ALIEN (Species) INVASION
In this joyful season, and of course with that I mean the summertime, most of us will travel. Set aside the carbon footprint that we may cause which such kind of reckless choice, there may be other more or less terrible consequences. We talked about that in our previous article. One of them concerns the […]
Flying green…Is it possible?
August is almost here, and again it becomes an hectic rush hour to holiday destinations. And of course, a lot of us wish to go abroad and comfortably taking a plane. Because! It is faster, fresher, easier, thrilling and, obviously, cheap. Well, at least it is convenient for our wallets, but what about our environment? […]
New Insights on Climate Change Action. Just About Time!
In the last days climate change has come back in the spotlight. Not only for the impressive heat wave that is certainly hitting at least the mediterrean countries, but also because of the political wave that has been central in continental Europe. We are talking about G20 just ended in Germany last week. Indeed, the […]
Cities and Sustainability.
Today steamgreen will focus on sustainability in the cities. Lately indeed there are multiple articles and studies that explore this topic. Why though? The urban dimension, indeed, is becoming more and more important in the last years. It is a trend that has begun a millennium ago, circa, when hunters gathered into villages in order […]
Industrial Symbiosis: a new frontier for sustainable production
Have you ever thought that one’s waste could be a precious resource for somebody else? This is some kind of naive thought, indeed. Then why isn’t is applied on a daily basis on large scale production district, so that the by- products of a company x would become the input for company y? Well, […]
Masdar City Project and its criticisms: a complete failure?
Masdar City is a very famous living project in United Arab Emirates, which has been brought back into global discussion because it looks like it is empty and then its validity as global foremost model of urban sustainability is under pressure. What is Masdar City. Masdar city is a perfect example of Private and Public […]
Making Sustainability in Universities
These days in Italy there has been much ado about… something. In our university, the University of Bologna, there have been major semi-violent conflictual events between students and the university establishment. Indeed: the university has decided after years of uncontrolled occupation to reset the order in the Literature department, by installing turnstiles right at the […]
The Interesting Power of European Beets
Wageningen University, a top institute based in the Netherlands when it comes to sustainability related research and studies ( and notably University of Bologna and RESD course have established multiple connections with it) has been for long enquiring about the possibility of substituting fossil fuel plastics with renewable alternatives. But WUR has recently argued […]
The Environment of 2016 in a Nutshell
2016 has been a surprising year. Then, if one would like to look back and attach a meaning to it, what could he do? What economists most oftenly prefer to do, is to look at indexes. Then, since we are concerned about the environment, Steamgreen has selected an interesting one in order to conclude this […]
Tap or bottled water?
During Ecomondo 2016 edition, SteamGreen! had the chance to talk with a CAP group manager, which was the exclusive supplier of the “Case dell’acqua”- in English the Water houses- during EXPO Milano 2015. These were in practice public installations dispensing free and cool still or sparkling water. It has been a brief and interesting chat […]
Marrakech 2016
From the 7th till the 18th November in Marrakech (morocco) the COP22 and contemporaneously the CMP12 are being held. In order: the first one is the Conference of the Parties, coming this year at its 22nd edition, after the 21st famously held in Paris last year which have reached the historical Paris Agreement. CMP […]
What now?
President Trump is a reality now. Lets skip all the jokes and ironic gifs about this unpredicted results of the American Presidentials. They are first of all useless and disrespectful (although being funny). What everybody should face now is: American people has gone through a democratic process and respectfully of that, we should now face […]
Before The Flood
Before the Flood is the docu-movie directed by Fisher Stevens, released on National Geographic channels (or also online) between the 30th and 31st of October, this year. It portrays Leonardo di Caprio, as UN Messenger of Peace, along his journey for truth about Climate Change. Steamgreen suggests you to see it, for free, here. It […]
Is Producing Less Our Only Possibility?
A central theme in the public debate is the green and circular economy: how can we design better production modalities in order to produce less inefficiencies (aka waste)? How can we produce greener products? And how can we make use of the side products? Ecomondo, the annual fair taking place in Rimini about green economy, […]
The Year of….Pulses
Almost one year ago UN claimed that 2016 would have become the year for the celebration of pulses. Pulses are a very important ingredient in developing countries, as they very nourishing despite being cheap. Nonetheless, UN had further multiple points in favour of giving birth to such initiative. Food Security First of all, legumes provide […]
The Potential for Energy Citizens in the European Union
A very interesting report produced by CE Delft- an environment-related research institute – suggests, and actually proves, the idea that the target of reaching a 100% renewable energy based economy is very much approachable if we, the people, become Energy Citizens. Who is an Energy Citizen? The definition is simple: an individual or a […]
Steamgreen goes Internazionale! Book advice included.
Steamgreen has gone far this week for its readers: it has flown to China, stopping in Spain before landing in Brasil and then popping up in US. And all of this while remaining in Ferrara. In fact Ferrara, the town whose historical centre was claimed to be UNESCO heritage site, hosted during the weekend the […]
EuroEnviro 2017: Updates!
Do you remember our first post this year? You can read it here. It was about the coolest sustainability-and-environment related students’ symposium happening around Europe for the last 22 years. And the news was: Rimini Campus, the campus hosting RESD, has the opportunity to host the upcoming edition! What’s new? The organising team is working […]
The Colour of Bitcoin? Certainly not green.
Could a thought be polluting? The answer, my dears, is unluckily yes: it could. An Example In 2008 a mysterious man signing with the fictitious name Satoshi Nakamoto, spread a paper illustrating his idea for a new digital currency. Take a step back in 2008: the economic stability sounded like a sweet and far memory […]
Parks and Sparks
Yesterday ANSA, the Italian National Press Association Agency, reported that in the Vesuvio Natural Park special and dangerous types of waste were found by the Police. Those were allegedly parked there in order to be delivered later on to a site of illegal disposal. Such a shame for the Neapolitan Park , which is of […]
Why is this G20 important?
On Saturday September 3rd China and US announced their ratification of Paris Agreement, the result of last year’s COP 21. It has been big news! But not just for the reasons you might address in your mind. An historical happening First of all, but not for importance, the announcements have occurred under the framework of […]
Sustainability Tips: how to ace September and a new lifestyle!
September is approaching, and to some of us this beginning is at least as heavy as the 1st of January. After all, a new year, may it be academic or work-related, is about to get started. If not, vacations are over. And if no vacation had been on sight… it could be high time also […]
(Northern) European Capitals
A Recent news: Nijmegen was announced to have accomplished the title of European Green Capital of 2018. James I of England used to say “No news is good news”. Actually it is no news that a green, fairplay, lovely Dutch city was named to be sustainable award-winning one. But we wouldn’t say it is good […]
A New, Sad, Icy Frontier
These days, while we are conquering a new beach, a new lazy day…which are in practice new just to us, a cruise is routing on a brand novel path: the one approached for the first time during ice ages by our ancestors and then back again by Amundsen. Crystal Serenity is capitalizing climate change. Open […]
How much is a Wave Worth? An example of how much Economists are creative and cool people, too.
A few days ago a very interesting article was published by The Economist, “The effects of surfers on local Economies”. It illustrates the findings of a study published by Thomas McGregor and Samuel Willis of the Oxford University, originally titled “Natural Assets: Surfing a Wave of Economic Growth”, which is pretty much enlightening. What this […]
The Green Column: Tomorrow is the Earth Overshoot Day 2016
Tomorrow, the 8th August 2016, is the Earth Overshoot Day. This means that on this day the water you will be using to make your morning coffee, the salmon you will eat in your sandwich, and the fuel you will be pump into your vespa (because Steamgreen is hoping you are on a cool freaking […]
Good to know!
It is getting harder and harder these days happening to read and hear good news. This is the reason why SteamGreen decided to tell you a positive and green story. Most of all because, near to most of us, it takes place in the beautiful country called Italy. A Romagna Story On a summer day […]
Sustainability in RIO
Vinicius and Tom are the mascottes of the Olympic and Paraolympic games in Rio 2016. Their value is highly representative: they are entitled to envisage the biodiversity and natural value of the (important) country they speak for, Brazil. Vinicius is an animal, while Tom is a tree. An overview on the Games Sustainability in […]
Green Column- Celebrating Tesla: a name, a man behind daily life.
The Name This week in the Green Column we are talking about Nikola Tesla: a man, an inventor, an engineer, too much often only associated with the brand of electric vehicles. it is in fact a recent news that the brand’s first supercharger to be taken place in Italy, was inaugurated on Friday in […]
When The Food Industry Settles Down in Silicon Valley
Just a few data. According to the UN, livestock emits alone the 14.5% of GHGs and occupies the 30% of icefree landmass. Furthermore in order to produce a kilogram of beef it takes 10 of feed, the other components of the ordinary cattle follow with modesty, still accounting for less than what received. Yet […]
Sustainability tips: how to behave during SALES.
The second week of sales is about to finish, at least here in Italy. And while I am wandering along the streets of Milan, a fashion destination recognised worldwide, I spot a lot of buyers with giant bags filled with cheap items. Or, better, cheap thrills? Because that is the thing that I notice: the […]
Tomorrow is the World Population Day
Tomorrow is the World Population Day. In fact in the far 1989 the UN decided to dedicate the 11th of July to the general theme of population issues. It is of course part of a campaign of awareness on hot debated social issues, among the latest: exploding population and global peace. This year it has […]
Innovative Schemes of Public Engagement, Pros and Cons
This topic was presented by the blogger Laura in Euroenviro2016 in Denmark, hope it is going to be interesting- One of the hotly debated topics in Europe is the need of public engagement in decision-making process. This phenomenon is called “democratic deficit”, and it is referred particularly to European Union’s institutions. In […]
DIVE…sting
It is a a few days’ a go news that Cambridge University declined its students’ and staff’s call to divest the fossil fuel industry while Catholic Church Orders are increasingly doing the opposite, encouraged by Pope Francis’ second encyclical “Laudato Sì”, published one year ago. What is Divesting? Divesting is actually nothing more than […]
Solar Flying
This Sunday the Green Column is celebrating an inspiring and good event. This Thursday, the 23rd of June, Solar Impulse, an aircraft solely powered by solar energy, completed its first transatlantic flight: 71 hours zero emission cruising from New York to Seville! What is Solar Impulse? It is an innovation-driven project, whose founders are the […]
Brexit and the Environment
On the 23rd, in two days, Great Britain is going to express its lawful opinion about whether remaining or leaving the European Union. Actually it is not the first time: in 1975 the 67% of the subjects chose to stay in the EEC. Hence, the main reasons standing behind the “Leave” party (mostly formed of […]
You used to call me on my…UNfairphone!
Agbogbloshie. This is the name of a city in Ghana, whose big part of livelihood is based on the electronic waste – e-waste- management. Typically, a few km away of a soccer field, there is a slum where the e-waste boys are burning wires in order to get some copper and re sell it. Agbogbloshie […]
Celebrating the Summer Solstice
This week the Green Column is suggesting to you an appetizing event for the Summer to come. We know that somebody doesn’t see it coming… but looking at the calendar there is just one week to go for the longest day in the year ( at least for the Northern Emisphere). The best way to […]
Water scarcity in Northern Europe… Do we any issue?
Summer is coming. These days this sounds more like a threat than a promise, as it was actually in winter. so, while you are sweatingly walking through the concrete jungle of your city, you catch yourself thinking “I wish I was in Lapland”… like really? You may change your mind with the following facts. A […]
Music and Sustainability – a loyal and fruitful link
Sustainability, sustainability everywhere. That could be the incipit of the nightmare of an oil tycoon. Or maybe it is just the reality. How come that the latest Coldplay music videos are starring more and more natural assets? Why does Jack Johnson ask directly to his fans to commit for the protection of environment? But above […]
It is GreenWeek time!
The first Editor’s choice for this week is an event: EU Green Week 2016! And what an event! It is an annual week of round tables and conferences organised every year in order to examine collectively the European Environmental Policy. Throughout the past years they targeted the topics “Our health our wealth”, “Circular Economy” and […]
What is Euroenviro (as a participant)?
Imagine yourself in a city you have never been before, although acting like a veteran. Then add up that you are among friendly people, who are actually strangers as you have never met them before. Plus, you are passionately chit-chatting about your dreams and commitments for a better and green world. And the best […]