The world is good

2021-06-16 13:11:02 South Korea to plant 3 billion trees to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050

In recent years, scientists have increasingly highlighted the key role that reforestation can play in fighting climate change. This has given rise to numerous initiatives around the world that have made it their goal to reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere by planting trees. Among these is the World Economic Forum’s One Trillion Trees Initiative that, as its name implies, aims to plant one trillion trees by 2030.

In concert with this initiative, the South Korea Forest Service (KFS) has announced its plans to plant three billion trees in the next three decades. Through the program, the Korean government plans to invest around $5.3 billion to restore forests, which it says could help slash around 34 million tons of CO2 emissions. This is part of the country’s larger plan to attain net-zero emissions by 2050. In 2016, the country ranked 11th in greenhouse gas emissions.

According to KFS, some of the efforts will involve cutting trees that are older than 30 years and replacing them with new ones, following the reasoning that older trees have a smaller capacity to sequester carbon than younger ones.

Overall, the future forests will cover around 2.34 million hectares (6 million acres). Open / Comment

2021-06-15 10:45:23 Open / Comment

2021-06-15 10:45:11 Israel became the first country to ban the sale of animal fur

Israel became the first country in the world to ban the sale of animal fur. Animal rights group PETA praised this historic ban as a victory after Israel's Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel signed the move into law, after 86 percent of the country supported the proposal. 

As PETA's announcement said, "For decades, PETA and our international affiliates have exposed horrific cruelty on fur farms, demonstrating that animals spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages." 

Fur trade are still possible for certain exceptions including "religion, religious tradition, scientific research, education or teaching." Regardless, Israel has taken a big step forward in the fight against fur for fashion — an industry that sees around one hundred million animals bred or killed for their fur each year.

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK, said: “This is a truly historic day for animal protection, with Israel becoming the first country in the world to ban the sale of fur fashion. Even with the exemption for traditional dress, without which this ban was unlikely to have succeeded, Israel’s fur ban will save the lives of millions of animals suffering on fur farms or languishing in cruel traps around the world, and it sends a clear message that fur is unethical, unnecessary and outdated”.

Views around fur have changed rapidly in recent years, with more and more fashion designers, including Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Burberry, Versace and Armani, adopting fur-free policies, and the majority of UK high street shops being proudly fur free.

In the United States, California became the first US state to ban fur sales in 2019 following similar bans in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and West Hollywood. In 2020, legislators in Hawaii and Rhode Island introduced fur sales ban proposals, as have cities in Minnesota and Massachusetts. Open / Comment

2021-06-14 11:36:20

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2021-06-14 11:36:16 New Story’s 3D-printed homes provide beautiful housing for 11,000 people

With the advent of new technologies, 3D printing of serial buildings is becoming a reality. We recently wrote about a 3D printed school. Today we will tell you about the New Story company, which has built more than 2300 houses in 4 countries of the world.

More than a billion people around the world live without safe housing. To reduce this amount, you need to build differently. Building houses using 3D printing is faster and allows for better, more affordable homes than the current industry standard. In partnership with ICON, our goal is to empower those who build homes for homeless families - both governments and non-profit organizations - to do their best. As we make these strides, this means that more families around the world will have a safe haven. - written on the official website of the company.

New Story has partnered with Icon, a 3D home construction startup. Using ICON's Vulcan printer, they can 3D print anywhere in the home in less than 24 hours.

The team can use the app to make small changes to the plan in place, but the printing process is essentially self-contained. To make it even more efficient, you can print several houses at the same time. Onsite, the company conducts surveys to collect data before and after living in new homes.

The company recently built an entire block of 50 houses in Mexico, where there is an urgent need for housing. In total, the company has built 26 villages in Mexico, El Salvador, Haiti and Balivia. Changing the lives of 11,000 people. Open / Comment

2021-06-13 12:44:58 Open / Comment

2021-06-13 12:44:36 Do companies care of Environment and Society?

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is a set of standards that shows how conscientious a company is. Environmental criteria assess the company's impact on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, depletion of natural resources, deforestation. Social workers assess working conditions, health and safety of employees, gender equality. Management evaluates bribery and corruption, tax strategy, political lobbies, and donations. A business that wants to be considered good on ESG scores must meet standards in all of these dimensions.

NextEra is the largest electric utility by market cap. Over the last few decades, the company has been consistently reducing its emissions through increased renewable energy use. Its CO2 emissions are 55% less than those of an average US utility. NextEra has now set an ambitious goal of reducing CO2 emissions, by 2025, by 67% from its 2005 base levels. This goal effectively means that absolute CO2 emissions would go down by 40% even while NextEra’s energy production would double during that time. To its credit, the company last year received a best-in-class preparedness assessment by S&P Global Ratings’ ESG Evaluation. NextEra has, essentially, received the highest ranking given by S&P to a company within the utility sector.

Coca-Cola also is among the best ESG companies. That makes it a leader among 53 companies in the beverages industry. Coca-Cola stands out for high scores on packaging materials and waste, health and safety, and product carbon footprint. Its overall score gets dinged by being a laggard on opportunities on health and nutrition. KO is considered average by industry standards on water stress and corporate behavior, among other issues, according to MSCI.

As the largest home improvement retailer in the US, Home Depot tends to deal with multiple wood-based products. However, the company has a strict sourcing policy that prevents the purchase of conflict minerals and exploits the natural resources of developing countries. Home Depot also plans to reduce its emissions by 40% by 2030 and 50% by 2035. Another big goal is to help Home Depot consumers reduce their water consumption by 250 billion gallons. There are a total of seven focus areas on which the company is working to become a sustainable and responsible enterprise. Open / Comment

2021-06-12 10:53:17

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2021-06-12 10:53:12 3 Sustainable seafood brands

There are seafood brands out there that strive for transparency, sustainability, and even help combat the climate crisis. Here are three sustainable seafood brands that you can indulge in guilt-free.

KnowSeafood: Using blockchain to trace quality seafood
KnowSeafood’s company motto is “your seafood has a story,” and it works so that you know that story before you make your purchase. Consumers can track the history of any seafood product offered on KnowSeafood’s online seafood market through a timeline and a map.
Harvesters who sell through KnowSeafood are required to upload catch information, which becomes the first block of information in the blockchain. This data collection system allows consumers to learn when and where the product was caught and by who, as well as what methods were used when it was frozen and when you can expect it to be delivered.

Akua: Using regenerative ocean farming to create kelp burgers and jerky
Akua co-founder and CEO Courtney Boyd Myers believes that the state of our oceans calls for more than just sustainability. This is why Akua focuses on farming kelp, which actually absorbs carbon and nitrogen from the water and reduces local ocean acidification. It also helps mitigate ocean warming and supports biodiversity. On top of that, kelp doesn’t use up any freshwater, land, fertilizer, or feed.
Akua uses kelp to make delicious kelp burgers and the entire process of farming kelp is a regenerative practice that leaves their environments in a better state than before.

Pescavore: Using local, minimally harmful fishing methods to create ahi tuna jerky
Pescavore is careful to focus on innovative fishing technology, local and traceable fisheries, and sustainable packaging.
Pescavore notes that more than 90 percent of seafood consumed in the United States is imported—relying on imports makes it more difficult to trace the history of a given product and increases its carbon footprint. That’s why the company dedicates itself to locally sourced seafood that comes from healthy and abundant populations, such as yellowfin tuna.
Their’ snacks last for up to 18 months, which decreases the chances of wasted food, while their packaging uses 96 percent less space compared to canned tuna, further reducing the product’s carbon footprint.
The company hopes that it can upgrade its packaging so that it is fully recyclable after use in the US. Their current packaging is partly comprised of recycled material and is only considered fully recyclable in Europe. Open / Comment

2021-06-11 11:57:04 Canopy’s Executive Director Nicole Rycroft standing on a huge stack of waste wheat straw Open / Comment