Citizen Science: Forschende unter uns

Nationally, only about a third of municipal solid waste is recycled. An initiative to use simpler, standardized signs and labels is helping communities reap greater benefits from recycling.

In Fort Collins, Colorado, developments and shopping malls are eating away at farm fields, ranches, and forests. One development company is protecting biodiversity by putting houses clustered along a single access road leaving large areas untouched, a practice known as conservation development.

Israel has grappled with crippling drought for years. But people have learned to use Mediterranean sea water and recycled wastewater to provide the country with enough water for all its needs.

Despite a reputation as coal country, West Virginia's communities throughout the state are taking back their energy independence and going solar.

CrowdFlower, a site which pays people to do microtasks, has found that it can be an extremely fast and effective medium between aid workers and locals during disasters.

Americans often want to connect to a cause beyond writing a check. Crowdsourcing is creating new forms of philanthropy globally, giving donors more choice and a stronger connection to the projects they fund.

A growing number of people in the famously crowded Tokyo metropolis are becoming ‘city farmers’, planting crops atop tall buildings or deep underground. In an age of detrimental climate change, urban cultivation and green roof agriculture will soon be necessary as food, water and energy resources become scarcer.

Passive houses can generate more energy than they consume but are expensive to build. Non-profits across the nation are getting low income families into these types of renewable homes with state subsidies and volunteer work.

Most people are unaware of how much food they waste. Food waste campaigns across the world are using creative marketing to raise awareness and encourage behavior change.

As a state with robust populations of wildlife, Montana has had its share of roadkill. Its Department of Transportation developed animal shelving, a type of wildlife crossing, to enable safe passage for small animals who need to cross the road. The measure, combined with other types of crossings, has reduced animal-vehicle collisions by half.