Published

2 years ago

February 14, 2024

Alice Rush

Bird and nature lovers everywhere unite in the effort to tally as many of the world’s bird species as possible for the Great Backyard Bird Count.

This weekend, enjoy bird watching and help create a clear picture of how birds are faring – whether individual species are declining, increasing, or holding steady in the face of habitat loss, climate change, and other threats.

Amateur and expert bird watchers of all ages can help track birds as part of the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, February 16-19. Spend time in your favorite places watching birds, count them, and submit them to help scientists protect birds.

Each participant or group counts birds for any length of time (but for at least 15 minutes) and enters the birds they could identify at each site they visited, whether that be from home, at a local park, or in a wilderness area.

People of all ages and skill levels are welcome. The Great Backyard Bird Count website has tools and information to help birdwatching beginners. Bird counts can be submitted with the Merlin Bird ID app, eBird Mobile app, and online.

Spend time watching birds, count them, and submit them to help scientists protect birds.

In Kansas City, the Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Road, will host one-mile hikes along Indian Creek’s paved trails on Saturday, February 17 from 9 – 11 a.m., on Sunday, February 18 from 3 – 4:30 p.m., and on Monday, February 19 from 9 – 11 a.m. Participants will tally the number of individual birds of each species they see during their count period.

In Olathe, the Ernie Miller Nature Center, 909 N. Hwy 7, will host all ages to help count birds alongside experienced birders from the Burroughs Audubon Society from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Saturday, February 17.

In a study published by the journal Science, scientists revealed a decline of more than one in four birds in the United States and Canada since 1970 – three billion birds gone.

In addition to these steep declines, Audubon scientists project, in Survival By Degrees, that nearly two-thirds of North America’s bird species could disappear due to climate change. Birds from around the world are facing similar challenges and declines. Counting birds for science is one simple action that individuals can take to protect birds and the places where they live.

Recently, more than 300,000 participants submitted their bird observations online, creating the largest instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations ever recorded.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint project of the National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Birds Canada.

The post Join the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend appeared first on Greenability.

Join the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend

Green Living

Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Okhtapus Cofounder Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy Accelerates Ocean Solutions

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2026

Alice Rush

Subscribe to receive transcripts by email. Read along with this episode.

The ocean provides half the oxygen we breathe, absorbs 30% of our carbon emissions, and helps control the planet’s climate. By 2030, it’s expected to support a $3.2 trillion Blue Economy. Yet 70% of proven ocean solutions, such as coastal resilience, coral restoration, and marine pollution cleanup, never move past the pilot stage. These projects often win awards and get media attention, but then stall because funding systems don’t connect working ideas with the cities, ports, and coastal areas that need them. Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, co-founder and ocean lead at Okhtapus, wants to change that. Okhtapus, named with the Persian word for the octopus, uses a model that links what Stewart calls “the three hearts” of successful projects: innovators with proven solutions, cities and ports ready to use them, and funders looking for solid projects.

Stewart Sarkozy-Benoczy, Cofounder and Ocean Lead at Okhtapus.org, is our guest on *Sustainability In Your Ear*.

The first Okhtapus Global Replicator will launch in 2026. It will bring groups of proven innovators to work on important projects in specific places, such as a single port city like Barcelona, where Okhtapus already has strong partnerships, or a group of Caribbean islands facing similar problems. The aim is to have enough successful projects that funders stop asking “where are the deals?” and start saying “we’ve got enough.” The platform focuses on late-stage startups and scale-ups, not early-stage ideas. Stewart calls these the “Goldilocks zone”—solutions that are proven enough to copy but still need funding and partners to grow. By combining several solutions for different locations, Okhtapus can offer investors portfolios that fit their needs and make a real difference in cities, ports, and island nations.

Stewart has spent 20 years working where climate resilience and policy meet. He was part of President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, led policy and investments at the Resilient Cities Network, and is now Managing Director of the World Ocean Council. “Ten years from now, if this is done fast enough,” Stewart said, “we should have pushed hard enough on the funders and the system to change it. What we don’t know is whether we’ll get to the solution status fast enough for some of these tipping points.”

To find out more about Okhtapus, visit okhtapus.org.

- Subscribe to Sustainability In Your Ear on iTunes
- Follow Sustainability In Your Ear on Spreaker, iHeartRadio, or YouTube

Editor’s Note: This episode originally aired on December 22, 2025.

The post Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Okhtapus Cofounder Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy Accelerates Ocean Solutions appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-okhtapus-cofounder-stewart-sarkozy-banoczy-accelerates-ocean-solutions/

Green Living

Earth911 Inspiration: A Serious Look at Modern Lifestyle

Published

5 days ago

May 1, 2026

Alice Rush

Today’s quote comes from Pope John Paul II’s message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1990. He wrote, “Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle.”

Earth911 inspirations. Post them, share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day.

The post Earth911 Inspiration: A Serious Look at Modern Lifestyle appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/inspire/earth911-inspiration-take-serious-look-lifestyle/

Green Living

Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Making Billions of Square Feet of Commercial Space Sustainable with CBRE’s Rob Bernard

Published

7 days ago

April 29, 2026

Alice Rush

The built environment, particularly office buildings other urban facilities, are responsible for 39% of the global energy-related emissions, according to the World Green Building Council. About a third of that impact comes from the initial construction of a building and the other two-thirds is produced over the lifetime of a building by heating, cooling, and providing power to the occupants. Our guest today is leading a key battle to reduce the impact of the built environment. Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation with Rob Bernard, Chief Sustainability Officer at CBRE Group Inc., which manages more than $145 billion of commercial buildings, providing logistics, retail, and corporate office services across more than than 100 countries.

Rob Bernard, Chief Sustainability Officer at the commercial real estate giant CBRE, is our guest on *Sustainability In Your Ear*.

Rob cut his sustainability teeth at Microsoft, as its Chief Environmental Strategist for 11 years, as the company was developing its world-leading approach and collaborating with other tech giants to lobby for policy and funding to accelerate progress. He discusses CBRE’s Sustainability Solutions & Services for commercial building owners, as well as the accelerating progress for renewables, carbon tracking, and economic, health, and lifestyle benefits of living lightly on the planet. You can learn more about CBRE and its sustainability services at cbre.com

Take a few minutes to learn more about making construction and building operations more sustainable: