Some companies are returning to an old concept, sail-powered cargo ships, to reduce the amount of carbon used to ship goods across the ocean.
From PBS NewsHour: “Eighty percent of all global trade travels by sea, and the ships carrying those goods account for 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Now, some shipping companies are taking a new tack as they try to navigate the industry to sustainability on the high seas.”
“Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison journeys with the UN World Food Programme to the country of Niger in the African Sahel to see an innovative land recovery project within the Great Green Wall of Africa that is harvesting rainwater, increasing food security, and rehabilitating the ecosystem.”
Virtually all the UK’s rivers have been physically altered in one way or another – straightened, dammed, dredged or restrained by barriers in some way along their course. Which is why the National Trust decided to do a radical experiment, to see if it is possible to the ecological equivalent of a complete reboot.
Learn how a “constructed wetland” system can treat waste water.
Many of us have been led to believe that just planting trees is a solution to the climate crisis and saving our environment. This is not the case. To have true impact, ecosystems have to be restored and consumption habits changed.
From Planet Wild: “Human activity has turned most of Scotland’s beautiful and ancient forests into monoculture plantations. This pushes endless animals and species out of their natural habitat, drastically reducing biodiversity. That’s why in our twelfth Planet Wild mission, we’re transforming monoculture plantations into real forests, using an unusual reforestation technique. Spoiler alert: not a single tree was planted.”
How can you see this
In August of 2021, the brilliant Beau Miles planted 1440 trees. His aim was to plant a tree a minute for 24 hours and he did it! He created a short film, “A tree a minute” to document the event and promised to make a follow up film two years later. Here is his update, which shows a fledgling patch of forest.
If he can do it, so can you (minus the a tree a minute part)!
Undersized, damaged, aging culverts can limit access to important stream habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms. They can also seriously affect transportation if a culvert fails or negatively impacts the road above. Replacing a culvert with a larger, more suitable structure like a bridge is a win-win for fish, water quality, transportation, and the economy. At Peterson Creek, a tributary to the Miami River in Tillamook County, Oregon, upgrading the undersized, perched culvert improved access to 6.2 miles of upstream habitat for ESA listed coho salmon, as well as Chinook, chum, steelhead, cutthroat and lampreys.
From The Economist: As carbon emissions change the chemistry of the seas, ocean acidification threatens marine life and human livelihoods. How worried should you be about climate change’s so-called “evil twin”?
Over the past couple of years, coral on the Great Barrier Reef has regenerated and local scientists have developed innovative ways to foster coral growth both in and out of the water.
Chicago has a number of experiments underway to find the most effective ways to return its shores to nature. This video, by the Architecture with Stewart YouTube channel, explores a few sites and the techniques being employed to return them to a natural state.