Resell, recycle, remake: Fighting the flood of ultra-fast fashion

There is a growing effort to fend off the tsunami of ultra-fast fashion currently flowing into landfills, from chemical recycling that can melt down modern fabric blends to boutique designers giving old clothes new life through upcycling.

How two dumpster divers found love and a living combing through trash

Dumpster diving began as a hobby for Dave Sheffield. As a college student, he was attracted by the promise of saving money, but also the thrill of the hunt. Fifteen years later, it has become his livelihood thanks to a growing audience on social media eager to gawk at what he finds while digging through the trash.

West Virginians find a place for solar power in coal country

The Inflation Reduction Act has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into renewable energy and manufacturing across the country. That federal money is helping promote job training programs and efforts to diversify West Virginia’s economy, which powered America through the 20th century and now teeters on the edge of another energy transition.

In the Gulf of Mexico, an oil hub sees opportunity in offshore wind

Offshore wind energy is a major source of power in China, the UK and Germany, but there are only 19 turbines spinning off American shores. While the industry has struggled to take off in the U.S., it has nonetheless spurred investment in American shipbuilding and is already bringing jobs to some unexpected places, including the bayou of Louisiana.

Individual action to combat climate change

People are taking steps big and small to move the dial on climate change. For Here & Now's Reverse Course, Peter O'Dowd and I take listeners across the country for a closer look at projects designed to make an impact.

We've covered trash, transportation, sustainable design, carbon removal and much more.

Green building meets Indigenous knowledge in Taos, New Mexico

Many people moved to Taos in the 1970s to break free from modern architectural conventions. Today, that tradition continues, with architects and builders pioneering the latest green building trends.

Battery-powered big rigs could haul the future of trucking

Big trucks make up only about 10% of all vehicles on the road, but they spew almost a quarter of the climate pollution from the U.S. transportation sector and almost half of lung-clogging particulate matter. Switching to electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles could make a huge impact, but getting there might be a long haul.

How spreading rock dust on farms could be a climate solution

Lithos is one of several companies trying to hack a basic geochemical cycle known as weathering. The science is geology 101: Rainwater is slightly acidic. When it erodes rock, it carries some carbon compounds downstream, slowly bleeding carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and into deep pockets of the Earth, where it’s stored for eons. Companies like Lithos think "enhanced" rock weathering could be a global climate solution--and a viable business.

Climate change is ravaging the oceans. Some startups see a solution in marine carbon capture

As money pours into companies promising to take greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere, there’s a small but fast-growing sector of startups that want to leverage one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks to clean up humanity's pollution: the ocean. “Nature has shown us what works,” says Ben Tarbell, Ebb Carbon co-founder. “If we can nudge those ocean processes and those natural ocean ecosystems, we can drive something that can scale very cost-effectively."

As cities sizzle, mapping projects pinpoint the perils of hot neighborhoods

Long before an historic heat wave made life miserable for people in Phoenix, researchers began looking for ways to protect American cities from extreme temperatures. But first, they have to know exactly how hot it is. This summer the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recruited citizen scientists in 14 states to help measure just how hot it’s getting. The data could help city officials and community groups address extreme heat in the neighborhoods that need it most.

Abandoned oil and gas wells are leaking planet-warming methane. Workers are struggling to keep up

There are hundreds of thousands of "orphan" wells across the United States, named for the fact that they have no legal owner responsible for them. President Biden's infrastructure bill created a $4.7 billion program to fix that, but the federal money is not enough to plug every well.

How Puerto Rico is preparing its electric grid for future hurricanes

Climate-fueled disasters have ravaged Puerto Rico’s electrical system several times in recent years. Fed up with how vulnerable the grid remains, many on the island want to break free from the cycle of destruction by building a decentralized grid powered largely by solar energy. But activists say the government isn’t doing enough to hasten that transition.

Beat scientist Makaya McCraven blends lush instrumentation with heavy grooves

Makaya McCraven's new album "In These Times" whittles heavy grooves out of odd-meter time signatures.

How the fight over mail-in ballots and election laws is playing out in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the most closely watched states in this year's midterm elections, and not just by political pundits and journalists. Elections in Wisconsin are literally watched by poll observers — volunteers who monitor poll workers. Two stories from Wisconsin.

'A melting pot of misfits'

The Metro in Chicago marks 40 years of music, and a new book by photographer Gene Ambo spotlights the club's roots in alternative rock, punk and metal. Rock on.

Photo: Metallica performing at The Metro on August 12, 1983. (Gene Ambo)

'Chicago midwife hopes South Side birth center will help close maternal health gap

Jeanine Valrie-Logan hopes to build the first freestanding birth center on the South Side of Chicago.

If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em: Illinois fisheries rebrand the invasive Asian carp

That may as well be the new battle cry for Illinois fishery managers trying to rebrand four invasive species of Asian carp as copi. They hope the new name will help the bountiful fish land on more restaurant menus and grocery lists. That could slow the carp’s march toward the Great Lakes, where they're expected to wreak ecological havoc by crowding out native species.

U.S. Manufacturers Can't Find Enough Skilled Workers To Fill Open Jobs

As lawmakers squabble over the size of President Biden's infrastructure plan, there's bipartisan agreement on at least one of its goals: reviving manufacturing. The administration wants to reverse a long-term decline in manufacturing jobs and it's promising billions of dollars for workforce training programs like this one to help do that.