Shamarr Allen was sleeping at home one evening last July when he was shocked awake by a TV news item. There had been a shooting among a group of children in the 7th Ward of New Orleans, only a few miles from Allen’s home, and a nine-year-old boy named Devante Bryant had been killed. Allen was horrified and heartbroken. He thought of his own nine-year-old son.

Originally from the city’s rough Lower 9th Ward, Allen is one of the most celebrated jazz trumpeters (小号手) in a city. His band has released three albums, and he is a regular on local television and a street performer. After seeing the tragic news that morning, it didn’t take long for Allen to hit on a possible way out. He had a few spare trumpets lying around. Maybe he could offer them to kids in exchange for their guns.

“What saved me and redirected my path was a trumpet, the music and culture of the city that it connected me with,” Allen says. “It showed me that success, connections and differences can be managed through self-expression.”

“Just to see that they actually want to give up their guns, that’s the cool part about it,” says Allen, who has collected seven guns so far, a small but symbolically important start.

But he doesn’t stop with the exchange of gun for instrument. After the exchanges, Allen connects the children with local musicians who give them free virtual trumpet lessons. He also started a GoFundMe page to buy more instruments to give away. So far, he has collected over $45,000. More importantly, he has fostered hope for his city and young people looking for a better life.

“I just say, ”Look, I come from where you come from, and I can show you the way that got me out,’“ says Allen. ”And music may not be the way for you, but it will at least open your mind to see what’s out there. “

Batik is a traditional Indonesian coloring method used to make designs and drawings, usually on cloth and finished textiles. Batik makers use dyes— colors added to cloth and other materials— to create the colorful designs.

In central Indonesia, many batik makers are using natural dyes instead of manufactured ones. The natural dyes used come from mangrove forests that grow along the coast. The trees grow in salty water on a complex system of tall roots.

Mangrove forests serve an important purpose. They provide a barrier against destructive (破坏性的) ocean waves called tsunamis. They also are important to water life like fish and crabs. And the forests are more effective in taking in carbon dioxide gas, a gas linked to climate change, than rainforests or similar environments.

Erwin Ardli is a mangrove ecologist at Indonesia’s Jenderal Soedirman University. He says the natural dyes may not be as bright as manufactured ones. But they are better for the environment. Ardli said, “We’ve seen the interest for natural dyes increasing, and especially for middle-to upper-class people, they seem proud to wear clothes using these natural dyes rather than synthetic (合成) ones.” Iiting Budiarti, who owns an art gallery that shows Batik designs, agreed with Ardli, adding that objects with natural dyes can cost two or three times more than the synthetic ones.

Forty-eight-year-old Sodikin is a batik maker. Over the past four years, he and his group of batik makers have changed from using chemical materials for dyes to mangrove-based products. The change has reduced their costs and helped the environment.

Harvesting involves gathering a handful of what looks like string beans-seeds within a covering. Sodikin then takes the mangrove fruit home to make natural dye from them.

“We use natural materials so as to preserve the mangrove forest at the same time,” Sodikin said, as he processed dried fruits before boiling them to extract the colour for use as a dye. “We do not cut down the trees,” he added, “and we only take fruits or leaves that have fallen.”