Category Archives: Awareness and Hype
Water is precious. Just because we have access to water aplenty, we consider it to be a commodity that can be used freely. Unfortunately, this leads to wastage of water to no end. The biggest contributor to water wastage is the activity of bathing. While you wait for the water to get just as warm as you seem fit for a shower, the water flowing into the drain is an absolute waste. That’s where the WaterDrop tote bag comes into play. The bag collects water during the heating process and then allows you to use it for other purposes, thanks to a handy spout. The water that is saved can be used for gardening purposes, to water pets or for any other purpose. The makers estimate that if the water is saved by individuals from Europe and America alone, we will see over 1 trillion liters of water saved.
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Some sustainable actions may lead to happy community deeds while others simply enforce goodness upon the masses. This is the kind of enforcement the planet could deal with. Vancouver, for instance, has a law that pretty much settles all tree-cutting disputes. The city will collect a $750 security deposit from every person who axes down a tree. The money will be refunded only after the person proves that they have planted and cared for a tree for at least a year. This action has been decided basis an insight that over 25 percent of tree canopy has reduced over the last two decades. Moreover, those pledging to plant a new tree simply plant a sapling or a seed and let it perish. This new rule will ensure that the tree is nurtured till it is in full flourish.
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China is renowned for its polluting habits and as nature turns against them, many parts of the country are completely soaked in the perils of highly polluted air. Cashing in on this as an opportunity to share the wonders of natural resources, Canada’s Vitality Air has prepared a solution that could offer temporary relief to the Chinese. They will be selling cans of fresh clean air and oxygen to folks in Beijing, which is among the worst hit geographies. The will be leveraging China’s e-commerce site, Taobao and selling the bottles to needy citizens. The first 500 pieces sold out almost immediately. Another 700 bottles will be sent to China.
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How wonderful would a world without garbage be? While recycling and reusing are amazing buzzwords, implementing them as practices is a tad more challenging. However, it isn’t possible. The town of Kamikatsu in Japan has proved this over the last 15 years with an implementation in 2003 that enforced a rigorous recycling program. Thanks to that effort, today, the town today either composts, recycles or reuses 80 percent of its garbage. The landfill only needs to deal with the remaining amount that is more than manageable. As per the ruling, residents are required to wash and sort anything that is not compostable. Only then will the recycling center accept the trash. Around 34 categories detail out the items that need to be treated.
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Paris played home to a rather extreme measure by eco-activists. The said activists took over some 600 odd billboards across the city and went on a rampage to protest the indifference by brands and the governing bodies towards the real issues of climate change. The billboards coincide with the UN Climate Change Summit. Brandalism is the group behind the idea of guerilla advertising that manages to get the message and graveness of climate change and its hazards across. Over 80 street artists from across 19 different nations worked with Brandalism to create the ads. “We are taking these spaces back, because we want to challenge the role advertising plays in promoting unsustainable consumerism,” said Joe Elan of Brandalism.
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Hasn’t the world always waited for a headline like this? In this day and age where renewable energy is either underutilized or too expensive to generate, we turn to the rich and powerful to fund a population that gives back to the planet. Bill Gates has fronted a coalition with 20 billionaires from across the world to invest more in the research of clean energy. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition will include venture capitalists such as Vinod Khosla, hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani, Jack Ma of Alibaba and even Mark Zuckerberg.
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The World Meteorological Organization have stated that the global average surface temperature in 2015 is likely to make the year the warmest ever. The cause of the same could be a combination of human-induced global warming and a strong El-Nino. The scientists believe that we will be crossing a crucial 1 degree Celsius mark, higher than the pre-industrial era. The last five years have consistently proven to be warm and collectively and the five-year temperature surge is likely to cause extreme weather events. The global average surface temperature was over 0.73 degrees Celsius, as compared to the 1961-1990 average of 14 degrees.
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Imagine the creation of a national park that is 22 times the size of Chicago! Yes, that’s what just happened with the establishment of a 3.3 million acre national park in Peru’s Sierra del Divisor mountain range. This makes the Amazonian rainforest completely protected from any efforts to exploit the goodness of the riches it has to offer in terms of natural resources. The effort has been led by Chicago’s Field Museum and the Peruvian Government. The Field Museum invested the last fifteen years, studying the area and also discovered 20 species of formerly unknown flora and fauna. In addition to the various animal and plant life that is housed there, it also houses the Iskonawa group of people who have inhabited the lands for ages.
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A million trees could be an aspirational number to live up to for most cities who pledge to add a tinge of green to their respective portfolios. However, New York City, a city that many would envision as a concrete jungle has managed to surpass all expectations and plant their millionth tree. Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in the company of NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver and NY Restoration Project founder Bette Midler planted this hallmark tree. It is technically the 1,017,634th tree to be planted. The endeavor has already reached success a couple of years ahead of schedule and with more than a million trees already planted.
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Scotland have exemplified how possible it is for the world to cut down on the usage of plastic bags. Their endeavor took wings when shoppers were compelled to pay 5 pence per bag at stores. It goes without saying that there was not only a drop in the usage of plastic bags but a sharp one. Over 650 million fewer plastic bags were used across Scotland. The money earned from the 5 pence charges amounted to $10 million. This was given away to charitable institutions. Whoever would have thought that plastic brought so much good with it?
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