Forgive Me Father
The Vatican recently called pollution of the environment a modern-day sin. Kurt calls Father Jim Martin, a Jesuit priest, to ask what kind of penance polluters are in for.
Power Cart
Mouna Andraos is an artist and web designer who’s always been fascinated by street vendors since her childhood in Lebanon. She created a working portable generator that uses a crank and a solar cell to charge cell phones and laptops, and even run small appliances. Ada Lee Halofsky hit the New York City streets with Andraos to see Power Cart in action.
Bacteria Biofuel
Frances Arnold is a biochemical engineer at Cal Tech working on one part of the energy crisis. In a process called “directed evolution,” Arnold’s team is altering the genetic codes of bacteria to evolve a strain of organisms than can digest grass and excrete biofuel.
Cal-Earth
In Hesperia, California, architect Nader Khalili created a housing movement for the future. Khalili, who passed away in March, prototyped his dome-shaped adobes on a commission from NASA for a lunar colony. Then he realized that his “superadobes” could take root on Earth. Studio 360’s Eric Molinsky visited Cal-Earth with some friends who dream of living in giant igloos made of dirt.
Weigh in: Would you live in a superadobe?
Coney Island Sunshine
The New York subway system has one of the best environmental designs of recent years: Coney Island's Stillwell Avenue terminal, one block from the Atlantic Ocean, is topped by a state-of-the-art photovoltaic glass roof. Kurt checked it out with architect Greg Kiss.
Audio Slideshow: Stillwell Avenue Terminal
