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This German tech school is providing refugees with skills, training, and support.

The best part? Everyone benefits from it.

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Germany is a champion in welcoming refugees inside its borders.

A recent global survey even confirmed the people of Germany as having some of the most welcoming attitudes toward refugees in the entire world.

Awesome work, Germany!


This one's for you!

Once refugees make it to Germany (or any country) and apply for asylum, their next crucial hurdle arises: getting a job.

Keep in mind, these are people who have left their entire lives back home, undergone an arduous and dangerous journey, and arrived in a foreign country to create a brand new life. So, where do they even start?

Enter Anne Riechert, digital strategist and founder of Berlin's Peace Innovation Lab.

When the shirt says it all. Image via TEDx Talks/YouTube.

Riechert wondered whether her tech experience could help newly arrived refugees, so she visited their homes to better understand the problem. That's when she met Muhammed, a talented IT student from Baghdad who wanted to develop his skills, but had no access to a laptop.

This inspired the idea for Refugees on Rails, a grassroots movement designed to teach refugees the programming language Ruby on Rails. But again, the whole no-laptop thing was still an issue.

Unfazed, Riechert took to social media and got to work.

This may be how things started. GIF from "You've Got Mail."

With a little Facebook magic, Riechert was able to secure 100 laptops from her friends. And the numbers don't stop there. She also recruited 15 teachers, 30 volunteers, and 30 possible partners. She even found two UX designers to help create their website.

Clearly, they were off to a booming start. The program had 50 students in Berlin, and they were expanding into other cities.

That's when the movement split into two: Refugees on Rails and the ReDI School of Digital Integration.

Anne and her ReDI co-founder, Ferdi van Heerden, found that nothing beat actually working with the students in person. It also allowed them to train an important job-hunting skill: networking.

Students and teachers hitting the ground running. Image via TEDx Talks/YouTube.

Since starting in February 2016, the school has provided its growing student body with the resources they need in order to be successful: computers, access to co-working spaces, mentors from the local startup scene, courses in business intelligence and digital entrepreneurship, and most importantly, a connection to potential internships and jobs.

No doubt this program will help solve the shortage of IT professionals in Germany. Couple that with the plan of local lawmakers to pass the first-ever bill integrating refugees into the country's economy, and you have a recipe for success.

But more than just helping with their professional lives, ReDI is giving refugees a chance to find creative solutions to everyday problems.

One of the students, Rami Rahawi, even came up with an ingenious idea to help fellow refugees learn to speak German: an educational karaoke app.

This could be how we learn other languages. GIF via "Top Gun."

That kind of idea has the potential to help anyone, anywhere. Imagine what ReDI's students will think up next!

Opportunities like this have the potential to benefit not only refugees but also society as a whole.

When we come together and welcome all members of the human race with open arms, we're rewarded with valuable insights and ideas that can help the entire world.

What an inspiring bunch! Image via TEDx Talks/YouTube.

Planet

Easy (and free!) ways to save the ocean

The ocean is the heart of our planet. It needs our help to be healthy.

Ocean Wise

Volunteers at a local shoreline cleanup

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The ocean covers over 71% of the Earth’s surface and serves as our planet’s heart. Ocean currents circulate vital heat, moisture, and nutrients around the globe to influence and regulate our climate, similar to the human circulatory system. Cool, right?

Our ocean systems provide us with everything from fresh oxygen to fresh food. We need it to survive and thrive—and when the ocean struggles to function healthfully, the whole world is affected.

Pollution, overfishing, and climate change are the three biggest challenges preventing the ocean from doing its job, and it needs our help now more than ever. Humans created the problem; now humans are responsible for solving it.

#BeOceanWise is a global rallying cry to do what you can for the ocean, because we need the ocean and the ocean needs us. If you’re wondering how—or if—you can make a difference, the answer is a resounding YES. There are a myriad of ways you can help, even if you don’t live near a body of water. For example, you can focus on reducing the amount of plastic you purchase for yourself or your family.

Another easy way to help clean up our oceans is to be aware of what’s known as the “dirty dozen.” Every year, scientists release an updated list of the most-found litter scattered along shorelines. The biggest culprit? Single-use beverage and food items such as foam cups, straws, bottle caps, and cigarette butts. If you can’t cut single-use plastic out of your life completely, we understand. Just make sure to correctly recycle plastic when you are finished using it. A staggering 3 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans annually. Imagine the difference we could make if everyone recycled!

The 2022 "Dirty Dozen" ListOcean Wise

If you live near a shoreline, help clean it up! Organize or join an effort to take action and make a positive impact in your community alongside your friends, family, or colleagues. You can also tag @oceanwise on social if you spot a beach that needs some love. The location will be added to Ocean Wise’s system so you can submit data on the litter found during future Shoreline Cleanups. This data helps Ocean Wise work with businesses and governments to stop plastic pollution at its source. In Canada, Ocean Wise data helped inform a federal ban on unnecessary single-use plastics. Small but important actions like these greatly help reduce the litter that ends up in our ocean.

Ocean Wise, a conservation organization on a mission to restore and protect our oceans, is focused on empowering and educating everyone from individuals to governments on how to protect our waters. They are making conservation happen through five big initiatives: monitoring and protecting whales, fighting climate change and restoring biodiversity, innovating for a plastic-free ocean, protecting and restoring fish stocks, and finally, educating and empowering youth. The non-profit believes that in order to rebuild a resilient and vibrant ocean within the next ten years, everyone needs to take action.

Become an Ocean Wise ally and share your knowledge with others. The more people who know how badly the ocean needs our help, the better! Now is a great time to commit to being a part of something bigger and get our oceans healthy again.

It's incredible what a double-sided magnet can do.


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The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.


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