Mary Catherine O'Connor

Dumpster Diving Robots: Using AI for Smart Recycling

July 5, 2017 by mcoc

Recycling facilities use robotic sorting stations and object-recognition technology to identify and put garbage in its proper place. iQ magazine July 5, 2017 Filled with intricate mazes of high-speed conveyor belts carrying yesterday’s garbage, high-tech recycling centers use sophisticated sensors to sort plastic from paper from aluminum. While this technology may streamline sorting, it’s not […]

Categories: Technology • Tags: artificial intelligence, Intel, municipal recycling facility, recycling

Invisible plastic: microfibers are just the beginning of what we don’t see

June 29, 2017 by mcoc

The tiny pollutants in our clothes are forcing us to look harder for, and think more carefully about, the ways humans have shaped the environment The Guardian June 29, 2017 Opening my washing machine at the end of a cycle is not something that generally fills me with excitement. But today it did, because doing […]

Categories: Action Sports, Gear, Lifecycle, Oceans, Policy, Recreation, Technology • Tags: Guppy Friend, invisible plastic, microfiber, synthetic microfibers

All Aboard Orlando’s Bid to Be a Transit Hub

June 28, 2017 by mcoc

A new terminal, designed by Fentress Architects, is coinciding with a new rail service to Miami. What can Orlando show other cities about multimodal integration and high-touch terminal design? Architect June 28, 2017 Larger than John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, and Miami International Airport combined, the Orlando International Airport (MCO) is the country’s […]

Categories: Energy, Technology, Transportation • Tags: Briteline, Curtis Fentress, Fentress Architect, MCO, Miami, multimodal, Orlando, Orlando International Airport

As Trump moves to privatize America’s national parks, visitor costs may rise

June 25, 2017 by mcoc

Some are concerned that the proposed privatization of some public park services would drive up costs for visitors and fail to raise enough for repairs The Guardian June 25, 2017 America’s national parks need a staggering $11.5bn worth of overdue road and infrastructure repairs. But with the proposed National Park Service budget slashed by almost […]

Categories: Policy, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: campground, concessionaires, Delaware, Department of Interior, national park service, NPS, Secretary Zinke, Xanterra

Your Fleece Jacket Pollutes the Ocean. Here’s the Possible Fix.

May 25, 2017 by mcoc

A large Canadian gear retailer is working on a project to trace the microplastics that come off its apparel in the wash and prevent them from entering local waterways. Outside Online May 25, 2017 By now you’ve probably heard the news: your favorite fleece sheds hundreds of thousands of tiny synthetic fibers every time it’s washed. Those […]

Categories: Action Sports, Gear, Lifecycle, Oceans, Recreation, Technology, Wilderness • Tags: MEC, microbeads, microfibers, Mountain Equipment Coop, synthetic apparel, synthetic microfibers

Guardian: Will clothes companies do the right thing to reduce microfiber pollution?

May 13, 2017 by mcoc

Over the past few years, evidence has been mounting that synthetic textiles such as polyester and acrylic, which make up much of our clothing, are a major source of pollution in the world’s oceans. That’s because washing those clothes causes tiny plastic fibers to shed and travel through wastewater treatment plants into public waterways. These […]

Categories: Gear, Lifecycle, Oceans, Policy, Technology • Tags: apparel, food chain, marine pollution, mermaids, microfiber pollution, Patagonia, plastic soup foundation, polymers, synthetic fabirc, textile science

How to Reason with the Climate Denier in Your Life

April 26, 2017 by mcoc

A new book by two philosophy scholars imagines conversations with skeptics and deniers. Here are four lessons we learned from it. Outside Online April 26, 2017 Everyone working to address climate change, from activists to scientists, knows that success depends in large part on their ability to convert climate change skeptics (or even straight-up deniers) […]

Categories: Climate Change, Energy, Food and Agriculture, Lifecycle, Oceans, Policy, Transportation • Tags: climate change, climate change denier, climate skeptic, Evelyn Fox Keller, Philip Kitcher, The Seasons Alter

Guardian: Only 14% of plastics are recycled – can tech innovation tackle the rest?

February 22, 2017 by mcoc

The world recycles just 14% of the plastic packaging it uses. Even worse: 8m tons of plastic, much of it packaging, ends up in the oceans each year, where sea life and birds die from eating it or getting entangled in it. Some of the plastics will also bind with industrial chemicals that have polluted […]

Categories: Energy, Food and Agriculture, Lifecycle, Oceans, Technology • Tags: Agylix, biocellection, Cadel Deinking, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, hdpe, ldpe, plastic, plastics recycling, recycling

Guardian: Microfibers are polluting our food chain. This laundry bag can stop that

February 12, 2017 by mcoc

For the past three years, Alexander Nolte and Oliver Spies, surfing buddies and co-owners of Langbrett, a German retailer with four stores that sells surf gear and outdoor apparel, have been haunted by news reports connecting many of the products they sell to an emerging but serious environmental threat: microfiber pollution. Synthetic textiles, such as […]

Categories: Action Sports, Gear, Oceans, Policy, Recreation • Tags: Alexander Nolte and Oliver Spies, Guppy Friend, microfiber, microfiber pollution, Patagonia

Guardian: Peter Metcalf, Patagonia take on Utah officials over public land rights

January 14, 2017 by mcoc

Utah, a state rich in epic landscapes and national parks, is becoming ground zero for a fight between the $646bn outdoor industry and state lawmakers over public land management. At a trade show for outdoor clothing and gear makers in Salt Lake City this week, two prominent figures from the industry called on their peers […]

Categories: Action Sports, Energy, Gear, Policy, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: Black Diamond, outdoor industry association, Outdoor Retailer, Patagonia, Peter Metcalf, Utah, Utah Governor Herbert

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