Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2025

Alice Rush

State action to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change can make a big difference, even in the absence of a strong federal climate strategy, according to a new study led by researchers from North Carolina State University (NC State).

The researchers found that, while state measures to tackle climate change are just slightly more expensive than an organized national effort, they would likely lead to the implementation of different decarbonization technologies, a press release from NC State said.

“Given that there is little expectation the Trump administration will promote a national effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change, we think there is significant value in assessing what kind of difference state-led efforts could make,” said study co-author Jeremiah Johnson, an associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at NC State, in the press release.

The research team looked at 23 states whose policy and political indicators suggested that they would be “most likely to consider joint action to reduce carbon emissions,” Johnson said.

“Specifically, we looked at what the cost of such an effort would likely be, which decarbonization technologies would likely be adopted, and the extent to which these efforts could reduce our carbon footprint – and we compared all of these things to the cost, technology, and impact of a coordinated federal effort,” Johnson added.

The team looked at publicly available energy system data for all lower 48 states, including power generation, transportation, building operations and consumer needs like heating and cooling. They then fed the data into decarbonization models that had been adapted to show the impact of changes in specific states.

“We first looked at what the costs and technologies would be if the 23 states that already seemed inclined to strive for net zero carbon emissions actually achieved it,” said lead author of the study Gavin Mouat, a former NC State graduate student. “That would reduce U.S. carbon emissions by about 46% by 2050. We then looked at what the costs and technologies would be if all 48 contiguous states worked together to achieve that same 46% reduction.”

The researchers discovered that the total costs were closer than they had anticipated between efforts led by states and the federal government, with just a 0.7 percent discrepancy. However, the technologies they adopted to reach emissions targets were much different.

“That’s because different states have different resources,” Johnson explained. “For example, some Great Plains states are excellent locations for establishing wind farms but are less likely to participate in a state-led initiative to address climate change.”

For instance, the research team discovered that industrial decarbonization in a state-led effort played a much more prominent role than it would have in a federal action. They found that an effort by the federal government would depend more heavily on clean energy, like solar and wind power.

The team also found that there was potential for state efforts to impact pollution in neighboring states.

“Essentially, our model suggests it is possible that non-participating states could increase greenhouse gas emissions, because they might produce a product or service more cheaply for export to those states working to reduce their emissions,” Johnson said. “However, the model also suggests that non-participating states might also reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This could be due to the fact that clean energy technologies save them money, or because those states may be drawing power from power generation facilities in other states where emissions are falling.”

The findings of the study, “State-led climate action can cut emissions at near-federal costs but favors different technologies,” were published in the journal Nature Communications.

“Ultimately the most important takeaway here is that state-led action can achieve substantial emission reductions, even without federal support, but that the world looks very different than one where there is federal coordination,” Johnson said. “This has some important implications, not just for those states that choose to participate, but also for those who don’t.”

States shaded blue are included as net-zero states in the State Action scenario, while those shaded red are excluded. State map obtained via Creative Commons license and modified using Adobe Photoshop. Nature Communications

The post States Can Take Meaningful Climate Action, Even Without Federal Support: Study appeared first on EcoWatch.

https://www.ecowatch.com/states-climate-action-federal-neglect.html

Green Living

Earth911 Inspiration: Love of Nature Transcends

Published

3 days ago

May 29, 2026

Alice Rush

This week’s quote is from Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the U.S., philanthropist, and environmental advocate: “Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”

Earth911 inspirations. Post them, share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day. Click the poster to get a larger image.

This poster was originally published on February 7, 2020.

The post Earth911 Inspiration: Love of Nature Transcends appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/inspire/earth911-inspiration-love-of-nature-transcends-jimmy-carter/

Green Living

Outdoor Projects You Can DIY for Almost Nothing

Published

4 days ago

May 28, 2026

Alice Rush

It always strikes us as amusing how many DIY projects you see online that seem to require more time and more money than it would take to simply buy the thing they’re trying to DIY in the first place. Are we missing the point?

We think that doing things ourselves and taking back the power to create instead of simply consuming is absolutely vital to the green movement. But if you don’t already have the materials and spend a lot of money purchasing craft supplies, does it really make sense to DIY?

These eight projects are true do-it-yourself masterpieces. One-of-a-kind outdoor projects you can make for almost nothing, with supplies you most likely already have or can easily pick up second hand for a song. Roll up your sleeves and let’s get started!

1. Teapot/Teacup Bird Feeder

Idea and photo credit: Dinah Wulf, DIY Inspired

Do you have one of Grandma’s old tea sets lying around that doesn’t quite fit into the sleek modern aesthetic you’ve been cultivating? Put it to great use by feeding the birds in your area — in style.

Thrift stores are always awash in old china, so if you don’t already have the old tea set, consider going wild and spending a few bucks for this DIY delight. You’ll find blogger Dinah Wulf’s instructions for the teacup bird feeder at DIY Inspired.

Safety note: Use sturdy twine or cord — not chain — to hang the feeder. Birds can catch their toes in chain links, which causes serious injury. The National Audubon Society also recommends cleaning seed feeders every two weeks (more often in hot, humid weather) by scrubbing with soap and water and soaking in a 50-50 vinegar-water solution to prevent the spread of avian disease.

2. Gardening Tool Storage

DIY rake gardening holder — Idea and photo credit: Beth Logan, Artstuff Ltd.

What on earth do you do with those rusty-as-heck, old-school garden rakes hanging around your garage? Well, if you’re any sort of DIY genius, you press them into service as a gardening tool holder.

The original inspiration for this project came from Beth Logan at Artstuff Ltd., whose blog has since gone offline. For a current walkthrough, see the Repurposed Rake Tool Rack tutorial at DIY n Crafts (project #14 in their roundup of 25 ways to reuse old garden tools). The concept is embarrassingly simple — remove the rake handle, mount the head tines-out on a fence or garage wall, and use the tines themselves as hooks for trowels, gloves, and pruners — but eye-catching enough to make you look like a DIY pro.

3. Bottle Tree

A bottle tree, image courtesy of Felderrushing.blog

Do you like wine? No, I mean do you really like wine? Do you want a reason to drink more of it? And does your garden need a cute border? This sustainable, upcycled garden border may be just the project for you. You might have to expand your drinking list to include bottles of various shapes, sizes, and colors — but variety is the spice of life.

When friends ask how you managed to collect so many bottles, just laugh gaily and then distract them with your dainty teacup bird feeder. The bottle tree tradition itself runs deep — Mississippi garden writer Felder Rushing traces the practice back through African American Southern folk art and, by his own research, as far as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. See his bottle tree gallery and history for inspiration, or jump straight to his how-to guide for building one out of a cedar snag, rebar, or just about anything else.

4. Colorful Outdoor “Tiles”

Painted Patio Tiles — Idea and photo credit: Elsie Larson, A Beautiful Mess

If your backyard isn’t perfectly landscaped and manicured, with an impeccably tiled “outdoor living space,” don’t despair. You can use up all those half-empty paint cans and create a Pinterest-worthy colorful backdrop for evenings spent clustered around a fire or barbecue.

Pop a few coats of paint on cement tiles and you have a one-of-a-kind flooring solution. If you rent, the same effect could be achieved on a more temporary basis by letting the kids go wild with sidewalk chalk and create a mosaic masterpiece. Check out Elsie’s Painted Patio Tiles at A Beautiful Mess for the back story on this DIY idea. (Heads up: the original author noted she had to touch up the paint each spring in Missouri winters — a porch and patio floor enamel will hold up better than wall paint.)

5. Home Sweet Gnome

Idea and photo credit: Jennifer Pilcher, Snapguide

Okay, this one might be the least practical idea of the bunch, but that may be why I love it oh so much. If you have a stump in your backyard and you’re not willing or able to pay the truly insane amount it costs to have it ground down and removed, how about making it into a little gnome home? This is the perfect outdoor project if you have small children in your life.

Construct the trappings of a little house — door, windows, winding garden path — from found objects or natural materials, and affix them to the stump. Bonus points if you don’t tell the kids about this particular DIY project and allow them to simply stumble upon it one day in the garden. My mind would have been blown if I had come across one of these as a seven-year-old. For a step-by-step build, see this Gnome Tree Stump Home tutorial on Instructables.

Safety note: Don’t use an angle grinder to gouge windows or doors into a stump. Use a chisel and mallet for shallow detail work, or attach decorative pieces (driftwood, bark, polymer clay) to the outside instead.

6. Mosaic Stepping Stones from Broken China

Every household eventually accumulates a small graveyard of chipped mugs, a single survivor from a four-piece dinner set, or a beloved teapot with a hairline crack. Rather than tossing them — broken ceramics generally aren’t accepted in curbside recycling — embed them in concrete stepping stones for a garden path that’s genuinely one of a kind.

This pairs beautifully with the teacup project above: any teacups that don’t make it past Project #1 (you will break a few) can come back as paving. The DIY mosaic stepping stones tutorial at Gardening.org walks through the full process — breaking ceramics safely inside a drop cloth, sizing pieces to half-inch to one-inch fragments, pressing them into wet concrete, and sealing the surface so sharp edges don’t cause injury underfoot. Basic mold options include an old cake pan, a plastic plant saucer, or a purpose-built stepping stone form from a craft store.

Safety note: Wear safety glasses and heavy gloves when breaking ceramics. Once cured, run a finger over the surface to check for protruding edges and file or sand any down before placing the stone where bare feet might land.

7. Vertical Pallet Herb Garden

Shipping pallets are one of the world’s most abundant near-free materials. Small businesses, garden centers, and feed stores often have stacks of them out back, and asking politely beats the alternative of seeing them landfilled. Mounted vertically against a sunny wall or fence, a pallet becomes a stacked planter that holds enough herbs to keep a kitchen in basil, thyme, parsley, and chives all season.

Grit Magazine published a clear how-to for a vertical pallet planter — line the back and sides with landscape fabric or heavy plastic to hold soil, fill through the slats, and plant each gap as its own row. The gaps act as natural divisions, so different herbs don’t fight for the same root space.

Safety note: Use only heat-treated pallets for anything edible. Look for the IPPC stamp with the letters HT (heat treated) and avoid any stamped MB (methyl bromide — a fumigant restricted under the Montreal Protocol). Unstamped pallets are unknowns; skip them for food crops. The same heat-treated pallets are fine for ornamental flowers either way.

8. Punched Tin Can Lanterns

Steel food cans — soup, tomato, coffee — are one of the most recyclable materials on Earth, but the recycling-then-buying-something-decorative loop has plenty of slack in it. With nothing more than a hammer, a few nails of varying sizes, and the freezer, an empty can becomes an outdoor lantern that throws constellation patterns across a patio at dusk.

HGTV’s tin can lantern tutorial covers the trick that makes this project work: fill the can with water and freeze it solid before punching, so the ice supports the can wall and prevents denting. Sketch your pattern on paper, tape it to the frozen can, punch through with a nail at each marked dot, and let the ice thaw. Drop in a battery tealight (much safer outdoors than a real flame) and group them along a walkway or down the center of an outdoor table.

The Point of All This

None of these projects requires you to buy more than a tube of waterproof adhesive, a bag of concrete, or maybe a stepping stone mold. The materials — chipped china, leftover wine bottles, empty cans, a forgotten pallet, an old rake — are already in your house or someone else’s. That’s the point. The greenest project is the one that uses what already exists, and the best part is that yours will look like nobody else’s.

Editor’s Note: This article, originally authored by Madeleine Somerville on June 17, 2015, was updated with corrected links and new ideas in May 2026.

The post Outdoor Projects You Can DIY for Almost Nothing appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/diy/outdoor-projects-you-can-diy-for-almost-nothing/

Green Living

Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Author Nadina Galle on The Nature of Our Cities

Published

5 days ago

May 27, 2026

Alice Rush

More than half the world’s population—4.4 billion people—live in cities today. That number is expected to rise to 80% by 2050. Our guest, Nadina Galle, is a trailblazing ecological engineer and author of The Nature of Our Cities. She is an ecological engineer who studies the intersection of nature and technology in urban environments. Nadina developed the concept of an Internet of Nature (IoN) that uses tools like artificial intelligence, automation, and sensors to support and enhance ecosystems within cities. Nadina’s book offers a transformative perspective on how urban spaces can be reimagined in the face of climate change and sprawling development. She shares the inspiring story of the Groene Loper project in Maastricht, Netherlands, where soil sensors were deployed to monitor tree health. The results were remarkable, with trees supported by this technology growing up to three times larger than those without it. This is a powerful example of how technology can not only protect trees but also transform urban spaces into healthier, greener environments.

Nadina Galle, an ecological engineer and author of *The Nature of Our Cities*, is our guest on .

From fire and the wheel to the reinforced concrete frames that define modern buildings, we are surrounded by technology. We tend to forget that technology emerged in response to nature — too often, we treated nature as the enemy, the chaos to be contained instead of recognizing that nature’s cycles and changes are the harmony we need to join to sustain society. The loss of any semblance of natural patterns, which ultimately leads to the depletion of the resources necessary for life, has inevitably led to the collapse of previous major civilizations. Modern society has more runway than previous societies because we have created a global economy, but that risks an even greater fall for our species when the ecological underpinnings of our prosperity collapse. The Nature of Our Cities, is a powerful, straightforward, and emotionally resonant book to help you think through your role and choices in the restoration of nature. You can find it on Amazon or Powell’s Books.