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During a Trump administration, where can activists continue to make a difference? “On the policy side, we will continue our focus on the local and state levels because there isn’t much hope we’re going to win at the federal level,” said Lo. “But people can really make a difference at the local level; their vote is valuable.” She noted that the minimum wage has so far been a local issue, and consumers can contact companies and ask them to improve their environmental records or fair labor standards.

Beyond the policy realm, one word can make a world of difference for those employed in the food system: unions. Lo said that workers who are part of a union earn roughly 26 percent more than workers who are not organized. In the 1950s, one in three employees was in a union; today it's one in 20, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. Employers generally don’t want them, Lo explained, because workers demand not only higher pay but also benefits and inclusion in business decisions. “It’s an issue of power,” she said.

Read more at TakePart.com

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On Tuesday, voters in four cities cast ballots that will triple the number of municipal soda tax measures in the United States. San Francisco, Oakland, Albany, California, and Boulder, Colorado, will join Berkeley and Philadelphia in charging an extra penny or two per ounce for sugar-sweetened beverages.

“This is an astonishing repudiation of Big Soda. For too long, the big soda companies got away with putting profits over their customers’ health. That changed tonight,” Jim Krieger, the executive director of Healthy Food America, said in a statement issued Tuesday night. He said that the nonprofit has heard from 12 cities and states “seriously considering a tax on sugary drinks in 2017.”

Read more at TakePart.com

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Raja Kumari, a name that means “daughter of the king” in Sanskrit, seems ready-made for the swagger of hip-hop. So it’s no wonder that the Southern California–based singer, songwriter, and rapper isn’t shy about bringing her Indian heritage to her beats and rhymes—and she’s busting stereotypes about her background along the way.

“I come from a really rich culture, and I want to express that,” Raja Kumari told TakePart. “I think every person is multifaceted, and they have different parts of them. I want to show people all different sides and not just one stereotype.”

Read more and check out a music video of hers here.

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Attention, #COP22 attendees: Climate change is a human rights issue! Learn more about the effect it has on girls: http://thndr.me/U6xL1y

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Soy sauce is no longer considered an exotic Asian ingredient but a pantry staple that’s found on the shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores across America. Miso—one of the world’s great building blocks of flavor—has an ever-increasing following, too, especially because it gives richness and a boost of protein to all manner of vegetarian and vegan dishes.

Both are among the various fermented seasonings, foods, and beverages that make the Japanese diet so distinctive, delicious, and healthful. What many of them—including not just soy sauce and miso but mirin, rice vinegar, sake, and shochu—have in common is the fermenting agent koji, a filamentous (stringlike) fungus in the Aspergillus genus.

Read more at TakePart.com

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Beauty pageants’ emphasis on physical appearance has long drawn ire from critics who say the competitions not only indicate that a woman’s value is determined by her appearance but also reinforce a singular male-defined type of beauty that is valued above all others—that of a woman who is young, thin, and demure.

“Our pageant is really different from other pageants because you can embrace your feminine identity, you can embrace your masculine identity, you can embrace your androgynous or gender-fluid identity,” Oliva said, noting the diversity of contestants who are not “all identical and all alike.”

Read the full story at TakePart.com

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Take a moment in between trick-or-treating to help us celebrate Otter-ween by telling Congress to support the Clean Water Rule, which is essential to protecting river otters.

Did you know that North American river otters can communicate through whistling and yelping? Not only are they cute to look at, but these fuzzy creatures are able to stay underwater for up to eight minutes and can dive to a depth of 60 feet!

Otters are some of the most amazing creatures on Earth, but decades of pollution and habitat destruction have nearly wiped out the population in many parts of the U.S.  

That’s why TakePart and American Rivers have dubbed this Oct. 31 Otter-ween! The two groups are joining forces to fight for clean water and the protection of river otters.

To protect these furry friends from pollution and habitat loss, the waterways where they live must be saved from destruction. Two recent Supreme Court decisions have made it unclear whether the Clean Water Act applies to small streams and wetlands. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the Clean Water Rule, which will clear up the confusion. Unfortunately, special interests are trying to dismantle the rule.  

If we don’t act now, the health of rivers and streams that are home to river otters could be threatened, which in turn could endanger other wildlife.

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Forget Halloween, happy #OTTERween! (via GIPHY)

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Millennials are the LARGEST generation and have REAL power in this election. Make your voice heard. Get out and vote! #justvote

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Climate change is melting glaciers and raising sea levels; causing more frequent and extreme floods, droughts, and heat waves; turning the oceans more acidic; and degrading soil and air quality. As natural systems change, crops fail, wildfires burn hotter, energy blackouts increase, giant storms destroy cities, and infectious diseases break out more frequently. These stressors amplify tensions in “regions with weak governance, poor living conditions, or persistent conflict that limit the capacity of governments and societies to cope with additional stress,” according to the Defense Department report.

Go to takepart.com to see five unseen consequences of climate change.

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Climate change is obvious. The effects it will have on populations around the world may not be. Did you know there is a link between climate change and child marriage?

In Bangladesh, unstable climates severely affect families’ livelihoods. This often leads to families to find other ways to support their daughters: by arranging marriages, often before their daughters are even 15 years old. Global warming is affecting women's progress.

Leading up to COP22, tell world leaders that climate change is a human rights issue. Sign up for our Thunderclap, and on Nov 7, the first day of COP22, these messages will spark a social media storm.

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In the new mini-documentary Hidden Connections, Thomson Reuters Foundation and TakePart examine the link between two seemingly unrelated issues: climate change and child marriage. 

Stand up for girls everywhere and tell world leaders that climate change is a human rights issue by signing up to support our Thunderclap and on Nov. 7 watch as these messages spread across social media. 

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What does it say about the future of meat when the country’s largest processor of chicken, pork, and beef buys a stake in a start-up that aims to “perfectly replace animal protein with plant protein”?

Tyson Foods announced this week that it purchased a 5 percent stake in Beyond Meat, the Southern California–based food-tech start-up that made headlines earlier this year with its rollout of a veggie burger that reportedly cooks, sizzles, and tastes like real beef.

As one of the most talked-about players in the meatless game, Beyond Meat would appear well positioned to take advantage of Americans’ changing tastes. Producing plant-based products, like the Beyond Burger, that can go head-to-head with their conventional meat counterparts seems like a smart approach.

Read more at TakePart.com

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About 500 people wander through the space each day, discovering the medicinal properties and uses for the plants and herbs and harvesting whatever they please.

Swale’s mission differs from that of more traditional anti-hunger organizations, which might focus on finding support and food for families to eat after benefits from state and federal nutritional assistance programs and free school lunches have been exhausted. Rather, it aims to “reimagine food as a public service” in which more fresh food could be available for free and accessible to people throughout the city.

Read more at Takepart.com

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“It’s a first step toward ending cruelty to animals in the wildlife tourism industry,” said Julie Middlekoop, head of the “Wildlife—Not Entertainers” campaign at World Animal Protection. “We’re hopeful the move impacts the entire industry and raises awareness for tourists visiting these sites, who think they are just going to experience beautiful animals but don’t realize the stresses and damage behind the scenes.”

Read more at TakePart.com

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Celebrate National Voter Registration Day with our friends at Rock the Vote by taking two simple actions: 

1. Check your status to make sure your registration information is current

2. Take the pledge to Rock the Vote either online or by texting “VOTE” to 77177

By pledging, you’ll automatically be entered for a chance to win a trip to Washington, D.C., to see the presidential inauguration in 2017.

*Subject to Official Rules.

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What if prisons were designed to rehabilitate as well as incarcerate?

The public perception of a prison has stayed the same for 200 years: a cellblock, bars on the windows, barbed wire, isolation. But what if the architecture were different? What if it were designed to rehabilitate as well as incarcerate? There are efforts across the globe to do just this.