Eco-Innovation Articles From Around the World
Farm to School Programs Invest in Future of Our Children and Our Family Farmers
Source: sustainableagriculture.net Published: March 16, 2016 Student working in her school garden. Photo credit: National Farm to School Network. Farm to school programs are a win for kids, farmers, and communities. They empower our children and their families by...
New Seaweed-Based Material Could Replace Plastic Packaging
Source: good.is Published: March 9, 2016 The designers behind Agar Plasticity The project is one of four finalists for the 2016 Lexus Design Award. DJ Pangburn Plastic is ubiquitous in packaging for food, toys, and every type of product in between. And even with...
Kinetic Energy-Harvesting Shoes A Step Towards Charging Mobile Devices on the Go
Source: gizmag.com Published: February 12, 2016 Energy-harvesting shoes could be used to power mobile devices through a charging cable, be adapted for the military or act as a power source for people in remote areas. UW-Madison College Of Engineering By Nick Lavars...
Honduran Women Bring Light to Their Communities
Source: latinamerica.undp.org Published: March 10, 2016 At the University of Barefoot in India, Honduran women practice building solar panels. Photo: UNDP Honduras La Mosquitia, Los Naranjos and Los Hornos, and El Zapote and Buenos Aires, located in the north...
Solar Power Is On A Roll, Literally And Figuratively
Source: treehugger.com Published: March 9, 2016 © Renovagen roll Lloyd Alter The Guardian has a series on innovators, and has picked up the story of John Hingley and Renovagen that Derek covered a few years ago on TreeHugger. Now it is a reality: John Hingley of...
Not Only Is This Faux Leather Cruelty-Free, It’s Made from Pineapples and Is Biodegradable!
Source: trueactivist.com Published: March 4, 2016 Credit: Piñatex by: Amanda Froelich Ethically-minded fashionistas now have a plethora of cruelty-free leather goods to choose from, thanks to the genius of a Spanish company. Clearly Veg reports that Piñatex has...
Meet the Two Incredible Teenage Girls Who Convinced Bali to Ban Plastic Bags
Source: onegreenplanet.org Published: March 8, 2016 By Lauren Kearney When you think of Bali, you think tropical paradise. But there’s one thing standing in the way that’s making Bali far from idyllic: trash. Those iconic beaches tourists from all over the world flock...
St. Louis Ram Leaves NFL and $37 Million to Become Farmer and Feed the Hungry
Source: alternet.org Published: February 2, 2015 Written by Walter Einenkel / Daily Kos St. Louis Rams center Jason Brown has left the NFL to pursue farming: “My agent told me, ‘You’re making the biggest mistake of your life,’” Brown told CBS. “And I looked right back...
Hey Musicians, This Company Will Recycle Your Used Up Instrument Strings
Source: fastcoexist.com Published: March 3, 2016 Up to 1.5 million pounds of strings end up buried in a landfill every year. Photos: Flickr user Alan Levine Instrument strings seem like a small part of the waste stream. But even small things add up quickly. By Charlie...
This $16 Water Filter Could Save 100,000 Lives a Year
Source: ecowatch.com Published: February 25, 2016 The AMRIT water purifier, which Pradeep debuted in 2012, is the first filter of its kind in India. Photo credit: Thalappil Pradeep TakePart By Alex Janin Sixteen dollars. That's the price of a movie ticket plus...
The Bolivian Teenager Turning E-Waste Into Robots
Source: aljazeera.com Published: February 28, 2016 In the landfill near his home, one Bolivian boy collected e-waste to build a robot inspired by the Pixar character Wall-E [Valentino Bellini/Al Jazeera] In the rural town of Patacamaya, Esteban Quispe makes robots...
Solar-Powered Vacuum Could Suck Up 24,000 Tons of Ocean Plastic Every Year
Source: ecowatch.com Published: February 19, 2016 By Lorraine Chow With more plastic than fish expected in our oceans by 2050, cleaning up this mess seems like an impossible task. But a team of inventors from Sussex, England have developed a novel solution. The SeaVax...
Should SF Help Feed the Hungry?
Source: sfexaminer.com Published: February 17, 2016 Sister Mary Valerie, center, hands out bags of popcorn at the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen in San Francisco on Feb. 9. (Jeff Chiu/AP) Robyn Purchia Last week, two nuns who feed San Francisco’s...
Ruminants and Methane: Not the Fault of The Animals
Source: greenleft.org Published: January 15, 2016 Alan Broughton Cattle and sheep are blamed for contributing to greenhouse gases, belching out methane, and farmers in the future are likely to be taxed because of it. The recent Green Left Weekly climate change liftout...
Organic Agriculture Key to Feeding the World Sustainably
Source: sciencedaily.com Published: February 3, 2016 Study analyzes 40 years of science against 4 areas of sustainability Source: Washington State University Washington State University researchers have concluded that feeding a growing global population with...
Nation’s First Regenerative Farm Certification Bill Introduced in Vermont
Source: ecowatch.com Published: February 10, 2016 Jesse McDougall’s farm, Studio Hill, in Shaftsbury, Vermont. BY Kiss the Ground and Regeneration International Kiss the Ground and Regeneration International announced today support for Vermont's Senate Bill 159, a...
Madrid Is Covering Itself in Plants to Help Fight Rising Temperatures
Source: fastcoexist.com Published: February 3, 2016 In Madrid, pretty much every unused space will soon be covered in plants. All Renderings: Arup Vacant lots, city squares, a former highway, and even regular city streets are going to be filled up with trees and...
Japanese Toilets Are Saving Water
Source: youtube.com Published: May 8, 2011 “Forever conscious of saving resources, I was amazed by the simplicity of the Japanese toilet in saving water. Most household toilets in Japan have this feature.” Click here to watch “Japanese Toilets Are Saving Water -...
How Exactly Do Wolves Change Rivers?
Source: happycow.net Published: July 20, 2015 “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”— John Muir – image Click here to watch “How Wolves Change Rivers”: https://youtu.be/ysa5OBhXz-Q When wolves were...
Ethique Makes Solid Beauty Bars with Plastic-Free Packaging
Source: treehugger.com Published: February 18, 2016 © Ethique Katherine Martinko This innovative New Zealand company dares to break the mold when it comes to green packaging, setting the bar high for other companies. The green skincare industry is expanding rapidly as...
Earth Institute Students Help an Urban Farm Rethink Its Future
Source: ecowatch.com Published: February 16, 2016 Students from the sustainability management program who worked on the New Haven Farms project. Photo credit: Tim Lyons By Columbia University In the Fair Haven section of New Haven, Conn., rates of obesity and diabetes...
Can We Recycle Light? And Can It Help Us Fight Global Warming?
Source: pri.org Published: January 31, 2016 A proof-of-concept device built by MIT researchers demonstrates the principle of a two-stage process to make incandescent bulbs more efficient. This device already achieves efficiency comparable to some compact fluorescent...
An Indian City Is Using Plastic Waste to Make Roads
Source: scoopwhoop.com Published: August 29, 2015 Source: India Times Excessive plastic is no longer a problem for Jamshedpur. Thanks to the work of the Jamshedpur Utility and Services Company (JUSCO), which is a subsidiary company of Tata Steel. This city is the...
Glasgow’s First Zero Waste Micro Cafe Opens – in a Tardis
Source: eveningtimes.co.uk Published: February 10, 2016 Glasgow's first zero waste micro cafe opens - in a Tardis By Stacey Mullen Glasgow's iconic Tardis police box is operating as the city's first zero waste micro cafe. Brew Box Coffee was opened in Argyle Street in...
Best Regions for Growing Bioenergy Crops Identified
Source: phys.org Published: February 17, 2016 This figure shows how much water is used to produced one unit of ethanol (defined as water use intensity) for each energy crop. Credit: Atul Jain New research has identified regions in the United States where bioenergy...
Using Solar Power to Purify Water
Source: treehugger.com Published: October 15, 2015 Megan Treacy Screen capture MIT / YouTube The remote jungle village of La Mancalona on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico has gone from a place where clean water was scarce, bottled water expensive and soda much cheaper...
Architecture Students Design Sustainable Learning Center for Blooming Community Garden in L.A.
Source: inhabitat.com Published: January 27, 2016 by Ana Lisa Cal Poly Pomona’s architecture students Kirill Volchinskiy, Hana Lemseffer and Necils Lopez have been working for more than a year on the design of an educational center for ‘Huerta del Valle’, a...
This Startup Turns Plastic Waste into Affordable Housing
Source: unreasonable.is Published: January 15, 2016 Close-up of EcoDom plastic panel. Brittany Lane This post is part of a series of stories featuring the entrepreneurs who participated in Unreasonable Mexico’s second annual program. Enough plastic is thrown away...
Urban Farm Hack: Improve Soil with Sheet Mulch
Source: hobbyfarms.com Published: January 18, 2016 Avoid weeds and build soil with sheet mulch—it’s a heckuva lot easier than weeding the garden! by Lynsey Grosfield There are few places in the natural world—short of deserts, beaches and rocky landscapes—where the...
Syntropic Agriculture
Source: treehugger.com Published: December 22, 2015 Video screen capture Agenda Gotsch Sami Grover When Brazilian farmer Ernst Gotsch bought 1,200 acres of completely deforested land on the edge of the rainforest in 1984, it was known as "Dry Lands." Gotsch, who was...
Patchwork Ploughing: Australian Farmer Creates Huge Geometric Artwork to Fight Soil Erosion
Source: theguardian.com Published: January 19, 2016 A pattern made by a farmer, Brian Fischer, at Ashmore White Suffolk Stud in South Australia in January 2016. Fischer says it’s saving him 15cm of topsoil because the ridges reduce the chance of wind erosion....
Power to The Poop: One Colorado City Is Using Human Waste to Run Its Vehicles
Source: theguardian.com Published: January 16, 2016 Dump trucks refuel with renewable natural gas made from human poop at the Persigo Wastewater Treatment Plant in Grand Junction. Photograph: City of Grand Junction Renewable natural gas is a growing industry for fuel,...
Help a Habitat with Your Hair!
Source: kpwb.org Published: December 10, 2015 Did you ever imagine your extra hair being used to help the environment? Over 200,000 U.S. hair salons and pet groomers cut about two pounds of either hair or fur, PER DAY! Matter of Trust found a resourceful way to use...
The Art and Science of Making a Hugelkultur Bed – Transforming Woody Debris Into a Garden Resource
Source: permaculturenews.org Published: August 3, 2010 Wooden debris will decompose faster, (and be transformed into a resource) when hugelkultur techniques are employed. Melissa Miles Used for centuries in Eastern Europe and Germany, hugelkultur (in German...
A New Bench in Paris Helps You—and Your Cell Phone—Recharge
Source: architecturaldigest.com Published: January 12, 2016 Designer Mathieu Lehanneur creates a solar-powered bench and charging station By Elizabeth Stamp Photography by courtesy of Mathieu Lehanneur When you’re on the go, the only thing harder to find than a spot...
Lasagna Gardening 101: The Lazy, No-Till Garden Method That Works
Source: gardeningchannel.com Published: January 14, 2016 By Julie Christensen Maybe you’re the type of gardener who loves spending hours in the garden – tilling it in the spring and weeding and watering it through the rest of the summer. Perhaps you have a flexible...
New York City Opens SOM-Designed Net-Zero School
Source: bdcnetwork.com Published: November 10, 2015 The Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and Sustainability at Sandy Ground will produce 662,500 kWh of energy, which will offset the amount of energy it consumes. The Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and...
Fruit Walls: Urban Farming in the 1600s
Source: resilience.org Published: January 6, 2016 Picture: fruit walls in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris. By Kris De Decker, originally published by Low-Tech Magazine We are being told to eat local and seasonal food, either because other crops have been tranported over...
Eco Mushroom Is A Solar Streetlight That Can Absorb Vehicle Pollution
Source: inhabitat.com Published: January 4, 2016 Eco Mushroom by RISEpad can remove street pollution by Joe Roads are a highly polluted areas, with polluted air rising up and spreading across an area to create a blanket of toxic atmosphere – not to mention the impact...
Dutch Tower Sucks Smog Out of the Air
Source: grist.org Published: September 18, 2015 Studio Roosegaarde By Katie Herzog Until we collectively decide to give up fossil fuels and power the world with giant hamster wheels, this planet has a bit of an air pollution problem. Now, a team in the...
Pictures from Paris UN COP
Published: December 23, 2015 Matter of Trust President, Lisa Gautier, in Paris for UN COP21 promoting our GlobalCompostProject.org collaborative. Additionally, Lisa will be part of a larger group representing cities and researchers coordinating on climate solutions...
Hamwells Recirculating Shower Saves 80 Percent of Energy, 90 Percent of Water
Source: treehugger.com Published: December 7, 2015 © Hamwells Lloyd Alter The problem with so many energy-saving ideas, from compact fluorescent bulbs to water-saving showers, is that they often deliver a miserable experience. Because there really is nothing like an...
Floating Seabin Trash Collector Could Rid the Oceans of Plastic Waste
Source: inhabitat.com Published: December 22, 2015 by Lidija Grozdanic The automated Seabin marine waste collector demonstrates how sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective. The rubbish bin, designed to float in marinas, inland waterways, residential...
Colorado State Chemists Develop Recyclable, Biodegradable, Petroleum-Free Plastic
Source: sustainablebrands.com Published: December 15, 2015 Hannah Furlong Chemists at Colorado State University (CSU) have developed a new biodegradable polymer. The plastic is made from the bio-renewable monomer Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and it converts back to GBL...
Veuve Clicquot Develops Packaging Made from Grapes
Source: esmmagazine.com Published: December 16, 2015 Champagne brand Veuve Clicquot has developed new, 100-per-cent recyclable packaging made from grape skins mixed with recycled paper. The move forms part of the brand’s commitment to use environmentally responsible...
Transformable Water Bottle Supports Clean Drinking Water Projects
Source: treehugger.com Published: December 16, 2015 © Dopper Margaret Badore Meet Dopper, a Cradle-to-Cradle water bottle company that’s bringing clean water to Nepal. Replacing single-use drink containers with a reusable bottle not only cuts down on trash and...
This Wind Turbine Will Power Your Apartment Without Keeping You Up at Night
Source: grist.org Published: May 30, 2014 By Holly Richmond The nautilus shell took time off from fitness-namesake duty to inspire The Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine, which we are renaming The Not-So-Little Turbine That Could. Dutch firm The Archimedes designed the...
India’s Super Solar Grannies
Source: wearesalt.org Published: October 19, 2015 Photo credit: DFID from Flickr By David W. Smith Grandmothers in rural areas are quashing stereotypes and becoming solar engineers to help solve India’s energy issues, writes David W. Smith At first, Indian villagers...
France Passes ‘Pioneering’ Food Waste Bill To Ban Supermarkets From Binning Unused Food
Source: telegraph.co.uk Published: December 10, 2015 France has passed a law banning supermarkets from binning unused food Photo: Alamy By Henry Samuel France passes new food waste bill obliging supermarkets to hand over unused food to charity and not destroy leftover...
Australian Firm Brings Floating Solar Plant Technology to the U.S.
Source: matteroftrust.org Published: December 9, 2015 Solar technology from Down Under will soon be providing power in California, as the company behind the world’s first-ever floating solar plant just exported its technology to the U.S. CleanTechnica reports that...
LEGO Is Investing $150 Million to Ditch Plastic & Start Creating Their Blocks with Sustainable Materials
Source: matteroftrust.org Published: December 16, 2015 LEGO has announced a plan to develop sustainable manufacturing materials that would allow the toy company to ditch plastic forever. The Denmark-based company is investing millions to create a Sustainable Materials...
Zero Waste Practices From San Francisco (USA) and Contarina (Italy) Show Transition Is Possible
Source: Zerowaste Europe Published: July 3, 2015 The front-runners in the US and the EU when it comes to waste management presented their experiences in Brussels in March 4. A selected audience composed of members of the European Parliament, European Commission...
Is Zero Waste Possible?
Source: matteroftrust.org Published: December 3, 2015 “Preventing waste, recycling and composting are some of the easiest and most cost-effective actions anyone can take to protect our environment and improve human welfare,” says Robert Haley, Zero Waste Manager for...
How Innovations in Packaging Are Preserving Products While Saving the Planet
Source: wastedive.com Published: December 1, 2015 Credit: Flickr user liz west Arlene Karidis We live in a throw-away world, which takes its toll on the environment, demonstrated by such realities as the tonnage of plastics — almost all from packaging — that inundates...
Forever Green Living Christmas Tree Farm
Source: matteroftrust.org Published: December 2, 2015 “Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.” John Muir Here’s what they do at Forever Green :- Our partnerships are what can make it all work out for the better – We provide the very...
Move Over Moonshine – Here Comes Sunshine
Source: scientificamerican.com Published: November 24, 2015 Credit: ©iStock.com Chemists learn to distill alcohol with light instead of heat. Light beer may have new meaning By Simon Hadlington, Chemistry World Researchers in the US have demonstrated a remarkably...
University of Calgary Students Invent ‘WindChill’ Fridge That Requires No Electricity
Source: huffingtonpost.ca Published: November 23, 2015 The WindChill fridge uses evaporation to keep food cool. (Photo: WindChill/Biomimicry.org) The invention was inspired by how some animals regulate their body temperature and can help solve global food waste. By...
This Giant Moroccan Solar Plant Will Bring Energy to 1 Million People
Source: sciencealert.com Published: November 24, 2015 ACWA Power BEC CREW The world’s biggest solar thermal plant is being opened in the Moroccan city of Ouarzazate next month, and it’s expected to bring renewable energy to 1 million locals for 20 hours a day. Built...
World’s First Robotic Farm to Produce 30,000 Heads of Lettuce Per Day
Source: ecowatch.com Published: November 18, 2015 Lorraine Chow A new vegetable factory in Japan will be the world’s first indoor farm without any farmers. Spread, a food technology company focused on sustainable growing, will open its robot-run, 4,800-square-meter...
The World’s First Solar-Powered Bike Path Is Generating More Energy Than Expected
Source: inhabitat.com Published: November 17, 2015 SolaRoad Netherlands Solar Sidewalk Construction by Katie Medlock It’s been one year since an innovative solar-paneled bike path was laid in Krommenie, Netherlands, and the results have even surprised the designers....
The World’s First Carbon Capture Plant Can Convert CO2 into Usable Energy
Source: environmentguru.com Published: November 13, 2015 Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. The innovators at Swiss company Climeworks may have solved the problem of excess CO2 in our atmosphere. By creating a system that converts CO2 into a usable byproduct, they are...
Can ‘Dragon Water’ Power the Planet with Renewable Energy?
Source: ecowatch.com Published: November 5, 2015 Unlimited renewable power lies below geothermal regions like this one in Iceland. Photo credit: Milan Nykodym / Flickr An ambitious project is being launched to drill deep into the Earth’s crust to harness super-heated...
Awesome 5-Minute Video Urges Young People to Start a Farming Revolution
Source: ecowatch.com Published: November 11, 2015 Cole Mellino "Sometimes, you think 'oh everyone is getting into farming, it's the cool thing to do now.' But actually that's not true at all. No one's getting into farming," says one of the young farmers in the video...
How a Simple Orange Peel Sucks Mercury from Oceans
Source: redorbit.com Published: October 23, 2015 Feature Image: Thinkstock By Chuck Bednar Researchers from Flinders University have accidentally discovered a technique to remove toxic mercury from water using a material made entirely of industrial waste and orange...
Grove Launches the Ecosystem to Change the Way We Grow Food
Source: businesswire.com Published: November 3, 2015 The Grove Ecosystem, now available for purchase on Kickstarter, is an intelligent, indoor garden that is set to change the way Americans think about and grow their own food. (Photo: Business Wire) SOMERVILLE,...
BIG Completes First Home for Mountain-Shaped Resort in Taiwan
Source: dezeen.com Published: November 5, 2015 Olivia Mull The first holiday home has been built at the BIG-designed Hualien Residences, a mountain-shaped resort development in Taiwan (+ slideshow). Photograph by BIG The 1,000-square-metre house is the first building...
World’s Largest Floating Windfarm Gets Green Light in Scotland
Source: theguardian.com Published: November 2, 2015 Construction on the UK’s first floating offshore windfarm is to begin in 2016. Photograph: Øyvind Hagen / Statoil ASA Hywind Scotland project will see deployment of five floating turbines off coast of Peterhead,...
EVENT – UN COP21 Paris Events
Source: matteroftrust.org Published: November 4, 2015 For the French version of this page click here. Check out our Twitter and Facebook updates live from Paris throughout the conference or pictures here. Paris, France is hosting the United Nations’...
Carnegie To Create World’s First Wave-Integrated Renewable Energy Microgrid
Source: cleantechnica.com Published: November 2, 2015 Originally published on RenewEconomy. By Sophie Vorrath Western Australian wave power company Carnegie Wave Energy has revealed that it is collaboration with WA network operator Western Power to develop the world’s...
15-Year-Old Develops $12 Machine That Converts Ocean Currents into Usable Electricity
Source: inhabitat.com Published: November 1, 2015 Herbst receives her cash prize from the 2014 winner. By Cat DiStasio 15-year-old inventor Hannah Herbst developed a low-cost method of producing energy from ocean currents – and her idea won top prize at the 2015...
Kids Create Street Art That Generates Solar Power
Source: takepart.com Published: October 23, 2015 (Photo: Land Art Generation Initiative) A Pittsburgh project is designed to light up a disadvantaged neighborhood and show an alternative-energy future in a coal state. Kristine Wong Pennsylvania’s coal industry may be...
Plant a Tree in Madagascar, Just by Watching A Very Short Video
Source: treehugger.com Published: October 29, 2015 © WeGive.io Derek Markham Watching a 45 second video triggers a donation from a private company so that Eden Projects can pay villagers to plant trees - up to 10,000 of them. What if you could help boost the efforts...
Nanoleaf Launches New Smart Hub That Allows You to Control Your Lighting Using Siri
Source: matteroftrust.org Published: October 29, 2015 The Nanoleaf Smarter Kit uses the Zigbee protocol to communicate with up to 50 compatible lights in a 50-meter wireless range Internet-connected LED bulbs offer greater energy efficiency and remote-controlled...
Nokero Believes It Has Created the World’s Most Efficient Solar Light
Source: treehugger.com Published: October 20, 2015 © Nokero Derek Markham Using a clean and renewable source of light, such as this solar LED lamp, can help families avoid both the high cost and the dirty effects of using kerosene or candles for illumination....
Composting Leaves: How To Turn Fall Leaves Into Your Best Gardens Ever.
Source: planetnatural.com Published: October 16, 2015 By E. Vinje We’ve often said that composting can save the world. Here’s one of the ways. During the fall, our yards and landscapes yield tons of refuse, much of it the form of leaves. Those leaves, bagged and...
The Secret Behind Norway’s Electric Car Revolution
Source: huffingtonpost.com Published: October 16, 2015 Yui Mok/PA Archive The tiny Nordic country is beating the world in the switch. By Alexander C. Kaufman Norway is speeding past other countries in the electric car race. The trick, it seems, is setting high vehicle...
One Plastic Bag
Source: writeforkids.org Published: April 18, 2015 Just in time for Earth Day, picture book author Miranda Paul talks about her new picture book, One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia, how to write impactful stories for children, and why...
Do We Treat Our Soil Like Dirt?
Source: nationalgeographic.com Published: October 15, 2015 NOTE: This is an abridged version. Membership subscription to National Geographic is required to view the full article. By Dennis Dimick That question headlining a 1984 National Geographic article on soils...
Poetry in Motion: Power Plant Will Use Ocean Tides to Power 155K Homes
Source: goodnewsnetwork.org Published: October 14, 2015 By Terry Turner This planned power plant in Wales may look like the Guggenheim Museum but its benefits far outweigh the beauty: it will use the rise and fall of ocean tides to generate enough renewable...
Pilot Program Aims to Save Jamaica Bay’s Shrinking Marshes
Source: nytimes.com Published: October 14, 2015 John K. McLaughlin, of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, looking at artificial wetlands (or wave attenuators) off Brant Point, Queens. Yana Paskova for The New York Times By Lisa W. Foderaro At first...
Dutch Firm Set to Build Africa’s Largest-Ever Wind Farm Around Remote Kenyan Lake
Source: masomagroup.com Published: October 12, 2015 A new 310-megawatt turbine installation coming to one of Kenya’s most remote regions is set to become Africa’s largest wind farm ever – and the biggest Kenyan infrastructure project in 50 years....
New York City’s Poop Train
Source: mentalfloss.com Published: July 28, 2015 Wikimedia Commons BY Emily Becker Most of us don’t give a second thought to what happens after we flush, but our daily leftovers have to end up somewhere. In New York City, where residents create approximately 1200 tons...
D.C.’s Crap Is Finally Being Put to Good Use: Generating Clean Energy
Source: grist.com Published: October 8, 2015 Shutterstock By Katie Herzog D.C., the American city most full of shit, is now powered by it. The Washington Post reports that utility D.C. Water recently started using a Norwegian thermal hydrolysis system to turn sewage...
England Joined Countries Like Scotland And Italy In Placing Restrictions on Plastic Bags
Source: mnn.com Published: October 7, 2015 This interactive map shows where plastic bags have been banned (green pins), where there is now a fee for them (blue pins), and where bans have been attempted but failed (red pins). Sadly, most of the red pins are in the...
Earth Gets A Surge of New Ocean Sanctuaries
Source: mnn.com Published: October 8, 2015 A green sea turtle swims under Midway Island Pier at Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. (Photo: Greg McFall/NOAA) Russell McLendon Earth is on the brink of a sea change. Its oceans are still mostly wild, without the...
PLATFORM – Excess Access (now The Hum Sum) 1998 – 2018
Excess Access has morphed into our HumSum.org platform. HELP US TEST OUR NEW BETA DONATION SYSTEM! IT IS UP AND RUNNING MATCHING GIFTS AND WISHES! NEW Free Exchange on our TheHumSum.net TO DONATE ITEMS & MATERIALS (including hair), please sign up...
Apple Announces Wave Power R&D Investment in Ireland
Source: treehugger.com Published: November 11, 2015 © OPT Michael Graham Richard In the past few years - ever since Tim Cook became CEO, really - Apple has been cleaning up its act on the environmental front. They've eliminated many toxins from their products, made...
EVENT – Zero Waste Flash Mob – 2015
We know that the world needs a healthier environment and every one of us is needed to participate in the solution. Zero Waste Flash Mobs are our way of inspiring people to work together in creating that environment. Zero Waste Flash Mobs pump positive, human...
SUMMER CAMP – LEAF Academy – 2015
Check out our new LEAF Internship Programs There are internship opportunities here: http://matteroftrust.org/ecocenter/opportunities Or volunteer opportunities here: http://matteroftrust.org/volunteer Archived Info on previous LEAF Summer Camps is below. The...
Retrend Alert Adidas, Parley Create World’s First Sneakers Made From Ocean Trash
Source: goodnewsfortheearth.org Published: July 1, 2015 www.ecouterre.com | “Adidas’s newest sneaker is a load of garbage—ocean garbage, that is. The sportswear giant has teamed up with Parley for the Oceans, a multidisciplinary band of ‘creators, thinkers and...
China, Brazil, and the U.S. All Unveil New Climate Goals
Source: grist.org Published: June 30, 2015 By John Light Three of the world’s biggest polluters — China, Brazil, and the U.S. — all announced new strategies to tackle climate change today. China unveiled its long-awaited pledge for the U.N. climate talks to be held in...
Japanese Preschool Designed to Collect Rainwater to Delight Puddle Jumping Kids
Source: inhabitat.com Published: June 25, 2015 by Ana Lisa Kids all over the world go mad about puddles, while the adults are often overly concerned their children might get wet, cold and eventually fall ill. But this unique school in Japan encourages kids to play...
Landfill Harmonic
Source: landfillharmonicmovie.com Published: June 30, 2015 Landfill harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a paraguayan musical youth group of kids that live next to one of South America’s largest landfills. This unlikely orchestra plays music from...
Landfill Harmonic Trailer
Source: landfillharmonicmovie.com Published: June 4, 2015 Landfill harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a paraguayan musical youth group of kids that live next to one of South America’s largest landfills. This unlikely orchestra plays music from...
World’s Thinnest Light Bulb Created from Graphene
Source: livescience.com Published: June 15, 2015 When a current was run through strips of graphene that were placed across a trench of silicon, the result was light emission. (Image: © Young Duck Kim/Columbia Engineering) By Jesse Emspak Graphene, a form of carbon...
Stretchy ‘Origami Batteries’ Could Power Smart Clothing
Source: mnn.com Published: June 16, 2015 The bendable and foldable batteries created by engineers at Arizona State University. (Photo: Arizona State University/Vimeo) Even while sewn into a stretchy wristband, the folded batteries could power a device. Charles Q....
Old City Buses to Be Reborn as Homeless Shelters in Hawaii
Source: inhabitat.com Published: June 16, 2015 Images © Group 70 International by Charley Cameron Honolulu has come under fire in the past year for inadequately addressing homelessness on the island of Oahu; with police officers citing the homeless for a variety of...
Amazon to Build Large 80-MW Solar Farm in Virginia
Source: treehugger.com Published: June 16, 2015 Megan Treacy Fresh off Greenpeace's report card last month that showed Amazon lagging far behind other tech companies when it comes to renewable energy generation and transparency about how it plans to meet energy goals,...
FESTIVAL – Carbon, Compost, Climate! Event Tent June 18–21, 2015
June 18--21, 2015 Carbon, Compost and Climate Tent Presidio Main Parade Ground Tent 104 Montgomery St San Francisco CA If you're made of carbon... So everybody... We hope you'll come by and visit! We are taking this opportunity to showcase innovative, green...
Charger Ends Vampire Power Draw and Helps Prevent Home Fires
Source: inhabitat.com Published: June 9, 2015 Devices left plugged in draw power. by Asmo Saloranta After his fiancee’s home was burned to the ground by a mobile phone charger that was left plugged in, Finland-based Asmo Saloranta decided to create a charger...