|
Listen To This Story
 |
PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
The Senegal Man on a Mission to Plant 5 Million Trees (Maria)
The author writes, “A man in southern Senegal has set himself the ambitious task of planting five million trees over the next five years. This visionary project came to Adama Diémé when he returned home to the Casamance region in 2020 after a few years working in Europe. The 48-year-old was shocked that in villages that were populated with hundreds of gigantic trees in his youth, only a handful, if any, now remained. ‘In some villages, you can’t find one tree. They cut them but they don’t think about planting again,’ he told the BBC. Across Africa, desertification is one of the reasons blamed for deforestation but, in this area … the trees are more likely to have been cut down for construction purposes like building houses, or to make charcoal.”
Elon Musk, the Crypto Crash, and the Coming AI Takeover: 2022’s Tech Mayhem Radically Changed Our Lives (Sean)
From Vanity Fair: “From the chaos at Twitter, to the emergence of whip-smart chatbots, what comes out of Silicon Valley moves fast and often recklessly. Now more than ever, we need to have a reckoning with how tech is impacting humanity.”
Explainer: How Trump Ignored Advisers, Spread Election Lies (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “The executive summary of the House Jan. 6 committee’s report documents how then-President Donald Trump was repeatedly warned by those closest to him — Cabinet members, campaign officials and even family members — that claims he had lost his reelection due to fraud were false. But Trump spread those lies anyway.”
As COVID-19 Continues to Spread, So Does Misinformation About It (Russ)
The author writes, “Nearly three years into the pandemic, COVID-19 remains stubbornly persistent. So, too, does misinformation about the virus. As COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise in parts of the country, myths and misleading narratives continue to evolve and spread, exasperating overburdened doctors and evading content moderators.”
The Untold Story of How a US Woman Was Sentenced to Six Years for Voting (DonkeyHotey)
From The Guardian: “In late August, the local elections commission sent her a letter saying they were going to cancel her voter registration. [Pamela] Moses was confused — she had been voting for years. That day, she was determined to sort it out. But what unfolded over just a few hours that day on 3 September 2019 would upend her life. It would lead to a sudden arrest months later at O’Hare airport in Chicago and culminate in a six-year prison sentence for voter fraud.”
In Rural Georgia, an Unlikely Rebel Against Trumpism (Mili)
The author writes, “He voted against Greene, whom he called ‘an embarrassment.’ He voted against the Trump-backed U.S. Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, because he didn’t want ‘some stupid s— to happen.’ He voted against every single Republican on the ballot for the same reason he supported Joe Biden in 2020, which had been the first time he voted in his life. ‘I don’t want extremists in office,’ he said, walking back to his truck. ‘And I have some small glimmer of hope that maybe things aren’t as screwed up as I think they are.’”
Here Are 5 Record-Breaking Science Discoveries From 2022 (Kiana)
The author writes, “New scientific records are set every year, and 2022 was no exception. A bacterial behemoth, a shockingly speedy supercomputer and a close-by black hole are among the most notable superlatives of the year.”
