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…
Adam Clare
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Community-Owned Green Businesses Seeing Great Growth
Community-Owned sustainable energy companies aren’t new, but they are successful! One of the reasons Germany’s push to a sustainable energy grid has worked is that local community own and operate…
The Humanitarian Douchery That is Voluntourism
“Voluntourism” is the growing trend of rich people using their vacations to go to poor places where they think they can help. A good chunk of the time these voluntourists…
Small Algae Canopy Produces as Much Oxygen as a Forest
Algae is amazing and as we find more ways to use the powerful, small, creatures we’ll improve our carbon footprints. Already algae is used to clean sewage, clean landfills, and…
Beer as Medicine
Beer is delicious and it can be healthy to drink on its own. Apparently, back in the day, beer was used to deliver medicine. It turns out that this isn’t…
New Solar Cell Technology, Perovskite, Shows Promise
Solar power is getting cheaper every year and that trend seems to never end. Now there’s a new (and maybe even cheaper) technology for solar energy generation. The reason this…
Curiosity (and art) is Addictive
A new theory based on some old research is that our drive to figure things out can be as addictive as doing drugs. If you’ve ever had to deal with…