Author: The GU team
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Olli flipflops take steps to help people and the planet
In July 2014, Heather Shuster forgot to bring along her flipflops on a trip to Hawaii, so she did the logical thing: she looked for a new pair. You’d think it would be easy to find a great pair of flipflops given where she was, but all she found were flipflops made with plastic. That…
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With Ecobricks, plastic waste is turned into building materials
The concept of Ecobricks has been around for a while, but hey, this blog has been silent for sometime, so we simply have to talk about it now. I’m hearing about a lot more people joining in and making their own Ecobricks at home nowadays, which is great. If you haven’t heard about them yet,…
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New environmentally friendly parking lot completed in Mississippi
The United States Naval Construction Battalions or the Seabees have completed work on a low-impact 98-slot parking lot for NAS Jacksonville Building 919, the headquarters of Commander, Navy Region Southeast, in Jacksonville, Mississippi. The new parking lot uses permeable paving to absorb storm runoff, and it will be illuminated with LED lights. Photo from JaxAirNews
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The next eco-friendly plastic bags will come from shrimp shells
It’s no secret that the planet is at risk of choking on all the plastic we produce and throw away, which is why researchers and manufacturers are scrambling to find alternatives to plastic, biodegradable plastic, and plastic made out of more natural materials. Researchers at Nile University in Egypt came up with a possibility: making…
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Leaf Republic turns leaves into paper plates
Making plates out of leaves has been practiced in India for centuries, and eating on banana leaves is not unheard of in other countries, such as the Philippines as well. German company Leaf Republic has taken the concept and taking it to the rest of the world too with their disposable leaf plates. The plates…
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Vertical forests to clean the air in Nanjing, China
In 2011, plans for a vertical forest in Milan were announced. Stefano Boeri Architetti was the brains behind the project, and Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) was formally opened in October 2014, featuring a pair of residential towers in the Porta Nuova district of Milan. Bosco Verticale has since won quite a few awards; the jury…
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Arizona egg farm uses egg cartons made from 100% recycled PET
Hickman’s Family Farms, an egg producer in Buckeye, Arizona, has made the switch to egg cartons made from 100% recycled PET from water and soda bottles thanks to the help of California-based recycler Global Plastics Inc. The company recycles four million bottles a day, and one of the issues to which it needed to find…
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Emma Watson highlights eco-fashion on Instagram
Emma Watson is always involved in important causes, and one of her advocacies is the environment and eco-friendly fashion. She’s currently on a press tour for the upcoming live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, and she’s also using Instagram to feature the sustainable, environmentally friendly, and socially conscious clothing brands and beauty products she’s…
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Collapsible wind turbine lets you charge gadgets in the wild
Some people might think it’s crazy to even bring gadgets while you’re out camping, given that camping is associated with unplugging and going on a digital cleanse, but what if there was an emergency and you needed to call for help? What if you’re using GPS for navigation during hikes? You’re definitely going to need…
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Mumbai airport toilets are being cleaned by bacteria
Instead of using your usual chemicals and cleaners to disinfect toilets, the Mumbai International Airport (Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport) has enlisted the help of bacteria and various microorganisms to clean 200 toilets, urinals, and a total of 4,000 square meters of surface area in Terminal 2. Flush a toilet and green chemical is released instead…