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  • Breaking Buildings' Addiction to Fossil Fuels

    December 10, 2020 |

    Gimlet Media |

    Podcast |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, New York, New York

    BlocPower retrofits buildings with energy-efficient equipment in financially underserved communities by offering loans to building owners for no money down. The company has completed about 1,000 projects by bundling the financing for many projects and finding investors willing to provide capital for the larger sum, which reduces investor risk. The group also created technology to reduce the costs of building inspections and energy usage monitoring. The new equipment increases building values and reduces energy costs so that owners pay less in monthly loan repayments than they would with the old equipment.

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  • A System for Sharing Household Heat Is Growing Beneath France

    December 04, 2020 |

    Reasons to be Cheerful |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: France, Paris

    In Paris, about 7,500 buildings are heated using geothermal energy, a cost-saving and carbon neutral energy source. Water is drawn from deep below ground at a central location and heated by the earth, and then sent via underground pipes to individual buildings. The Bagneux and Chatillon district has scaled up the system, providing heat to over 40,000 people. Districts created joint ventures to reduce construction costs and residents do not notice the energy source shift because when the temperature drops to a point where geothermal energy is not viable, gas boilers automatically keeps the heat flowing.

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  • Heat Waves Kill More People Than Any Other Weather Disaster. These Cities Have A Plan.

    December 01, 2020 |

    The Huffington Post |

    Multi-Media |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: India, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

    With rising temperatures occurring all over the world, cities are implementing plans to combat heat waves and protect its residents. The city of Ahmedabad in India has been a model for heat resiliency after it created its first heat action plan that centered around “community-focused social measures.” Because of the plan, a 2015 heat wave resulted in fewer than 20 fatalities compared with thousands of deaths in previous years. Other cities like New York City are also participating in heat resiliency efforts aimed at protecting all of its residents.

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  • An unusual snack for cows, a powerful fix for climate

    November 27, 2020 |

    The Washington Post |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Canada, Prince Edward Island

    A farmer on Prince Edward Island fed his cows seaweed and noticed that they produced more milk and had better pregnancy success. A study of his cows found that they also reduced methane emissions by about 18 percent, a decent amount that could be beneficial in combating climate change. The farmer is now part owner of North Atlantic Organics, which produces seaweed supplements for livestock. Now, other companies around the world are popping up to do the same thing and scale this climate solution.

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  • A pollution solution where the rubber meets the road

    November 09, 2020 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United Kingdom, London

    The Tyre Collective, a project by four recent graduate students in London, is seeking to capture vehicle tire pollution, the microplastics that go into the air from the friction of tires. They have been developing a device that attaches to the bottom of a car and uses electrostatic charges and airflow to collect up to 60 percent of tire particles as the car is driven. To reduce the amount of tire pollution, tire companies are seeking to balance safety requirements, tire durability, and making them out of more sustainable materials.

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  • A Lesson in Learning to Live With Fire, and Each Other

    November 05, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Shaver Lake, California

    A collaboration between former adversaries over forest management and preservation in the Sierra National Forest led to a $9 million investment into making 154,000 acres healthier, and able to withstand destruction in one of the largest wildfires in California history. The Creek Fire largely spared land in the Dinkey Landscape Restoration Project, despite severe damage in hundreds of thousands of adjacent acres. Years of strategic tree-thinning and intentionally set small fires proved effective.

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  • How AI Can Help Save Forests

    November 03, 2020 |

    Wall Street Journal |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Sweden

    Satellite-based forest monitoring, paired with other sophisticated measures of a forest's health, is transforming the speed, precision, and economics of finding and eradicating infestations and pinpointing acreage where preventing wildfires and deforestation will prove most effective. Rather than rely on ground-based, manual surveys of vast tracts, forest managers are refining their ability to observe more useful data from space. As success stories pile up, however, the science still must rely on the political will to enact needed policies for a healthier climate and forests.

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  • The mangrove forests protecting the Pearl River delta: a photo journey

    October 16, 2020 |

    China Dialogue |

    Photojournalism |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Hong Kong

    The Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong shows how the protection of mangrove forests is possible. These ecosystems are seen as a way to combat the effects of climate change since the forests can help prevent flood damage and store carbon. Yet, urban development, overfishing, and aquaculture pollution continue to threaten the recovery of mangrove forests in this region.

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  • Bringing the chill of the cosmos to a warming planet

    October 07, 2020 |

    The Washington Post |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Stockton, California

    SkyCool Systems manufactures panels that can be incorporated into existing cooling systems to reduce the amount of electricity needed to turn hot air into cold air. The technology is based on radiative cooling and utilizes a thin, mirror-like film engineered using nanotechnology to send heat into space while absorbing almost no radiation. It lowers the temperature of objects by more than 10 degrees and doesn’t require electricity or special fuels, so it does not produce greenhouse gases. While piloting the panels, a grocery outlet saved over $3,000 in electricity costs over the course of just one summer.

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  • Bug Breeders Are Cultivating Waste-Guzzling Flies to Gobble Up America's Trash

    October 05, 2020 |

    Future Human |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Camas, Washington

    A growing number of bug breeders in the United States are raising black soldier flies to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, and food waste. The larvae can convert waste into fertilizer for crops, while also reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In one experiment at Louisiana State University, about two tons of cafeteria food waste is processed by the fly larvae. Creating a similiar system on a larger scale for municipalities can be expensive, but the flies could be a multifaceted solution to the country’s trash problem.

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