Sustainability

There are only 51 Rice’s whales left on Earth. They live exclusively in the Gulf of Mexico — that’s their whole world. Today, the Trump administration’s “God Squad” voted to strip their Endangered Species Act protections so oil drilling could proceed unobstructed. No energy company even asked for this.

That would be devastating if those whales are gone. No more whale watching. Can you imagine that?

As one law professor put it:

“If Trump is successful here, he could be the first person in history to knowingly extirpate a species from the face of the earth.”

New research finds the U.S. has caused roughly $10 trillion in global climate damage through its emissions since 1990 — more than any other country. The bill is real. The tab keeps growing. And we’re still arguing about whether it’s a problem.

Donald Trump has accelerated this abrogation, however, withdrawing the US from a loss and damage fund set to up aid vulnerable countries, as well as removing the country from global climate treaties, urging a “drill, baby, drill” approach to oil and gas extraction, and taking extraordinary measures to hobble domestic clean energy projects.

Paris spent a decade ripping out car lanes and replacing them with 550km of bike paths, pedestrian squares, and actual trees — one of the most ambitious urban transformations on the planet. The results are real. Amazing! The hard part now is keeping that momentum going after Hidalgo leaves office.

OK so what if we could solve two problems at once — plastic pollution & crumbling roads? Researchers are mixing recycled plastic into asphalt. It actually works. Stronger roads, fewer potholes, survives 100°F+ heat. Texas already has a test mile. Wild, right?

Photo by Chris Dreyer on Unsplash

Here’s something wild: an old Texas coal mine is now a garden feeding 3,000 people a year. The Dewey Prairie Garden near Jewett grows 10,000 pounds of produce for local food pantries—turning land that once powered plants into something that actually nourishes families. Pretty cool redemption story.

So I've been reading about some random stuff lately, and these things have been sitting in my head for a while. You know how it is—you start with skyscrapers covered in forests, end up at the grocery store aisle, and somehow land on Bambi, of all things.

Anyway, figured I’d share. You might find them interesting too.

Buildings with actual forests on them

I love buildings covered in greenery. Walls, balconies, entire facades—just filled with plants. It’s brilliant. I’m a total black thumb—I can kill a cactus—but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating it. I grew up in an Appalachian town surrounded by trees. I’d sit for hours just looking at all that green. There’s something calming about it. Give me a good book and a spot under some trees, and I’m happy. So, when I discovered skyscrapers with literal forests growing on them? I was hooked.