Have you ever gazed upon the cityscape from up high and admired at how the buldings run out of sight? Perhaps you have noticed that in areas where the price per m² is highest in the whole country, there is so much unused space. Unused space on the roofs. Invaluable space, enjoyed by none. As more and more green space in city centres is lost to commercial or residential areas, we lose a valuable part of our environment. Could roofs have role in solving this problem?

It seems like we are in a never-ending race to match our energy-intensive lifestyles with advancements in pollution management. However, many of these pollutants are not anthropogenic and existed long before the Industrial Revolution. How then, were these compounds dealt with before we came along? The answer lies in the transformative powers of microbes and plants.

Who doesn’t enjoy a snack or the occasional take-away with flavour-packed dishes to please our guts and soul? An inavoidable part of dining this way usually includes some sort of packaging and, later, waste. Nowadays, with all the talk about cutting down on the use of plastics and banning single-use plastics to prevent the pollution of waterways and oceans, it seems natural to move away from plastic bags, wrappers, styrofoam and single-use boxes to adopt more sustainable packaging. Most people are probably thinking „paper“ at this point. Well, there’s some bad news...

The world is targeting a global warming increase of less than 1.5C by year 2100 but getting there requires changing human behaviour at massive scales. It is currently projected that there will be 10 billion people on Earth by 2050, all of whom need food, shelter, clothes, jobs, etc., and who will also become consumers of many other products and services, altogether generating huge pressure on global resources. But there is a way to become a sustainable consumer without sacrificing too much – and it doesn’t involve becoming a vegan!

In the light of this century’s trend to digitalise everything from watches to fridges, it might seem you can choose any item add the prefix “smart” and find that such a product already exists. However, in what might seem as an ocean of useless inventions, there are plenty that can be used to reduce emissions and save money.

Last winter was the warmest on record and the outlook for the coming summer is promising to follow in the same tracks. Even though weather isn’t an issue when you’re inside the comfort of your home, climate change is an issue that is threatening both human and natural existence. With increasing CO2 levels and more heat, ocean acidification is posing a growing threat to marine wildlife, meltwater from glaciers is raising global sealevels and shifting atmospheric currents are bound to have a severe impact on agriculture, economy and natural habitats. Consumer activity and population growth are two of the major factors impacting the future of our world, but, surprisingly, wooden houses have the potential to lend a helping hand. 

While the scientific debate over anthropogenic global warming seems settled in that human impact is the underlying cause with 95%-100% certainty, conspiracy theories regarding climate change and carbon emission reductions are still circulating. Here are the two most popular ones followed by a brief analysis.

Recent news has fanfared that for the first time since World War II in many European countries the sale of bicycles has exceeded car sales on a unit basis. While this proves to show that cycling as a healthy and environmentally friendly way of transportation is gaining attraction, there are other stories behind the data – for example, in Estonia bicycle sales topped car sales over three-fold!

Although the population of Europe has grown 1% over the last 20 years and production of paper and board in Europe has grown a staggering 43% during that time, forest resources have actually grown by 1% and are still growing year-on-year.

Imagine you need a birthday gift with an environmental message. What should you get? Avoid plastic, surely. What if it was bioplastic? A bunch of flowers? What if it took a gas-guzzling 6-hour flight from Kenya, would that cancel out? What about some raspberry-inscented heart-shaped soaps wrapped in 100% recycled paper? Oops, palm oil alert – orangutans die because of deforestation and increasing demand for palm oil.