ORLANDO, Fla. – Balancing the needs of humans and the natural environment may be our biggest challenge.
As the global population grows beyond 8 billion, we need more space to grow food, build homes and store waste.
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At the same time, our Earth’s climate is changing, warming up faster than any other century.
The Solutionaries team compiled several ways to conserve precious resources and build a more sustainable future for us and generations to come.
Water Less, Save Money
Fresh water.
It is Earth’s most valuable resource, yet, a lot of it goes to waste.
In Florida, we use a lot of water to keep the grass green.
Nationwide, homes use nearly 9 billion gallons of water for landscape irrigation — per day, according to the EPA.
But imagine a home with landscaping that doesn’t need sprinklers.
Turns out, one of Central Florida’s biggest developers is bringing that idea to life while helping people save water and money.
Researchers said anyone can transform their landscape with these native Central Florida plants.
In fact, more big box garden centers are carrying these plants but you need to know what to look for.
Correspondent Erik Sandoval made a list of recommendations for this story here.
Capping Carbon
Let’s be real: planting an oak tree in your backyard will only do so much for the environment.
That’s why the federal government recently proposed new rules for power plant operators across the country to dramatically slash their planet-warming emissions.
One way of doing that is being tested at the National Carbon Capture Center.
Let’s look at how this technology works and why some critics say this is not a climate change solution, but a waste of money.
Putting Waste To Work
Carbon dioxide is only one type of greenhouse gas.
In fact, there is another compound 80 times more powerful in trapping heat in our atmosphere.
It’s called methane and it comes from a variety of natural and human-made sources.
One of them is livestock.
Digestion and waste from cows produce methane and in the U.S., we have a lot of cows.
It’s that science that inspired a group of Central Florida students to embark on a unique project using cow power to create electricity.
The idea of using livestock as a solution to the energy crisis is more than just a classroom science project.
A company in England is already putting this science to work.
Solutionaries has previously explored other ways to recycle and reduce greenhouse gasses. Check out this video about climate anxiety or this video about fixing deforestation.
A new episode of Solutionaries is available every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. on News 6 and on News 6+ for your smart TV (Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV).
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