Bees have already done a host of great services for the human race – they pollinate flowers, cure diseases, and produce honey. Now scientists in Croatia have found another role for the intrepid insect. The country, which is set to join the European Union this July, contains thousands of unexploded landmines left over from the Balkan wars. Researchers at Zagreb University are working towards training honeybees to sniff out these underground weapons over a 750 square-kilometer area where the devices are believed to remain.

Read the rest of Scientists in Croatia Train Honeybees to Detect Landmines

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: balkan war, croatia, dogs, EU, european union, honeybee, landmine, nikola kezic, rats, sugar, tiramisu, tnt, train, zagreb university

Read the rest of The Baker Stove is a Safer, Energy-Efficient Cookstove for the Developing World

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Baker Cookstove, Baker Stove, carbon monoxide, Claesson Koivisto Rune, cookstove, developing world, energy-efficient cookstove, energy-efficient stove, humanitarian design, indoor air pollution, kenya, Recycled aluminum, safer stove, stove, wood-burning stove

Read the rest of BVN Architecture Unveils 3D Puzzle Emergency Shelter at Melbourne Exhibition

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3d dinosaur puzzle, 3d puzzle, bvn architecture, disaster response, disasters, eco design, emergency response, emergency shelter, emergency shelter exhibition, green architecture, Green Building, green design, Melbourne, natural disasters, rapid shelter, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Read the rest of 13 Things We Learned from Some of the World’s Smartest People at Fortune Brainstorm Green 2013

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: adam lashinsky, andy ruben, andy serwer, aron cramer, Bea Perez, Beyond Meat, brian dumaine, brightfarms, Clarence Otis, Coca Cola, coca cola Chief Sustainability Officer, Cynthia Warner, dan akerson, Darden Restaurants, dean kamen, ebay, Fortune, Fortune Brainstorm Green, fortune green, Fortune Magazine, General Mills, geoff colvin, GM, hannah jones, harrison ford conservation international, Harrison Ford harrison ford green, ikea, iPod inventor, jib ellison, Joe Taylor, John Donahoe, Ken Powell, leigh gallagher, linda greer, marc gunther, natalie allen, nest, Nike, NRG, panasonic north america, Patagonia, Peter Seligmann, pk clean, priyanka bakaya, Procter & Gamble, rick ridgeway, Robert McDonald, Rosalind Brewer, Sam's Club, Sapphire Energy, Steve Howard, surepure, teresa law, Tony Fadell, will sarni, Will.i.am, Yerdle

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 2A + P/A, afghanistan, Aga Kahn Award for Architectyre, eco design, Herat, Maria Grazia Cutuli Primary School, n design, sustainable design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 2004 tsunami, 2013 Aga Khan Architecture Award, disaster houses, earth bricks, eco design, fishing village, green design, humanitarian design, indian ocean, local labor, local materials, micro homes, rubber tree wood, shigeru ban, sri lanka, sustainable design

The death toll at the horrific garment factory collapse that occurred earlier this week has now risen to 340. According to the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, 80% of the factory’s workers were young women aged between 18 and 20. As upsetting as it’s been to watch, we’ve been following the news on Ecouterre, as well as investigating how consumers can express to the big name brands that make their clothes at the factory that the working conditions that led to the casualties is absolutely unacceptable.

READ MORE >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Bangladesh, Benetton, CA, Dhaka, Dress Barn, eco-fashion, Ethical Fashion, forced labor, green fashion, human rights, Joe Fresh, KiK, Mango, Primark, Rana Plaza, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable style, sweatshop labor, sweatshop workers, sweatshops, Tazreen Fashions, The Children's Place, walmart, workers rights

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: clean drinking water, developing world, eco design, green design, humanitarian design, LIFESAVER Jerrycans, potable water, social design, water purification, water scarcity, water shortages

While drones are typically—and quite reasonably—associated with the horrors of modern warfare, California-based startup Matternet, Inc. hopes that a network of peaceful unmanned aerial vehicles could provide vital assistance to communities in need. Their remotely operated electric quadcopters are intended to deliver supplies to people in areas lacking in basic infrastructure, such as remote towns and villages as well as to those in post-disaster zones.

Read the rest of Matternet’s Battery-Powered Drones Could Bring Supplies and Disaster Relief to Remote Areas

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Disaster Assistance, Disaster Relief, drone, electric aircraft, electric vehicle, flying robots, Matternet, nasa, Paola Santana, Poverty, robots, rural infrastructure, singularity university, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Last year, the Gates Foundation held a competition to redesign the toilet. Turning its sights from sanitation to overpopulation, the nonprofit has now announced a challenge to reinvent the condom. By way of the Grand Challenges in Global Health Program, a grant of $100,000 will be awarded to those who develop the next generation of personal protection. The contest hopes to encourage the use of the simple, life-saving technology by making the latex prophylactic more fun, pleasurable, and attractive to couples around the globe.

Read the rest of Gates Foundation Offers $100,000 For Next Generation Condom Design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bill & melinda gates foundation, challenges in global health program, condom, latex, origami condoms, pregnancy, prophylactic, reinvent, sex, silicone, std, stephen ward, university of washington

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "clean energy", eco-friendly power sources, energy generating soccer ball, green design, green soccer ball, kinetically powered Soccket ball, off-grid power sources, soccer ball energy, Soccket Energy-Harnessing Soccer Ball, Uncharted Play, Uncharted Play Kickstarter

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: cardboard shelter, cardborigami, eco design, green design, homeless shelter solutions, pop-up shelter, recycled shelter, sustainable design, Tine Hovespian

Anyone who has ever struggled to pitch a tent can attest to how difficult it can be to assemble a temporary shelter. Add the stress of a natural calamity, and every second saved by quick and simple construction is a blessing aided by the genius of good design. Argentine architects Matias Alter and Matias Carrizo have created the Modularflex, a foldable disaster housing unit that packs flat and can be assembled in about half an hour.

Read the rest of Modularflex Disaster Shelters Pop Up Where They Are Needed Most

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, emergency, expo logisti-k, flat-packed, foldable, LED lights, matias alter, matias carrizo, modular, modularflex, natural disaster, shelter, temporary shelter, TENT, thermal panels

Read the rest of The Congo Street Initiative Revived a Downtrodden Dallas Neighborhood With Renovated Green Homes

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", affordable housing, bc workshop, bcworkshop, community housing project, congo street initiative, Dallas, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, home restoration, humanitarian design, low income housing, restoration, small space living, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, tiny homes

Read the rest of Scrapped Ambulance Transformed into Inspiring Playground for Disabled Children in Malawi

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: ambulance, Balantyre, BEIT Cure Hospital, green design, handicap accessible, humanitarian design, Luc van Hoeckel, Malawi, Pim van Baarsen, Recycled Materials, social design, sustainable design

In developing nations, access to clean water is a major humanitarian issue – so much so that numerous non-profits and foundations are dedicated specifically to providing access to basic sanitation. PureMadi, an organization of the University of Virginia, has invented two simple ceramic technologies for disinfecting water that are currently being developed for use in South Africa. The PureMadi filter and MadiDrop use ceramics treated with silver and copper nanoparticles to cheaply and efficiently eliminate 99.9% of waterborne pathogens.

Read the rest of PureMadi Uses Ceramics and Nanoparticle Technology to Purify Water in Developing Nations

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: ceramic, copper, factory, filter, limpopo, madidrop, nanoparticle, pathogen, puremadi, silver, South Africa, tablet, university of virginia, water issues

For the community of Makoko of Lagos, Nigeria life on the water is nothing new. Prone to flooding, residents have dealt with encroaching waters for generations by building houses on stilts and using canoes as their main source of transport. Now, with the threat of sea level rise from climate change, and developers who want to tear the community down, Makoko is in a state of uncertainty. Nigerian-born architect Kunle Adeyemi has a vision for the city of 250,000 people that involves constructing a group of floating structures that have better access to sanitation, fresh water, and waste disposal. His first endeavor would be to build a three-story school held afloat by plastic drums.

Read the rest of Kunle Adeyemi Designs a Solar-Powered Floating School for the Flood-Prone Coastline of Nigeria

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Africa, coastline, community, floating, flooding, kunle adeyemi, Lagos, makoko, nigeria, nle, school, tropical storms, water issues

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Architecture for Humanity, book giveaway, design like you give a damn, design like you give a damn 2, eco design, green design, humanitarian design, inhabitat interview, Kate Stohr, sustainable design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 4 D and A Architects, Cargotecture, Dennis Guichard, eco design, green design, humanitarian design, Midrand, New Jerusalem Orphanage, orphans, Recycled Materials, recycled shipping containers, Safrinta Roofing and Steel, South Africa, sustainable design

Two US students from Penn State University have developed an affordable ceramic water filtration system for Africa’s Sub-Saharan countries. The system is based on a design by the non-profit organization Potters for Peace, and it can be built in just two days for $200.

Read the rest of Two US Students Develop Affordable Ceramic Water Filtration System for Kenya

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: affordable green technology, Africa clean water, Ceramic Water Filtering System, green tech, Penn State HESE program, Penn State University, Potters for Peace, water filtering systems, water pollution, water purification systems, water shortages Africa