new ideas to check out
Research global warming issues happening now in the region you want to set your story. Then enjoy learning about solutions and new technologies. Here are a few general sites to start you off, then a few specific websites to explore:
1. The Solutions Project- https://thesolutionsproject.org/what-we-do/inspiring-action/why-clean-energy/ (an interactive map. Choose a country or city nearby to see how they could be completely fossil free by 2050).
2. David Suzuki Foundation: Search under “Climate Solutions” under “Our Work”. (See short video on “Kanaka Bar”)
3 Search the “Earthshot Prizes”, and “Ten Unbelievable New Ways of Generating Electricity” (makeuseof.com) and the James Dyson Awards!
4. The Columbia Institute, a think tank in Vancouver.
5. Articles from “The Oxygen Project”, eg. “22 Ways to Save the Planet”
6. https://www.quanta-cs.com/blogs/2021-4/5-most-innovative-solutions-in-renewable-energy
7. 10 Green Technologies that will change the world:
https://medium.com/climate-conscious/10-green-technologies-that-will-change-the-world-9f7a709c1a15
8. Search “green walls” around the world, or “living green walls”, eg. Bosco Verticale in Milan. See “how to” by city of Sydney, Austrailia
9. Building with mycelium:
10. https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/future-technology-22-ideas-about-to-change-our-world/
11. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/nature-tech-future-now/
12. Grist Magazine: https://grist.org/fix/. This online magazine often shows great projects being used.
13. Look up Miyawaki Tiny Forests, being planted around the world. Imagine small urban forests scattered broadly through the cities, in part of large parking lots, in part of every park--a ribbon of green biodiversity for human health and planetary health. "A city in a forest."
14. Algae for supper? Or crickets?
15. Watch this great show " 2040 ". It can be seen using Kanopy streaming services and a KFPL library card. https://www.kanopy.com/en/kfplWonderful solutions for the future!
16. Re-designing your city: (6 ideas)
1. Green rooves (or solar)? A large, flat roof on a store or plaza, hotel or parking garage is wasted space. A biodiverse meadow under solar panels? A food garden? You name it. Check this article out-- read these subtitles on the way to the photos of some amazing green rooves which exist right now. One is in Canada:
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/green-roof-types-benefits-examples.php
2. Multi-family homes? Do they have to be tall concrete apartment buildings? Making concrete has created wars over sand and uses a lot of carbon. Yet, continuing to clearcut forests to build one-house-on-a-lawn neighbourhoods that stretch on forever, is not great either.
Have a look at these neighbourhoods!
OR…
OR… low rise eco buildings to create communities? There are hundreds of them built across Victoria, B.C., with trees all around. Sometimes, on the fourth floor, your wide deck has a small garden and you can reach out and touch a mature tree. (We are trying to find photos of them all.)
3. City traffic? Does it seem that cars have more space and rights than humans sometimes?
In Paris, France, constant terrible car traffic was what everyone saw. Then…
see NBC article: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/paris-olympics-city-reduce-air-pollution-rcna153470
OR… in Waterloo & Kitchener, Ontario, they laid a train track right up the main streets! See their new Light Rail Transit. Very fast and quiet!
4. Are there rivers near you with a good flow? You can create electricity from them. Have a peek:
https://twitter.com/MikeHudema/status/1560109986755145729?s=20&t=yQRX9sJ4AgU7l5EhF57YDg
5. Do you live on barren land near salty ocean water? Try this:
https://twitter.com/MikeHudema/status/1562945964528508929?s=20&t=TkkQ6oima5mkzbk4aEo2jg
6. You know all those giant paved parking lots at big box stores or downtown? They absorb summer heat and increase the temperature in a neighbourhood by 6-10 degrees. You can install solar panels over them, especially around the edges, and even let the EV cars recharge under those and enjoy the shade? Or you can just tear some of it up!
