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. From plastic to petals Sequin-clad merrymakers filled the streets of New Orleans once more this week to celebrate Mardi Gras, the jubilant end to the annual Carnival season. But amid the feasting and revelry, the environment is paying a heavy price. In recent years, the infamous party has produced more waste than ever, reports The New York Times in an article shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas. As well as clogging landfills, this stuff is having immediate impacts on the city’s health. A 2013 study found that more than 60 percent of Mardi Gras beads — a common item thrown from festival floats — contained unsafe lead levels. In 2018, 46 tons of beads were found to be clogging vital flood infrastructure. Now, a coalition of nonprofits, city officials and scientists is trying to clean up the party, says the NYT, adopting waste prevention strategies and exploring everything from beads made out of a byproduct of sugar cane production to 3D-printed beads embedded with okra seeds. To have beautiful flowers, people will have to nurture these seedlings, said Dr. Naohiro Kato, adding: “You have to take care of what you receive.” Michaela says: Proof that you don’t need plastic to have fun! Taking a stand Despite facing legal instability, Haitian migrants at a beef plant in Colorado were among a group of largely immigrant union workers who voted overwhelmingly to strike last week. The meatpacking plant is owned by Brazilian multinational JBS, the world’s largest producer of beef. In what could become the first sanctioned walkout at a major meatpacking plant in decades, according to an article in the Food and Environment Reporting Network, shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley, the strike vote came following eight months of tense negotiations over pay and dangerous working conditions. “The workers have spoken,” said Kim Cordova, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union. Tess says: Collective bargaining is a cornerstone of democracy, enabling unions to support marginalized groups in the face of powerful corporations. What else we’re reading Childhood Trauma Doesn’t Have to Be a Lifelong Curse — shared by Executive Editor Will Doig from The New York Times  How Breckenridge Reserved Almost 75 Percent of Its Full-Time Housing for Workforce — shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from High Country News  Nearly Half of L.A. County’s Pavement May Be Unnecessary, New Map Finds — shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas from Los Angeles Times  Amsterdam, Florence Become Latest Cities to Ban Fossil Fuel Ads — shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from Earth.Org  Vienna Swaps Parking for Green Space — shared by Interim Editorial Director Tess Riley from DW In other news… Last week, we ran a story about the DIY diehards building green infrastructure from scratch and it turns out that not one but two of the Reasons to be Cheerful team is now hoping to do one of the DIY wind turbine courses at the center of that article. Because who doesn’t want to harness their own energy and have fun learning how to do so! Credit: PureSelfMade Have you done any interesting sustainability courses, or have any good eco-tips to tell us about? As ever, send them over to info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we’ll share any highlights with you all. The post What We’re Reading: A Carnival Clean-Up in New Orleans appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.