Hot, Crowded and Smart

To the two social entrepreneurs who founded nonprofit Feedback, the massive amounts of food waste being tossed into landfills in the UK and USA each year was a mounting challenge that required a creative solution. So they founded Toast Ale, a craft brewing company that not only reduced food waste by using unwanted bread from bakeries to brew their ales, but helps bring awareness to the issue through the brand, which is growing in popularity.

As technology advances, so does the electronic waste that it produces as people throw out their old products to make way for the new ones. To reduce their e-waste footprint and keep the materials out of landfills, companies such as Dell are pushing for closed-loop recycling – a process that reuses the recycled product to make the same product again.

Some urban planners argue that urban spaces should be designed around children because that makes a livable, walkable space for everyone, and also contributes to healthy early brain development. Several initiatives are underway in and around Johannesburg, South Africa to redesign public spaces and make them more welcoming. At least one community group is working with children, teenagers and people who work with children to identify places that could be improved for better child protection.

Small towns located deep in the valleys of steep mountains, like Rjukan, Norway, and Viganella, Italy, can be cut off from sunlight for almost half a year but computer-controlled mirrors are helping to change that. The tailor-made, computer-driven motors on giant mirrors track sunlight throughout the day.

Aiming to improve road conditions and cut down on plastic waste, a Scottish engineer found a way to blend the two. After testing a series of different recipes, he found the perfect recipe that is now being used across United Kingdom and the Gulf, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Oslo, Norway saw zero pedestrian and cyclist deaths in 2019. The success comes from infrastructure redesign, increased traffic enforcement, overall policy prioritization of road safety, and collaboration between residents, organizations, and government. In the United States, many cities are working toward “Vision Zero” – zero pedestrian and cycling deaths – and are looking to Oslo as an example.

Localscapes is a program in Utah promoting more water-efficient landscaping. The program includes state-based horticulturists, landscape professionals, and water experts who help interested people make the most sustainable use of their yards and lawns. "The program focuses on five techniques: a central open space, gathering areas, activity zones, paths and planting beds."

One reason the market for middle-income housing has grown tight in Charlotte is a shortage of available homes for sale because corporate investors have bought so many developments for their rental income. To preserve affordable housing and encourage healthier communities, some homeowners associations are using restrictive deed covenants to try to limit corporate owners' encroachments. In one neighborhood, it seems to have worked, but there are legal complications that must be considered as other HOAs seek to copy the tactic.

Sausages made of fish processing waste and other bait alternatives are under development in Canada as members of the fishing industry work to save the declining populations of popular lobster bait fish like mackerel and herring.

The city government in Dhaka, Bangladesh, launched the first metro rail line. The metro provides a more reliable transportation option for residents than busses or the congested streets, and it’s run on electricity in hopes to reduce carbon emissions by encouraging people not to use their cars.