Nicole Kidman is embarking upon a surprising career change.

The beloved actress, best known for her compelling performances in films such as the splashy musical “Moulin Rouge!,” period drama “The Hours” and HBO hit series “Big Little Lies,” recently told an assembly of students at the University of San Francisco that she was training to become a death doula.

Most know the term “doula” in the obstetric context – individuals who guide patients through their pregnancies, deliveries and postpartum periods. Death doulas, or end-of-life doulas, similarly guide individuals and families, but through the process of dying, rather than giving birth.

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Kidman, 58, explained to the students gathered this past weekend that she was drawn to the work following the loss of her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, in September 2024. “As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” she shared. 

In order to become a death doula, one must train through organizations such as the International End-of-Life Doula Association. It’s a lesser-known career path, to be sure – less than 2,000 people have signed on for the job, as of last August.

But it’s helpful work, the IEOLDA says – providing “psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and practical care to empower dignity throughout the dying process.” Yes, Kidman admitted, the work may strike some as “a little weird,” but her lived experience taught her that it’s also critical.

“Between my sister and I, we have so many children and our careers and our work, and wanting to take care of her because my father [also] wasn’t in the world anymore,” she recalled. “That’s when I went, ‘I wish there was these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care.’”

That, Kidman continued, is “one of the things I will be learning” to be.

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The post Actress Nicole Kidman’s Next Role: Death Doula appeared first on The Story Exchange.

The recent, historic NASA moon mission was piloted by four astronauts. And one plush.

Known to the Artemis II crew as “Rise,” the soft, smiling, globe-shaped mascot served primarily as an indicator that the team aboard the Orion spacecraft – which consisted of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen – was experiencing zero gravity.

But he quickly became a fixture beyond his purpose. In video transmissions to Earth, his rotund happiness was often present, spinning in the foreground with the help of one of his crewmates.

Rise wasn’t a necessary addition – at least, not in the scientific sense. Something less whimsical surely could have served the same function. But that toy’s inclusion in the mission, and in the crew’s communications, represents in its way what is so compelling about science and exploration in general, and the Artemis II crew specifically: It’s all about openness.

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Openness to dreaming of going to space. Openness to putting in years of study and work to make it so. Openness to learning new things, and being wrong about things, along the way. Openness to wondering, and questioning, and yes, maybe even to being silly sometimes.

The crew’s openness drew us in because it’s something we so desperately need here on Earth.

It’s no secret that we are living through a period of not only regression and violence, but extreme upheaval as well. When looking out at the world, and how the bad actors in charge are shifting and twisting and bombing reality into something that is at once depressingly old and alarmingly uncertain… it can feel as though there’s nothing to hold onto for balance.

This recent space expedition captured the world’s attention not just because it was an unprecedented and otherworldly sight – but also, because it was real, and fun, and hopeful, and full of wonder and heart.

But you don’t get to join the crew that flies to the moon with a plush packed beside you by accident, or by being unaffected, or inert. You don’t get to experience the vastness of space firsthand, or the sight of Earth as a distant crescent, without thinking and feeling and acting beyond yourself.

You don’t become the first woman and the first Black man to visit the moon – as Koch and Glover were, respectively – by being passive. You have to give enough of a damn to rise above the obstacles put in place by a sexist, racist society that’s growing more so by the day. And, you have to work for people who embody that cherished openness to others, who will light the path to the rocket that launches you into the stars.

In order for the seemingly unreachable to come into your grasp, you have to open your heart enough to care – and then, you have to try.

If you want to do something as miraculous-sounding as exploring the cosmos – or, to shift back to earthly concerns, building bridges between people divided by chasms – you can. Humans have now performed both miracles, right before our very eyes.

But you have to have a mind that is curious enough to ask questions, outwardly and inwardly… a mind so dedicated to knowing more that it will sit atop an explosion, for the sake of being tossed through the atmosphere, just to see what lies beyond. And, you need to have a heart big enough and open wide enough to care – enough to transmit love and joy as well as data from space to Ground Control, enough to place the names of lost loves upon the moon, enough to adore all of the children looking up from Earth below… and even the plush orbs among us.

And then, you have to actually reach up, and out.

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The post 4 Astronauts Reminded Us What’s Possible When We Laugh, and Care, and Try appeared first on The Story Exchange.

This week, the world learned that Aubrey Plaza is pregnant with her first child.

The 41-year-old actress confirmed that she and partner Chris Abbott, also a performer, will be having a baby together this fall. It’s good news for Plaza, who had been rocked by the loss of her estranged husband, Jeff Baena, to suicide in January 2025.

While appearing on Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast late last summer, Plaza spoke about her grief over Baena’s death. She likened the experience to “a giant ocean of awfulness.” She added that “sometimes, I just want to dive into it, and just, like, be in it. Then sometimes, I just look at it. And sometimes, I try to get away from it.”

Either way, Plaza concluded, “it’s always there.”

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But now, it appears she has found some level of happiness after weathering that pain and confusion. Grief persists, of course – but we still exist, and eventually, we do start living again. 

Not that the general public is concerned with such things, of course.

The announcement of her pregnancy was met by a wave of social media users branding Plaza as heartless for being with Abbott, and being pregnant with Abbott, after the loss of her former partner. (Whom, it should be noted, she had been separated from for months before his death.) As if a stranger’s comfort with her life should even matter.

But in rather callous terms, people felt comfortable all the same expressing that they felt Plaza had been a bad partner to Baena in hindsight, that Hollywood had rendered her unfeeling… that she is a terrible human being for finding a new love and building a family with him. Comment after comment after comment derided her for the act of moving forward. Even the New York Post centered Baena’s death in their coverage of her pregnancy.

First things first: Shall we look at the numbers around how men handle illnesses in, and the deaths of, their female partners?

Because research tells us that men are six times more likely than women to abandon partners who fall gravely ill, and are 42% more likely to have remarried within two years following the death of a partner than women are. Those tempted to scrutinize Plaza’s timeline should keep in mind that men are study-proven to move on from such struggles and losses at far faster rates.

The bigger truth, though, is that it isn’t our business how a person navigates that “giant ocean of awfulness” one finds themselves in when grief comes, regardless of their gender. There’s no socially agreed-upon timeline of propriety when it comes to how long a person must mourn, or how long someone must be alone after a death before they are “allowed” to start imagining, even building a new life.

But as is often the case in our society, stemming back to Victorian times, when a widow was expected to wear black for years after her husband’s death, there is disproportionate pressure heaped upon women to publicly show their grief.  That expectation – particularly when it appears in the wasteland of social media comments – often comes from people who have been lucky enough not to suffer such profound losses themselves.

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On Poehler’s podcast, Plaza summed up her experience with grief, up to that point, as an exercise in simply putting one foot in front of the other. “Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I’m okay. But it’s, like, a daily struggle – obviously.”

If a person, especially one whose work has brought joy to others, has found some modicum of peace and hope for herself after living in survival mode, that’s something to celebrate – not deride.

Or, if one simply can’t handle that, there’s always the option of minding one’s business.

The post Aubrey Plaza Pregnancy Renews Old Question: How Long Are Women Expected to Grieve? appeared first on The Story Exchange.

This week, our eyes have been collectively drawn to the skies by an ongoing NASA mission.

The Artemis II crew – composed of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen – is presently guiding NASA’s Orion spacecraft on an historic mission to orbit our moon. The group has already successfully circled Earth’s natural satellite, and is now making its way back home.

It’s been an affecting ride into the void thus far – in particular, the moment when the Artemis II crew proposed naming a bright spot on the moon after Wiseman’s deceased wife, Carroll, who died in 2020 of cancer. Here on Earth, people have been gripped by the notion of someone loving someone else so much that they carried their love further than any human has ever gone – and then bestowed her name upon a bright spot they found in the sky.

But it’s also been dotted with flashes of joy, and delight. From the reaches of space have come a spoof of the opening credits of sitcom “Full House,” as well as the sight of a jar of Nutella spread hurtling its way through the cabin during an otherwise routine moment.

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And, one “morning,” the crew was awakened by the triumphant playing of “Pink Pony Club,” the 2020 queer pop anthem by queer pop artist Chappell Roan that’s become a beloved hit song. Its selection wasn’t some grand statement – just a fun song, effective for coaxing astronauts from their slumber.

But then, you add the context of Dr. Sally Ride – and a sweet wake-up “call” becomes something sweeter, still.

Ride, famously the first woman to ever go to space, was and is a hero for generations of girls and women. But even as she went where no woman had ever gone before – in her career, and in her trip to space – she was held back on Earth from being open about her partnership with Tam O’Shaughnessy, a woman she loved and lived with for nearly 30 years. All because Ride lived in a time when “being an icon” and “being a lesbian” didn’t go together.

While re-establishing contact with us terrestrials, Koch noted that “when we leave Earth, we do not leave it – we choose it. We will always choose Earth, we will always choose each other” In response to this sentiment, Ground Control offered: “Integrity from Earth, our single system, fragile and interconnected, we copy.”

It’s the same sense of connection-from-afar Ride herself experienced while on her own trip to the stars. In an interview following her ground-breaking flight, she noted that “all the imaginary lines of humanity … the tribal fears we hold onto … all the arbitrary restrictions we place on ourselves and each other – they mean nothing.”

Ride was held back from living her truth by those arbitrary restrictions while she was alive – she could never hope to publicly name a piece of outer space after O’Shaughnessy, as she might have wanted. But in 2026, a lesbian artist’s work can be played aboard NASA spacecrafts and be greeted with smiles, and without complication.

It’s a little something to hold on to, anyway. A bright spot in the sky, if you will.

Read more about Ride’s journey – on Earth, and above:
Dr. Sally Ride, the Queer Woman Icon Who Was Never Allowed to Be One

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The post A Twinkle of Hope Found Amid the Artemis II Crew’s Playlist appeared first on The Story Exchange.

It’s well-documented that climate change disproportionately impacts women. When there’s extreme weather or disasters, women face higher mortality rates, greater chances of gender-based violence, increased caregiving responsibilities and more economic instability. Crafting solutions that center women could make a global difference.

That’s according to UN Women, which ahead of this year’s Earth Month called 2026 a “pivotal opportunity to advance gender equality in the global environmental agenda.”

In an article on its site, the organization noted that “the climate crisis is not ‘gender neutral’,” and that “the lived experiences, rights, and meaningful participation of all women and girls – especially those in frontline communities – must be kept front and center as we work towards a healthier, safer and more equitable world for all.”

UN Women’s focus follows a 2025 report from United Nations Climate Change, which detailed a decade-long roadmap for combating climate change in ways that center women’s needs and perspectives. “Stronger climate action delivers huge benefits for people in their daily lives. More jobs, more economic opportunities and lower health costs. Applying a gender-responsive approach ensures that those benefits are shared equally,” said Simon Stiell, executive secretary of UN Climate Change.

Women-focused solutions include tapping into Indigenous women’s expertise to improve regional food security, weaving inclusivity into clean energy job creation, and developing low-carbon transportation solutions that help women, in particular, get around.

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The commitment to frame the climate change fight in this way was first made in 2024 at COP29, when nations at the conference decided to extend the Enhanced Lima Work Program on Gender and Climate Change, a plan initially conceived as a three-year effort to mitigate the growing problem.  “[This] decision acknowledges the critical role of gender mainstreaming into all relevant goals and targets,” officials said at the time. “This integration is seen as contributing towards enhancing the effectiveness, fairness and sustainability of climate policy and action.”

In recent years, research has demonstrated how a changing climate increasingly harms women’s economic prospects, autonomy – and lives.

For example, a 2024 analysis by the Association of American Medical Colleges found that women, internationally, are more likely to be injured or killed by extreme weather events – usually due to lack of prenatal care and upticks in sexual violence. “After extreme weather events, risks to women go way up, and they go up in many different ways,” Cecilia Sorensen, director of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University, told AAMC at the time.

Not that President Donald Trump’s administration is taking any of it seriously here in the U.S. During his second term, he has signed executive orders that aim to prohibit states from enacting laws to curb fossil fuel use, while also calling for an increase in coal production. It’s part of a broader push during his second tenure to undo American efforts against climate change, which also includes pulling out of the Paris climate agreement.

All the more reason to strategize by centering women in the climate fight, international researchers agree.

UN Women said it will promoting “inclusive and equitable gender action plans” throughout the year, including three upcoming summits — the COP17 on desertification in Mongolia in August, the COP17 on biodiversity in Armenia in October, and COP31 on climate change in Turkey in November.

“It has never been clearer: Climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification are making our economies, our health, and progress on gender equality more precarious,” the organization said. “There is a path forward: just transitions away from economies and societies dependent on fossil fuels and harmful environmental practices – and towards greater sustainability and gender equality.”

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Editor’s Note: This post, updated for 2026, was originally published April 9, 2025.

The post Why Climate Action Needs to Focus on Women appeared first on The Story Exchange.

Following days of speculation, it’s official: Pam Bondi is out.

The now-former U.S. Attorney General was removed from her post this week. And though President Donald Trump referred to Bondi as “a loyal friend who faithfully served” amid news of her departure, sources close to the Trump administration told NBC News that he’d grown “more and more frustrated” with her job performance.

Her handling of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s case – and the files from the investigation into him, which cite Trump thousands of times – is said to be central to the decision to let Bondi go. Sources add that Trump had also grown angry with her failure to convert probes of his political enemies – such as former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James – into convictions.

This, despite years of fealty from Bondi. She first entered Trump’s orbit as a lawyer who represented him in his 2021 impeachment proceedings for inciting a failed coup. This year, she’d utilized her elevated platform to, among other things, publicly share the names and photos of anti-Trump protesters on social media.

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She’s the second official to be given the boot by Trump in recent history. Less than one month ago, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was fired from her role, following her much-maligned handling of two killings of civilians by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. This, despite her towing the Trump line that victims Renee Good and Alex Pretti posed threats to U.S. safety even as video evidence circulated to the contrary – and despite her overall dogged implementation of Trump’s aggressively anti-immigrant agenda.

Trump is additionally said to be weighing the prospect of firing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, whom he has more publicly critiqued. During a recent briefing in the Oval Office, he laid blame for his administration’s negative perception at her feet – telling her to her face, and in front of the press: “You’re doing a terrible job.” This, despite her repeated willingness to greet questions from journalists with blatant, unprofessional disrespect in service of defending Trump.

Incompetence and impropriety are hardly unfamiliar traits among people serving Trump – or Trump himself. Yet when it becomes politically advantageous to put forth a sacrificial firing, it’s increasingly been women on the chopping block.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to the Trump administration. In fact, it’s so common to put women (and other marginalized individuals) in high-profile positions and situations during times of crisis – with an understood presumption of blamable failure – that it has its own name: The “glass cliff.” Studies have also shown that women are generally more likely to be fired for fumbles and failures that men tend to be forgiven for.

Women like Bondi, and Noem, and Leavitt made themselves into agents of a provably anti-woman state. If they weren’t outright defending Team Trump’s questionable moves or blatant wrongdoings, they were obfuscating about them. They were often misleading and disrespectful when confronted by journalists. Worst of all, they harmed others – immigrants, members of the LGBTQ community and victims of sexual abuse have suffered as a result of their words and actions. All in service of insulating Trump and furthering his agenda.

Two of them have now been fired, and the third has been publicly humiliated.

As it turns out, ingratiating oneself into a group that dismisses, disrespects and erases women will do nothing to prevent women from being embarrassed at best, and abandoned at worst, if deemed necessary.

Women who worm their way into such boys’ clubs may think, on some level, that they are securing their place on the lifeboats with their actions – not realizing that they are, instead, more likely to be the first ones tossed overboard to preserve the men’s safety and access to seats. Chum in the water, to keep the metaphorical sharks at bay.

Other women – ones who might find themselves tempted to prioritize self-preservation above sisterhood – should take note of what these men do, and who they’re loyal to, when the chips are down.

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The post Pam Bondi Reminds Us: Women Can’t Save Themselves By Selling Their Souls appeared first on The Story Exchange.

Climate change is real, and it’s here. Thankfully, so are women.

A 2024 United Nations report grimly warns that “urgent action must be taken to prevent catastrophic spikes in temperature and avoid the worst impact of climate change.” Erratic weather patterns, wildfires, hurricanes and floods are already showing us shades of what an unlivable world could look like.

While current leadership is unwilling to tackle or even recognize the issue – the Trump administration has removed the term “climate change” from many government websites – ordinary citizens, community watchdogs and activist organizations around the world continue to sound the alarm. Folks like those at Extinction Rebellion engage in regular acts of civil disobedience, while groups such as the Climate Emergency Fund funnel money toward such efforts. Prominent activists like Jane Fonda have elevated the issue from their considerable platforms, inspiring new generations of eco-warriors.

Research shows that women around the world are more vulnerable to the climate crisis, so it’s perhaps no surprise that women are often front-and-center in these call-outs and actions. In honor of Earth Month, here are several women leaders who have dedicated their lives, and work, to combating climate change. 

1

Madeline Walker, featured as one of our 2026 Women in Science Prize winners, runs a company that focuses on textiles that end up on the cutting room floor during the manufacturing process. (Credit: Courtesy of Madeline Walker)

The 2026 Winners of Our 'Women in Science Prize'

You might not recognize their names, but the 11 winners of our 2026 Women in Science Prize have done innovative work in the name of preserving and protecting our natural resources. These scientists are helping us better understand and navigate droughts, wildfires and more as climate change continues to become an increasingly large part of our lives.

2

(Credit: 3 Cricketeers)

Claire Simons

Our food supply problems seem likely to get worse before they get better. Thankfully, women like Claire Simons, co-founder of 3 Cricketeers, are working hard on offering us an eco-friendly alternative – even if it might be hard for some to stomach. Her cricket-based snacks, including her new toffees, are introducing the sustainable concept of eating insects (something more than a quarter of the world does, by the way) to diners throughout the U.S.

3

Diane Wilson. (Credit: Diane Wilson)

Diane Wilson

Award-winning climate-change activist Wilson was arrested this week amid her weeks-long hunger strike in protest of Dow Chemical Company’s attempts to secure governmental permission to discharge microplastics from its Seadrift-based operations into nearby waters that feed into both San Antonio Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. “Dow is asking Texas to legalize plastic pollution,” Wilson said – and she won’t let that happen without a fight.

4

Rachael Slattery

At Wild Harmony Farm in Exeter, Rhode Island – a family farm that sells organic pork, grass-fed beef and pastured poultry – Rachael Slattery and and co-owner Ben Coerper use regenerative agriculture techniques, which help restore soil health and reduce the impacts of climate change. It’s sharply different from how most food in the U.S. is produced today, which is why Wild Harmony Farm hopes to share its methods, like cover cropping and rotational grazing, with other small farmers.

5

(Credit: Matt Mais of the Yurok Tribe)

Amy Cordalis

Talk about thinking globally and acting locally. Amy Cordalis has led efforts to restore the Klamath River, which runs from Oregon into Northern California and empties out into the ocean, amid a water crisis that has killed its fish population. She’s a lawyer by trade, and was appointed general counsel for the Yurok Tribe in 2016. In 2024, she was named a “Champion of the Earth” by the United Nations for her role in the largest dam removal and river restoration project in history.

6

Karen Washington

An urban farmer and food justice advocate, Karen Washington is the co-founder of both Rise & Root Farm in Orange County, New York, and Garden of Happiness in New York City. She advocates for the belief that nutritious food is a human right by ensuring access to it in underserved neighborhoods – like the ones she grew up in. Still today, “healthy food is based on the color of your skin, how much money you make, and where you live,” she told The Story Exchange – and her mission is to change that by empowering other urban growers.

7

(Credit: Natural Evolution)

Traci Phillips

Traci Phillips’ Natural Evolution recycles dead cell phones, washed-up computers and more, so they can’t clog landfills and release toxic substances into the environment. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, entrepreneur says her Native American roots inspired her to turn a personal mission into a successful business. “My tribe, many years ago, believed we had a responsibility and we were actually stewards of our surroundings and our earth,” she told us. “It feels like I am fulfilling that.”

8

Briana Warner

Fast-growing kelp can help mitigate the impact of climate change by removing carbon and nitrogen from the water. And compared with land plants and animal meats, kelp is loaded with digestive and nutritional benefits. Yet 95% of edible seaweed is imported – something Briana Warner set out to change during her time as CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms. After six years with the company, she stepped away from the role to focus on other professional pursuits, but remained an advisor to the company.

9

Nona Yehia

Architect Nona Yehia thought there must be a better way for Wyoming residents to get fresh produce than importing it from other states. Several years after that initial thought – and following some healthy skepticism from naysayers – Vertical Harvest finally opened in 2016 as the first vertical farm in the northern hemisphere. Today, the farm produces lettuces, tomatoes, microgreens and more for restaurants, shops and her community as a whole.

10

(Credit: Greenpeace)

KlimaSeniorinnen

We admit it: We’re still buzzing over the group of women took their climate change concerns to court – and won. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2024 that the Swiss government failed to effectively act on curbing the effects of climate change, after the Club of Climate Seniors, a 2,000-member group of 64-and-older Swiss women, brought the matter before them. Experts said the case sets “a crucial, legally binding precedent.”

11

Jessica Schreiber

Jessica Schreiber is fascinated by trash. And in New York City, where she launched fashion recycling startup Fabscrap, there is plenty of it: Residents alone produce some 12,000 tons of it a day. Though she stepped down last March, the nonprofit she started still works in the city’s world-famous fashion industry, picking up and reselling its textile cast-offs — yards of cotton, strips of wool, pieces of luxurious silk, linen and leather. As commercial waste, such scraps aren’t eligible for the city’s residential recycling programs, and more often than not, they end up in landfills. “That, to me, was unacceptable,” she told The Story Exchange.

12

Sarah Montgomery

“As we look at climate change, [amaranth] is a plant that’s so healthy, and that can adapt to so many different places and conditions,” says Sarah Montgomery, co-founder of Qachuu Aloom Mother Earth Association, who hosts events to share ancestral knowledge. The plant is native to Central America, but with permission from a collective of Maya Achi farmers in Guatemala, its seeds are being sown in the U.S. – a boon, Montgomery says, as the solution to climate change lies “within nature. We just need to learn how to listen.”

13

Kerry Kelly

“Climate change, population growth, water diversions — all those are acting together to cause a big decline in the level of the Salt Lake,” says Kerry Kelly, associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Utah, co-founder of Tellus Networked Air Quality Sensors, and a 2022 winner of our Women in Science Incentive Prize. “And that’s leading to big air quality problems here.” The dust left behind by the drying lake now kicks up on a regular basis, irritating eyes, noses and mouths, and making it tougher for people to breathe – which is why she’s hard at work developing low-cost sensors to monitor air quality.

14

(Credit: Lucy Sherriff)

Diane Ragone

In a world threatened by climate change , breadfruit has been increasingly seen as a stable crop that can help combat global hunger. Diane Ragone is the director emerita of the Breadfruit Institute of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, based in Hawaii. For more than three and a half decades, she has been studying, analyzing, growing and preaching the breadfruit gospel. Almost single-handedly, she has brought this superfood to the world’s attention.

15

(Credit: Rise St. James, Peter G. Forest/Forest Photography, LLC)

Sharon Lavigne

Sharon Lavigne is the founder of RISE St. James, a grassroots environmental organization dedicated to preventing the expansion of petrochemical plants in and around her home in St. James Parish, a district located between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The fumes from a nearby plant didn’t just fill the air there; they likely also gave Lavigne autoimmune hepatitis, a disease created when the body’s immune system attacks the liver. She told The Story Exchange that “if the industry wouldn’t exist, I wouldn’t have these problems.” Now, she’s doing her part to mitigate their harmful effects and save others from the same fate.

16

Sharon Rowe

Sharon Rowe admits that part of her reason for launching Eco-Bags Products, Inc., which makes and sells reusable totes, lunch bags and more, was to have more control of her time. But first and foremost, Rowe wanted to offer her neighbors – and all of us – an alternative to wasteful single-use plastic bags. “[W]hen I realized there were other people thinking like I was [about plastic bags], I decided to start a business,” she told us. Since launching, Eco-Bags has been featured by the likes of Oprah and Time Magazine.

17

NY Sun Works director Manuela Zamora. (Credit: NY Sun Works)

Manuela Zamora

At climate-focused nonprofit, NY Sun Works, Bolivia-born Zamora has helped pioneer a hands-on approach to train the next generation of climate scientists and farmers, as the organization’s executive director. NY Sun Works accomplishes this goal by creating hydroponic farming classrooms that teach students how to grow plants and crops in nutrient-rich water rather than soil. “This is an excellent way to talk about sustainability science,” she told The Story Exchange.

18

(Credit: The Soapbox Project)

Nivi Achanta

Nivi Achanta is the founder of Soapbox Project, a platform that provides bite-sized climate action plans. She was inspired to launch after she noticed her friends disengaging from the news after finding current events to be too overwhelming to process. Today, the Seattle entrepreneur says she’s proud to have built a virtual space that allows people to get involved in social and environmental justice at a more comfortable pace.

19

Amy Keller

Amy Keller, whose family sells the famous Dum Dum lollipops, makes fruit chews from misshapen produce. The goal is to reduce food waste – a big problem to solve, as about 40% of food is wasted globally. The discarded produce often winding up in landfills, where it rots and produces methane, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. Through its industrial machinery and equipment, Keller makes fruit chews at a mass scale, allowing her and her team to rescue an estimated 1 million fruits and vegetables a year.

20

Annie Chun is the co-founder of Gimme Seaweed. (Image: Courtesy of the company)

Annie Chun

Chun grew up in Korea, and has many memories of watching her mother roast seaweed on the stovetop there. She’s now the U.S.-based co-founder of Gimme Seaweed, a popular, healthy and sustainable snack-food brand. Seaweed is considered a regenerative crop, a nutrient dense “superfood” that can absorb carbon dioxide and make the ocean cleaner. Chun’s work brings this human- and Earth-friendly treat to both smaller grocery stores and large retailers like Target, Walmart and Costco.

Editor’s Note: This post, updated for 2026, was originally published April 18, 2024.

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The post Earth Month 2026: These Women Are Taking Climate Action appeared first on The Story Exchange.

The clitoris, a reproductive organ that is critical to women’s sexual pleasure, has long been misunderstood and under-studied.

Until now, thanks to researcher Ju Young Lee of Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and her team – who together have created what she called “the first-ever 3D map of the nerves within the glans of the clitoris.”

By conducting extensive, high-energy x-rays of two pelvises of individuals who donated their organs to science, Lee and the team were able to map out the complex web of nerves to an unprecedented degree – and the work has already corrected some long-held misconceptions about its construction and functionality, Lee adds.

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Other experts in the field are thrilled to have this new knowledge. Georga Longhurst, the head of anatomical sciences at St George’s University of London, told The Guardian that this information can improve surgical outcomes for patients, thanks to “the high-resolution images within the glans, the most sensitive part of the clitoris,” especially because “these terminal nerve branches are impossible to see during dissection.”

In addition, this new mapping is also helpful in treating those who have been subjected to genital mutilation, a misogynistic practice forced upon millions of girls the world over to this day. Lee says that her map of the clitoral region could lead to better results for patients undergoing reconstructive surgery following that procedure.

It’s refreshing to see people in the medical world dedicating their research to this matter, says Helen O’Connell, a urologist based in Melbourne. “It has been deleted intellectually by the medical and scientific community,” she noted to The Guardian, a trend she attributes to “societal ignorance.”

Which is why, in addition to the benefits for surgical patients, O’Connell emphasizes that a heightened understanding of clitoral function is good for everyone – just like orgasms themselves. “Orgasm is a brain function that leads to improved health and wellbeing as well as having positive implications for human relationships.”

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When it comes to unpaid labor, women are still doing the bulk of it.

A recent survey published by the Pew Research Center dove into the ways in which men and women spend their time, examining how much of an average day is dedicated to sleeping, eating, working – and yes, taking care of the household. Researchers then broke down the findings by age group, organizing respondents in their 20s, 30s, 40s and so on.

In some regards, such as the amount of time spent socializing, men and women are fairly aligned. But when it comes to chores, women are doing significantly more of them – at all ages. 

For example: Men in their 20s report spending, on average, about an hour a day on housework. Women in their 20s say their average is closer to one hour and 45 minutes. In each age group, a disparity of close to an hour was found, with women always taking on the large shares.

These findings mark the continuation of a slightly waning, yet decidedly persistent disparity between men and women regarding who handles chores. Indeed, other studies in recent years have shown that women are still doing most of the cooking, child- and elder care, and more – and it’s draining us. 

“Half of women say their stress levels are higher than they were a year ago, and a similar percentage say they’re concerned – or very concerned – about their mental health,” researchers at financial services company Deloitte wrote in a 2024 study on the subject. 

Younger women in their 20s, 30s and 40s – who, as Pew’s new survey showed, are still grappling with these inequities, and sometimes in larger amounts than older women – are also carrying larger portions of caregiving duties. Women in their 30s, especially, are shouldering nearly an hour more of such responsibilities per day, on average, than men their age.

Which is, perhaps, why they are increasingly turning to an alternative: Avoiding long-term relationships with men altogether. Data from 2025 shows that women are buying homes, raising children and more without male partners in their lives – because they can, and because it is, to them, a preferable alternative.

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Spring has sprung – which means spring cleaning season is upon us. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, there are plenty of women experts to turn to. Influencers like Chantel Mila have plenty of general cleanliness tips to offer. When diving into organizing, maybe Kayleen Kelly’s 4-pronged method of eliminating clutter appeals to you. Perhaps GoCleanCo’s Sarah McAllister and her hacks will best assist you with your overloaded home. Or, there’s always Marie Kondo’s world-renowned KonMari method of getting and keeping tidy – though even the clean queen herself admits to paying less attention to such matters now that she’s a mom. (Relatable.)

Whenever this time of year rolls around, I find myself wondering what gurus like them – and others in general – would make of Bro.

Bro, pronounced “Brah,” is a toy dog I acquired over 25 years ago. (Calculating the time difference between Bro’s purchase and my writing of this introduction is an exercise in what I like to call “hurtful math.”) I bought him while strolling the Atlantic City boardwalk as a senior in high school. It was a windy November evening – hardly beach weather, but these walks were customary following All-State Chorus rehearsals, like the one I’d just finished on this particular evening. I’d taken many of them with my friends in years prior, all freezing cold and full of laughs and singing through our favorite pieces from rehearsal as the sun set … but that stroll stands out (and not just because we accompanied it by singing James Erb’s arrangement of “Shenandoah“).

My younger self was on the precipice of starting a new chapter – I gabbed louder and swore far more than necessary while carrying this fuzzy, frivolous purchase made with money I’d earned as a part-time grocery clerk. The excitement of “maybe” and “possibly” – and “hopefully” – was so thick, I swore I could reach through one of those frigid ocean breezes and grab hold.

Over the years that followed, I’d undergo numerous sea changes, navigate several moves, and take on numerous spring cleaning projects – but Bro remained a surprising constant. Through every job switch; every new love and subsequent heartbreak; every hard lesson learned; every title acquired and lost, from “understudy” and “cub” to “featured soloist” and “editor.” And yes, through becoming “wife” and “mom,” too.

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Every time my life shifted, Bro found his stubby-legged way into joining me. Repeatedly grounding me, by mere sight, with his constant presence – while at the same time whisking me back to that crisp, clear late fall sunset and the breadth of possibility that was laid out before our respective sea-green and ink-black gazes. He reminds me that “maybe” and “possibly” and “hopefully” aren’t relics of my past, but rather, treasures still on offer to me now.

Here’s the thing: Scientifically speaking, Bro shouldn’t have made it this far. His mechanized movements stopped ages ago. His “bark” is now a degraded yelp; his synthetic fur is patchy and, frankly, pathetic. The amorphous mystery stain near his battery cartridge might actually be atrophied acid, but I’m too scared to investigate the matter. He is, if I’m being honest, somewhat offensive to all five senses – nevertheless, Bro persists.

And when spring cleaning season arrives, I annually wonder: How does one part ways with something that is so beautifully, indelibly connected to a life – yet is, objectively speaking, crap?

Don’t ask me, because as of publication, Bro remains in my home. And part of me thinks that’s all right. Maybe it’s even good to hold on to our own individual Bros sometimes – these nonsense knick-knacks that, when found and held once more, bring us back to times and places whose recollection feels good and warm and sweet. Objects that serve as reminders of our ongoing growth, and maybe even make us smirk with pride at how far we’ve come.

But for most everything else whose time has come and gone, as I’m sure the women experts I cited above would remind me, it’s probably time to purge. To shed that which no longer fits us; that which brings pain through remembrance; that which we can and should let go of to make room for light and newness. So sure, keep your personal “Bro.” But in other cases, it’s likely time to let go. 

To help rid yourself, I’ve put together a playlist of songs that examine goodbyes and guide us through the process of lamenting, accepting and perhaps even celebrating necessary departures. (As well tunes that might encourage you to actually keep that trinket or t-shirt after all. I’m not a monster.)

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Editor’s Note: This post, updated for 2026, was originally published April 25, 2023.

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