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Climate
Urbanism

Sponge cities: what if cities could absorb rain instead of fighting it?

Sponge city infrastructure absorbs rainwater instead of routing it away, reducing flooding while naturally purifying water through soil filtration systems.

Fashion & design
Thrifting & preloved

Think you're buying vintage? You might be buying SHEIN instead

True vintage differs from contemporary fast fashion misbranded as vintage, requiring verification of age, quality, and historical authenticity before purchasing.

Thrifting & preloved
Circularity

Cleaning, fixing and learning how to love stuff that's been loved before

Second-hand purchases benefit from thorough cleaning and restoration work, allowing deep appreciation and functional rejuvenation of previously loved items.

Food
Pioneers

Cowless cheese: it's possible! Hille van der Kaa on rebuilding dairy from a stainless steel cow

Hille van der Kaa developed cowless cheese using fermentation technology, creating animal-free dairy alternatives without compromising taste or sustainability.

Consumerism
Mental health

An alternative to wealth: Rethinking what prosperity feels like

Prosperity redefined beyond accumulation includes community, experiences, and security, offering fulfilling alternatives to endless material consumption.

Circularity
Habits

The art of borrowing: why your friend’s stuff is cooler than yours

Modern consumption driven by novelty rather than need creates cycles of replacement despite functional items, fueled by desire for stimulation.

Habits

7 household items that secretly have superpowers

Household items like coffee grounds possess remarkable utility for odor absorption, pest control, and garden enrichment beyond their initial purpose.

Habits
Mental health

In defense of boredom

Consumer economy deliberately manufactures constant novelty and discontent, engineering endless stimulation to prevent satisfaction and encourage continuous purchases.

Fashion & design

How to build a capsule wardrobe (without becoming a minimalist monk)

Capsule wardrobes balance minimal ownership with practical versatility, requiring 25-50 carefully selected pieces that coordinate seamlessly across contexts.

Habits

Why sustainable habits are harder than they look

Sustainable behavior faces temporal discounting challenges where immediate costs outweigh distant, invisible benefits in decision-making processes.

Circularity

SAVE THE PLA...TES! Used plates transformed into art

Artist Arent transforms discarded plates into decorative wall art, creating beautiful pieces that challenge perceptions of waste and artistic value.

Consumerism
Habits

10 sustainable New Year’s resolutions you’ll actually stick to

Achievable New Year resolutions combine sustainability with practicality, making small daily habit changes that require minimal equipment or commitment.

Consumerism

Last-minute Christmas gifts that actually mean something

Homemade food gifts offer meaningful alternatives to commercial presents, requiring minimal storage while providing practical enjoyment and value.

Fashion & design

5 planet-friendly christmas decorations you can totally make yourself

DIY biodegradable Christmas decorations made from natural materials offer festive aesthetics while eliminating environmental impact after holiday season.

Food
Pioneers

After 20 years roasting coffee, Kacper realised we were wasting 70% of it.

Kacper discovered that coffee production wastes 95% of the cherry, creating innovative solutions to utilize this currently discarded valuable resource.

Consumerism

Deinfluencing Christmas – Because less can be more

Holiday seasons drive food waste spikes across Europe, yet intentional meal planning and portion awareness can dramatically reduce household waste.

Food
Pioneers

From grain to game-changer: the story of oat-milk pioneer Rickard Öste

Rickard Öste pioneered oat milk as a sustainable dairy alternative, addressing lactose intolerance and environmental concerns of traditional dairy production.

Food
Pioneers

Bartlomiej from Rebread googled ‘What to do with leftover bread’ – and started a global movement

Bartlomiej's Rebread ecosystem transforms unsold bakery products into high-fibre proteins and fermented drinks using innovative biotechnology solutions.

Food

What a Polish Christmas tradition teaches us about sustainable cooking

Polish Wigilia Christmas tradition demonstrates seasonal eating principles, inspiring creative, responsible cooking using naturally available winter ingredients.

Consumerism

10 brands doing Black Friday differently: Rethinking Black Friday

Brands reimagine Black Friday by rejecting aggressive consumerism, instead promoting sustainable alternatives and challenging shopping culture fundamentals.

Circularity

IKEA’s most radical idea yet: keeping what already exists

IKEA reimagines its founding vision by creating a circular marketplace for existing furniture, extending product lifecycles beyond initial purchase.

Thrifting & preloved

10x how to find the best second-hand furniture

Finding quality second-hand furniture requires planning, measurement awareness, and strategic searching across multiple platforms and local thrift stores.

Consumerism

Things I'm not buying in 2026

Seasonal fast fashion trends create unsustainable consumption cycles, prompting conscious rejection of single-use garments requiring constant replacement.

Climate
Consumerism

The hypocrisy of being an environmentalist – and why eco-hypocrisy is a good thing

Environmental advocates who make sustainable choices face criticism for their remaining unsustainable practices, yet their efforts still drive systemic change.

Nature

Here's how we might generate electricity from rain

Scientists explore revolutionary technology to generate electricity from rain, offering sustainable energy solutions for water-rich regions worldwide.

Fashion & design
Pioneers

A new kind of fashion revolution: one where clothes are free

A fashion brand where everything is free reflects the true human and environmental cost of clothing production, challenging consumption habits fundamentally.

Gardening
Nature

The hidden life beneath the leaves

Fallen leaves provide winter shelter for frogs and invertebrates, offering free insulation that maintains biodiversity while reducing cleanup labor.

Fashion & design
Pioneers
Circularity

Patrícia Gomes (Matterpieces): Brick by brick, waste to wow: the Matterpieces story

Patrícia Gomes and Luís Lima founded Matterpieces to transform construction waste into durable, beautiful bricks, revolutionizing how the building industry views waste.

Circularity

Your choices do matter when it comes to e-waste

Only 17% of electronic waste gets properly recycled, leaving toxic components in landfills while valuable resources remain inaccessibly buried.

Thrifting & preloved

Visualise that thrifted piece in your home: how AI helps you choose second-hand

Generative AI helps second-hand furniture shoppers visualize potential transformations, bridging the gap between imagination and final design choices.

Thrifting & preloved
Fashion & design

The rising popularity of second-hand (East European post-WWII) jewelry as a smart investment

Second-hand East European post-WWII jewelry emerges as smart investment choice, combining aesthetic value with financial stability during uncertain times.

Fashion & design
Pioneers

Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia): The undeniable champion of using business for good

Yvon Chouinard built Patagonia on the principle that business is an effective tool for environmental and social change, making activism central to the brand.

Consumerism

Rethink 101: Why our current way of consuming cannot and will not last

In 2020 human-made materials surpassed biological material weight globally, reflecting unsustainable consumption patterns that cannot continue indefinitely.

Consumerism
Mental health

Why it's so hard not to buy: the psychology of consumption

Human novelty-seeking instinct evolved for survival but now drives excessive consumption, draining planetary resources through endless shopping cycles.

Consumerism
Mental health

Rethink 101: We need to rethink what possession means to us

The Rethink series explores how redefining personal possession and consumption patterns can create sustainable lifestyles that benefit both people and planet.

Thrifting & preloved

10 tips for selling your stuff online

Strategic decluttering through online sales requires starting small with specific areas, highlighting how unused items signal purchasing mistakes and waste.

Consumerism
Fashion & design

The birth of fashion: how we went from owning two trousers to one hundred hoodies

Fashion history reveals how clothing evolved from necessity to excess, highlighting how modern consumption differs dramatically from pre-industrial practices.

Climate
Mental health

How to really fight climate anxiety: active hope

Eco-anxiety affects 68% of Americans, yet active hope provides constructive antidotes through community engagement and tangible environmental action.

Circularity
Pioneers

How Erik transforms vintage caravans into modern, glamorous travel companions

Erik transformed vintage caravans into luxurious travel companions, proving that restoration and sustainability can create stunning modern experiences.

Thrifting & preloved
Fashion & design

How to thrift: Eline's best thrifting tips

Effective thrifting requires understanding personal style preferences before shopping, enabling intentional selections that truly align with individual taste.

Fashion & design
Thrifting & preloved

Make your wardrobe pop: 5 styling tips from sustainable stylist Hanneke van Zessen

Hanneke van Zessen demonstrates creative wardrobe styling techniques that maximize existing pieces, reducing the need for constant new clothing purchases.

Fashion & design
Thrifting & preloved
Pioneers

Preloved pioneer Hanneke van Zessen: ‘Second hand shopping isn't scary. It’s sexy!’

Hanneke van Zessen champions secondhand fashion culture, proving that preloved shopping is accessible, exciting, and better for the environment than new purchases.

Circularity

The 7 R's (and how they'll change your life)

The 7Rs framework—Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Repurpose, Recycle, Rot—provides practical guidelines for reducing consumption and environmental impact.

Thrifting & preloved

We met a cool kid in the thrift store and decided to interview her: Resi

Patient, exploratory thrifting without predetermined missions yields authentic discoveries, suggesting intentional browsing beats goal-oriented shopping approaches.

Fashion & design
Pioneers

Maria Erixon Levin (Nudie): The ethical rebel doing it her way

Maria Erixon Levin built Nudie Jeans with a revolutionary ethos—prioritizing work-life balance and ethical production over exponential growth.

Pioneers
Consumerism

Mark Constantine (Lush): From being homeless to giving it all back

Mark Constantine transformed from a homeless teenager to founding Lush, creating a cosmetics brand built on ethics, activism, and commitment to social responsibility.

Consumerism
Mental health

Minimalism as the best anti-stress (and anti-societal problems) medicine

Physical clutter directly increases mental stress and psychological distress, making minimalism an effective strategy for reducing anxiety and improving wellbeing.

Thrifting & preloved
Pioneers

Eline Westervaarder: 'Thrift stores aren’t expensive, we’ve just gotten too accustomed to cheap stuff'

Eline Westervaarder champions sustainable fashion through thrift shopping, proving secondhand goods offer quality alternatives to fast fashion's throwaway culture.

Circularity
Pioneers

‘Flip your idea of waste’: How Linde Luyten (Redopapers) is redoing paper

Linde Luyten and her co-founder transformed Redopapers from a graphic design frustration into an innovative company that recycles paper waste into beautiful products.

Thrifting & preloved

How to Thrift: Hanneke's Best Thrifting Tips

Vintage and preloved boutiques reduce thrifting friction by offering curated, cleaned selections, making sustainable shopping accessible to hesitant newcomers.

Fashion & design
Pioneers

The architect who redesigned the way we redesign the world

William McDonough pioneered sustainable architecture by reimagining design principles as cyclical systems inspired by natural, regenerative patterns.

Food & Farming

How Regenerative Farming Is Changing What We Eat

The farms healing the soil beneath our feet are growing some of the most extraordinary food in the world.

Circular Economy

The Pioneers Turning Waste Into Something Wonderful

A new generation of makers is finding beauty — and business — in what the rest of us throw away.

Design
Housing

The Architects Designing Homes That Give More Than They Take

A growing movement is using buildings as tools for ecological restoration — not just places to live.

Technology

Can Biotech Save the Textile Industry From Itself?

Lab-grown fibres, fungal leather, and fermented dyes: the science fiction of fashion is becoming everyday reality.

Community
Culture

The Library of Things Changing How a Neighbourhood Shares

In a converted warehouse in Rotterdam, residents borrow drills, camping gear, and each other’s time.

Food & Farming

Seaweed Is the Crop the World Forgot — and Now Needs Desperately

It sequesters carbon, feeds fish, and grows without fertiliser. So why is it still on the fringes of our food system?

Design

Designing for Disassembly: The Furniture That Never Becomes Waste

The best furniture of the next century will be made to be taken apart — and every component will have a new life.

Culture
Community

The Repair Cafés Quietly Stitching Communities Together

Every Saturday morning, volunteers fix toasters, mend clothing, and revive electronics — for free. It turns out, repair is deeply social.

Fashion

Second-Hand First: Why Vintage Is the Future of Style

Pre-loved clothing has moved from charity shops to the centre of fashion — and a new generation of curators is leading the way.

Technology
Circular Economy

The Right to Repair Movement Is Finally Winning

After decades of designed obsolescence, consumers and legislators are pushing back — and manufacturers are being forced to listen.

Food & Farming
Community

Urban Farming Is Growing Up — and Into Our Buildings

Rooftops, carparks, and abandoned warehouses are being transformed into productive food systems at the heart of our cities.

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