Not only posing significant risks for Earth’s natural systems, the effects of global warming on humans and human systems have only recently begun receiving the expanded attention they critically require. From hazardous effects causing potential loss of life, injury, or other negative health impacts, to the potential exposure of social, economic, and infrastructure assets to
Originally published on InspiredEconomist.com The world’s oceans are vast, floating dumps for plastic pollution. Without a serious plan for cleaning up the world’s oceans, this situation is dire and becoming worse every day. With a goal of retrieving and recycling 400,000 flip flops a year from the coast of Kenya, one small start-up in Nairobi
Solar power is growing like warts on a troll these days. If it were a disease, we’d have a full-blown epidemic. From $0-down leases to $0-down solar loans, there are easy ways to go solar these days. Even your grandmother can do it. But what are the actual pros and cons of solar power these
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org Taking action to conserve nearly half of Suriname, native tribes have joined in the efforts to protect the Amazon Biome. Declaring an indigenous conservation corridor spanning 72,000 square kilometers (27,799 square miles) of southern Suriname, the Trio and Wayana Communities of Suriname presented a declaration of cooperation to the National Assembly
Storing solar energy in a battery in Spain is more criminal than spilling radioactive waste. That’s the implied message written between the lines of a recently drafted law poised for fast-track approval by the government of Spain. Proposed fines for residential and SME use of solar energy self-consumption will be as high as €60 million
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org Sitting under a tent in the bright, clean sunshine of Qatar, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser listened intently as His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani shared an inspiration with her. It was early 1995, and together the noble couple conceived a plan for the post-carbon, cleantech future of
Seven billion dreams. One Planet. Consume with care. Those are the messages of today, which is World Environment Day everywhere. It’s the biggest day for positive environmental action! The United Nations declares this day every year to energize worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Stakeholders in over 100 countries celebrate through public outreach every June 5. This
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org With a population of about 700 people, the village of Sone in West Timor, Indonesia is famous throughout the region for its production of beautiful, traditional fabrics. Located close to a mountain summit, Sone is completely off the electricity grid. With the hope of learning about the challenges of living in
Update: Solar Impulse 2 Has Been Diverted to Nagoya Japan (Video) “It’s going to be the moment of truth,” said Andre Borschberg, the solar airplane pilot ready for the flight of his life. “We’ve done a lot of tests, but we’ve never done this… I’ll tell you, the engineers are quite nervous.” Testing the nerves of
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org A new IRENA report provides a 5-year plan for using Djibouti’s abundant renewable energy sources to solve the nation’s serious concerns regarding rising energy demand, limited energy security, and rampant unemployment. Astonishingly, IRENA claims that by 2020, 100% of Djibouti’s energy demand can be met through renewables. The economic renaissance that
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org From deep down in the Earth, 300,000 barrels of oil a day are filled in the Autonomous Republic of Bashkortostan. Nevertheless, this oil-wealthy majority Muslim nation is expanding its economic energy in the direction of up. High up into the sky to be specific. Turning its energy and attention to the
Using a unique business model to sell solar lights in rural African off-grid communities, SolarAid aims to eradicate the dangerous and toxic kerosene lamp from Africa by 2020. Working in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Uganda, the lives of over 10 million people in Africa are being improved through solar technology. Announcing another record-breaking year,
(Originally published on InspiredEconomist.com) With funding from Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation, the Arbor Day Foundation is once again planting 1 million trees throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe this year. This is the tenth year in a row for Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) reforestation initiative, marking the tenth anniversary of its 50 Million
(Originally published on EdenKeeper.org) As part of its Social Innovations mission to bring energy independence to 20 million people by 2020, SunEdison, Inc. is installing a 100 kilowatt (kW) solar rooftop system on the Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home in India. Enabling the approximately 700 students to gain energy independence, the new solar installation will help
With more than one billion people around the earth celebrating Earth Day this week, you might be looking for something new to do to show your interest in saving the planet. Compiled below are six great ideas that just might inspire you.
Four new 100% electric community shuttle buses have hit the road in the beautiful Silicon Valley city of Mountain View, California. The four electric shuttles are free to the public, thanks to Google, and are equipped with seating for 16 passengers, a wheelchair lift, space for two wheelchairs, Wi-Fi connectivity, and bicycle racks on the outside
A recent Floridians For Solar Choice news release relates a breakthrough for Florida and hopefully a bright note for diversity in a backwards state. A broad coalition of Floridians have put forward a ballot initiative for more renewable energy in the state, via policies allowing more renewable energy business models. Conservative groups and others have gathered with lefty
It’s so nice to measure out your powdered laundry detergent precisely with that little plastic scoop that the manufacturer provides in every box. Maybe one scoop for colors, two for whites, half for woolens, etc. But have you ever thought, as you threw out the little plastic scoop, that every single box or bag of
It wasn’t until recently that American business started discovering that what’s good for the planet is also good for the bottom line. In fact, the link between green and profit is still pretty hidden, especially from consumers. It shouldn’t be: thus the national television rollout of So Right So Smart. The award-winning feature revolves around
There has long been a huge gap in the solar market, a gap between large, utility-scale solar projects and rooftop solar projects. It would be a disservice to numerous companies, organizations, citizen investors, and solar-supportive politicians to say that there has been nothing between those two installation types, but this middle space has long been
Originally published on EV Obsession. Some good people at Urban Foresight, the International Energy Agency, the Electric Vehicles Initiative, and Clean Energy Ministerial have put together an “EV City Casebook” that I highly recommend checking out (it’s free). The focus of the casebook is a summary of “50 big ideas shaping the future of electric mobility.” We’ll be
This morning (November 19, 2014) something good got done again about climate change. At the National Press Club in Washington, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced top honors for seven environment visionaries–Champions of the Earth–who have served the planet well. Those honored as United Nations Champions of the Earth 2014 Laureates: H.E Tommy Remengesau, President of Palau Achim
Jeff Turrentine has some insights for us in today’s onEarth blog about the fate of cities during climate change. He takes a quick look at five cities around the world that are prepping for climate change… and five that are slacking, perhaps terminally. Turrentine’s basic premise, and it resonates with me, is that climate change will touch every
Food is a problem. Food is the solution. Many urban areas suffering from depression of the economy suffer from the lack of whole food, good foods. A liquor store and a vacant lot are alright. However, try to plant green gardens, so you don’t have to drive 45 minutes to buy something besides fast food
Living off the grid has great appeal to a lot of people. It sounds idyllic. You are no longer dependent on broader society (well, at least not for electricity). You no longer send your money to a greedy monopoly month after month. You largely rely on the clean electricity generated by your rooftop solar panels
Everybody knows (or should know) that solar energy is clean and green, but there are actually many advantages of solar energy. I’ll run down 11 of them here. I’d also throw in disadvantages of solar energy, but there’s basically just one. Since the sun doesn’t shine 24/7, we need to use other sources of electricity and need to
This year, we have seen the largest-ever outpouring of reporting and planning for inevitable climate change in the Anthropocene. One of the latest studies, REthinking Energy, draws on worldwide research and financial analysis to form some conclusions about changing our mix of energy, one of the major drivers of the phenomenon, as earth’s population continues to
I know, “unstealths” is used more for startups than for educational programs, but I thought unstealths sounded more interesting for this New York solar school program than the standard alternatives. The program, K-Solar, is part of the $1 billion NY-Sun Initiative. 40 school districts have registered for the program. They are home to ~200 schools.
If you have concerns about climate, or even if you don’t, set aside a day in September for learning and another 24 hours within the next year for doing. And please tell your friends. The September day begins at noon on September 16. At this time, 24 Hours of Reality: 24 Reasons for Hope will come to
Originally published on CleanTechnica. On a cleantech speaking tour of Ukraine, I was introduced to a wicked awesome coworking space in Kiev, Chasopys. Pictures below. Ukrainian green incubator Greencubator and solar company Activ Solar hosted me on a cleantech speaking tour around Ukraine last year. Lucky for me, this was before all of the political turmoil there
Almost every practicing climate scientist on the planet has made it clear: the world is warming (i.e., heating up) and human activities are the reason. Almost every if not every national science academy has backed up this point. Popular scientific experts like Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and Neil deGrasse Tyson have done the same thing. Now, Republican
So are you one of the quarter-million people who have seen the Japanese giant salamander on YouTube? If so, good for you. As you can see below, it showed up on twitter in Japan around noon on July 4, which must have been the 5th (Saturday) in the States, thanks to the International Date Line. The mainstream
On Tuesday, one big handy graphic appeared online detailing what every state governor really believes about climate change. The Center for American Progress released an interactive map of the 50 states. It details the sad fact that half of America’s 29 Republican governors agree with the anti-science caucus of Congress. Tiffany Germain And Ryan Koronowski, who wrote the
As most of us now know, a “cookie” in this sense (a.k.a, HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie) is a teensy piece of data a website sends to a user’s web browser while the user is on that website. When the user loads the website again, the browser passes on information stored with the
The EPA’s new rules proposed for power plant emissions may have changed a few minds about the seriousness of climate change. Polling 1,005 U.S. adults, a report published yesterday finds that many US citizens say they would pay more for energy if their contribution would reduce climate change caused by pollution. The vote is nearly
Award-winning proposed Aktivhaus apartment tower at Skyline Plaza complex in Frankfurt (skyscrapercity.com) The European residential high-rise boom has a green twist these days. Magnus Kaminiarz & Cie unanimously won a top design award this spring for a remarkable apartment tower at the Skyline Plaza complex in Frankfurt. Kaminiarz will produce not only the tallest residential
Sustainable redevelopment strikes again! The Atlanta BeltLine, one of nation’s largest, widest-ranging urban redevelopment programs, will develop the Westside Trail. Plans call for a three-mile-long, 14-foot-wide concrete multi-use path in the BeltLine’s southwest corridor. As well as a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the US Department of Transportation, which is covering 42%
If you’re looking for answers about greenhouse gas pollution and other climate indicators, you’ll get a quick step up from the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT 2.0) produced by the World Resources Institute. (WRI is a global research organization founded in the early 80s that works closely with leaders “to turn big ideas into action
Hope you are not one of the 8+ million people who has already seen this since it first posted less than a week ago: “Kids React to Old Computers.” Does it make you feel (1) prehistoric? (2) cool? or (3) bored? (Extra points if you know exactly what I’m referring to when I say I
In an example of just how wrong stereotypes can be, the recent move by the Ohio State Senate to freeze the state’s renewable standard, along with its energy efficiency program, at 2014 levels for the next two years, is being strongly opposed by a number of (very possibly Republican) faith leaders in the region. Not
More imminent than deadly viruses or terrorists at national events is the phenomenon of climate change, a force examined in a groundbreaking new report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Titled National Landmarks at Risk: How Rising Seas, Floods and Wildfires are Threatening the United States’ Most Cherished Historic Sites, the study examines
In the wake of dire warnings about the future and current threats of global warming and climate change from the US government, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the International Energy Agency (IEA), it’s clear that we need to tackle our illogical fossil fuel addiction fast. It’s critical that we tackle this issue
Last week something rare and extraordinarily positive occurred on American television. Fortunately, through YouTube and 350.org, the rest of the world got to see it too. “Something positive?” a critic questions. “If climate change is as bad as you tree-hugger people claim it is, how can anything about it be positive?” The phenomenon tends to
Part ‘history of’, part ‘how to’, and a good portion hype, Super Cells ~ Building With Biology, by Nina Tandon and Mitchell Joachim, is a fascinating, inspiring, and not-infrequently self-promoting/congratulating celebration of the “collision of Biology, Design and Digital Fabrication.” The book heralds a new movement referred to as bio-design (or biodesign) in which diverse designers appropriate the
By Dayna Reggero The upcoming SHOWTIME® docu-series, Years of Living Dangerously, premiering on April 13, provides an opportunity to meet the people and see the places affected by climate change. Sharing these stories is a host of major film, television and news figures, including Jessica Alba, Mark Bittman, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, and many more.
Just watch it: Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in… well, some of us.
There are a lot of great Bill Maher clips out there. He’s great at not only writing funny jokes, but also pull out amazing facts and stats to highlight. Watch this video below, share it, and check out & share the text facts shared again below the video. http://youtu.be/pcKMd49wDRk The 85 richest people own more
We often take it for granted that democracy is the best way for us to run our societies. In democratic countries, governments are given consent to rule and legitimacy by the people through the electoral process, and elected governments are presumed to be generally representative of public opinion. But how well does democracy function
