circular economy Archives - State of the Planet

people stand near shredded plastic

A Plastics Treaty Will Be Grand, but this Recycling Innovator in Indonesia Isn’t Waiting

A pop-up Sustain What conversation with a sustainability-focused entrepreneur building a plastic trash-to-resource business across eastern Indonesia.

by |May 4, 2023
sandra goldmark in front of lamp

Quick Tips to Repair Broken Items and Keep Them Out of the Landfill

The longer we can extend the lifetimes of consumer products, the better off our planet will be.

by |April 20, 2023
trash piled up in cubes

We Need to Advance Solid Waste Technology

To implement a true circular economy, we need to systematically and automatically reuse most of the material placed in our trash bags.

by |April 3, 2023
illustration demonstrating how circularity works

Celebrate Circularity Day With Us on March 10

Columbia Climate School and Barnard College team up to celebrate the power of smart design, reuse, and repair, to build sustainability on campus and beyond.

by |March 9, 2023
sandra goldmark in front of lamp

Circularity: A Powerful Tool for Fighting Climate Change

Sandra Goldmark discusses an upcoming Climate Week NYC event on the power of a new approach to consumption as a collective climate response.

by |September 19, 2022

The Pace of the Transition to an Environmentally Sustainable Economy

We need to focus less on dramatic gestures and symbols demonstrating commitment and more on operational reality if we are to truly speed the transition and reduce long-term, irreversible damage to the planet.

by |July 11, 2022

Mining Garbage and the Circular Economy

The construction of waste management and material mining facilities is essential for the development of a circular economy, and the evolution toward a circular economy is a prerequisite for sustainable cities.

by |March 28, 2022

Building an American Political Consensus Behind Environmental Sustainability

Economic modernization is how we can and hopefully will build an American political consensus behind environmental sustainability.

by |December 27, 2021

The Necessity of Recycling

Without recycling, there can be no circular economy. Without a circular economy, we cannot build environmentally sustainable cities. Without sustainable cities, we’d better start looking for another planet.

by |July 26, 2021

Why Fashion Needs to Be More Sustainable

As the world re-opens, it’s a good time to take stock of the implications of how we dress.

by |June 10, 2021