Sustainability (Page 3)

Our best advice for how to live in a climate-changing world.

Latest in Sustainability

a purple race track, with whit lane lines

Paris Olympics’ purple track is made with crushed mussel and clam shells

By Laura Baisas

two people standing and looking at a cuckoo clock on a hotel

This 500-year-old hotel in Germany’s Black Forest is an energy self-sufficient wonder

By Alisha McDarris

The Best Home Wind Turbines Of 2024 on a plain white background.

The best home wind turbines, according to experts

By John Alexander, Nick Hilden

Suspended skyscraper at Three Gorges

7 wild concepts from the 2024 Skyscraper Competition

banana peel, orange peel, eggshells, coffee grounds on a wood countertop

6 kitchen scraps to throw in your garden

By Debbie Wolfe

Ocean trash can now be tracked from space

California Forever concept art of utopian cityscape

California’s billionaire utopia may not be as eco-friendly as advertised

Concept art of superstructure with gravity battery inside

Colossal skyscrapers could harness height for gravity batteries

Close-up of three cows

Cow poop might make cleaner hydrogen gas a reality

beer being poured from a tap

How recycled beer yeast can remove lead from water

Metamaterial film on glass

New material looks like frosted glass but lets in more light than a window

Private jet on tarmac at sunset

Tracking private jets just got much harder

Factory worker overseeing steel forge

Zero-emission ‘electric cement’ is an ‘absolute miracle’

An aerial view of the rust-colored Kutuk River in Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Thawing permafrost is exposing minerals to weathering, increasing the acidity of the water, which releases metals like iron, zinc, and copper.

Why are Alaska’s rivers turning orange?

By Laura Baisas

toilet seat on wooden bench with bucket of saw dust, toilet brush, and toilet paper

How does a composting toilet work? Ditch the flush.

By PopSci Editors

Chicken looking at camera against black background

Chicken fat supercapacitors could store green energy of the future

Project 821 hydrogen fuel superyacht in port

Welcome aboard the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell superyacht

Factory of the Future 1.0 3D printer with man standing in front of it

Makers of the world’s largest 3D printer just beat their own record

Vitamix Food Cycler countertop composter with a picture of a hopper full of food on the left and a hopper full of processed mulch on the right.

Save $100 on the Vitamix countertop composter at Amazon for Earth Day

By Stan Horaczek

a close-up of an octopus eye

Why counting octopus ‘rings’ is crucial

By Laura Baisas

Researchers developed a 3D printer that can automatically identify the parameters of an unknown material on its own. The advance could help make 3D printing more sustainable, enabling printing with renewable or recyclable materials that are difficult to characterize.

3D printers just got a big, eco-friendly upgrade (in the lab)

a juvenile chimpanzee in a forested habitat

Mining of materials needed for ‘green revolution’ puts great ape population at risk

By Laura Baisas

Shoe made from bacterial cellulose

Would you wear this ‘shoe-like vessel’ made from genetically engineered bacteria?

High traffic road with signs and light trails on sunset

EPA says over half of all new cars must be EVs or hybrids by 2032

a group of burmese pythons

Scientists propose eating more python

By Laura Baisas

Pyxis Ocean shipping vessel with two WindWing sails

A cargo ship’s ‘WindWing’ sails saved it up to 12 tons of fuel per day

CorPower C4 buoy turbine in ocean

Huge 60-foot-tall buoy uses ocean waves to create clean energy

Pigs in sty at factory farm

Gene-edited pigs immune to deadly virus could arrive on farms by next year

Pink lab-grown beef rice in white bowl

Scientists swear their lab-grown ‘beef rice’ tastes ‘pleasant’

MethaneSAT concept art above Earth

A new AI-powered satellite will create Google Maps for methane pollution

Minesto Dragon 4 undersea kite turbine traveling atop water

Huge underwater ‘kite’ turbine powered 1,000 homes in the Faroe Islands

Interior of JET fusion reactor with plasma superimposed

Aging reactor sets new fusion energy record in last hurrah

Abandoned car in aluminum red mud spill

Aluminum’s notorious, toxic red mud could one day help make ‘green steel’

A colorized view of the DOLCE structure finalizing its uncoiling process, as seen from the boom camera, over Antarctica, on August 22, 2023.

The first-ever space solar power tests are finished after a year in orbit

Data visualization of all maritime activity in the North Sea

AI and satellite data helped uncover the ocean’s ‘dark vessels’

Illustration of biofiber within cracked concrete

Bacterial ‘blood’ could heal cracks in concrete

Completed JT-60SA experimental nuclear fusion facility in Japan

The world’s largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor is up and running

Google and Fervo's geothermal power plant in Nevada at dusk

Geothermal energy now helps power Google’s desert data centers

How AI could help scientists spot ‘ultra-emission’ methane plumes faster—from space

How AI could help scientists spot ‘ultra-emission’ methane plumes faster—from space

A selection of sustainable gifts, featuring a stack of Coyuchi towels, steel watering cans, and Jackery solar generators

Sustainable gift guide: 20+ gifts that keep on giving

By Jen McCaffery, Quinn Gawronski, Stan Horaczek

Hot dogs at the grocery store without meat warning labels

Graphic warning labels might convince people to eat less meat

Offshore wind turbine being constructed with nearby supply ship

A Danish company just scrapped its ambitious plan for a New Jersey offshore wind farm

Watch a heavy-lifting drone land a perfect delivery on an offshore wind turbine

Watch a heavy-lifting drone land a perfect delivery on an offshore wind turbine

Cape Fear River in North Carolina, which is polluted by PFAS, seen from above after a storm

8 new types of ‘forever chemicals’ found in river linked to US cancer cluster

A steak with kelp on top is plated by a chef holding a sauce pan.

This sea-to-farm-to-table restaurant wants kelp to catch on

By Laura Baisas

AlgaRay robot floating atop water in Antigua

This seafaring robot ‘eats’ stinky seaweed and dumps it in deep water

Chicken feather fibers could help make less toxic hydrogen fuel cells

Chicken feather fibers could help make less toxic hydrogen fuel cells

Orsted offshore wind turbines in the UK

Atlantic City’s massive offshore wind farm project highlights the industry’s growing pains

Coral Beach on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, dotted with various types of seaweed.

Europeans ate a lot more seaweed 8,000 years ago

By Laura Baisas

Stella Terra solar powered car action shot on road

This off-roading, solar-powered vehicle just sped across the Sahara

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm speaks before US President Joe Biden at Tioga Marine Terminal on October 13, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Biden discussed how his Bidenomics agenda is creating good-paying union jobs, investing in infrastructure, accelerating the transition to a clean energy future, and combating the climate crisis.

US will build seven regional ‘hydrogen hubs’ to spark clean energy transition

By Laura Baisas

Workers at rare earth mineral mine next to equipment in China

China says it discovered potentially vast amounts of a rare superconducting material

Lots of chargers for devices tangled in a crowded corner

People send 20 billion pounds of ‘invisible’ e-waste to landfills each year

Computer server stacks in dark room

AI could consume as much energy as Argentina annually by 2027

monitor displaying a traffic intersection

A new Google AI project wants to improve the timing of traffic lights

By Harry Guinness

Oyster-inspired sponges can scoop up nearly invisible nanoplastics in the ocean

Oyster-inspired sponges can scoop up nearly invisible nanoplastics in the ocean

By Chris Baraniuk / Hakai Magazine

Green fir trees in neat rows as seen from the air.

Tree plantations try to offset our carbon pollution. Here’s the problem.

This climate crisis map shows how vulnerable your neighborhood is

This climate crisis map shows how vulnerable your neighborhood is

By Kate Yoder/Grist

Blue bins of fish and other seafood caught near the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan

This nuclear byproduct is fueling debate over Fukushima’s seafood

aurora supercomputer at Argonne

The world’s most powerful computer could soon help the US build better nuclear reactors

By Charlotte Hu

Green architecture homes

The EPA wants to tighten up their ‘zero-emission’ building definition

Grizzly bear mom and cubs crossing road in Yellowstone National Park

Grizzlies are getting killed by roads, but the risks are bigger than roadkill

Pile of colorful Lego bricks

Lego’s plan for eco-friendly bricks has fallen apart

Pacific Ocean storm seen from a research vessel's stern

When climate change throws the Pacific off balance, the world’s weather follows