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Lower Overhead
Cincinnati has purchased 100 percent renewable energy to operate most of its municipal buildings through at least 2021, cutting its utility rates by more than $100,000 annually.
Independent Action
More than 50 mayors from around the globe have signed the Chicago Climate Charter, intended to guide cities toward reaching greenhouse gas emissions reductions similar to those targeted in the Paris climate accord.
Quick Quarters
Harnessing technology and cleverness, homebuilding startups in the Ukraine, Italy and Lebanon are offering tiny, energy-neutral, quick-built houses at low cost.
Deadly Cargo
The Iranian tanker Sanchi oil spill in the East China Sea has scientists worried about unknown impacts caused by the toxic nature of the ultra-light, highly flammable oil.
Eco-Villains
A beach cleanup in the Philippines resulted in the finding that Nestlé, Unilever and the Indonesian company PT Torabika Mayora were the top sources of plastic waste there.
Green Team
The Seattle Mariners’ Safeco Field recycles 96 percent of all waste, garnering the team Major League Baseball’s Green Glove Award for 2017.
Boston Ban
Joining a nationwide movement, Boston has banned single-use plastic shopping bags, requiring shoppers to bring their own totes or pay for eco-friendly bags.
Click on a Campsite
Taking the Airbnb concept a step further, vacationers can now rent camp sites on private land using the online startup LandApart.com.
Rail Trails
With more than 300 daily trains to 500-plus destinations, Amtrak offers a relaxing, scenic, affordable alternative to long hours hunched behind a steering wheel.
Waterborne Drugs
In urban streams, the presence of pharmaceuticals, including painkillers, stimulants, antihistamines and antibiotics, is causing microbial communities to morph and become resistant to drugs.
Helping Hands
An Australian company is using 3-D printers to create hands, arms and feet prosthetics out of recycled plastic and e-waste.
Women Warriors
The first majority-female anti-poaching unit in South Africa is saving rhinos and with it, the moral fabric of communities.
Obsolete Packaging
A British supermarket chain plans to drastically lower its use of plastic packaging in 1,000 of its own-label products.
All That Glitters
Decorative plastic glitter and the microbeads used in scrubs and shower gels pose a threat to fish and oceans, say scientists.
Love Rocks
People are hand-painting stones with uplifting messages and planting them randomly in public spaces.
Temporary Protection
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided not to rescind Obama-era environmental protections that restricted the opening of a copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay that would threaten fisheries and other natural resources.
Recycling IQ
Is this item trash, garbage or recyclable? As important as recycling is, it can sometimes be confusing. A short quiz offers answers to help sort out discards.
‘Sink’ Setback
Logging, drought and wildfires may be turning forests in Africa, Asia and Latin America into carbon emitters rather than absorbers.
Clear Gain
Scientists have developed a transparent, luminescent solar concentrator that looks like clear glass that could potentially supply two-fifths of U.S. energy needs.
Distributed Power
Across the U.S., energy users of all sizes are taking control of their power supply and relieving stress from the grid.
Scientists’ Security
To counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-science stance, French President Emmanuel Macron has awarded 18 climate scientists from the U.S. and elsewhere millions of euros to relocate to France to “Make Our Planet Great Again.”
Transforming Plastics
A British company has invented a solar-powered, onsite mini-recycling plant that transforms plastic waste into usable architectural tiles.
Top Polluters
New research shows that a 100 fossil-fuel producers globally are responsible for 71 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions during the last 30 years.
Chinese Chokepoint
China’s recyclable processors have given notice they will accept only paper waste uncontaminated by garbage, which has become a mountainous problem for many U.S. recycling companies.
