Sustainable plastic made more compostable. (2023, August 4). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230804161748.htm

‌A team at Michigan State University, led by Rafael Auras, made a bio-based polymer blend that is able to be compostable in both home and industrial settings. In the U.S., less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled meaning there’s so much leftover waste. This bulk of plastic waste ends up in the trash which then creates economic, environmental, and even health concerns around the world. This blend though, is all-natural as it’s made with water, carbon dioxide, and lactic acid. Sustainable, compostable plastic would change the world as plastic creates large hazards in our world. 

Considering there’s so much waste, with this creation, you’re able to develop biodegradable and compostable products which is perfect as our world undergoes continuous climate change patterns. We’d be able to divert much of that waste while reducing the amount that normally goes into a landfill. For efficient plastic recycling, plastics wouldn’t need to be cleaned of food contaminants as it’s made for the compost bin. This would be a major benefit since recycling facilities are usually spending time, water, and energy to clean dirty plastic waste. I think this article has a simple solution that many people would enjoy as it barely affects their lives but makes a large impact on our world. Having plastic that is compostable wouldn’t endanger animal life, species life, and just in general, our planet.  

Device makes hydrogen from sunlight with record efficiency: New standard for green hydrogen technology set by Rice U. engineers. (2023, July 20). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230720124624.htm

Aditya Mohite, a chemical and biomolecular engineer, created a device that turns sunlight into hydrogen. The device uses an anticorrosion barrier to insulate the semiconductor from water while not impeding the transfer of electrons. It is known as a photoelectrochemical cell due to its ability to absorb light, convert it into electricity, and use electricity to power a chemical reaction that occurs together. The device is known for its high efficiency as it achieved a 20.8% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency in a study in Nature Communications. 

This device includes two layers to the barrier, one of which blocks the water, and the other to make electrical contact between the perovskite layers and the protective layer. The results of this device are extraordinary; without solar concentration, it has the highest efficiency for photoelectrochemical cells and overall the best for halide perovskite semiconductors. With more time and more technology, they’d be able to make further improvements that could change the future of solar fuel as humans would be able to convert fossil fuels to solar fuels. I think this issue is a little complicated to understand, but I think it would make such a large difference to our world and overall create an impact on how we handle climate change. More people should definitely take the time to understand this device and how it works as a benefit. 

Williams, K. (2023, February 21). In Search for Sustainable Materials, Developers Turn to Hemp. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/business/hemp-construction-buildings.html?searchResultPosition=8

Industrial hemp is a type of plant specifically used as a construction material and is becoming increasingly popular as it is better for the environment. It all began in Paris when the Pierre Chevet Sports Hall was made entirely of hemp blocks and shocked everyone as they believed it would just be the beginning of hemp-made buildings. Hemp can be made in three forms; the first is in block form which is what the Sports Hall was made of, the other is hempcrete, made of lime, hemp fibers, and a chemical binder, and lastly hemp panels.

Researchers have discovered that though hemp is more expensive than regular construction materials, there are a lot of advantages that are beneficial to the environment. For instance, to create hemp blocks, there isn’t much skill required for assembly which means fewer workers are needed. It’s also faster to build since there are no cement joints or drying time in the proceeds of making hemp blocks. They also don’t take up as much space because insulation and finishing layers aren’t necessary, so there’s more space for use. I believe with so many advantages to using hemp as the construction material, the cost wouldn’t be much of an issue since it’s worth it for improving the environment. I also think more light should be shed on this idea because I’m confident that not a lot of people know about this solution, but would be very helpful for future buildings.

This article mainly talks about sustainable living. It states that many people “believe that the power and goods you consume are changing the climate but do not believe in your ability to stop it.” This article shares some hard facts with the people that  each family has a carbon bill of about “7 tons for transportation, 14 tons for housing, eight tons for food, six tons for services, five tons for goods,” and states that “our societal footprint is the most urgent problem of our era — and perhaps the most intractable.” These are alarming facts, and as the article continues, it states some steps to reduce the carbon footprint. Some steps include decarbonizing the grid (cutting electricity), electrifying the transportation sector and regulating industrial production, replacing gas-burning furnaces with electric heat pumps, updating building efficiencies, and banning air-conditioners and fridges that use hydrofluorocarbon. These are some of the main ways to reduce the carbon footprint, but the article shares the sad fact that this isn’t enough to change climate change. The article states, “All around the world, developed nations have locked themselves into unsustainable, energy-intensive lifestyles.” Continually the article goes on to talk about Uruguay and his journey, and the experiences he learned there. He talks about how people have built their societies on unsustainable living, governments being involved, and how the community needs to focus on the goal that “Goal shouldn’t be carbon neutrality, but how to make it sustainable,” 

This article shocked me because of all the alarming facts stated in the first half of the article. The story is about him traveling to Uruguay and learning how their society works and how their government was and has been involved in reducing carbon emissions. The quote that stood out to me the most was, “The goal shouldn’t be carbon neutrality, but how to make it sustainable.” This stood out to me because the author talked a lot about how our society is built on unstable living, and it’s hard to change that. For example, eating meat is a massive problem, but people love meat, so we need to find a solution so that people can eat it and not add to our carbon footprint. This article was excellent, and I learned a lot.

This article is about sustainable jewelry and Christina T. Miller’s story. It mainly talks about how she started becoming interested in making jewelry with her uncle when she was about 18 years old when he questioned her about the origins of the materials from jewelry. Through her uncle’s knowledge and Millers’ eagerness to find a more sustainable way to get fine jewelry, her ultimate goal is to create a sustainable way to make fine jewelry; she said she “wanted help defining our goals and standards so that we could implement better practices moving forward.” Miller now owns her own consulting agency. She works “with designers, suppliers, and others within the jewelry industry’s supply chain, as well as with nonprofits and other organizations,” to achieve this goal. She is currently working on a project that is supposed “establish a conflict-free supply chain for gold, centered on miners in the eastern part of the country working manually or on a small scale.” Overall, Miller is a leading person in our society who will change the fine jewelry business.

This article surprised me, and this spoke to me because I feel like jewelry is never really talked about when talking about climate change. This is why Millers’ story stood out to me. Amazingly, she has created a sustainable jewelry business; she is definitely a leading businesswoman in the jewelry department, helping our earth by creating this. I also find it important that Miller does this because many women wear jewelry. Even making jewelry more sustainable will help with climate change in the long run, even if it doesn’t seem to have any significant positive impact. 

This article discusses sustainable vacations and just sustainable living in general. The article mainly talks about how many people travel, and many places where people travel to are trying to make it more sustainable for the earth(hotels, communities, etc.)Many developers of businesses are “planning and building both individual homes and communities.” Additionally, the article states that developers are trying to “shape and improve local communities rather than simply develop the land and hire the local population for a workforce.” Continually, the article gives three specific places where sustainability practices are in the full cycle. The three places are Costa Elena, La Cruz, Costa Rica, Club Ki’ama, the Bahamas, and Oil Nut Bay, British Virgin Islands, where they are going out of there and specifically focusing on sustainable homes and vacation spots.

This article made me very happy that places are trying to make things more sustainable. They are going out of their way and focusing primarily on sustainability. Doing this proves to people that luxury and sustainability can be done. I think this will make other places start incorporating more sustainable practices and change how people run their businesses. Additionally, I believe people will start choosing sustainability over luxuries because climate change is becoming more and more prevalent, and we need to stop ignoring it. Lastly, some of the sustainable practices that the places in the article stated are very interesting; for example, at the Oil Nut Bay, British Virgin Islands, “The development’s mandate calls for 50 percent of the land to remain as open space with nature trails and land preserves,” This makes me so happy and makes me believe that many people have changed their mindset of only running a money business to also helping the earth while running a business because that’s what’s going to matter in the long run.

This article is about Arizona’s water cutoff and the effects of the people’s unsustainable practices. 500 to 700 people’s water was shut off because Scottsdale wanted to conserve water. People and the place were chaotic people were trying to find ways to install drinking filtered systems. They also talk about recent events of rainfall ad how even that much rain cannot “undo a 20-year drought that has practically emptied Lake Mead.” Ultimately the article talks about how Rio Verde Foothills’ situation is showing us some of the hard decisions we need to make because of the unstainable practices we have been doing these past decades that have caused climate change to become very bad. Lastly, they talked about how people who didn’t receive water trucks would deliver the water to their homes, but it continued to get more expensive, getting up to an unaffordable $1,800 a month.

This article made me sort of happy (making people face the problem) in a way because we are at that point where people are taking action and shutting off the water because of the drought and its severity of it. I feel like this event in Arizona should start making people aware that they should be more cautious with water. This could also happen here in California if people don’t begin changing practices and wasting water. In my opinion, drought is very scary because water is necessary, and without it, we can’t live. This scares me because California has been in a drought for a while, and we should be discussing it more rather than just pushing it aside. I’m also super thankful for the recent amount of rain we had.

This article focused more on climate change, but I believe it still goes under sustainable development because it is essential in reducing society’s impact on the earth. This article talks about the recent weather and how we have had tremendous amounts of rain here in California. However, we are not and were not prepared for that rain because the Californian society is desert-based (meaning our infrastructure and farmers are focused on things that will work in a place where there is little rainfall.) Additionally, the article talks about how our summers continue to become hotter, and our winter weather is becoming more severe; however, since the earth is heating up all year round. In the winter, the rain is not turning into snow; it’s just rain and more destructive. This is an issue because most of the water we use is stored with snow (the less snow, the less water we will have.) This continues the drought we have in California. With climate change not becoming better, things will continue to become worse. The article talks about how farmers need to find better sustainable practices using water with growing crops. The article also states that we are trying to implement sustainable ways (different infrastructures) to collect more rainfall. Ultimately the article wraps up by saying we need to find sustainable ways to protect California because the costs of these floods and droughts are tremendous.

We need to act fast because climate change will continue to get worse. We must find sustainable ways to build better infrastructure to catch more water so that we are not in a continuous state of drought and worry here in California. As it was stated at the end of the article, Gavin Newsom believes we must make difficult decisions, and I believe that is what needs to be done to save the earth. Additionally, our society needs to practice more sustainable lives. If people live more sustainably, climate change will become less of an issue, but we need to start now because climate change is becoming worse yearly. Societies need to start being more aware of how profound climate change is; people need to get educated. Ultianetlyvthis article made me scared. I’m shocked that we are still in the drought because of how our communities are built, and we might not be prepared for this next round of winter.

Valk, Steve. “Are Clean Technologies and Renewable Energies Better for the Environment than Fossil Fuels?” Citizens’ Climate Lobby, 15 Dec. 2022, https://citizensclimatelobby.org/blog/blog/are-clean-technologies-and-renewable-energies-better-for-the-environment-than-fossil-fuels/. 

This article addresses some of the major concerns of clean energy and why it is better than fossil fuels. The first point is that it requires much less drilling than fossil fuels. While roughly 8 billion tons of fossil fuels needed to be mined each year, the transition to clean energy estimates only 3.5 billion tons for 3 decades. Additionally, most of the metal that is used to make these renewable sources of energy, like wind turbines, can be recycled. There are also many health effects that would not be a risk with renewable energy, like air pollution. The next concern they addressed was the amount of space it would require for wind turbines. Because wind turbines are very spread apart, they can give the appearance that they take up a lot of space, however, the land in between turbines can be used for farming and animal grazing. Another concern was the harmful process by which lithium is mined. Two ways to go around this are either to extract it from geothermal plants or use sodium-ion batteries. The final concern they address is regarding the human rights violations of lithium mining. A lot of lithium used is mined in the Republic of Congo and a lack of regulations has made it very dangerous for people to mine there. The writer suggests that corporations seek to purchase these metals from nations with good human rights to discourage those without them. 

I appreciated that the writer took the time to address many of the relevant fears that are holding people back from switching to clean sources of energy. The data was very informative and gave a solution or alternative in all the cases where there were negatives about clean energy. However, I really liked their point about having to have lithium come from a place with good human rights. Is it truly clean energy if people are being harmed in the making of it? This brings up the issues of exploitation and danger in the production of energy that is rarely talked about. Not only as citizens do we have the role to make sure that we are incorporating renewable sources of energy with minimal harm to the environment, but corporations need to make sure that they are supporting businesses that harvest their minerals humanely.