Let’s start with a letter. Not, on this occasion, from Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, but from Helpful of Clacton-on-Sea.

Jo Steranka wrote in to suggest seven specific ways that people can help in the struggle against climate change, environmental degradation and global warming.

Of course, individual actions are hugely important. But so is the work being done by scientists, social entrepreneurs, innovators and activists. And this week we had a little something from each.

In the Amazon, as deforestation continues apace and the frontrunner in Brazil’s presidential race eyes another swathe of destruction, we found scientists embarking on the long job of putting trees in the ground rather than taking them out.

It’s too early to say whether this is the start of something. But reforestation is catching on around the world: from New Zealand to China, from Europe to west Africa, people are planting hundreds of millions of trees.

They’re planting trees in India, too (remarkably, to celebrate the birth of girls) – but not nearly enough to make a difference to smog season, which is about to start in earnest. The reason air quality gets so bad at this time of year is partly down to the burning of farmland, to get rid of crop residue once the harvest is in.

A number of enterprises have spotted a business opportunity in buying up the biomatter and turning it into useful stuff, as Rishika Pardikar found out.

On the subject of making good use of the things that everyday folks leave behind, the Dyson awards published their shortlist of quixotic, sustainable inventions this week. Read all about them here. The best: a fork made out of potato peelings.

What we liked

Solar-powered cooking pots seem like a good idea, particularly when they can charge your phone. Thanks to BBC World Hacks for this one.

Can a cooking pot save the rainforest? Probably not - but it’s a good idea anyway

And while we’re speaking of innovation, the New York Times took a look at a device that might make running easier. Could this bring us closer to a sub-two-hour marathon?

What we heard

I would like to implore you to look into writing about permaculture. It is not just about mimicking nature and a permanent agriculture solution, but you can apply its three principles to everything. Earth care, people care and share the surplus. Val Stow, via email

The intention is to turn this national rising into an international one. Guardian columnist George Monbiot, exhorting people to join him on 31 October in Parliament Square, London, for the launch of a new ecological protest movement, Extinction Rebellion

Breakout tech hit of the week

A mighty piece of kit that appears set to help Cambodian farmers get better rice yields. Complete with gloriously kitsch gamelan music.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sowing the seeds of rice

Where was the Upside?

Though marginal, there was a sliver of Upside to be gleaned in Fukushima this week, where Justin McCurry found a semblance of normal life returning to some communities wrecked by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear meltdown.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A silver lining in Fukushima. Photograph: Justin McCurry/The Guardian

Also in remotest Tajikistan, where a pilot project to end domestic violence against women appears to be having some effect.

If there is a story, innovation or trailblazer you think we should report on, write to us at theupside@theguardian.com. If you value the Upside, please consider becoming a Guardian supporter.