Reasons to be Cheerful
Reasons to Be Cheerful is an online magazine founded by musician and activist David Byrne. It shares inspiring, solutions-oriented stories highlighting positive developments and innovative approaches to global challenges. The platform covers a wide range of topics, including environmental sustainability, social justice, urban design, health, and culture, emphasizing practical, replicable solutions that are making a difference. Reasons to Be Cheerful aims to counterbalance the often negative news cycle by showcasing stories of progress, resilience, and creativity. The website encourages readers to engage with and support these initiatives, fostering a sense of hope and empowerment. It also offers a newsletter to deliver uplifting content directly to its audience.
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The Coffee Academy Serving Up Career Paths
“I’ve been told a lot that this is the best coffee on this street,” says Sana Pishgoo, owner of Shiraz Patisserie in north London. “I’ve also been told I have the best Iranian cakes in London.” A skilled pastry chef and cake maker, Pishgoo, 45, set up her business in...
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Black Women Farmers Are Reclaiming the Land
This story originally appeared on The 19th and GBH News Rooted in Boston. On a sunny morning in June, about two dozen people walk the land of Soul Fire Farm in Rensselaer County in Upstate New York, during a tour. They are participants in a week-long immersion program that includes a...
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The ‘Civic Hour’ Is Reinventing Volunteering
“Agh, I am only getting consonants,” sighs Nicole Riberolles, the 104-year-old doyenne of Les Artistes nursing home in the Batignolles neighborhood of northwestern Paris. There’s a Q, R, Y, W, N and an E lined up on her Scrabble letter holder. She sees nothing available, weaving her pearl necklace through...
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What We’re Reading: Mapping the World of Fungi Beneath Our Feet
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Networking Sixty-eight quadrillion miles: That unfathomable number represents the estimated extent of the network of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi weaving through soil around...
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Smashing Yesterday’s Croissants for a Better Tomorrow
From the outside, Demain looks like any other bakery in Paris. The bright blue storefront, featuring huge glass vitrines, frames a bready feast for the eyes. Behind it lie glorious piles of almond croissants, pistachio pastries, lemon meringue tarts, pecan-speckled brownies and such a great quantity of bread that the...
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French Companies Are Inviting Homeless People to Sleep in Their Offices
For several years, when Pierre-Yves Loaëc left his office in Nantes in the evenings, he passed a woman sleeping rough in the parking lot near Nobilito, the marketing agency he runs. The contrast nagged at him. Outside, she huddled near a parking garage vent for warmth during the winter. “My...
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The City That Doubled Down on Listening to Its Youth
On most mornings, the line in front of Masaka City Hall forms before the door opens. There are those in search of jobs and others looking to grow small businesses. A few come with complaints about broken streetlights, unsafe roads or neighborhoods they feel city leaders have forgotten. Nearly all...
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This Brand Wants You to Compost Its Clothes
The clothes hanging in Lydia Wendt’s loft atelier in Los Angeles’ Fashion District shimmer in earthy tones: an orange sleep set dyed with California poppies, a coral lounge set colored with madder root, undyed tees in off-white cotton. Pointing to the dark disk of a dried sunflower, Wendt explains, “The...
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What We’re Reading: World Cup Carousing — With Reusable Cups
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Fill your cup During the World Cup, soccer fans who come to watch games at Toronto’s FIFA Fan Festival zone at Fort...
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Banking Like the Planet Depends On It
This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on solutions for equitable and just cities. Get Next City’s stories in your inbox: nextcity.org/newsletter. America’s fastest-growing new bank doesn’t specialize in AI or crypto-currency or some exotic investment strategy with little real world value. It specializes in environmental sustainability....
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