Today’s eco snapshot👇🏽
The Mayor Got Slapped For Banning Cars In This City
Startup of the week: Plantables
5 Sustainable Brands I Recently Discovered
News That Lifted My Spirits This Week
3 Ways I Can Support Your Sustainability Journey
👋😠 The Mayor Got Slapped For Banning Cars In This City
Ljubljana (pronounced Lube-lee-yah-na), the capital of Slovenia, is a small city in Central Europe. In 2007, the city had a new mayor, Zoran Janković. A few months after his appointment, a protester slapped him outside Ljubljana’s town hall.
Why? Because he had made an ambitious plan to make the city center of Ljubljana completely car-free.
Well, that didn’t stop Janković. He went ahead with the pedestrianization of the city, despite strong opposition. He didn’t just stop the cars but improved the cycling networks and public transport in the city.
The city even introduced “Kavalir”, a small fleet of electric vehicles that are free to use and slow enough to be hailed with ease. They are a kind of electric golf cart with drivers available for on-demand rides.
As expected, noise pollution and gas emissions dropped in the area, and in 2016, the European Commission named Ljubljana the continent’s green capital.
And what happened to the people who were opposing the change in the first place?
Well, a decade later in 2020, roughly 90% of them were opposed to reintroducing cars. People have more space to socialize and exercise and it also creates a welcoming environment for tourists.
Change is inevitable, and Ljubljana's transformation shows that even in the face of initial resistance, bold initiatives for sustainable urban living can win hearts and minds. The key is having the courage to implement positive change and the patience to let people adapt to it.
⌛ Time for the quiz of the week
Answer at the end of the newsletter. No one (including me) can see your response so feel free to vote 😉
✨ Startup of the week: Plantables
This Indian brand uses upcycled cotton scrap instead of wood to make these aesthetic sheets of paper.
Pulp pressure…Paper production relies on wood harvested from forests. We cannot afford to lose more of our forests, yet rising paper demand continues to put increasing pressure on them.
Seedy solutions…Indian startup Plantables is addressing this challenge through their specialized plantable seed papers. These papers are made from upcycled cotton scrap and contain embedded seeds like Basil and Marigold—varieties chosen for their high germination rates.
Paper to plant…When the paper reaches the end of its life, you can decompose it, allowing the embedded seed to grow into a plant. Plantables offers more than just paper—they create a variety of stationery items including wedding cards, envelopes, and carry bags.
The products are made by women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, creating opportunities that uplift both them and their local communities.
✅ 5 Sustainable Brands I Recently Discovered
Odd.bot: An autonomous bot that removes weeds, replacing chemical herbicides.
Open Funk: A kitchen blender that is repairable, upgradable & is compatible with glass jars that you already have at home.
Waste X: Helps farmers transform their agricultural waste into a valuable product.
EatCloud: Enabling the movement of surplus food from restaurants & stores to food banks.
HIVED: A 100% electric courier service that makes your online shopping kinder to the planet.
😹 News That Lifted My Spirits This Week
🌡️ Bag Ban Logic…In an interesting twist on environmental policy, Himachal Pradesh in India has banned biodegradable and compostable plastic bags due to the state's unique climate challenges. The reasoning is quite practical - these bags need 35-40°C temperatures for six months to decompose properly, but the state's colder climate means they end up polluting just like regular plastic.
🏢 Windy City Win…Chicago has made a major leap in sustainable urban development by transitioning all 400+ municipal buildings to 100% renewable energy, consuming about 700,000-megawatt hours annually from clean sources. This impressive shift is powered by Illinois' newest and largest solar farm, marking a significant milestone in the city's commitment to clean energy.
💧 Cool Runnings…Saudi Arabian researchers have developed an ingenious gravity-powered cooling system for solar panels that collects atmospheric moisture as a coolant, requiring zero electricity. The system uses a simple lubricant that allows water droplets to naturally slide down the panels, simultaneously solving the overheating problem of solar panels and collecting water for dry regions.
💁🏼 3 Ways I Can Support Your Sustainability Journey
If you’re a planet-friendly brand, I can help you with your blogs, newsletters, case studies, and whitepapers. Here’s some of my recent work
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Give that 💚 a little tap if this edition helped you learn something new about sustainability and climate change. See you next week :)