Technology to Save the Planet

With gas prices skyrocketing these days, Nature Links participants have been hearing and talking a lot about electric vehicles. What’s the difference between a hybrid car and an electric car? Do they make electric school buses? At what point in the future will all cars be electric? These questions (and many more) are the wonderings of our fabulous Nature Links participants—curious and compassionate individuals always seeking to learn more about making our planet healthier, cleaner, and safer for us all.

While electric vehicles can certainly save us money while protecting our air quality and lessening our environmental impact, they aren’t the only technological advancement with the potential to help our planet. In one of our most recent Nature Links classes, we investigated three recent inventions aimed at solving an environmental problem. Nature Links participants learned about each new technology and voted by “investing” an imaginary $10 million toward the company they felt had the most potential to protect Mother Earth. Check out the three contenders below. Were you a very rich environmentalist, where would you invest your money?

Edible Water Bottles

An estimated 1 million marine species die each year due to plastic pollution, an issue Nature Links participants became passionate about in our ocean plastic unit last fall. With single-use plastic forming the majority of plastics polluting our oceans and waterways, there are many companies working hard to design products that eliminate the need for plastic among our cutlery, takeout containers, or food packaging. “Ooho” is an edible, compostable water capsule designed by a London-based startup called Skipping Rocks Lab. Consumers of Ooho could quench their thirst by biting into a serving of water encapsulated by a thin membrane made from seaweed. The membrane has no taste and is 100% edible and biodegradable. Ooho has been marketed at marathons (think: run by, pop in an Ooho and no plastic bottles littering the streets) and large-scale events where single-use plastic water bottles were once popular. The company claimed that it took its packaging inspiration from nature. “Oranges and bananas are naturally packaged in peels that don’t harm our planet,” said co-creator Rodrigo García González.

Kinetic Sidewalks

What if we could power our cities by the movement of the people who inhabit them? This is the goal of a UK-based company called Pavegen. The company has produced special sidewalk tiles made from recycled car tires that capture energy from the steps taken by busy commuters and transforms that energy into electricity. As pedestrians walk across the tiles, the weight from their footsteps slightly compresses the tile’s surface, helping charge electromagnetic generators that are stored below the tiles. Pavegen tiles are being installed anywhere there are people to walk (or run) on them. As more than two million passengers travel through the Abu Dhabi International Airport each month, for example, every step those passengers take is converted into energy to power lights and signage in the airport. The company has installed sidewalks in cities around the world (here’s one in Dupont Circle, Washington D.C.) on soccer fields and even at the start of the Paris Marathon. All those footsteps can work together to create a very unique form of renewable energy.

Biodegradable “Leather”

The prickly pear cactus is a ubiquitous and powerful symbol in Mexico: it’s in the center of the national flag, it was deemed sacred by the Aztecs, and many Mexicans today eat it as a snack or use it in medicine and shampoo. Now, one Mexican company named Desserto is turning it into leather. Desserto leather looks and feels like leather, but with no animal hides or harmful chemicals used, it is cruelty-free and 100% biodegradable. Desserto leather is used to make handbags, furniture upholstery, shoes, jackets, and more. The company claims that with very little maintenance, their leather will last for at least 10 years and is much more gentle on the environment. The process even allows the prickly pear cactus to keep growing, as only certain plates (like leaves) are selected to be pulverized and dried out into strips, allowing the rest of the plant to continue to grow. Fast fashion is among the leading polluters in our culture, responsible for more annual carbon emissions than all international flights! Imagine if we could use renewable, sustainable sources to make the clothing and shoes people buy every day.

So, if you had $10 million to invest in one of these technologies, which one would it be? With hope, all three will make a beneficial impact on our environment and may even inspire other companies to see what they’ve seen—our Earth is truly our most valuable resource.