By Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News One company wants small nuclear reactors to power the energy-intensive process of purifying vast volumes of toxic “produced water” for use in agriculture and industry. Evaporation ponds hold produced water amid the oil wells of the Permian Basin. Credit: Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via …
The 5 Product Categories Most Primed to Embrace Reusable Packaging Systems
Sustainable Brands New study from Closed Loop Partners and the US Plastics Pact identifies the top 5 consumer product categories poised for near-term reuse success in US retail. Today, Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy and the US Plastics Pact released new insights to facilitate the ongoing expansion of reusable packaging solutions in …
First Citywide Reusable Cup Project Shows Viability of Reuse at Scale
Sustainable Brands In three months, the first citywide program in the US to offer a free reuse-and-return system for to-go cups produced environmental benefits when compared with a single-use alternative. Today, the NextGen Consortium, led by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy — with partners including Starbucks, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Yum! Brands and other global and …
El Paso, Texas, just broke ground on the first U.S. facility to turn wastewater directly into drinking water
By Martha Pskowski, Fast Company Other cities are expected to soon follow. A rendering of the treatment equipment at the Pure Water Center, the first direct-to-distribution reuse facility in the country [Image: courtesy El Paso Water] This desert city gets less than 9 inches of rain a year and experienced …
The fossil fuel industry is trying to keep buildings hooked on gas. Here’s how.
By Akielly Hu, Grist Around the globe, oil and gas companies use similar strategies to fight building electrification. Gerard Bottino / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images Fossil fuel industries in the United States, European Union, and Australia are leading parallel campaigns to block policies that reduce greenhouse …
Trump says he’s sending water to LA. It’s actually going to megafarms.
By Jake Bittle, Grist The president’s executive orders on California water will help irrigate Central Valley farms. They won’t do anything to fight wildfires. President Donald Trump shakes hands with California Governor Gavin Newsom upon his arrival in Los Angeles to visit the region devastated by the Palisades and Eaton …
The US wants to cut food waste in half. We’re not even close.
By Frida Garza, Grist Americans waste more than 300 pounds of food per person per year, study says. Boston Globe / Getty Images The United States is nowhere near its goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030, according to new analysis from the University of California, Davis. In …
The future of data centers — on land, at sea, and in space
By Kristin Houser, Freethink We need more data centers for AI. Developers are getting creative about where to build them. It’s 2035. Global electricity demand has skyrocketed, driven in large part by the data centers that support our digital world. Rather than worsening climate change, though, these power-hungry facilities are …
People are flocking to Florida. Will there be enough water for them?
Sachi Kitajima Mulkey & Ayurella Horn-Muller, Grist Climate change, a development boom, and overexploitation of groundwater are draining the Sunshine State. Grist / Amelia K. Bates While wading through wetlands in the headwaters of the Everglades, where tall, serrated grasses shelter alligators and water moccasins, agroecologist Elizabeth Boughton described one of Florida’s …
Concentration vs Regeneration: The Battle for Sustainably Feeding the World
By Paul Shoemaker, Sustainable Brands If we don’t shift our approach to growing the world’s food soon, we’ll see what happens when the scaling ‘solution’ we’ve relied on ultimately kills those same people it’s meant to feed. We all know there is massive concentration in the conventional food industry, which …