Ben and Ciara

1 MILLION FLIP FLOPS INTO ART 🩴🎨 Flipflops are collected on the shorelines and landfills in Kenya by Oceansole to stop this waste from entering the ocean. Billions of people around the world wear flip flops daily and often dispose of them properly, but the infrastructure for recycling is not available everywhere. Oceansole works with local craftsmen and women in Kenya to create these beautiful animal sculptures, which come in all shapes and sizes! All of the off-cuts and small pieces are reused in other sculptures, preventing anything from going to waste 🙌 The workers earn a fair living wage, food, and paid time off, and Oceansole funds local scholarships and supports various conservation programs. Oceansole is cleaning up our oceans and waterways, creating jobs, and raising awareness about marine conservation. The larger pieces are displayed in museums and national parks, and they also have a website where you can pick one up for yourself to support their incredible mission. oceansole.com #goinggreen #flipflopart #recycledart #wastetoart #oceancleanup #circulareconomy #zerowaste #climateaction #socialimpact

FLOWERS CLEANING UP WATERWAYS 🌼🌷 In Florida, waterways are being heavily polluted by fertilizer runoff, causing algae blooms that are destroying wetland ecosystems. These floating platforms, designed by Phytoflora Gardens and environmental scientist Jazmin Locke-Rodriguez, use the power of plants to absorb excess nutrients from waterways. The flowers then create a circular model as they are sold at local markets, with all the earnings going back into the project. The platforms also give ducks and birds a safe refuge by the water without fear of predators. It’s a win-win-win! www.greenthumbsfl.com #goinggreen #watercleanup #ecosystemrestoration #naturebased #floatingflowers #biodiversity #climateaction

3D PRINTED ART FOR THE PLANET 🌎 What if we could make art and sculptures by 3D printing using natural plant-based materials that can also absorb pollutants from our atmosphere? PURE.TECH and LAMÁQUINA have been working on this at their Barcelona facility, and the results are truly beautiful! We can’t wait to see what they create next. Here you can find a longer YouTube video about the potential for 3D printing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvyj... 💚 lamaquina.io pure.tech #goinggreen #3dprinting #biomaterials #puretech #airpurification #ecoart #artfortheplanet #climateaction #techforgood

500 MILLION PAIRS OF JEANS END UP IN LANDFILL EVERY YEAR! 😱👖 This is Cydsline, an incredible small business turning jeans that would otherwise go to landfill into upcycled accessories. Made from jeans imported from US-based secondhand stores, retailers, and donors, this mountain of jeans in the Koo Style warehouse would have ended up in landfill, and is instead being given a second life by small businesses like Cyd’s! Did you know that we have enough clothing on this planet to clothe the next 6-8 generations? As well as that producing one pair of jeans can require up to 10,000 litres of water?! (UNEP, 2019) 💧 With denim handpicked by Cyd herself, and accessories sewn by dozens of talented seamstresses across the UK, this is a great example of how repairing, upcycling, and reworking materials can have a positive impact on our environment, as well as the people who are creating the items we choose to wear. As consumers, where we choose to invest our money can create real change, and can often force large corporations into actually listening. We need less consumption to trigger less production, because demand drives supply in our hyper-capitalist world today! You can see some of Cyd’s available pieces on her website: cydsline.com Let us know in the comments if you hope to see more creative ways of giving would-be waste new life! #goinggreen #ecodesign #sustainability #denimwaste #circularfashion #upcycled #fastfashion #zerowaste #repurposed #secondlife #climateaction

🌱VEGGIES UNDER THE SEA 🌊 This is an amazing project we just had to share! Plants require controlled conditions in order to thrive. The sea can offer just that! Obviously this is not yet a solution that has been scaled, but it could be an important part of the solution to providing fresh produce to areas which are heavily impacted by climate change. www.nemosgarden.com #goinggreen #underwaterfarming #oceanfarming #futurefood #foodsecurity #foodtech #agritech #sustainablefood #climateaction

THIS IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS! 🌞🌍 This is the Freiburg City Hall, designed by ingenhoven associates, a building that Ben has wanted to visit for a long time, ever since discovering it during his time studying architecture. 🏢It’s the first net-plus energy public building, meaning it can sell excess energy back to the grid! 🌞It has 2237 solar panels and a ground source heat pump to meet its energy and heating demands. 🪵It’s wrapped in locally sourced sustainable timber. 🚲Has great public transport connections and bike infrastructure. 🌿 A beautiful central garden 🪟 Triple-glazed windows Next to this building, a second city hall is currently under construction - identical in appearance, but even more efficient with improved heating and cooling systems. Freiburg is aiming to become climate-neutral by 2035 and is taking many steps to achieve this goal. 💚 www.ingenhovenassociates.com/projects/mor... #goinggreen #sustainablearchitecture #sustainabledesign #greenbuilding #solarpanels #renewableenergy #urbanplanning #climateaction

ALL OF THIS IS MADE FROM WASTE! 🙌 🪑 In France alone, industries discard 65,000 tons of waste every single day 😨 Every piece of furniture is made here at the Maximum Workshop in Paris, where the team creatively reimagines new possibilities for discarded materials. Our favourite pieces were these stools made from 100% bank notes that were shredded due to printing imperfections. 💶 We believe industries should first eliminate waste from their processes, but when that is absolutely not possible, solutions like this can give these materials a new life! 🌍 www.maximum.paris #goinggreen #ecodesign #sustainability #upcycledfurniture #wastetoart #circulareconomy #zerowaste #repurposed

3D printing is solving a major urban crisis 🏙️ 🪴 We visited Urban Reef three years ago when we were in Rotterdam, and we’re incredibly happy to see how much they’ve grown! Urban Reef creates living infrastructure that buffers rainwater, cools cities, and restores biodiversity, all using natural ceramics shaped by nature’s algorithms. What starts as a 3D printed structure becomes a functioning ecosystem over time. Real solutions that integrate with existing infrastructure and actually improve as they age. They’re now scaling up with industrial printers and low-carbon materials to deploy this at an architectural scale. Cities can be home to more than just humans. www.urbanreef.nl #goinggreen #climateaction #biodiversity #3dprinting #greeninfrastructure