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Pitt Startup Enables Medical Community to Recycle Single-Use Plastics
In an effort to save the environment, companies from across all types of industries are joining in to phase out single-use plastics. But in the medical industry, it hasn’t been so easy. While Starbucks can survive without plastic straws, scientists and clinicians rely on single-use plastics — which are cheap, disposable and, most importantly, sterile… Read More
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Calculate Your Meat, Plastic Footprints with This Student’s Tools
For the sake of the environment, we’re often told to mind our consumption habits. We’re advised to skip over that cheeseburger and, instead, opt for the salad. And, when going to the grocery store, we’re told to bring our own reusable bags. While some follow this advice religiously, many others still shrug it off. The… Read More
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Brands Respond to Demand for Sustainable Skincare
From Kesha revealing her natural face full of freckles to Kardashians sharing no-makeup videos, 2019 is the year for a natural, makeup-free kind of beauty. As celebrities embraced their natural selves online, social media soon followed and hashtags like #nomakeup, #nofilter went buzzing. Naturally, consumers started to invest in skincare, but not just any skincare.… Read More
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A Student Guide to Sustainable Living
With a garbage patch twice the size of Texas sitting in the Pacific Ocean and less than 11 years left to prevent climate change from irreversibly damaging our planet, the Earth needs all the help it can get. It’s true, the most effective way to save the planet comes through governmental action and international law.… Read More
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UN Youth Climate Summit Shows Promise for Our Future
On September 21, young climate activists, innovators, entrepreneurs, influencers and trailblazers from all over the world gathered at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York for the first-ever U.N. Youth Climate Summit. In commanding fashion, these young leaders took the floor of the Trusteeship Council chamber and its surrounding areas to inspire change, showcase their… Read More
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Report Highlights the Most Sustainable Colleges and Universities
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) recently released its annual Sustainable Campus Index report, recognizing some of the world’s most sustainable colleges and universities. Topping AASHE’s list with “platinum” ratings are Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Stanford University, UC Irvine, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and Colorado… Read More
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Brands Innovate, Create, Move Towards Sustainable Fashion
About 20 years ago, “fast fashion” took the world by storm. The fashion industry found a way to rapidly mass-produce the latest trends and sell for cheaper than ever before. And as a result, people were able to buy more and more clothing. Today, we have five times the amount of clothing that our grandparents… Read More
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Why Stop at Plastic Bags and Straws? The Case for a Global Treaty Banning Most Single-Use Plastics
Single-use plastics are a blessing and a curse. They have fueled a revolution in commercial and consumer convenience and improved hygiene standards, but also have saturated the world’s coastlines and clogged landfills. By one estimate 79 percent of all plastic ever produced is now in a dump, a landfill or the environment, and only 9… Read More
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Do You Know the Environmental Impact of Your To-Go Food?
If you’re running late or need to grab a quick bite to eat in between classes, a stop by the dining hall or a restaurant for some to-go food is often the move. But common takeout containers, made out of plastic, styrofoam and aluminum, carry a hefty carbon footprint and are often difficult to recycle,… Read More
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New Method Transforms Plastic Bottle Waste Into Valuable Tools
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a method to convert plastic bottle waste into aerogels for many sustainable uses. This research comes at a pivotal time, as plastic pollution continues to pile up, litter oceans and destroy ecosystems. Currently, it is estimated that, by 2050, there will be more plastic than… Read More
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Inspired Immigrant Uses Architecture Degree to Build Affordable Housing Back Home
The night is pitch-dark and silent. Five boys fit into two twin-sized beds, hardly able to move, but still a rare luxury in the neighborhood. Crawling over his cousins to get down from bed, a boy tiptoes to his mother’s room and spends the night on a mat, but with more space to himself. Growing… Read More
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Sustainable Fashion Feels Good and Looks Even Better
Sustainability has a new look. No longer just about hand-me-downs in families and vintages in thrift stores, sustainable fashion has been the talk of the year in the fashion industry. As more consumers are getting interested, the market is responding. According to a research by Common Objective, in the past six years, Google searches for… Read More
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Women Killin’ It in Sustainability Research
Sustainability research has become one of the most important fields in science, particularly as global populations continue to rise and earth’s resources are increasingly spread thin. Luckily, many brilliant minds are working to investigate topics such as clean energy, sustainable food systems, and climate change — and women are often at the forefront of such… Read More
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Beyond Plastic Straws: Any Piece of Plastic Can Kill a Sea Turtle
Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans poses considerable dangers for the marine life that inhabits those waters. Two recent studies suggest that ocean plastic pollution could threaten the survival of entire populations of sea turtles. The findings come in a year that saw a campaign to ban single-use plastic straws blossom into a global movement,… Read More
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Friendly Competition Could Eliminate Campus Waste
Sometimes the best way to motivate people is through a little bit of friendly competition. The University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) is preparing to install touch-screen monitors on dorm buildings that alert students, faculty and staff about how much solid waste they are producing, while encouraging dorms to compete. The screens will feature a… Read More
