Photo: The Guardian

It may sound counterintuitive, but keeping alcoholics on a measured dose of wine actually has a drastic effect on their chances of recovery. At the Oaks, a recovery center near Ottowa, Canada, the residents no longer have to answer a substance use sufferer’s most pressing question: where and when will I be able to get my next dose? When alcohol is your most basic need, addressing addiction, underlying mental health concerns, and even physical health concerns, are mere afterthoughts. But using this harm reduction strategy, the Oaks can help people cope with addiction and being the path to recovery. (via The Guardian)

Photo: NextCity

As a planet, we’re about to walk straight into a paradox: too much water, and not enough of it. As sea levels rise and reduce the amount of livable land, drought is driving people from previously-habitable zones. One solution: Floating settlements. These already exist, and have for centuries. But water rights are notoriously tricky, with many landowners able to prevent access to adjacent waters. Human rights activists are already on the issue, but developers need to start taking notice and being part of the solution as well. (via NextCity)

Photo: FastCo.Exist

There been a great deal of furor in the world of highway safety around the dangers of texting while driving. But new research shows that texting itself isn’t necessarily the culprit for our extremely high death rates on the roads. The rates of cell phone ownership don’t have a strong correlation with driving deaths. The real problem is driving at all. There is a very strong correlation between an increased number of miles being driven as a whole and an increase in traffic deaths, even as cars become structurally safer. Fighting texting while driving is good, but it’s a band-aid; we need to figure out how to reduce the amount that we drive so that we stop killing over 30,000 Americans every year. (via FastCo.Exist)