Why We Should Worry About Our Demand For Sand

Because sand demand includes roads, beach volleyball, glass, concrete, your home’s foundation, and solar panels, we might not have enough.

What We Can Learn From a Strawberry Contest

Our story starts with a tomato and ends with a strawberry. They both relate to farm productivity. And that could be the problem. Growing Fruit Tomatoes Close to 90 years ago, a tomato grower noticed that one of her (his?)…

What We Can Learn From a Trout

Looking at a hover of trout or a shoal of salmon, we can ask if a fish hatchery is the way to preserve a population for recreation and conservation.

Why We Want Sneakers Made From Coffee

Whether it relates to coffee grounds or new clothing patterns, zero waste design can optimize economic efficiency in surprising ways.

How Legos Discovered It’s Not Easy to be Green

If we want our Legos to match, attach, and detach, we might have to wait awhile for them to develop the appropriate bio-based plastic.

Why Less Land Needs To Make More Food

With population growth adding almost three billion people by 2050, we need to figure out how to produce more food with less land and fewer emissions.

An Economics Lesson From an Ant

Not only providing a lesson that relates to building nest tunnels, ant economics can also teach us about diminishing returns to scale.

Four Fantastic Charts That Tell What We Need to Know About the Plastic Problem

Store by store, through one aisle that has 700 items, the Dutch supermarket chain Ekoplaza will support sustainability with plastics-free grocery shopping.

What The Last Supper Says About Food Portions

Looking at entrée, bread and plate sizes in versions of the Last Supper during the past millennium gives us some clues about portion size history.