Tessa Love

When natural disasters hit, quickly restoring power is immensely important—and is often very difficult. In some areas, solar power has presented itself as a solution to this persistent problem. 

Fashion resale company thredUP partnered with 12 artists to transform a line of 1,000 secondhand T-shirts into eco-action by printing designs that react to the statement, "Climate change isn't real."

Hundreds of public libraries across the country are handing out free seeds to help maintain biodiversity—and community. 

Skin-care company REN has made an Earth Day pledge to become completely waste-free by 2021.

Interior paints release toxic emissions into the environment, which is why the women-led company Colorhouse is giving the industry an eco-friendly edge with chemical-free paints.

Starting in May, all UK McDonald's locations will offer paper straws instead of the standard plastic, in an effort to cut back on plastic waste. 

The University of Virginia is using 100 percent compostable sheets to reduce its environmental impact during freshman orientation this year. 

Allbirds has launched a new line of eco-friendly shoes made from tree pulp. 

March 18 marks the first ever Global Recycling Day, an initiative led by the Bureau of International Recycling to improve our recycling habits worldwide by changing our idea of recyclables from "waste" to a valuable resource. 

Annie's, Inc. is releasing a limited edition box of mac 'n' cheese produced with wheat grown with regenerative farming practices, which work to reverse climate change. 

Plastic Whale Circular Furniture is creating high-end office furniture made from plastic fished out of the Amsterdam Canal. 

General Electric has announced that it is building the world's tallest off-shore wind turbine, which will also be the most powerful. It will produce 45 percent more energy than existing turbines. 

Sonic Drive-In is releasing its part-mushroom, part-beef burger in all of its 3,500-plus locations. The burger has fewer calories and a smaller environmental footprint. 

As the Oscars kicks off, major events are taking place around Hollywood. While this can create a lot of waste, one company is working to "green" the events by making sure the parties' flowers don't make their way to the landfill.

In an effort to spare the environment, PG Tips is ditching its plastic-based teabags in favor of biodegradable ones made from 100 percent renewable, plant-based materials. 

A new gym in Rochester, New York is equipped with cardio equipment that captures the energy from your workout and turns it into electricity to power the gym itself.

H&M's new line of sustainable clothing uses textiles that are woven from regenerated nylon reclaimed from landfills and oceans. 

To combat the environmental degradation caused by fast furniture, Nest Bedding has created a bedroom set out of 100% recycled cardboard, which can be assembled without the use of tools and adhesives.

The prevalent croton tree that grows across Kenya could be Africa's sustainable source of biofuel, set to replace diesel and potentially feed the continent's growing demand for cheap, low-carbon energy. 

China has officially unveiled a kilometer-long stretch of highway built of transparent concrete and solar panels, which will provide clean electricity, charge electric cars and even melt snow in the winter. 

In a largely symbolic gesture, France has passed a law that will ban fracking and oil extraction across the country starting in 2040 in an effort to bring to light the damage the process does the environment. 

The Italian tomato brand Mutti has unveiled its award-winning plans for a new factory and headquarters, built out of thousands of glass tomato sauce jars. It will be open to the public.

Tokyo Metro is exploring urban farming by growing hydroponic greens in an unused warehouse space below the system’s elevated transit lines. 

Neighboring Sri Lanka's famed Yala wildlife park, the West Coast Tented Lodge is a luxurious eco-lodge built in the style of a safari camp, complete with natural architecture, solar power, graywater irrigation and wildlife sightings. 

The Lotus Trolley Bag is a sustainable, reusable grocery bag system that is easy to use, washable, and built to last. 

A first-of-its-kind eco-resort that promises carbon neutral luxury in coming to Belize in 2018. 

Two Dutch designers have created a 3D-printable bioplastic made from algae. With the ability to be printed into any shape, the substance has the power to replace plastics while also reversing its pollutant effects.

Across the world, countries are abandoning coal—the dirtiest source of energy—in favor of solar, and the old coal mines are being reinvented as floating solar farms that can power tens of thousands of homes. 

A study that examines how well countries advocate for and enact food waste policies has found that France is leading the world when it comes to ending food waste. The U.S. ranked number 24. 

India's solar revolution is booming. Last year, the country added more rooftop solar unit that in the previous four years combined, and is on track to reach 9.5 gigawatts of solar enery by 2022.

Four more countries have joined the United Nations Environment Clean Seas initiative, which aims to engage communities in the prevention and cleanup of plastics in the ocean. Forty countries are now participating in the campaign.

A new startup is working to create dog food with lab-grown meats in order to cut down on the environmental degradation caused by the animal protein industry—and up the transparency of the pet food industry. 

To combat the use of billions of disposable cups, a German city has created a reusable cup system that lets customers pay a €1 deposit for a plastic cup that can be returned to 100 participating businesses.

Three more cities in Scotland have received Zero Waste designation as part of an initiative to minimize waste, implement higher recycling and reuse standards, and more. 

Several organizations are banding together to send trailers equipped with solar panels to powerless Puerto Rico so residents can charge their cell phones, lap tops and more. 

The Asian Development Bank is spending $45 million for Afghanistan to build a 20-megawatt solar power plant in an effort to expand its energy capabilities. As of now, Afghanistan imports over 70 percent of its electricity.

Liberty University fashion student Luis Quijano has discovered a new way to create sustainable clothing: by growing his leather-like fabrics using fermented water, sugar, green tea, and kombucha.

Stockings are highly unsustainable pieces of fashion, made from non-biodegradable nylon, which requires a pollution-heavy process to manufacture. To combat this, the first ever sustainable stocking brand has hit the market. 

By filtering waste water and sewage into clean water, the NEWgenerator simultaneously generates power and extracts nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater, which can be used as fertilizer. 

Plenty is an indoor farming company hoping to solve the world’s fresh produce shortage by building a massive indoor vertical farm next to every major city worldwide.

Innovative new solar panels that can collect the sun's energy and still let the light pass through are creating smart solar greenhouses that actually boost plant productivity.

Google's secretive "moonshot" research and development arm, Google X, has filed a patent for something seriously exciting: floating solar farms. 

In just two years, all of Scotland's electricity will be generated by renewable sources, setting the nation on the path to becoming one of the most environmentally sustainable countries in the world. 

New York City's sanitation bureau is handing out microgrants to businesses that can come up with solutions to the city's food waste problem. 

Swedish company Plantagon has developed plans for "plantscrapers," massive vertical greenhouses meant for growing large-scale organic farms in cities, using less energy and and a smaller carbon footprint than the way we grow food now. 

One of the world’s biggest oil companies is spending $1 billion a year on hundreds of green energy projects, from algae biofuels to cells that turn emissions into electricity.

Innovative solar power company YOLK has released the most useful portable solar charger to date: Solar Paper. Dubbed "the world's thinnest and lightest solar charger," this tiny device is paper-thin, ultra-light and highly efficient.

As scientists and entrepreneurs everywhere develop innovative new technologies to fight climate change, Canon is sticking to the power of an age old carbon sink: trees.

A breakthrough in solar technology has led to a completely transparent material that could turn your windows—or even your smartphone—into solar power generators. 

A collective of Japanese creatives has developed a digital, technicolor, touch-sensitive greenhouse in Tokyo’s city-center, where vegetables are given sounds and light. 

New Zealand's new Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is already making fast moves to confront climate change. This includes a plan to reduce the country's net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the year 2050, in part by planting 100 million trees a year. 

An abandoned golf course in California's popular Palm Springs area is about to become a true desert oasis: the “eco-modern agrihood," Miralon.

Using products like pineapples, sunflowers, potatoes, corn cobs and more, the construction industry can build the city of the future without the use of polluting, wasteful raw materials. 

As companies, researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs work to make industries and systems carbon-neutral, one tiny nation in the Eastern Himalayas has them all beat: Bhutan is world's first – and only – carbon-negative country.

An organization has invented the "seabin" to collect plastics of all sizes in the ocean, from bottles to debris, and it can even collect oil. Now, the first one has been installed in Portsmouth Harbor in the U.K.

In an effort to find a way to feed farmed fish more efficiently, one startup has turned to an unlikely source: carbon dioxide.

Next year, Stockholm will beef up its bike sharing program to 5000, up from 1200 this year, due to increased demand for more docking locations and longer borrowing periods. And it will only cost $33 a year. 

As lab-grown meat is slow to gain widespread acceptance, one Japanese entrepreneur is turning to a unique method to normalize the product: giving meat-growing machines to high school students. 

Challenge Dairy Products is using the first-ever solar-powered zero-emissions commercial-use Transport Refrigeration Units (TRUs), which store and refrigerate products on delivery routes. 

This week brought the grand opening of the first facility using direct-air capture machines to suck C02 out of the air and bury it in the earth in the form of stones. 

In recent years, Apple has worked to make its products more eco-friendly. Now it's extending that mission to even its packaging for the ever-popular iPhone. 

Calling themselves a "revolutionary farm," the Dutch company Kipster has employed a handful of green methods to create the world's first carbon-neutral egg.

Israeli company SolCold has developed a high-tech paint that cools your home with sunlight, offsetting the economic and environmental cost of using air conditioning in hot summer months. 

As demand for its cloud computing services increases in Ireland, Microsoft has struck a deal with General Electric to buy all of the energy from its new 37-megawatt wind farm in the country for the next 15 years.

A team from the University of Central Florida has developed a nanomaterial that can release hydrogen from seawater much more cheaply and efficiently than existing methods, potentially giving us another way of unlocking this sustainable energy source.

The startup SEab Energy is developing a system to turn would-be food waste into enough energy to power homes, supermarkets, and even hospitals.

A genetic engineering startup has developed a technology with the power to transform agriculture as we know it: a self-fertilizing plant.

The first farm in the world to plant, tend, and harvest a crop with only autonomous vehicles and drones has just harvested its first crop, setting the stage for farmerless farms across the world.

A new distillery is turning almost-stale bread, bagels, and baked goods destined for the landfill into vodka, so your next cocktail will come with a side of eco-responsibility. 

Researchers in Pakistan have stumbled upon a type of fungus that naturally eats certain kinds of plastics, offering a potential solution to the world's plastic waste problems.

Two former Tesla executives are on a mission to build the world's greenest battery, starting with a zero-emissions factory in Sweden, which will be hydro-powered, and will use excess energy to heat the surrounding town.

H&M's latest sustainability initiative, called Close The Loop, takes a stance against the dirty fast fashion practices of old. The six-piece line of denim is comprised of 20 percent recycled materials and 80 percent organic cotton. 

Architect Vincent Callebaut has unveiled plans for a new eco-resort in the Philippines, which would be zero-emission and zero-waste. The extravagant plans aim to preserve and the protect the local ecology, as well as support local economy. 

As rural populations shrink and small farms struggle to survive, farmers in Japan are turning to a new a crop: cloud ear mushrooms, grown under the solar panels that are replacing farms throughout the country.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has officially set a mandate to cap fossil fuels in city buildings over the next decade, which means a lot of buildings are about to get way more green and sustainable.

Researchers in Antarctica are building a high-tech, 135-square-foot greenhouse to provide scientists with fresh produce year-round, in spite of their harsh climate and freezing temperatures.

After years of hosting their Worn Wear popups, where customers can bring used clothing items for repair or exchange, Patagonia has made it a permanent fixture in an effort to cut down waste and recycle used gear.

Mycelium + Timber is a project from designers Sebastian Cox and Ninela Ivanova, who creating a series of stools and lights, made from freshly cut wood waste that has been naturally bound by mushrooms.

In the wake of Fukushima, Japan has slowly by surely revolutionized their energy infrastructure as dozens of towns and cities across the country go off the grid.

China struck a $300 million deal with Israel to import lab-grown meats in an effort to cut meat consumption in the country in half, as well as address some of its biggest environmental issues.

A new self-contained, portable fire pit lowers the carbon emissions of an open camp fire, reducing the eco-impact of your camping trip. Even better? It creates enough energy to charge your phone.

As chefs across the world look to reduce their carbon footprint and source ingredients from local farms, a Melbourne startup is bringing the farm into the restaurant with vertical, edible farms that grow on the wall right inside the restaurant. 

A new food certification will debut at Natural Products Expo West 2018. The food label aims to go beyond organic and provide eco-conscious foodies with an even better standard, which goes beyond being simply sustainable to actually improving the resources.

ReCork recycles used wine corks and turns them into yoga blocks, creating a regenerative system out of an already sustainable product. 

After twenty-five years, a few missteps and a lot of planning, Canada has officially opened the world's longest recreational trail, which spans nearly 15,000 miles and connects the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Floating farms, developed by the company GreenWave, work to regenerate the ocean while simultaneously growing sustainable crops of seaweed and shellfish. They also give those interested in doing something similar the opportunity to start their own floating farm.

The U.K. government is set to provide as many as 800,000 low-income homes with free solar panels over the next five years in the biggest green program the country has ever implemented.

Flow Loop is a new and improved shower made in Denmark that recirculates water for less waste and less energy use. The water comes out cleaner than most tap water, and because it reduces waste, the pressure is 50 percent higher than average.

Future-living lab SPACE10 created the Algae Dome, a 13-foot-tall urban-dwelling structure that pumps out oxygen and and is a source for a hyper-local food system that can be assembled almost anywhere with minimal impact on the environment.

China broke ground on a 40,000-tree-filled Forest City, a futuristic metropolis that will use renewable energy for self-sufficiency, capable of absorbing nearly 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year. Now it wants to build 285 more.

Volkswagen has announced the reboot of its iconic minibus, and this time it's electric. 

A new study has outlined a way to convert food and other organic waste destined for the landfill into a fuel source for vehicles, greatly reducing the amount of methane and CO2 emissions produced by fossil fuel-driven cars and food waste.

A Bay Area company is giving new life to California pines that were ravaged by the state's six-year drought by turning them into unique pieces of furniture. 

A team of researchers has released a roadmap for 139 countries to reach 100 percent dependence on renewables by 2050. The plan takes into account the circumstances of each country, which account for 99% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions.

Scientists have found a new low-cost way to monitor urban pollution and atmospheric change, and it has little to do with technology. In fact, this method grows readily right on the rocks and trees: moss.

Entocycle, a U.K.-based company, is using black soldier fly larvae as a sustainable source of protein for animals, and maybe someday humans, helping to solve one of our planet's biggest issues: food production and the growing population.

In its quest to produce the world's most sustainable denim, Everlane has partnered with a eco-minded factory in Vietnam, which uses solar power, recycles water, and turns its waste into bricks that build homes for those in need.

The GrowUp Box is a sustainable urban farm housed in a shipping container that uses vertical growing and aquaponics, a recirculating system that combines hydroponics and aquaculture, to create an efficient closed-loop farming system.