Welcome back to Woman Crush Wednesday! Work week got you feeling down? Need a bit more pep in that step? When it comes to giving yourself a little Hump Day break, I like to say that there ain’t no shame in that game. So please step away from the Xerox and let the sheer badassery of the women featured below pull you back from the edge. We’ll all be a little happier for it.
Here’s who we’ve been crushing on this week:
- Emma Thompson, for her poignant letter to the U.S. Special Arctic Envoy Adm. Robert Papp, urging him to ditch oil extraction in the Arctic. (Grist)
- Trang Tran, the young eco-entrepreneur trying to convince Vietnamese rice farmers to stop burning their fields, which releases greenhouse gases and other unhealthy particulate matter into the air. Her solution? Shrooms. (Modern Farmer)
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A photo of a bodega from Gail Victoria Braddock Quagliata’s Tumblr, 40s and Flowers.Gail Victoria Braddock Quagliata
Gail Victoria Braddock Quagliata, an artist who photographed Manhattan’s remaining bodegas, which are a dying breed in the borough. Bodegas may not offer the healthiest food options, but the independently owned convenience stores are often ingrained in the fabric of their communities, offering credit to low-income customers and keeping chain stores like 7-11s at bay. (City Lab)
- Deborah Gordon, professor of biology at Stanford University, for giving ants — yes, ants — some long overdue credit. The complexities of an ant colony, as it turns out, can mirror some of our own human systems. (TED Radio Hour)
- Elizabeth Stephenson, manager of the New England Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund. Since 1999, the fund has supported micogrants for conservation projects across the world — or as Stephenson calls them, “stories of hope for the ocean.” (The New York Times)
Stay tuned for next week’s roundup!
