Read the full story at Mother Nature Network.
The planet is home to approximately 8.7 million species, with plenty more still waiting to be discovered. Whether you’re a biology expert or a nature enthusiast, the iNaturalist app can expand your knowledge of the world’s plants, animals, and insects by acting as a social media site for cataloging the natural world.
Read the full story at CityLab. If you’re in Champaign-Urbana, be sure to check out the Illini Gadget Garage, our local technology repair resource.
This series of workshops aims to keep broken items out of the landfill, and it might help you save a few bucks, too.
Rise for Climate has developed Art for Rise, artwork that people can use to #RiseforClimate. Art for Rise includes downloadable posters and an arts toolkit, which is designed to use art to help groups organize, educate, mobilize, and effect positive change. You can also submit your own art. Be sure to share how your are using the art in your own community by posting on Twitter or Instagram using #RiseForClimate.
Read the full story at e360.
The northern bald ibis is critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 existing in the wild. But a German group is reintroducing these birds in Europe, where they once thrived, and is using ultralight aircraft to lead them on migrations south toward the Mediterranean.
Read the full story at e360.
Many environmentalists have opposed nuclear power, citing its dangers and the difficulty of disposing of its radioactive waste. But a Pulitzer Prize-winning author argues that nuclear is safer than most energy sources and is needed if the world hopes to radically decrease its carbon emissions.
Read the full story in ComputerWorld.
The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has launched EVRoam, claimed to be the world’s first live database of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It has been funded under the agency’s $3.4 million electric vehicle programme from the National Land Transport Fund.
Read the full story at The Spoon.
You’ve probably heard the widely-quoted factoid that the majority of food waste happens in the home. From grocery over-purchasing to over-zealous expiration datesto just plain forgetting to cook that cabbage you bought, it’s not exactly a surprise that the kitchen is where a lot of needless wastage takes place. Consequently, there are quite a few companies tackling home food waste, from Ovie’s freshness-tracking container tags to Mimica’s bumpy food labels.
So where does the rest of our food waste occur? According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, when it comes to fresh produce (the most wasted foods, at least in industrialized countries), almost 1/3 happens along the supply chain. From lack of coordination and communication to inconsistent quality standardization, there are plenty of things that need to go right to get fresh food from A to B without it spoiling — and that doesn’t always happen.
However, there are a few tools and strategies that companies are using to try and reduce food waste at various points along the supply chain. Here are three to watch:
Read the full story from Governing.
States and localities spend billions on infrastructure every year. Going forward, Christiana Figueres, the former United Nations climate chief, wants them to pay for it “whenever applicable” with green bonds — an emerging way of financing projects with clear and measurable environmental benefits.
The push by Figueres is part of a new initiative called the “green bonds pledge” to ensure that all infrastructure built from now on is climate-resilient and low carbon. In her address at a Climate Bonds Initiative event in London earlier this year, Figueres promised the governments and corporations taking the pledge that “a wealth of opportunity will be unlocked.”
But opportunity for who?
Read the full story from the University of Wisconsin.
Thousands of miles of buried fiber optic cable in densely populated coastal regions of the United States may soon be inundated by rising seas, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Oregon.
Read the full story from American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
Rural households across the United States spend a disproportionately high share of their income on energy bills — about 40% more than their metropolitan counterparts, according to a new report released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and the Energy Efficiency for All (EEFA) coalition. The problem is most glaring in the East and Southeast, and among low-income households across all regions…
But with the right policies and initiatives, those with high energy burdens could see some relief. Energy efficiency upgrades can lessen these energy burdens by as much as 25%, resulting in more than $400 in annual energy bill savings for some households.
Environmental News Bits 