Felled City Trees Could Grow a New Lumber Economy

San Francisco is popularizing centralized water reuse systems that collect blackwater from toilets and sinks and greywater from showers and washing machines to clean it and use it again. This is a cheaper, more sustainable option for nonpotable water used to water plants or flush toilets in a city struggling with water scarcity.

Circular Cleveland is a project run by the city and a nonprofit to help Cleveland develop a circular economy. Through community ambassadors, grants, and consultants the program is helping innovators and companies make circular switches.

Tilos, Greece, works with a network of companies to collect and sort the island residents' waste to be composted, recycled, or reused instead of using a landfill.

The Groundwater Replenishment System recycles over 100 million gallons of wastewater a day. Once processed, this water, which is flushed down toilets and drains, is safe to drink and can help address California’s water shortage.

Bioeconomy is the practice of using biological processes and organic materials to reduce waste, and it's gaining traction as a means of business. Finland is home to one of the largest bioproduct mills, where "a whole ecosystem of companies" work together on projects such as converting sustainably logged wood into pulp before selling it to Europe and Asia and producing solid biofuels which will eventually create electricity.

Throughout India, wastepickers – people who scour landfills for garbage they can sell to recyclers – live at the bottom of society. But the city of Pune did something radical: with the help of a collective, they did away with expensive garbage trucks, and now all household garbage is collected by wastepickers with pushcarts. Pune saves millions of dollars each year and recycles more – and the wastepickers have decent wages and social standing. The concept is now spreading globally.

As an alternative to deforestation-linked livelihoods, a community woodworking studio in Brazil's Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve is turning fallen trees and dead wood into handcrafted art and household items. In its first 6 months, it generated nearly $10,000 in sales and provided supplemental income for 18 local families.

Despite soaring housing costs, the city government in Paris aims to achieve mixité sociale. That essentially means it's preventing economic segregation to ensure residents from a broad cross-section of society reside in the city and own businesses there. It’s doing so by nabbing real estate to create public housing and providing real estate subsidiaries for small businesses.

Vienna’s public housing is affordable, full of economically diverse residents, and extremely popular. The housing units are open to almost anyone, as 80 percent of residents qualify, and once you sign a rental contract it doesn’t expire even if your income increases. Plus, the rent can only go up based on inflation if it increases by 5 percent in a year.

After learning that the number of lesbian bars across the U.S. was dwindling, two filmmakers launched the show “The Lesbian Bar Project” which spotlights the bars’ significance to their communities. Along with the show, they crowdfunded $300,000 to help financially support the surviving bars.