The most critical feedback loop in a democracy is a free press and access to vital information. Decades of corporate consolidation allowed giant conglomerates to annihilate local news outlets, but new models are crystallizing to fill the void, thanks to innovating journalists and publishers.

California Comeback Stories—Nature’s Resilience when given a chance.

In this excerpt from “Eavesdropping on Animals: What We Can Learn From Wildlife Conversations,” author George Bumann introduces us to a dog named Chapter and the secondhand knowledge that humans can gain through animal senses.

With funding shifts, political roadblocks, and growing urgency, this conversation gets real about what’s working—and what still needs to change.

Gillian Goddard grew up on the island of Trinidad–a cacao growing region–at a time when most “Trinis” had never tasted local chocolate. As a social entrepreneur focused on circular economy to elevate rural communities, Gillian has developed a cooperative, skill-sharing network of small chocolate-making enterprises in the Caribbean. She has since expanded that network to 11 African nations.

The TCHO chocolate company works directly with global partner farmers and scientists to co-create a better chocolate by investing in cacao-producing communities in South America, the Caribbean and Africa.