – has a positive impact on actual performance. But these mental simulations draw only upon mental imagery – seeing and feeling the physical goals in the mind’s eye. Imagination offers a much wider range of possibilities.

What if your game could be helped by an imaginary friend?

In a recent retrospective study of college students, we discovered that imagination comes in handy in athletics in ways that are surprisingly social. The creation of what we termed imaginary athletes – a person or being that a child imagined in the context of athletics – enabled and motivated athletic play, especially for children between the ages of about 6 and 12. Imaginary athletes also provided companionship during athletic play.

Remembering childhood imaginary athletes

The most basic form of an imaginary athlete might be a wall, fence or even tree that makes a good opponent in a pinch. For a child or adolescent practicing a sport alone, a surface that provides a ball return or a steady target for a throw gives opportunities for practice usually requiring other players.

Is it any wonder, then, if the branches of the tree start to resemble a wide receiver’s arms, or an invisible goalie emerges in front of the fence? Solitary play might be a lot more fun if a make-believe teammate could provide an assist, or an invisible coach could appear and shout instructions during practice.

The college students in our study reported that such support, even if imaginary, made them play a little longer or try a little harder as kids.

About 41% of our sample of 225 college students reported creating at least one imaginary athlete at some point in middle childhood or early adolescence. Most, but not all, of these beings fell into three categories based on their characteristics.

The first we called placeholders, such as ghost runners. They are typically generic, amorphous, imaginary teammates created by groups of children when not enough real players are available.

The second type functioned as what we named athletic tools. They helped kids focus on their performance and improve their skills, usually by providing a worthy competitor, sometimes based on an admired professional athlete. The skills of athletic tools were often just above those of the child, drawing out the desire to be better, stronger, faster.

Social relationships, our name for the third kind of imaginary athlete, primarily served emotional functions, relieving loneliness and providing the child or adolescent with a sense of belonging, safety or companionship as they engaged in their sport.

Students who remembered imaginary athletes differed from their peers in two ways. First, more men than women reported creating these imaginary beings, possibly owing to the greater investment in and importance of athletics among boys versus girls. Second, people with imaginary athletes scored higher than those without on a current-day measure of predilection for imagination, but they were not more likely to report having created a make-believe friend or animal as a child.

Imagination is a valuable power

Creating an imaginary other might seem like a quirky, perhaps even childish, addition to sports practice. But actually, this behavior is entirely logical. After all, imagination is the core of human thought. Without it, we couldn’t conceptualize anything outside of the present moment that wasn’t already stored in memory. No thinking about the future, no consideration of multiple outcomes to a decision, no counterfactuals, daydreams, fantasies or plans.

Why wouldn’t people apply such a fundamental tool of day-to-day thought in athletic contexts? Participation in sports is common, especially among school-age kids, and many college students in our study described drawing upon their imaginations frequently when playing sports, especially when doing so in their free time.

The creation of imaginary athletes is also unsurprising because it’s one of myriad ways that imagination enhances people’s social worlds throughout their lives. Above all else, social relationships are what matter most to people, and using imagination in thinking about them is common. For instance, people imagine conversations with others, particularly those close to them, sometimes practicing the delivery of bad news or envisioning the response to a proposal of marriage.

In early childhood, kids create imaginary companions who help them learn about friendship and other’s perspectives. And in adolescence, when people focus on developing their autonomy and their own identities, they create parasocial relationships that let them identify with favorite celebrities, characters and media figures. Even in older age, some widows and widowers imagine continued relationships with their deceased spouses. These “continuing bonds” are efforts to cope with loss through imaginary narratives that are fed by and extrapolate upon years of interactions.

At each point in their developmental trajectory, people might recruit imagination to help them understand, manage, regulate and enjoy the social aspects of life. Imaginary athletes are merely one manifestation of this habit.

Because so many children and adolescents spend a lot of time engaged in sports, athletics can be a major environment for working on the developmental tasks of growing up. As children learn about functioning as part of a group, forming, maintaining and losing friendships, and mastering a range of skills and abilities, imaginary athletes provide teammates, coaches and competitors tailored to the needs of the moment.

Of course, an imaginary athlete is but one tool that children and adolescents might use to address developmental tasks such as mastering skills or negotiating peer relationships. Children who aren’t fantasy-prone might create complex training regimens to practice their skills, and they might manage their friendships by talking through problems with others.

But some report that turning inward generated real athletic and social benefits. “I got confidence out of my [imaginary athletes],” reported one participant. “If I could imagine beating someone, and [winning], then I felt like I could do anything.”

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Imaginary athletes: Creating make-believe teammates, competitors and coaches during play – https://theconversation.com/imaginary-athletes-creating-make-believe-teammates-competitors-and-coaches-during-play-254879

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Boluwatife S. Olubusoye, Ph.D. Candidate in Chemistry, University of Mississippi

Every few years, the tires on your car wear thin and need to be replaced. But where does that lost tire material go?

The answer, unfortunately, is often waterways, where the tiny microplastic particles from the tires’ synthetic rubber carry several chemicals that can transfer into fish, crabs and perhaps even the people who eat them.

We are analytical and environmental chemists who are studying ways to remove those microplastics – and the toxic chemicals they carry – before they reach waterways and the aquatic organisms that live there.

Microplastics, macro-problem

Millions of metric tons of plastic waste enter the world’s oceans every year. In recent times, tire wear particles have been found to account for about 45% of all microplastics in both terrestrial and aquatic systems.

Tires shed tiny microplastics as they move over roadways. Rain washes those tire wear particles into ditches, where they flow into streams, lakes, rivers and oceans.

Along the way, fish, crabs, oysters and other aquatic life often find these tire wear particles in their food. With each bite, the fish also consume extremely toxic chemicals that can affect both the fish themselves and whatever creatures eat them.

Some fish species, like rainbow trout, brook trout and coho salmon, are dying from toxic chemicals linked to tire wear particles.

Researchers in 2020 found that more than half of the coho salmon returning to streams in Washington state died before spawning, largely because of 6PPD-Q, a chemical stemming from 6PPD, which is added to tires to help keep them from degrading.

But the effects of tire wear particles aren’t just on aquatic organisms. Humans and animals alike may be exposed to airborne tire wear particles, especially people and animals who live near major roadways.

In a study in China, the same chemical, 6PPD-Q, was also found in the urine of children and adults. While the effects of this chemical on the human body are still being studied, recent research shows that exposure to this chemical could harm multiple human organs, including the liver, lungs and kidneys.

In Oxford, Mississippi, we identified more than 30,000 tire wear particles in 24 liters of stormwater runoff from roads and parking lots after two rainstorms. In heavy traffic areas, we believe the concentrations could be much higher.

The Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council, a states-led coalition, in 2023 recommended identifying and deploying alternatives to 6PPD in tires to reduce 6PPD-Q in the environment. But tire manufacturers say there’s no suitable replacement yet.

What can communities do to reduce harm?

At the University of Mississippi, we are experimenting with sustainable ways of removing tire wear particles from waterways with accessible and low-cost natural materials from agricultural wastes.

The idea is simple: Capture the tire wear particles before they reach the streams, rivers and oceans.

In a recent study, we tested pine wood chips and biochar – a form or charcoal made from heating rice husks in a limited oxygen chamber, a process known as pyrolysis – and found they could remove approximately 90% of tire wear particles from water runoff at our test sites in Oxford.

Biochar is an established material for removing contaminants from water due to its large surface area and pores, abundant chemical binding groups, high stability, strong adsorption capacity and low cost. Wood chips, because of their rich composition of natural organic compounds, have also been shown to remove contaminants. Other scientists have also used sand to filter out microplastics, but its removal rate was low compared with biochar.

We designed a biofiltration system using biochar and wood chips in a filter sock and placed it at the mouth of a drainage outlet. Then we collected stormwater runoff samples and measured the tire wear particles before and after the biofilters were in place during two storms over the span of two months. The concentration of tire wear particles was found to be significantly lower after the biofilter was in place.

The unique elongated and jagged features of tire wear particles make it easy for them to get trapped or entangled in the pores of these materials during a storm event. Even the smallest tire wear particles were trapped in the intricate network of these materials.

Using biomass filters in the future

We believe this approach holds strong potential for scalability to mitigate tire wear particle pollution and other contaminants during rainstorms.

Since biochar and wood chips can be generated from agricultural waste, they are relatively inexpensive and readily available to local communities.

Long-term monitoring studies will be needed, especially in heavy traffic environments, to fully determine the effectiveness and scalability of the approach. The source of the filtering material is also important. There have been some concerns about whether raw farm waste that has not undergone pyrolysis could release organic pollutants.

Like most filters, the biofilters would need to be replaced over time – with used filters disposed of properly – since the contaminants build up and the filters degrade.

Plastic waste is harming the environment, the food people eat and potentially human health. We believe biofilters made from plant waste could be an effective and relatively inexpensive, environmentally friendly solution.

Boluwatife S. Olubusoye received partial funding from the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Research (CBCR) at the University of Mississippi

James V Cizdziel received funding from the National Science Foundation (MRI Grant #2116597) for the instrument used to analyze samples for microplastics.

– ref. One of the biggest microplastic pollution sources isn’t straws or grocery bags – it’s your tires – https://theconversation.com/one-of-the-biggest-microplastic-pollution-sources-isnt-straws-or-grocery-bags-its-your-tires-259440

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Younes Ben Zaied, Full Professor in Finance, EDC Paris Business School

The Trump administration is decreasing the attention federal regulators pay to pipeline leaks. But leaks from natural gas pipelines don’t just waste energy and warm the planet – they can also make the air more dangerous to breathe. That air pollution threat grows not just in the communities where the leaks happen but also as far as neighboring states, as our analysis of gas leaks and air pollution levels across the U.S. has found.

For instance, in September 2018 the Merrimack Valley pipeline explosion in Massachusetts, which released roughly 2,800 metric tons of methane, damaged or destroyed about 40 homes and killed one person. We found that event caused fine-particle air pollution concentrations in downwind areas of New Hampshire and Vermont to spike within four weeks, pushing those areas’ 2018 annual average up by 0.3 micrograms per cubic meter. That’s an increase of about 3% of the U.S. EPA’s annual health standard for PM2.5. Elevated air pollution then showed up in New York and Connecticut through the rest of 2018 and into 2019.

In our study, we examined pipeline leak data from the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration from 2009 to 2019 and data about the state’s level of small particulate matter in the air from Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network. We also incorporated, for each state, data on environmental regulations, per-capita energy consumption, urbanization rate and economic productivity per capita.

In simple terms, we found that in years when a state – or its neighboring states – experienced more methane leak incidents, that state’s annual average fine-particle air pollution was measurably higher than in years with fewer leaks.

Methane’s role in fine‑particle formation

Natural gas is primarily made of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. But methane also helps set off chemical reactions in the air that lead to the formation of tiny particles known as PM2.5 because they are smaller than 2.5 micrometers (one ten-thousandth of an inch). They can travel deep into the lungs and cause health problems, such as increasing a person’s risk of heart disease and asthma.

The role of methane in exacerbating air pollution is well researched. In short, when methane is released into the atmosphere, it reacts with other chemicals that are already there, such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Often, sunlight triggers these reactions, which then form a type of fine particulate matter called “secondary organic aerosols,” which make up between 20% and 50% of total ambient PM2.5 mass.

So, when natural gas leaks, energy is wasted, the planet warms and air quality drops. These leaks can be massive, like the 2015 Aliso Canyon disaster in California, which sent around 100,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere.

But smaller leaks are also common, and they add up, too: Because the federal database systematically undercounts minor releases, we estimate that undocumented small leaks in the U.S. may total on the order of 15,000 metric tons of methane per year – enough to raise background PM2.5 by roughly 0.1 micrograms per cubic meter in downwind areas. Even this modest increase can contribute to health risks: There is no safe threshold for PM2.5 exposure, with each rise of 1 microgram per cubic meter linked to heightened mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Preventing leaks to protect climate and health

The most direct way to reduce this problem is to reduce the number and quantity of methane leaks from pipelines. This could include constructing them in ways or with materials or processes that are less likely to leak. Regulations could create incentives to do so or require companies to invest in technology to detect methane leaks quickly, as well as encourage rapid responses when a leak is identified, even if it appears relatively small at first.

Reducing pipeline leaks would not just conserve the energy that is contained in the methane and reduce the global warming that results from increasing amounts of methane in the atmosphere. Doing so would also improve air quality in communities that are home to pipelines and in surrounding areas and states.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Methane leaks from gas pipelines are a hidden source of widespread air pollution – https://theconversation.com/methane-leaks-from-gas-pipelines-are-a-hidden-source-of-widespread-air-pollution-257786

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Camille Banger, Assistant Professor in Business Information Technology, University of Wisconsin-Stout

The tech world says generative artificial intelligence is essential for the future of work and learning. But as an educator, I still wonder: Is it really worth bringing it into the classroom? Will these tools truly help students learn, or create new challenges we haven’t yet faced?

Like many other people in higher education, I was skeptical but knew I couldn’t ignore it. So, instead of waiting for all the answers, I decided to dive in and discover what preparing students for an AI-powered world really means beyond the hype. Last semester, I developed a business technology class where the latest generative AI tools were woven into the curriculum.

What I found is that AI productivity products have a learning curve, much like other applications that students, and ultimately white-collar workers, use in knowledge work. But I needed to adjust how I taught the class to emphasize critical thinking, reflection on how these tools are being used and checks against the errors they produce.

The project

It’s no secret that generative AI is changing how people work, learn and teach. According to the 2025 McKinsey Global Survey on AI, 78% of respondents said their organizations use AI in at least one business function, and many are actively reskilling their workforce or training them with new skills to meet the demands of this shift.

As program director of the Business Information Technology bachelor’s degree program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin’s polytechnic university, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to prepare students for the workplace. I’m also an AI enthusiast, but a skeptical one. I believe in the power of these tools, but I also know they raise questions about ethics, responsibility and readiness.

So, I asked myself: How can I make sure our students are ready to use AI and understand it?

In spring 2025, University of Wisconsin-Stout launched a pilot for a small group of faculty and staff to explore Microsoft 365 Copilot for business. Since it works alongside tools such as Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneDrive and Teams, which are products our students already use, I saw an opportunity to bring these latest AI features to them as well.

To do that, I built an exploratory project into our senior capstone course. Students were asked to use Copilot for Business throughout the semester, keep a journal reflecting on their experience and develop practical use cases for how AI could support them both as students and future professionals. I didn’t assign specific tasks. Instead, I encouraged them to explore freely.

My goal wasn’t to turn them into AI experts overnight. I wanted them to build comfort, fluency and critical awareness about how and when to use AI tools in real-world contexts.

What my students and I learned

What stood out to me the most was how quickly students moved from curiosity to confidence.

Many of them had already experimented with tools such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, but Copilot for Business was a little different. It worked with their own documents, emails, meeting notes and class materials, which made the experience more personal and immediately relevant.

In their journals, students described how they used Copilot to summarize Teams video meetings, draft PowerPoint slides and write more polished emails. One student said it saved them time by generating summaries they could review after a meeting instead of taking notes during the call or rewatching a recording. Another used it to check their assignment against the rubric – a scoring tool that outlines the criteria and performance levels for assessing student work – to help them feel more confident before submitting their work.

Several students admitted they struggled at first to write effective prompts – the typed requests that guide the AI to generate content – and had to experiment to get the results they wanted. A few reflected on instances where Copilot, like other generative AI tools, produced inaccurate or made-up information, or hallucinations, and said they learned to double-check its responses. This helped them understand the importance of verifying AI-generated content, especially in academic and professional settings.

Some students also said they had to remind themselves to use Copilot instead of falling back on other tools they were more familiar with. In some cases, they simply forgot Copilot was available. That feedback showed me how important it is to give students time and space to build new habits around emerging technologies.

What’s next

While Copilot for Business worked well for this project, its higher cost compared with previous desktop productivity apps may limit its use in future classes and raises ethical questions about access.

That said, I plan to continue expanding the use of generative AI tools across my courses. Instead of treating AI as a one-off topic, I want it to become part of the flow of everyday academic work. My goal is to help students build AI literacy and use these tools responsibly and thoughtfully, as a support for their learning, not a replacement for it.

Historically, software programs enabled people to produce content, such as text documents, slides or the like, whereas generative AI tools produce the “work” based on user prompts. This shift requires a higher level of awareness about what students are learning and how they’re engaging with the materials and the AI tool.

This pilot project reminded me that integrating AI into the classroom isn’t just about giving students access to new tools. It’s about creating space to explore, experiment, reflect and think critically about how these tools fit into their personal and professional lives and, most importantly, how they work.

As an educator, I’m also thinking about the deeper questions this technology raises. How do we ensure that students continue developing original thoughts and critical thinking when AI can easily generate ideas or content? How can we preserve meaningful learning while still taking advantage of the efficiency these tools offer? And what kinds of assignments can help students use AI effectively while still demonstrating their own thinking?

These aren’t just theoretical concerns. Early studies have identified the risks of “cognitive offloading” when performing tasks, such as writing essays with AI. Studies have also shown that using AI can reduce cognitive effort and even affect students’ confidence levels in their thinking. This highlights the importance of incorporating critical thinking activities alongside AI use.

These questions aren’t easy, but they are important. Higher education has an important role to play in helping students use AI and understand its impact and their responsibility in shaping how it’s used.

Striking the right balance between fostering original thought and critical thinking with AI can be tricky. One way I’ve approached this is encouraging students to first create their content on their own, then use AI for review. This way, they maintain ownership of their work and see AI as a helpful tool rather than a shortcut. It’s all about knowing when to leverage AI to refine or enhance their ideas.

One piece of advice I received that really stuck with me was this: Start small, be transparent and talk openly with your students. That’s what I did, and it’s what I’ll continue doing as I enter this next chapter of teaching and learning in the age of AI.

Camille Banger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Generative AI is coming to the workplace, so I designed a business technology class with AI baked in – https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-is-coming-to-the-workplace-so-i-designed-a-business-technology-class-with-ai-baked-in-259481

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jennifer Duyne Barenstein, Senior Lecturer of Social Anthropology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

More than 1.8 billion people lack access to adequate and affordable housing. Yet too few countries have taken meaningful steps to ensure dignified housing for their most vulnerable citizens.

We research how cooperative housing can serve as one solution to the affordable housing crisis. There are a variety of cooperative housing models. But they generally involve residents collectively owning and managing their apartment complexes, sharing responsibilities, costs and decision-making through a democratic process.

Some countries have embraced cooperatives. In Zurich, Switzerland, almost one-fifth of the city’s total housing stock is cooperative housing.

Other countries, such as El Salvador and Colombia, have struggled to integrate housing cooperatives into their countries’ preexisting housing policies. In fact, although Latin America has a long-standing tradition of community-driven and mutual aid housing, housing cooperatives haven’t taken root in many places, largely due to weak political and institutional backing.

Uruguay is an exception.

With a population of just 3.4 million, the small Latin American nation has a robust network of housing cooperatives, which give access to permanent, affordable housing to citizens at a range of income levels.

An experiment becomes law

Housing cooperatives in Uruguay emerged in the 1960s during a time of deep economic turmoil.

The first few pilot projects delivered outstanding results. Financed through a mix of government funds, loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and member contributions, they were more cost-effective, faster to build and higher in quality than conventional housing.

These early successes played a key role in the passage of Uruguay’s National Housing Law in 1968. This law formally recognized housing cooperatives and introduced a legal framework that supported different models. The most common models to emerge roughly translate to “savings cooperatives” and “mutual aid cooperatives.”

In the savings model, members pool their savings to contribute around 15% of the capital investment. This gives them access to a government-subsidized mortgage to finance the construction. The cooperative then determines how repayment responsibilities are distributed among its members. Typically, members purchase “social shares” in the cooperative, equivalent to the cost of the assigned housing unit. If a member decides to leave the cooperative, their social shares are reimbursed. These shares are also inheritable, allowing them to be passed on to heirs.

In contrast, the mutual aid model enables households without savings to participate by contributing 21 hours per week toward construction efforts. Tasks are assigned to individuals according to their abilities. They can range from manual labor to administrative tasks, such as the ordering of construction materials.

Despite their differences, both models share a fundamental principle: The land and housing units are held collectively and are permanently removed from the private market.

Typically, once cooperatives are established, each household must contribute a monthly fee that covers the repayment of the state’s loan and maintenance costs. In exchange, members have an unlimited and inheritable contract of “use and enjoyment” of a quality apartment. If a member decides to leave, they are partially reimbursed for the contributions they’ve made over time, typically with a 10% deduction that the cooperative keeps.

This ensures that cooperative housing provides long-term security and remains affordable, especially for those at the lowest rungs of the income ladder.

State support and public buy-in

Today, Uruguay has 2,197 housing cooperatives, supplying homes to approximately 5% of the country’s households. Around half of them are located in the nation’s capital, Montevideo, where 1,008 cooperatives operate. Cooperatives can have as few as 12 homes or as many as 700 apartments.

This growth has been possible thanks to state support, federations of cooperatives and nonprofit groups.

The state recognized that the success of housing cooperatives depended on sustained public support. The National Housing Law defined the rights and responsibilities of cooperatives. It also outlined the state’s obligations: overseeing operations, setting criteria for financial assistance and providing access to land.

Housing cooperative federations have also played a key role. FECOVI, the federation of the savings cooperatives, represents over 100 cooperatives, serving roughly 5,000 households. FUCVAM, the federation of mutual aid cooperatives, is much larger and more politically active, representing over 35,000 households across 730 cooperatives.

Beyond organizing and advocating for the right to housing – and human rights more broadly – FUCVAM offers its member cooperatives a wide range of support services, including training to strengthen cooperative management, legal counseling and conflict mediation.

Finally, a vital pillar of this model are the Technical Assistance Institutes, which were also recognized by the National Housing Law. These are independent, nonprofit organizations that advise cooperatives.

Their role is crucial: The construction of large-scale housing projects is complicated. The vast majority of citizens have no prior experience in construction or project management. The success of Uruguay’s cooperative model would be unthinkable without their support.

From the outskirts to the city center

Uruguay’s housing cooperatives have not only expanded, but have also evolved in response to changing needs and challenges.

In their early years, most cooperatives built low-density housing on the outskirts of cities. This approach was largely influenced by the ideals of the Garden City movement, a planning philosophy of the late 19th century that prioritized low-density housing and a balance between development and green spaces. In Uruguay, there was also a cultural preference for single-family homes. And land was more expensive in city centers.

These early cooperatives, however, contributed to urban sprawl, which has a number of drawbacks. Infrastructure has to be built out. It’s harder to reach jobs and schools. There’s more traffic. And single-family homes aren’t an efficient use of land.

Meanwhile, in the 1970s Montevideo’s historic city center started experiencing abandonment and decay. During this period, the country’s shifting socioeconomic landscape created a set of new challenges. More people relied on irregular incomes from informal work, while more single women became heads of households.

In response, housing cooperatives have shown a remarkable ability to adapt.

For women, by women

As urban sprawl pushed development outward, Montevideo’s historic center, Ciudad Vieja, was hemorrhaging residents. Its historic buildings were falling apart.

Seeking to revitalize the area without displacing its remaining low-income residents, the city saw housing cooperatives as a solution.

This spurred the creation of 13 mutual aid cooperatives in Ciudad Vieja, which now account for approximately 6% of all housing units in the area.

One of the pioneers of this effort was Mujeres Jefas de Familia, which translates to Women Heads of Household. Known by the acronym MUJEFA, it was founded in 1995 by low-income, single mothers. MUJEFA introduced a new approach to cooperative housing: homes designed, built and governed with the unique needs of women in mind.

Architect Charna Furman spearheaded the initiative. She wanted to overcome the structural inequalities that prevent women from finding secure housing: financial dependence on men, being primary caregivers, and the absence of housing policies that account for single women’s limited access to economic resources.

Remaining in Ciudad Vieja was important to members of MUJEFA. Its central location allowed them to be close to their jobs, their kids’ schools, health clinics and a close-knit community of friends and family.

However, the project faced major hurdles. The crumbling structure the group acquired in 1991 – an abandoned, heritage-listed building – needed to be transformed into 12 safe, functional apartments.

The cooperative model had to adapt. Municipal authorities temporarily relaxed certain regulations to allow older buildings to be rehabbed as cooperatives. There was also the challenge of organizing vulnerable people – often long-time residents at risk of eviction, who were employed as domestic workers or street vendors – into groups that could actively participate in the renovation process. And they had to be taught how to retrofit an older building.

Today, 12 women with their children live in the MUJEFA cooperative. It’s a compelling example of how cooperative housing can go beyond simply putting a roof over families’ heads. Instead, it can be a vehicle for social transformation. Women traditionally excluded from urban planning were able to design and construct their own homes, creating a secure future for themselves and their children.

Building up, not out

COVIVEMA 5, completed in 2015, was the first high-rise, mutual aid cooperative in a central Montevideo neighborhood. Home to around 300 residents, it’s made up of 55 units distributed across two buildings.

Members participated in the building process with guidance from the Centro Cooperativista Uruguayo, one of the oldest and most respected Technical Assistance Institutes. Architects had to adapt their designs to make it easier for regular people with little experience in construction to complete a high-rise building. Cooperative members received specialized training in vertical construction and safety protocols. While members contributed to the construction, skilled labor would be brought in when necessary.

Members of the cooperative also designed and built Plaza Luisa Cuesta, a public square that created open space in an otherwise dense neighborhood for residents to gather and socialize.

Housing cooperatives are neither public nor private. They might be thought of as an efficient and effective “third way” to provide housing, one that gives residents a stake in their homes and provides long-term security. But their success depends upon institutional, technical and financial support.

This article is part of a series centered on envisioning ways to deal with the housing crisis.

Jennifer Duyne Barenstein receives funding from The Swiss National Science Foundation. She is affiliated with the Centre for Research on Architecture, Society and the Built Environment, Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich

Daniela Sanjinés receives funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. She is affiliated with the Centre for Research on Architecture, Society and the Built Environment, Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich.

– ref. What the world can learn from Uruguay as the global housing crisis deepens – https://theconversation.com/what-the-world-can-learn-from-uruguay-as-the-global-housing-crisis-deepens-258342