Design
This tannery turns discarded billy goat hides into biodegradable leather
While the Optimist Daily is staunchly against killing animals for the sole purpose of harvesting fur or making leather, we do believe that if an animal is killed in the livestock industry, then all of its parts should be put to use instead of wasted. In the UK, commercial goat-milking is growing Read More...
Nigerian citizen designs portable hand-washing stations for his city
Hand-washing is one of the most promoted and effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but what about regions where hand-washing facilities are not readily accessible? An estimated 157 million Nigerians lack adequate hand-washing facilities, which prompted one resident, Bamigbose Adams, to Read More...
This fish lamp is designed to raise awareness about marine plastic pollution
Raising awareness about plastic pollution in the marine environment is one of the essential steps towards a future devoid of single-use plastics. Aware of this, design studio Heliograf decided to bring the problem to people’s attention in a fun way, by creating something that’s both Read More...
Designers to convert shipping containers into Intensive Care Units
Containers may have revolutionized the shipping industry but, lately, it seems that their efficiency is finding its use beyond freight transportation and towards ingenious healthcare units. Two days ago we wrote about a company that is using shipping containers as decontamination rooms to sanitize Read More...
Fabric is freshwater-intensive. These students have a saltwater alternative
Producing fabrics often relies heavily on scarce freshwater. In fact, just one kilogram of cotton requires as much as 20,000 liters of freshwater to be made. To tackle the overconsumption of freshwater by the fashion industry, students from the Royal College of Art have created an alternative Read More...
MIT to publish free plans online for a cheap emergency ventilator
Imagine a class project from over a decade ago ended up holding the solution to a global issue? Well that's the case for a class of students from MIT, who are drawing from an old project to solve one of the most pressing shortages facing hospitals today: the lack of ventilators. These machines can Read More...
Algae-based alternatives to plastic are becoming hard to ignore
Biobased materials, particularly in the thorny realm of bioplastics, are a polarizing subject. But for as many systemic kinks that their management lays bare, the slew of potential long-term benefits to swapping out petroleum-based products for plant-based alternatives is hard to ignore. While Read More...
These shoe companies are stepping up to support healthcare workers
Last week we talked about Project N95 which is connecting healthcare workers with critical personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shoe companies Crocs, Allbirds, and Clove are meeting the needs of medical workers by taking care of their footwear needs. They are donating free Read More...
The case for building things out of actual living materials
If we want to build a sustainable future, we may have to revisit what it is we’re actually building things out of. And though the science around the idea is just beginning to emerge, one prime candidate may be using actual living materials like fungus. Or concrete churned out by tiny microbial Read More...
Santa Monica’s new civil building will produce more energy than it uses
The City of Santa Monica will soon welcome a new civic building that will not only bring the various municipal departments scattered throughout the city under one roof but will also fulfill the Living Building Challenge — making it the largest civic building of its kind to meet the world’s Read More...