At it’s heart, Christmas is about family. It’s a time when we get together with our loved ones, and reflect on what truly matters in life. Our children open presents around the tree, we eat a wonderful meal together, and look at beautiful Christmas lights. If you care about the planet, you may be torn between experiencing all the wonderful traditions of Christmas and putting a stop to the enormous waste that goes along with it. The good news is, you can still enjoy the holiday spirit while also being more sustainable. Here’s 5 ways to do that. Rent a Christmas Tree One of the simplest changes ..read more

Last year, festive people in search of a Christmas tree had an unusual problem—there weren’t a lot of Christmas trees to go around. Many small holiday farms were closed, citing that the trees were not ready and needed more time to grow. This has been an ongoing problem for the last several years, and it doesn’t seem to be changing this year. With fewer Christmas tree farms open and more people interested in adorning their home with one, what is going on? You can blame climate change. Intense Weather Isn’t Good for Trees Flooding, massive storms, draughts, extreme heat—pick your part of the cou ..read more

If you care about food waste, chances are you have scanned the contents of your fridge looking for things about to go bad. The spinach is getting wilty, the leftover tomato paste is staring at you, and so are a few other seemingly random ingredients. What do you do with them all? Jacob Strauss was in just this situation when he realized he could do something about it. Experienced in coding, he decided the best way to fix it was through a search engine that could take all your available ingredients and find recipes that used them up. “I thought about how my mother – who is an excellent cook – c ..read more

The year was 1936. A severe drought overtook the Midwest, resulting in the loss of corn, wheat and other crops across broad swaths of land. The severe drought was devastating to farmers, but it was only just the beginning. The plants that died were all that was holding the rich, fertile soil down. With those plants gone, the midwests top soil was free to blow around. The resulting “dust bowl” sent the Midwest’s topsoil into the air, causing pneumonia in children and stripping the land of vital nutrients. It was one of the most devastating moments in US history, but also kick-started soil conse ..read more

Our way of living has transformed since the days of tight knit villages spread across vast amounts of terrain. Today, our children are more likely to come in contact with asphalt, gravel and rubber than they are with grass or trees. Although unintentional, lack of access to nature may have a detrimental effect on our children. People raised around nature tend to have a better immune system and more beneficial gut bacteria than people who don’t—and the same goes for our kids. Scientists in Finland decided to try and recreate a forest habit in a daycare facility. They put in a grass floor, added ..read more

Delegates from over 150 countries sat down this past December to discuss plastic pollution and various ways to end it. This discussion is one of five scheduled to be held in the hopes that a formal international treaty can be made to end plastic pollution. As one might imagine with so many different voices sharing their view on plastics, there’s a lot of disagreement on how to go about fixing the issue. The good news is, everyone from plastic producing companies themselves to every single country involved agrees plastic pollution is a problem. What no one can agree on is which solution is best ..read more

Every year in February, scientists call on backyard birders to head for their favorite bird watching spots and report back on what birds they see. The annual event, held by Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, The Audubon and Birds Canada, helps create a real-time snapshot of backyard bird populations. In 2021, 6,400+ species were identified with over 300,000 participants getting out there to look for birds and make their counts. The count in past years has also revealed changes in bird population and location, such as Red-winged Blackbirds showing up earlier and farther north than usual. So ..read more

PFAS are manmade chemicals that are present nearly everywhere in the world. They are used to produce products that are resistant to things like heat, water, grease and even stains. Their useful nature is part of why they are ever present—huge numbers of products use them for these qualities. Unfortunately, as awesome as PFAS is for product applications, they have a dark side. These chemicals don’t break down at all. They’ve even been given the nickname, “Forever chemicals,” because they never truly break down. To make things worse, we end up eating them inadvertently because they’re present in ..read more

Every year, approximately 75 million sharks are killed for their fins. The process is cruel, with the sharks fins being cut off while it is still alive, before the living shark is thrown back into the water to suffer and die. As unfortunate as this is for the shark, it is even more unfortunate for the oceans. Sharks are an apex predator, and shape the marine habitats with their presence alone. Sharks force animals to move around to avoid getting detected. This small change can be the difference between prey animals completely destroying a habitat from over consuming it to a balanced ecosystem ..read more

This past November, New Yorkers overwhelmingly voted for a new bond that would benefit clean air, clean water, and green innovations. The new bond is one of the biggest in 2022 to support the environment, with a whopping 4.2 billion dollars allocated for this project. The Breakdown Although all of the funding will be going towards cleaning up the environment in one way or another, the bond is being divided up into four major components. This is the break down of where the money is going. $1.1 billion for community and natural infrastructure This money will go to reducing flooding through re ..read more