Search results

Now Playing | In May 2010, Rulindo, Rwanda launched an ambitious plan to bring access to water and sanitation services to the entire district population. This film explores the story, challenges and ultimate success for reaching over 330,000 people with safe water in the rural and mountainous Rulindo District, and how this project is inspiring sustainable water (infrastructure and sanitation) models around the world.

Past Presentation | The Sea of Cortez is one of the most lush, bio-diverse seas on this planet. Or at least it was. Located between mainland Mexico and the California Baja Peninsula, the Sea of Cortez has been called the “Aquarium of the World” being home to over 950 varieties of fish and 30 species of marine mammals. But this maritime treasure and the creatures that call it home are in danger.

Past Presentation | This significant documentary explains the spectacular financialization of environmental conservation. If nature had a price, wouldn’t corporations and governments be less likely to destroy it? Wouldn’t putting a price on nature overturn what economist Pavan Sukhdev calls “the economic invisibility of nature”? Reality, of course, turns out to be rather more complex. What guarantees do we have that our natural inheritance will be protected? Should our ecological heritage be for sale? Is the best way to protect nature to put a price on it? Wouldn’t putting a price on nature overturn what economist Pavan Sukhdev calls “the economic invisibility of nature?”

Past Presentation | 20 years ago, a young group of social entrepreneurs started a company to sustainably harvest acai in the Brazilian rainforest. Along the way, they joined a movement of purpose-driven companies looking to change the world through an alternative economic model. These "triple bottom line" businesses measure success not only financially but also socially and environmentally. Their practice of "conscious commerce" addresses some of today’s most challenging issues. This award-winning documentary empowers viewers to be part of the solution by "voting with their dollars" and supporting brands and products that make positive change for the planet.

Now Playing | We pollute the environment upon which we depend. An exploration of the paradox of sustainable skiing and how we can protect the places we love.

Past Presentation | A short film that documents visionaries Michael Lewis (of Growing Warriors) and Rebecca Burgess (of Fibershed) as they collaborate to re-introduce industrial hemp to the American landscape.

Now Playing | A documentary short that focuses on a sustainability project in Cojímar, Cuba

Past Presentation | Vermont herbalists Jeff and Melanie Carpenter sold their natural products business to buy raw land and start an organic farm to grow medicinal herbs, rather than source them from half-way around the world.

Past Presentation | This film highlights the Danish non-profit, INDEX: Design to Improve Life ® (INDEX) and the film explores its history as an international design competition and highlights the most innovative INDEX award winners. Showcased is how design can be used to plan and build affordable housing, to prevent blindness, to destroy landmines, to deliver vaccines and blood in remote areas, to clean up the oceans and to help prevent infant and mother mortality, among others. Sustainable designs/inventions that embrace the principles of social, economic, and ecological sustainability are examined.

Now Playing | In 2008, a sustainable development project began in the middle of the Kenai Fjords of Alaska, 3 hours by boat from the nearest port of civilization. Told from the points of view of crew members, project coordinators and the Native Alaskan corporation that owns the land itself, the film is both a celebration of and a blueprint for sustainable construction, as well as an exciting battle against time and the elements deep within wild Alaska.

Past Presentation | A world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.

Past Presentation | Though focused on West Virginia, this film serves as a cautionary tale for a world heavily relying on fossil fuels and the hefty price it exacts from society. Responding to one of the worst yet least publicized industrial contamination disasters in the US, courageous Appalachians fight to defend their human right to clean water and persevere in their quest for truth and justice. Coal Rush dramatizes the human and societal costs to a democracy of relying on cheap energy and the environmental hazards that can affect any of us - rural or urban.

Now Playing | The path to successful bio-intensive market gardening in the Last Frontier involves an enthusiasm to work in partnership with nature; to steward the soil and the multitude of organisms it contains and supports. As Alaskans contemplate the reality that a staggering 95% of food found in the grocery stores is imported, Emily Garrity and her Twitter Creek Garden operation are chipping away at this food insecurity and providing a roadmap for others to emulate. Aspiring to provide alternatives to the destructive standards of commercial agriculture, life-long Alaskan, Emily Garrity, shares her hard-won secrets in this biopic short film.

Now Playing | Join Maya van Rossum, Founder of Green Amendments For The Generations, in her exploration of New Mexico’s biggest environmental issues and the role a NM Green Amendment could play in the fight for environmental justice with: Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, legislative sponsor of the New Mexico Green Amendment; Emma Rose Cohen, CEO/Founder of the sustainable business Final; Beata Tsosie-Peña, Environmental Health and Justice Program Coordinator for Tewa Women United; Artemisio Romero y Carver, founding member of Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA); and Dee George and Penny Aucoin, fracking waste accident victims impacted residents of Otis, NM.

Past Presentation | Daniel Balima is a senior horticulturist from Tenkodogo, a small Sub-Saharan African town in Burkina Faso, where he lives with his large family and has worked since he was born 67 years ago. Daniel as a child falls ill with polio and, although growing without the use of his legs, he is able to follow his father in the family nursery, walking on his hands. He works immediately with great passion and talent so much that his disability, which for many in Africa means a marked destiny, is for Daniel an opportunity: "I could take two paths: begging or taking my life in hand and devoting myself to work with dignity." Daniel has chosen and won this great challenge and, every day, he sows and cultivates with great effort and gratitude many vegetables and plants. In over fifty years of activity he has given life to more than a million trees and this is what is most important for Daniel because, as he tells us, his country, because of the drought, needs many trees and does not stop, on the contrary, he dreams of planting another million.

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. For years, eagle-eyed environmentalists have called out banks and consumer businesses—from Barclays to fashion brand ASOS—for making misleading claims that their practices or products are sustainable, otherwise known as greenwashing.  However, lately there has been an uptick in “greenhushing,” a […]

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. As the holidays quickly approach, the last-minute scramble to get presents for everyone on your list can be a bit of a guessing game. Will your mom like the blue or green mug? Does your brother wear a large […]

Five years after Diane Wilson’s landmark settlement with Formosa Plastics, she’s directing the money toward reviving “the bay and the fishermen.”

Five years after Diane Wilson’s landmark settlement with Formosa Plastics, money flows to “the bay and the fishermen.”

Let's build the world that we want to live in.

Now Playing | A day in the life of Patrick Lang living a sustainable life in Malibu… filmed before his home and community were consumed by fire in the fall of 2018.

Past Presentation | This episode looks at a range of sustainable practices young Edmontonians are engaged in to bring local, healthy and delicious food to local tables. Host Paula Humby plants an apple tree.

Researchers at ICTA-UAB found that human urine can be reused as a sustainable fertilizer for urban agriculture, helping reduce CO₂ emissions, water use, and reliance on non-renewable resources. Reusing human urine to produce sustainable fertilizers could offer major environmental advantages for urban agriculture, according to a study by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology [...]

New signs invite travelers to take in a self-guided, "forest-to-frame" tour before their next flight.

Read more

Hybrid solutions that combine nature with common “hard” coastal protection measures may offer more benefits in lower-risk areas. Common “hard” coastal defenses, like concrete sea...

Monteverde ranks among the most popular destinations in the country, attracting over 200,000 tourists annually due to its robust conservation efforts. In response to the large number of people who visit, Monteverde is starting a project aimed at gathering and processing organic waste, particularly leftover food from restaurants, with the aim of utilizing it to […] The post Monteverde Leads the Way in Sustainable Waste Management appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Drone company founders with MIT Advanced Study Program roots seek to bring aerial delivery to the mainstream.

"The last thing we want to do is take the pleasure away from eating"

Now Playing | Joep van Dijk is a passionate climate scientist. He likes to search for extreme examples that show how life can be lived sustainably. This documentary follows Joep on his CO2-neutral journey from Amsterdam to the United States of America and shows how this choice inspires himself and others to live a climate conscious life.

The last thing we want to do is take the pleasure away from eating. But bite-sized changes add up to significant environmental benefits.

SFU professor Chelsey Geralda Armstrong’s research on beaked hazelnut DNA reveals Indigenous peoples in British Columbia cultivated and traded the plant 7,000 years ago, shaping the land sustainably. The study challenges colonial misconceptions of untouched landscapes and emphasizes Indigenous environmental expertise. By decoding the DNA of the beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta), a native plant that [...]

The mushroom industry explores the potential of spent substrate, a byproduct of mushroom cultivation, for various environmental and agricultural applications.Doug Bierend reports for Civil Eats.In short:Spent substrate, the leftover material from mushroom farming, holds potential for compost, soil decontamination, biofuel, and further mushroom cultivation.Small and large mushroom farms alike face the challenge of managing the increasing amounts of spent substrate, seeking innovative solutions for its disposal and reuse.The Central Texas Mycological Society has created a community network for free spent substrate pickup, supporting local farms and environmental projects.Key quote:"If you're gonna do it, awesome, but account for this waste stream you're producing and how you're gonna get it off of your property."— Amanda Janney, founder of KM MushroomsWhy this matters:Incorporating spent substrate into farming practices supports the principles of circular economy by recycling waste products into valuable resources. This not only reduces waste but also minimizes the environmental impact of farming by decreasing the reliance on synthetic inputs.The way we eat and grow food has to dramatically change if we're going to feed the world's increasing population by 2050 and protect the planet, according to a major report released in 2019 from the EAT-Lancet Commission.

Avocados are marketed as a superfood, but growing them for an expanding world market has turned a rural Mexican state into an unsustainable monoculture

California on Wednesday signed an agreement with the country's leading passenger and cargo airlines to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels across the state. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Airlines for America (A4A) — an industry trade group representing almost a dozen airlines — pledged to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels statewide....

A new study shows how sugar levels influence plant growth and oil production through the protein KIN10, offering the potential for advancements in biofuel production....

In the lush jungle of northern Guatemala — in the largest protected area in Central America — 30 leaders from Colombia’s Amazon basin region are swapping strategies with local ethnic Maya farmers on how to live off this dense forest without destroying it. Under the soaring, leafy mahogany and cedar trees in the Maya Biosphere […] The post Maya Biosphere Reserve: A Model for Sustainable Land Management appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Now Playing | A documentary on the profits international chemical companies are gaining in Africa at cost of the health of small-scaled-farmers and consumers.International chemical companies sell high toxic agro-chemicals in Kenya, which are banned since long in Europe. They are banned because their ingredients cause cancer and have a major negative impact on the nature and environment. Anyhow – in developing countries like Kenya those toxic chemicals are sold without any regulations through small agro-shops all over the country. The small scaled farmers do believe in the promises of better and safer harvest those companies give. Today, the use of pesticides even inside the villages is already a daily business. Furthermore many of them already depend on hybrid seeds, old and resistant seeds supplants. Most of the consumers do not have the knowledge, how dangerous those agro-chemicals are: the WHO announced that annually 346.000 people die, caused by accidentally poisoning with those chemicals, 2/3 of them within developing countries.In the face of world food, industry is trying to push its way into the markets. On the contrary, statistics and alternative farming methods in East Africa show that it no longer needs chemicals and hybrid seeds to feed the world, but a general rethinking.

In the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, the Costa Rican delegation organized a side event to announce a new biodiversity-focused Payment for Environmental Services program called “PES Biodiversity Plus.” Costa Rica also reaffirmed its commitment to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, often described as the “Paris Agreement for Nature.” After years of PES, Costa Rica expanded the program this week […] The post Costa Rica Expands Forest Protection with New Biodiversity Program appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Study shows how smart policies could address competing land-use needs.

In the Solomon Islands, Indigenous tribes are leveraging the lucrative carbon credit market to sustainably protect their ancient rainforests from logging while funneling vital income to their communities.Jo Chandler reports for Yale E360.In short:Several Solomon Islands tribes have united to form the Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project, preserving their forests and selling carbon credits internationally.The project includes verified protected areas and employs local tribespeople as rangers, enhancing biodiversity and environmental stewardship.The initiative provides significant economic benefits to the tribes, supporting community developments like education and infrastructure.Key quote:"If we misuse or destroy this land, we will not have any other,"— Linford Pitatamae, leader of the Sirebe tribeWhy this matters:Natural habitats play a significant role in the carbon market because of their ability to sequester carbon naturally. By valuing the carbon stored in these ecosystems, the market incentivizes their preservation. For example, a forest that might otherwise be cleared for agriculture could be maintained as a carbon sink. The revenue from selling carbon credits can make conservation financially viable for landowners and communities, providing an economic alternative to destructive practices like deforestation.Researchers say "proforestation" policies are the fastest and most effective way to draw excess CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Read more

Extraction of nickel, an essential component of clean energy technologies, needs stronger policies to protect local environments and communities, MIT researchers say.

Backing of Glencore angers campaigners who have highlighted firm’s environmental breaches in South AfricaOne of the world’s biggest banks, JP Morgan, has promoted ­environmental and “sustainable” funds to customers which have invested more than £200m in the mining giant Glencore, it can be revealed.Ethical investing has become big business for JP Morgan and other financial giants, with worldwide “sustainable” investing expected to surpass $40tn by 2030. But the industry now faces scrutiny over the rules around investments focusing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Continue reading...

The suds that go down the drain can be harmful to wildlife. We’ve got tips on how to clean clothes and support nature.

California is partnering with a major airline trade group to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels in the state

Blaauwberg Nature Reserve has once again received Green Coast Status from WESSA, now for the fifth time since 2018. The post Blaauwberg Nature Reserve gets Green Coast Status once more appeared first on SA People.

The advance could help make 3D printing more sustainable, enabling printing with renewable or recyclable materials that are difficult to characterize. While 3D printing has...

Make the best of the “double brood” of cicadas with insect kimchi and tempura-fried bugs.

Travel and environmental experts break down the rise of the "green travel" movement and how to incorporate it into your next vacation.

Cinema Verde presents an interview with Joep van Dijk the director of "CO2? CO-NEE!" Joep van Dijk is a passionate climate scientist. He likes to search for extreme examples that show how life can be lived sustainably. This documentary follows Joep on his CO2-neutral journey from Amsterdam to the United States of America and shows how this choice inspires himself and others to live a climate conscious life. Our full catalog of video interviews and streaming films is available to members at cinemaverde.org.

Our obsession with consumption and plastic is not sustainable.

For years, Debbie Stabenow fought for environmentally friendly agricultural policy. She retired with mixed results.

The snakes may be some of the most resource-efficient animals to farm on the planet, a new study suggests

Costa Rica is facing a pesticide crisis due to the high use of chemicals in agriculture and their harmful impacts on human health and ecosystems. Experts have repeatedly called for a transition to sustainable agriculture practices like agroecology, which promotes organic farming and eco-friendly alternatives. Costa Rica ranks among the highest in pesticide use per […] The post High Pesticide Use in Costa Rica Sparks Call for Sustainable Farming appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Smartphones, electric vehicles and wind turbines rely on environmentally destructive rare earth mining operations. Harnessing electric fields could make this mining more sustainable

Organizers must reduce the event’s carbon footprint.

Design created with no concrete and completely sustainable materials is first to win new environmental prizeA garden built with “humble” terracotta made into 3D-printed bricks has won the first green medal at Chelsea flower show for being the most environmentally sustainable design.This year’s show, held in the Royal hospital gardens in south-west London, has a strong environmental theme. At the press day on Monday, Dame Judi Dench was presented with a seedling taken from the Sycamore Gap tree felled in Northumberland. Continue reading...

The forum on ocean protection “Immersed in Change,” held in Costa Rica as a prelude to a crucial UN meeting in France in 2025, will culminate this Saturday with a “declaration of peace for the ocean,” organizers reported. After two intensive days of debate, calls to action, presentations of successful initiatives, and shared knowledge in […] The post Costa Rica Declares Peace with the Ocean in Groundbreaking Initiative appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Francis Durman, a distinguished Costa Rican entrepreneur, has been honored with the prestigious Businessman of the Year Award by El Financiero. On Tuesday, December 10, El Financiero hosted the 27th edition of the EF Awards, a highly anticipated annual event recognizing exceptional contributions to Costa Rica’s business sector. The awards spotlight achievements in entrepreneurship, innovation, management, expansion, and growth, spanning […] The post Costa Rican Entrepreneur Francis Durman Wins Top Business Award appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.