Read the full story at Biocycle.
The Foodbank, Inc. in Dayton, Ohio swapped out food waste disposal and purchasing compost for its 3-acre urban garden for on-site in-vessel composting capacity.
Day: October 9, 2020
Kentucky’s climate is suffering. Can the state slip the industry ties that prevent change?
Read the full story in The Guardian.
Mitch McConnell has long resisted climate action even as the farm and coal sectors suffer, but a growing movement could bring change.
S&P: Almost 39GW of new solar generation likely to be online in U.S. by end of 2024
Read the full story from IEEFA.
There are 38,846 MW of U.S. solar power projects planned for completion by the end of 2024 that include distinct, disclosed utility interconnects. Utility interconnect information is released in announcements and updates by developers, ultimate owners, or the associated utilities and added to the S&P Global Market Intelligence power plant units database for all units where information is available.
Redefining drought in the US Corn Belt
Read the full story from the University of Illinois.
As the climate trends warmer and drier, global food security increasingly hinges on crops’ ability to withstand drought. But are scientists and producers focusing on the right metric when measuring crop-relevant drought? Not exactly, according to new research from University of Illinois scientists, who urge the scientific community to redefine the term.
“Plants have to balance water supply and demand. Both are extremely critical, but people overlook the demand side of the equation, especially in the U.S. Corn Belt,” says Kaiyu Guan, principal investigator on two new studies, Blue Waters professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois.
Associated journal articles
1) Kimm, H., et al (2020). “Redefining droughts for the U.S. Corn Belt: The dominant role of atmospheric vapor pressure deficit over soil moisture in regulating stomatal behavior of Maize and Soybean.” Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 287, 107930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.107930
2) Zhou, W., et al (2020). “Connections between the hydrological cycle and crop yield in the rainfed U.S. Corn Belt.” Journal of Hydrology 590, 125398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125398
Moving Towards Racial Equity in the Forest Preserves of Cook County: Position Paper
The Forest Preserves of Cook County recognizes that it exists within a pervasive culture of structural racism that has produced deep inequities, and moving forward will apply a racial equity lens to its future investments, policies and operations in order to meet the Preserves’ nature conservation mission in the most equitable way.
Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism: Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation
This work defines a core set of “Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics” (SCM) and disclosures that can be used by IBC members to align their mainstream reporting on performance against environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators and track their contributions towards the SDGs on a consistent basis. The metrics are deliberately based on existing standards, with the near-term objectives of accelerating convergence among the leading private standard-setters and bringing greater comparability and consistency to the reporting of ESG disclosures.
Talking Sustainability with thredUP
Read the full story at Waste360.
In our latest episode of NothingWasted!, we chat with Erin Wallace, VP of Integrated Marketing at thredUP.thredUP is reinventing clothing resale with a mission to inspire a new generation of shoppers to think secondhand first.
Their automated Upcycle Centers have redistributed 100 million garments to date. We got to speak with Erin about the importance of making sustainability quantifiable for customers, the need for scalable innovation, the power of corporate partnerships and more.
Meal Planning App Helps Households Reduce Food Waste During Pandemic
Read the full story at Waste360.
An international food waste reduction app that has been helping fight the climate crisis and bring down household food bills for the past two years is now helping families reduce their food waste and save money during the COVID-19 crisis.
Based in Sofia, Bulgaria, the CozZo app incorporates shopping lists, refrigerator and pantry inventories, and recipes to help users track the items they have at home and reduce food waste by buying only what they need.
Just How Much Trash Is In The Mississippi River?
Read the full story at Clean Technica.
The other day, I saw a tweet from retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore in which he asked our state’s office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to force the U.S. Coast Guard to clean up the plastic trash along the Mississippi River. “Don’t Trash Louisiana,” he said in the tweet and shared pictures of the river filled with trash.
Every time I’ve gone down to the riverfront to enjoy the breeze and watch the barges, I’ve seen trash in the water — trash that was too far into the river for me to wade in and retrieve it. You don’t want to get caught up in the current of the Mississippi — it’s deadly. Plus, there’s gators and cottonmouths in the river as well. Not to mention sewerage and other trash that Trump, under his new EPA rule, allowed farmers and corporate industry to pour into the river — which is the source of drinking water to millions of Americans, including myself.
Upon seeing the hero of Hurricane Katrina’s tweet, I wanted to look into what was being done about the trash in our rivers. A simple Google news search showed that not much was being done. Sure, there are organizations such as Make A Change and the annual Mississippi Coastal Area Cleanup, and also the pledge one can make to keep our rivers clean that is promoted by American Rivers, but more needs to be done. These are three awesome initiatives that were the first things I found.
Composting Closes The Loop At Foodbank
Read the full post from the NRDC.
As part of Food Matters in Baltimore, an initiative led by the City of Baltimore and NRDC, one of our goals has been to increase resident awareness about food waste and solutions. But, as is often the case, food waste prevention has been the toughest topic to address in Baltimore—preventing food waste is both hard to measure and difficult to connect with broader food system issues. Baltimore City is the largest municipality in the state of Maryland, with 63% of Baltimoreans identifying as Black/African American. Roughly one quarter (24%) of residents live below the federal poverty line and an estimated one third of the city population deals with food insecurity (Census Data, 2019). To increase awareness about food waste in Baltimore, we created culturally appropriate resources, that are now available for use by other organizations, and governments.
To do so, we looked to previous campaigns for inspiration—like the World War I era food waste reduction education campaign launched by the Food Administration in the 1910s (and relaunched in WWII). We loved the vibrant, colorful images, and the compelling messaging on the posters, but wanted to adapt them to be appropriate today, particularly since they were crafted during a time when racial discrimination, traditional gender roles and misogyny permeated public advertisement.
Environmental News Bits 