Can Plant-Covered Buildings Cool Things Down?

Good News Notes: “You don’t realize how small you are until you find yourself walking on a sidewalk in the middle of a city surrounded by hundreds, thousands, and often millions of people, and it’s hard to conceptually fathom the amount of people living, breathing, and working in that city, isn’t it? But everything you…

LanzaTech Makes Products From Carbon Dioxide

Good News Notes: “Climate technology developer and commercializer LanzaTech has been awarded $4.1M from the Department of Energy (DOE) for a project leveraging technology that uses carbon dioxide (CO2)-rich gas, such as from corn grain ethanol refining, to make chemicals and fuels. A major benefit is that the CO2 is captured before it is released to the…

Better Shelter creates housing for climate crisis refugees

Good News Notes: “Social enterprise Better Shelter creates emergency and temporary sustainable housing for communities displaced by the climate crisis. With pilot sites for its shelters, called ‘Structure’, currently in India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Rwanda, its short-term solutions provide a sustainable response to the climate crisis that has left millions homeless. The company, based in Stockholm, Sweden, delivers modular…

Greta Thunberg wins Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, will donate money

Good News Notes: “Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg is pledging to donate $1.15 million she’s won in prize money to groups working to fight climate change. Thunberg was selected to win the inaugural Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity from 136 nominees from 46 different countries, the foundation said in a statement. She was chosen because of the way she “has…

How U.S. Cities Can Learn From Amsterdam in Becoming More Sustainable

Good News Notes: “As the climate crisis comes into sharper focus with ever new urgency, architects have been redefining just what ‘sustainable architecture’ can mean, treating the question as a design challenge itself. For a long while, the building industry got a pass for defining sustainability as a less wasteful alternative than conventional approaches. Now,…