California’s Concrete Skateparks

Jagged tunnels edged with red trim, scooped walls and wave-like canopies are among the defining features of these vacant concrete skateparks in California, photographed by artist Amir Zaki. The images feature in the California Concrete, a Landscape of Skateparks publication, and document 12 unusual and elaborate skateparks in city’s across the state. Zaki, who grew up skateboarding in a Southern […]

Germany Proposes Meat Tax

German residents may soon find themselves paying more for steaks, pork chops and sausages. Across party lines, the country’s politicians have proposed raising the VAT, or value added tax, on meat to a standard rate of 19 percent. Presently, meat in Germany is taxed at a rate of 7 percent. Germany’s lawmakers have suggested using the additional funds raised by […]

Wireless Earbuds Made From Recycled Materials

Music electronics brand House of Marley has created a pair of bamboo and recycled plastic earbuds as an “eco-conscious alternative” to plastic headphones. The Liberate Air wireless earbuds by House of Marley are made from a variety of sustainable materials such as aluminium, bamboo and a wood fibre composite made from sawdust, as well as recycled silicone and recycled plastic. […]

7 Cool Gadgets Every Remote Business Owner Needs

Running a remote business comes with plenty of perks and benefits. For starters, you can take your work on the road and manage your company from anywhere. Furthermore, with niche service-based companies, you can take advantage of outsourcing certain tasks to keep your business running smoothly. For example, you might outsource web hosting support with a company like IP Geeks, […]

Are Bioplastic Greenwashing?

There has been massive pushback against the use of plastics over the past few years, including single-use plastic bans in cities all over the world. Industrial entrepreneurs have responded to these mounting concerns with a new product that seems like the perfect solution– bioplastic. It looks and feels like plastic, but its made from plants, so it’s good for the […]

Traps Helps To Divert Fertiliser

Austrian design firm EOOS and a Swiss water research institute have teamed up to create a toilet for Laufen that tackles the “urgent” environmental issue of pollution caused by wastewater. EOOS, bathroom brand Laufen, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG) created the Save! separation toilet with a trap to siphon off urine that can then be turned […]

Filtration Skyscrapers

Architectural designer and visualiser Honglin Li has proposed deploying floating high-rise waste-to-energy plants fuelled by plastic waste to clean up the oceans while generating electricity. The sci-fi proposal, called Filtration Skyscraper, imagines placing unmanned towers on abandoned oil rigs in parts of the oceans where plastic waste accumulates. Sophisticated machinery in the conceptual towers would generate electricity and biofuels from […]

World’s First Autonomous Oil Spill Boat

Oil spills can spell big trouble for the environment, and an efficient and swift response is critical in trying to contain the problem. In the not-too-distant future folks dealing with such incidents may have a robotic helper to call on, with Boston’s Sea Machines Robotics successfully demonstrating what is says is the world’s first autonomous spill response vessel, which has […]