For you teachers out there who are looking for a video that defines "sustainability" for your kids, this one is quick and simple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NiTN0chj0  (Credit: RealEyes video)

Sustainability Definition for Kids

For you teachers out there who are looking for a video that defines "sustainability" for your kids, this one is quick and simple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NiTN0chj0  (Credit: RealEyes video)

Billboard Water Generation

(Note: Sarah Laskow of GristList published the following story, and Elizabeth Downs posted the story on the BASS Facebook Page)

In Peru, it hardly ever rains and most water sources are polluted, but the humid air is full of water vapor. So the University of Engineering and Technology has rigged up a billboard to suck drinking water out of thin air.

Taking advantage of capital city Lima’s high humidity levels, engineers have created a system to gather the water through reverse osmosis, purify it, and send it down, clean, to families below.

It’s already produced almost 2,500 gallons of water and is the only billboard we’ve ever seen that actually can justify its existence.

Root Cellaring

The application of behavior analysis to sustainability can take many forms.  One form comes from the Homesteading or Self-Sufficiency movement.  

Root cellaring, as many people remember but only a few people still practice, is a way of using the earth's naturally cool, stable temperature to store perishable fruits and vegetables. Root cellaring, as Mike and Nancy Bubel explain here, is a no-cost, simple, low-technology, energy-saving way to keep the harvest fresh all year long.In Root Cellaring, the Bubels tell how to successfully use this natural storage approach. It's the first book devoted entirely to the subject, and it covers the subject with a thoroughness that makes it the only book you'll ever need on root cellaring.
Root Cellaring will tell you:
* How to choose vegetable and fruit varieties that will store best
* Specific individual storage requirements for nearly 100 home garden crops
* How to use root cellars in the country, in the city, and in any environment
* How to build root cellars, indoors and out, big and small, plain and fancy
* Case histories -- reports on the root cellaring techniques and experiences of many households all over North America
Root cellaring need not be strictly a country concept. Though it's often thought of as an adjunct to a large garden, a root cellar can in fact considerably stretch the resources of a small garden, making it easy to grow late succession crops for storage instead of many rows for canning and freezing. Best of all, root cellars can easily fit anywhere. Not everyone can live in the country, but everyone can benefit from natural cold storage.

TED Talk: Global Warming Mitigated by Cattle?

Global warming may be mitigated by the most unlikely of sources, cattle. How is this possible? How can this vilified creature be an ally in the fight against climate change? Seth Itzkan shows us how.

Seth is President of Planet-TECH Associates, a consultancy that investigates innovations for a regenerative future. He has consulted on trends and innovations for The Boston Foundation, The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and The US Census Bureau. Seth is a graduate of Tufts University College of Engineering and the University of Houston-Clear Lake Masters Program in Studies of Future. He works in Somerville, and recently spent six weeks at the Africa Center for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe.

A Solar Panel "Microbrewery"

Imagine what you might do if you could print your own solar panels.  That line was taken from an article published by NPR's Science Friday about Shawn Frayne and Alex Hornstein's Solar Pocket Factory.  

Described by the founders as a "microbrewery" for solar panels, the two inventors were able to raise over $70,000 from a Kickstarter campaign to get their project going.

Click here for the article and accompanying video.

Creating Green Conferences

Thanks to Mike Magoon at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) for passing along the webinar announcement below! The announcement is partly in response to a conversation with several BASS members on how to create green conferences with the help of the Internet -- the less people physically traveling to your conference, the greener it can be.  If the registration link below doesn't work for you, please click here.