![Enevo Sensor System, image courtesy of Enevo Enevo Sensor System](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/1413845-enevo-sensor-system.jpg?itok=ub3m0LnS)
Vibrant Environment
Land Use And Natural Resources
All | Biodiversity | Climate Change and Sustainability | Environmental Justice | Governance and Rule of Law | Land Use and Natural Resources | Oceans and Coasts | Pollution Control
![Enevo Sensor System, image courtesy of Enevo Enevo Sensor System](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/1413845-enevo-sensor-system.jpg?itok=ub3m0LnS)
Imagine the dumpsters behind restaurant row in your community signaling their hauling company to come pick them up because they are full and about to overflow, or their food is rotting and about to stink up the neighborhood. Such are the promises for waste management of new “smart technologies,” based on sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, big data, and social networks.
![Long Border Fence, Hillebrand Steve Long Border Fence, Hillebrand Steve](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/long-border-fence.jpg?itok=e4virU6N)
What happens when environmental laws are not enforced? That question is usually reserved for countries that lack sufficient rule of law. In fact, one of ELI’s core missions is to support rule of law all over the world.
But, in one limited case, the problem hits a little closer to home. The border wall proposed by the Trump Administration would be exempt from most environmental laws.
![Rio Grande River Rio Grande River](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/rio-grande-river-1584102-1920.jpg?itok=nY1vJeAj)
Often lost in discussions of efficacy and payment relating to the proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall is what would happen to the environment if a concrete divider were placed across a nearly-2,000 mile swath of habitat. While wall-like barriers already stand on hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, expanding to a full-border wall would constitute a massive transformation of the rest of the United States’ southern borderlands, posing substantial threats to the wildlife that roam the area.
![Flooded homes in MN, Andrea Booher, FEMA Photo Library Flooded homes in MN, Andrea Booher, FEMA Photo Library](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/800px-fema-40502-aerial-flooded-homes-minnesota.jpg?itok=Bvwr9C9Z)
Flooding, storms, and other hazardous conditions cost billons of dollars in damages annually across the United States. Hazard mitigation programs attempt to break the cycle of repeated disaster damage by identifying and addressing a community’s disaster vulnerabilities in anticipation of future events. One such hazard mitigation solution is the voluntary acquisition of flood-damaged properties from their owners, using the federal hazard mitigation grant program and other state and federal grant programs. The acquisition and restoration of these floodplain properties can increase community resilience while improving wildlife habitat, enhancing ecosystem services, and providing much-needed open space and recreational facilities to a community. Buyouts present an opportunity for communities to create public assets while restoring the ecological integrity of the floodplain and strengthening the community’s resilience to future disasters.
![smart phone and food smart phone and food](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/apple-iphone-smartphone-fruits.jpg?itok=SciEONgR)
In a Vibrant Environment blog post on February 17, 2017, we provided an overview of the types of approaches that cities and states can use to address the environmental and social justice implications of wasting 40% of the food that is produced in the United States. We addressed reducing food waste before it happens, but because that is not always possible, we turn now to the next best alternative—rescuing or donating wasted food.
![Fracking roads, pipelines, and well pads, Simon Fraser University Fracking roads, pipelines, and well pads, Simon Fraser University](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/14601885300-59c55993a5-z.jpg?itok=8HS6sMdD)
Since 2008, there have been numerous reports of drinking water contaminated by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Footage from the film Gasland famously showed residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania, igniting water from their taps, arguably demonstrating that methane had migrated into their water sources during the fracking processes.
![Wetlands, Svetlana Makarova Wetlands, Svetlana Makarova](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/wetlands_moscow_russia.jpg?itok=sohdno2V)
Climate change presents immense challenges to coastal communities and to ecosystems affected by sea-level rise, salt water intrusion, changes in average temperature, storm frequency, and species composition. Existing wetland complexes are among the “natural and nature-based features” that currently buffer human communities from catastrophic storm events and that help ecosystems rebound from major stresses and impacts.
![North Yorkshire County, Nilfanion North Yorkshire County, Nilfanion](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/494px-north-yorkshire-uk-locator-map-2010svg.png?itok=T7Od9AdB)
The controversial technology of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, just had another victory in the North of England. As of last month, fracking may now move forward at the United Kingdom’s second fracking site, Kirby Misperton, following a UK High Court ruling that dismissed environmentalists’ legal challenges.”
Fracking has rapidly expanded in the United States. In 2000, there were 26,000 hydraulically fracked wells, which comprised roughly 7% of the U.S. total gas production, while in 2015, the number of wells had increased to 300,000, or 67% of the country’s gas output. This growth has prompted the U.K., along with other countries, to look into exploiting their own shale gas deposits.
![Food scraps, Tim Jewett Food scraps, Tim Jewett](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/400px-food-scraps-and-yard-debris-collection-portland-2010-tim-jewett.jpg?itok=qQoT-zgN)
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious goal of reducing food waste in the United States by 50% by 2030. While the change in presidential administrations presents new obstacles for many federal environmental initiatives, reducing food waste continues to offer fertile ground for cooperation.
![The Business of Water, ELI Forum The Business of Water, ELI Forum](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_thumbnail/public/images/blog/corporate-photo.jpg?itok=xeu46lqS)
Prior to the 2016 ELI Award Dinner, ELI convened an expert panel of business leaders, legal minds, and nongovernmental advocates to discuss “The Business of Water.” This conversation was particularly timely, because as climate change alters global weather patterns and the Earth’s population continues to grow and urbanize, water resources are poised to become an ever-increasing point of contention, even in regions where water scarcity has not historically been an issue. Water law and policy is complex, varying regionally, country by country, and even within national borders. As more stakeholders compete for water resources, businesses around the world are changing the way they value water within their business models, and policymakers are looking at new levers to ensure responsible use of this increasingly precious resource.