Category: Solutions
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The Unanticipated Benefits of California’s Water Policies
Water drips from a leaking irrigation pipe in the west San Joaquin Valley. Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images From software to robots to technology originally designed to detect water on Mars, market-based policy approaches are spurring innovation, writes Ceres’ Kirsten James. Just as California’s climate policies have driven innovation in energy…
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Could water utilities transform the way the electric sector did?
A mix of government incentives and regulations revamped the electricity sector. Could a similar approach work for water? Credit: Stocksy/Paul Edmondson Water utilities nationwide are grappling with aging infrastructure, environmental degradation and climate change. Existing water systems are also highly centralized and supported by old-fashioned financing models. But what if instead of simply replacing the…
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Strips of prairie plants slow loss of soil, nutrients and water, double biodiversity
Matt Helmers from Iowa State University discusses STRIPS near a flume. Photo by Jane Hodgins, US Forest Service. Newtown Square, PA, October 2, 2017 – A clean white plastic flume in an Iowa soybean field is testimony to a novel and possibly heretical idea: prairie plants, once plowed under by farmers growing corn and soybeans…
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The Surprising Solution to Ocean Plastic
This talk was presented at a TED Institute event given in partnership with IBM. TED editors featured it among our selections on the home page. Read more about the TED Institute. Can we solve the problem of ocean plastic pollution and end extreme poverty at the same time? That’s the ambitious goal of The Plastic…
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Engineered sand zaps storm water pollutants
Reclaimed storm water may provide a local source of drinking water for parched communities. (MPCA Photos, via Flickr) UC Berkeley engineers have created a new way to remove contaminants from storm water, potentially addressing the needs of water-stressed communities that are searching for ways to tap the abundant and yet underused source of fresh drinking…
