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Sustainable Business Spotlight

Cinema Verde highlights sustainable businesses that have made the commitment to help forge a healthier future!
The How Bazar
The How Bazar

How Bazar is an artist/worker owned brand based in Gainesville, Florida. The brand is all about uplifting and providing value to our community through the creation of garments, events, art installations, and more. We provide a safe space for minorities, LGBTQ+, creatives, entrepreneurs, etc. to meet, work, and party. How Bazar is truly a community space.

CELI
CELI

Social impact entrepreneur and fashion designer Aline Celi was born and raised in Brazil. She also has roots on the Mediterranean, and that's where the name Celi comes from, which lends itself perfectly to the sound of fashion and thus became the name of her fashion label, which she founded in Germany in 2013. CELI has its headquarters in Berlin. With her slow fashion, Aline Celi experiments with natural fabrics and recycled materials of the highest quality. "You also have to have sustainability in your heart," she says in reference to her heart project "Goal for Life." Together with her brother, she dedicated herself in 2014 to help the organization train soccer with 120 students from Brazil. Thus, through income from their fashion, talents were equipped for the sport from the beginning and also sent to Portugal for trial training. The waiting list for admission is long, but more students can be accepted each year. "For me, this is sustainability, doing something for the future," Celi says.

Natascha von Hirschhausen
Natascha von Hirschhausen

ZERO WASTE FASHION | German designer Natascha von Hirschhausen challenged the process of cutting a garment, which on average results in a material waste of about 20 percent. Thanks to a unique cutting technique, her brand reduces this waste to less than 1%. With a zero-waste approach, even this 1% loss is reused in the design of fashion jewelry. As part of the 360-degree approach, only natural materials of special quality are processed, which are audited annually along the entire supply chain for high social and environmental standards. At the latest since European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen introduced Natascha von Hirschhausen's work in eco-fashion design, the eponymous fashion brand Natascha von Hirschhausen has become an authority on progressive, sustainable design.

We Are Neutral
We Are Neutral

We Are Neutral is an environmental nonprofit that has 15 years of experience helping businesses and individuals understand, track, reduce, and offset their comprehensive carbon footprints, giving them the opportunity to take responsibility for their environmental impact to achieve carbon neutrality and/or Net Zero. Their carbon offset and reduction projects support providing energy upgrades for low-income families, indigenous tree plantings, invasive species removal, urban agriculture, soil regeneration, composting, landfill diversion, landfill methane capture, vehicle fuel efficiency tuneups, climate change victim relief, environmental policy advocacy, and massive amounts of environmental education. Ultimately, the We Are Neutral team emphasizes quality carbon offsets, comprehensive carbon footprint calculations, industry accountability, and environmental education.

Sustainable Discussions

We love to chat with business leaders making a positive difference for the environment
Alex Lucas Flinchum

Thanks to Alex Lucas Flinchum of Solar Impact for taking time to tell us what it's like being an employee owner of one of Florida's leading sustainable businesses.

Alex Lucas Flinchum
Solar Impact
Sales and Marketing Director
IN DISCUSSION WITH
Alec Kissoondyal

Sustainable Choices in The news

We're tracking the Sustainable Business Headlines that you don't want to miss

The Olympics Need to Change as the Climate Changes

Organizers must reduce the event’s carbon footprint.

The organizers of the Paris Olympic Games have outdone their predecessors in trying to make the Games the most sustainable in the decades since climate change became a concern. But with an estimated 11 million tourists converging on the City of Light for the Olympics, including 1.5 million from abroad, the Games can only be so green.On the plus side, organizers have been serious in their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. They measured the expected carbon footprint of the Games, reduced emissions through energy efficiencies, limited new construction by using existing facilities, added bike lanes, minimized the use of fuel-powered generators and sourced sustainably produced goods for medals and podiums and much of the event materials.Perhaps most important, they’ve talked about their sustainability work at every turn, drawing attention to unsexy details and raising public awareness of environmental issues such as air pollution and extreme heat in France and beyond.Still, international travel is a big contributor to the overall carbon impact of the Games. Organizers of the Rio Olympics in 2016 predicted that slightly more than half of the carbon emissions would come from spectators. Of that amount, 80 percent was expected to be generated by international fans traveling to and from the Games. Organizers saw a low potential to reduce those emissions and said they would need to compensate elsewhere in the preparation and running of the events.What else is to be done? If the world is serious about reducing carbon emissions, the Olympics, like so much else, will have to change even more. Jules Boykoff, who has written extensively about the Olympic Games, rightly argues in Scientific American that “the Games need to reduce their size, limit the number of tourists who travel from afar, thoroughly greenify their capacious supply chains and open up their eco-books for bona fide accountability.”The sustainability efforts in Paris have not all been smooth sailing. The Seine is scheduled to host marathon swimming and the swim portion of the triathlon. But despite spending 1.4 billion euros trying to clean the river, French authorities have achieved inconsistent results: Water tests in June still showed high levels of E. coli. Those numbers improved and crept into the range of safe to swim in late June and early this month. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, recently took a swim in the river after canceling an earlier planned plunge because of those high bacteria levels. Her swim was promising, but one heavy rainfall could draw more pollutants into the river and undo much of the progress she celebrated.Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

Climate
Energy
Sustainable

Flying high to enable sustainable delivery, remote care

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

Five years ago, what began as three nervous Norwegians spotting each other across a study room has evolved into a drone company enabling sustainable deliveries, elder care, and more against a backdrop of unforgiving conditions.Lars Erik Fagernæs, Herman Øie Kolden, and Bernhard Paus Græsdal all attended the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, but their paths first crossed in the MIT Professional Education Advanced Study Program lounge in 2019, while they were apprehensive about their impending English exam. From there, they each pursued different tracks of study through the Advanced Study Program: Fagernæs studied computer science, Kolden took applied physics classes, and Græsdal, robotics. Months later, when the world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the trio’s professional trajectories intertwined.At the height of the pandemic in 2020, Fagernæs, Kolden, and Græsdal launched Aviant — a drone delivery service company. Aviant flew blood samples across Norway’s vast countryside to assist remote hospitals in diagnosing Covid. Today, their drones are delivering groceries, over-the-counter medicines, and takeout food to populations outside city centers. Capitalizing on momentumThe pandemic waned, but the need for medical sample delivery did not. Remote hospitals still require reliable and rapid sample transportation, which Aviant continues to supply through its commercial contracts. In 2021, instead of sticking with commercial-only deliveries, the Aviant founders decided to use their momentum to reach for the largest market within autonomous transportation: last-mile delivery.“Yes, you need a higher volume for the business case to make sense,” explains Fagernæs of the expansion. “Yes, it is a lot more risky, but if you make it, it’s such a big opportunity.” The Norwegian government and various venture capital firms backing Aviant agree that this risk was worth their investment. Aviant has secured millions in funding to explore the consumer market through its newest offering, Kyte. To scale operations, work still needs to be done to ingratiate drone delivery to the general population. Emphasizing the environmental benefits of aerial versus traditional road deliveries, the founders say, may be the most compelling factors that propel drones to the mainstream.So far, Aviant has flown more than 30,000 kilometers, saving 4,440 kilograms of carbon dioxide that would have been emitted through traditional transportation methods. “It doesn’t make sense to use a two- to four-ton vehicle to transport one kilogram or two kilograms of sushi or medicine,” Fagernæs reasons. “You also have cars eroding the roads, you have a lot of car accidents. Not only do you remove the cars from roads by flying [deliveries] with drones, it’s also a lot more energy efficient.”Aviant’s competitors — among them Alphabet — are spurring Fagernæs and Kolden to further improve their nicknamed “Viking drones.” Designed to sustain Norway’s harsh winter conditions and high winds, Aviant drones are well-adapted to service remote areas across Europe and the United States, a market they hope to break into soon.The unmatched MIT work ethicFagernæs and Kolden owe much to MIT: It’s where they met and hatched their company. After his time with the Advanced Study Program, Græsdal decided to return to MIT to pursue his doctorate. The professors and mentors they engaged with across the Institute were instrumental in getting Aviant off the ground.Fagernæs recalls the beginning stages of discovering the drones’ theoretical flying limit; however, he quickly ran into the hurdle that neither he nor his peers had experience deriving such data. At that moment, there was perhaps no better place on Earth to be. “We figured, OK, we’re at MIT, we might as well just ask someone.” Fagernæs started knocking on doors and was eventually pointed in the direction of Professor Mark Drela’s office. “I remember meeting Mark. Very, very humble guy, just talking to me like ‘Lars, yes, this, I will help you out, read this book, look at this paper.’” It was only when Fagernæs met back up with Kolden and Græsdal that he realized he had asked elementary questions to one of the leading experts in aeronautical engineering, and he truly appreciated Drela’s patience and helpfulness. The trio also credit Professor Russ Tedrake as being an inspiration to their current careers.Additionally, the work ethic of their fellow Beavers inspires them to work hard to this day. “I was finishing an assignment, and I think I left the Strata Student Center at 5:30 [in the morning] and it was half-full,” Kolden remembers. “And that has really stuck with me. And even when we run Aviant now, we know that in order to succeed, you have to work really, really hard.”“I’m impressed with how much Aviant has accomplished in such a short time,” says Drela. “Introducing drones to a wider population is going to make large improvements in high-value and time-critical payload delivery, and at much lower costs than the current alternatives. I’m looking forward to seeing how Aviant grows in the next few years.” “For the betterment of humankind”Drones are the future, and Kolden is proud that Aviant’s electric drones are setting a sustainable precedent. “We had the choice to use gasoline drones. It was very tempting, because they can fly 10 times farther if you just use gasoline. But we just came from MIT, we worked on climate-related problems. We just couldn’t look ourselves in the mirror if we used gasoline-driven drones. So, we chose to go for the electric path, and that’s now paid off.”In the age of automation and perceived diminishing human connections, Kolden did have a moment of doubt about whether drones were part of the dilemma. “Are we creating a dystopian society where my grandfather is just meeting a robot, saying, ‘Here is your food,’ and then flying off again?” Kolden asked himself. After deep conversations with industry experts, and considering the low birth rate and aging population in Norway, he now concludes that drones are part of the solution. “Drones are going to help out a lot and actually make it possible to take care of all people and give them food and medicine when there simply aren’t enough people to do it.”Fagernæs also takes to heart the section of the MIT mission where students are urged to “work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.” He says, “When we started the company, it was all about using drones to help out society. We started to fly during the Covid pandemic to improve the logistics of the health-care sector in Norway, where people weren’t being diagnosed for Covid because of lacking logistics.”“The story of the success of Lars Erik, Herman, and Aviant makes us proud of what we do at MIT Professional Education.” says Executive Director Bhaskar Pant. “Share MIT knowledge that leads people to be innovative, entrepreneurial, and above all pursue the MIT mission of working toward the betterment of humankind. Kyte is a shining example of that.”

Sustainable
Business
CO2

Diabetes and obesity can damage the liver to the point of failure – but few people know their risk

Liver disease is frighteningly common worldwide, but many people are unaware of the connection to diabetes

As a diabetologist, the possibility of liver disease is on my mind every time I see a patient. Understanding your risk of developing this common yet underrecognized condition is essential to treating it. What is MASLD? MASLD is a complex disorder with both environmental and genetic contributions. In its early stages, liver cells accumulate fat in a process called steatosis. Major sources of this fat include adipose tissue as well as fatty acids the liver makes in response to insulin resistance and excess caloric intake. This fat accumulation can enlarge the liver and interfere with its normal functioning. Over time, fatty acids activate enzymes, which can produce toxic byproducts capable of causing liver cell injury, inflammation and scarring. This condition is better known as MASH, or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. Progression to MASH is more common in the presence of other risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Left unaddressed, MASLD and MASH can progress to liver scarring, failure and, in some cases, cancer. They also increase risk of death from cardiovascular disease and liver-related complications. In the U.S., MASH is the leading cause of liver transplants due to hepatic cancer among women and in those 65 and older. It is also on track to overtake hepatitis B and C as the main reason people develop liver cancer and thus need a liver transplant. Liver disease and type 2 diabetes Three out of four people with type 2 diabetes have MASLD. Linking liver disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity is the key role insulin resistance plays in their genesis. Obesity is associated with increased fat deposits around the internal organs and higher levels of fatty acids delivered to the liver. Accumulation of fat in the liver increases its resistance to insulin. Normally, insulin suppresses glucose production in the liver when blood sugar is high. When the liver becomes resistant to insulin, it produces more glucose despite elevated blood sugar levels, which in turn contributes to the development of type 2 diabetes. A 2015 meta-analysis found that people with MASLD have a nearly twofold greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those without the disease. MASLD is also more likely to progress to MASH in the presence of type 2 diabetes. MASLD disproportionately affects certain ethnic groups. For instance, 1 in 5 people of Hispanic descent in the U.S. have MASLD, with or without diabetes. This is thought to be related to genetic mutations that affect how the liver cells process fat. One particular mutation more common in Hispanic people promotes steatosis by interfering with the cells’ ability to clear fat deposits. Treating MASLD and MASH The silver lining is that management of obesity and type 2 diabetes – such as through lifestyle changes – is very similar to management of MASLD. The most critical early interventions for type 2 diabetes can also help with MASLD, and this is not surprising given how closely interrelated these two conditions are. The best way to reverse the early stages of MASLD is with weight loss through healthy eating habits and regular exercise. The aim is to shed at least 5% to 10% of initial body weight, maintain that weight loss through sustainable and realistic lifestyle choices, and avoid excess alcohol intake to limit additional liver injury. New medications to treat diabetes, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic and Mounjaro, as well as SGLT2 inhibitors like Jardiance or Invokana, have also shown benefit in early stages of MASLD. These drugs promote weight loss, which in turn improves MASLD. In addition, studies have shown that Ozempic and Mounjaro could reverse MASH, even with inflammation and fibrosis. Older medications used for diabetes, such as pioglitazone, typically can also help reduce the progression of MASH by reducing insulin resistance. Liver disease progresses in stages of increasing damage. In people with severe obesity or who have not had success with lifestyle changes and weight loss drugs, bariatric surgery is another highly effective option to treat MASLD, as it is associated with significant and sustained weight loss. New drugs are also in the pipeline. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new medication called resmetirom to treat MASH with advanced liver scarring. However, a cure for this chronic disease remains elusive. This is why it is essential to diagnose MASLD as early as possible and use proven measures that can be maintained long term. Treatments and lifestyle changes need to be deployed as early as possible, before inflammation and scarring have firmly set in. MASH gets trickier to treat in more advanced stages when liver damage becomes irreversible. For instance, while Ozempic may help treat early MASH, it doesn’t benefit patients with more advanced stages of liver scarring. Ignorance is not bliss Very few people are aware of MASLD and its health implications, including those living with it. While roughly over 35% of U.S. adults have MASLD, less than 5% are aware they have liver disease. MASH can be difficult to diagnose because it either causes no symptoms or can be mistaken for other conditions. Patients may have the condition for years and not be aware that it is slowly and meticulously causing damage. In that sense, MASH is strikingly similar to type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol. Young people are increasingly being diagnosed with early-onset MASLD. Indeed, MASLD with MASH is the most common pediatric liver condition, affecting nearly 8% of children and adolescents and over 34% of children with obesity in the U.S. These children and adolescents are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and have a significantly increased lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Health care costs for people with type 2 diabetes and MASH are estimated to reach US$55 billion over the next 20 years, accounting for 65,000 liver transplants, 1.37 million cardiovascular-related deaths and 812,000 liver-related deaths. These grim statistics need not be if MASH is tackled early and aggressively. If you are one of the millions of Americans with prediabetes or diabetes and are also overweight, you most likely have some degree of MASLD or MASH. Being aware of MASLD and getting checked is the first step to addressing it. Promptly determining the best way to treat your MASLD or MASH is the next step. An early referral to a liver specialist will help you halt the progression of this challenging and common condition and take advantage of the treatment breakthroughs researchers have made in the past few years. Madona Azar, Associate Professor of Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Food
Health
Sustainable

Airlines may have to disclose carbon impact of individuals’ flights under new UK policy

Civil Aviation Authority proposes measure to help consumers make ‘more informed travel choices’Airlines may have to tell passengers the environmental impact of the flights they book under new proposals from the UK regulator.The Civil Aviation Authority said consumers should be able to make more informed travel choices when booking flights and package holidays. Continue reading...

Airlines may have to tell passengers the environmental impact of the flights they book under new proposals from the UK regulator.The Civil Aviation Authority said consumers should be able to make more informed travel choices when booking flights and package holidays.Passengers would need “accurate, understandable, and accessible” measures, and would probably be told the carbon impact of their individual flights in terms of the CO2 emitted, the CAA said, launching a consultation on the plans at the Farnborough airshow.The CAA director of policy, Tim Johnson, said: “Providing consumers with accessible, transparent and accurate environmental information is essential to making more informed travel choices.“Our new proposals aim to standardise this information across all platforms, enabling passengers to more easily compare the environmental impact of their flights. This initiative is a significant step towards greater transparency and improved sustainability in the aviation industry.”The policy could come into effect from early 2025.Some airlines, including Ryanair and Wizz, publish a monthly report of their average CO2 emissions per passenger journey, which is generally lowest on the newest, fuel-efficient planes that fly with the fullest occupancy.Future carbon calculations could also include the amount of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) used. Airlines are expected to be required to incorporate at least 10% SAF in their fuel mix by 2030.Although SAF still emits CO2 in flight, its proponents argue that its “lifecycle emissions” – through using feedstocks such as waste and recycled cooking oil to produce the fuel – are up to 70% lower than from conventional jet fuel.Airlines are banking on SAF, which is much more expensive to produce than kerosene at the moment. However, the UK is targeting at least five commercial SAF plants in construction by the end of 2025, and the government has announced legislation for a revenue certainty mechanism to boost investment in the new field.

Government
Sustainable
Waste

Beat the Heat: How Self-Cooling Artificial Turf is Transforming Cities

A new artificial turf can cool itself by storing rainwater and using capillary action to reduce surface temperatures, providing a safer and more sustainable alternative...

Overview of the water retention system below the artificial turf field. Credit: PermavoidA new artificial turf can cool itself by storing rainwater and using capillary action to reduce surface temperatures, providing a safer and more sustainable alternative for urban sports fields.The natural grass in city parks and sports fields has often been replaced with more durable artificial turf, as it allows for heavy consecutive use. However, artificial turf has its downsides, for both people and cities as a whole. It decreases soil infiltration of rain and can reach dangerously high surface temperatures, contributing to the urban heat island effect.Innovative Cooling System in Artificial TurfNow, scientists from the Netherlands have developed an artificial turf that includes a subsurface water storage and capillary irrigation system. This system, detailed in a new study published in Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, provides a cooler, safer, and more sustainable alternative to conventional artificial turf. “Here we show that including a subsurface water storage and capillary irrigation system in artificial turf fields can lead to significantly lower surface temperatures compared to conventional artificial turf fields,” said first author Dr Marjolein van Huijgevoort, a hydrologist at KWR Water Research Institute. “With circular on-site water management below the field, a significant evaporative cooling effect is achieved.”Picture of the field site in Amsterdam with the four research plots. Credit: Joris VoetenReducing Heat on Artificial FieldsThe artificial turf and subbase system includes an open water storage layer directly underneath the artificial turf and shockpad. In this water layer, rainwater is stored. This water retention system contains cylinders that transport the stored water back up to the surface of the artificial turf, where it evaporates.“The process of evaporative cooling and capillary rise is controlled by natural processes and weather conditions, so water only evaporates when there is demand for cooling,” van Huijgevoort explained.Experimentation and ResultsConventional artificial turf can reach surface temperatures of up to 70°C on sunny days. These temperatures are high enough to cause burn injuries and trigger heat-related illnesses, ranging from mild rashes to potentially life-threatening conditions like heat stroke.In a field experiment conducted in Amsterdam, the researchers found that when conventional turf was replaced with the self-cooling turf, temperatures dropped. They reported that on a particularly hot day in June 2020, the cooled turf reached a surface temperature of 37°C – just 1.7°C higher than natural grass – whereas surface temperatures of the conventional artificial turf reached 62.5°C.Above the plots, temperatures also differed. “We found lower air temperatures 75cm above the cooled plots compared to conventional artificial turf fields, especially during the night,” said van Huijgevoort. “This is a first indication that the cooled plots contribute less to the urban heat island effect.”Environmental and Practical AdvantagesThe cooling turf combines the advantages of artificial turf and natural grass: It is durable, keeps itself cool, and offers a healthy environment to play sports. It can also store almost as much rainwater as natural grass. The field’s rainwater retention capacity also reduces stormwater drainage, which helps mitigate urban flooding. During periods when it does not rain enough, extra water can be added directly into the system. Alternatively, it could be watered like natural grass.Economic and Research ConsiderationsInstallation costs, however, can be up to twice as expensive as for conventional artificial turf. The researchers said that a full-scale cost-benefit analysis should be undertaken to find out the true value of the investment.Further research also needs to confirm how cooling turf could impact the surrounding area and cities as a whole. Learning more about the benefits of the turf in different climates and using different storage sizes, materials, and infills is also necessary to find the optimal combination, the researchers pointed out.Initial results, however, are promising. “People in urban areas, especially children, have a growing need for sport and play facilities,” van Huijgevoort concluded. “With this work we show the benefits of the subsurface water storage and capillary irrigation system without negative effects of artificial turf fields.”Reference: “Climate adaptive solution for artificial turf in cities: integrated rainwater storage and evaporative cooling” by Marjolein H. J. van Huijgevoort, Dirk Gijsbert Cirkel and Joris G. W. F. Voeten, 23 May 2024, Frontiers in Sustainable Cities.DOI: 10.3389/frsc.2024.1399858

Sustainable
Water
Health

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