Planting crops — and carbon, too
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/climate-solutions/climate-regenerative-agriculture/?itid=sf_climate-solutions&utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Gabriel Popkin
Gabriella Demczuk
The Washington Post
22 January 2021
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
Maryland farmer Trey Hill became the first seller in a tech startup’s carbon marketplace, paying him $115,000 for initiating regenerative farming practices. By introducing cover crops, he has been able to sequester about 8,000 tons of carbon in the soil, which then buyers can purchase the credits to offset the carbon they produce. If more farmers get on board, supporters say it can be a tangible solution to curbing climate change.
French Polynesia's pearl farmers combat climate change with sustainable practices
https://www.pri.org/stories/2021-01-22/french-polynesia-s-pearl-farmers-combat-climate-change-sustainable-practices?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ashley Westerman
Public Radio International (PRI)
22 January 2021
Multi-Media / 5-15 Minutes
A rapidly changing climate is shaking up how French Polynesian pearl farmers are doing business. Kamoka Pearl Farm is incorporating more sustainable practices like using its own oysters to create the nuclei that form pearls and using fish to organically clean the oysters instead of power washing them.
A Florida Study Showed How to Save Energy at Home. Why Aren't More Cities and States Following Suit?
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/florida-study-save-energy-home-why-arent-more-cities-states-following-suit?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Chad Small
Next City
21 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
A pilot energy retrofit project in Florida has shown that these upgrades for homeowners ultimately saves them money and energy, and can be made accessible to people from all types of socioeconomic backgrounds. This private-public partnership retrofitted 56 single-family homes, some with “shallow” retrofits like LED lightbulbs and smart plugs and some with “phased deep” retrofits like energy-efficient windows and air conditioners. The program showed that all participants saved energy and could be scaled to other states.
Simple change to fishing gear saves thousands of birds in Namibia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/19/simple-change-to-fishing-gear-saves-thousands-of-birds-in-namibia?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Chris Baraniuk
The Guardian
19 January 2021
Text / Under 800 Words
Tens of thousands of vulnerable bird species have been saved over the last decade thanks to new equipment that has been installed by Namibian fishing boats. By fitting colorful hosepipe to lines towed behind boats, a study has shown that birds are scared away and don’t end up getting tangled in the lines. The material is also fairly cheap to implement, which allowed the solution to be widely implemented.
Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/19/electric-car-batteries-race-ahead-with-five-minute-charging-times?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Damian Carrington
The Guardian
19 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Batteries that can be fully charged in five minutes have been created for the first time, allowing electric cars to recharge faster. The Israeli company StoreDot produced 1,000 of these new lithium-ion batteries, which can be recharged for 1,000 cycles while retaining 80 percent of the original capacity. It could be a few years before these batteries are mass produced, but the CEO of the company says their samples “demonstrates it is feasible and it’s commercially ready.”
Look What I Got!
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/recycling-gold-stars-new-zealand-social?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
David Byrne
Reasons to be Cheerful
18 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Christchurch’s city council decided to publicly reward people who correctly sorted their recycling by placing a large gold star sticker on their recycling bin. Rather than penalizing people who don’t sort their recyclables, the public acknowledgement of behavior that helps the environment has had the desired effect. At a very minimal cost to the city, the amount of material able to be recycled increased from 48% to 80%. Research supports the idea that non-monetary incentives, especially when publicly observable, can work better than financial incentives or penalties to change behavior.