Doutzen Kroes Talks Environment, Humanity, Activism In Xavi Gordo Images For Madame Figaro France

Doutzen Kroes Talks Environment, Humanity, Activism In Xavi Gordo Images For Madame Figaro France

Supermodel, humanitarian, global citizen, adoring wife and mother Doutzen Kroes covers the June 13, 2019 issue of Madame Figaro France. Xavi Gordo captures the Piaget jewelry ambassador and one of the world’s most famous elephant conservation activists interviewed by Marilyne Letertre in Saint-Raphaël, in the south of France. Cécile Martin styles the shoot.

'Beyond Meat' Investors Chastain, Gates + DiCaprio Launch Best IPO To Date In 2019

'Beyond Meat' Investors Chastain, Gates + DiCaprio Launch Best IPO To Date In 2019

Vegan brand 'Beyond Meat' was the first one in its category to IPO ever. It debuted in May at $25 per share, but rose to $65 by the end of the first day — a leap of 165 percent.

CNBC reported it was the best initial public offering of the year; Beyond Meat “left every other debut in the dust,” including Uber Technologies, which dropped more than 7 percent on its first day of trading.

Several prominent celebs, business leaders and athletes are investors in Beyond Meat, besides spokeswoman Jessica Chastain. Noteworthy moneybags include Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

A plant-based burger patty uses 99% less water and 50% less energy. And that's before we get to the methane fumes when your meat love is beef. TIME magazine writes that supermarket sales of meat alternatives surged 19.2 percent to $878 million for the year ended Jan. 5, according to data from Nielsen.  The TIME article reviews a lot of critical information about the competitive marketplace in meat alternatives brands.

Walmart Expands Volkeswagen Group Electric Car Charging Locations From 120 To 300

Walmart Expands Volkeswagen Group Electric Car Charging Locations From 120 To 300

Electrify America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkeswagen Group of America, is investing $2 billion over a 10 year period in zero emission vehicle infrastructure, education and access. A major partner is the initiative is Walmart, which has now opened 120 charging stations at Walmart stores in the US.

On Monday, Electrify America and Walmart announced that the are expanding their relationship in an initiative that will make Walmart one of the largest retail hosts of EV charging stations across the US.

Plans are to add 180 additional locations. Every installation site is equipped with regular 150 kW stations as well as ultra-fast 350 kW stations that can charge vehicles at a rate of 20 miles per minute.

Most electric charging infrastructure—and most electric vehicles—are located on the coasts, writes Curbed. Walmarts tend to be located in states or areas within states where EV adoption is low. This sounds counter-intuitive but the initiative can help to influence consumer buying behavior in more ways than one. Walmart isn’t commonly associated with environmental initiatives, which is a reflection of elitist thinking about the company.

Want To Fight Crime? Plant Some Flowers With Your Neighbor

Want To Fight Crime? Plant Some Flowers With Your Neighbor

Neighborhoods struggling with physical decline and high crime often become safer simply when local residents work together to fix up their neighborhood.

My colleagues and I at the University of Michigan School of Public Health Youth Violence Prevention Center have spent nearly a decade documenting why. Research from cities across the United States shows how small changes to urban environments — like planting flowers or adding benches — reduce violence.

The result is an emerging crime prevention theory we call “busy streets.” Here’s how it works.

Recycling: Poorer Countries Can Now Refuse Plastic Waste Imports, Making System Fairer

Recycling: Poorer Countries Can Now Refuse Plastic Waste Imports, Making System Fairer

The world generated 242 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2016 – a figure that’s expected to grow by 70% in the next 30 years. But this same plastic is also a commodity that’s sold and traded in a global industry that generates US$200 billion every year.

Exporting plastic waste is one way rich countries dispose of their waste. By selling waste to firms that then send it to countries where recycling costs are cheaper, rich countries can avoid the unpleasant task of finding somewhere at home to dispose of it. Unfortunately, most of this waste is shipped to countries that aren’t equipped to properly manage it.

When wealthy countries export their plastic waste to poorer countries with weaker recycling capacity, those plastics are often dumped, eventually polluting the land and sea. But a recent UN decision could help those countries most affected by plastic litter and with the least capacity to manage it. Due to a little-known treaty called the Basel Convention, poorer countries can now say no to the deluge of exported waste.

Sainsbury's Supermarket Launches 'Meat-Free Butchers' Pop-up For World Meat-Free Week

Sainsbury's Supermarket Launches 'Meat-Free Butchers' Pop-up For World Meat-Free Week

London’s Sainsbury’s supermarket is launching its first vegan pop-up MEAT-FREE BUTCHERS, serving sausages, mince, fillets, burgers and other delicacies not derived from animals.

The pop-up will be located at the chain’s Bethnal Green branch from June 21 to 23, honoring World Meat-Free Week (website). Sainsbury staff will serve 20 animal-free products including BBQ-pulled jackfruit, chorizo-style Shroomdogs, meatless bacon, veggie ribz and Moroccan vegbabs .

Gisele Bundchen Covers ELLE Spain June 2019, Lensed By Nino Munoz For Environmental Issue

Gisele Bundchen Covers ELLE Spain June 2019, Lensed By Nino Munoz For Environmental Issue

Inmaculada Jiménez styles environmental activist Gisele Bundchen for the June 2019 issue of ELLE Spain. Nino Munoz captures the cover star in an issue devoted to the environment.

Washington Becomes First State to Allow ‘Human Composting' As A Burial Method

Washington Becomes First State to Allow ‘Human Composting' As A Burial Method

In 2015, cremations outpaced burials for the first time in United States history. And as the National Funeral Directors Association points out, this upward trend is set to continue over the coming decades, with the national cremation rate predicted to reach nearly 80 percent by 2035. Still, while cremation has obvious environmental advantages over burial—think of all the wood, reinforced concrete, steel, copper and carcinogenic formaldehyde needed to inter the deceased—the process isn’t as Earth-friendly as you might think. In fact, Laura Yan reported for Pacific Standard in 2016, cremation releases 600 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

Human composting is the brainchild of Katrina Spade, CEO of alternative burial company Recompose. Speaking with local news station KIRO 7, Spade explains that recomposition involves moving the body to a specially designed facility—“part public park, part funeral home, part memorial to the people we love,” in the entrepreneur’s words—and placing it inside of a vessel filled with wood chips, alfalfa and straw. After several weeks of microbial activity, the body breaks down into soil that can then be given to family of the deceased or used by conservation groups to “nourish the [surrounding] land.” Overall, the process uses an eighth of the energy required for cremation and saves more than one metric ton of carbon dioxide for every individual who opts to use it.

Arizona Muse Gushes Biodynamic Farming, Lensed By Richard Phibbs For Town & Country UK

Arizona Muse Gushes Biodynamic Farming, Lensed By Richard Phibbs For Town & Country UK

Arizona Muse is styled by Miranda Almond in ‘Taking A Stand’, a collection of earth-friendly, noble origins, country manor looks. Photographer Richard Phibbs captures the bucolic scene for Town & Country UK May 2019./ Hair by Paul Donovan; makeup by Polly Osmond

Lydia Slater interviews Arizona at a farm in Sussex, peering into polytunnels of spinach and lettuce while discussing her escalating commitment to eco-fashion and sustainability.

Bumble Bees Don't Generate Big Buzz and Their Numbers Are Also In Steep Decline

Bumble Bees Don't Generate Big Buzz and Their Numbers Are Also In Steep Decline

Overcoming Barriers to Urban Agriculture In American Cities

PHILLY’S URBAN FARMING PLAN COULD INCLUDE HUNDREDS, POSSIBLY THOUSANDS, OF VACANT LOTS. MARCH 20, 2019. JESSICA GRIFFIN / FILE PHOTOGRAPH PHILLY.COM

Overcoming Barriers to Urban Agriculture In American Cities

Achieving such yields in a test garden does not mean they are feasible for urban farmers in the Bay Area. Most urban farmers in California lack ecological horticultural skills. They do not always optimize crop density or diversity, and the University of California’s extension program lacks the capacity to provide agroecological training.

The biggest challenge is access to land. University of California researchers estimate that over 79 percent of the state’s urban farmers do not own the property that they farm. Another issue is that water is frequently unaffordable. Cities could address this by providing water at discount rates for urban farmers, with a requirement that they use efficient irrigation practices.

In the Bay Area and elsewhere, most obstacles to scaling up urban agriculture are political, not technical. In 2014 California enacted AB511, which set out mechanisms for cities to establish urban agriculture incentive zones, but did not address land access.

One solution would be for cities to make vacant and unused public land available for urban farming under low-fee multiyear leases. Or they could follow the example of Rosario, Argentina, where 1,800 residents practice horticulture on about 175 acres of land. Some of this land is private, but property owners receive tax breaks for making it available for agriculture.

All-You-Can-Eat Food Packaging Could Soon Be On The Menu

All-You-Can-Eat Food Packaging Could Soon Be On The Menu

By Sylvain Charlebois, Professor in Food Distribution and Policy, Dalhousie University. First published on The Conversation.

Within a year, single-use plastics and excess packaging have become Public Enemy No. 1.

A recent Greenpeace-led audit looked at the companies behind the waste lining Canadian waterways. Much of the plastic trash cleaned up from Canadian shorelines this fall was traceable to five companies: Nestlé, Tim Hortons, PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola Company and McDonald’s. All these companies are part of the food industry, which is hardly surprising.

With consumers looking for convenience and portable food solutions, this problem will not go away anytime soon. In fact, it could get worse if nothing is done.

Compostable containers

In the food industry, conversations about green supply chains focus on compostable and even edible solutions. Plenty of technologies exist.

On the compostable front, we have come a long way in just a few years. In 2010, PepsiCo Canada came out with the first compostable chip bag for SunChips. This new package was meant to completely break down into compost in a hot, active compost pile in approximately 14 weeks. Some tests concluded that it did not.

When Biodegradable Plastic Is Not Biodegradable -- Only To A Degree

When Biodegradable Plastic Is Not Biodegradable -- Only To A Degree

The idea of a “biodegradable” plastic suggests a material that would degrade to little or nothing over a period of time, posing less of a hazard to wildlife and the environment. This is the sort of claim often made by plastic manufacturers, yet recent research has revealed supposedly biodegradable plastic bags still intact after three years spent either at sea or buried underground. So un-degraded were these bags that they were still able to hold more than two kilos of shopping.

The study’s authors, Imogen Napper and Richard Thompson at the University of Plymouth, tested compostable, biodegradable, oxo-biodegradable, and conventional polythene plastic bags in three different natural environments: buried in the ground, outdoors exposed to air and sunlight, and submerged in the sea. Not one of the bags broke down completely in all of the environments tested. In particular, the biodegradable bag survived in soil and sea almost unscathed.

Maine Becomes First State To Ban Styrofoam Food Containers In 2021

Maine Becomes First State To Ban Styrofoam Food Containers In 2021

Maine is now the first state to ban Styrofoam food containers. The bill, signed into law on Tuesday, with an effective date of January 2021 prohibits convenience stores, restaurants, grocery stores, farm stands, and coffee shops from using containers made of polystyrene, which is more commonly referred to as Styrofoam.

Foam food containers made of polystyrene are among the 10 most commonly littered items in the US, and more than 256 million pieces of disposable Styrofoam products are used every year in Maine , according to the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

VOX digs deeper into the ban, exploring the complexities of banning the very lightweight Styrofoam.

Eye: Mango's 'New Voices' Channel California Lifestyle As Students Join #FridaysforFuture Climate Strikes

Eye: Mango's 'New Voices' Channel California Lifestyle As Students Join #FridaysforFuture Climate Strikes

Models, artists, activists — ‘New Voices’ Mango calls them — Adwoa Aboah, Jolie Allen, Luna Bijl and Sasha Pivovarova join actor Patrick Schwarzenegger in Mango’s Spring/Summer 2019 campaign. Camille Bidault Waddington styles the carefree quartet in images by Alasdair McLellan.

Selah Marley Pops Into BKLYN Studios May 3-4, 2019 With 'A Primordial Place'

Selah Marley Pops Into BKLYN Studios May 3-4, 2019 With 'A Primordial Place'

Selah Marley opens an art quickie ‘A Primordial Place’ , on view at BKLYN Studios In New York City from May 3rd until May 4th, noon to 8pm. BKLYN Studios is located at 445 Albee Square West, Brooklyn NY 11201 in Citypoint.

U.S. Honey Integrity Task Force Publishes Quality Results On Top 30 Brands

U.S. Honey Integrity Task Force Publishes Quality Results On Top 30 Brands

AOC is working to restore our significant archives on the topic of bees and the dangers of global bee collapse. Moving from the sweet story of survival around Notre Dame’s honey bees and the beekeepers of Paris, we’re reading Bee Culture: The Magazine of American Beekeeping.

Bee Culture shares an update on the work of America’s Honey Integrity Task Force, whose purpose is to insure the integrity of products sold as ‘pure honey’. The Economist reported in August 2018 that America’s taste for honey “is nectar for con men.”

Survival Of Notre Dame Bees Inspires Gratitude + Update On Global Bee Populations

Survival Of Notre Dame Bees Inspires Gratitude + Update On Global Bee Populations

There’s a debate around the pros and cons of urban beekeeping and its impact on country bees and the global bee threat of bee colony collapse. Whatever one’s position on the subject, it was a small ray of light in the sad story of the awesome fire that swept through Notre Dame on April 15, 2019 that the bees survived.

Eating Insects Has Long Made Sense in Africa. The World Must Catch Up

‘CRAWLING SNACKS’ BY MASIE COUSINS FOR HOT HOT HOT! MAGAZINE SS 2019

Eating Insects Has Long Made Sense in Africa. The World Must Catch Up.

Scientists have long proposed insects as feed or foodstuff for animals. But views about entomophagy differ widely: food conscious lobbies and scientists promote insects as novel foods while at the other extreme people view eating insects as crazy. Between those two extremes are communities that have been practising entomophagy for ages.

Most edible insects are harvested from the wild. Little effort has been put into how they could be mass produced and used as a source of protein more generally. To do this, it’s important that the biodiversity of edible insects is understood better, and that indigenous knowledge is uncovered.

Why Banning the Mammoth Ivory Trade Would Be a Huge Mistake

Why Banning the Mammoth Ivory Trade Would Be a Huge Mistake

By Douglas Mac Millan, Professor of Conservation and Applied Resource Economics, University of Kent

There is widely held belief that the only way we can protect globally endangered species that are being poached for the international wildlife trade is to completely ban the trade. This is a dangerous misconception and will speed up extinction rather than prevent it.

Adrian Lister, a mammoth expert from University College London, recently suggested that mammoths should be listed under the convention on international trade in endangered species to keep their ivory from being laundered into an illegal trade in tusks. He argued that the mammoth trade is encouraging the poaching of elephants by keeping up the demand for ivory.

This is madness. Mammoths and mammoth ivory is not rare – it is estimated that there are 10 million mammoths that remain incarcerated within the permafrost of the Arctic tundra. And in any case a ban on mammoth ivory would not stop the trade, it would simply drive it underground and attract the attention of organised crime groups. For example, in my own research I found that prices for illegally caught whale meat rose very quickly when enforcement efforts intensified and this in turn led to the trade being controlled by dedicated “professional” criminals.

In the same way, a ban on mammoth ivory would drive up prices and lead to many mammoth sites being excavated in clandestine fashion, without any associated scientific endeavours to garner knowledge and understanding of these great beasts. In fact the current situation supports collaboration between collectors and academics about new finds, to the benefit of scientific research.