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  • The Kitchen Garden Series upends the textiles industry by reviving an old Philly tradition: producing local linen

    A former costume designer and a farmer in Pennsylvania are partnering together to grow flax to produce their own linen. Since the fashion and textiles industries produce a lot of waste, the duo are reviving the crop that was traditionally grown in the area to raise awareness on the importance of a strong local textile supply chain. While harvesting the crop can be labor intensive and they don’t plan on making a profit from it this year, they hope to show that growing flax could be a staple crop in urban agriculture.

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  • How Montana Is Cleaning Up Abandoned Oil Wells

    Abandoned oil wells in Montana leak thousands of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year, so the Well Done Foundation is working to plug up those wells. In about a year, the foundation plugged its first three wells and expanded their program to other states. The data on the state of abandoned wells and its emissions isn’t complete, which makes it difficult to know the full extent of the problem. But, “what’s exciting about this is that we can make an impact one well at a time,” says Curtis Shuck, founder of the foundation.

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  • Aquarium Fish, Hold the Cyanide

    LINI for Reef to Aquarium, works with local villagers to implement sustainable fishing practices and restore reef habitats damaged by neurotoxins used to catch fish for the saltwater aquarium fish trade. LINI, with the community’s help, installed cement domes to provide refuges for ornamental fish in 2008. These alternative spots for collecting fish effectively removed pressure from natural reefs and by 2011, live coral cover had increased by 35% and continues to do well today. Villagers also started a land-based breeding program to take pressure off of the coral reefs.

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  • A taste of honey: how bees mend fences between farmers and elephants Audio icon

    As the habitats of wild elephants shrink, conservationists in India are developing safer ways to reduce the number of conflicts between humans and the animal. The Wildlife Research and Conservation Society uses chili smoke and beehive fences as natural ways to divert elephants away from farmers’ crops. Since they started, there have been no casualties related to human-elephant conflict. The nonprofit Wildlife SOS uses radio collars to track the herd’s movement and alerts local villagers via WhatsApp of any potential conflicts. However, the success of some methods vary depending on the time of year.

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  • Raising Nature on Florida Ranchlands

    Ranchers and conservationists in Florida are working together to lobby for policies that preserve their farmland, protect wildlife species, and conserve water instead of turning it over to be developed. The Sunshine State has experimented with conservation incentive programs like payments for panther habitat restoration, reimbursements for livestock losses, and water storage projects but most of these programs have had mixed success and are often underfunded.

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  • Work to save PH eagles won't stop for pandemic

    Despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Eagle Foundation is turning to digital tools and the internet to continue their work of saving the critically endangered species. Since March, the organization rescued four eagles and used telemedicine via the Messenger app to share proper information about how to care for the birds. However, weak Wi-Fi signals sometimes get in the way of treatment.

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  • AI & Big Data Will Lead to Better Conservation

    Naturalists are using technology like smartphone cameras and artificial intelligence to better track animal and plant conservation efforts across the United States. The online platform eButterfly allows users to share photos of butterflies that can inform scientists about how certain species’ ranges are shifting. Colorado Parks and Wildlife use a version of AI to identify and count species photographed by camera traps. While, AI could allow scientists to sort through more images and map out more complex ecological relationships, machine-learning algorithms take time to set up and large datasets to train.

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  • The growing global movement to end outdoor advertising

    There are 29 Resistance to Advertising Aggression (RAP) groups working in France to ban outdoor advertising such as billboards. The groups worked with the mayor in the city of Grenoble to cancel a contract for 326 outdoor ads. While not all contracts can be changed, RAPs are particularly focused on stopping digital signs because the energy required to run them is harmful to the environment. Groups in the United Kingdom, São Paulo, New Delhi, and Tehran have won campaigns to remove billboards and other outdoor ads, which research shows reinforce sexist and capitalist ideologies.

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  • The ‘solar canals' making smart use of India's space

    Covering canals with solar panels has allowed Indian communities to save land, water and carbon emissions, and even bring electricity to rural villages. The solar panels are suspended on metal structures over the canal, which can generate electricity for farmers and be fed into the state grid or sold to public utilities. While these canal-top solar power plants can be expensive to build, so far, eight Indian states have commissioned canal solar projects.

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  • How Europe's Greenest Capital Is Saving City Trees

    Cities around the world are using apps and interactive platforms to encourage resident volunteers to care for their urban forests. For example, in Berlin, Gieß den Kiez (Water the Neighborhood) is an app that allows users to watch their local trees and water them in times of need. When the app launched, there were 1,000 unique users and over 7,000 individual tree waterings in the first six weeks. However, the cost of planting and maintaining trees can be expensive and where the trees are located in cities and who benefits from them is not always equitable.

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