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Designer crafts stylish handbags from material otherwise destined for the landfill

In Johanna Dunn’s Belmont Hills studio, rich upholsteries abound: lush reds, animal prints and houndstooth mingle with florals, tweeds and blackout curtains. Her slow-fashion company, City Totes, specializes in artistically crafted bags made from reclaimed fabrics. Dunn, 55, loves finding materials destined for the trash and designing a new life for them. Over the past

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3 mins read
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Mummers brigade made the destruction of the FDR park wetlands their key theme

They came dancing, swaying and stomping — humans or ants, waterfowl, purple mushrooms, giant alligators and random salamanders? No matter. They reveled to a rhythmic beat against a backdrop of blue skies and green meadows. But when the vultures with money dripping from inside of their wings swooped in, the earthmovers followed, and the backdrop

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5 mins read
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Twelve-year-old launches nonprofit to save butterflies by building one microhabitat at a time

If Noah Raven, founder of Monarch Defenders, dashes from plant to plant in his pollinator-friendly garden with the kinetic energy of a 12-year-old, there’s good reason: he is one. Raven’s Monarch Defenders website rivals that of any big-budget nonprofit. Complete with a mission statement, educational facts, resource citations, ways to take action and an interactive

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4 mins read

Weavers Way Co-op incubator shepherds diverse products onto shelves

Ask Candy Bermea-Hasan to tell you about the diverse sellers program she’s building at Weavers Way, a member-owned cooperative grocery, and her words spill out like water. For two years, Bermea-Hasan has been recruiting fledgling producers and helping them find their way onto retail shelves. The work isn’t just about building a more diverse list

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2 mins read