Forget about Cotton, We Could Be Making Textiles from Banana and Pineapple
Cotton makes up a third of fiber consumption in the textile industry. The cotton production industry is labor intensive and involves a lot of sweat, chemicals and fresh water. Could a number of innovations from natural sources and raw materials compete with the unsustainable product of the cotton plant?
 
When Food Is Too Good to Waste, College Kids Pick up the Scraps
Nowadays, students are coming face to face with their food waste, and its environmental and social impact, a lot more often. They also have more opportunities do something about it. Ben Simon founded the Food Recovery Network as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland as a way to get college kids to salvage uneaten food from cafeterias and deliver it to local agencies that feed the needy.
 
Silicon Valley Gets a Taste for Food
A plant-based hamburger patty that bleeds. Mayonnaise made without eggs that is creamy and smooth. These are the offerings from a recent crop of Silicon Valley-funded startups which are trying to change the way people eat. The companies have different approaches, but they share the ambition of creating new plant-based food that they say will be healthier, cheaper and just as satisfying as animal-based products—but with a much lower environmental impact.
 
Starve a Landfill
Mandated composting in cities like San Francisco and Seattle reflects a deeper shift in the mood of the nation’s cooks, one in which wasting food is unfashionable. Running an efficient kitchen — where bruised fruit is blended into smoothies, carrot tops are pulsed into pesto, and a juicy pork shoulder can move seamlessly from Sunday supper to Monday’s carnitas to a rich pot of broth for the freezer — is becoming as satisfying as the food itself.