We’re highlighting several stories this week that inspire local environmental action to make a real difference: recognition for climate activists, Boston’s booming food forests, India’s garbage cafe, un-greenwashing compostables, and a teenager’s efforts to rid Scotland of single-use plastics.

Climate progress is still happening: Meet the 2025 Grist 50 – Grist, September 16, 2025

For the tenth year, Grist has announced the Grist 50: 50 individuals finding innovative solutions to climate problems. The list features people working across a wide range of areas, from artists to entrepreneurs to policy advocates. This year, five of the Grist 50 hail from our DMV region!

Boston’s Food Forests Take Root as a Climate Equity Strategy – Inside Climate News, October 3, 2025

The Boston Food Forest Coalition (BFFC) has been working tirelessly to plant edible fruit and nut trees on commonly owned land in vulnerable communities around the Boston metropolitan region. These food forests contribute positive community impacts on a number of levels: they support wildlife, mitigate climate impacts, provide food to the local community, and add much-needed green spaces in areas that are lacking. The Coalition has already developed 13 food forests and aims to plant 30 by 2030.

Rice, two curries and dal: The Indian cafes where you can pay in rubbish – BBC, August 19, 2025

In 2019, the City of Ambikapur, India established its first garbage cafe, where city residents can turn in collected plastic waste in exchange for free meals. This innovative concept has proved successful, collecting over 23 tonnes of plastic since its inception, and feeding dozens of people per day who otherwise might not have had access to healthy and nutritious meals. It is a win-win for the city, which turned its only landfill into a park in 2016 and now recycles nearly all of its waste.

Here’s what happens when ‘compostable’ products become litter – CBC, September 25, 2025

It’s time to debunk claims of “compostable” products being sold as greener alternatives to single-use plastics. CBC’s Marketplace program tested 30 supposedly compostable items. Only three of the 30 products decomposed, while others broke apart without breaking down, just like their plastic counterparts. The reality is that “compostables” are still single-use products that don’t solve our waste problems.

‘You don’t get to aim big when you are somewhere small’: A teenager’s fight to end single use plastics on her Scottish island – The Guardian, September 24, 2025

Tabby Fletcher is a 17-year-old resident of Scotland’s Isle of Jura, where she is spearheading a movement to ban all single-use plastics in Scotland, after coming to grips with the enormous harms that plastics cause to people and wildlife in her community. She started a petition to the Scottish Parliament that has garnered more than 26,000 signatures and is slated for consideration this fall.