(3BL Media/Justmeans) Burning fossil fuels has made our modern world possible with its many conveniences, but it has also been the main cause of climate change. As UN Chief Antonio Guterres recently declared, “Continuing to invest in fossil fuels would create “an unsustainable future.” He added that “we must stop making bets on an unsustainable future that will place savings and societies at risk."
While an estimated $825 billion was invested in fossil fuels and high emissions sectors in 2016, according to Guterres, a divestment movement is growing. Over 800 institutions have divested around $5.57 trillion from fossil fuels. The Ray C. Anderson...
(3BL Media/Justmeans) The burning of fossil fuels has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Shipping companies like UPS are investing in renewable natural gas (RNG) as an alternative to fossil fuels. RNG, also known as biomethane, is a gas that is completely interchangeable with conventional natural gas, and can be used in natural gas vehicles. It is a biofuel produced from biomass sources such as decomposing organic waste in landfills, wastewater treatment and agriculture. It is distributed through the natural gas pipeline system, which makes it available as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or compressed natural gas (CNG). Using RNG...
(3BL Media/Justmeans) The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has made many social and economic improvements in 15 years. Those include reducing poverty, inequality and hunger. However, the region still faces big environmental and social challenges. Extreme weather events with a link to climate change such as hurricanes pose big threats to the region. The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is the costliest one on record, with damages from just Hurricane Irma costing $30 billion. Average unemployment in the region increased above eight percent in 2016. Although women’s participation in the region’s workforce is 53 percent, nearly a third of all women have no...
(3BL Media/Justmeabs) Big cities such as Los Angeles and New York are not the only places with sustainability plans in places. Sechelt is a small town in British Columbia, Canada with a population of 8,000 residents. In 2011, Sechelt published its sustainability plan.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) California is the most populous state in the nation, with almost 40 million residents and an economy ranking number six in the world. The Golden State also has led the way in taking care of the environment. The state has a renewables portfolio standard of 33 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2030. An executive order in 2005 established a target reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. A bill in 2006 created an economy-wide cap-and-trade program.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) — Water is a precious commodity that is in increasing demand. Global water demand is projected to grow by 55 percent by 2050. It will take a 60 percent increase in agricultural production and a 15 percent increase in water withdrawals to feed 9 billion people by 2050. Presently, 70 percent of global water withdrawals are for agriculture.
(3BL Media/Justmeans) — Many egg-laying hens in the U.S. spend their lives in cages only 67 square inches. That is smaller than a sheet of letter-sized paper. Battery cages are so small that hens are unable to turn around, flap their wings or engage is normal chicken behavior such as nesting, perching or dustbathing. Cage-free hens are able to walk, spread their wings and lay eggs in nests.
The future of the car industry is looking electric. The benefits of increasing investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure outweigh the costs by more than three to one, a new 
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(3BL Media/Justmeans) The cocoa industry has a dirty secret. Child labor is way too common in West Africa. Over 70 percent of the global cocoa supply comes from two West African countries: the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Farmers supplying companies with the chocolate they use in their products receive little for the cocoa. That means they are unable to hire laborers to harvest the crop, and child labor is widely used as a result. A Tulane University report found that in 2013 and 2014, 2.26 million children in Ghana and the Ivory Coast worked in cocoa production.