Italy’s Epic Treehouse Apartments Fulfill Everyone’s Childhood Dreams

I started working on an edible forest garden three years ago, and this is the first year that it’s really started tasting like one.

The best things in life take a little patience.

Books on edible forest gardening

The World Spent $14.4 Billion on Conservation, and It Actually Worked

Between 1992-2003, that investment led to a 29 percent decrease in the rate of biodiversity decline.

“Between 1992–2003, $14.4 billion was spent in total in the 109 countries studied…That investment resulted in a 29 percent-per-country average decrease in the rate of biodiversity decline…”

This is one of the first large-scale studies to show that investment in conservation really does work. The study also examined how conservation dollars could be spent most effectively in different locations to slow biodiversity loss. 

Yes, climate change can be beaten by 2050. Here's how.

A carbon-free world can be a reality. What would that mean for our jobs, homes and lives?

“Is it possible to turn things around by 2050? The answer is absolutely yes,” says Kai Chan, a professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia.

Many scientists have been telling us how the world will look like, if we don’t act now. However, others, like Chan, are tracking what success might look like.

They are not simply day-dreamers either. They aren’t being too optimistic. They are putting together road maps for how to safely get to the planet envisioned in the 2015 Paris Agreement, where temperatures hold at 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than before we started burning fossil fuels, this article from July states.

“Three decades is enough to do a lot of important things. In the next few years—if we get started on them—they will pay dividends in the coming decades,” says Chan, the lead author of the chapter on achieving a sustainable future in a recent UN report that predicted the possible extinction of a million species.

Making these changes won’t mean years of being poor, cold and hungry before things get comfortable again, the scientists insist. They say that if we start acting seriously NOW, we stand a decent chance of transforming society without huge disruption. 

No doubt, it will take a massive switch in society’s energy use. But without us noticing, that’s already happening. Not fast enough, maybe, but it is. Solar panels and offshore wind power plummet in price.  Iceland and Paraguay have stripped the carbon from their grids, according to a new energy outlook report from Bloomberg. Europe is on track to be 90 per cent carbon-free by 2040. And Ottawa says that Canada is already at 81 per cent, thanks to hydro, nuclear, wind and solar. 

Decarbonizing the whole economy is within grasp. We can do this.

“If we have five years of really sustained efforts, making sure we reorient our businesses and our governments toward sustainability, then from that point on, this transition will seem quite seamless. Because it will just be this gradual reshaping of options,” Chan says, adding: “All these things seem very natural when the system is changing around you.”

People on here should know about the mutual aid app! It’s really growing in the Chicago area (created by some college students from the suburbs), and it’s also being used in ABQ, parts of Colorado, and in the Navajo Nation! Sign up folks in your area and start growing your network!

I just jerked out of my midday dissociation and realized that seed bombing a golf course with mint would be the ultimate crime.

Oh my god this is so evil. 

I love it. 

Urban Treehouse Uses 150 Trees To Protect Residents From Noise And Pollution

Luciano Pia, an architect in Italy, has a beautiful vision for how people and nature can live together even in a thoroughly urban landscape. 25 Verde, an apartment complex he designed in Turin, Italy, is a woven 5-story mix of lush trees and steel girders that let urban residents feel like they live in a giant urban tree-house.

Every step in the building’s design was taken with natural integration in mind. The organic and asymmetric shape of its terraces allow potted trees to “sprout” out from the building at random intervals. The ponds in the courtyard provide residents with a refreshing place to relax in the summer, and the 150 deciduous trees, which lose their trees in the winter, allow light to filter in to the building during the darker months. The building helps keep the city’s air cleaner and isolates the residents from the urban sounds and smells surrounding them.The building, which was completed in 2012, is located at Via Chabrera 25 in Turin, Italy – you can even check it out on Google Maps‘ street view!

Via:http://www.boredpanda.com/urban-treehouse-green-architecture-25-verde-luciano-pia-turin-italy/

for all of you guys getting anxious about the environment and pollution

y’all deserve to hear the good news too, and yes i fact checked these.

7 miles of habitat for bees will be planted in london

the biggest coal plant in north america has been converted to solar panels

roads in edinburgh will close once a month to help pollution

maine has banned styrofoam

new york city and los angeles have both made “green new deals”

The london marathon replaced 200,000 single use water bottles with seaweed water pods

the bees in notre dame survived the fire, and the roof could possibly built in a more eco-friendly way.

the population of flightless kakapos (a cool bird) is rising

the carbon emissions in the uk are the lowest they’ve been since 1998

Another large bee habitat (.5 mil acres) has been created

there is a robot that delivers young coral to help repopulate the great barrier reef

portugal plans to stop using plastic on fruit, vegetables, and bread by 2020

106 new species of bees have been discovered in australia since 2010

a group of Sikhs plan to plant 1,000,000 trees as a gift to the earth

disney has made a mickey-shaped solar farm

Morgan freeman turned a 124 acre ranch in mississippi to a bee habitat

China plans on making a “forest city” to help clean up their air

An increasing amount of countries and states are beginning to ban single use plastics.

A couple replanted a whole forest in brazil (2.7 mil trees) in 20 years, and the animals have come back to live there

The hole in the ozone layer is repairing itself more each year

China plans on spending 360 billion dollars to improve renewable energy and has scrapped plans for coal powered plants that were going to be built.

A national park has been built in the amazon (3.3 mil acres in peru) to preserve the rainforest

Ireland and the uk have declared a climate emergency

The guy who played aquaman (jason momoa) has spent 31,000 dollars to help clean up plastic

South korea is now recycling 95% of food waste

There is a cleanup campaign being planned for mt. everest

Puerto rico wants to use all renewable energy by 2050 and is setting official goals for that

Some schools have special water bottle fill-up stations that encourage you to use refill and reuse plastic bottles rather than throwing them out after one use, these are becoming more common.

9 endangered species are thought to make a comeback this year

20 countries in africa are planning to make a “green wall” of trees and plants that will span the width of africa to stop desertification

recently, a lot of volunteers and organizations are planting a ton of trees.

Awareness about the environment and climate change is growing super fast right now among people and countries, which will only help us

Most pollution is caused by like 100 companies, but a few of those (like pepsi) are trying to cut down on that.

if this stuff keeps happening things will get even better, and the only thing stopping us really are those big companies who don’t want to pay the money to switch to more eco-friendly energy sources. i know the media tends to cause fear and stress about this stuff for a lot of people, but there really is hope.

easy things we can do: 

Recycle 

Plant gardens in your yard for bees if you can

Participate in community volunteer things that plant trees and gardens

Theres this search engine called ecosia that plants a tree for every 45 searches you make, it has almost 2 mil users. 

Pick up trash if you see it when you’re at the beach or in nature

If you have a fair amount of money, consider donating some to trustworthy environmental organizations

Start using a reusable water bottle (like those ones at target) rather than relying on single use plastic ones.

Cut the plastic rings on plastic milk bottles. You know, the little spiky plastic ring near the cap. Birds get those things stuck around their neck and die, so cut them so that they can’t get stuck on a neck.

If you can afford it, get some of those reusable grocery bags and sue those. most grocery stores have them, and it saves a lot of waste.

Solarpunk stuff for really broke people

Hey! I’m excited about sustainability, but I’m really poor! So here are some tips if you are also poor. 

Some starter tips

There are some things you can take that, while not stealing, people won’t expect you to take. This includes seed collecting from untended gardens, portions of plants that grow in the wild, and soil from parks. This kind of stuff can cut down on expenses.

Seeds can be sold in expensive stores, but can also be taken from produce you buy. Stuff like garlic, onions, green onions, tomatoes, and potatoes are all really easy to reproduce by themselves. Care enough to want organic, heirloom, ect? Go to a farmers market, take the seeds.

Some places also do seed libraries or seed swaps. Keep an eye out for these, especially if you live in or near a big town. Dollar tree also sells seeds in the spring.

A lot of this might involve bending rules. Be sneaky and be careful.

Plants

Ideally, land to plant on in a garden is how food is produced. However if you’re like me you live in a cramped, overpriced studio on the second floor or something.

Yeah containers work. But you need soil for that, and you can’t grab all of it from potting soil bags ripped open at your local garden store. Maybe if you’re patient. But I’m not.

Hydroponic setups work better. One like this requires a plastic bottle, some kind of mesh, and fertilizer. 

Fertilizer is, in a lot of places, seen as a bright blue powder sold in gardening stores. You could buy that. I wouldn’t personally. You could steal it from a chain store. But more likely, you could make your own. This article talks about fertilizer from food and food waste. And you can learn about nutritional needs of plants here.

This method could grow herbs, leafy greens, and some vine plants like pole beans, with support. this is not recommended for root plants like potatoes, for a lot of reasons.

Of course if you have access to dirt (not necessarily potting soil) you’re in a better place. Do a few tests, like drainage and composition. PH shouldn’t be a huge deal if you’re digging it up, just find dirt that shit is already growing in. Find a container that can hold a lot of dirt, poke a few good sized holes for water drainage, and plant that shit!

If you manage to bring some of your shit past usable to seed, congrats! Maybe learning about seed collection would help you spread the love to your other friends.

Oh and since there are no bees in your apartment (I hope) you’re gonna need to hand pollinate fruiting plants.

Recycling and reusing

Perhaps the most efficient way of doing this is having friends who also reuse things. You’re not gonna be able to save every candy wrapper most days, and I’m in no position to give up simple luxuries like candy. If you got the money, finding local producers who use compostable/recyclable materials for your little luxuries is nice though. But some of us ain’t got that kinda money. And that’s ok.

As I said before, bottles can be used to make hydroponic gardens. Maybe if you want you can help your friends set up some gardens if you got one too many two liters from Little Caesars.

Plastic bags can be turned into plarn (plastic yarn) and used to knit or crochet. If you feel so inclined you can learn to make cool shit, like reusable shopping bags or something. You could also make a bunch of plarn and outsource this to your friend who likes to knit in exchange for something you wanna do, or are good at.

Egg cartons can be used as seed starters. If you use the cardboard kind, they’ll dissolve into the soil if you break em down a little before planting them.

Aluminum foil can be used to keep algae out of your hydroponic garden, or as an alternative to steel wool. 

There’s a lot that I could say, but reuse stuff is popular right now. Ideally, it should be reused into something that has a good use. And remember, sharing your talents and outsourcing things you can’t do is good and pure.

Green Power

This is gonna be a little more expensive. If you got a little money laying around, this could help reduce your power bill or something. But this isn’t gonna be free or next to free.

Phone chargers are an easy one to power. They charge up and don’t vary in their power needs.

This tutorial is, quite frankly, brilliant, and takes away a lot of the barriers to making solar powered stuff (like soldering). They tear apart a garden light to do this. That light could be used for some plants or something.

Wind and hydro are kinda unrealistic for an apartment, but it’s something people do.

Local resources

Food banks, community gardens, borrowing land, pooling resources. Buy an empty plot with your friends and start a community garden.