Sustainability

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"[M]eeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

A PieFed commuity dedicated to promoting sustainability and sustainable development.

For discussion of environmental, climate, clean energy, social, political, and individual action. A place for news, education, questions, and discussions.

Rules:

  1. Don't be a dick.
  2. If it fits an UN Sustainable Development Goal, it's probably welcome.
  3. Links to articles should leverage the original article title. Minor edits in [square brackets] for clarity/to reduce clickbait are probably fine.
  4. We all know corporations & governments are the main problem, and collective action + legislation is the best path forward. That said, someone needs to show support for a more sustainable market - to that end, discussion of individual action is encouraged, and "whatabout big oil" comments in posts about individual action may be removed with prejudice. You're not wrong, but see rule 1.

Not really a rule per se, more of a request: if the article has "Trump" or "Musk" in the title, consider posting it in a USA/Political community to help keep this space focused on sustainability over clickbait political headlines. Political posts are allowed, but discussion should prioritize policies over personalities.

UN SDGs: https://sdgs.un.org/goals
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founded 8 months ago
MODERATORS
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​​> Visitors to Exmoor National Park are being rewarded for environmental activities such as picking up litter, travelling by public transport and recording wildlife. Running until 30 September, the 'Pay with Exmoor Care' pilot project rewards "good tourism" and was launched by the Exmoor National Park Authority.

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Thanks to “reverse vending machines” and environmentally conscious youth, an effort to reduce plastic waste in Aarhus has taken off.

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How furniture dies — not from age, but from one small point of failure it was never built to survive.

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Sustainable office design is about more than energy efficiency and recycled materials. This article argues that acoustic comfort is a key part of workplace sustainability, affecting concentration, wellbeing, speech privacy and productivity. It explores how sound, material choices, layout and flexibility can work together to create offices that are both greener and more livable.

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Researchers have discovered a way to turn notoriously difficult-to-recycle PVC plastic into a key ingredient used in high-performance lubricants such as engine oil. The technique could give mountains of plastic waste a valuable second life while making lubricant production more sustainable.

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Caged eggs may have a smaller environmental footprint than cage-free eggs. That doesn’t make cages the better choice.

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Sunflower sea stars are critically endangered in the Pacific Ocean. University of Washington researchers are working with the Samish Indian Nation to bring this 24-armed creature back from the brink of extinction.

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As a controversial Spanish plan for sustainable meat on an industrial scale is dropped, it has revived the ethical debate over farming these intelligent wild animals

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Encampment, Wyoming, is using clean water infrastructure financing to restore forests, protect drinking water and reduce the costs and risks of wildfire.

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Modern concrete starts cracking within decades, yet Roman harbours and domes have survived two thousand years of waves and weather. For centuries the recipe looked lost. In 2023 a team at MIT found the answer hiding in tiny white flecks that everyone had dismissed as sloppy work, the lime clasts behind Roman concrete self-healing.

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The National Architecture awards sustainability finalists include a compact Canberra housing development and the largest commercial use of hempcrete in the country

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The success of green roofs depends on more than just good intentions and engineering – they need long-term love and care.

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Learn how heat pump water heaters can reduce household energy use and emissions, from choosing the right system and sizing the tank to managing temperatures, installation and Victorian compliance requirements. This guide covers safety, refrigerants, running costs, incentives, rebates, upcoming gas replacement rules and practical tips for comparing products and installers.

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Warmer ocean waters are fueling the spread of the bacteria Vibrio vulnificus. Infections can lead to a rare but fatal condition called necrotizing fasciitis.

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Slashing food-related emissions needs varied strategies for different ages and countries, two new studies find.

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Before-and-after satellite images show a glacier shrinking and a river swelling.

The floodwaters that killed more than 300 people in Nepal and China on Wednesday were probably unleashed by a landslide from a collapsing glacier, according to a rapid analysis by a team of geoscientists — a harbinger of the dangers posed by melting ice in a warming world.

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Every day, the East Kolkata Wetlands recycle about 900 million liters of wastewater. The result: water clean enough to farm delicious fish.

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A first-of-its-kind study found that carbon-major emissions have drained trillions of gallons of water from the West.

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If you’re a black-tailed deer on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington, you’re always surrounded by friends and family. You are free-range, with abundant food to forage in familiar woods and meadows. But you’re also vigilant because you’re a prey species and your ideal habitat is also home to your top predators: Cascade mountain wolves (Canis lupus fuscus), cougars (Puma concolor) and black bears (Ursus americanus). Avoiding the animals that will hunt you and your fawns is an integral part of how you move across the landscape.

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Fuck the military industrial complex, and I'm sure this administration will find a way to make this an environmental mess, but switching from fossil fuels to nuclear is in fact a step forward which is shocking.

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Ahead of Fat Bear Week, avid fans are glued to the spectacle of brown bears devouring salmon at Brooks Falls in Alaska

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Florida gets a lot of attention for its sinkholes, especially when they swallow cars and entire houses. But its sinkhole risk has nothing on Alaska’s.

Much of Alaska’s soil is permafrost – ground that remains below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) for at least two consecutive years. It is often rich with ice, but when that ice melts, the ground can collapse. As temperatures rise, that’s happening more often across the Arctic.

Yet despite the high potential for damage, up-to-date maps of permafrost thaw that could help Arctic residents and community leaders prepare are often rare. To fill in the gap, our team, led by hydrologists and data scientists, created an interactive website to track permafrost thaw in near-real time across the Arctic, using a unique quality of the Arctic’s version of the sinkhole.

One of the few things AI is actually useful for, pattern recognition on massive scales. Stop ruining our art and instead focus on protecting our planet.

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