Trash to treasure: the social enterprises transforming recycling
Convincing companies to buy back their own rubbish sounds like an unlikely business model – yet the Melbourne social enterprise Green Collect has found a way to make it work. Companies in the city’s office towers pay Green Collect to take away hard-to-recycle waste. Green Collect then Read More...
Australian women are creating crafts work for refugees
Refugees need a new life. For that they need work. Increasingly, in western countries, women are setting up social enterprises to help to get refugees and migrants into work. Social Traders is an Australian nonprofit that supports women setting up social enterprises that assist migrants to start Read More...
Politicians cannot stop the clean power revolution. And that’s good news
America is deeply divided after a hard-fought and often cruel election. In the immediate aftermath of the results, both sides may think or hope or fear that their world is going to radically change. But, if history is any guide, elections never lead to revolutions. The power of the business and the Read More...
Designing cities that create more health and less violence
Design affects the brain. The design of our spaces can heal us, hurt us, and alter the way we think. Scientists and designers are starting to understand how and why. And as they learn more, they’re fueling the development of new design tools and approaches that are rapidly changing the built Read More...
The world would look like this if there would be equal space for all of us
If you don’t live in Yemen, Ireland, Brazil or the United States you live in the wrong place. According to this map, at least. The map reflects the world as if the biggest populations occupy the largest countries and each world citizen would have as much space on the planet. So China moves to Read More...
Use this new Google tool to calculate how much solar energy your roof can make
Every day it becomes easier for citizens to join the clean power revolution. But how much will you make when you put solar panels on your roof? Enter Project Sunroof, a Google tool that uses high-resolution 3D data and artificial intelligence to allow you to estimate the solar potential of your Read More...
Slovenia adds water to constitution as fundamental right for all
Slovenia has amended its constitution to make access to drinkable water a fundamental right for all citizens and stop it being commercialised. With 64 votes in favour and none against, the 90-seat parliament added an article to the EU country’s constitution saying “everyone has the Read More...
Scotland wants to introduce a law that will mean no one goes hungry again
The Scottish Government is considering enshrining a ‘right to food’ in Scots law. It is one of a number of recommendations being looked at following the publication of a report by the Independent Working Group on Food Poverty earlier this year. The group said that while enshrining Read More...
Morocco lights the way for Africa on renewable energy
As the host of this year’s COP22 climate change conference in Marrakech, Morocco has been keen to demonstrate its green credentials and make this COP the “African COP”. In the past year, Morocco has banned the use of plastic bags, launched new plans for extending the urban tram Read More...
From train to car, a Finnish app to guide citizen’s travel plans
Helsinki, on the southern shore of Finland, has a regional population of 1.2 million. Its transportation options include buses, trams, and a metro, not to mention bike rentals in the summertime—yet plenty of people still use cars. To encourage more of those drivers to use public Read More...