The Empowering Blog About Social Innovations + STEM

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013
9:30 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.New York State Capitol, Albany, NY

Can’t make it to Albany? Don’t fret! You can support this important day by pledging to call your legislator on the 23rd and provide back-up to the advocates pounding the halls of the capitol. 

If you’re signing up to call, we will give you all the information you need to easily make the call! 

This year's Earth Day Lobby Day will focus on critically important environmental issues such as expanding solar ener...

Upcycling is a method in which old or discarded materials are converted into something reusable.

The difference between upcycling and recycling is simple. Recycling takes consumer materials such as plastic, paper, metal, and glass and breaks them down so that they can be made into a new consumer product (usually of lesser quality). When you upcycle an item you aren’t breaking down ant materials, just purely refashioning it.  Additionally the quality of the upcycled item has same or even ...

As stated in our “How Methane Heating Works” article, “Natural gas derives from animal and plant matter that was heated and pressurized in earth’s layers (hence why it is referred to as “fossil fuel”).” Within the last century, the burning of these fossil fuels combined with other human related activities, has released heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. In effect it has caused the Earth’s temperature and sea levels to rise.

This rise in sea level is linked to thermal ...

Coral reefs are structures that have merged together into limestone. It consists of a collection of biological communities that make up one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Corals themselves are actually small immobile animals that belong to the group cnidaria. They sustain themselves by catching prey, such as small fish and planktonic animals, with their tentacles. Corals generally live in colonies. Together these colonies secrete a hard calcium carbonate skeleton, which is wha...

Geothermal energy can also be captured from heat pumps. Heat pumps tap into the heat near the Earth’s surface. This type of energy capturing can be used to heat water supplies or heat/cool buildings. Geothermal heat pumps transfer heat by pumping water or a refrigerant through pipes (also known as heat exchangers) below the Earth’s surface. During the winter months the water and refrigerants absorb heat from the Earth and deliver it to buildings and such. During summer months pumps are ...

Geothermal energy is heat derived from the Earth. It is both clean and sustainable. It can be excavated from shallow ground, hot water, hot rocks, and magma. Geothermal energy can be extracted through power plants and heat pumps.

There are three types of geothermal power plants. The first type is called dry steam and uses heat from deep within the Earth to generate steam, which produces electricity. Wells drill into the Earth and pump hot water to the surface under high pressures. Once at...

Food waste is categorized as food that has been discarded or gone uneaten. It can consist of raw, cooked, edible, and inedible (bones, etc.) materials. In the United States more than 34 million tons of food waste is generated and 1.3 billion tons globally.

Generating this type of food waste has both economical and environmental consequences. No matter who you are, a portion of your income goes to buying food. Therefore, you are throwing away money. By taking part in simple practices you ca...