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BEIJING -- As world leaders tussled over the fate of the climate in Paris, Beijing residents struggled to make out the silhouettes of buildings. The multi-day pollution emergency -- dubbed “Airpocalypse” by English-language media -- signaled the start of smog season in one of the most polluted capitals in the world. On Tuesday, indices of PM2.5 particulates -- the small......read more
If someone told you there is a Silicon Valley startup selling bottled air to China, you would probably think it’s a joke. And it is; the startup is actually in Alberta, Canada. Vitality Air produces and sells “hand-bottled” air from Banff and Lake Louise, two Canadian locales known for their Rocky Mountain surroundings and crystal clear bodies of water. The startup has......read more
Is it just us or are teens doing more and more impressive stuff these days? 19-year-old Dutch university student Boyan Slat adds to the youth movement with his ingenious Ocean Cleanup Array, a green tech concept aimed at addressing the immense problem of oceanic plastic pollution. Comprised of an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms, is said to be capable of removing up to......read more
Entering Houston’s Rice University Art Gallery, you'd be forgiven for wondering whether you'd walked into some weird, icy landscape where all matter was negative. Made from nothing more than plastic sheeting and black hot glue, reverse of volume RG is the latest -- and largest -- of Yasuaki Onishi's "reverse of volume" series, in which the Japanese artist creates monumental forms that......read more
It's always a score when you discover that a stunning bit of design has tight eco credentials to boot. Such is the case with the colorful outdoor furniture creations of Loll Designs. The Duluth, Minnesota company crafts stylish and durable outdoor chairs, tables, benches, and accessories from post-consumer, industrial high-density polyethylene. What the hell is that, you ask? It's the same......read more
It's 2011, we've known about the problems of plastic pollution for, oh, a few decades now. So why the hell is excessive plastic packaging still so pervasive? On her Design Observer blog, superstar designer Marian Bantjes challenges product designers to think beyond plastics. In Brooklyn, Pratt Institute's newly opened Myrtle Hall flexes the school's commitment to sustainability. The......read more
A few years ago, when animal studies starting linking BPA (bisphenol A) to various cancers, the resulting consumer uproar forced a mass recall of reusable plastic bottles. Safety-conscious mothers everywhere let out a giant sigh of relief as baby bottles were pulled from the shelves. A big win had been scored for consumer safety. The problem? Those aren't the only things that contain BPA. In......read more
When nature and technology collide in the name of art, you can color us interested. Ohio artist Barry Underwood does a masterful job of juxtaposing the two. Taking inspiration from film, theatre, land art, and painting, Underwood creates LED light installations in natural settings, then takes long exposure photos of the scenes. The results are dramatic, to say the least. The works provide some......read more
When it comes to its environmental effects on Earth, space exploration is a dirty business. NASA says it could take a century to clean up the chemical messes left behind by launching shuttles and rockets into space. The liftoffs have created plumes of carcinogenic chemicals in the sandy soils beneath Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA said it will spend $96......read more
With a presidential election looming, EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson is hoping for Obama's support as she prepares new regulations on smog, mercury, carbon dioxide, mining waste, and vehicle emissions. The Supreme Court just validated the power of the Agency to control emissions and pollution. According to Jackson, "The only thing worse than no EPA is an EPA that exists and doesn't do its......read more
