Nicole Caldwell
Nicole Caldwell is Senior Editor at Green Matters and CEO of Better Farm, a sustainability campus and animal sanctuary in Redwood, NY.
More From Nicole Caldwell

Lab-Grown 'Clean Meats' Provide Protein Without Harming The Planet
In addition to offering vegans a way to enjoy all the flavors of meat with none of the guilt, laboratory meat production offers something else: a viable way to feed the world actual meat without destroying the planet.

Pratt Students Design The Waste-Free Kitchen Of The Future
Pratt Institute students have designed "The Future Kitchen," an innovative cooking and eating space that makes its own food and energy, and produces zero food or water waste, making it an eco-friendly home upgrade.

9 Healthy Ways To Whiten Your Teeth Naturally
White teeth make you feel healthier, younger, and more confident. But at-home kits and inpatient dental treatments don’t just cost you financially—they can cost you your health, too.

New TV Show 'SCRAPS' Teaches Home Cooks How To Turn Food Waste Into Dinner
A new show on the FYI Network teaches you how to turn food scraps into gourmet dishes. 'SCRAPS,' which premiered in May, follows a Sur La Table Chef around the US as he makes culinary history turning turning food waste into delicacies.

New Apparel Company 'Parks Project' Donates Part Of Every Sale To National Parks
Parks Project is an apparel and accessories business that donates a portion of every sale to various park conservancies—proving once and for all consumerism and activism need not be mutually exclusive.

8 Healthy Foods To Help Curb Your Sugar Addiction
Sugar is addictive—and we have to physically cleanse it from our bodies in order to move along from it. Luckily for us, there are plenty of nutrient-rich foods to get us over the hump.

How One Company Is Making Vegan Personal Care Items Affordable
A new company is offering natural personal-care items for less than anything you can find at big chains. Their secret? Cut out all middlemen to bring healthy products from the factory directly to the consumer.

Vegan Startup Hampton Creek Joins Lab-Grown Meat Movement
Lab-grown meat has a new contender claiming it will be the first to bring the product to the market. Except this company, unlike its competitors in the race to produce “clean meat” grown in a petri dish, is a vegan brand: Hampton Creek.

By Switching From Plane To Rail, London-Scotland Travel Market Grows While Emissions Drop
Since switching from plane to train service between Central Scotland and London, the London-Scotland travel market has saved almost 700,000 tons of carbon emissions, according to a new report. Could a double-down effort on railways be a feasible, green solution for all commuter hubs?

Thanks To Consumer Demand, Companies Are Greener Than Ever
In the last year, 25 percent more companies have tout the environmental and social benefits of their products, and 40 percent of all companies now say they’ve taken action to improve the eco-friendliness of what they offer.

New Electric Bike Offers Customization At Affordable Prices
The Elbike promises to be the world’s first customizable e-bike on the market while also being among the most affordable.

Martha Stewart's 10 Best Foods For A Healthier You
We’re inundated on the daily with superfoods, fad diets, smoothies, and tinctures guaranteed to detox, slim, and boost our immunity. Leave it to Martha Stewart to cut through all the noise with her own list of 10 essential foods for a healthier you.

California To Invest $1 Billion In Solar For Low-Income Housing Units
California’s Multifamily Affordable Housing Solar Roofs Program will allocate up to $1 billion to provide more than 200,000 low-income housing units with solar panels and energy-storage banks.

Want To Save The Planet? A New Study Says Eat More Bugs, Less Meat
Animal agriculture accounts for 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emission. By swapping out half of our animal-based foods for insects and faux meats, we could cut land used for food production by a third.

UK Consumers Throw Away 1.4 Million Bananas Every Day, New Study Finds
The amount of perfectly good, edible food that gets tossed into dumpsters every day is literally bananas. A new study has found that residents in the United Kingdom toss 1.4 million bananas still ripe for eating into the trash every day.

New Tech Offers Lower Prices On Food Nearing Its Expiration Date
A new company called Wasteless offers the world’s very first real-time tracking technology to supermarkets so they can provide consumers with variable pricing based on a product’s upcoming expiration date. It's the "internet of groceries.”

This Solar-Powered RV Runs Without Fuel Or Charging Stations
A German motorhome company has unveiled an RV that's built for the open road with a sleek design and head-to-toe solar panels so you never have to worry about finding the next charging station.

Meet Bar & Cocoa, A Curated Craft Chocolate Shop And Subscription Club
Green Matters has teamed up with WeWork for the month of April to collaborate on the #workgreen challenge and we invite you to share how you're incorporating sustainability into the workplace. In this three-part Q&A series, we’re spotlighting different WeWork member companies around the country making great contributions to sustainability. In this installment, we’re sitting down with Pashmina Lalchandani, co-founder of Bar & Cocoa.

Beyond Meat's Vegan Burger Reigns Supreme In Meat Aisle At Grocery Chain
Beyond Meat, a vegan brand offering pea-protein burgers that sizzle and "bleed" like the real thing, is about to see their patties stocked in the meat section of 280 Safeway supermarkets in California, Hawaii, and Nevada.

16 Replacements For The Most Common Disposable Products In Your Home
It's easy to get into the habit of buying and replacing household items. But there’s a simple way to throw a kink into the system—and that’s by no longer wasting our money on disposable products that have easy, cheap, and renewable stand-ins.

5 Easy Ways You Can Help Curb The Earth's Rising Temperatures
A new study in Environmental Research Letters has calculated the effects of certain lifestyles in combating the planet's rising temperatures, and actually ranks their effectiveness. Here are the top five things you can do to help.
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Switching From Beef To Beans Could Slice Greenhouse Gas Emissions
With one dietary swap, the United States could just about meet its 2020 greenhouse-gas emission goals without making a single change to our country’s transportation or energy infrastructure. The switch? Trading out beef for beans.
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Hampton Creek To Release Innovative New Vegan Egg Substitute
Hampton Creek is set to wade into some of the most complex territory for a vegan brand. The company is poised to release a vegan egg substitute sometime in the next few months that mimics the taste and texture of traditional eggs.

Finless Foods Pioneers Innovation To Grow Fish From Stem Cells
The cellular meat production industry has taken to the proverbial seas with Finless Foods, a new biotechnology company angling to grow fish meat from stem cells, thereby taking the fishing out of fish in a sustainable move for the environment.

The Four Steps Anyone Can Take To Keep Recyclables Away From Landfills
Of the items Americans throw away, half could be recycled. To reduce your carbon footprint, we need to reuse and reduce what we have. But for items you do throw out, here's how to make sure recyclable items stay far away from landfills.

This Simple Solution To Saving Trees Might Conserve Entire Ecosystems
Researchers found Ugandan ecosystems and forests could be saved simply by paying landowners small fees to do nothing—no chopping, no clearing, and no selling off rights to farmers, loggers, hunters or other industries.

6 Superfoods You Should Know About That Actually Work
You can’t go anywhere today without hearing about some new “superfood” whose density of nutrients is strong enough to magically melt fat and create world peace. But many of these superfoods are expensive, so which ones are worth the hype?

5 Easy Food Preservation Methods That Can Save You Hundreds
Americans toss about 80 billion pounds of food into the garbage every year. Luckily, there are several easy preserving methods anyone can use to extend the shelf-life of the perishable food they buy, saving both money and the planet.

11 Of The Safest Laundry Detergents On The Market
Every day, we hear about another dangerous toxin in the products we put on our bodies. We cut through the greenwashing to discern 11 laundry soaps that are safe for the environment and our health—and worth every penny.

The Vegan Egg Replacements Every Cook Needs To Know
Non-vegan foods are easier to replace than you might think. And when it comes to eggs, there are simple ingredients in your own kitchen that can do all the heavy lifting without relating back to factory farms for your baked goods or breakfast.

Architecture Firm Creates 4-Story-Tall Whale From Ocean Plastic
New York architecture firm STUDIOKCA is drawing attention to our relationship to the ocean with a five-ton sculpture made of garbage.

Nature Preschools Offer Kids An Education Classrooms Can't
The rising popularity of nature preschools confirms it: The outdoors are essential for well-developed thinkers.

Here’s The Nutritional Difference Between Store-Bought And Backyard Chicken Eggs
We are what we eat. And when it comes to chickens, what they eat—or more specifically, what they forage— has a whole lot to do with the health of the eggs they lay. So how do you know which decision is best for you?

How To Make Your Own Cleaning Products With Just 10 Ingredients
Packaged cleaning products can be overly specific, way too expensive, and exceedingly harmful to our health. Luckily, there isn’t a commercial cleaner on earth you can’t make yourself with very basic, eco-friendly household products.

How To Grow Your Own Food With An Aquaponics System To Fit Any Home And Budget
Aquaponics is revolutionizing the way we grow food commercially and at home. Never heard of it before? Don't worry: Here are the basics for how you can build your own aquaculture setup at home, suitable for any budget.

Curious About Composting? Here's How To Make It Work For Any Lifestyle
Composting reduces household waste by up to 50 percent, prevents air pollution, retains moisture, and closes the nutrient cycle. There's a compost system to fit any lifestyle—which one is perfect for you? We'll help you break it down.

Demand For Meat Alternatives Drives Wheat Protein Industry To $2.15B
The popularity of wheat-based meat replacements is driving the wheat protein market through the roof—to what is expected to be a whopping $2.15 billion dollar industry by 2025. Here's what you need to know about these animal-free options.

Why Juice Cleanses Are A Total Waste Of Time And Money
Juice cleanses sound like an easy fix after too many nights spent ordering greasy takeout and going to one too many happy hours, but the truth is there is no magical food or smoothie that will magically cleanse or detoxify your body.

These Futuristic Mobile Homes Combine Green And Tiny Living
Slovenian company Smartdome is making futuristic, modular homes that are as mobile as trailers and as futuristic as a floating neighborhood home on "The Jetsons."

This Ultrathin Device Turns Your Movements Into Electricity
In the very near future, you’ll be able to slide a tiny device into your clothing that will track your own motion to create power for electronic personal devices like cell phones and fitness trackers.

91% Of Plastic Is Never Recycled, According To New Study
According to a new research study, between 1950 and 2015, humans produced 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics. A shocking 6.3 billion tons of which ended up in landfills.

How Food Created From Electricity Can Feed The World
A single-cell protein developed by Finnish scientists requires only four ingredients, is loaded with protein, and could help feed the world. Oh—and you don’t need anything special to grow it: no seeds, no sun, no farmland, and no additional water.

The Lazy Gardener's Maintenance-Free Vegetable Growing Guide
Gardens can feel intimidating, but with proper planning, patience, and commitment to just a few minutes of maintenance per day, anyone can develop a green thumb that's good for their health and good for the planet.

8 Eco-Friendly Ways To Maximize Your Dryer's Efficiency
Clothes dryers account for up to 20 percent of all energy use in the United States. But on days when you're in a rush or can't use your outside clothesline, here are some tips for making your dryer as energy efficient as possible.

6 Simple Methods For Purifying Your Own Water
Whether you’re out in the wilderness or hooked to an untrusted water supply, you don’t need to count on expensive and wasteful plastic filters to purify the water you drink. Here are six simple techniques for ridding water of contaminants.

Scientists Discover How To Use Entire Solar Spectrum To Sustain Life On Earth
To feed people on Earth generations from now, we’re going to need more electricity, purified water, heating capacity, and crop production. Scientists may have figured out how to do just that by utilizing three distinct spectrums of the sun.

World War II Veteran Donates Millions To Wildlife Preservation
World War II veteran Russ Gremel was an avid outdoorsman his whole life, who made millions in the stock market. Now, at 98-years-old, he's giving it all away to his local Audubon Society.

How To Create Your Own Outdoor Shower In 8 Simple Steps
Summer offers excellent weather for outdoor showers, but creating one can feel intimidating for beginners. In fact, the process is simple, and you can create your own backyard shower with upcycled materials and a little elbow grease.

How This Organic Dairy Farmer Powers His Truck With Cow Waste
A Californian dairy farmer has figured out a way to turn a diesel truck electric so it can run off power generated by cow manure.

Protein For Breakfast May Put You In A Better Mood, Says Recent Study
A new study suggests that what you put on your plate in the morning may dictate your mood—proving yet again that your mother was right: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.

Stunning 'Tree Tower' Brings Nature To Urban Toronto High-Rise
The Toronto Tree Tower, proposed by architecture firm Penda, is an 18-story high-rise building that incorporates trees and vegetation onto every balcony for sweeping views, improved air quality, and a truly green metropolitan experience.

Every D.C. Resident Could Have Curbside Compost Pickup In 5 Years
If city planners in the nation’s capital have their way, every D.C. resident within the next five years will have curbside pickup for their food scraps. That move alone would take more than three-quarters of city trash out of the waste stream.

Curious About Garlic? Here Are The Health Benefits To Eating It Raw
Raw garlic has an illustrious history of fighting infection and disease dating back to ancient Egypt. From preventing cancer to treating heart disease, here are seven of the plant's most impressive abilities, and how you can reap the benefits.

The Surprising Ways Living In A City Helps The Environment
Living in cities often results in leaving a smaller carbon footprint, whether urban dwellers know it or not. Smaller spaces, fewer cars, and the accumulation of less stuff are major wins for the environment, whether you're in a city or farm.

6 Meatless Meat Companies Changing The Way We Think About Vegan Food
It is very easy to do vegan meat replacements poorly. But today's companies leading the faux-meat market are redefining vegan products that are delicious, nutritious, and unbelievably close to the real thing.

New To Shopping Organic? Here's What Every Green Shopper Needs To Know
In our efforts to live more sustainable, environmentally-friendly lives, it's tempting to shop for "organic" products whenever we can. But navigating what labels like "organic," "natural," or "eco-friendly" actually mean can be tricky.

Michigan University Uses Excess Mayonnaise To Generate Power
In efforts to use renewable resources for power, biogas is an attractive option for its ability to take any organic material and turn it into power. Michigan State University recently turned more than 1,200 gallons of mayonnaise into fuel.

5 Easy Ways To Create A Garden That Gives Back To The Planet
Curious about how to make a garden part of your home? Here are all the things you can do in your own garden and yard to save the planet—whether it's a few plants on a fire escape, or a landscape that would rival something in a magazine.

Closed-Loop Farms Curb Emissions With Modular Greenhouses
A new startup seeks to change the way we eat by removing the need to transport food altogether. Instead of trucking farm-fresh produce from miles away to farmers markets in city centers, EkoFARMER brings modular greenhouses directly to you.

Mashed Peas Are Here To Replace Your Avocado Toast Obsession
Just when you thought you had gotten with the times, the avocado-on-toast trend has been usurped by an unlikely rival: pea mash. Here's the peas on toast recipe you need to give a shot.

Vermont Moves Toward Green Energy With Help From Utility Company
Imagine if utility companies didn't make money by charging you for energy, but instead by partnering with you on power production. That’s the goal of Green Mountain Power, a utility company in Vermont making homes sources of their own energy.

The 5 Easiest Ways To Beat The Summer Heat Without AC
There is nothing worse than hot nights without air conditioning. But air conditioners are hardly eco-friendly, and are not always budget-friendly. Here are five easy ways to cool your dwellings without the environmental or economic costs.

Green Hardware Store ‘TreeHouse’ Leads The Movement In Eco-Friendly Retail
TreeHouse, a green home-improvement store based in Austin, Texas, will open its second location based in Dallas this Friday—and hopes to expand to 20 TreeHouses in the next five years, leading the eco-focused retail of the future.

Flower Subscription Company Focuses On Delivering Ethically Grown Bouquets
Everyone loves flowers. But their negative impact on the environment is a big problem. Luckily, floral shops offer flowers in-season and ethically grown, and a little creativity can keep your bouquets around longer, even after they wilt.

Transitioning To Sustainable Seafood? These Are The Most Eco-Friendly Fishes
Luckily for all you seafood lovers, there are plenty of fish in the sea. The oceans are teeming with varieties of fish you can consume without contributing to an oceanic crisis, and they're generally healthy, to boot.

This Startup Recycles Cigarette Butts And Offers Vision Of Zero-Waste World
What if everything you throw away could be recycled? That's the mission behind TerraCycle, a new company hoping to recycle cigarettes, tampons, diapers, and even guitar strings, helping to create a zero-waste future.

India's First Solar Powered TVs Provide Entertainment To Families Without Electricity
The push to expand solar throughout India is a sign of progress in a nation where 67 percent of the country’s rural population has power. That expansion has just ballooned with India’s first-ever solar satellite television from Simpa Networks.

This German Startup Wants To Bring Vertical Farming Right To Your Store
German startup Infarm plans to install stacked hydroponics tanks in supermarkets, shopping malls and restaurants so customers can pick their own greens, herbs, veggies and fruits without any of the transportation, toxic fertilizer, or lost nutrition of big agriculture processes.
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Lebanon Leads Housing Revolution With Sustainable Tiny Homes
In the middle of Lebanon, a housing revolution is underway. The Lifehaus project transforms preconceived notions of small-scale living with innovative dwellings that blend environmentalism with technology, farming, and self-sufficiency.

The 3 Surprising Reasons Your Recycling Still Ends Up In A Landfill
Unfortunately, even items that appear recyclable can end up in your local landfill. Here are the main reasons why what you sort isn’t always ending up where it ought to, and what you can do to fix it.

How One Notebook Company Is Changing The Game When It Comes To Paper Waste
The Paper Saver may be the world's most environmentally-friendly notebook. The company's secret? They sell notebooks with zero paper inside, and consumers are already loving the innovation.

Smog-Eating Bikes Become Available To 20 Million People Through New Partnership
A design firm is on a quest to create smog-free cities around the world. Their latest innovation? Bicycles that breathe in smog, trap particulates, and let out filtered air. Even better? A bike share program is in the works.

This Startup Gives Homeowners Opportunity To Design Their Own Solar Roofs
The new service Draw My Roof is encouraging potential solar customers to map out their own solar kits in order to get an idea of what size system they need, how much it will cost, and how much they can save—all before consulting with an installer.

Pizza Place Transforms Into Bagel Shop By Using Leftover Oven Heat
Pizza On Earth, a pizza parlor in Dorset, Ontario, started offering fresh bagels every morning, cooked in residual brick-oven heat from the night before. This eco-friendly approach might be enough to encourage other restaurants to do the same.

The Sunglasses Of The Future May Solar Power Our Electronics
A new pair of sunglasses is capable of measuring ambient temperature and sun radiation, while collecting enough solar energy to potentially power a step counter, hearing aid, or make science fiction a reality...eventually.

Molekule Air Purifier Destroys Indoor Air Pollution With UV Rays
Air pollution ranks among the top-five environmental risks to public health, making air purifiers much more than luxury items. But while most purifiers filter and trap undesirable air particles, a new product on the market destroys them.

IKEA Vows To Curb Food Waste In Half Within The Next Three Years
For a furniture chain that produces 43,000 metric tons of food waste every year, cutting that number in half is no small Swedish meatball. But that's exactly what IKEA has vowed to do.

New Online Supermarket Promises Organic, Non-GMO Products For $3 Or Less
A new, online supermarket called Brandless has gone no-frills with its packaging and brand-name sourcing, bringing groceries to the masses for $3 or less.

Sustainable Designers Thrive In Costa Rica's Fashion Hub
The world’s most sustainable fashion is now coming out of the most biodiverse place on the planet: Costa Rica, a country that is quickly becoming the world's center for eco-conscious living.

These Luxury Homes In Texas Take The Work Out Of Going Green
A Texan engineer-turned-realtor is wrapping up work on a model home that he says will be completely self-sufficient and maintenance-free, bringing sustainable innovation to housing markets in Texas.

Nestlé Invests $6 Million To Keep Plastics Out Of Landfills
Nestlé, one of the country’s biggest bottled water companies, has invested $6 million in the Closed Loop Fund to keep plastic bottles out of the trash, leading the way for other plastic manufactures to make more sustainable choices.

America's Food Waste Is Enough To Feed Most Of The Human Population
The average American throws away between 1,200 and 1,400 calories every day in discarded food. And a new study suggests the food we waste would be enough to provide a 2,000-calorie diet to 84 percent of the population.

How Trucks Full Of Orange Peels Helped Regrow Costa Rica's Forest
If you’ve ever had any doubt about how compost can transform your garden, look no further than the illuminating tale of how a bunch of orange rinds revived a Costa Rican forest.

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe, According To The Woman Who Invented It
Susie Faux, creator of the capsule wardrobe in the '70s, talks to Green Matters about the growing relevancy of the minimalist clothing movement she started.

Biodegradable Microbeads Could Change The Way Our Cosmetics Impact The Planet
Just in time for the United States ban on the production of waterway-contaminating microbeads to take effect in July, scientists have announced that they have figured out how to make biodegradable microbeads for inclusion in everything from toothpaste to face scrubs.
This New ‘BatBnB’ Is Here To Save Bats And Their Reputation
A new startup called BatBnB promises to reduce mosquito populations, provide habitat for bats, and help you do your part for your local ecosystem. But can it give "rats with wings" a better image?

Bartending Duo ‘Trash Tiki’ Battles Food Waste With Cocktails
Iain Griffiths and Kelsey Ramage are two trash-talking bartenders from London who founded Trash Tiki in order to bring the food waste discussion to your neighborhood gin mill. We sat Ramage down during the pair's international to talk.

Here's What Actually Happens When You Cut Dairy Out Of Your Diet
In a single year, the average American consumes almost 300 pounds of dairy. But as healthy alternatives become more prevalent, dairy is on the decline. Here's what happens when you cut the stuff out of your diet.

8 Nutritious Weeds You Can Eat Right Out Of Your Own Yard
If you needed another reason not to use herbicides and pesticides in your garden and lawn, here’s one: Those weeds you think are such nuisances are actually delicious—and better for you than a lot of the veggies you eat every day.

Google’s Push For Sustainability Includes Offering Employees Less Meat At Lunch
At dozens of Google cafes, spread across the country at company campuses, the diverse meal offerings have one central message: Eat less meat.

New Project Gives Women The Chance To Lead Solar Power Industry In Rural Nepal
Coming in the fall, a new partnership is expected to bring solar power to a Nepalese state park focused on rhino and tiger conservation, while simultaneously training 10 women to be solar industry entrepreneurs.

Everything You Need To Know About The 'Aquafaba' Cocktail Trend
At this year’s 15th annual Tales of the Cocktail conference in New Orleans, LA, aquafaba—the vegan replacement for egg whites made out of bean water—was listed among the top eight cocktail trends.

Here's What You Need To Know About The Farm-To-Table Movement
The farm-to-table movement has grown wild. Everyone's doing it now, and the overuse of phrases like “farm-fresh,” “wild-caught,” and “farm-raised” make it awfully difficult to know what the buzzwords mean anymore—if anything at all.

How 2 Innovative Startups Are Finding New Ways To Revolutionize Food Waste
A full one-third of all the food produced globally for consumption goes to waste. Startups in the United States and Australia seek to change that with their innovative new programs that turn food waste into good for the whole community.

How These 2 Breweries Produce Vegan Proteins, Not Beer
Two companies are using brewery methods to produce vegan versions of gelatin and cow milk—not alcohol. Geltor and Perfect Day Foods raise proteins in labs chemically identical to their animal-based counterparts.

Want To Make Your Own Reusable Food Wrap? Here's How To Do It In 6 Easy Steps
Plastic wrap is a mess. It's bad for both the environment and your health, and although sustainable solutions are available, they're pretty costly. Luckily there's a cheaper eco-friendly option: Make your own food wrap. Here's how.

Company That Creates Leggings Out Of Waste Is The New Face Of Active Wear
A former yoga instructor has created a company called RUMI X that sells eco-friendly yoga wear derived from waste: specifically, plastic bottles, coffee grounds, and crab shells.

This Brooklyn Eatery Gives New Meaning To Having 'Leftovers' For Dinner
Amidst the flurry of hip eateries flooding the Brooklyn market, one Greenpoint restaurant does something particularly special: Their weekly Sunday dinner service is designed specifically around food waste reduction.

Harvard Turns Prewar Home Into Green Building That Makes More Energy Than It Uses
Buildings account for almost half of all energy consumption in the United States. But Harvard's HouseZero project seeks to change all that, by retrofitting a pre-war home in Cambridge into a building that makes more energy than it uses.

This Family Converted A School Bus Into A Tiny Home For 24/7 Travel
The Davis household, a family of three, plus their dog, calling themselves the “Midwest Wanderers" have converted a retired school bus into a motorized, off-the-grid tiny home for 24/7 travel across the United States.