full transcript:

from unclean air hovering over cities to unhealthy smoke in homes, air pollution continues to put human health and climate on the line. cameroon, popularly referred to as africa in miniature, is reputed for its geographical and cultural diversity, especially when it comes to traditional meals. for most cameroonians, the three stone fireside method of cooking transcends just making food. it speaks to generational cultures and bonds built over moonlight folklore and folktales of their shared history.

but, for the longest time, the process of preparing these meals has been largely powered by biomass fuels, made possible by the cutting down of trees. the health challenges associated with exposure to these cooking methods cannot be undermined as about 3.2 million worldwide deaths in 2020 were attributed to household air pollution, according to the world health organization. despite these health consequences, most people across sub-saharan africa still cannot afford clean cooking technologies.

aisata ibamie is a young renewable energy engineer, innovative clean energy activist, and a mandela washington fellow (mwf) from logone, a charey village in the far north region of cameroon, and she has had first-hand experience with the challenges of cooking in the country. (in full disclosure, mwf is where this author first met ibamie.) growing up in a rural community, fetching firewood for cooking was one of her least favorite chores –– a routine she shares with more than 70% of cameroonians who still do not have access to clean cooking technologies, as revealed by the world bank. 

driven by curiosity, ibamie’s rare passion and determination to change this narrative for cameroonians led to her creation of an energy efficient and affordable cooker: a cordless, portable, and non-electric bag made from cotton. ibamie hopes the asaab thermal cooker will go a long way to reduce deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions.

“if i want to cook red beans for example, it often takes us two to three hours with firewood or gas. with the thermal cooker, you need just 15 minutes of gas or firewood to boil it, take it off and place in the asaab thermal cooker and close. after 3 hours, it is ready. rice is just 25 minutes on the cooker after heating on any classical fire for 3 minutes. you can leave the food in the cooker for up to 10 hours and it will still be hot when you get back. our customers testify that they are preparing red beans, meat, and others. this is a way for the woman to be free. we have natural and artificial carbon footprints. using the asaab thermal cooker reduces co2.”

the tragic and avoidable chronic illnesses from unhealthy cookstoves continue to put women and girls at the most vulnerable positions as they often stand at the frontline of gathering fuels and preparing meals. to ibamie, providing the thermal cooker solution will not only save lives and the climate, but go a long way to address gender inequalities and promote girl child education in cameroon. 

“one of the motivations for the asaab thermal cooker is that i come from the far north region of cameroon, where women are often marginalized. so they don’t really go to school as they are are expected to take care of the family and not supposed to be educated in school. every time they are cooking — for up to three times per day. always cooking, so they don’t have to go anywhere because they are controlling food. for me, it was a way to give them a chance to take care of the family and also go to school, do business, or go on vacation if they want to. in fact, to be free of always going to the kitchen every time.”

a recent research publication in the pan african medical journal found that indoor pollution already kills about 7,000 people in cameroon annually. considering the numerous kitchen accidents recorded from cooking appliances, ibamie designed the asaab thermal cooker with user-safety in mind.

“i was thinking about safety. i wanted something light that customers would not need too much (experience) to use. the asaab thermal cooker is very safe to use as you don’t have to plug into current or put in the sun before using. it is very simple to use. even your children can come back from school, open it, and serve themselves easily — unlike gas, where you maybe worried that they are exposed to fire, which is very dangerous for the household.”

as the number of internally displaced women and girls continue to rise in cameroon due to security concerns such as the ongoing anglophone crisis in the northwest and southwest regions, and the boko haram insurgency in the northern regions of the country, ibamie believes the thermal cooker could not be more timely.

“the cooker is a blessing for displaced women because they are never stable. they are always moving from one place to another, so it is easy to handle. it is very light. it is less than three kilograms (approximately 6.5 pounds) and you can pack it in a handbag and you go anywhere you want to go with. i can say it is very practical.”

as an emerging young african leader, participating in the 2022 mandela washington fellowship at the university of reno, nevada, served as an opportunity to scale her business by expanding to new markets.

“i met fellows that i can work together with, in the same areas like cooking and climate change and thermal energy efficiency. so yes, i really met people and made customers who brought me other customers, so i have to ship asaab thermal cookers to the u.s.”

by helping to reduce the cutting of trees, ibamie is contributing to one of the focal points of the united nations environmental program (unep), which is to achieve a significant reduction in deforestation while boosting agricultural productivity. it also aligns nicely with one of the resolutions of the climate pact during the 26th edition of the united nations conference of parties in glasgow (cop26 glasgow climate pact), which hammered on the protection, conservation, and restoration of natural ecosystems such as forests.

according to project drawdown, if global adoption of clean cookstoves grows to 16% by 2050, 15.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced. as the world prepares to unite for the 27th u.n. conference in egypt to reflect on the progress with pledges and commitments to accelerate global actions in the climate fight, ibamie hopes that access to clean cooking will give climate delegates food for thought.

—

[editor’s note: this transcript was edited for clarity.]

washington — changes to the environmental protection agency’s renewable fuel standard program could lead to wide-ranging economic impacts like increased gas prices and shutdowns of small refineries, experts told lawmakers during a senate environment and public works committee hearing on wednesday.

“if we proceed with a(n) (epa) mandate, we prohibit innovation and alternatives to come forward,” said lucian pugliaresi, president of the energy policy research foundation. “everyone who wants to proceed with these exotic fuels of the future should keep in mind that i don’t believe that the american people will react very positively if we go into a period of sustained, high gasoline prices.”

lawmakers heard from several stakeholders, including members of the biofuel industry and a lawyer who represents small oil refineries, about their experiences with the epa’s rfs program. the rfs, first established in 2005, sets guidelines for the amount of biofuels required to be blended with fossil fuels each year. the epa recently announced new volume requirements for 2020, 2021 and 2022 in december. 

wednesday’s hearing marked the first time since 2016 that the committee re-examined the program — a gap that “speaks to the intricacies of the program,” according to ranking member shelley moore capito, r-w.va.

“the potential fault lines between opponents, supporters and would-be reformers don’t always align between one party or another,” capito said. 

both experts and lawmakers expressed concern about how epa policies might impact fuel costs, particularly in light of american prices hitting their highest level in eight years. emily skor, ceo of growth energy, said challenges toward epa policies have been one cause of higher fuel prices. the d.c. circuit court of appeals’ july 2021 decision to vacate the epa’s policy of year-round sale of e15, a gasoline mixed with ethanol, has been impactful as well, skor said.

“undermining the rfs and delaying the rollout of e15 means increasing gas prices for american consumers,” skor said. “gas prices are driven by the price of crude — not the cost of the rfs.”

pugliaresi disagreed with skor’s interpretation. while crude oil costs are contributing to overall higher fuel prices, he pointed to an analysis indicating that the epa’s rfs policies contribute an additional 30 cents per gallon to gas prices. 

on feb. 7, democratic members of the house biofuels caucus wrote to epa administrator michael regan in support of the updated rfs guidelines proposed in december, including the new volume targets and denial of economic hardship relief for 65 small refineries. 

during wednesday’s hearing, however, senate republicans said they were concerned about these changes, particularly regarding the refineries. 

“this unprecedented and drastic step to propose a blanket denial of outstanding small refinery hardship petitions is especially puzzling as we see increasing gas prices and several small refinery closures around the nation, eliminating good-paying jobs in some of our rural communities as well,” capito said.

some panelists said one solution could be allowing several types of biofuel to compete on the open market, giving consumers a greater number of choices. pugliaresi called for both greater market competition and greater research into biofuels with “substantial long-term public benefits.”

skor echoed pugliaresi’s calls for consumer choice, saying she was disappointed with the d.c. circuit court of appeals’ july 2021 decision, which will pull e15 fuel off the market in june and leave buyers with less options.

“consumers do need choices,” skor said. “they need options at the pump… when it comes to competition, as we all pursue lower-carbon intense energy, that’s very important. and critical to that is making sure that the modeling, the incentives, the performance standards are technology-neutral. in this country, let the best win, right?”

united airlines offers a quick fix to neutralize your carbon emissions for a trip from chicago to los angeles and back: $4.60 in carbon offsets. 

the round-trip economy ticket costs approximately $200, and the flights emit somewhere in the range of 0.46 to 1.19 tons of carbon dioxide, as much as 20% of the carbon emitted by the average person across the globe annually and 6% for the average american, according to our world in data, an online scientific database and publication.

carbon offsets are monetary investments into global projects that reduce carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to counterbalance one’s emissions. these projects can range from a tree planting program in kenya to a landfill gas capture in ohio, according to terrapass, an offset program.

however, the offsets for the same flights could actually cost upwards of $20 with different agencies, according to estimates from other offset calculating websites such as atmosfair and myclimate. the difference could be due to the type of offset, its quality or its social impact—but it also raises questions on the consumers’ end.

yet what’s more concerning is united’s offsets are “not even real” in taking carbon directly from the flight out of the air, noted united ceo scott kirby in a capa meeting in march 2021. instead of banking on carbon offsets, united will focus on making air travel itself become carbon neutral, said united spokesperson rachael rivas. 

carbon offsets have grown in popularity, especially as a means to make up for commercial air travel, which releases more than 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to our world in data.

the decades-long increase in aviation carbon dioxide emissions corresponds to skyrocketing air travel. even though the total carbon dioxide emitted from aviation is growing, the relative proportion of global carbon dioxide emissions from air travel has remained steady.

improvements in aircraft fuel efficiency have allowed carbon dioxide emissions per passenger to plummet since the 1950s, when air travel began to boom. per traveler carbon emissions have fallen to half of what they were 20 years ago due to more fuel-efficient planes, according to the international air transport association (iata). the wider introduction of biofuels will allow the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger to shrink more.

“this is something that we can do to begin mitigating some of the damage that’s already been done, just to reduce some of the additional influx and emissions that we’re likely to see in the next 20, 30, 40 years and begin to start solving the problem,” said pat brewer, a senior analyst at green-e, a third-party company that checks offset certification methods. “it’s definitely not open-heart surgery [for climate change]. but i would argue it’s maybe a little bit more than a band-aid.”

carbon offset programs can be part of the compliance market or voluntary purchases.

government authorities mandate compliance programs, also known as cap-and-trade, and allow polluting companies to meet greenhouse gas emissions regulations by offsetting in another arena, said brewer. 

voluntary offset programs let individuals and companies make the choice to purchase offsets to account for their own carbon emissions, said brewer. offsets airlines sell to customers or that travelers buy independently fall into the voluntary category.

about 10% of americans have purchased carbon offsets, and more than half would consider purchasing them in the future, according to a survey of people who believe their carbon emissions affect climate change by ipsos, a global market research firm. 

carbon offsets encounter criticism from both a philosophical and a physical perspective.

philosophical objections to carbon offsets include allowing polluting companies to continue their practices while “greenwashing,” the lack of a long-term solution for polluting and the way in which offsets can serve as a “modern indulgence” for carbon-emitting consumers, according to the carbon offset guide. 

on a physical level, countless investigations have exposed the impacts of carbon offset programs. scandals range from projects displacing indigenous peoples, said sarah milne of the australian national university, to carbon certificates being awarded for projects planting non-existent trees, according to a report from the new england center for investigative reporting.

another criticism of carbon offsets is their inaccuracy, both in quantifying how much carbon one’s actions emitted and in assigning a dollar value to offset. 

differences in carbon offset prices are due to the nature of the programs. offsets such as methane capture are inherently cheaper (and are often bought in bulk by airlines) than projects such as cleaning cooking stoves in southeast asia, which have added health and social justice benefits, said brewer. despite flaws in numerical accuracy calculating carbon emissions and reduction, carbon offsets are still the best solution at the present, he said.

across the carbon emissions calculators, there was a range of potential carbon footprints on a round-trip economy ticket from o’hare international airport to los angeles international airport. the differences in estimates might be due to inaccurate aircraft types used in calculations, according to a quartz article. another explanation could be aircraft emissions are more potent in the sky than on the ground and calculators accounting for that theory differently, according to the united states general accounting office. 

the same round-trip flight yielded different results in how much one should pay in offsets, with united’s partner conservation international the lowest. some of the differences in prices are due to the conflicting estimates of carbon dioxide emitted. other price differences are due to the types of offsets themselves and their quality. carbon footprint and flygrn both provide a range for carbon offset prices, and the average price from the range is provided in the chart.

the best carbon offset projects are independently certified by companies that set their own standards. offset projects can pay a fee to join certification programs, whereby third-party auditors then assess the projects to see if they meet the program’s criteria, said robin rix, chief policy and markets officer at verra, an offset-certifying program. 

the certifiers green-e endorses are gold standard, american carbon registry, verra and climate action reserve, said brewer. green-e provides another level of protection by checking the methods those certifiers used to quantify the carbon offset projects in the first place, he said. 

in the same way a food bank doesn’t hope to operate forever, verra hopes to be out of business by 2050, said rix. a world where offsets are no longer needed is the ultimate goal, but offsets provide a necessary bridge, he said.

“the reality is, if we were to get down to that level [of net-zero emissions] right now, overnight, it would be, frankly, economically destructive, disastrous. and it would be socially chaotic. we’re talking mass unemployment. we’re talking about mass disruption. it’s just not something that the world can do overnight. and so we do see offsetting as a way to enable that transition to be made in a way while preserving environmental integrity,” said rix.

at the verra-certified rimba raya biodiversity reserve, initiatives include an orangutan release site (which the pictured path leads to), fire fighting brigades and fuel-efficient cookstoves distribution. the reserve, located in central kalimantan, indonesia, is a reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (redd+) project.

at the verra-certified alto mayo protected forest in san martin and amazonas, peru, community workers rescue, cultivate and eventually sell orchids from coffee plantations. the forest is also part of a redd+ project.

voluntary market experts anticipate a boom in international carbon offset demand as countries work to achieve their goals laid out in the 2015 paris agreement and as companies work to reach their net-zero carbon promises, said brewer. 

airlines such as delta, jetblue and united have partnered with carbon offsetting organizations and make up a large sector of the voluntary market. delta has purchased more than 12 million voluntary carbon offsets since 2013, according to its website. jetblue began automatically offsetting domestic flights in july 2020, according to a press release. united is a partner with conservation international but is also investing in a broad range of strategies to limit emissions including biofuels and carbon sequestration, according to its environmental commitment. 

corsia, the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation, is the next step for the airline industry. organized by the international civil aviation organization (icao), the scheme works to prohibit international aviation emissions from exceeding its 2020 levels, leading airlines to buy offsets to negate their excess emissions, according to the european union aviation safety agency. the vast majority of countries will participate by 2027, increasing demand in the offset market, according to icao.

“there’s a role for offsets. they just need to be as strong and certified and verified as possible,” said theodore rolfvondenbaumen, a communications manager for neste, a leading producer in sustainable aviation fuel. “but at the same time, they cannot be treated as an excuse to keep burning fossil fuels.”

beyond carbon offsets, the airline industry’s long-term sustainability goals involve transitions to biofuels, hydrogen fuel cell aircraft and, ultimately, electric aircraft.

alternatives to jet fuel are in the works, with biofuels in the beginning stages of its implementation. until wider administration of these new technologies, carbon offsets remain a solution to negate emissions from traditional aviation and to prevent airlines’ net emissions from exceeding 2020 levels.

consumers must weigh the social cost versus their private benefit when deciding to fly, said mark witte, a northwestern university economics professor. “if what you end up paying for the trip included the environmental damage, you’d probably be less likely to make the trip,” said witte. “there’s a certain lack of justice in that. people really rich can be like, ‘oh, well, i don’t care.’ and, a lot of other people like, ‘well, my mother’s really ill. i’d like to see her one last time. but i can’t afford it.’”

the bottom line is aviation emits a lot of carbon despite real progress and promising technological developments in the industry. as for your planned trip to california next month, carbon offsets provide a short-term solution for unavoidable carbon emissions. but consumers need to reduce what they can and offset what they can’t, said brewer.

“i’ve never met someone who has had a zero-emissions life. everyone has some emissions in their lives, even if it’s their bicycle. that aluminum comes from somewhere. the rubber comes from somewhere,” said rix. “and so i think anything that anyone can do to neutralize or to address their sources of emissions is a good thing.

walking through stockholm in the early evening, it is nearly impossible to avoid the herds of bikes that come barreling down the roads, traveling in swift fleets each weeknight. rush hour in this city is in stark contrast to rush hour in other cities such as new york and los angeles, as cars drift easily down the street, obstructed by bikers and pedestrians instead of by thousands of other cars. this can be attributed to a multitude of factors, such as sweden’s effective public transportation, swedes’ preference for biking as a more active mode of transportation, or the cost-effective nature of avoiding car ownership. one common goal, however, unites swedes in their quest to avoid fossil fuel-powered vehicles: the desire to diminish carbon emissions. in fact, stockholm plans to be fossil fuel free by 2040.

this goal comes with strong motivation, as reuters reports that in 2018 humans added 33.1 billion tons of carbon into the air, 14% of which came from transportation according to the epa. carbon emissions are responsible for 64% of global climate change, the european commission reports, as they contribute to the greenhouse effect which warms the planet. this means that decreasing the amount of fossil fuels that we burn each year could have an immensely positive impact on the global climate crisis.

stockholm is on track to achieve a maximum of 2.3 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents emitted per resident in 2020, according to a strategy report prepared by the city. reports from the world bank show that in 2016 — the most recent year available — the u.s. produced 15.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per capita, while all of sweden was at just 4.4 tons.

my classmates and i were first introduced to stockholm’s plan to become fossil fuel free by our guide, zennid, on a walking tour around the city. he outlined how the metro system in stockholm is electric and how the public buses run on biofuels. additionally, most car owners power their vehicles with electricity or biofuels. one challenge that he identified was making this work for tourism, as large tour buses and cruise ships that bring people to stockholm are still powered by fossil fuels.

the determination of the swedes to reduce their fossil fuel emissions was tangible in the amount of people biking, walking, and taking the train around the city. i was shocked when another tour guide who showed us around a sustainable living development at the royal seaport told me that she refuses to travel in vehicles powered by fossil fuels. i was shocked by this statement, as completely avoiding fossil fuels has never been something that i could even dream of achieving. to get to the grocery store, school, or the train station from my home in rhode island, it is necessary to drive. this could still be fossil fuel-free with the use of an electric or biofuel-powered vehicle, but the lack of affordable and versatile versions of these cars on the market in the u.s. has left my family with classic gas-guzzling american cars.

so this leaves me with the question: is there a future in which americans can avoid fossil fuels as our tour guide could in stockholm?

electric cars

of course, electric and hybrid vehicles have already reached the u.s., the toyota prius and the tesla model 3 being two prominent varieties. while people can charge these cars at home, charging stations in parking spaces have become noticeably popular in sweden, and their implementation in the u.s. could convince more consumers to go electric. a challenge in implementing electric car culture in the u.s. seems to be the looks of electric cars, as most models, such as the toyota prius and the bmw i3, are smaller, less american looking cars. getting over our obsession with large pickup trucks and suvs may be a major hurdle in this transition. even i have trouble with the idea of my family having only small cars, as american road trip culture gives us the ideal of driving down country roads from state to state in a big comfortable car.

biofuel cars

i had always heard that biofuel technology was not efficient, so i was shocked when i heard about its popularity in stockholm. it turns out that biofuel is less expensive than typical fuel in sweden, as diesel costs 16.08 swedish krona per liter — or $1.83 a liter, as of publication time, which is the equivalent of about $7 per gallon. and biodiesel for a truck costs 14.24 krona ($1.62) per liter.

biodiesel, a popular form of biofuel, is made of hydrogenated vegetable oil (hvo), which according to one hvo company is compatible with all diesel engines and “does not release any new carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.” a study published by the proceedings of the national academy of sciences in the u.s. found that “biodiesel yields 93% more” energy than the energy used to manufacture the fuel. moreover, the study found that biofuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 41% when replacing fossil fuels. consumer reports found that using biodiesel works just as well as fossil fuels, but the lack of access to this type of fuel in the u.s. makes it unsuitable for everyday use.

ethanol is another type of biofuel, usually made from corn, that “yields 25% more energy than the energy invested in its production” and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 12%, according to the national academy of sciences report. in the u.s., a mixture of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol is usually used to fuel cars. the u.s. is the world’s top ethanol producer, but as national geographic reports, this fuel is controversial because of the amount of energy necessary for its manufacture.

next steps for the u.s.

overall, stockholm’s fossil fuel free ambitions were noticeable and inspirational. the government and the residents of stockholm are both taking prominent roles in reducing carbon emissions, and i left stockholm with a new understanding of sustainable transportation. i think that the first step to freeing ourselves from fossil-fuel powered transportation is to make the alternatives more accessible. if we can make these alternatives normal, hopefully their economic and environmental advantages will encourage americans to follow in the footsteps of the swedes.

over the past three decades, esf’s willow project has picked up a tremendous amount of steam. its numerous collaborators range from the u.s. department of agriculture to academic institutions to local businesses, and its research scope covers everything from science to economics.

if all goes well, shrub willow could become a key part of rural landscapes and economies, as well as a source of heat, and, looking further ahead, biofuels – all while being completely carbon neutral.

why willow?

shrub willow is a short rotation woody crop used to produce biomass. on a basic level, the plant stores energy from the sun. after harvest, this energy is harnessed by simple burning or conversion into other types of fuel. the fact that it’s a “short rotation” crop means that it can be harvested every three years or so, and can re-sprout from the roots upward of seven times before it requires replanting.

according to this informational video on the project’s website, one acre of a typical harvest contains enough energy to power the average home for a year: 

the willow plant’s consumption of carbon dioxide offsets any emissions put into the atmosphere during planting, processing and transport, making this a truly carbon neutral energy source. because 175 different species of shrub willow are available, mixing varieties in the same field provides resilience to different weather patterns and pests. willow is generally well-suited for the climate in the northern u.s., and is ideal to fill up marginal agricultural land – fields that aren’t high quality enough to be reserved for most food crops.

as esf researchers began to uncover the huge potential willow has for biomass in the region, other invaluable uses for the plant came to light, current project director timothy volk told planet forward. shrub willow can be used as an ecological engineering tool; for example, it makes an excellent roadside snow barrier and can be planted along stream banks to prevent erosion. it also has been shown to support diverse wildlife and an estimated 55 species of important pollinating insects.

in solvay, new york, just down the road from esf’s syracuse campus, willow has proven its value as a bioremediation agent. on the site of an old soda ash factory, hundreds of acres of chemical byproduct had been held in settling basins, causing harmful salts to leach into the local watershed. planting shrub willow on the site has eliminated the problem almost completely: today, the plants absorb most rainwater, and the salts, without water to carry them, stay put. the northeast, volk pointed out, has no shortage of post-industrial sites like these in need of remediation.  

looking ahead

currently, there are about 12,000 acres of shrub willow planted in northern new york, and two wood-fired power plants that utilize it in combination with other plant matter.

still, this energy source has a long way to go to reach its true potential. economically speaking, it’s hard for any source or renewable energy to compete with the low price of fossil fuels. in recent years, this issue has been somewhat alleviated by the usda’s biomass crop assistance program (bcap) which has allowed many farmers to grow shrub willow by partially subsidizing their efforts. this has allowed willow to begin establishing a presence on the rural landscape and in the energy production field.

while shrub willow doesn’t rival the price point of fossil fuels, it does offer one tantalizing advantage: the potential for energy independence and job growth in rural areas. this prospect has been one of the major drivers of funding for the research.

“you’re in essence buying your energy source from your neighbor down the road as opposed to paying someone from another state or country for your source of energy,” volk said.

on a community level, the most feasible place to start using willow biomass is simply burning it to heat community centers, schools, campuses, and the like. but to see willow as a truly lucrative part of the economy on a larger scale, we must extend our gaze a bit farther into the future.

“to make the economics work, we need to get away from making a single product – just heat, or just electricity, or just biofuels – out of any biomass,” volk said.

in addition to energy, wood contains various chemicals, which, if isolated, could be sold at significant value. by breaking the willow down into its components and extracting these chemicals, and then converting the remaining bulk into biofuels, much more monetary value can be gained from the same crop. this process has been completed extensively in lab settings, but industrial-scale facilities, known as “biorefineries,” are only just breaking free of the conceptual stage and are not yet common in the energy industry.

it may seem a distant vision, but with 31 years of study and research already under its belts, suny-esf’s willow biomass team is keeping its sight set firmly on a sustainable future.   

manure, fish bones and charcoal. ancient native farmers in central america recycled these wastes in an intricate system to sustain water resources as well as replenish the land.

they used fire and ashes as a natural way to fertilize their land. with these sustainable systems, the natives developed their complex and diverse farming techniques and expanded the types of crops they cultivated.  these communities received all that they needed to survive from the land, and did as much as they could to make sure they gave back to their environment.

fast-forward to modern day panama, where the eco-town kalu yala strives to attain levels of sustainability like those who laid the groundwork for them in central america thousands of years ago. in a small valley, high up in the mountains, more than 100 members of the kalu yala community of interns and staff have started to establish irrigation systems for fish and water farming systems. they are also testing new crops that can flourish in the jungle’s hot and sticky climate, or during the daily downpour of the several-months-long rainy season. when it comes to sustainability, the members of kalu yala use the eco-town as a living laboratory for the best ways to reduce their carbon footprint and become as self-sustaining as possible. growing their own food and producing their own fuel from organic wastes helps meet that goal.

“we don’t want to be constantly reactive to (fixing) things that are unsustainable,” says rachael maysels, 26, the assistant director of biology, one of several internship programs at kalu yala. “we want to think about it ahead of time and act in advance of our actions so there is room for mistakes.”

in the conversation surrounding sustainability, carbon footprint and carbon emissions are topics that often come up. a person’s carbon footprint measures the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted as waste products due to consumption of materials — particularly fossil fuels.

“we’re not just trying to shoot for being carbon neutral at kalu yala. it’s trying to be carbon negative,” maysels says. “that’s something we can do with reforestation, pruning and turning (the plant matter) into charcoal. there are all these ways to kind of take one step further and it’s more of a proactive approach.”

maysels is helping the eco-town through the production of biochar, one of many ongoing programs that involve the interns that come to kalu yala from across the globe.

“it’s a simple idea and a simple method that can make a really big impact,” maysels explains. “it’s the idea of turning waste plant material, organic material into charcoal through a method of pyrolysis,” or the heating of materials without oxygen.

according to the united states department of agriculture, biochar is thought to have been used as a soil supplement in the amazon basin thousands of years ago. indigenous people created areas of “terra protta,” or “dark earth,” to regenerate fertilized soil for planting. by burying biomass, a combination of burnt wood and other organic materials, deep in the ground, the material heats up under pressure and goes through the process of pyrolysis, the thermodynamic decomposition of organic materials.

“almost like if you have a campfire, what’s left at the end is ash” – and char, maysels says. but when the burning process is buried, “you’re releasing all of the other material except for carbon.” this captures the carbon and prevents it from escaping back into the air, slowing down the release of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. this release prevention negates the carbon footprint that the burning of wastes would generate.

the creation of biochar also has other benefits, such as increasing soil fertility and water retention, as the ancients knew. “this really helps when it comes to the rainy season here,” maysels says. “we want to prevent erosion and hold on to as many nutrients as possible.”

but in the jungle, there are many challenges when it comes to accessing resources to make these experimentations with biochar more elaborate. “having a lot of the resources … to keep you going out here can be tough,” says ryan king, the director of biology at kalu yala.

“we’re trying to switch over everything to renewable energy.” biochar is one of the key ways to do so.  

to jump these hurdles, maysels finds that creativity and her college training in indigenous farming help make the process as simple, yet as effective, as possible.

“initially, my first design was a biochar system that took a lot of materials, which took some specific style hardware that couldn’t easily be found,” maysels says. “i think by setting limitations is when you get creative. restricting the ease of things, your brain starts to work around those obstacles.”

the process comes along with a lot of trial and error, but the community at kalu yala emphasizes learning from mistakes in experimentation. “here, they want you to do as much as you can and be creative, passionate, and make mistakes and keep doing it again,” king says. “having sterile and pristine equipment is definitely needed in certain fields of work, but you can’t control our systems. our earth systems have proven to be a lot more complicated with interacting factors. you have to study it through a different type of ecology.”

since joining the kalu yala staff in january and experimenting with biochar, maysels has combined her background knowledge with new and creative adaptations to progress toward reducing carbon from campfires. one solution involves digging a hole for the fires to hold more carbon in place.

“i graduated college in 2012 and did my field research part of my degree in the himalayas,” maysels says. “on a backpacking trip, i studied indigenous agriculture and high mountain ecology. i got launched into agriculture and since then have been to maybe about 20 countries and worked on maybe 18 farms in those countries, just studying internationally different styles of farming, food systems, small scale techniques, indigenous techniques.”

like the indigenous communities thousands of years before, the kalu yala systems are not perfect on the first try, but they strive to utilize what they can from the environment around them, reusing and replenishing as much as possible. the community members like to say it’s a culture of learning. but the learning at kalu yala would not happen without doing.

at sunrise, maysels heads down the dirt path to the area of campus with a large compost pile and stacks of burnt wood and organic waste ready for her to bury. she starts digging.

by katlyn manka
​planet forward intern/marymount university

a food factory in the uk is taking the term “plant power” to a new level: it runs on potatoes.

uk company 2 sisters food group has joined the race in sustainable energy by converting their factory in carlisle, a city in cumbria, england, into a bio-refinery, allowing the factory to generate power from its own renewable waste. this is part of the company’s strategy to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent and landfill waste production to zero.

the 2 sisters’ bio-refinery uses potato waste from the plant’s mashed potato and pie-manufacturing lines, converting it into electricity via four anaerobic digestion processes, which, when fully operational, will produce the equivalent of the average annual electricity use of about 850 uk homes. anaerobic digestion is the process of allowing organic material to rot in the absence of oxygen, producing a biogas that can then burn cleanly to generate electricity. this is the same process that many groups use for harvesting methane from animal waste. 

the innovative idea of powering a facility by redirecting waste is catching on, but many companies have been using waste as a source of power for years. whiskey distilleries in scotland have been using the waste generated through whiskey production to power thousands of homes since 2011. fittingly, it seems that a wave of sustainable energy focused on the production and use of biofuels will only grow in the coming decades.

the coffee industry also is ambitiously pursuing a solution to a serious waste problem (the wet milling process alone pollutes water 30 to 40 times more than urban sewage) and is adopting methods to successfully transform waste into a valuable resource. advances in biofuel creation from coffee is one prominent focus, but innovations stretch as far as making flour from the pod that the coffee beans grow in.

there are even companies that specialize in the ambitious venture of turning everyday consumer trash into clean energy. one example method burns trash in filtered, pressurized chambers. the heat is used to create steam under the same high pressure conditions, which in turn rotates turbines. the ashes produced are sent to an existing landfill in place of soil cover.

the advantage of generating power from waste is clearly worth the adjustment because it cuts costs and emissions. if the potato powered factory is successful, 2 sisters food group plans to convert all their factories into bio-refineries. it’s even possible that other companies will follow suit, improving alternative energy one potato at a time.

more than 100 elevators on penn state’s campus require hydraulic fluid, which is traditionally petroleum-based and problematic when there’s a sprung leak.

not long ago, the university turned to penn state researcher joe perez, a renowned expert on bio-based fuels and lubricants, to help develop an alternative for the 17,000 gallons of hydraulic fluid used by the school.

now penn state is encouraging other schools to convert to soy-based and showing them how.