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Matt Orr

After gaining appreciation for working teachers and small-town America, I became a card carrying adult interested in politics and how it affects clean food and water, rights for all people, climate, and health. I'm a lover of people, dogs, street art, farmers markets, and craft beer. I work to travel and travel to learn about different foods, people, and culture. Ping me anytime, because I'd love to hear from you. Comment on my posts and let me know anything about you. I check my pages and look forward to getting to know you.

Identity

They were told they couldn't get married. They said, 'But we're straight.' Alabama said, 'I know.'

About halfway through, he seems to actually "get it."

Alyssa Newton/YouTube

Couple denied a marriage license in Alabama.

This article originally appeared on 02.14.15

On Feb. 10, 2015, same-sex marriage became legal in Alabama. Gay couples started going to the courthouse, and straight couples showed up as well. Straight couples like these folks.

But the folks at the courthouse wouldn't give ANY of the couples licenses — gay or straight.

Because Alabama's chief justice doesn't think same-sex marriage should be legal, he told all the probate judges not to issue ANY licenses to any couples.

It sounds like they might not have ever thought about what it feels like to be denied a constitutional right.

Alyssa Newton/YouTube

The interviewer basically asks how they feel as taxpayers not being able to conduct a regular state function like getting married.

Alyssa Newton/YouTube

I watched this GIF a few times because I think it's so fascinating to see the exact moment someone comes to the realization that denying gay people the right to marry is unfair.

At this point, though, he still doesn't "get it."

He pauses to think, he looks away, and then the lightbulb goes off.

Alyssa Newton/YouTube

What it seems like he's about to say is "It's not fair. I mean, everyone [meaning straight people] should be able to get a license even if Alabama is fighting this fight with gay people."

Mid-sentence, he seemed to switch what he was going to say.

He's right. Denying gay couples the right to marriage, especially once it's been declared legal in the state, wouldn't be fair. That's the point. And for some people, this is obvious. But for many people, maybe it isn't. But now it is. That's progress. That's why empathy is such a powerful thing.

These lovebirds almost do a better job arguing this case than lawyers before the Supreme Court. Almost. I hope they have a wonderful, love-filled life with each other. And I hope they can get married soon.

Watch the video here:

lgbtq

Heroes

He told his wife something he hadn't been able to say for 15 years — using only his eyes.

Technology meets relationships...

True

This story was originally published in May 2015 but was updated on May 20, 2016.

This is Don Moir, and in 2015, he was part of something pretty extraordinary.

All images and GIFs from Not Impossible/YouTube.

We'll talk more about that in a second, but first you should know a couple of things.

According to Not Impossible Labs, 26 years ago, Don got married to the love of his life, Lorraine.

Side by side, they worked on their family business.

Their business was a family farm, and getting things done required lots of communication.

They had three kids, a house, and lots of great memories as a family.

In 1995, Don was diagnosed with ALS and, four years later, was fitted with a ventilator. He hasn't spoken since.

Lorraine was devastated because she lost the ability to communicate with her husband and best friend.

But she refused to give up hope.

At first, Lorraine created a letterboard for Don.

She would hold up the board so that Don could form words by looking at a series of letters.

It was a huge step.

The problem was, even with the letterboard, it still took Don a really, really long time to finish even one sentence. He still had trouble expressing basic thoughts and emotions that most other people take for granted.

He could still barely tell his family he loved them.

Enter Mick Ebeling.

He's the founder of Not Impossible Labs, a company that invents things for people with disabilities to make their lives a little easier. He was determined to give Don his voice back.

Mick worked with Don to invent a device that allowed him to communicate independently.

When Don started using the technology, he was suddenly able to communicate faster and more clearly than he had been able to in 15 years — up to two-and-a-half words a minute.

And communicate he did.

Starting with a love letter to his wife.

"My Dear Lorraine, I can't imagine life without you. You have made the last 25 years fly by, and the last 20 with ALS more bearable. I am looking forward to the next 25 years.
Love, Don."

There are many more people like Don, and Mick is helping to scale this technology for others to have the ability to communicate.

Not Impossible's achievements are already being recognized — "Don's Voice" won SXSW's Innovation in Connecting People award for 2016.

Please watch and share Don and Lorraine's story. And for more information, check out Not Impossible.

Heroes

These super-rare animals are getting one last photo shoot. And they look gorgeous.

They're cute, they're cuddly ... and might soon be gone forever.

This is a snow leopard. Gorgeous, huh?

GIF via the Oceanic Preservation Society.

Here's a (slightly camera-shy) San Clemente Island fox.

GIF via the Oceanic Preservation Society.

And this is a common Mexican tree frog. Just chillin'.

GIF via the Oceanic Preservation Society.

They're just three of many species in Joel Sartore's series "Photo Ark." The featured creatures are furry, fierce ... and sadly, disappearing.

Sartore set a huge goal for himself in 2006. Camera in hand, he set out to photograph a member of every captive species on the planet.

Every. Last. One.

He's already photographed about 4,700 rare animals, and he has zero plans to slow down.

It's an enormous task inspired by a simple goal: "To get the public to care and save [the animals] while there's still time to do so."

His work was featured in a video for the Oceanic Preservation Society, and it explores one huge problem: There have been five big mass extinctions throughout earth's history, and we're on the brink of a sixth.

In the grand scheme of things, humans have done a downright awful job at co-existing with animals.

This means that if something dramatic doesn't change things for the better, a crazy-high number of beautiful species are about to be gone. Forever.

GIF from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

Humans may have done a poor job at protecting our furry friends thus far, but it doesn't have to be this way.

Spread the word on films like "Racing Extinction" and series like "Photo Ark" to help raise awareness. Learn about which animals are endangered in your region of the world. Support organizations that are fighting the good fight.

Who knows? You might just be able to help a species survive.

Heroes

Take a deep breath because this camera is showing a part of us not many people see.

This camera just made it a bit easier to protect ourselves from ourselves by seeing what we've not been able to see before.

Imagine if you could see what you exhale every time you took a breath.

Pretty cool/creepy, huh? GIF from "Racing Extinction."

Turns out, it's actually possible. Award-winning filmmaker Louie Psihoyos teamed up with the Oceanic Preservation Society to create a camera that lets you do just that.

You might be thinking, "OK, that's cool, but why in the world would someone bother to make a camera that shows your breath?"

Well, he thinks it's important for us to really see the carbon dioxide we put into the air.

The carbon dioxide — the gas we exhale into the atmosphere — could actually kill us.

I know, I know. It's a little confusing because carbon dioxide is everywhere. I mean, you're exhaling some right now as you're reading this, but your body's natural function to keep you alive isn't the problem.

The problem is with the other things we do in our day-to-day lives that put a dangerous amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

It looks so innocent. But don't be fooled. Image by Jynto/Wikimedia Commons

Right now, the amount of CO2 — that's carbon dioxide in science talk — in our air actually isn't bad in and of itself.

What is bad are the sharply increasing levels of CO2 in the air.

The important nuance is this: Yes, our planet has seen higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere before, but the real problem isn't the amount — it's the rate of increase which is unlike anything the Earth has never seen before. Not by a long shot.

Scientists have been trying to warn us about this for decades, but we haven't been listening.

It's been kinda easy to ignore the threat since we can't actually see this potentially harmful gas in the air all around us.

"La la la, I can't hear you!" says the world to the scientists. Image by 6SN7/Flickr.

So scientists took a FLIR SC8300 thermal imaging camera and put a special filter on it so they could capture really cool footage of our carbon dioxide emissions.

Whether it's from the leaf blower you use every fall:

GIF from "Racing Extinction."

Or those motorcycles you and your buddy bought during your mid-life crises:

We all deal with aging differently. GIF from "Racing Extinction."

Practically everything that we do — whether it's driving to work, doing outside chores, and even breathing — puts CO2 into our atmosphere.

Why is this important? Carbon dioxide and mass extinction are like BFFs — they're attached at the hip, so to speak. Psihoyos hopes this footage will help kick our collective butts into gear and do something about these carbon emissions.

"My entire career OPS is all built on this notion that we can show something to people that they haven't seen before in a way that they have never visualized it," he says.

And more ominously: "This should be frightening."

Maybe now that we can see the thing that is hurting our planet we'll take some action.

Our lives depend on it.

See the magical camera in action here:

Heroes

The shocking footage these filmmakers captured reveals why the Earth is in serious trouble.

It's fast-paced, action-packed, and visually stunning. It's better than "The Avengers!" (Or so I say.) In any case, this is not your average save-the-whales video.

Louie Psihoyos isn't your average filmmaker.

He's best known for his 2009 documentary "The Cove," which took home an Oscar for its investigation into dolphin hunting practices in Japan.

Whale and dolphin meat on sale in Tokyo. Image by Stefan Powell/Wikimedia Commons.

Even if you haven't heard of the film, you still may have heard about its infamous, gut-wrenching scene depicting a brutal dolphin massacre in the waters of Taiji, Wakayama.

How did Psihoyos get so close to the action without tipping off the fishermen?

"The first time I saw a slaughter, I was hiding across the cove, hanging from a rope on a cliff in full camouflage and face paint," he told The Humane Society of the United States.

So, yeah. Not your average filmmaker.

Now, six years later, he's back with a new film. And he has his sights set on an even bigger target than the dolphin-meat industry.

He's taking on the world's next mass extinction.

Science says there have been five big mass extinction events, or periods when abnormally large numbers of species die out simultaneously. Psihoyos and many others say we're on the verge of the sixth.

When he decided to explore the issue through film, though, he wanted it to be something everyone would want to watch — not just environmentalists. So he and his team, as they've done before, went undercover.

Using technology straight out of a James Bond movie, Psihoyos and his crew conducted covert operations to take us inside the back rooms of the endangered animal trade, to the front lines of carbon dioxide emissions, and underwater to witness the destruction of the world's oceans — giving us an unprecedented look at how humanity is driving entire species to extinction.

And, more importantly, what we can do about it.

While the film hasn't seen a wide release yet, early word says the effect is powerful.

Ecowatch is calling "Racing Extinction" a "must-see documentary." And it's not hard to see why. It's got everything.

High-tech gadgetry.

Stunning images of nature's beauty.

High-octane explosions.

And a message meant to inspire the next generation to change the world.

Trust me, if you care about the fate of the world at all, you aren't going to want to miss "Racing Extinction." And if you're just in it for the spy missions and the daring getaways, that's cool too.

To find out when the film is coming to your town, check the film's official website.

And here's the trailer to get your blood pumping!

P.S. If you think nothing can ever be better than "The Avengers" (and that is a great movie, BTW), you can still feel OK about thinking this is awesome (and important) too.

Equality means everyone is equal.

Tristan Broussard grew up in a little town named Hathaway, Louisiana.

It's a town with lots of crawfish fields, soothing Southern accents, and one caution light. In the video below, Tristan seems like a confident, likable, and a hardworking guy.

Eventually, he left his small town to pursue work opportunities.

He moved to a big city — Lake Charles, Louisiana — and found a job with Tower Loans. In an interview with the Southern Poverty Law Center, he recalls his first conversation with Miss Leah, his boss, during his initial interview:

"We sat in a little cubicle, and she was like, 'I really like you. I'll give you a call and let you know how it goes.' I said, 'All right.' She said, 'In the next few days.' Well, as soon as I left and got on the road, I was maybe five minutes down the road, and she called me and said, 'You know what? You got the job.'"

Tristan was hired and liked his job — until one rule slowed him down.

From Tristan's perspective, he had success with his job, was well liked in the office, and followed all the rules ... except one. Tristan says his bosses wanted him to "dress like a woman" at work. Yeah, you read that right. They wanted him to put on (I assume) a dress or skirt and come to work because when Tristan was born, the doctor assigned him female.

“Rather than being treated like any other male employee, my employer told me I would be fired unless I dressed and acted as if I were female. The treatment I went through was inexcusable. It was wrong to be fired for who I am."

How does dressing "like a woman" or dressing "like a man" help a loan company do their job better?

Dress codes are fair within a business, but gender-based dress codes are not. They continue a cycle of discrimination that the trans community knows all too well.

Tristan explains how far back his experience with discrimination goes in his interview. At 2:34, he recalls an incident when he went through the Catholic tradition of confirmation as a child. The parallels are heartbreaking:

"I'm trying to be who I am," Tristan says. "Nobody should have that taken away from them."

Tristan has sued Tower Loans for discrimination. If you're interested in learning more about this case, you can check out how it's going through the Southern Poverty Law Center.

How one teacher told her students that they're worth more than their test scores.

Gah, teachers!

Check out this letter from a teacher to her students. She wrote it to remind them that a test does not determine their self worth.

Every spring, students across America take standardized tests to determine if they are ready to move on to the next grade. Of course, you and I know that one test can't actually determine the full scope of someone's intellectual strength or creative talent — and thankfully this teacher knows it, too.

For a moment, let's put aside our opinions of standardized testing (and the fact this is written in Comic Sans font) and celebrate the teachers who "get it."

Many tests celebrate only one type of learning: how to take a test well. There are a lot of pros and cons to consider when it comes to standardized testing, especially during our national debate of Common Core techniques. Although these tests can tell us some things, they don't give the full holistic picture of kids' aptitude — and certainly not their worth.

Regardless of how we all feel about tests, the one thing that unites us is the commitment to bringing out the best in our kids and finding the hidden talents in each of them. As educators, mentors, and parents, our job may be to teach, but more importantly, it's also to find the thing that inspires a student to want to learn on their own.