Sustainability
Page 5
Five ways cities are acting on climate
Cities aren’t waiting for the rest of the world to make huge strides in confronting the climate crisis. In December 2015, almost the entire world (195 nations to be exact) agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and do their part to solve climate change as part of the landmark Paris Agreement. After years of negotiation and discussion, the world is closer than ever to finally shifting away from dirty fossil fuels and working together to reverse the dangerous upward trend in warming global temperatures.
California Freeways Will Soon Generate Electricity
“Energy conservation is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about freeways jammed with idling vehicles. But in California, which has some of the most congested freeways in the country, that’s about to change. The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved a pilot program in which piezoelectric crystals will be installed on several freeways. No, these aren’t some kind of new-agey crystals with mystical powers. Piezoelectric crystals, about the size of watch batteries, give off an electrical discharge when they’re mechanically stressed, such as when a vehicle drives over them.
Appliance puts nanofarm in your kitchen
Replantable aims to be a hands-off modular indoor growing device for fresh homegrown produce, year-round. The future of fresh homegrown food may be an indoor one, at least in the cold season and for those without garden space, and although I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to gardening, it’s fairly obvious to me that there are plenty of situations where growing food indoors makes sense, even if it entails buying yet another plugged-in appliance.
Farming Solar Power in the Cosmos
What was then an implausible idea—collecting solar energy in space and sending it to Earth—is now the goal of scientists around the world, marking a new space race that could end reliance on dwindling fossil fuels, fundamentally shift power in the geopolitical conflicts they have sparked, and meet the rising demand for energy from the developing world. Paul Jaffe, a spacecraft engineer and principal investigator at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., has brought the U.S. closer to that goal with his work on space solar technology, which has drawn international attention—and for good reason: The innovation would have a profound impact on humanity.
Getting Ugly Produce onto Hungry People’s Plates
Every fall, farmers in Washington throw away a sizable portion of the apples they grow. In 2015, thanks to the West Coast port slowdown and a lack of refrigeration, farmers in the state dumped an estimated $100 million worth of the fruit (or 143,000 bushels) in fields where they were left to rot, causing the nearby town to smell like rancid fruit for days. David Bobanick, Executive Director of the Washington-based hunger organizationRotary First Harvest, finds the apple dumps alarming. And although this year was an extreme example, it’s not unusual for fresh produce to go to waste due to a lack of infrastructure. In fact, approximately 23 percent of all fruits and vegetables are wasted before they even reach grocery stores. Meanwhile, 46.5 million Americans struggle to get enough healthy food.
Scientists warn world will miss key climate target
Leading climate scientists have warned that the Earth is perilously close to breaking through a 1.5C upper limit for global warming, only eight months after the target was set. The decision to try to limit warming to 1.5C, measured in relation to pre-industrial temperatures, was the headline outcome of the Paris climate negotiations last December. The talks were hailed as a major success by scientists and campaigners, who claimed that, by setting the target, desertification, heatwaves, widespread flooding and other global warming impacts could be avoided.
What If All U.S. Coal Workers Were Retrained to Work in Solar?
The global economy is in a massive transition from a fossil-fuel-based energy system to one using sophisticated renewable energy technologies. For tens of thousands of fossil fuel workers, though, the energy industry outlook is not promising. For coal industry workers, the future looks particularly bleak. However, research I conducted with Edward Louie of Oregon State University offers hope for a better future based on retraining workers. Our study (published in the journal Energy Economics) quantified the costs and benefits of retraining coal workers for employment in the rapidly expanding solar photovoltaic industry—and it explores different ways to pay for this retraining.
Self-sufficient, floating off-grid island
From no-waste, no-impact, buy-nothing, no-money to living tiny, there are a multitude of saner and more courageous alternatives to the unthinking, zombie wastefulness of mainstream living. For Canadian couple Wayne Adams and Catherine King, living self-sufficiently meant building their own floating island near Tofino, British Columbia, consisting of twelve interconnected platforms that support their home, greenhouse, lighthouse and a dance studio.
We Have Used Up This Year’s Supply Of Natural Resources
Today is a bad day for planet Earth. We’ve just reached Earth Overshoot Day, the date by which humanity has used up its yearly “allowance” of Earth’s natural resources – and it’s earlier than it has ever been before. Global Footprint Network (GFN) is the think tank behind Earth Overshoot Day. Each year, they work out the day in the year where humanity’s demand on nature exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. It’s all worked out with 15,000 data points per country from datasets from the United Nations and recent scientific literature.
Mushrooms
You probably didn’t know mushrooms could be used to construct buildings and cure diseases. Mushrooms are being tested in innovative and imaginative ways to help society. Engineers, medical researchers, and designers are utilizing the natural abilities of various fungi for antibiotics, building materials, water filtration, toxic waste cleanup, pest abatement, textiles, and other purposes.
