Most ambitious US law to tackle single-use plastics faces make-or-break moment

On Friday, March 25th, The Earth Foundation held a fully virtual event, The Earth Prize 2022 Awards Ceremony, to announce the winner and runners-up of the USD 200,000 environmental sustainability competition for teenagers. Team Adorbsies, made up of three young women – Quynh Anh (Dorothy), Uyen and Huyen, from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam – was proclaimed as the victorious recipient of the USD 100,000 grand prize that comes with The Earth Prize 2022 Winner title. The prize money will be split evenly between the team members and the educational program with which they registered for the competition, Summit Education.  The winning idea is the “Adorbsy” biodegradable menstrual pad. As the students explained in their submission, due to a drop in dragon fruit sales caused by the Covid pandemic, Vietnam was suddenly forced to deal with considerable amounts of unsold fruit, with an initial plan of simply burning it.

Ward 99 consists of Hyde Park in Mitchells Plain and parts of Khayelitsha. The neglected state of Hyde Park, in Tafelsig, validates its status as the Lost City.  Mitchells Plain is a sprawling Cape Town suburb whose inhabitants range from the middle class to the poorest of the poor. In the Hyde Park area of Mitchells Plain residents grapple with a lack of infrastructure, housing and rampant crime. Hyde Park, Freedom Park and parts of Tafelsig are referred to as Lost City.  Hyde Park presents a poverty pattern that has remained largely unchanged for years. The only significant improvement, voters said, is the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) homes built between 2008 and 2010.