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Big Problem, Small Solution: Can Do-It-Yourself Processing Machines Help Combat Plastic Pollution?
From the viral video of a diver swimming in a sea of plastic, to National Geographic’s major focus on the topic this year, there’s growing public attention on the problem of plastic waste. So there was plenty of excitement when a Dutch engineer’s do-it-yourself plastic recycling machines started gaining traction around the world. Could the devices empower a global army of small entrepreneurs to turn plastic waste into revenue-generating products? The solution sounds appealing, but when Bali-based social enterprise Kopernik assessed its effectiveness, they came across one small problem.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise, Technology
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IBM to Tackle Ocean Plastic and Global Poverty with Blockchain Technology
IBM aired a TV Commercial during an NFL match on September 17, 2018, called Plastic Bank, a new initiative which aims to tackle ocean plastic and global poverty with blockchain technology. The Plastic Bank is backed by IBM Technology which uses the LinuxOne blockchain to encourage entrepreneurs from the world’s most impoverished communities to clean up plastic in exchange for digital credits.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
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Press release: FMO Investment Propels Meloy Fund Past $22 Million for Sustainable Coastal Fisheries
“FMO is proud to join the Meloy Fund and contribute to the creation of economic opportunities for small-scale fisheries in Indonesia and The Philippines” said Maurice Scheepens, Investment Officer of the Agri, Food & Water department at FMO. “The partnership with Rare, which provides amongst others technical expertise and networks, ensures that inclusive development is linked with the conservation of critical marine habitat.”
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Rising Carbon Emissions Make Crops Less Nutritious, Threaten Global Health
By emitting historically high levels of carbon pollution, we are literally making our food less nutritious.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
- Tags
- climate change
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Oil’s Surge Clouds Clean-Air Quest in Emerging Economies
The nations are embracing such supplies once again as crude’s recovery exacerbates economic pain and boosts inflation, threatening to undermine efforts made during oil’s slump to curb pollution.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Waste-to-energy plant to take on Ethiopia’s rubbish epidemic
A landslide of rubbish from a vast open-air landfill site just outside of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, killed more than 110 people last year. This weekend, the Ethiopian government inaugurated a $120 million waste-to-energy plant, right next to the garbage dump, in an attempt to curb the city's mounting waste problem.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- renewable energy, waste
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Global warming policy: Is population left out in the cold?
Many nongovernmental organizations undertake climate- and population-related activities, and national adaptation plans for most of the least-developed countries recognize population growth as an important component of vulnerability to climate impacts. But despite this evidence, much of the climate community, notably the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the primary source of scientific information for the international climate change policy process, is largely silent about the potential for population policy to reduce risks from global warming.
- Categories
- Environment
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Study shows forest conservation is a powerful tool to improve nutrition in developing nations
More than two billion people in the developing world suffer from a lack of micronutrients—like vitamin A, sodium, iron and calcium. The result for children can be brain damage, stunted growth, and even death. In response, food and farming programs have begun to consider how to do more than just increase production of staple crops, like rice and corn, to fight malnutrition.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
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