What’s Going On Here? A year since announcing their partnership with Parley, Adidas has now sold over 1 million pairs of trainers made from 95% recovered ocean plastic, near the Maldives. Each pair is made from 11 plastic bottles. What Does This Mean? Back in 2016, only 50 pairs of plastic prototype trainers were available, but this had been scaled to 7,000 as…
What’s Going On Here? The most popular exhibit at Ecobuild 2018 was the new two-storey one-bed ZEDpod. The zero-carbon, factory-built home can be built in two-and-a-half weeks and could help solve the problem of overpopulation. What Does This Mean? Off-site or factory-built homes, like those from the ZEDfactory are on the rise. They generally offer higher quality products while reducing construction waste and inner-city…
What’s Going On Here? The star of the show at Ecobuild 2018 was Airlite photocatalytic paint which improves air quality both inside and outside buildings. What Does This Mean? To start with: Photocatalytic = Photo (light) + catalytic (speeds up a reaction) So… by activating natural antioxidants in the air, the paint helps to capture and destroy pollutants like nitrogen oxides (using light). Lab tests suggest 100m2 of…
What’s Going On Here? Could water, one of the world’s most abundant resources, ever be more expensive than one of its rarest, oil? The short answer: Yes, it already is. The average price of unleaded petrol in the UK is around £1.20 per litre. With the average price of bottled water at a petrol station (gas-station if you’re ????????) being around £2 per…
What’s Going On Here? 2017 saw UK CO2 emissions drop to 1890 levels… yes Eighteen Ninety, back when the population was half the size and Queen Victoria was still strutting her stuff. The drop in CO2 emissions is the result of a 19% cut in COAL usage from 2016 levels. WoooWooo (or not in the case of train travel). Less coal use has seen an increase in the use…
What’s Going On Here? Every year over 150 billion items of clothing are manufactured. The demand for cheap clothes is killing the environment and the people that live around the factories that produce them. It’s not just flared jeans and budgie-smugglers that cause a problem. What Does This Mean? Cheap and ‘fast fashion’ causes tight turnarounds. Some factories follow the rules, whilst others take…
What’s Going On Here? LEGO are swapping oil-base plastic for a plant-based alternative in SOME of their products. The Danish childhood-memory-maker and part-time toymaker announced the move on Thursday. Production has started and the products will be on sale later this year. What Does This Mean? Companies are feeling the pressure to change their production methods. And in the case of LEGO this…
What’s Going On Here? Across the globe, researchers have created the first automated snapshot of industrial fishing’s environmental impacts by tracking the movements of fishing vessels using emergency beacons on ships. And the impacts are BIIIG — bigger than scientists thought, according to a new study. What Does This Mean? Too much fishing that’s what, with 55% of the oceans being used for…
What’s Going On Here? The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics lasted just over 2 weeks and generated around 1.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s more than Barbados produces in a year. So how were these the Olympics most sustainable Winter games ever? The answer: Carbon offsetting. What Does This Mean? Carbon offsetting allows people to invest in environmental projects around the world to…
