Guided into action by Twitter and Facebook, residents of London neighborhoods trashed by rioting and looting have joined together in cleanup brigades. "The footage last night of high streets and independent shops burning was terrifying to watch, and I wanted to find a way to help that was quick, simple and practical," Dan Thompson, an artist, told the BBC.
Thompson created a Twitter campaign, @riotcleanup, that has already amassed 70,000 followers and has inspired a host of similar efforts in other cities. While these groups and the sense of community they create (the one featured by the BBC was diverse in terms of age and race) certainly won't solve all the problems behind the riots, they provide a rare piece of positive news from a place that really needs it.
Read more at Mediaite.
In other news: Why Minorities Love Bottled Water.