The Plastiki seen here sailing into Sydney, near the famous Sydney Opera House landmark. Photo: Adventure Ecology.
Plastiki, the world’s first 60-foot catamaran made from recycled plastic water bottles sailed triumphantly into Sydney Harbor last Monday (26th July 2010, Sydney time) after an epic 8,000 mile journey across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco.

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The 3G dataphones of today were the stuff of science fiction 40 years ago. Today, they are so commonplace, we hardly think about the brilliant flashes of inspiration that their inventors had to come up with these clever devices. What would our buildings and cities look like 40 years from now? Chilean urban architect [...]

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Quite possibly, Detroit is the city that took the hardest hit from the current economic recession. Detroit, the mighty symbol of the American car industry has floundered along with the industry that has employed generations of autoworkers in this city and its suburbs. How do you make a city that has been on a [...]

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Black, red, and green are the colors of Kwanzaa, the weeklong celebration (December 26 to January 1) in the United States honoring African heritage and tradition. Kwanzaa (derived from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning ‘first fruits of the harvest’) includes activities like candle-lighting, libations, story-telling, a feast, and gift giving.

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Severn Cullis-Suzuki was only 12 years old when she spoke before the UN earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. A child speaking before adults representing all the countries in the world – yet her speech was anything but childish. It was a galvanizing admonition and an appeal to everyone to help [...]

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I came across the inspiring story of William Kamkwamba, African inventor and co-author of The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, a few days ago on Twitter. Since then, I couldn’t stop thinking about the difficulties and disadvantages this man faced trying to put his idea into reality in his village in Malawi, Africa.

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The “Algaeus” (Photo: Ariel Schwartz)
Right on the heels of our story on algae-based batteries, is this latest gem in algae-related research: the first ever algae-powered car will do a cross-country trek from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.

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The algae, Cladophora, has long been considered a nuisance in many communities, notably along the Great Lakes coastlines, where large amounts of rotting algae have been fouling the shorelines. Recent developments in alternative energy research, however, may change people’s perception of this organism.

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