Earth Day - Earth Age

April 22nd is Earth Day and all over the world there will be celebrations, campaigns, and activities. For many, environmental awareness is solely an annual event. For others, Earth Day is an every day affair. Fortunately, there is a growing concern (on the part of individuals, businesses, and governments) on the state of the planet's health.

Climate change, loss of indigenous habitats, extinction of plant and animal species, and pollution are all creating increasing stress on our planet's ability to heal itself. Even the smallest actions, when carried out by millions of people, can have enormously beneficial, or destructive, consequences. Policy changes, campaigns, movements are all catalysts for positive changes in the way we treat our environment.  

What is really needed, though, is a change in our attitude as a species. Humans are mammals, and as such are members of the animal community. We have to start respecting our environment and understanding our place in it. Specifically that we are part of a complex organism whose health is dependent on a delicate balance of natural processes.

It is time to leave the Industrial Age behind. Let's begin a new age - an Earth Age. An age where our technology doesn't have to compete with our environment. We have the intelligence, the skills, and the science to create a world that coexists in balance with nature. Let's get started!

Until the next time...become the change you imagine.

Magic Mushrooms and the Quest for a Circular Economy

Eban Bayer, co-founder of Ecovative, wrote an interesting article, for GOOD, about the need for a more circular economy. Circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which materials flows are of two types: biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere.


Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart’s book Cradle to Cradle  describes a holistic economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not only efficient but also essentially waste free.  The model in its broadest sense is not limited to industrial design and manufacturing; it can be applied to many aspects of human civilization such as urban environments, buildings, economics and social systems.

Bayer's company has addressed this by creating a patented process that cleans and blends agricultural "castoffs" - parts of plants that can't be used for feed or food - and then innoculates them with mycelium.  The mycelium grows indoors in about a week without any need for light, watering or petrochemical inputs.  Every cubic inch of material contains a matrix of 8 miles of tiny mycelial fibers! At the end of the process, the materials are put through a dehydration and heat treating process to stop the growth. This final process ensures that there will never be any spores or allergen concerns.
 
The result is organic packaging that is grown from waste products and can be composted when it is no longer usable.  What's not to love about that?!  Ecovative is also working on using their Mushroom Materials for a variety of building applications, including insulation, structural insulating panels and acoustical tiles. These materials have low or no VOCs (volatile organic compounds), are fire resistant, and perform similarly to traditional synthetic materials.

For more examples of bio-adaptive approaches to manufacturing, check out these sites:

Terracycle
Biomimicry 3.8
Ask Nature
Biohabitats
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Vauban
Osmotic power plants

As conscious consumers we need to be aware of developments in the field of regenerative design, and support those companies that live the principles of sustainability and circular economy.

Until next time...become the change you imagine.

Going Solar in Energy-Poor Areas

The daily reality for 1.3 billion people around the world is a lack of access to modern energy.  They must rely on candles, or a kerosene lantern for any night activity. Students and shopkeepers have only a flickering, dim light, and clinics can’t refrigerate vaccines. About 1.5 million people, mostly women, die of kerosene-induced pollution annually, while even more are affected by respiratory diseases and burn injuries.

Solar energy is abundant in most parts of the world where modern energy sources are lacking and there’s a big opportunity for solar to become the leading affordable, high-quality source of energy. 
Thanks to the falling cost of LED lighting, batteries and panels, as well as new technology that allows customers to “pay as you go", solar is economically feasible without subsidies.

One critical obstacle to success is access to financing. Solar projects are capital intensive and require debt financing to scale.  Companies operating in emerging and developing markets exist in the “missing middle”—too large for micro-finance and too small for commercial lending, and subject to exhorbitant interest rates.

SunFunder is a crowd-funding platform for anyone to invest in high-impact, vetted solar energy projects in off-grid markets around the world. SunFunder solves the biggest problem facing solar businesses working to deploy affordable solar: access to financing. SunFunder unlocks a big new source of capital for solar, individual investors who will be able to invest $25 or more in solar projects, earn a return, track their project’s performance, and reinvest in more projects to grow their impact.

For other crowdfunding opportunities check out Kiva and Kickstarter.

Until next time...become the change you imagine.

Composting for Small Spaces

It's sometimes difficult to be as environmentally conscious as I want to be, because I live in an apartment.  No front yard, back yard, or balcony, just a narrow walkway suitable only for a few houseplants when the weather is warm enough.  So what do I do? 

From the wonderful folks at Sustainable America here is something I can do: compost.  That's right, you don't have to have a yard to compost!  Check out this info-graphic on how to do it:

           Click here to enlarge

Don't let apartment living keep you from being environmentally responsible. I'll share more tips as I come across them.

Until next time...become the change you imagine.

A new age of giving~

It's a brand new year and a new age.  Let's get together and do something good to get this new age started!

Check out my latest charity:water campaign: http://mycharitywater.org/new-age---new-attitude.

Let's raise $1000.00 and help 10 families get clean water!

Until next time...become the change you imagine.