A group of Dutch entrepreneurs has used their country’s wet weather as a business opportunity by creating a rainwater bitter. At the De Prael brewery in Amsterdam early on Friday evening, bitter lovers turned up for a free tasting of Hemelswater: code blond, a 5.7% beer made from ultra-filtered rain, organic malted barley and wheat, hops and yeast. With climate change linked to increased rainfall in the Netherlands – just as in the UK – they might as well use it as a business opportunity.
Continue reading... →Columbia will reveal a new rain jacket free of perfluorinated compounds, better known as PFCs, in spring 2017. The rain jacket will feature a technology the company calls OutDry Extreme ECO and will sell for $199. The jacket’s eco-friendly traits don’t stop at the use of the new technology. Its main fabric is 100 percent recycled polyester, which will come from approximately 21 recycled bottles. Trims and other components will also contain recycled content. The jacket’s fabric will not be dyed which will reduce water, energy and chemicals.
Continue reading... →One of the first companies to start making products out of carbon pollution is an automaker. For the last four years, Ford has been working with a manufacturer to develop a captured CO2-based foam, and soon a plastic, that can eventually replace parts made from petroleum.
Continue reading... →Chicago-based artist Vicki Rawlins constructs whimsical portraits of enigmatic women using flowers, greenery, sand and other organic objects. These unconventional works of art are captivating not only for their creativity but also for their ephemeral journey to creation and destruction.
Continue reading... →Our caffeine addiction means that more than 25 million tonnes of grounds are produced every year. Most of that is chucked in the trash bin and sent to landfill or for incineration, increasing both waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Here are some brilliant (and not-so-brilliant) ideas for reusing those gunky grounds.
Continue reading... →At any given moment in time, all of us own products that no longer perform the way that they used to: a watch that’s stopped, a lamp that flickers, a beloved sweater that’s been snagged. Whether its planned obsolescence, regular use or accidental damage, very few products will last a lifetime. A dedicated groups of individuals have already begun setting up fixing hubs, often referred to as ‘Repair Cafés’, to promote and facilitate the repair of everyday goods and appliances, locally and free of charge. This movement is supporting the creation of a circular economy and earth centered way of living.
Continue reading... →“Open Your Eyes” was first released in September 2015, and it has been updated for re-release today. It’s narrated on screen by actor/activist/musician/artist and Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC) Notable Member Jeff Bridges, whose voice helped the REFUSE message reach more than 13 million people in only 2 months and promotes the refuse of single-use plastic.
Continue reading... →Ikea is planning to use packaging made with mushrooms as an eco-friendly replacement for polystyrene.
The furniture retailer is looking at using the biodegradable mycelium “fungi packaging” as part of its efforts to reduce waste and increase recycling, Joanna Yarrow, head of sustainability for Ikea in the U.K., said.
If we continue as “business as usual”, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, as stated in a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation published Tuesday. To combat this projection, the report also recommends applying “circular economy principles” to global plastic packaging flows, which could “transform the plastics economy and drastically reduce negative externalities such as leakage into oceans,”.
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