Who is Leading the Way to Sustainability in Travel Tech?
Sustainability is at the forefront of peoples’ minds more than ever before, and with the 2021 COP26 Summit in Glasgow, Scotland still fresh in our collective psyche, travelers are looking for ways to enjoy a much-deserved vacation that doesn’t put unnecessary stress on the environment. These leaders in sustainability are...
Converting CO2 to Sugar: Air Company’s Winning Plan
The Air Company in New York has won first place in NASA's CO2 Conversion Challenge. The competition was for competitors to come up with a way that CO2 conversion could allow future inhabitants of the planet to manufacture products using Mars’ atmospheric carbon dioxide and water as resources. In hopes that someday we can sustain life...
How a few geothermal plants could solve America’s lithium supply crunch and boost the EV battery industry
Bryant Jones, Boise State University and Michael McKibben, University of California, Riverside Geothermal energy has long been the forgotten member of the clean energy family, overshadowed by relatively cheap solar and wind power, despite its proven potential. But that may soon change – for an unexpected reason. Geothermal...
What Do 10,000 Companies’ Climate Plans Reveal?
A group of researchers seeking data have assisted 10,000 different companies, which are backed by some of the world’s largest investment firms. What are they assisting with? Navigating and understanding businesses’ climate change plans. TPI's Goals The Transition Pathway Initiative and London School of Economics are teaming up...
Robotic Food Delivery? It’s Coming
Imagine ordering out from your favorite short-order restaurant half-asleep, pining for that first cup of coffee. The delivery arrives, you look up — and find a robot with your order. And these robotics don’t have arms … “Make that five cups of coffee,” you probably want to say — just to drive this surreal dream out of your...
Green-Powered Musicians: The Ultimate Unplugged Music
Longtime traveling musician-storyteller Jason Walsmith and his wife, Emma, got around the pandemic shutdown by playing shows anywhere they could set up — which is to say, everywhere. The secret? A van power system unlike any other. Sidelined Like many touring and recording musicians, Jason Walsmith found himself suddenly...
Going Green at the Tokyo Summer Olympics
First published in the Winter 2021 issue of Sustianability Today. When it finally arrived a year late, the Tokyo Summer Olympics proved to be an amazing two weeks of world and Olympic record-setting performances, a number of huge surprises, one great feat after another. As Olympics should be. But these Games also featured something...
An Infrastructure Bill with a Sustainable Twist
When Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, they also ushered in something new — a major commitment to a clean energy future. For the past decade, we’ve experienced quite a few unsettling things, including crumbling roads and bridges, highways that badly need expansion to alleviate city traffic, and the terrible ways...
How Brad Pitt’s Green Housing Dream for Katrina Survivors Turned Into a Nightmare
Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation built 109 eye-catching and affordable homes in New Orleans for a community where many people were displaced by damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Now this housing development is in disarray. The vast majority of the recently constructed homes are riddled with construction-related problems...
Manchester Powers Global Innovation — Making New Thinking A Reality
Manchester, the city that drove the original Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century, is powering innovation across global markets and our journey toward a Net Zero future. With a metropolitan economy worth £62.8 billion (GVA) ($85.6 billion USD), it’s one of the UK’s fastest-growing cities and home to thriving business...
4 New Year’s resolutions for a healthier environment in 2022
Viniece Jennings, Agnes Scott College When many people think of New Year’s resolutions, they brainstorm ways to improve themselves for the year ahead. What if we expanded those aspirations to include resolutions that benefit our communities, society, and the planet, too? It might not be a typical approach, but it can broaden...
Tornadoes and Climate Change: What a Warming World Means for Deadly Twisters
John Allen, Central Michigan University The deadly tornado outbreak that tore through communities from Arkansas to Illinois on the night of Dec. 10-11, 2021, was so unusual in its duration and strength, particularly for December, that a lot of people including the U.S. president are asking what role climate change might have played...
3 Overlooked Industries Helping to Push Renewable Energy and Sustainable Resources Forward
There’s no doubt we have reached a point of climate crisis. The decisions we make and actions we take as a society now could have grave consequences for our planet. As a technologically and scientifically advanced society, you might think we have the tools we need to counter issues and thrive in the decades beyond. But it’s not...
In the fight against climate change, China is doing more than you think — but still not enough
Phillip Stalley, DePaul University When it comes to climate change, no nation is more important than China. It consumes more coal than the rest of the world combined, and it is the leading emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for nearly 30% of global emissions. Unless China takes rapid steps to control its greenhouse gas...
Bringing Paper and Fiber Products Full Circle with Sustainable Innovation
Today’s consumers are eco-conscious in their expectations of brands. The long-used manufacturing model of producing, using, and discarding packaging and products is now unacceptable. In fact, the majority of Millennials (71%) and Gen Zs (67%) say addressing climate change should be a top issue, however, 60% of Millennials and Gen Zs...
How Manchester is making material gains for cities of the future
Manchester’s international reputation for innovation is entering new realms — with an ambitious community of experts, next-generation materials, new investment, and big plans for the future. Recognized as one of the most innovative cities in the world, the city that was at the center of the Industrial Revolution, is delivering...
Anthony Cross’ Love of Sustainable Innovation Gives a Fresh New Look at Electric Motorcycles
When the pandemic hit, Anthony Cross faced a daunting choice: do I keep publishing Salt magazine, or venture into something equally or more beneficial for the community? The Colorado-based publisher leaned into his lifelong love of cars and desire for a more sustainable world and hit upon an idea — a new way forward in electric...
Electrify America Jolts Rural Areas in Southern California with Solar Charging Stations
In the ambitious push to install EV charging stations across the country, rural areas have largely seemed left behind and underserved. Increased efforts are underway to rectify that situation through access to solar charging in suitable geographic areas. One of the biggest campaigns to provide rural areas access to solar charging...
6 priorities could deliver energy breakthroughs at the Glasgow climate summit – there’s progress on some of them already
Dolf Gielen, Colorado School of Mines and Morgan Bazilian, Colorado School of Mines Much of the news coming out of the U.N. climate conference has focused on the spectacle, and how countries’ pledges aren’t on track to prevent dangerous climate change. But behind the scenes, there is reason for hope. In many countries, the...
Top 10 Sustainable Fashion Companies
By Melissa Jenkins & Destiny Nolan Fashion companies have gotten the message loud and clear: sustainable practices, hiring choices, materials selection, growing of plants needed to make materials, and disposal and recycling of waste and used product is not only all the rage, but also entirely necessary for staying in business in...
Arctic sea ice hits its minimum extent for the year – 2 NASA scientists explain what’s driving the overall decline
Alek Petty, NASA and Linette Boisvert, NASA September marks the end of the summer sea ice melt season and the Arctic sea ice minimum when sea ice over the Northern Hemisphere ocean reaches its lowest extent of the year. For ship captains hoping to navigate across the Arctic, this is typically their best chance to do it, especially...
These 3 energy storage technologies can help solve the challenge of moving to 100% renewable electricity
Kerry Rippy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory In recent decades, the cost of wind and solar power generation has dropped dramatically. This is one reason that the U.S. Department of Energy projects that renewable energy will be the fastest-growing U.S. energy source through 2050. However, it’s still relatively expensive to...
Coral Reef Restoration Technology May Reverse Climate Change Damage
The world is experiencing record-breaking summer temperatures. As the heat increased, various individuals flooded the beaches searching for relief. Some may consider the heightened surface temperature’s effect on aquatic ecosystems while swimming in the ocean. In the 2000s, researchers began witnessing an increase in coral...
Leading Experts Urge Applying The Power of Quantum Technology To Sustainability In New Documentary
A new documentary - Quantum Technology | Our Sustainable Future from The Quantum Daily, developed in partnership with Oxford Instruments Nanoscience – was released today with a call from industry experts to leverage the power of quantum computing in addressing the world's urgent sustainability...
A Lifetime of Playing with Sharks
Valerie Taylor has called more attention to the plight of sharks than anyone alive. Now, she’s the subject and star of a Disney+ documentary. Valerie Taylor doesn’t like to follow directions all the time — which puts her in good stead with her lifelong friends. These aren’t just any lifelong friends, either. While many on...
Crayola and OceanX Announce Tidal Wave Partnership
Crayola, the premier children's creativity brand, and OceanX, a leading global non-profit ocean exploration organization, are partnering to bring the wonders of the ocean to the next generation through imagination and creativity in the first collaboration of its kind for both parties. The multi-faceted relationship aligns with both...
Sustainability in … Cotton Swabs?
We’ve all seen the heartbreaking image of the seahorse clinging to a Q-tip, taken by environmental activist and wildlife photographer Justin Hofman, underscoring the desperate need to reduce plastic waste from winding up in the ocean. But you’re not in charge of where your trash goes, right? What can one person do to ease the steady...
How Robotics Can Help Address the Global Food Crisis
By Dr. Cristian Dima, Lead of Advanced Algorithms, John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group Agriculture is one of the most important industries in the world. Farmers need to feed, fuel, and clothe the growing population, which is expected to increase by 2 billion people in the next 30 years, raising the global food demand by 50...
Why ‘Microbial Area Kleaners’ Can Help Save Our Seas
EMT CEO Randall Mount addresses the benefits of MAKs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a third of the commercial fishing industry’s revenue vanished, subjecting the entire industry to vulnerabilities for which it simply couldn’t prepare. According to NOAA, restaurant closures heavily impacted the seafood industry, social...
Klarna Partners With Milkywire: The Tech Behind These Two Companies
Klarna has chosen Milkywire as their strategic sustainability partner to launch Klarna's “Give One” initiative to help the planet. Let’s look at the tech surrounding both of these companies. What is Klarna? Klarna, short for Klarna Bank AB, is a Swedish banking firm that works with retailers to allow customers to make...