Waste has become a lot more valuable to the largest processor of fresh-cut onions in the United States. California-based onion processor Gills Onions used to discard roughly 300,000 pounds of onion waste—inedible skins, tops, and tails—each day, but now this waste is being converted into a biogas that helps power the plant. The owners of […]

The Optimum Population Trust, based in the UK, has proposed a radical method to tackle climate change. The trust recently compared the costs of six carbon-reducing measures. To save a ton of CO2 requires an investment of $131 in electric-vehicle technology, $51 in solar energy, and $18 in wind. It takes $57 to capture and […]

Playpower.org aims to introduce the world’s cheapest computer programs to the poor by utilizing the technology of old 8 bit computers. The Apple II computer, which had its heyday in the 1970s in the West, has lived on in the developing world, where its technology is now open source and easy to manufacture. As a […]

WildlifeDirect, a nonprofit led by Richard Leakey, is using the internet to create a global, conservation-driven community. Using a similar approach to Kiva.org, a popular micro-financing website, WildlifeDirect allows individual donors to learn about conservation projects taking place around the world, to communicate directly with …

Is algaculture—the growing of algae to produce biofuel—set to make a breakthrough in 2010? Last year saw the first algae-powered flight, when a Continental Boeing 737-800 flew over the Gulf of Mexico with one engine running partly on algae oil. The certification process in the U.S. for a 50% algae derived aviation fuel is due […]

The countries of northern Europe have agreed to build a huge network of renewables that will connect offshore wind farms in northern Scotland to solar panels in Germany to wave power and hydroelectricity in Scandinavia. Offshore wind projects in Europe are expected to generate more than 100 gigawatts of energy, about ten percent of the […]

A Copernican shift is underway in fields as diverse as agriculture, materials science, architecture, engineering, business, economics, urban planning, waste management, national security, and many others. In every case, it is driven by the need to discover patterns and larger systems essential to reaching higher levels of efficiency and lower …

More than half of the world’s coral reefs are under direct threat from human activities. Growth rates on some reefs have fallen by fourteen percent since the 1990s. Many scientists are concerned that global warming and ocean acidification—carbon emissions can destroy corals by dissolving their calcium carbonate structure—may doom the entire …

In BriefAcknowledging the complexity of global warming, as well as the relatively recent agreement among scientists about the human causes of climate change, leads to the recognition that waiting for effective policies to be established at the global level is unreasonable. Instead, it would be better to self-consciously adopt a multi-scale …

In BriefThe city of Benton Harbor, Michigan is beset with economic, community, and health problems related to an inadequate supply of fresh, nutritious food. Less than one percent (1%) of the city’s total food expenditures go to local businesses and local farmers. Benton Harbor Grows! is a project that proposes to change this situation …

In BriefState officials in Maryland realize that efforts to adapt to climate change require local support. They also understand that the uncertainty and complexity surrounding climate change make it hard for localities to reach agreement on what to do. Larry Susskind and Evan Paul of MIT worked with state officials to design a role-play …

A steady-state economy is incompatible with continuous growth—either positive or negative growth. The goal of a steady state is to sustain a constant, sufficient stock of real wealth and people for a long time. A downward spiral of negative growth, a depression such as we are entering now, is a failed-growth economy, not a steady-state […]

In the evening hours of June 22, 2003, Mohammed and his brother were returning home in their car and approached a U.S. military checkpoint near Kunduz, Afghanistan. They slowed and came to a stop as requested by the soldiers manning the checkpoint. The car was searched; nothing was found. But confusion on both sides ensued, […]

Little can happen in this world without economic support. So it follows that little will happen in the climate realm until the international financial architecture is revamped to drive positive climate change responses, including increased energy efficiency and robust renewable energy programs. Historically, concerted efforts to remold the …

It is a typical Saturday afternoon at the mall for Mr. Smith and his children. As he wheels his 20-month-old son through the drugstore, the toddler spots a familiar face prominently displayed on the juice boxes. “Elmo, Elmo!” the child shouts. Mr. Smith tries to move swiftly on, but his seven-year-old son keeps tugging at […]

After a long seven years of war and bloodshed, the national elections in Iraq this Spring 2010 took place in relative stability. The resulting government, when it is announced, will offer the first real indication of whether Iraqis intend to use democracy to empower conservative religious leaders, or whether they will turn to secular …

Costa Rica recently topped the New Economic Foundation’s Happy Planet Index, confirming what the country’s enlightened leadership has been propounding to its neighbors for years: countries with the greenest policies are usually the best places to live. Costa Rica generates 90% of its energy from renewables, and Costa Rican law requires …

For a country that responded to severe energy crisis by switching to organic, localized agriculture, the fruits of the revolution must be protected from the coming peace. For those trying to imagine life without oil, Cuba has proven the solitary example of a country successfully de-industrializing. Confronted with the collapse of aid from the …

Introduction A pioneering report, The Limits to Growth, published in 1972, marked a turning point in thinking about the environment, selling some 30 million copies in 30 languages.1 The two-year study behind the report took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the request of the Club of Rome, an international group of …

We are a diverse group and we envision a diverse world. Although we are outlining a vision for 2050, we are aware that places in the world will look very different based on history, culture, and perspectives. Our vision attempts to outline some guiding principles, values, and hopes and aspirations, but in no way do […]

China has announced its first carbon intensity target, which aims to slow the increase of emissions relative to economic growth by 40-45% from 2005 levels by 2020. Carbon intensity is a phrase much derided by some environmentalists who say it fails to address underlying trends in carbon emissions growth. In China’s case, this measure will […]

1. Dr. Ostrom, congratulations on your award. Thank you for taking the time to talk to Solutions. The Nobel judges cited your work as challenging the conventional wisdom that there are only two options when managing resources: for the state to be in charge or privatization. You’re credited with showing how the solution more often […]

Who cannot appreciate the intensity of Frances Moore Lappé’s vision “that ideas have enormous power and that humans are capable of changing failing ideas in order to turn our planet toward life”? Starting with Diet for a Small Planet (1971), she has written ten books describing democratic, humane, and enlightened solutions to hunger and social …

Envisioning a positive future is a fundamental prerequisite for getting there. The Great Transition Initiative is a large and growing international network that has been creating and analyzing alternative future scenarios for decades. They now have a fantastic website that lays out these alternative futures and describes their characteristics …

On the Google Earth Heroes webpage, short videos document how people and organizations are using Google Earth to, for example, coordinate firefighting efforts in California, help the Mars Rovers navigate Mars’ treacherous terrain, map Borneo’s deforestation and promote conservation, and educate the public and government on the …

The conditions in Benton Harbor, Michigan—high unemployment, huge numbers living below the poverty line, enormous health problems related to obesity and weight gain even as many residents go hungry at different times during the month, and poor access to fresh, affordable, and healthy food—represent some of the most severe forms of social, …

Global warming is unequivocal and is largely caused by human action. Substantial disruption to coupled human and natural systems is underway, producing serious threats to people and ecosystems around the globe. There is wide agreement that if we move beyond a guardrail of about 3.6° F (2° C) of global average warming, we enter a […]