In his recent partnership with EARTHDAY.ORG, legendary actor William Shatner, famous for his seminal role as Captain James T. Kirk, addressed President Emmanuel Macron asking him to intervene to save two orcas, Wikie and her son Keijo, the last two captive whales in France. You can join this campaign and back Shatner up here. His heartfelt plea reflects a long-standing tradition in Star Trek of tackling environmental issues.

From 1966, when it first premiered, through to the present day, Star Trek and its various series spin-offs and films have been a powerful voice for environmental advocacy, exploring complex themes such as species exploitation, pollution, and resource depletion. Let’s take a look at some of this forward-thinking franchise’s most significant episodes that shed light on these important issues.

Exploiting Non-Human Species 

One of the clearest early examples of Star Trek addressing species exploitation is “The Devil in the Dark,” an episode from the original series (1966-1969). The crew of the Enterprise receives a distress call from a human mining colony, where a creature called the Horta has been sabotaging machinery and attacking miners.

Although the mining team is ready to kill the Horta, Commander Spock urges understanding, and learns that the Horta is merely defending her eggs from the destructive mining operations. Rather than eliminating the creature, the miners agree to work with it, setting aside their desire for dominance in favor of mutual respect. This episode stresses the importance of understanding non-human life, urging us to consider the broader consequences of our actions. All animals are interconnected, including humans, and we need to share space in order to survive and thrive.

“The Cloud,” an episode from Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001), similarly explores the exploitation of a non-humanoid lifeform. The Voyager crew, stranded in the Delta Quadrant, far away from the rest of the Federation, discovers that an energy-rich nebula they’re exploring is actually a living organism defending itself from intrusion.

Despite their pressing need for energy, as their resources are depleting in their isolation, Captain Janeway orders the crew to leave, choosing the well-being of the life form over their own immediate needs. Even in the direst of circumstances, the Voyager crew demonstrates that compassion should override personal gain.

This episode is a moving example of the concept of deep ecology, as Voyager’s crew demonstrates the key principle that all living things have value simply because they exist, not because they are useful. In this episode, although Captain Janeway originally explores the nebula as an energy source, once she discovers that it is a lifeform, her respect for its right to exist rises above any thoughts of what use ‘it’ could be to her and her crew.

In Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024), the series’ first season is set during a fierce war between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. The USS Discovery is revealed to be a crucial element in winning this conflict, as its science officers are pioneering a new form of transportation known as the spore drive. 

Unlike warp drive, which enables ships to travel at light speed, the spore drive gives Discovery the ability to essentially teleport instantly from one place to another. However, the moral quandary introduced in the episode “Choose Your Pain” surrounds the use of a living creature, a tardigrade, to power this incredible technology, which has become crucial to the war effort.

Specialist Burnham discovers that the creature suffers immense pain from this process, yet the crew prioritizes the war effort. In the end, Burnham’s refusal to disregard the creature’s suffering leads to a solution where the tardigrade is released, and the crew adapts to a new method of using just DNA to power the spore drive. This episode underscores the idea that no innocent life should be sacrificed for convenience or expediency, even in times of war.

These episodes collectively stress that all life, whether humanoid or non-humanoid, sentient or non-sentient, has inherent value, regardless of its usefulness. In this way Star Trek promotes empathy and urges us to reflect on how we treat all creatures. If Trek characters can find compassion in their hearts for a creature that takes the form of a nebula, we can certainly show more care to all the beautiful animals that populate our planet. Wikie and Keijo, two real, sentient creatures in need through no fault of their own, deserve the same respect.

Pollution in the Stars

Star Trek also offers a sharp critique of pollution, exploring how harmful environmental practices lead to societal collapse. In “The Cloud Minders,” an episode from the original series, the crew encounters a planet divided into two classes: the elite who live in a floating city called Stratos, and the Troglytes, who are forced to mine on the planet’s surface in harmful conditions.

The Troglytes are attempting to form an uprising to protest their unfair treatment, but they struggle to unify their movement because of how the mines affect their health. They are suffering from the toxic effects of gas emitted during their mining activities, which dulls their cognitive abilities. Once the Enterprise crew reveals the truth, the Stratos citizens agree to improve working conditions, symbolizing the necessity of addressing pollution to prevent health decline and societal decay.

Another example of this anti-pollution stance comes from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), in the episode “Force of Nature,” where scientists reveal that warp drive technology is damaging space itself, causing irreparable harm to a region of space known as the Hekaras sector.

Initially skeptical, the crew is eventually forced to take action after a scientist sacrifices her life to prove the danger. In the aftermath, Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge reflects on his limited perspective, lamenting how resistant he’d been to the idea that warp drives could do such damage. Since he works so closely with the technology, he felt he should defend it, and could not accept that it was actually causing serious harm until it was too late. The episode highlights the difficulty of accepting the consequences of technological advancement, and our reluctance to change once we know the truth, even when faced with catastrophic evidence that all is not right.

Voyager also tackles pollution in the episode “Night,” where the Voyager crew encounters the Malon, an alien species dumping toxic waste into vast empty space. They discover that this area, previously thought to be devoid of life, is actually inhabited by a species that can survive without the atmosphere of a planet, and that they are being poisoned by the toxic waste.

Captain Janeway confronts the Malon commander, who justifies his actions as a “cost-effective” way to dispose of waste. Using this void gives him a leg up above the rest of the Malon in the waste export business, enabling him to do the same amount of work at half the price and therefore maximize his profits. Sound familiar?

He does not care that his activities are harming another species, and Voyager must use force to stop him. This episode critiques corporate greed and the moral indifference of those who exploit the environment for profit, even at the expense of other lifeforms.

Star Trek exposes the dangers of pollution, emphasizing how environmental harm impacts both our world and our health. These episodes critique both the consequences and the resistance to addressing pollution, calling for a collective effort to protect our planet.

The Consequences of Resource Depletion

The depletion of resources and its consequences are a recurring theme in many Star Trek series, and Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) encapsulates this in its episode entitled, “Progress.”

The show is set in a space station, posted near the planet Bajor, in order to aid its people in their transition out of Cardassian occupation. In this episode, the Bajoran government has decided to convert one of its moons into a power plant, which will wipe out arable land and its agricultural resources, making it completely uninhabitable.

Most of its population has evacuated, but one elderly farmer is refusing to leave. Major Kira, the first officer of the station and a Bajoran herself, must convince the farmer to relocate, but she finds herself conflicted between her loyalty to her people and her empathy for the farmer’s attachment to his land. Ultimately, the episode illustrates how the exploitation of natural resources often comes at the expense of those who are least able to fight back. This parallels real-life circumstances in which indigenous peoples are displaced as their homelands are destroyed, highlighting the tragedy of such a situation.

In Voyager’s “Thirty Days,” Lieutenant Tom Paris defies Starfleet orders to stop a damaging environmental practice on a water-covered planet. The Moneans, the planet’s inhabitants, have been extracting oxygen in a way that is slowly destroying their ecosystem. 

However, most of them are unwilling to make the necessary changes to save their planet, save for a select few. They ask for Voyager’s help, but since the Monean government objects, Starfleet protocol bars them from intervening. 

Determined to help, Paris takes matters into his own hands, disabling an oxygen refinery to force the Moneans to reconsider their methods. This act of rebellion earns him a demotion and thirty days in the ship’s brig, a sentence reluctantly delivered by Captain Janeway, who agreed with his point of view but not his actions. This episode very poignantly highlights the frustration of being the only person passionate enough about the environment to take action. But despite the fact that his passion costs him his rank, Paris is proud of his actions, just as we, too, should not let any discouragements dampen our drive to save the planet.

The resource depletion theme continues in Star Trek: Discovery with the episode, “That Hope Is You, Part 1” which is set centuries in the future. The episode sees Burnham, now a commander, finding herself in a future reeling from the aftermath of a catastrophe known as the Burn. This disaster was caused by a galaxy-wide phenomenon that led to a mass explosion of dilithium, which powers the warp drives used in most Federation ships. As a result, the entire Federation collapsed, leaving Burnham and her crew as the one of the only remaining Starfleet vessels. This ecological collapse serves as an allegory for our own reliance on fossil fuels, showing how the depletion of one crucial resource could lead to societal collapse if alternative sources are not found. Renewable energy will never run out, as it is powered by the sun, the wind and the tides.

The Star Trek message is clear: without sustainable practices, we risk disaster.

What Has Trek Taught Us?

Star Trek has always chosen to boldly go where many shows fear to tread—into the heart of our planet’s biggest challenges. It’s been sharing timeless lessons with us about respecting non-human life forms, fighting off pollution, and not letting our energy appetites go full warp speed into disaster. It was never really about exploring strange new worlds, but instead about  finding our moral compass.

If reading about these episodes has inspired you, consider taking action. Check out our theme for 2025: Our Power, Our Planet, a commitment to harnessing the power of renewable energy. Support our work by joining our mailing list, or help us plant trees with our Canopy Project. Plus, don’t forget to support Wikie and her son Keijo, the last two captive whales in France, by backing up William Shatner’s advocacy campaign HERE. It only takes two minutes to add your details and hit send.

Whatever you do, remember that planet Earth and all its life forms need whatever help you can contribute, so that we can all live long and prosper.

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is also cleared for use. Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with EARTHDAY.ORG are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at davies@earthday.org or fielder@earthday.org. Want more articles? Follow us on substack.

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Today is National Park Service Founders Day, a chance to honor the incredible individuals whose passion and advocacy helped conserve America’s natural treasures. While names like John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt dominate the topic of national parks, they weren’t alone.

Behind every national park are the lesser-known pioneers, the scientists, writers, and activists who shaped how we protect and experience the land. Here are five unsung heroes whose work helped shape the parks we know and love today.

George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938): Glacier National Park, Montana

George Bird Grinnell, an anthropologist, historian, and writer, was a towering force in the early conservation movement, not only for his scholarship and advocacy, but for his role in making Glacier National Park, in the northwest corner of Montana, along the edge of the Rocky Mountains, a reality.

After exploring the area in 1885, he fell in love with its wild beauty and felt it deserved to be protected. Through passionate writing and public outreach, he helped create public interest in the glaciers and valleys of northern Montana, and his work eventually sparked legislative action. Glacier National Park may never have existed without him.

Beyond Glacier, Grinnell was deeply involved in wildlife conservation. He co-founded the Audubon Society of New York, which later became the National Audubon Society, and spent decades promoting the protection of bird species.

In Yellowstone National Park, he was a member of Colonel William Ludlow’s 1875 reconnaissance, cataloguing 40 species of animals and 139 species of birds. Later, he exposed rampant poaching in the area, which led to the influential Yellowstone Park Protection Act, a keystone of national park legislation. Grinnell’s combination of fieldwork and political influence helped lay the foundation for conservation law in the United States.

Minerva Hoyt (1866-1945): Joshua Tree National Park, California

Minerva Hoyt’s conservation journey began not in academia or government, but in grief. After losing her husband and son, she found solace in the natural landscape of southern California. She took many trips to the deserts, admiring the unusual rock formations and the austere beauty of the desert plants that manage to thrive in such harsh climates. Thus, she became one of the most prominent voices calling for desert preservation.

As desert flora became more popular among plant collectors, who would travel in droves and dig up whatever they pleased, Hoyt, appalled by the destruction left in their wake, began to organize exhibitions of desert plants, trying to generate more interest in the Southwest’s flowers and cacti. 

In 1930, she founded the International Desert Conservation League, with the goal of establishing parks to preserve desert landscapes. After years of advocacy, she finally gained the support she was looking for, leading to the creation of multiple protected areas, including what is now Joshua Tree National Park in South East California. Hoyt’s passion led to the preservation of beautiful lands that were once seen as barren wastelands.

George Meléndez Wright (1904-1936): Protecting Park Wildlife

George Meléndez Wright was a wildlife biologist and the first Hispanic professional scientist in the National Park Service. While working as an assistant naturalist at Yosemite National Park in the late 1920s, he became alarmed by the harmful ways in which parks were mismanaging wildlife.

Bears were fed for entertainment, predators were trapped and killed by park employees, and there was a disturbing lack of staff devoted to wildlife. It was clear to Wright that there was no science-based park management, and he took it upon himself to change this.

Wright set out to conduct extensive wildlife surveys, for which he had to personally assume all costs, including travel, equipment, and staff salaries. The enormous body of field research was compiled into a groundbreaking text that laid out a vision for how to properly manage the wildlife of America’s national parks. 

Some of his recommendations included protecting predators and reducing human-bear interaction by using bear-proof lockers, ideas that were well ahead of their time. Although Wright’s life was tragically cut short in a car accident at just 31 years old, his legacy lives on in the wildlife management practices that set the standards for national parks years in the future.

Thomas Chalmers Vint (1894-1967): Harmonizing Infrastructure with Nature

While others preserved the wild, the landscape architect Thomas Chalmers Vint shaped how we experience it. The late 1920s and early 1930s were times of extensive construction, with roads, housing, visitor lodging, and campgrounds, all bearing down on America’s wild places for the first time. 

Out of all this rapid development arose the question of how to establish this infrastructure while still preserving the natural beauty of the parks. Vint developed a philosophy that changed park infrastructure forever: buildings, roads, and visitor centers should blend seamlessly with the environment, not overpower it.

He fought for this vision in Glacier National Park during planning for the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road, pushing for a more elegant design rather than something that would obstruct the view. Vint’s influence can be seen in the rustic architecture and meandering roads that characterize many parks today. 

Although, like George Meléndez Wright, Vint never personally founded a national park, he was extremely influential in how they were designed, and his harmonizing vision has been invaluable in the development of parks ever since.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998): The Everglades

Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a writer, was no scientist or park ranger, but her pen and her passion helped save an entire ecosystem. A journalist and freelance fiction writer for years, in 1942 she was asked by the author Hervey Allen to contribute to his book series on the rivers of America. 

He asked her to write about the Miami River, but Douglas, protesting that the Miami River was “only about an inch long,” asked instead to write about Everglades, the 1.5 million acres of Florida wetlands. Five years later, she published The Everglades: River of Grass, a best-selling book that blended science, local history, and evocative imagery to transform public perception of the Everglades, which was previously thought to be a useless swamp.

For the rest of her life, Douglas continued to fight for the Everglades, confronting government agencies and real estate developers, protesting flood control projects that dried out the wetlands, and launched the Friends of the Everglades to halt the construction of a jetport that would have devastated the area. 

Her advocacy earned her many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but more importantly, it helped the Everglades not only survive, but thrive.

The Power of Passion

While presidents and policymakers sign the laws that create the parks, it was writers, scientists, and everyday advocates who gave voice and vision to the landscapes we cherish. These figures show that conservation is not just about protecting land. It’s about the heart we put into our work and what we care about.

If reading about these changemakers has inspired you to act on your own passion and take action as well, check out our theme for 2025: Our Power, Our Planet, a commitment to harnessing the power of renewable energy.

You can also support our work by joining our mailing list, help us plant trees with our Canopy Tree Project, or register for the Great Global Cleanup, which aims to rid the world of waste and plastic pollution. 

To keep America’s parks safe, we need a strong Environmental Protection Agency, but the present administration has other ideas. Read our EPA statement on their latest attacks on clean air and clean water here, and join our unsung heroes and take action.

If you care about the environment, and are in the U.S., we need your voice. Add your name to our public comments on the EPA’s intentions to gut the agency’s ability to regulate pollution due to climate change, also known as the Endangerment Finding.

Whatever you do, remember that planet Earth needs whatever help we can contribute and every action you take, no matter how small, matters.

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is also cleared for use with attribution. Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with EARTHDAY.ORG are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at davies@earthday.org or fielder@earthday.org. Want more articles? Follow us on substack.

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By now, most of us have heard of all the classic climate change solutions. But after hearing the same things over and over again, it would be nice to mix it up a little. So, let’s explore some of the more outlandish ideas that the human imagination has dreamed up.

Some of these solutions, although unorthodox, have surprising potential, while others sound more like the plans of a Batman villain. Either way, it’s both entertaining and enlightening to see what ideas scientists have been cooking up, so let’s dive in and take a look at 9 of these strategies: 

1. Superpowered Trees

With the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere steadily climbing every year, scientists have been looking for ways not only to stop producing greenhouse gases, but to clear the air of what’s already there. That’s where the artificial tree comes in, a fascinating solution devised by Klaus Lackner, a professor of engineering at Arizona State University (ASU).

These artificial trees soak up carbon dioxide from the air using absorbent disks, and later release the collected CO₂ inside of their chambers, purifying and processing it to be put to other uses. Unlike real trees, these don’t need to be exposed to sunlight in order to photosynthesize, making them much more efficient; a cluster of twelve of these column-shaped mechanical trees could capture up to one ton of carbon dioxide a day!

2. Putting Snow Cannons on Blast

It’s no secret that Antarctica’s ice sheets are on the verge of collapse, and one of the many solutions to this problem is taken straight from a ski resort: snow cannons. Supposedly, giant versions of these machines could use seawater to generate trillions of tons of artificial snow and blast it onto glaciers, stabilizing Antarctica’s western ice sheet. But this is not as simple as it may sound.

Implementing this machinery would be an incredibly disruptive undertaking, requiring tens of thousands of wind turbines and the extraction of massive amounts of ocean water. Not to mention the harsh climate, which would likely wreck havoc on the technology. For now, we can conclude that snow cannons aren’t a feasible solution.

3. Cloud Ships: A Bright Idea, Or Just Fluff?

While most scientists are focused on more traditional solutions, some have turned their focus to the sun itself and thought…why not try turning down the brightness?

The result of this bizarre idea is marine cloud brightening (MCB), a geoengineering technique involving the use of special ships to spray sea salt particles into clouds that hang over the ocean, making them whiter and brighter so that they reflect more sunlight back into space. This, in theory, reduces the amount of heat absorbed by the water below, cooling down the planet.

The key words here are in theory. So far, simulations have shown mixed results, and no one knows what kind of effect it could have on marine ecosystems. Ultimately, most scientists consider MCB a distraction from the real issue. It is probably safe to say that trying to block out the sun won’t do anything to deal with what actually drives climate change.

4. Too Hot? Try Grabbing the White Paint

On the topic of brightening, some scientists have tossed around the idea of using something as basic as color choice to grapple with the heat. Taking inspiration from the iconic whitewashed villages of countries like Greece and Spain, they have hypothesized that painting buildings, cars, and even airplanes white could help cool us down and cut down our energy consumption.

The “world’s whitest paint,” developed by Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, reflects an impressive 98.1% of sunlight, and has the potential to be a viable cooling solution. What’s more, unlike other methods, this paint radiates all the heat back into space, rather than keeping it trapped in the atmosphere and potentially making the Earth even hotter. The use of air conditioning increases households’ energy consumption by 36% on average, and reducing this could conserve massive amounts of energy.

5. Solar Roadways: Too Good to Be True

About a decade ago, an aptly-named company called Solar Roadways announced its visionary plan to solve the global energy crisis: implanting solar panels directly into roads and highways to produce electricity. 

It sounded so easy, almost a no-brainer. There are millions of miles of roads all across the world; why not use all that empty space for something good? But as people began to test this revolutionary technology, it became clear that it was wildly impractical.

Roads take a lot of wear and tear, which could damage the solar panels. Additionally, lying solar panels flat on the ground significantly decreases their ability to absorb sunlight, compared to solar farms, where panels are angled towards the sun. Although solar roadways sound like something out of a sci-fi utopia, they turned out to be a no-go.

6. A New Wave of Renewable Energy

Wave energy is the process of harnessing the kinetic energy generated by ocean surface waves. It is predicted to be able to produce almost ten times the annual energy consumption of Europe. Despite concerns about building costs and potential impact on marine ecosystems, these challenges are by no means impossible to overcome. In fact, significant progress has already been made towards widespread use of this renewable energy source.

For example, the United Kingdom (UK), a global leader in wave and tidal power technology, is home to O2, the world’s most powerful tidal turbine, developed by the Scottish company Orbital Marine Power.

In recent years, O2 has begun exporting clean energy to onshore power grids, a major milestone for this technology. As more countries follow the UK’s lead, we could be seeing a lot more wave energy in the near future.

7. Seed Bombs: A Little Goes a Long Way

Nurturing and rebuilding green spaces is crucial to helping the planet, and seed bombs are an efficient and low-tech way to do it. These balls of clay, compost, and seeds are designed to be thrown onto empty land, “exploding” on impact, and, once exposed to moisture, can germinate and beautify barren landscapes. It’s a charmingly hands-off approach, allowing nature to take its course without too much human intervention.

Seed bombs have had an immense impact on areas ravaged by deforestation and wildfires, such as Australia, where drones have successfully dropped seed bombs in remote areas devastated by bushfires and flooding.

They’re tiny, but the way they have revolutionized both gardening and rewilding efforts make them a valuable way to contribute to a greener future.

8. Bringing Back the Ice Age

Some climate solutions are reasonable. Others are a bit more out there. But the proposed resurrection of the woolly mammoth truly takes the cake.

A group of geneticists from Harvard University has developed a plan to clone elephant cells that contain small components of synthesized mammoth DNA. As hard as it might be to believe, there is some logic behind all of this. The Arctic tundra is covered with permafrost containing carbon from dead plant life, and as it thaws, we are at risk of unleashing millions of years worth of carbon dioxide into the air. Mammoths, supposedly, may be able to help with this.

Here’s how: before their extinction, mammoths trampled shrubs and uprooted trees, creating a grassland ecosystem. Grass absorbs less sunlight than trees, keeping the ground temperature cooler and therefore preventing CO₂ from being released. Although this is a very creative idea, it might be a little too Hollywood for most of us!

9. Plastic-Eating Enzymes: A Microscopic Army with Massive Power

On the more promising side: bioengineers are developing plastic-eating enzymes. Plastics can take up to one thousand years to fully decompose, but with this new experiment in structural biology, we could soon have a much more efficient way to deal with our plastic pandemic.

Plastic pollution poses an enormous threat to wildlife, and its manufacture is a significant producer of greenhouse gases. On top of all that, plastic also has negative impacts on our health. For example, research on microplastics and their additive chemicals has found that they are linked to issues like inflammation, heart attacks, cancers, infertility and cell death.

Researchers are currently experimenting with bacteria containing enzymes that can break down plastic, modifying them so that they are able to consume plastic products at much faster rates. In a few years, we could have an army of enzyme-packed bacteria on our side in the fight to break down plastic waste.

The Moral of the Story

After an adventure through the wildest ideas the scientific community has devised to grapple with climate change, one thing is for certain: the creativity of humanity is boundless. We may have caused the decline of our planet, but we are more than capable of saving it as well.

While researchers work on large-scale solutions, there’s plenty the rest of us can do in the meantime. It could be as simple as signing a petition, like the Global Plastic Treaty, which calls to reduce plastic production by 60% by 2040. Or, if you’d like to take even more action, you could register for the Great Global Cleanup, or help us plant trees with our Canopy Project. Whatever you do, remember that planet Earth needs whatever help we can contribute!

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is also cleared for use. Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with EARTHDAY.ORG are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at davies@earthday.org or fielder@earthday.org. Want more articles? Follow us on substack.

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The future of agriculture is a major concern around the world. The Earth is growing hotter, crucial resources are becoming scarcer, and the global population is climbing higher. In the face of these issues, producing enough food to sustain the global population while preserving critically important ecosystems is increasingly difficult to manage.

But in the last fifteen years, vertical farming has emerged as a promising alternative to current farming practices.

The concept is simple: rather than taking up even more land in a horizontal direction, crops are stacked vertically, integrated into structures like skyscrapers, warehouses, and even shipping containers. It’s a brilliant and innovative solution, but because it differs so much from traditional farming, it can be hard to fully grasp just how beneficial vertical farming could be. To demystify it a little, let’s look at three of the biggest and most successful vertical farms in operation today and unpack what concrete problems they solve.

Bustanica: Tackling Water Scarcity in Dubai

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a desert country with limited fertile land and summer temperatures regularly clearing 100°F, agriculture is a major struggle. As a result, the UAE imports around 80% of its food supply, which not only jeopardizes its food security, but also increases the potential of food waste during transportation. But Bustanica, an impressive feat of technology, could change this.

Founded in 2022 by Emirates Flight Catering and Crop One, Bustanica is the world’s largest vertical farm, located near Al Maktoum International Airport and covering an impressive 333,000 square feet. Using a closed-loop system, the farm circulates water through the plants, so that when the heat causes the water to evaporate – turning it from liquid into vapor – it is captured, absorbed, and recycled to be used again. This process conserves water by reusing it instead of letting it escape into the air.

In Dubai’s harsh arid climate, the fresh water needed to make crops thrive through traditional agriculture is scarce. But by vertical farming, Bustanica is able to produce vast amounts of leafy greens with only a fraction of the water usage that traditional farming uses. Their facility saves over 250 million liters of water a year!

Sky Greens: Maximizing Space in Singapore

With a population of over six million crammed onto an island less than 300 square miles in area, Singapore has the third highest population density in the world. With so little land to work with, it’s a struggle to make sufficient space for humans, let alone for producing food, of which more than 90% is imported. To respond to their land issues, Singapore has expanded upwards, with towering high-rises built every year to accommodate their growing population, so why not apply that concept to agriculture too?

Sky Greens, Singapore’s pioneering vertical farm, did just that. Founded by engineer and entrepreneur Jack Ng, the company has patented a vertical farming system that features rotating tiers of growing troughs, mounted on an aluminum frame reaching up to thirty feet in the air and housed in a protected, controlled environment. The rotating mechanism, powered by hydraulics, allows their crops to receive uniform sunlight, irrigation, and nutrients as they pass through different parts of the structure.

Highly praised for its ingenuity, Sky Greens is a shining example of urban agriculture. The farm can produce one ton of leafy vegetables every other day, and its success has contributed to Singapore’s goal of achieving greater food security. The farm’s space-efficient design and sustainable farming techniques have paved the way for similar urban farms, offering hope for densely populated areas that desperately need to bring some greenery into their communities.

AeroFarms: Overcoming Pollution in Newark

In the city of Newark, New Jersey, a heavily industrialized area which deals with significant contamination from factories and toxic waste, thriving agriculture is probably the last thing one would expect to find. But AeroFarms, an award-winning vertical farming company with a focus on microgreens, has proved that vertical farms have the potential to brighten any city with greenery, regardless of how polluted it is.

Founded in 2004 and relocated to Newark in 2015, AeroFarms found its success through aeroponic farming, a method of growing plants indoors, without using soil. Instead, they use an artificial fabric, a fleece material made from recycled plastic water bottles, that supports seeds as they germinate and take root, while a mist delivers nutrients and water.

In this controlled indoor environment, agriculture is fully protected from the toxins that would destroy plants had they been grown using traditional farming.

AeroFarms currently supply over 70% of the U.S. retail market for microgreens, which are far more nutrient-dense than their mature counterparts. For example, younger leaves of baby spinach were found to have higher levels of phytonutrients than more mature leaves, meaning that they are better able to support the immune system and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

Looking to the Future

Sometimes, the issues that face our world seem  impossible to surmount, especially when it comes to such crucial areas as food production. But vertical farms are proof that new technology and renewable energy practices can turn the tide of global agricultural issues.

If you’re as excited about this future as we are, there are ways to take action! Check out our theme for 2025: Our Power, Our Planet, a commitment to harnessing the power of renewable energy. You can read more about what changes we’re calling for, sign our renewable energy petition, or support us by joining our mailing list. The Earth needs any help we can contribute!

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is also cleared for use. Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with EARTHDAY.ORG are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at davies@earthday.org or fielder@earthday.org. Want more articles? Follow us on substack.

The post Skyscraper Crops Are Changing the World appeared first on Earth Day.

Today is National Stamp Day in the United States, a quirky holiday that invites us to reflect on the significance of a tiny but vital part of our lives that we often take for granted: postage stamps! They don’t just send our mail; they also send powerful messages.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has issued several stamps that celebrate the planet over the years, all aimed at spreading awareness and encouraging each of us to actively participate in protecting the natural world. In honor of this day, let’s look at the five of the most creative and meaningful stamps that advocate for the Earth.

Go Green Forever, 2011: A Call to Action

While saving our planet can often feel like an impossibly large task, the Go Green Forever stamp series, issued on April 14, 2011, reminds us that we can make a difference by focusing on the little things. Designed by artist Eli Noyes, a San Francisco-based animator, filmmaker, and illustrator, along with his daughter Derry Noyes, an art director, these stamps highlight the more personal experience of going green. They illustrate fifteen simple actions that we can all take to be more environmentally conscious, such as recycling, composting, and using public transportation.

This series took advantage of the fact that stamps are a commonly-encountered aspect of daily life, and therefore a very effective vehicle for sending important messages and encouraging the public. They’re also designed to be approachable; the art style is clean, bright, and friendly, appealing to a broad audience. What’s more, the people featured in the illustrations are of all ages, races, and genders, reminding us that helping the environment is for everyone.

Save Vanishing Species, 2011: Small Stamp, Big Difference

Another stamp series that puts action front and center is the Save Vanishing Species series, issued on September 20, 2011. The stamp features an illustration of an Amur tiger cub, and was created by artist Nancy Stahl and art director, designer, and typographer Derry Noyes. But beyond its aesthetic beauty, it carries another purpose.

This was the fourth “semipostal” stamp released by the USPS, a special kind of stamp that is priced slightly higher than stamps typically cost, with that extra money going directly to fund  a cause. In this case, that cause is the survival of endangered animals, and every sheet sold helps protect African and Asian elephants, great apes, rhinos, tigers, and marin turtles. It’s postage with a twist, turning the everyday act of mailing a letter into a meaningful move towards supporting the conservation of endangered species and their habitats.

Protect Pollinators, 2017: Celebrating Nature’s Tiny Heroes

In 2017, the USPS issued the Protect Pollinators series, a set of twenty stamps featuring photos of the two most important pollinators in North America, the monarch butterfly and the western honeybee, hard at work among various plants native to the continent. Taken by a collection of photographers, it was an incredibly popular collection that struck a nerve. By releasing these stamps, the USPS brought attention to these beautiful, underappreciated creatures, highlighting their vital role in keeping our ecosystems alive.

Pollinators provide humans with a whopping one-third of our food supply, especially nutrient-rich produce. They keep so many different plants alive, but in the face of shrinking habitats and growing environmental stress, they are in danger. These stamps are both a celebration and a warning sign, reminding us that pollinators need our help to survive this changing world.

Earth Day Forever, 2020: An Enduring Promise

Issued on April 18, 2020, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the Earth Day Forever stamp was created by Antonio Alcalá, an art director at USPS, and Rick Altizer, a typographer. The design features a vibrant illustration of planet Earth, encircled by glowing green streaks, like an aura of vitality and hope. Alcalá worked with gouache on watercolor paper to create an aesthetic that radiates optimism and reflects a vision of a thriving, sustainable future. Yet the most powerful message is embedded in the stamp’s label: Forever.

The word “Forever” on a stamp typically indicates that it will always be valid for mailing a First-Class letter, regardless of future postage rate changes. But in the case of this stamp, the word carries a more resonant meaning. “Forever,” in this context, becomes more than just a postal term; it is a pledge, a commitment to honor the Earth every year, and more important, every single day. It’s a reminder that caring for the environment isn’t a one-time action but a lasting responsibility, a call to live with awareness, purpose, and care for the planet that sustains us.

National Marine Sanctuaries, 2022: A Love Letter to the Sea

The National Marine Sanctuaries stamp series is a vibrant showcase that takes us on a deep dive into the beauty of the world beneath the waves. Released on August 5, 2022, this stamp sheet features sixteen vivid snapshots of marine life, captured by several different photographers and curated by art director Greg Breeding. The result is a celebration of the amazing biodiversity that thrives in the areas protected by the National Marine Sanctuary System.

This system currently comprises eighteen underwater parks, spanning over 629,000 square miles of water. That’s an area larger than Alaska, and all of it is dedicated to the protection of marine life! The goal of the Sanctuary System is not only to preserve these precious ecosystems and their histories but also to invite visitors to explore these sanctuaries while still treating them with care and respect. This series is a great reminder that despite the challenges our oceans are facing, their ecosystems are one of the most remarkable marvels of the world, and they’re worth protecting and appreciating.

Addressing the Impact of Environmental Stamps

We can learn so much from something as simple as postage stamps, important messages contained within tiny sticky squares. They’re a reminder that despite the enormity of the planet and the issues we are facing, each of us can still make an impact.

If reading about these stamps has inspired you to take action – which we hope it has! – consider registering for the Great Global Cleanup, which aims to rid the world of waste and plastic pollution. You could also support our work by joining our mailing list, or help us plant trees with our Canopy Project. But whatever you do – don’t give up! Planet Earth needs every single one of us!

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