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What We’re Reading: The Public Laundries Helping Rebuild Ukraine’s Communities
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here.
Laundry on the frontline
When a country is at war, it’s easy for those on the outside to overlook the fact that basic but vital day-to-day activities can become impossible.
According to an article in Rubryka, shared by Contributing Editor Geetanjali Krishna, the Ukrainian city of Bashtanka has “experienced the entire arsenal of Russian weapons,” including an attack on its water supply.
In response, the All-Ukrainian Public Center Volunteer, an NGO, has installed 12 volunteer-run laundries equipped with modern washing and drying machines that are available free of charge to help contribute to the community’s recovery.
One such laundry is located at the Vinochok kindergarten, which has been empty of children for the past three years due to safety concerns arising from its proximity to the frontline. Now, the kindergarten is home to local volunteers whose main job is to help those who struggle with laundry or transporting their clothes to the facility.
“Local volunteers are exceptional, always ready to lend a hand,” says Maryna Kovtun, the kindergarten’s director. “They personally visit people with disabilities and pensioners. They use whatever means of transportation they have, usually a bicycle or scooter. We have received a lot of positive feedback, both verbal and written — people are very grateful.”
Geetanjali says:
These community laundries provide both a sense of normalcy and a feeling of community, especially to the displaced, most of whom can not afford washing machines of their own.
The price is right
Almost a year on from the introduction of New York’s congestion charge, the results are promising.
According to an article in Yale Environment 360 shared by Executive Editor Will Doig, a new study from Cornell University has found that the toll has led to a measurable drop in traffic and, with it, a 22 percent decline in particulate pollution — a leading risk factor for premature death.
Critics argue that requiring drivers to pay to drive through certain parts of town just pushes more traffic into the suburbs as car users find alternative routes. But, in New York, there’s been a drop in pollution across the greater metropolitan area, including toll-free parts of the city.
“This tells us that congestion pricing didn’t simply relocate air pollution to the suburbs by rerouting traffic,” says Timothy Fraser, lead author of the Cornell study. “Instead, folks are likely choosing cleaner transportation options altogether, like riding public transportation or scheduling deliveries at night. This thins traffic and limits how smog compounds when many cars are on the road.”
Will says:
Nice to see the data continue to back up what New Yorkers know is true: Congestion pricing is making the city more livable in multiple ways.
What else we’re reading
His Job Is to Make the Subway Accessible. His Own Life Fuels His Work. — shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from The New York Times
How a Species of Bamboo Could Help Protect the South From Future Floods — shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas from Grist
Paris Region Unveils First Urban Cable Car Linking Isolated Suburbs — shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from France 24
Meet the Biggest Heat Pumps in the World— shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from the BBC
In other news…
This is our last What We’re Reading roundup for the year as next Wednesday we’ll be taking a short break for Christmas. Many thanks to all our readers for your wonderful input into our journalism this year and see you in 2026!
The post What We’re Reading: The Public Laundries Helping Rebuild Ukraine’s Communities appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.
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