The world is good

2021-10-21 11:02:16 Open / Comment

2021-10-21 11:02:10 This company takes drone-assisted reforestation to the next level

The concept of using drones for reforestation isn’t new, but DroneSeed has perfected the process by creating pods which contain everything new trees need to thrive: seeds, nutrients, and natural pest deterrent. The technology also uses advanced laser mapping to pinpoint where the seeds have the highest chance of survival before dispersing the pods across a charred landscape.

Current reforestation methods rely on growing saplings in nurseries and planting them by hand. Using this method, workers can cover about two acres of forest per day, but with just five to six drones and four employees, DroneSeed can replant up to 50 acres per day. Their method is also more affordable for landowners, cutting down on reforestation costs by 30 to 50 percent.

DroneSeed can begin replanting a region just 30 days after a wildfire. They are already getting to work on burn areas from summer wildfires in California and Oregon. DroneSeed also recently acquired long-standing forestry company Silvaseed, which will allow them to scale up their reforestation operations. Open / Comment

2021-10-20 12:09:11 Open / Comment

2021-10-20 12:09:05 France bids “adieu” to plastic packaging for fresh produce

Plastic pollution is strangling our planet. To combat the use of unnecessary plastics, France has announced that it will be banning plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables.

Currently, an estimated 37 percent of fruit and vegetables are sold with plastic packaging in France, so the ban will have a significant impact on the amount of plastic in circulation. The French government believes that the plastic ban will remove over one billion unnecessary plastic packages annually.

The ban, which will be implemented on January 1, 2022, is part of a larger, multi-year plan to reduce the country’s plastic waste and follows the 2021 ban that France issued on single-use plastics like straws and plastic utensils as part of the Energy Transition for Green Growth.

The ministry said in a statement: “We use an outrageous amount of single-use plastic in our daily lives. The circular economy law aims at cutting back the use of throwaway plastic and boost its substitution by other materials or reusable and recyclable packaging.”

To replace plastic packaging, France aims to sell its products as loose items, or in cardboard.

To start off, France will ensure that plastic packaging is removed from 30 fruits and vegetables, including some of the most commonly bought items like peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, apples, bananas, and oranges.

By the end of June 2023, France will add more items like cherry tomatoes, green beans, and peaches to the list of products not available in plastic packaging. By the end of June 2024, endives, asparagus, mushrooms, cherries, and some salads and herbs will also have switched.

Items like cut fruits and more delicate fruits and vegetables will continue to be sold in plastic packaging until June 2026, but after that point, plastic packaging will be phased out for those items as well.

Hopefully, more governments will take action and also prohibit the use of plastic packaging for their produce before it’s too late, as a recent study estimated that approximately eight million metric tons of plastic waste make their way into the ocean every year. Open / Comment

2021-10-19 11:45:57 Open / Comment

2021-10-19 11:45:47 Indian student designs safe and sustainable solar ironing cart

It’s not uncommon to see ironing vendor carts in the streets of Indian cities. These carts offer quick and affordable ironing services, but their irons are often powered by charcoal, creating air pollution issues. To address this, Vinisha Umashankar, a clever 14-year-old student from Tamil Nadu, created a mobile ironing cart that runs off solar power.

The cart, called Iron-Max, uses rooftop solar panels to capture energy from India’s 300 sunny days per year. That energy is then used or stored in the cart’s battery for later use. When it’s dark out or the sun isn’t shining, the cart operates off the battery which can store six hours of iron power.

Umashankar was inspired to create the solar cart after realizing the impact that charcoal production and use has on the environment and public health. The production of charcoal requires reforestation and creates carbon emissions while the burning of charcoal also generates emissions and contributes to respiratory issues. Fortunately, Umashankar’s cart eliminates these hazards without impacting the livelihoods of ironing vendors. The cart even has a horn to alert potential customers of its presence.

The solar ironing cart design has been nominated for the Earthshot Prize, a prestigious award “designed to incentivize change and help repair our planet.” Open / Comment

2021-10-18 11:59:53 Open / Comment

2021-10-18 11:59:45 Volvo unveils world’s first electric vehicle made with fossil-free steel

The car manufacturer has unveiled the first vehicle made from that batch of steel in the form of a lorry that is both a load carrier for mining operations and an embodiment of greener vehicle manufacturing, with production expected to start as early as next year.

Volvo’s new load carrier incorporates fossil-free steel created by Swedish steel manufacturer SSAB, whose production process is significantly more sustainable than conventional methods. SSAB’s approach involves using green hydrogen instead of coal and coke as the reductant while replacing the traditional coal-fired blast furnace with an electric arc furnace powered by renewable energy.

The end result? A metal boasting the same characteristics as conventional steel, but without using fossil fuels in its production. SSAB plans to scale up the production of its fossil-free steel over the next five years — an effort that will hopefully make a dent in the industry’s humongous environmental footprint, currently accounting for about seven to eight percent of global carbon emissions.

Until then, both Volvo and SSAB have shared the early fruits of their collaboration by rolling out the new load carrier, which will be followed by a small-scale series production in 2022, and reach mass production soon after that, according to the carmaker.

“Having the world’s first actual vehicle made using SSAB´’s fossil-free steel is a true milestone. Our collaboration with Volvo Group shows that green transition is possible and brings results,” said Martin Lindqvist, CEO at SSAB.

“Together, we will continue reducing climate impact all the way to the end customer while ensuring that our customers get high-quality steel. We look forward to continuing to work with Volvo Group in research and development to produce more fossil-free steel products,” added Lindgvist. Open / Comment

2021-10-17 10:26:10 Open / Comment

2021-10-17 10:26:00 Refugees in Cameroon turn desert camp into a lush forest

In 2014, thousands of refugees who were fleeing the violence linked to militant group Boko Haram in Nigeria came to Minawao, Cameroon, a desert region badly affected by climate change. Since 2014, almost 70,000 refugees had made the space their home, cutting down the last standing trees to support themselves.

However, thanks to a reforestation program launched in 2018 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the once dry and barren desert has been transformed by the refugees into a life-giving forest.

The refugees and local communities were trained to implement “cocoon technology,” developed by Land Life Company, when planting. This technology involves burying a doughnut-shaped water tank comprised of recycled cartons along with the plant, providing the seedlings’ roots with much-needed water, which gives the seedlings the best chance of survival in the extreme desert environment.

So far, the volunteers in the refugee camp have planted 360,000 seedlings and have successfully transformed 100 hectares of severely degraded land (which adds up to the area of 250 football fields) into thriving forests.

According to refugee volunteer Lydia Youcoubou, “Minawao has become a place that is green all over and there are a lot of benefits to that. We have shade from the sun, the soil has improved, and the trees attract water.”

The shade that the more mature trees provide also allows food and herbal medicines to be grown in the refugee camp.

The ambitious reforestation project contributes to the African-led initiative called the Great Green Wall. The goal of the Great Green Wall is to develop an 8,000 km continent-wide barrier to mitigate the desertification of the Sahel, a territory on the border of the Sahara and the Sudanian savanna. Open / Comment