Reading Time: 4 minutes
Jamie’s Favourite Top 10 Happy Eco News Stories of 2021
By Jamie D’Souza, Content Manager, Happy Eco News.
This year in addition to the Top 25 Happy Eco News stories (as determined by what you the audience reads) we are listing our own personal favourites.
This year for me it was about reducing waste, finding sustainable ways to track and dispose of clothing, innovative ways to grow crops, and the power of nature to help restore ecosystems.
Below we have my own personal Top 10 Happy Eco News stories of 2021. I hope you enjoy it!
Takeaways:
- Anna Sacks is a regular New Yorker who has taken to New York City’s streets to expose what is in the city’s trash.
- She has documented all of her “trash walks” on social media to show the world how much perfectly usable items are being thrown away.
- While much of Sacks’ trash digging takes aim at corporation she has also started sorting through residential recycling and is showing that there isn’t enough education about what is actually recyclable and what is not. [read more].
Takeaways:
- New York start-up company has developed a digital passport for clothing where the entire lifecycle of a garment will be able to be tracked.
- The passport will include a digital birth certificate which will indicate information about where and when the garment was made and what it was made from.
- Additionally, the passport will provide information about how to repair the garment or where to recycle them when they reach the end of their lives. This will hopefully result in less landfill waste. [read more].
Takeaways:
- Biologist Molly Alves has a plan to take a beaver out of its urban environment of western Washington and move him eastward to Mt. Bakr-Snoqualmie National Forest.
- She hopes the beaver will be able to create dams to turn the wild landscapes into a maze of wetlands which will in turn benefit mosquitoes to brown bears to the endangered salmon.
- Beaver relocations add favorable salmon habitat (by providing favorable swimming and breeding condition for the fish) for a fraction of the cost, time, and effort which would be used for traditional restoration projects…[read more].
Takeaways:
- Israel-based company is Wasteless has implemented a technology in grocery stores whereby the electronic price tag will offer two prices – a cheaper one for a product that is nearing its expiration date and a more expensive price for the slightly fresher product.
- According to the company, this technology has helped stored reduce carbon emissions by 1900 metric tons and divert 750 metric tons of waste from the landfill…[read more].
Takeaways:
- A group of Japanese scientist have tested a biofuel cell which could generate electric power from lactate chemicals in the wearer’s sweat.
- This would mean that wearable technologies would be powered by sweat and would no longer rely on batteries and would help make the industry more sustainable.
- “We managed to drive a commercially available activity meter for 1.5 hours using one drop of artificial sweat and our biofuel cells,” explains study leader Professor Isao Dr. Shitanda…[read more].
Takeaways:
- Cotton Australia launched a trail to see if old cotton textiles could be shredded and put back into the ground to improve soil conditions.
- Because cotton fibres are made from cellulose they can become food for bugs and microbes that live in the soil, making the soil more active.
- “The big benefit here is diverting what currently goes to waste. There’s a risk that [the cotton items] go to landfill and produce methane, which is a damaging greenhouse gas,” says soil scientist Dr. Oliver Knox. [read more].
Takeaways:
- Each fall, Fat Bear Week showcases the brown bears that are preparing for winter hibernation by increasing their body mass.
- This competition is an annual tradition to spread awareness about the brown bears’ experiences to find food and survive Alaska’s cold seasons.
- This year 480 Otis was crowned the winner (for the fourth time) weighing in at around 1000 pounds or 454 kilograms… [read more].
Takeaways:
- Research shows that consumers are becoming more aware about the packaging waste problem and don’t care about how their package looks like when it gets delivered and they are looking for a guilt-free online shopping experience.
- This is a good time for small businesses to explore eco-friendly packaging and finding ways and alternatives to the make the switch to recyclable, biodegradable or compostable packaging.
- Some lesser known alternatives to plastic packaging include: pineapples, mushrooms, coconut, corn, and prickly cactus pears. [read more].
Takeaways:
- German farmer Fabian Karthaus has installed solar panels on the top of his berry fields to provide them with shade and protection from the rain and increased temperatures (which are effects of climate change).
- Compared to crops grown in outdoor field, the evaporation rate is a quarter for crops grown under the solar modules.
- This not only helps the farmer’s yield to increase but he is also able to supply green electricity locally. [read more].
Takeaways:
- Toy brand Lego has created toy bricks using recycled PET plastic found from discarded bottles and clothing.
- A one litre plastic bottle is enough raw material to create 10 2×4 Lego bricks.
- In addition to these recycled bricks, Lego’s sustainable goals include developing bricks from bioplastic and generating little to no waste. They strive to make all core Lego products from sustainable materials by 2030… [read more].
