A few years ago in Mali some filmmakers went to chronicle what’s going on in the country and ended up making a documentary about solar energy. Daniel Dembele is an entrepreneur who brought solar power to the people by starting a company and bringing photovoltaic panels to rural Mali. This
Continue readingAuthor: Adam
Things Are Good: Earth Rangers Wants You to Bring Back the Wild
Earth Rangers is a conservation organization focused on getting kids engaged in protecting and learning about the environment. They have a program currently focused on having kids actively engage in protecting wildlife and their ecosystems. Earth Day happens later this month but there’s no reason why you can’t be thinking
Continue readingThings Are Good: India’s Supreme Court Paves the Way for Cheaper Pharmaceuticals
India continues to pave the way for providing cheaper generic drugs for its citizens compared to other nations which have a heavy patent system. Previously India has produced drugs for 97% less than ‘normal’ costs as well as committing to the development of generic drugs. Looking out for their citizen’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: New Look and Site Update
You are probably thinking that things look differently – well that’s because they do. I just updated the back-end of the site (it’s the database and WordPress by the way) and decided to install a new site theme on a whim. As a neat benefit, all posts will now be
Continue readingThings Are Good: People Recycle More in Green Buildings
Researchers at UBC have studied the recycling behaviour of people who work in green buildings to those who don’t and found that – regardless of their past habits – people in green buildings recycle more. This is really nifty because it proves that design of an interior space alone can
Continue readingThings Are Good: Portable Planetarium Brings Space to Kids
The Peterborough Planetarium has been started by just two people with the primary goal to bring an excitement of space and our global environment to kids in Ontario. Being a big fan of outer space and the planet Earth, I think this is great! Their goal is to introduce kids
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Better Truck for Safer Driving
Trucks kill a lot a cyclists and that’s a problem. We’ve looked at ways we can make trucks more efficient, now London Cycling Campaign has found ways to make trucks safer. They have modified the layout of a truck to allow the driver to see more of the road –
Continue readingThings Are Good: James Dyson Award Expands Prizes, Open for Entries
SafetyNet from Dan Watson on Vimeo. The James Dyson Award is an award for engineers and designers to encourage the creation of new devices that make the world a better place. A good example of what they are looking for is last year’s winner, SafetyNet, in the video above. The
Continue readingThings Are Good: A More Efficient Truck for Shipping
A new SuperTruck is a huge improvement over current long-haul trucks that ship tonnes of goods around North America. The USA’s Department of Energy wanted to make trucks 50% more efficient through various solutions, even a marginal increase can lower gas consumption and thus pass on savings to a consumer.
Continue readingThings Are Good: EcoParent Online for Helpful Eco-Tips
EcoParent Magazine is all about raising children in an environmentally-friendly way while inspiring respect for the planet. The site currently has a range of tips and information ranging from edible gardening to greener home computing. From their site: Through our quarterly print magazine and our website (among our other activities),
Continue readingThings Are Good: Canadians Want Science to be Free
Scientists in Canada have come under attack and censorship under the federal Conservative government and Canadians want that to change. Science Uncensored is a new organization focused on ensuring that research funded by the government is freely available to Canadians and that the government stop censoring research results. In the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Crowdfunding for Political Change
Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have changed the way some projects get funding by using contributions from individuals on a large scale. There have been many art projects and products that have come into existence thanks to this new trend in crowdfunding. Todd Aalgaard has wondered if crowdfunding can be
Continue readingThings Are Good: EU Bans Cosmetics Tested on Animals
The European Union has banned the selling of cosmetics that have been tested on animals. This will make the lives of many animals better and may encourage innovations in cosmetic testing . The ban applies to all new cosmetics and their ingredients sold in the EU, regardless of where in
Continue readingThings Are Good: Dynamic Systems Modelling for Better Prediction of Emissions
Canada has a large pulp and paper industry and it produces tons of waste in the form of wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions. Collectively the industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars to lower their environmental damage, so even a marginal increase in environmental efficiency can have a large impact
Continue readingThings Are Good: Get Rid of Stuff, Do What You Love
Often we hear that spending on experiences make for a happier life than buying into consumerism. In concept it sounds great, but many people think that it’s hard to rejig their life to be focused on doing things rather than consuming things. This TED talk is about breaking free of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Low-Protein Diet Can Help Manage Parkinson’s
Researchers in Toronto are looking into ways to help people who are suffering from Parkinson’s by altering diets. So far their research has shown that by embracing a low-protien diet some symptoms of Parkinson’s can be managed better. “Diet is very important in Parkinson’s disease because the main medication called
Continue readingThings Are Good: Open-Access Science Growing in Reach
Many academic journals charge a subscription fee that is out of reach for the common person, which means that independent researchers and students are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing information. Elementa aims to make research about the anthropocene era we’re in freely accessible for everyone. Elementa follows
Continue readingThings Are Good: Environmental Education Improving in Ontario
Teaching people about the environment makes a lot of sense since we live in it. Surprisingly, in many school systems knowledge and awareness about the environment is not shared. In Toronto, Evergreen has been working for years to make the environment important in education. Their efforts are paying off as
Continue readingThings Are Good: Wirelessly Charging Electric Buses to be Tested
The city of Mannheim will be testing a new kind of electric bus which can be charged wirelessly. Bombardier, who makes the buses, is hoping to prove that using electric buses can be cheaper and more efficient than current models. Every time the bus stops to pickup or drop off
Continue readingThings Are Good: China to Build Car-Free City
The Chinese city of Chengdu will be getting a new neighbour, an entire city purpose built city for people instead of cars. China’s capital city Beijing is known for its smog problems and the Chinese government is under more and more pressure to implement environmentally-friendly policies. Creating sustainable urban centres
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