The Big Fix

Across much of North Africa, a punishing drought is now entering its seventh year. In Morocco, wheat, a staple of people’s diet, is withering. Livestock are dying. Scientists say climate change is making the normally dry region much drier, and that things will worsen as global temperatures continue to rise. 

In the Indian tech hub of Bengaluru, water has become a precious commodity. One initiative leverages an age-old, well-digging technique to help residents tap into a forgotten source. 

Record-setting wildfires are raging in the Pantanal region in Brazil. In a densely vegetated rural area the size of England, it can be hard for firefighters to find and reach the blazes to combat them. That’s why one nonprofit is training local fighters to use drones to pinpoint the exact location and size of fires, and scope out roads to reach them. 

In Namibia, MycoHAB is hoping to solve two issues for the price of one: make use of a pesky plant known as the encroacher bush and deal with the country’s housing crisis. By harvesting the water-intensive weeds that encroach on farmland and combining them with a mushroom byproduct known as mycelium, MycoHAB founder and architect Chris Maurer creates bricks to build homes. The World’s Carolyn Beeler spoke to Maurer to learn more.

Aquaculture heavily depends on a small creature called brine shrimp, whose natural habitats are under threat. Scientists believe the site of an environmental disaster in Uzbekistan can now help produce more shrimp to help feed the planet.