The best thing to do to prevent climate change is to stop burning fossil fuels, until that happens we need to find ways to extract carbon from the air to reduce the speed of climate change. Of course, carbon removal needs to be powered by renewable systems themselves. The XPrize
Continue readingTag: International Events
Things Are Good: COP26 Starts Soon, We Need to Capture Carbon Now
A company in Iceland captures carbon right out of the air and injects into the earth, the operation is a working proof that we can take carbon out of thin air. The carbon capture and storage (ccs) process is one of many options we have as a species to advert
Continue readingThings Are Good: How Nations Worked Together to Address the Ozone Hole
Way back in 1987 nations of the world signed the Montreal Protocol to address some environmental problems. The biggest environmental issue discussed at the time was the hole in the ozone layer and thanks to everyone confronting it the hole in the ozone layer is basically gone. It’s proof that
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Berlin Wall: Now Down Longer Than it was Up
The Berlin Wall marked a negative time in recent history in which two sides couldn’t communicate well and severed a country, and families, in two. During the Cold War people risked their lives tring to escape to West Germany from the oppressive East. The tearing down of the wall was
Continue readingThings Are Good: Replace GDP with Inclusive Development Index
Economic influencers and generally super-rich have occupied Davos, Switzerland this week to discuss how to get wealthier. They also discuss global issues that impact more than just their own wealth. Unsurprisingly interest in climate change and inequality during the Davos meeting increases every year. This year the host of the
Continue readingThings Are Good: OECD Wants International Action Against Climate Change
One of the most influential international economic is calling for a bigger push to combat climate change. The Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Angel Gurría, gave a talk this week (above) advocating for greater international effort to reach a sustainable economy in regards to the environment.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Nuclear Weapon Ban Signed at UN
Nuclear weapons are an existential threat to humanity. If they are used in violence it is likely that the planet would enter a period of nuclear winter – meaning that if you don’t die in the initial waves of explosions you’ll die from starvation. Not a good thing to think
Continue readingThings Are Good: International Leaders of Geothermal Energy Agree to Work Together
Geothermal energy is very simple in principal: drill a hole into the hot earth and use the naturally occurring heat to get turbines spinning. In practice it can be very hard. To bridge the practical difficulties getting geothermal around the world running leaders behind the technology are gathered in Florence
Continue readingThings Are Good: UNESCO Exploring Underwater Mayan Heritage
Guatemala is a gorgeous country with a rich Mayan history, particularly around Lake Atitlán (and the more famous Tikal). The country will now be home to a UNESCO project toking at best practices for underwater archaeology. The main idea is to work with the local population to ensure cultural sensitivity
Continue readingThings Are Good: Respecting Human Rights When Negotiating Trade Deals
money Donald Trump ran a campaign that championed the need to renegotiate the North American Free trade Agreement (NAFTA) to better help Americans. Trump’s erratic behaviour means we won’t know if NAFTA will ever be renegotiated, however the need to talk about trade in a new lens is needed (of
Continue readingThings Are Good: UNESCO Adds 8 New Geological Sites
UNESCO added eight new sites to their ‘Global Geopark.’ The sites each demonstrate the amazing and great geology of our planet, and the diversity of Earth. The new locations are spread around the world including China, France, Mexico, and Iran (in the video above). If you go to these destinations
Continue readingThings Are Good: 47 Developing Countries Leapfrogging to Renewables
At the tail end of the Marrakech UN conference on the climate 47 countries formed the Climate Vulnerable Forum to share the one goal: getting to 100% renewable energy as fast as possible. Previously, economists and politicians argued that developing countries will need to use coal or other destructive carbon-based
Continue readingThings Are Good: A New Look at an Old Place Wins Prestigious Japanese Award
Hajime Narukawa has won the Good Design Award for a making a map. It might seem trite to some of you but a map has the power to change the way we think about the world. Sadly the most popular map printed today uses the Mercator projection which was originally
Continue readingThings Are Good: AU Passport Launches for Government Workers
The African Union has announced that a significant step has been made to creating free movement between borders. That significant step is a special passport for government officials and head of state who need to travel between countries. The passport is only useful for a small group of people but it shows that the AU […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Happy World Oceans Day
The world’s oceans are incredibly important to the overall wellbeing of our planet. They absorb a lot of CO2 and harbour multiple ecosystems that we are still learning about. Despite the importance of the world’s oceans we often ignore their health. World Oceans Day is today and it’s a reminder how amazing these oceans are […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Summary of COP21 Climate Deal
The Paris climate (COP21) talks are over and the deal has been struck, many are rightly calling this deal a huge step forward! All countries agreed to cutting emissions while running a more efficient world economy. Nations of the world have agreed that our current trajectory of wastefulness will make life for everything on the […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: A Space Race Approach to Fighting Climate Change
Here’s a neat idea: save the planet using the research and development practices used during the space race. The state-lead push for advanced science led to really fun things like cellphones and laser eye surgery. Imagine what we as a species could create if we had the same push into sustainability like we did during […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: 8 Development Banks Combine Efforts for Sustainable Development
Eight development banks from around the world have decided the best way to encourage more sustainable transit development is to combine their efforts. They are looking at accelerating their investments in transport solutions that are better for the environment than current transport solutions. Transportation consumes a heck of a lot of oil and even marginal […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Preemptively React to Disasters to Save Lives
It might sound odd, but if we react to disasters before they happen we can save lives. The Food Security Climate Resilience Facility wants developed nations to release support for impending disasters before they happen. How do we know when disasters will happen when they seem so unpredictable? We can’t foresee all disasters but some […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: How CO2 is Measured
Today, world leaders are meeting in Paris to discuss climate change at the COP21 conference. They are going to be discussing many issues around climate change from how to lower emissions to how to deal with rising sea levels. It is up to every country to change how their policies to be more sustainable and […]
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