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 Water
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Denver Water Demo Project on Water Re-Use
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The Future of Drinking Water in Denver: Re-Use
In arid or drought-prone places, the future of drinking water may rely on new technologies being tested in Denver. The PureWater Colorado Demonstration Project employs a five-step process to purify water (ozonation, biological filtration, microfiltration, granular activated carbon filtration and ultraviolet light) to make it safe to drink. Water reuse is part of Colorado’s Water Plan to reduce the amount of water diverted from rivers and streams, creating a sustainable, efficient way to extend the state’s water supplies. Denver Water partnered with Carollo Engineers, WateReuse Colorado (WRCO) and Xylem on the reuse demonstration project.
The demonstration project took place in April, and the project partners offered tours for key stakeholders, regulators and others to sample the water from the project. Some of the purified water produced by the PureWater project was sent to Declaration Brewery Company in Denver. Declaration has a commitment to sustainability and created a special craft beer to promote water reuse and celebrate Denver Water’s 100th anniversary. Unlike common water purification technologies, the PureWater Colorado project does not generate a waste stream of concentrated salt. Instead, they are “using purification technology that replicates natural processes,” said Austa Parker, PureWater Colorado’s project manager from Carollo Engineers.
Why This Matters: Re-cycling water is not new -- what makes this revolutionary is that it is treating "used" water for use as drinking water -- not just for lawns and toilets. Colorado is one of the driest states in the U.S., which is why reusing water is an important component of Colorado’s Water Plan. That is particularly true this year, with record low snowpack levels in Colorado and water shortages already being predicted this summer and beyond. And Denver's drinking water needs are also expanding with its growing population. But Colorado is not alone -- communities across the U.S., including California, Florida, and Texas, are already evaluating or implementing similar drought-resilient projects to supplement their drinking water supplies.
To Go Deeper Into Water Recycling and Re-Use: You can click here to go to WateReuse.org for lots of information about the technology and feasibility of water re-use. To learn how the experimental technology works, watch the video below.
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Denver's Water Re-Use Demo -- It's Clean Enough To Drink
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 Energy
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Bitcoin's Insatiable Energy Appetite is Only Growing
Although bitcoin is an entirely digital currency, its energy needs are anything but virtual. The cryptocurrency requires a colossal amount of computing power for "mining" and completing transactions and the rise of its energy consumption has no end in sight. A single bitcoin transaction is so energy intensive that it could power the average U.S. household for a month.
Last week, Grist's Eric Holthaus wrote an eye-opening piece about a new peer-reviewed study by Dutch economist Alex de Vries which revealed that Bitcoin is on a path to gobble up .5% of the world's energy. By late next year, bitcoin could be consuming more electricity than all the world’s solar panels currently produce — about 1.8 percent of global electricity, according to a simple extrapolation of the study’s predictions. That would effectively erase decades of progress on renewable energy.
Why This Matters: Proponents of Bitcoin argue that it's a tool to circumvent traditional financial institutions and governments, in countries like Zimbabwe and Argentina, Bitcoin has sometimes provided a more stable place to park money than the local currency. And in countries with more stable economies, Bitcoin has led to a flurry of new investments, jobs and start-up companies. Can the benefits of Bitcoin ever be balanced with the immense amount of energy it takes to make the cryptocurrency possible? Holthaus put it best, "It’s a telling social phenomenon of late capitalism that we are willing to construct elaborate computer networks to conduct secure transactions with each other — and in the process torpedoing our hopes at a clean energy future."
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 Oceans
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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Working With Tanzania Law Enforcement
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Fighting Organized Crime in Tanzania's Ocean Waters
International criminal networks smuggle drugs, traffic in humans, pollute the seas, and engage in illegal fishing and have proved to be an enforcement challenge. Now, an unusual partnership between Tanzanian government and the NGO Sea Shepherd is have formed Operation Jordari to tackle all these problems together. The Tanzania government first formed a Multi-Agency Task Team made up of law enforcement personnel from drug enforcement, immigration, customs, fisheries and a small team of Special Forces Marines. They proved that one patrol vessel can multitask and perform the work of separate border, drugs, maritime safety, and fisheries patrol vessels.
The campaign has been very successful with over 20 arrests, millions of dollars in fines and the seizure of several vessels, and the complete shut down of illegal industrial-scale fishing in Tanzania’s ocean territory. An entire fleet of foreign industrial fishing vessels ceased operations in Tanzania in order to avoid inspection and possible arrest by the Operation.
Why This Matters: Just like in the Justice League comic books and movies, to eliminate the threat of organized criminals operating in the ocean will require the close collaboration of powerful organizations that are not accustomed to working together. As the Sea Shepherd team observed on Operation Jordari, it is new, "for the Special Forces marines and new for the law enforcement as well to work with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in this way." But every boat that they arrested is one less boat in the smuggling fleet, and each captain and owner brought to justice is one less player in this dangerous network of criminals. The oceans need not be the modern-day wild, wild west -- provided that law enforcement, the military and environmental and human rights NGOs work together to keep them safe and secure.
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 Animals
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Happy Bee Day
ICYMI, yesterday was the first ever World Bee Day. Yes, even bees get their own day. What most people don't realize is that bees are quite critical to our food supply, and they are increasingly scarce, so in 2017 the United Nations created this day to raise awareness of their importance.
- Bees and other pollinators sustain one-third of all food produced globally.
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) estimates that 71% of all crop species grown for human consumption depend on pollinators.
- In 2015, the annual value of global crops directly affected by pollinators is estimated to be between US$ 235 billion to US$ 577 billion.
Bees are also of great importance for maintaining the ecological balance and ensuring the conservation of biodiversity in nature -- their numbers are an important indicator of the health of the environment. Unfortunately, the number of bee colonies has been declining for the last 50 years, particularly in the areas where there is intense agriculture. The bee shortage is made worse by new bee diseases and pests, which are aggravated by deteriorating resistance of bee colonies and impacts of globalization that allows for the transfer of pests over long distances.
Scientists believe the biggest problem for bees is neonicotinoid insecticides. According to the journal Nature, an influential scientific review concluded in February determined that these insecticides pose a high risk to wild bees and honeybees. Just last month the European Union voted to completely ban the use of neonicotinoid insecticides after years of bitter wrangling between environmentalists and the agricultural sector and insecticide manufacturers.
Why This Matters: If you like food, then you gotta love bees. The U.S. has not taken action to ban the insecticides like the EU did - it would be a real uphill battle here. Neonicotinoids, which are nerve agents, have been shown to cause a wide range of harm to individual bees and colonies of bees. But if these neonicotinoids are simply replaced by other similar compounds, as farmers argued they would be, it would not ultimately improve the current situation. Farmers in this country are likely to fight any effort to cut back on its use. Experts agree that what is needed most is a move towards truly sustainable farming where less insecticide would be used.
What You Can Do: This is one environmental problem where everyone can make a difference. Register your garden and support the Million Pollinator Gardens Challenge. To learn ten easy ways to make your garden more pollinator friendly, click here.
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 Sustainability
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Major Brands Like Nike and Gap Band Together to Tackle Textile Waste
Some of the world's biggest clothing brands, including Nike, Burberry, and Stella McCartney, have joined forces to tackle textile waste and "radically redesign" their industry to be less polluting. As Business Green reported, the Make Fashion Circular initiative, led by the Ellen McArthur Foundation will work to increase resource-efficiency for the textile industry and drive the fashion industry to be more circular. Together the participants hope to find solutions to recycle old clothes into new garments, support the rollout of greener materials, and introduce new business models that keep clothes in use for longer.
The Make Fashion Circular initiative argues a less wasteful fashion industry could provide a $560bn economic opportunity, although convincing consumers addicted to fast fashion to change their buying habits could prove a tall order. Almost 60 percent of all clothing produced is thrown out within a year of being made, ending up in either landfill or incineration plants. The program is the evolution of the Circular Fibres Initiative, launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation last year.
Why This Matters: Textile production is one of the world's most polluting industries, producing 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent emissions a year - more than international flights and maritime shipping, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Fast fashion especially is causing an environmental crisis, as more clothing winds up in landfills. As Newsweek explained, when natural fibers, like cotton, linen and silk, or semi-synthetic fibers created from plant-based cellulose, like rayon, Tencel and modal, are buried in a landfill, in one sense they act like food waste, producing the potent greenhouse gas methane as they degrade. But unlike banana peels, you can’t compost old clothes, even if they're made of natural materials. “Natural fibers go through a lot of unnatural processes on their way to becoming clothing,” says Jason Kibbey, CEO of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
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 People
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One Cool Thing: Royal Wedding's Nod to Green
It's safe to say that Monica and I lived for the Royal Wedding this past weekend. It was such a sweet moment that celebrated love, inclusion and a vision of the world that's better and kinder. Before the wedding, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced a list of charities they would like their well-wishers to donate to instead of buying gifts. Among the seven charities, the couple listed the organization Surfers Against Sewage – a national marine conservation and campaigning charity fighting plastic pollution.
On the way to their evening reception, the royal newlyweds made their way from Windsor Castle to Frogmore House in a stylish silver blue Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero, an electrified version of the 1968 British classic. The vehicle came complete with a bespoke license plate, bearing the date of the wedding.
The royal wedding flowers were even upcycled and turned into bouquets for hospice patients at St. Joseph's Hospice in London.
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