Miscellaneous
Uganda to use new data app to prevent corruption in public works
Nowhere is corruption as endemic as in public works, according to Transparency International. One major enabler is the absence of accurate, reliable data. M-App, an app developed by two students from the New School in New York, aims to change that. It recently won joint first prize at the social Read More...
If flying is greener than driving, what does that say about our daily commute?
Unless you’re driving an electric car powered by renewable electricity sources, or are carpooling to work, chances are your driving habits produce more greenhouse gas emissions per mile than air travel. This is the conclusion reached by Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan Transportation Read More...
Turning off the lights in New York to save migrating birds
It is estimated that one billion migrating birds crash into buildings in the U.S. every year due to disorientation caused by electric lights. Since New York State is a heavy bird migration route, the state authorities have decided to turn off bright outdoor lights at all public buildings between Read More...
3D printing startup bioengineers rhino horn to save wildlife
Illegal wildlife trade is a $20 billion global market. Killed for its horn, the rhinoceros is a primary target. The Western Black Rhinoceros was hunted to extinction and only five known Northern White Rhinoceros remain. San Francisco startup Pembient recently demonstrated it can use keratin to 3D Read More...
Cities are growing smarter, greener, more human-friendly
Pollution, congestion, noise, unfriendly public space… is this what awaits humanity as 70% of the global population lives in cities by 2050? Most likely, the answer is no—judging by recent developments in various European cities and by the visionary work of urban planners, urban designers and Read More...
MIT develops cheap, portable, solar-powered desalination system
Solar-powered desalination plants have been a promising technology for a while, but their prohibitive cost has prevented them from being considered a solution in water-deprived, typically poorer parts of the world. Using the electrodialysis process, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Read More...
Poo-bus gives biomethane a good name in Bristol
What could be more renewable, local and green than biogas made from sewage? The new Bio-Bus that rides through Bristol successfully showcases the feasibility of harnessing energy from waste. The city's vision is to wean the fleet off fossil fuels, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and Read More...
Liberland now open for business as the latest state experiment
As separatist tendencies are brewing in the troubled European Union, a libertarian Euro-skeptic Czeck politician, his girlfriend and a third like-minded friend have planted a flag in Liberland, an empty 2.7- square-mile Serbo-Croatian no man’s land by the side of the Danube. The world’s newest Read More...
Girls in Kabul learn self-confidence on their skateboards
In a country where women are not allowed to drive bicycles, skateboarding has become the favorite sport of many fearless girls and young women. 45% of the students of Skateistan, the education non-profit created by Australian skateboarder Oliver Percovich in 2007, are girls. London-based Read More...
How sustainability-minded accounting can shift government decisions
Sustainability typically doesn’t show up as a neat row of dollar numbers to be added to a cost-benefit spreadsheet. As a result, decision-makers routinely ignore it. That may be about to change if the NPV+ method already applied by Martin O'Malley, a potential Democratic presidential candidate Read More...