The New Citizen Newsletter #12

“The news mostly disseminates outrage and pessimism, not knowledge and confidence. As a result, we’re less informed about the world we live in and more sceptical of our ability to change it.” — Rob Wijnberg

🎈 Seed bombing with slingshots and balloons 🌱

Corruption in Kenya has resulted in widescale deforestation, but a local conservationist has come up with an awesome way to plant more trees. Teddy Kinyanjui produces charcoal-coated seed bombs that can be shot from slingshots. He’s recruited balloonists, paragliders and cattle herding kids to shoot the seeds for fun. So far they’ve launched two million seeds across the country.

Source: World Economic Forum. Thanks to Lis Bastian for the tip.

🚤 Organising the world’s weirdest techno festival 🕺

Government programmes to reverse the disappearance of Aral Sea are failing, but local citizens have figured out a new way to put the issue on the map. Otabek Suleimanov invited techno DJs from around the world to perform at a festival on the dried-out seabed. He hopes the annual event will become Central Asia’s equivalent to Burning Man. Maybe even the mighty Techno Viking will attend next year.

Source: The Guardian.

🌍 Tackling the global pollution pandemic 🚮

Yesterday was the annual World Cleanup Day. More than 20 million volunteers across 120 countries took to streets, parks and town squares to pick up rubbish. The idea first started in Estonia 10 years ago when 4% of the population came out to collect 10,000 tons of rubbish. Since then the intiative has grown each year and spread across the world.

Source: euronews. Thanks to Julia Hildrebrand for the tip.

🤔 Rethinking citizenship ✊

This week we caught up with Jon Alexander, director of the awesome New Citizenship Project at the European Young Leaders Summit in Valletta, Malta. His goal is to use creative strategy to promote the role of the citizen and encourage better participation in society. You can read his thoughts on how to evolve from consumers to new citizens here.