Tomorrow

Smart City

Talk about sustainable urban planning: A Milan-based architecture firm has proposed a remarkable green development — 100% food and energy self-sufficient — on the 1,375-acre site of a sand quarry in Cancun, Mexico. The outside-the-box, planet-friendly concept would replace plans...
Community

Home Grown

Local farms not only supply the freshest food — they’re part of an economic juggernaut. According to a recent report from the state comptroller, New York’s family farms generated $5.7 billion in revenue in 2017 and provided jobs for 55,000...
FLAGSHIPS OF THE FUTURE
Tomorrow

Shipshape Energy

Shipping, which transports 90 percent of the world’s globally traded goods, accounts for 3% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. This may not seem like much until you calculate that it amounts to more than 1.5 billion metric tons. (A full-grown...
Eastern Yellow Robin
Monitor

For the Birds

You may already have heard about this staggering conclusion of a recent study — over the last half century, some 25 percent of birds in North America have vanished. Those hardest hit have been birds that depend on grasslands —...
Monitor

Nature Prescription

For the last year, doctors on Scotland’s Shetland Islands have been given the OK to treat patients with nature. The idea for these “green prescriptions” — whether going for a walk, beachcombing or birdwatching — takes its cue from the...
TERA
Tomorrow

Interplanetary Living

AI SpaceFactory, a self-described “multi-planetary architectural and technology design agency,” received funding from NASA to develop a prototype residence for life on Mars. Now they’ve set their sights closer to home. Relying on the same technology and concern for sustainability...
Solar Wind
Tomorrow

Bridging the Future

Achieving the Cuomo administration’s ambitious goal to produce all electricity from non-carbon sources by 2040 will require lots of ingenuity.
Nfamara Badjie working in his rice farm (photo by John Munson, courtesy of Cornell University)
Monitor

African Transplanting

Farmer Nfamara Badjie is trying something that hasn’t been done in the Hudson Valley in more than 180 years — growing rice. While Henry Warner failed in his attempt to establish rice paddies in Constitution Marsh in the 1830s, Badjie...
peregrine falcons
Monitor

Bird’s-eye View

In addition to facilitating travel across the Hudson River’s Tappan Zee, the New NY Bridge offers a seasonal home to peregrine falcons. The state Thruway Authority provided a nest box for a couple of the endangered birds to raise their...
Studio Sunggi Park
Tomorrow

Solar Plex

One of the biggest drawbacks to embracing solar energy in valley communities: Many residents find the panels unattractive. But they don’t have to be. In fact, designers have begun turning solar arrays into works of art — providing inspiration along...