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Leon Kaye headshot

Happy Holidays! Our Editors’ Picks for the Best of 2022

By Leon Kaye
Editors Picks

We here at TriplePundit wish you a safe and wonderful holiday seasons with your loved ones. On that note, we’ll be doing the same, so we are planning to be on a part-time publishing and newsletter schedule for the rest of the year and will ramp up again on Tuesday, January 3. In the meantime, these stories from 2022 (and late 2021!) are what caught our eyes and scored plenty of comments from our readers.

Yes, a small business with a social justice mission can succeed in a red state

When Chelsia Rice and her spouse Charlie Crawford, both former educators, bought Montana Book Company in 2018, they knew they wanted to bring a social justice element to what is now downtown Helena’s 45-year-old bookstore. They also knew they wanted to do it in a way that knitted the community together, especially at a moment that was seeing increasing division: no easy feat in the capital city of Montana. Kate Zerrenner shared Montana Book Company’s story back in August.

It’s a new federal holiday with meaning, not an excuse to crassly market products

In only its second year of federal recognition, Juneteenth was once again subjected to a slew of exploitative and offensive marketing attempts from brands more interested in financial gain than respect and representation. Diane Primo, the CEO of Purpose Brand and an expert in DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), spoke with 3p’s Riya Ann Polcastro about which brands managed to go against the tide and get it right, which one failed the worst of all — and what businesses should focus on for future Juneteenth commemorations.

Cite me, pay me

Protecting intellectual property on the web can be a dicey proposition. In the vast and bountiful wilderness that has become the internet, individuals can misappropriate or blatantly steal what someone else has created and profit from the material without the creator ever knowing. The damage to the economy is well-recorded for the creative industries. One reported estimated that digital piracy of videos displaces between $30 billion and $70 billion in annual revenue — and can lead to the losses of 230,000 to 560,000 jobs annually. And, race and gender are absolutely relevant to the issue of intellectual property theft.

To that end, this summer Roya Sabri caught up with qualitative researcher Dr. Carey Yazeed, who’s noticed that the individuals she’s seen benefiting from her work have been Black men and white women, a fact that may not seem relevant to some. Nevertheless, Dr. Yazeed said she recognizes that society doesn’t see IP theft as a specific problem for Black women. As she told Sabri, “I can say that, since I have spoken out, I have seen other Black women come forward and share how their intellectual property has been stolen.”

The U.S. highway system is finally confronting its racist past

South Bronx residents may soon be able to breathe again, and businesses that rely on them will have a shot, too. Nearly six decades after the first drivers entered the Cross Bronx Expressway, the city has received $2 million in funding to devise a plan to “cap” the highway with green spaces, pedestrian walkways and air filtration systems. The study should kick into motion federal funding of upwards of $1 billion with the hopes to depollute an area in South Bronx dubiously dubbed “Asthma Alley.”

As Grant Whittington shared just over a year ago, the Cross Bronx Expressway is likely to meet the same fate as its fellow dilapidating highways across the country: it’s getting capped. Capping consists of building parks and other structures on top of the thoroughfares to push these roads underground, transforming pollutant-generating, neighborhood-splitting highways into green spaces that reduce noise and reconnect communities. Major U.S. cities like Philadelphia, Denver and Dallas have jumped on this trend, capping or lidding their highways with “deck parks.” As a result, communities of color and the businesses that serve them could get a fresh start denied to them for decades.

COP27: It’s déjà vu all over again in 2022

The annual global COP meetings that focus on climate change negotiations may change hosts each year, but if you think the outcome and results (as in little accomplished) are the same year after year, you are in good company. “As a COP veteran, I see the difficulty of navigating these multi-stakeholder, inter-governmental processes where everyone has their own agenda and ideas on the best way to address climate change. It is frustrating to realize how long it has been since the Paris Agreement came into force and how far we still are from limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” wrote Sara Velander after attending last month’s COP27 in Egypt — her fifth such COP experience over the past seven years.

Image credit: Victoria Heath via Unsplash

Leon Kaye headshot

Leon Kaye has written for 3p since 2010 and become executive editor in 2018. His previous work includes writing for the Guardian as well as other online and print publications. In addition, he's worked in sales executive roles within technology and financial research companies, as well as for a public relations firm, for which he consulted with one of the globe’s leading sustainability initiatives. Currently living in Central California, he’s traveled to 70-plus countries and has lived and worked in South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

Leon’s an alum of Fresno State, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the University of Southern California's Marshall Business School. He enjoys traveling abroad as well as exploring California’s Central Coast and the Sierra Nevadas.

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