Today’s Solutions: May 17, 2026

What if the weeds you’ve been pulling out of your garden were actually worth a lot of money? That’s essentially what’s happened in the Peruvian Andes as farmers have come to understand that the moss that they burn off to clear the land for planting traditional crops is actually an internationally traded commodity. The moss is useful for potting exotic plants and for “living walls” that are sprouting in European and North American cities. Now with the help of Peru’s space agency, farmers in villages from across the Peruvian Andes are harvesting moss and making more money than they would with traditional crops.

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