February 3, 2023
by Building The World
0 comments
Sharing water is one of the oldest bonds of community. Ancient villages centered around the well; urban settlements like Rome were built near rivers; great cities and civilizations began as ports. But when neighboring communities are seven large states, the … Continue reading
February 25, 2022
by Building The World
0 comments
Cities are where most plastic is used, and then discarded. But how does it get into the sea? By 2050, there may be more plastic in the oceans than marine life. It is time to act. And we know what … Continue reading
August 26, 2019
by Building The World
0 comments
So many trees burned in the Amazon forest that the fire could be seen from space. Brazilian satellite data from National Institute for Space Research (INPE) shows an 85% increase in fires, and double that in 2013. While the dry … Continue reading
May 31, 2019
by Building The World
0 comments
Feeling sick? It may the drugs you just took when you drank a sip of coffee or a glass of water. Affecting not just humans but aquatic life, medications are entering the water as fast as plastic – they’re just … Continue reading
February 20, 2019
by Building The World
0 comments
Climate change is causing sea rise resulting in coastal erosion, flooding, and threatening ports and cities. Jakarta is in extreme danger: thirteen rivers run through the city, causing frequent flooding. The mega-city of 10 billion is doubly endangered: urban land … Continue reading
February 2, 2018
by Building The World
0 comments
Plastic is a relatively recent innovation but disastrously successful. In 1950, 2.5 billion people on the planet generated 1.5 million tons of plastic; in 2016, 7 billion of us produced 300 trillion tons. Five trillion is now in the oceans, … Continue reading
January 26, 2018
by Building The World
1 Comment
Americans use 500 million plastic straws – every day. Just to get the picture: that’s enough to fill 127 school buses. Every day. Each person in the United States will statistically use 38,000 plastic straws between the ages of 5 … Continue reading
March 24, 2017
by Building The World
0 comments
The first country in the world to give rights to a river was New Zealand: the Whanganui, the country’s longest, has received the environmental protection long sought by the Maori. Now, India has given human status and rights to two … Continue reading
December 16, 2014
by Building The World
0 comments
While the tiny nature of this initiative was evident to us as we passed under the huge Hudson River bridges like the George Washington and Tappan Zee, each of which was carrying thousands of times our cargo capacity per minute … Continue reading
November 19, 2014
by Building The World
0 comments
Infrastructure. The word implies awesomeness, technical complexity, hard hats, and the oversight of engineers. For those not involved in its planning or creation, our built environment can seem largely the individual’s ability to participate or comprehend. The Vermont Sail … Continue reading