The Deal With Deforestation
There are about 15 billion trees being cut globally annually. In Africa, deforestation rates have passed the global average. Forest in West and East Africa are seeing the worst of it, as many people in rural areas depend on wood from fallen trees for cooking.
My Roots In Africa
The African startup The Most Influential People of African Descent, MIPAD, is striving to find a solution to the deforestation crisis by bridging the gap between Africans in the diaspora and the motherland. They aim to assign and plant more than 200 million trees across Africa by 2024.
The ‘My Roots In Africa’ project allows anyone to request a tree and have it planted in their own or a loved one’s honor. “My Roots in Africa is…Uber for trees, connecting local communities impacted by pollution or deforestation, with global citizens looking to plant their roots in Africa,” said Kamil Olufowobi, MIPAD’s Founder and CEO.
Using AI and Blockchain
To further personalize this, MIPAD partnered with Decagon Institute to use data science and artificial intelligence to identify and geo-tag trees planted using blockchain technology. This will enable subscribers to know the exact location of their allocated tree and be able to see it using satellite imagery including Google Maps. This also prevents allocating the same tree to more than one person.
Learn more about the project and reserve a tree here.
Reebok’s First Plant-Based Running Shoe
Reebok unveiled its first plant-based running shoe made with eucalyptus, castor beans, natural rubber and algae. The Floatride GROW is expected to hit shelves in the fall of 2020.
Learn more here.
The Ocean Cleanup Project Update
A couple of months ago we reported on Ocean Cleanup, a solar-powered machine cleaning plastic from our world’s oceans. They want to create a value chain on the basis of the collected debris, aiming to fund continued cleanup operations. Recently they’ve announced the next step, creating sustainable products made from the material in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!
Learn more here.
Recycling Tips For Your Christmas Tree
Many celebrated the holidays with Christmas trees in our homes. Here are some options for what to do with the tree when the holidays are over.
