Idea Watch
Stories about the people and projects pushing the boundaries of climate mitigation and sustainability
Let the best of Anthropocene come to you.
Human waste is a terrible thing to waste
Off-grid energy production is becoming affordable for smallholders, restaurants, and even families—thanks to a startup’s innovative biodigesters that turn food and feces into carbon-neutral cooking gas, fertilizer, and hot water.
The case for co-locating offshore wind parks and nature reserves
Wind parks could benefit the natural world—in ways beyond the generation of zero-carbon energy.
Eat Globally
Some experts are beginning to question whether locavorism is an effective solution to ensuring food security on a warming planet
Cloudy with a chance of warblers
Strides in computer power and artificial intelligence have enabled scientists to gauge the almost unimaginable scale of nighttime migrations—more than 700 million birds on some nights in the US.
Taking Off in Two Directions at Once
The quickest flight path to decarbonizing aviation could be less air travel—but it also might be a lot more of it
A memo from the year 2050
Here’s how we avoided the worst of zoonotic diseases
It’s an unsinkable idea
The concept of settling the high seas is back—this time as a sustainable answer to sea-level rise, with an impressive team and UN support.
Greening the last mile of e-commerce
Could hubs, nudges, and EV night deliveries crack this surprisingly tough puzzle?
Fly farming is a mini-livestock industry poised to get big
Nascent industrial-scale insect farms are starting to dot the globe, with big livestock-feed and pet-food players such as Cargill, Skretting, Bühler, and Purina getting into the game.
The human population curve is on the move
Demography teaches an important lesson about population explosions: they are always temporary
