Concepts in sustainable land use include compactness, redeveloping existing infrastructure, green spaces, and housing affordability. Eliminating unnecessary space consumption in the name of luxury and mixed-use development helps save space. Hydroponics enables space-saving urban farming, while permaculture allows agriculture to co-exist with wildlife.
Rather than buying up virgin land, developers should consider redeveloping brownfields and gray fields. Preserving historic sites, biodiverse green spaces, and recreational open spaces should remain critical.
Filling up every open space with buildings and factories is not sustainable. An open space can be used as a park or some other recreational purpose that promotes the well-being of residents.
Urban growth boundary is a technique used to control urban encroachment. It involves designating certain areas of a state for urban expansion and mandating that developments are contained within them.
Cities run on energy, accounting for about 75% of global energy consumption. Sustainable energy allows cities to power development while reducing adverse environmental effects. They can save energy in all sectors, including transport, building, street lighting, and agriculture.
Renewable energy is one of the strategies for sustainable energy use. Cities should intensify efforts to leverage solar, wind, hydro, and biomass to produce clean and sustainable energy. That would help cut back on fossil fuel emissions significantly.
Energy-efficient buildings also offer opportunities to cut back energy use, covering the construction phase and its operational life cycle. So, builders should use eco-friendly construction materials and techniques that allow natural thermal regulation and lighting.
Sustainable urban development advocates integrating biodiversity into the built environment. It aims to ensure that plant and animal communities remain resilient not as immaculate lawns and potted plants but as biodiverse ecosystems that offer ecological services.
Biodiverse green spaces, green roofs, natural waterways, bio-corridors, eco-brutalist architecture, etc, typify sustainable urban landscapes.
To achieve that, city authorities mandate the conservation of high-value ecosystems home to critical or endangered species. They also ensure that green spaces are occupied by appropriate native vegetation that supports pollinators and small animals.
Some say sustainable cities are a utopia that can only exist in imagination. However, various sustainable practices executed across America and Europe prove possible.
If you love sugar, you may not like this one. Sadly, sugar has one of the worst environmental footprints. WWF reveals that sugarcane is one of the most harmful crops for the planet2, as it replaces habitats rich in plant, insect, and animal life.
Moreover, it requires the intensive use of land, water, and pesticides while causing soil erosion and deforestation.
Some deforested lands have lost their carbon content, and the carbon is now in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
With this high climate impact, it is essential to look for a more sustainable sugar culture, including reducing our sugar consumption.
The dairy industry has had an adverse impact on our environment. Cow’s milk is not left out of the hazard. Data reveals that it has three times the impact of soy milk and uses much more land.
This is not to mention the production of methane - a harmful gas from cows. Cows also require feeds, which take up more resources. Overall, cow's milk isn’t the best type of milk for our environment. You can replace them with other plant-based options like oat and hazelnut milk.
Rice and other types of cereal are a staple food for more than half of the world’s population. And while they are plant-based foods, they harm our environment. Rice fields release significant quantities of methane. According to research, we can link rice production1 up to 11% of the global methane emissions.
This makes rice production the largest producer of human methane, moving ahead of livestock production. Other cereals like corn and flour products also consume lots of resources like water and can also have an effect on plant biodiversity if not properly cultivated.
Yes, even our chocolate has a negative impact on the environment. While not many people eat large amounts of chocolate daily, dark chocolate has a significant carbon footprint on cocoa production, which consumes lots of resources like water, putting more strain on our natural ecosystem.
Deforestation, child labor, and biodiversity loss are effects of cocoa production used in making chocolates.
In addition, chocolate goes through several processes, including roasting, fermentation, grinding, adding milk, sugar, and vegetables, and other processes that contribute to increasing the environmental impact of chocolates.
On the bright side, a few chocolate brands, like Beyond Good and Theo Chocolate, use Fair Trade-certified cocoa.
Let’s talk about bananas. So, while bananas as a fruit don’t have as much environmental impact, the movement of bananas across countries worldwide has a significant environmental impact.
Most people eat bananas, and as a result of increased consumption, leading countries of bananas like the Philippines and Costa Rica export lots of bananas to Europe.
Sadly, these bananas and even other fruits and vegetables travel many miles before they reach a local grocery store in Europe. This process releases carbon emissions into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
Soybeans are another plant-based food that falls on our list of some of the worst foods for our environment. Farmers grow tons of soybeans, which largely go into producing soybean oil, livestock feed, and soy foods, including tofu and soy milk.
Soybeans mainly grow in Latin America, and the high demand has led to deforestation. Also, during the production of the oil, manufacturers use chemicals that cause pollution and also release harmful gases.
Vegetables like cabbages, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower have less environmental footprint than animal products like eggs. Leafy greens like spinach and kale are also great for the planet and you.
Experts consider them one of the most sustainable foods on the market. These vegetables also require less resources to produce large quantities, making them good for the planet.
Apart from leafy greens, vegetable-like fruits are also great both for the environment and for you. They contain high levels of carbohydrates and water when compared to greens. They also have high fiber and vitamin C.
These types of fruits grow in warm climates, and you can eat them in various forms. Some examples of fruit vegetables include tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, etc. Apart from these types of fruits, citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and grapes have a low impact, making them great for our environment.
Tubers are high in carbohydrates and are great sources of energy. You can eat them in diverse forms. You can boil, bake, or mash them. A common type of tuber is potato. Tubers grow downwards and anchor the plant into the ground.
In the ground, they absorb nutrients used during the drier months or in winter. Other examples of tubers include Ube or purple yam, Lotus root, Yam bean root, etc.
Edible mushrooms are the fleshy fruit bodies of numerous species of macrofungi (fungi that bear fruiting structures large enough to be seen with the naked eye). Edibility may be defined by criteria including the absence of poisonous effects on humans and desirable taste and aroma. Mushrooms that have a particularly desirable taste are described as "choice". Edible mushrooms are consumed for their nutritional and culinary value. Mushrooms, especially dried shiitake, are sources of umami flavor.
A wide variety of edible mushrooms being sold by a vendor in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala
To ensure safety, wild mushrooms must be correctly identified before their edibility can be assumed. Deadly poisonous mushrooms that are frequently confused with edible mushrooms include several species of the genus Amanita, particularly A. phalloides, the death cap. Some mushrooms that are edible for most people can cause allergic reactions in others; old or improperly stored specimens can go rancid and cause food poisoning.[1] Additionally, mushrooms can absorb chemicals within polluted locations, accumulating pollutants and heavy metals including arsenic and iron—sometimes in lethal concentrations.
Several varieties of fungi contain psychedelic compounds—the magic mushrooms—while variously resembling non-psychoactive species. The most commonly consumed for recreational use are Amanita muscaria (the fly agaric) and Psilocybe cubensis, with the former containing alkaloids such as muscimol and the latter predominately psilocybin.
Edible mushrooms include many fungal species that are either harvested wild or cultivated. Easily cultivated and common wild mushrooms are often available in markets; those that are more difficult to obtain (such as the prized truffle, matsutake, and morel) may be collected on a smaller scale and are sometimes available at farmers' markets or other local grocers. Despite long-term use in folk medicine, there is no scientific evidence that consuming "medicinal mushrooms" cures or lowers the risk of human diseases.
One interesting fact about ladybugs is that not all are red with black spots. There are about 6,000 species of ladybugs worldwide, spread across various areas.
Generally, the most common ladybug or lady beetle is the one with red and black hues. This is the seven-spotted ladybug, a native species to Europe. Apart from the seven spotted ladybugs and seven spotted lady beetle, you'll also find ladybugs in nearly all bright colors of the rainbow. We have red and black beetles and some ladybugs in pink, orange, brown, yellow, and black hues.
The ladybug’s body can also be an ashy gray or dull brown color. Apart from differences in ladybug hues, their patterns also vary. Spotted ladybugs tend to be the most popular. However, some of these insects have stripes, while others have no pattern at all.
This one is rather an unusual fact; however, have you ever wondered where the ‘lady’ comes from in their name? We can trace this to the legend of the Middle Ages.
According to the story, European crops were plagued by pests during this period. Due to this unforeseen incident, the farmers began praying to the blessed lady, Virgin Mary, to save their crops.
Soon after, they began seeing beneficial ladybugs and noticed their crops were saved. The ladybugs were eating all the aphids and other damaging insect species. Rooted in gratitude, the farmers started referring to these beetles or insect-eating birds as “our lady’s birds” or “our lady’s beetles.” In Germany, people refer to them as Marienkafer, meaning Mary beetles.
Read more about what people have to say about these intriguing little insects in our list of ladybug quotes.
It’s easy to imagine a baby ladybug resembling an adult one, only in a smaller and cuter form. However, you may not know that these odd creatures take on a different shape altogether.
When they hatch out of the eggs, ladybug larvae resemble miniature alligators. Like alligators, they have spiny bodies and long, pointed abdomens. They also possess legs that protrude from their sides. During this period, the larvae consume a lot of aphids for their growth and development. This stage precedes the pupa stage, which precedes the development into adulthood.
The spots on a ladybug aren't only for beautification purposes. They also serve as a warning to predators, thereby protecting the insect from predation.
The bright colors and spots warn would-be predators that the insect is toxic and tastes horrible.
Apart from their colors, another one of the ladybug defenses is the foul-smelling blood they emit. This yellow liquid comes from their leg joints, leaving yellow stains on the surface below. This liquid is toxic to various ladybug predators, protecting these little creatures from harm as predators avoid the seemingly sickly beetle. They also have a third defense mechanism, which is to play dead.
Since the ladybug feeds on aphids and other plant-feeding insect types, many farmers try to incorporate them on their land as pest control. As stated earlier, a ladybug can consume as many as 5000 insect types in its lifetime. This natural diet serves many farm and garden areas since they serve as predators of pests that damage plants.
The Western Lowland Gorilla is the nominate subspecies of the Western Gorillas found in Cameroon and other parts of Central Africa. It is also the smallest of the four subspecies.
This type of gorilla has black skin and coarse black hair except for the bare face, ears, hands, and feet. Notably, Snowflake, the unique albino gorilla from Equatorial Guinea, hailed from this species. Taken as a youngster to the Barcelona Zoo in 1966, Snowflake's pale form intrigued the world.
Contrary to previous beliefs that gorillas were non-territorial, studies have shown that their neighbors' locations influence their movements. They demonstrate a preference against feeding in areas visited by another group the same day, indicating a more nuanced territorial behavior4.
Interestingly, Western Lowland Gorillas show signs of tool use. A recorded instance in 2009 reveals a gorilla using a stick to gauge water depth while another used a bucket to collect water at Buffalo Zoological Gardens. This display of spontaneous tool utilization for drinking, particularly among younger females, provides a unique glimpse into gorilla cognition.
Lastly, a serious concern with western lowland gorillas is their link to zoonotic diseases. Scientists believe them to be one of the sources of HIV/AIDS transmission. This is attributed to the Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in gorillas, which surprisingly resembles a strain present in HIV-1.
