Revenge of the Lunch Lady, The Huffington Post Highline
In a country where cheap mass-produced food is king and pizza counts as a vegetable, healthy lunches for kids can be hard to come by. But a recent revamp of school fare in Huntington, W.V., previously designated as the nation’s unhealthiest city, provides a hopeful model. There, an enterprising employee managed to implement a healthy lunch program, starring locally grown produce, while maintaining the district’s minuscule $1.50-per-meal budget.
Getting a Busy Signal When You Call Congress? Here’s How to Get Through, The Christian Science Monitor
Since President Trump’s inauguration last month, there’s been a surge in citizens reaching out to Congress, but not all forms of communication are equally effective. If you really want your voice heard, say experts, try meeting with your representative in person, writing a personal letter and focusing on policy rather than cabinet picks.
The Compost King of New York, The New York Times
New York City alone generates 1 million tons of organic waste per year, but a new plant on Long Island will process this waste into both fertilizer and clean energy, generating significant returns. This new large-scale industrial waste processing is both more environmentally friendly and more profitable than traditional composting, and could revolutionize American energy.
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Tag: clean energy solutions
Is Tesla’s New Idea the Foundation for an American E-Car Infrastructure?
As a child, sharing is one of the most valuable lessons you learn. But as adults, the generous act often goes by the wayside.
But not with Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla Motors and one of Silicon Valley’s most famous leaders. Musk is taking a bold and unconventional step by offering to share the technology behind his Superchargers — the fast-charging, plug-in stations for his company’s electric vehicles (EV) — with the competition, according to TechCrunch.
Opening up the Supercharger design would allow competing EV models to power up using a Tesla network that already spans the country. His only requirement? That the other auto companies embrace his free power for life model rather than charging drivers after each use. They’d also have to chip in with maintenance costs for the stations, which remains minimal.
DON’T MISS: An Idaho Couple Is Literally Paving the Way to America’s Solar-Powered Future
The hope is that one standard would be used across the entire industry, making it easier for companies to buy into EV development by eliminating one of the barriers to entry. As Musk told the BBC: “We don’t want to cut a path through the jungle and then lay a bunch of landmines behind us.”
None of this should come as any surprise, since Musk has gained a reputation for doing things differently, earning the ire of the auto industry in the process. (Just ask Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, which have all instituted bans on the electric vehicle venture for bypassing car dealerships in favor of selling directly to consumers.)
The move reveals that Musk’s priorities also lay more in ensuring the success of the nascent EV industry as whole rather than in any narrowly defined interests of his company. As government infrastructure spending has lagged, and we’ve seen only incremental large-scale action on climate change (an issue close to Musk’s heart), this announcement could be an important step in combatting the latter and putting America on the path toward a more sustainable energy future.
DON’T MISS: An Idaho Couple Is Literally Paving the Way to America’s Solar-Powered Future
This Small California Community Might Just Solve America’s Energy Problems
The West Village at California’s UC Davis campus may soon become the nation’s largest planned community to achieve zero net energy consumption. The project, which organizers say will eventually house 3,000 students, 500 faculty and their families, as well as retail and commercial buildings, is 87% of the way to zero energy consumption, and expects to reach its goal by 2015. An added bonus for Mother Earth: The West Village produces zero carbon emissions.