A dose of climate optimism from Va. collaborative

Curtis Shuck started the nonprofit The Well Done Foundation with a mission to plug as many abandoned oil wells as possible. Since then, he’s worked with communities, landowners, regulatory agencies, and activists to plug 45 wells, stopping the release of methane and other pollutants into the air and local environments.

Gree Energy helps food processors in Indonesia overcome the financial barriers to installing anaerobic wastewater treatment plants. These plants turn methane emissions into biogas to be used as electricity or thermal energy. The company plans the builds, finds uses for the biogas, and establishes revenue to fund the projects.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough implemented a comprehensive strategy to combat winter air pollution from wood-burning stoves, including: a stove replacement program that swapped over 4,000 inefficient stoves for more modern, clean-burning models, promoting kiln-dried wood with lower moisture content that burns better and adopting low-sulfur fuel requirements. The efforts have cut particulate levels in half and sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere has been reduced by 50%.

Gas flaring penalties have done little to prevent the practice in Bayelsa, Nigeria, so locals are calling for changes like diverting it to produce usable energy and creating strong policies to regulate it.

Church parking lots typically sit empty during the week, making them good spots to place electric vehicle charging stations. Churches in major metropolitan areas across the country have started offering these services which have seen almost daily use. These services also provide a small revenue for the church and helps to spread information about the benefits of switching to electric vehicles and replacing fossil fuels.

In an effort to reduce or fully eliminate carbon emissions, several companies are proposing cycle-to-work schemes and financial incentives to get their employees to travel to work in a more sustainable fashion. Some of these initiatives, like the cycle-to-work scheme, have been used by over 1.6 million commuters working for over 40,000 different employers since it was introduced by the UK government in 1999.

Cars are Europe’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the leading killer of children. In recent years, Paris has implemented an array of measures to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and transit while reducing car use. As a result, car use has dropped about 45% since 1990, the use of public transit has risen by 30% and the share of cyclists has increased tenfold.

Environmental groups and policymakers around the world are softening their stances against nuclear power in the face of today’s climate and energy realities. As the second-largest source of carbon-free electricity, nuclear power can have several advantages. In the U.S. alone, the use of nuclear power in 2020 prevented more than 471 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions – the equivalent of removing 100 million cars from the road.

Germany’s three-month experiment with €9 tickets for a month of unlimited travel on public transportation saved about 1.8 metric tons of CO2 emissions. The experiment was launched in an effort to cut fuel consumption and relieve a cost of living crisis and sold about 52 million tickets.

Strata International Group is building homes out of foam and concrete. It's a practice that is gaining traction because when these materials are used, the homes are set to last for upwards of 300 years. It also requires a less energy-intensive construction process — creating big cost savings amid supply chain issues and inflation and also benefiting the environment.