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#sustainability

63 posts55 participants0 posts today
Public
daieno bika

Yesterday was a good day for cutting willow stakes and stabbing them back into the ground. So I spent four and a half hours doing so, and accomplished this!

It’s maybe 20 feet of #fedge that will eventually become an actual hedge to fence in the horses.

For now it needs protection in the form of an electric fence to keep them from chewing off all the growing parts before it gets established. It will take me multiple seasons to extend it all the way to where I need it to go.

Why do this instead of building more board fencing, you ask? (No one asked. I’m going to tell you anyway.) Well, the land our rural co-op exists on is very hilly, which means some parts are high and dry - great for putting posts in the ground and having them last for decades - and some parts are low and soggy - terrible for putting fence posts in because they will rot. Also, board fencing can be pricey, even if we’re doing all the work to install it ourselves.

But we still need fencing in those areas to keep the ponies contained. I don’t like using electric fencing for perimeter fencing. I want a real physical barrier that won’t suddenly stop working when it’s icy, snowy, the charger isn’t working, etc etc. I also don’t super like having the horses get shocked. Which does happen to poor Henry sometimes, because he can’t see very well and doesn’t always register that the fence is there before he walks into it, and then he gets a nasty surprise. There are things I can do to mitigate each of these problems, but… long term, I want to reduce the use of the zappy fence as much as possible.

Luckily, willow will grow into a nice coppiced thicket with a bit of encouragement, and we have lots of it growing here! I can cut whips from right nearby and use them to build living fencing that will benefit more creatures of our landscape than just the horses, and it doesn’t even damage the areas I harvest from because they’ll sprout right back up with even more stems. I think this is so cool. I can hardly wait to see it sprouting once the weather warms up a bit more!

I’m also looking forward to getting my hands on Paul Lamb’s new book, Of Thorn & Briar, about the craft of hedge laying in the UK. This willow weaving thing I’m doing isn’t quite that, but it’s not entirely dissimilar, either.

A line of criss-crossed willow stems that starts at the corner of the board fence in the right side of the image and goes most of the way to the left side. The inside of the field and one horse are visible beyond the willow project. A set of bright green loppers is lying on the ground to the left.
The fedge from the other side, and from a closer view. You can see that I'm doing a simple pattern, and it's not all that tidy. The diamond shapes made by the crossed stems are all different sizes. But the goal is for it to be sturdy as it grows in, not for it to look like a formal garden. Thus, I am proud of my chaos-weaving.
#hedge#OfThornAndBriar#HedgeLaying
Public
obrhoff

I had a wallet made out of leather that lasted for more than 15 years for me. I replaced it with one made out of paper, which was produced in an ecologically friendly way, but it is already falling apart after 2 years.

Maybe it’s because quality went to shit with textiles, but you can’t tell me that’s more sustainable for the environment to replace things so often because they break faster.
#sustainability

Public
Calishat

#wind #WindTurbines #recycling #sustainability

'A new method to recycle wind turbine blades without using harsh chemicals resulted in the recovery of high-strength glass fibers and resins that allowed Washington State University researchers to re-purpose the materials to create stronger plastics.

The innovation provides a simple and environmentally friendly way to recycle wind turbine blades to create useful products.'

news.wsu.edu/press-release/202

Public
Paula Borchardt

Instead of going to a Hands Off protest tomorrow I'm resisting consumerism & supporting our environment by donating lots of stuff to Zero Waste Tucson, a community-driven movement that aims to promote sustainable consumption & production practices. Donated items are reused/repaired/refurbished/resold/recycled, helping our circular economy.

tucsonzerowaste.com/

Tucson Zero WasteHOME | Tucson Zero WasteZero Waste is a FREE community event in Tucson to promote sustainable consumption, recycling, and resusing of good.
#HandsOff#HandsOff2025#USPolitics
Public
ResearchBuzz: Firehose

University of Texas at Dallas: Researchers’ 3D-Printing Formula May Transform Future of Foam. “From seat cushions to mattresses to insulation, foam is everywhere — even if we don’t always see it. Now, researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have fused chemistry with technology to create a 3D-printed foam that is more durable and more recyclable than the polymer foam found in […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/04/university-of-texas-at-dallas-researchers-3d-printing-formula-may-transform-future-of-foam/

#3dprinting#3dprintingmaterials#foam
Public *
Gauthier Roussilhe

After silicon and neon, I've looked at the industrial processes to produce ultra-pure gold (≥99.99%) mainly for semiconductors industry. As gold bullions mostly need to be 99.99% to be sold as investement, little to no extra footprint or processes to produce ultra-pure gold for semiconductors. Anyway, gold is already one of the most polluting element to extract and refine. On the bright side I keep learning a lot about industrial ecology.

Poster of gold extraction and refining
#sts#gold#sustainability
Public
Open Risk

#publicprocurement is readily recognized as a catalyst for the #sustainability transition (so-called GPP) but thats where the easy part ends.

#opensource tools and #opendata can remove some of the frictions.

In a white paper we sketch the overall workflows involved in sustainable portfolio management and focus in the first instance on the attribution of GHG emissions to procurement contracts.

openriskmanagement.com/sustain

Schematic representation of the procurement contract lifecycle in a portfolio management context. Multiple procurement activities are depicted as nodes in a flow diagram, progressing from the pre-award phase to post-award.
Public
Niels de Winter

Yesterday we heard that our Faculty Board Betascience @vuamsterdam decided to terminate our department of Earth Sciences wholesale because they believe lab-based science is "too expensive", closing one of the two broad Earth Science departments left in the Netherlands. It's a sad day for #science and #sustainability research...

vu.nl/en/news/2025/proposed-pl

Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamProposed plan for the reorganisation of the Department of Earth Sciences - Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamIn the coming years, the Faculty of Science of VU Amsterdam aims to focus on climate and earth in the age of human impact.
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