Can regenerative wool make fashion more sustainable?

The Philadelphia-based company Solar States offers a paid training opportunity for city residents to learn to install solar panels and earn the necessary credentials to help them start careers in the industry. The company’s newest program, Find Your Ladder, is a training opportunity for people who have been through the criminal justice system.

A junk removal service in Athens, Georgia, is slowing the growth of the local landfill by recycling, donating, and giving away the items it can before taking the rest to the landfill.

Spurred by federal and state incentives, farmers in Massachusetts are adopting agrivoltaics, the practice of installing a solar array on the same land they use for crops and livestock.

The Denmark-based startup LastObject manufactures reusable menstrual products that produce less waste than the typical throw-away versions. Its reusable pad is made of polyester and bamboo and can be washed and reused for up to 10 years.

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.

In Nigeria, the state-led Gombe Goes Green project raises tree seedlings in nurseries, plants them across the state, and ensures the trees’ survival through regular care. The trees help combat the effects of rampant deforestation like flooding and land degradation.

A startup in Germany created an online platform, Cirplus, that connects recycling companies with manufacturers and distributors in the plastic industry. The site encourages the move towards a circular economy by improving transparency for buyers and sellers.

The Colorado-based company Biochar Now heats waste wood for hours to produce biochar. The charcoal-like material sequesters the carbon from the organic material it’s made of. And the company’s product has been used to clean up salts, toxins, PFAS, and heavy metals from oil spills and Superfund sites.

In Philadelphia, subscribers pay a monthly fee to Bennett Compost to have the company collect their food waste weekly and compost it so it doesn’t wind up producing greenhouse gases in the landfill.

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.