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☆ New Orleans Likes to Drink. They Spotted a Huge Recycling Opportunity
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Cara Buckley | Annie Flanagan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In early 2020, Franziska Trautmann and Max Steitz, then seniors at Tulane University, were spitballing ways to keep their glass out of the trash. For all of its imbibing, New Orleans didn’t offer curbside glass recycling. For Ms. Trautmann and Mr. Steitz, this wasn’t just galling, but a missed opportunity. “We underestimated how much demand there was,” Mr. Steitz, 27, said. Now, four years later, their company, Glass Half Full, is the only glass recycling facility in New Orleans.

Persons: Franziska Trautmann, Max Steitz, Trautmann, Steitz, ” Mr, ’ Organizations: Tulane University, Zeta Psi Locations: New Orleans, Crescent

☆ A Simple New Technique Could Make Your Eggs More Humane
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Every year in the United States, more than 300 million male chicks are hatched. But because they don’t lay eggs or produce valued meat, they are typically killed within a day, usually shredded alive in industrial grinders. But now an American egg producer said he plans to begin selling eggs from chickens bought from a hatchery equipped with new technology that avoids that grisly outcome, a first in the United States. “The average consumer simply has no awareness that this is even an issue,” said the producer, John Brunnquell, founder and president of Indiana-based Egg Innovations, which sells 300 million free-range and pasture-raised eggs a year. Mr. Brunnquell said the main hatchery he uses was on track to adopt the technology in early 2025 and that he expected to begin selling eggs produced with the new technique late next summer.

Persons: ”, John Brunnquell, Brunnquell Locations: United States, American, Indiana

☆ They Save Baby Seals From Fishing Line and Plastics. Millions Watch.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A group of men sprints across a windswept beach, holding what look like outsize butterfly nets, and close in on a colony of seals trying to escape into the sea. The pursuers wrestle with their quarry: Seals entangled by fishing gear and other maritime garbage, whose fortunes are about to be reversed. As one man pins down a panicked animal, another cuts away the plastic deeply embedded in its neck. The chase ends with a freed seal triumphantly returning to the ocean. Ocean Conservation Namibia, a nonprofit group based on the central coast of Namibia, estimates it has rescued around 3,000 seals entangled in marine garbage since 2020.

Organizations: Conservation Locations: Conservation Namibia, Namibia

☆ Why Mainers Are Falling Hard for Heat Pumps
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But this winter, Ms. McLaughlin’s bungalow is toasty, thanks to two heat pumps she installed to replace her oil furnace. “I’m just so comfortable,” said Ms. McLaughlin, a pharmaceutical sales representative. In the summer, it can operate in reverse, pulling heat from inside a building and pumping it outside, cooling the indoor spaces. In 2023 heat pumps outsold gas furnaces in the United States for the second year running, a climate win. Electrical heat pumps are the cheapest and most energy efficient ways to heat and cool homes, and they do not emit the carbon pollution that is overheating the planet.

Persons: Kaylie McLaughlin, ”, I’m, McLaughlin, She’s Locations: Maine, Farmingdale, Augusta, United States

☆ These Cities Aren’t Banning Meat. They Just Want You to Eat More Plants.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Los Angeles eateries will keep serving up combinations of bacon, chicken, egg and blue cheese that are essential to its signature Cobb salads. And Scots can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Edinburgh has no plans to outlaw haggis. Yet officials from each of these cities want people to consume less dairy and meat. The treaty is not binding and its effect varies wildly, ranging from just messaging to concrete plans to reduce dairy and meat served in institutions and schools and cut down on food waste. But local leaders who championed the treaty said it helped solidify their efforts to encourage plant consumption for both climate and health reasons, while also sending a pressing message.

Persons: haggis Organizations: Amsterdam Locations: Gouda, Los, Edinburgh

☆ After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wild
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

There was scraggly grass in one sand trap and wooden blocks and a toy castle in another, evidence of children at play. People were walking their dogs on the fairway, which was looking rather ragged and unkempt. Nowadays, these grounds are mowed just twice a year, and haven’t been doused with pesticides or rodenticides since 2018, which was when this 157-acre stretch of land stopped being the San Geronimo Golf Course, and began a journey toward becoming wild, or at least wilder, once again. A small number of shuttered golf courses around the country have been bought by land trusts, municipalities and nonprofit groups and transformed into nature preserves, parks and wetlands. Among them are sites in Detroit, Pennsylvania, Colorado, the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, and at least four in California.

Persons: haven’t, wilder Organizations: San Locations: San Geronimo, Detroit , Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York, California

☆ Could a Giant Parasol in Outer Space Help Solve the Climate Crisis?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The idea is to create a huge sunshade and send it to a far away point between the Earth and the sun to block a small but crucial amount of solar radiation, enough to counter global warming. Scientists have calculated that if just shy of 2 percent of the sun’s radiation is blocked, that would be enough to cool the planet by 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 Fahrenheit, and keep Earth within manageable climate boundaries. The idea has been at the outer fringes of conversations about climate solutions for years. But as the climate crisis worsens, interest in sun shields has been gaining momentum, with more researchers offering up variations. There’s even a foundation dedicated to promoting solar shields.

Persons: It’s, Istvan Szapudi Organizations: University of Utah, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii

☆ To Slash Carbon Emissions, Colleges Are Digging Really Deep
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When administrators at Princeton University decided to cut the carbon emissions that came from heating and cooling their campus, they opted for a method that is gaining popularity among colleges and universities. They began drilling holes deep into the ground. The university is using the earth beneath its campus to create a new system that will keep buildings at comfortable temperatures without burning fossil fuels. During hot months, heat drawn from Princeton’s buildings will be stored in thick pipes deep underground until winter, when heat will be drawn back up again. Since its founding in 1746, Princeton has heated its buildings by burning carbon-based fuels, in the form of firewood, then coal, then fuel oil, then natural gas.

Organizations: Princeton University, Princeton Locations: Princeton

☆ How Climate Week in New York Turned Into ‘Burning Man for Climate Geeks’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Cara Buckley | More About Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s almost like the climate crisis has gotten itself a new team of publicists, judging from the boggling array of sessions, panels, VI.P. dinners, workshops and fireside chats happening this week as part of Climate Week NYC. This was in addition to two sold out Earth-focused drag shows, “SAVE HER!” hosted by the eco-drag queen Pattie Gonia, and the spectacle of Prince William wading into New York’s East River to visit the Billion Oyster Project, which works to restore reefs using mollusks. There were hundreds of less glittery events too, focused on decarbonizing agriculture, deforestation-free cattle ranching, carbon removal, environmental justice, food waste, green steel and session after session on climate finance and climate tech. Chaotic, sprawling, and borderline circuslike, Climate Week NYC, which officially runs from Sept. 17 to 24, is in many ways a showcase of human innovation, the countless ways people in many industries are working to slow and potentially reverse the enormous harms humans have done to the planet.

Persons: Pattie Gonia, Prince William Locations: Climate, New

☆ How New York’s Public Hospitals Cut Carbon Emissions: More Vegetables
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Cara Buckley | More About Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On the menu at New York City’s 11 public hospitals is pasta with Bolognese sauce, without the meat. NYC Health + Hospitals, the country’s largest municipal health system, has made plant-based food the default for inpatient meals. That means the food contains no meat, dairy or eggs. Now, a year after it made those sweeping changes, the hospital system has reduced its food-related carbon emissions by 36 percent, according to the mayor’s office. And, jokes about hospital food aside, the changes seem to be a hit with patients.

Persons: cornbread, Samantha Morgenstern Organizations: New York City’s Locations: New, American, Sodexo

☆ Tiny Forests With Big Benefits
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Cara Buckley | More About Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The tiny forest lives atop an old landfill in the city of Cambridge, Mass. Its aspens are growing at twice the speed normally expected, with fragrant sumac and tulip trees racing to catch up. It has absorbed storm water without washing out, suppressed many weeds and stayed lush throughout last year’s drought. Tiny forests have been planted across Europe, in Africa, throughout Asia and in South America, Russia and the Middle East. Now tiny forests are slowly but steadily appearing in the United States.

Persons: it’s, they’ve Organizations: Griffith Locations: Cambridge, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, Russia, East, India, Japan, United States, Washington, Los, Northeast

☆ Save the Planet, Put Down that Hamburger
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Cara Buckley | More About Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The study found that, compared to meat-heavy diets, vegan diets resulted in 75 percent less land use, 54 percent less water use, and 66 percent less biodiversity loss. A vegan diet avoids all animal products, including meat, eggs and dairy. Vegan diets had the lowest totals, accounting for 5.4 pounds of carbon dioxide a day. In terms of land and water use and effects on species’ extinction, vegetarians, fish eaters and low meat diets had similar results. The study also found that vegans and vegetarians were on average younger than fish and meat eaters.

Persons: Dr, Scarborough

☆ Want to Help Feathered Friends Beat the Heat? Get a Birdbath.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Cara Buckley | More About Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Record temperatures, drought, smoky air and loss of habitat make it increasingly difficult for feathered and other winged creatures in urban and suburban areas to find the water they need. But there’s a simple way that humans can help them out: install a birdbath. “A source of clean, fresh water can be one of the hardest things for birds to find,” said Kim Eierman, an environmental horticulturist and the founder of EcoBeneficial, an ecological landscape design firm, who teaches at the New York Botanical Garden and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Putting in birdbaths is something that’s easy for homeowners and even apartment dwellers and tenants of commercial spaces, she said. “You’re increasing the health of the birds by providing a resource that’s really tough to find,” said Ms. Eierman, who lays out nature-friendly tips in her book “The Pollinator Victory Garden.” “In the summer months, it’s way more important than putting up birdseed.”

Persons: ”, Kim Eierman, “, Eierman Organizations: New, Botanical, Brooklyn Botanic Garden Locations: Brooklyn, birdbaths

☆ To Help Cool a Hot Planet, the Whitest of White Coats
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Cara Buckley | More About Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is cool to the touch, even under a blazing sun, Dr. Ruan said. Unlike air-conditioners, the paint doesn’t need any energy to work, and it doesn’t warm the outside air. In 2021, Guinness declared it the whitest paint ever, and it’s since collected several awards. While the paint was originally envisioned for rooftops, manufacturers of clothes, shoes, cars, trucks and even spacecraft have come clamoring. Last year, Dr. Ruan and his team announced that they’d come up with a more lightweight version that could reflect heat from vehicles.

Persons: Xiulin Ruan, didn’t, Ruan, Guinness, they’d Organizations: Purdue University, Guinness World Records

☆ Penguins in Your Fridge? These 7-Year-Olds Have Climate Solutions.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Cara Buckley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What could the penguins that live there do to adapt? “Maybe they could migrate to another cold place, like the United States in winter?” the boy, whose name is Noah, asked. Gabi thought maybe the penguins could build igloos. A few of them, Gabi added, could live inside her fridge. The standards are built on a striking premise: Even as storms eat away New Jersey’s coastline, snow days become obsolete and wildfire smoke poisons the air outside, climate change can be taught to the youngest learners without freaking them out.

Persons: Michelle Liwacz, murmured, Noah, Aliya, Gabi Organizations: Slackwood Elementary Locations: Trenton , N.J, Antarctica, United States, New Jersey

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