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Catching Waves and Turning Them Into Electricity

Amy Yee

April 22, 2015 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Australia, Perth, Western Australia

Researches off the coast of western Australia are harnessing power from the ocean's waves in a new pilot project involving buoys. In their current state, the buoys are able to generate a small percentage of electricity for a nearby military base as well as aid in powering a desalination plant.

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Can saltwater quench our growing thirst?

Brian Bienkowski

April 13, 2015 |

Ensia |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

Population growth, climate change, and droughts are factors that have depleted the world’s freshwater resources. Scientists around the world have experimented with desalination of salt water to increase the supply the drinking water and have achieved positive results. In 2015, more countries and cities in the world look to provide desalination, including California’s $1 billion effort to build a plant for San Diego.

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Tiny Blue Bubbles Designed to Help Save the Planet

Alan Jeffries Amy Marino

March 16, 2015 |

Bloomberg |

Video |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Livermore, California

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has designed a new technology that captures carbon dioxide at power plants before it goes into the air. This new method, which is much more efficient and affordable than other carbon dioxide capturing methods, uses microcapsules filled with a fluid that absorbs carbon dioxide. While it’s not going to solve climate change entirely, this new technology has shown promising results for at least slowing it down.

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Scientists are putting seals to work to gather ocean current data

Chris Benjamin

December 10, 2014 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Antarctica

The Seal Mammal Research Unit at the University of St. Andrews is recruiting and tagging pinnipeds to gather details on ocean conductivity, temperature and depth, collectively called “CTD profiles.” When tagged animals surface, the data they’ve collected are relayed to a global satellite system, decoded by computers, and disseminated to researchers.

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Drinking More Vodka: A Green Solution to Melting Icy Roads?

Lorraine Chow

December 05, 2014 |

NationSwell |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Pullman, Washington

Salt has become a costly and environmental problem in the twenty first century, with consumers overusing it in cooking and melting city roads during the winter. Salt has risen in price and has infiltrated the waterways, affecting the life in the water and contaminating drinking water. As a greener alternative to salt, Washington State University scientists have learned that the biproducts of vodka can help melt ice and snow.

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On Columbia, ‘just add water' seems to be working

Lynda V. Mapes

August 02, 2014 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Brewster, Washington

New water management technology implemented along the Columbia has significantly helped the fish population - specifically salmon - return to healthy numbers and has restored much of the community and industry that revolves around the river, including for native peoples.

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Coral cultivation offers hope to devastated western Indian Ocean reefs

Wanjohi Kabukuru

March 29, 2014 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Seychelles, Roche Caiman, Victoria

Warming water has led to the collapse of coral reef systems in the western Indian Ocean, essential to fisheries, protecting shorelines, and reducing beach erosion and sea-level rise. Marine scientists from Nature Seychelles, as part of an international project to protect and restore the reefs, are promoting varieties of coral that they have found to be resistant to the rise in temperature.

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Geothermal Energy in Developing Countries and the MDGs

Ingvar Birgir Fridleifsson Málfrídur Ómarsdóttir

October 04, 2013 |

United Nations University |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Iceland, Hellisheidi

As the world continues to grapple with the challenges of balancing rapid development and energy needs against sustainability initiatives and conscientious practices, renewables continue to provide a growing, constructive alternative to fossil fuels. Geothermal energy in particular is a resource with vast potential, as unlike wind and solar it is constant (does not have low times for which energy must be stored) and it is accessible in dozens of countries. But it will require global cooperation to fully tap the potential and define a sustainable future in energy.

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Into the Wildfire

Paul Tullis

September 19, 2013 |

The New York Times Magazine |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

Between climate change and an ever increasing population, wildfires are becoming more and more of an annual challenge to mitigate, with firefighters and policy makers walking a thin edge between the need for natural burns to maintain the healthy, safe growth of forests and the risks of letting fires get too close to developed property and human life. New advances in science and technology are helping scientists and land managers better understand not only how fires burn and spread, but how to contain them while educating the public about their importance.

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Hot, Crowded and Smart

Sarah Goodyear

July 22, 2013 |

Next City |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Antonio, Texas

For the past three years, water levels in the San Antonio Edwards Aquifer have decreased to uncomfortable levels and drought periods may continue as the population booms. The San Antonio Water System organization has set up rules to limit water use and has recycled water for conservation frugal innovation.

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