Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
Pizza-shaped Recycling Bins, Mining Seawater, Brownfield cleanup, Electric Railways, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Friday and last day of May! Today is OSHA’s National Heat Awareness Day, an event established to encourage employers and workers to recognize the warning signs for heat illness and keep workers safe. This is especially getting more relevant and important as temperatures increase due to the climate crisis and 2024 on track to be the hottest year on record.
While there is a lot of positive climate news this week, my favorite is the new pilot recycling bins in a popular picnic spot, an attempt at solving the problem of pizza boxes not fitting in the normal sized recycling bins. I mean, what’s more New York than pizza-shaped recycling bins in Central Park?!
Keep reading below for some hopeful stories and positive sustainability news!
T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S
EXPLORING THE CHEMICAL MAKEUP OF SEAWATER
Circling back to cargo ships and water-related travel, a new startup, Calcarea, uses limestone to convert carbon dioxide in shipping exhaust to salty water that is safely returned to the sea. Cargo ships emit around a billion metric tons of CO2 each year. Cleaner shipping fuel and innovations like modern sails will take time to scale up. The technology, which spun out of research at CalTech, mimics a process that happens naturally, turning the CO2 into calcium ions and bicarbonate. This is the same process that happens in your stomach when you take Tums. The end product can be released into the ocean, so the ship doesn’t need extra space to store captured CO2 to deliver somewhere else. And because the process happens in a reactor, it’s possible to carefully track how much CO2 is converted. Around 90% of the CO2 can be removed from the ship’s exhaust. The system also removes sulfur, another pollutant, at the same time.
Researchers are also exploring mining seawater (specifically the desalination concentrate) for critical metals such as lithium and magnesium. Seawater has long been harvested for salt, but the scope has now broadened as the demand for precious metals is increasing and companies are trying to avoid mining (and the pollution that comes with it). According to OSU estimates, brine from desalination plants contains $2.2 trillion worth of materials, including more than 17,400 tons of lithium, which is crucial for making batteries for electric vehicles, appliances, and electrical energy storage systems. Miners have largely ignored the minerals found in desalination brine because concentrating them has not been economical. But new technologies and other innovations have created more effective separation methods and enabled companies to focus on this vast resource.
EPA ANNOUNCES $300m FUNDING TO CLEAN UP BROWNFIELD SITES
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $300 million in funding to clean up and redevelop 200 former industrial sites, known as brownfields, across the country as part of a significant boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Spending on brownfield revitalization has quadrupled under the BIL, which passed in 2021. The EPA estimates there are 450,000 brownfields in the US, with about one in ten Americans living within half a mile of one. Studies have shown that living near brownfields correlates with poorer health outcomes and economic disadvantages. The bipartisan support for brownfield redevelopment has persisted despite political changes, with even the Trump administration backing related programs. However, there are concerns about potential funding rollbacks if political priorities shift. In addition to site cleanups, the EPA announced $14 million for environmental job training grants.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan highlighted the initiative at a former oil station in Philadelphia, where $2 million was allocated to transform the contaminated site into a waterfront bike trail and office buildings. This effort aligns with the Biden administration's Justice40 initiative, which mandates that 40% of BIL funding benefits historically disadvantaged communities.
INDIAN RAILWAYS IS ABOUT TO BE 100% ELECTRIC
Indian Railways is on track to achieve 100% electrification of its broad gauge network within the next few months, well ahead of the fiscal year's end, according to a senior Railway Ministry official. This milestone will make it the world's largest green railway network. Environmental benefits are a key motivation, with Indian Railways aiming for net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, contributing to India's emissions-reduction targets under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
After the establishment of the Environment Directorate in January 2015 that boosted environmental initiatives, electrification jumped from 45% in 2015 to 94% by January 2024. Electrification is happening over nine times faster than what it was a decade ago, from 1.42 km per day in 2014-15 to about 19.6 km per day in 2023-24. The rapid electrification has been driven by assured funding, expedited permitting, and decentralized decision-making. Electrification has also significantly impacted energy independence, expected to save 2.8 billion liters of diesel annually, which is crucial given India’s heavy reliance on imported crude oil.
India's electrification efforts contrast sharply with those in other regions, making it stand out globally as a leader in sustainable rail transport. Countries like Germany, the US, and the UK have set later goals and are progressing more slowly. The US has only 1% of its tracks electrified, and the UK aims for net-zero by 2050 but has slow annual progress.
MORE IN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Cargo ship emissions cut 17% in new trials — all thanks to one shockingly simple change.
New study finds bicycling may help you live longer. A study that found people who cycled one hour per week were about 22% less likely to die prematurely.
Toilet paper takes a surprising toll on the environment, but eco-friendly alternatives are rolling out
Recycling isn’t easy. The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is doing it anyway.
How wildlife crossings can mend a landscape.
Why did Iberostar, a major hotel chain, hire a Marine Biologist?
Sustainable Tech SPOTLIGHT: Raw Earth Materials
“Raw Earth” is a catchall term used to describe building materials that primarily consist of earth that isn't baked into a hardened state (unlike bricks, for example, that are baked into a hardened state). Some you may be familiar with are adobe, rammed earth, compressed earth blocks, and clay plasters. The idea is that wood, clay, and straw will then replace the steel, plaster and concrete that makeup the rest of the building, carrying 50% less of the embodied carbon. The materials ideally would be derived locally to avoid even more carbon.
Currently, the resurgence (or re-innovation, since these materials have been around for millenia and 650-700 million people currently live in earthen dwellings) of raw earth materials is more prevalent in Europe than the United States, partly due to lack of building regulations, lack of education and knowledge, and common misconceptions/myths. One myth is that these materials are not as durable as things such as concrete, but in reality it is the way you build with the materials that dictates the durability of it (like most materials). Regulations for building with earthen materials are only present in a few building codes on state and local levels. There has to be a policy shift, but that comes only after a culture shift.
Colorado Earth is currently the only Earthen Masonry manufacturer in the US.
When the news is particularly devastating, horrific, and heartbreaking, a natural response can be to disengage, protect, and distance ourselves from it.
While there is a genuine case for protecting our mental health, we must do that carefully and thoughtfully — so that we can eventually re-engage in the fight for a better world, not detach from it.
Because the privilege of experiencing tragedy through the news rather than first-hand comes with the responsibility to use that privilege for good.