Future of food: The world’s biggest rooftop urban farm is now bearing fruit
In the summer of 2019, we published a story about a rooftop urban farm being constructed in Paris that was set to be the biggest in the world. Now, nearly a year later, the world’s largest urban rooftop farm has started to bear fruit. Strawberries, to be precise: small, intensely flavored and Read More...
France is bringing back the freight train in a push to green the economy
Over the last couple of decades, trains have steadily lost ground to lorries to transport goods from one end to the other. And while trucks are more convenient, as they enable more flexible point-to-point operation, they are also significantly more carbon-polluting. In France though, the freight Read More...
Floating cinema in Paris screened movie for socially distant boats
As lockdown has forced many cinemas to close their doors due to social distancing measures, many cinephiles have turned to drive-ins to watch their favorite flicks. And while drive-ins may make an exciting cinema experience, a floating movie theater in Paris takes outdoor movie-going to another Read More...
Builders are back on site to rebuild Notre Dame
After a fire engulfed Notre Dame last year, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the 850 year old cathedral within five years. COVID-19 put a slight dent in those plans, but now the workers are back on site this week to continue the effort. The rebuilding challenges have not been Read More...
Closed movie theater projects films for community viewings
Like many other movie theaters around the world, La Clef cinema in Paris was forced to close its doors to halt the spread of COVID-19. Now, the theater has found a way to keep some of the movie magic alive with film projections onto a building across the street. Last Friday featured the Read More...
Paris is turning its motorist-friendly streets into post-lockdown cycleways
To minimize social contact and maximize daily physical activity, many cities around the world have been giving over road space to cyclists and pedestrians during the pandemic. While the idea is to give people the sort of generous space generally allotted to motorists, it’s also giving cities a Read More...
The beautiful perspective to be had from viewing images of empty cities
From the agoras of ancient Greece to Times Square in New York City, public plazas remain magnets to society, places to which we gravitate for pleasure and solace, to take our collective temperature, celebrate, protest. It’s no wonder, then, that the present emptiness that looms over these Read More...
Pushing for ambitious sustainability has become the standard in Paris
Whatever you think of them, you can’t say the new promises from Paris’s Mayor Anne Hidalgo lack ambition. Seeking re-election at the municipal polls in March, Hidalgo unveiled proposals this week that include a referendum on the role of Airbnb, a plan to make the city center “100 percent Read More...
Prada just signed a loan with interest rates tied to sustainable action
For the first time ever, a luxury brand has signed a loan that is linked to sustainability goals. That brand is Prada, and it has signed a £42.9 million loan with the banking group, Crédit Agricole, with repayment terms conditional on meeting key targets around the sustainability of its products Read More...
Paris just opened a cemetery dedicated to green burials
In a 2017 study, the City of Paris discovered something rather shocking about traditional burial practices: the average burial generates, on average, 833 kilograms (or almost 1 ton) of carbon dioxide, which is nearly the equivalent of a round-trip flight between Paris and New York. Part of those Read More...