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The biggest dog sledding race in the world is having major problems. You already know why.

OK, climate change, this really isn't cool anymore.

Photo by Eric Wustenhagen/Flickr.

It's bad enough that you're playing havoc with weather patterns, spreading drought and disease, and displacing millions of people worldwide.

Do you have to ruin everything we loved from our childhood too?

You're slowly but surely wrecking polar bears.

Jump for your life!!! Photo by Arturo de Frias Marques/Wikimedia Commons.

And snowmen.

Do you want to build a ... welp. Um. Photo by E Greens/Flickr.

And The Maldives.

The Maldives were really popular for three weeks in 1995. After yo-yos but before Tamagotchis. Turtle photo by Ahmed Abdul Rahman/Wikimedia Commons . Beach photo by Elite Diving Agency/Wikimedia Commons. Manta Ray photo by Shiyam ElkCloner/Wikimedia Commons. Fish photo by poolpe/Pixabay.

Now, you're seriously going after the Iditarod?

Photo by Jim Watson/Getty Images.

We all learned about — and loved — the Iditarod in the third grade.

It was a big deal for us! It's the reason we have vague nostalgia for diphtheria of all things.

If you grew up within 50 miles of New York City, chances are you took a field trip to the statue of Balto in Central Park.

We all rooted for Mackenzie Astin to rally and cross that finish line to prove to his dead father he was a winner, dammit.

"Iron Will" was not about the actual Iditarod, but — let's be honest — our substitute teacher led us to believe it was. GIF via What the Buck/Tumblr.

For an 8-year-old, what's not to love about a 1,000-mile sled dog race? What's not to love about an 1,000-mile sled dog race for a grown man or woman?

This year, race organizers were forced to shorten the ceremonial beginning of the race ... because there wasn't enough snow. In Anchorage, Alaska.

Photo by Jim Watson/Getty Images.

According to a CNN report, there was so little powder in the area that tons of snow had to be trucked in to make even the dramatically shortened course viable.

Snow fell on just one day in February, making the total snowfall just 1.8 inches for the month. Anchorage had the fourth warmest February on record this year. This season, Anchorage has only picked up 27.6 inches of snow compared to a seasonal average of 60 inches, according to CBS affiliate KTVA.

What the hell, climate change?

2015 was the second-warmest year on record in Alaska.

Photo by tpsdave/Pixabay.

The warmest? 2014. This January was the fifth warmest ever for the state.

Unsurprisingly, lack of snow has caused problems — minor and major — for the last three Iditarods, including forced route changes and even injuries to participants in the race.

The mushers have been adjusting to warmer conditions for more than a decade, but it's getting more and more difficult to run the race the traditional way every year.

This is seriously, 100% it. We've had enough of your BS, climate change. We're taking the Iditarod — and the rest of the planet — back.

Photo by Jim Watson/Getty Images.

How?

At the end of last year, 195 countries signed the most significant climate agreement in Earth's history. It commits the signatories to doing everything in their power to reduce emissions in order to keep average global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.

Problem is, those commitments are voluntary. The wrong politician comes to power in the wrong country, and the whole thing could blow up.

So here's what we have to do: Vote for politicians who not only believe that climate change is real but want to do something about it.

Here's a list of where each of the current crop of U.S. presidential candidates stand (including those who have already dropped out of the race).

If we stand up to climate change, we can Make Sled Dog Racing Great Again in no time.

Spread the word, call your congressmen, and most importantly, vote.

Let's do this thing, people. For the Iditarod.

GIF from "Snow Dogs"/Walt Disney Pictures.

Never forget: Snow guts, snow glory.

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Community

Facebook group brings people together IRL to make meaningful friendships

True

Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

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A post shared by 𝐍𝐘𝐂 𝐁𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐝® (@nycbrunchsquad)

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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friendship

Democracy

This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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money

Identity

One man turned nursing home design on its head when he created this stunning facility

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?

92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

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Health

If you're grieving a loved one this holiday season, here's a gift you can give yourself

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

Images courtesy of Kelly Cervantes

Kelly Cervantes wrote her way through grieving the loss of her daughter, Adelaide.

Kelly Cervantes begins the Introduction to her book with five words: "Grief sucks. It's also weird." It's a concise truth that anyone who has lost a loved one knows all too well.

Grief is a universal experience—none of us get through life without loss—but it's also unique to each person. Most of us are familiar with the popular "stages of grief" theory, but denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (along with guilt and a host of things) are less like sequential rungs on a ladder and more like pools you fall into at various times as you stumble your way through the grief process. Grief is not linear and it's not neat and tidy and it's not predictable.

Take it from someone who's been there. Kelly Cervantes lost her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Using writing as a therapeutic tool to help her process Adelaide's medically complex life, death and everything that came after, Kelly created the book she wished she'd had as she was trying to navigate her own grieving process.

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grief

The biggest dog sledding race in the world is having major problems. You already know why.

OK, climate change, this really isn't cool anymore.

Do you have to ruin everything we loved from our childhood too?

Now, you're seriously going after the Iditarod?

This year, race organizers were forced to shorten the ceremonial beginning of the race ... because there wasn't enough snow. In Anchorage, Alaska.

What the hell, climate change?

This is seriously, 100% it. We've had enough of your BS, climate change. We're taking the Iditarod — and the rest of the planet — back.

If we stand up to climate change, we can Make Sled Dog Racing Great Again in no time.

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?

92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Confusion is common in Alzheimer's patients, but Makesh knew there had to be some way to minimize these conflicts.

Instead of rooms or units, each resident gets a "home" on a quiet little indoor street reminiscent of the neighborhoods many of them grew up in.

Instead of a boring panel ceiling, residents look up and see a digital sky, which grows dimmer late in the day to help keep their biological clocks in tune.

Throughout the day, nature sounds and fresh aromas like peppermint or citrus are piped in.

For Makesh, this isn't just about making patients comfortable, though. He wants to change how we think about the endgame of severe dementia.

Of course, we're a long way from a cure for Alzheimer's.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

Trameka Brown-Berry was looking over her 4th-grade son Jerome's homework when her jaw hit the floor.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

The assignment was real. In the year 2018. Unbelievable.

The shockingly offensive assignment deserved to be thrown in the trash. But young Jerome dutifully filled it out anyway.

"You, white friend, need to speak up and say something when I can't."

1. You're going to have to get uncomfortable.

2. "Your black friend would like to say something to the racist lady, but doesn't want to appear to be that 'angry black man.'"

3. We are constantly monitoring our surroundings and adjusting our clothes, hair, speed, and speech to maintain white comfort.

4. "Your black friend wishes you'd play more than Beyoncé. There are more black performers than Beyoncé."

5. Speaking of which, performative blackness is really uncomfortable.

6. "Your black friend feels like a man without a country."

7. We would love it if we could stop talking about our anxiety and frustrations regarding racism. But right now, that's impossible.

The billionaire passed away on November 28 at the age of 99.

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.