Can New York City Treat Its Food Scraps As More Than Trash?

The grassroots Baltimore Compost Collective is pushing to end the city’s reliance on waste-to-energy incineration and combat climate change by teaching locals the importance of composting, and how it can improve the polluted urban soil to help them grow food.

A collaboration between tree-planting organizations in Washington D.C. helps Catholic church properties to plant and care for trees. The free trees are an effort to combat urban heat and benefit the local environment.

Los Angeles’ Mayor’s Youth Climate Action Council allows a group of 14 local youth to work with the mayor and city council on climate goals and initiatives. They meet monthly to set their own agenda, vote on priorities, connect with city resources and organizations, and bring their projects to life.

Feldheim, Germany, built an entirely self-sufficient, decentralized energy grid with funding from residents, the European Union, and the state. They produce their energy with wind turbines, a solar farm, and agricultural waste.

The city of Lancaster invested nearly $12 million to create a walkable mixed-use development area along a main thoroughfare, with nine blocks of businesses and community spaces such as a library and a museum. The development has generated more than $270 million in economic output and residents say the area is now welcoming and encourages a sense of community.

In an effort to reduce plastic waste, recycling centers like Recyclift Recycling Technology Company collect plastic waste and crush it into processed pellets to be repurposed. The company employs over 50 people, all working toward the goal of crushing 100 tons of plastic each week.

Energy developers and Indigenous communities are coming together to share ownership of renewable energy projects to promote equity and inclusion within the projects directly impacting Indigenous land. Co-ownership is on the rise globally and offers benefits like insights from Indigenous knowledge of the land and less risk of the project being canceled or protested in court.

A utility company in Framingham, Massachusetts, worked with climate advocates to build a unique geothermal heating and cooling project that spans a whole neighborhood. A group of residential and commercial buildings share the infrastructure necessary to harness stable underground temperatures for heating and cooling, which reduces their greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills.

The United States Envrionmental Protection Agency is distributing grant money to help tribes like the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma start and grow recycling programs, as funding is often a massive hurdle. The tribe was able to purchase equipment like a semi-truck and compactor with the funds.

A community solar project in a rural Michigan town is making energy more affordable for low-to-moderate-income households. Fifty community members and organizations subscribed to receive energy from and support the construction of a solar array. As a result, their electricity bills are about $300 cheaper each year, and the local utility reported fewer late payments.