Coal was a great power source at the turn of the last century because it was easy to transport and plentiful. The obvious problem is that it basically kills the planet when you burn it and that’s not going to change despite the whole ‘clean coal’ propaganda. The good news
Continue readingAuthor: Adam Clare
Things Are Good: Berlin’s New Rent Laws Helping People Faster than Predicted
In cities all over the world housing people is an issue and some cities have it worse than others. In Berlin, where things weren’t awful they decided they waned to stop a downward trend that cropped up in the rental market. Renters were confronted with a market that was inhumane
Continue readingThings Are Good: Adidas and Parley for the Oceans Make a Shoe
The sportswear manufacturer Adidas has partnered with Parley for the Oceans to make a shoe that uses refuse from the oceans. This is a great example of reusing waste and is one first step Adidas is taking in making their manufacturing process more environmentally friendly. With any luck this may
Continue readingThings Are Good: In Japan, Abandoned Gold Courses Become Solar Farms
Golf courses have a well deserved reputation of being absolutely horrible for the environment. Golf courses are responsible for deforestation and damaging local ecological systems all while consuming an absurd amount of water. In Japan, where many golf courses have gone out of business, they are converting the massive chunks
Continue readingThings Are Good: Using Comics to Explain Complex Economics
Economix Comix is a series of comics that looks at, you guessed it, economics. Using comics is a great way to translate really complex economic ideas into something which is more relatable and understandable. Late last year the artist (and brain) behind the series of comics released a look at
Continue readingThings Are Good: A New Documentary Looking Into Food Production
Voices of Transition is a new documentary film with limited release but you can buy it online now! The film examines how we grow our food and ideas around how to make the whole agriculture system make more sense. The film deals with community building, resilience and sustainability through urban
Continue readingThings Are Good: Community Solar Garden to Open in BC
Germany, and to a lesser extent other nations, have championed community-owned sustainable energy production. In many ways it gives power to the people. Indeed, one way to encourage mass adoption of sustainable energy is to make policies which favour decentralized and community owned production. This means that big utility companies
Continue readingThings Are Good: Increase Your Happiness by Going on Vacation
Everybody loves going on vacation and here’s why: it makes for good conversations. Really. The short term gain of increased happiness from a vacation is very short indeed, just a few days. However, the benefit of a vacation can keep giving through your social life as you relive (and share)
Continue readingThings Are Good: How to use Geothermal Energy in your Home
What is Geothermal? from Austin Wendenburg on Vimeo. Geothermal energy is one of the most sustainable energy sources because it works off of heat transferring from the ground to your home. In Iceland, the majority of the electricity comes from geothermal energy because the country sits in a prime location.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Another Way to Deal with Butts
Cigarette butts are usually aren’t disposed of properly (why do smokers think it’s OK to litter?) and this is a problem for many cities. Earlier this year we looked at the Pick Up Your Butts campaign and now a new strategy of dealing with butts has taken hold. A restaurant
Continue readingThings Are Good: Living Architecture Tour of Toronto
If you’re in Toronto or visiting you can now go on a special tour of the city that will reveal all the cool living architecture! It’s a free tour that you can download and go on anytime you’d like. Toronto abounds with green roofs and walls, but most people aren’t
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Futuristic Conclusion to HIGHRISE
HIGHRISE is back with another look into how we humans live in our built environments. We’ve looked at HIGHRISE before (Out My Window and One Millionth Tower) and this last iteration is just as captivating. We are becoming a vertical—and digital—species. Billions of us live in highrises, and three billion
Continue readingThings Are Good: It’s Time to Rethink Capitalism
Capitalism favours the wealthy and what we have seen this entire millennium is that this is more true than ever. Inequality is on the rise pretty much everywhere, and this is a problem. In this TED Talk, Paul Tudor Jones II, examines the current problematic state of capitalism and how
Continue readingThings Are Good: We Need to Hold Banks Accountable (again)
The financial sector is like a hydra and we need to get it under control. The bad news is that bankers have been able to get away with some unethical practices for the last decade or so. The good news is that finally American politicians are taking notice of this
Continue readingThings Are Good: Using Bacteria to Make Buildings Healthier
A new field of research, that doesn’t even have a proper name yet, is looking into ways we can incorporate biology into our built environment. It turns out the bacteria and germs found in our indoor worlds are vastly different than those found in natural environments. It makes me wonder
Continue readingThings Are Good: From Mafia Home to Art Gallery
Italy is home to the oldest operating museum, the Uffizi, and the country is (probably) home to the oldest operating mafia. But it may come as a bit of a surprise to find out that an old mafia home is being converted to a new museum. In an ongoing and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Boycott Bottled Water for a Better World
Bottle water is a sham and you all know this. The problem is that a lot of people don’t and that our society permits these individuals to continue their unwarranted consumption. Water is the oil of the 21st century in terms of politics and conflict. It’s best not to make
Continue readingThings Are Good: MIT Encourages Solar Energy to Power the Future
Solar roof Now that climate change has reached the point that it is happening regardless if we stop all human produced carbon output we desperately need to change how we generate electricity. MIT has concluded that a mass adaptation of solar energy is the best route to go. They argue
Continue readingThings Are Good: Fossil Fuel Divestment Continues to be Profitable
The ongoing process of investment firms divesting from fossil fuels continues to be a good idea for the planet and for profits. It’s worth noting that the big push behind this was a student-led movement to get universities to divest their giant pools of money from unethical investments. Let’s hope
Continue readingThings Are Good: Commute by Bike to Decrease Your Stress
Stanford University’s Calming Technology Lab has found evidence to support what most commuter cyclists already know: riding a bike to work instead of driving a car lowers one’s stress. Not only are you improving your own mental health you’ll be consuming less gas and save a lot of money while getting
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