As a child, I was often in charge of preparing the mayonnaise. I remember pouring with care (and faith) olive oil, raw egg, and lemon juice, hoping to have come up with the right amount of each so that the sauce would set - it did most of the time! In a bit more complex way, the energy transition seems to require some sort of cosmic alignment as well — every ingredient needs to fall into place: governance, technology, policy.
While some say they “wouldn’t hurt a fly”, others - in Kenya for example - put them to work! Meet the Black Soldier Fly (BSF), a tiny insect with a big mission. Its larvae are nature’s little recyclers, devouring organic waste and turning it into valuable byproducts supporting sustainable food and agricultural cycles.
Zalcoatitán, the valley where the city of San Salvador is located, was named "de Las Hamacas" (of the hammocks) by Spanish conquistadors centuries ago due to the frequent seismic activity in the area, which creates a sensation of ‘swaying.’
With about one-third of all food produced being discarded, food waste worldwide is a (sadly) perfect example of holistic (un)sustainability, with broad and interconnected environmental, economic, and social ramifications. For one, the decomposition of organic waste, the largest stream in landfills, increases emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas significantly more potent than carbon dioxide.
‘You break it, you fix it’. In retail stores, this seems common sense (as well as a source of anxiety if one is with a toddler in the shop in question). But this logic is rarely applied when it comes to responsibilities for climate change.
