Elsa Wenzel

Most medical textiles are not recycled, contributing to health care’s large climate and plastic waste footprint.

Carcinogens, neurotoxins and hormone disruptors lurk between the lines of ingredient labels.

Most U.S. medical patients getting intravenous therapies have probably also been absorbing carcinogens into their veins.

“Am I willing to get a lower interest rate if I know I’m financing something that’s good for humanity?”

Grocery habits—like buying mortadella beef or scheduling regular shopping trips—can be as useful as credit scores at predicting who will reliably repay loans.

And are the companies that issue them truly addressing climate issues? New research investigates.

As a renter, Meghan Wood was frustrated by the solar options available to her. She knew that solar panels provide cheaper, cleaner energy. But as she researched the systems on the market, she only found products with hefty price tags and complex installation needs.

The more he developed cutting-edge consumer technology, the more Kao wondered about the fate of products at the end of their lives.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, outdoor dining became a welcome escape for Raj Tilwa. Later, reconnecting with longtime friend Rohan Pandya, Tilwa became obsessed with the paradoxes of heating systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic reset the business of commercial real estate, with repercussions still coming into focus. Tens of millions of U.S. professionals stopped commuting to work in spring of 2020, laboring from home for months or longer. And in this moment of the Great Wait and the Great Resignation, many companies are dialing back their office reopening plans while others, including tech leaders from Adobe to Zoom, are extending remote and hybrid work options indefinitely.

About one-third of wo

Designed and executed with care, net-zero carbon goals can offer more than sustainability window dressing for commercial buildings in the decades to come. More real estate owners, operators, developers and investment firms see the appeal of future-proofing properties from climate shocks such as floods and fires; from market shocks such as high prices for scarce fossil fuels; and from policy shocks such as any future laws requiring climate disclosures or that tax or penalize greenhouse gas emissi

Over the years, as Rochelle Routman’s work took her to hundreds of contaminated manufacturing sites, it bothered her to find one thing in common: They seemed to be built on the backs of lower-income communities.

"I thought, they would have never put this factory in the backyard of a country club neighborhood," said the trained geologist, whose career launched with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division in the 1980s and matured through roles at Georgia Power and Lockheed Martin Aeronautic

“What I do love about the whole EV battery recycling conversation: how often do we start a conversation in corporate America with, ‘How are we gonna recycle this thing?’”

Government incentives, bulk purchases by airline giants and support from corporations with jet-setting employees are attempting to rev up the market for sustainable aviation fuel market, which has suffered from a lack of supply.


The latest support from Washington arrived Aug. 16 with a Federal Aviation Administration award of $244.5 million to 22 projects for cleaner fuel production, supply chains and availability.


Sales of $460 million for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in 2022 are est...

U.S. airlines use sustainable fuel in less than 0.1 percent of flights. Yet the government wants to reach 100 percent by 2050.

It's not uncommon on California roadways to spot diesel cars with bumper stickers that boast of biofuels in the engine, using slogans such as "Fuel for the revolution."

"This is the largest underground movement in the United States since the Civil War and the underground railroad," said Michael Wittman, an environmental activist and biodiesel user in Los Angeles.

But many drivers who began using biofuels to reduce their carbon emissions and save money fear that little-known government regulati

As the novel opens in the near future, a heatwave extinguishes millions of lives in a matter of weeks, but it's a utopian story. Its happy ending features humanity rapidly decarbonizing a multitude of systems, maintaining a livable planet.

In the genre of cli-fi, or climate fiction, "Ministry for the Future" has attracted an avid following — and not mainly for its visions of a post-fossil-fuel future through which airships and solar-powered ocean transport ships glide.

Instead, the book's wonk

There's never been a better time to work in climate tech, and business leaders need to get moving to push opportunities forward and help the government meet its major climate goals, according to U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

"Send us proposals for big, bold, clean energy projects, proposals with maximum potential to create good-paying jobs and deliver environmental justice and make an impact in the fight against climate change," she said in a video streamed Wednesday at the VERGE

The majority of the nearly 50,000 celebrants at the Burning Man counter-culture event have been re-adjusting for two weeks to the real world of running water, cubicles and commutes. With the week-long party in the Nevada desert in the rearview mirror, how green was the burn?

Supporters and critics of the festival of radical self-expression anticipated that this year's Green Man theme would set the ephemeral city apart from those of the past. Many hoped that Burning Man would clean up its act, s

With those gizmos and many others in tow, Leong treks to reputedly haunted homes, battlefields, bars and hotels, gathering what she thinks may be evidence of a world beyond this earthly one.

The pursuit of ghostly evidence has been a popular pastime for centuries. Now, instead of Ouija boards, ghost hunters are increasingly turning to high tech gear to assist in their search.

Such ghost hunters rely upon digital equipment to document potential signs of hauntings. Cameras and voice recorders pi

The oglers at Macworld are venerating the new iPhone as if tears and blood were streaming from its Magic Touch screen.

Ari Derfel likes living with his garbage. He hasn't thrown anything away in more than a year, but he insists he doesn't suffer from any compulsive hoarding disorders.

Rather, Derfel views the bins of bottles, boxes, leaflets, cartons, and wrappers he's stacked in his Berkeley, Calif., home as fruits of a continued meditation about sustainability.

"Something inside me doesn't feel right every time I throw things away," said Derfel, w

Synthetic-diamond makers received a boost in January when the Gemological Institute of America--the organization that invented the color, cut, clarity and carat diamond standards 50 years ago--began grading the quality of lab-grown diamonds.

"It gives validity to what investors and manufacturers of gems have been saying for a number of years," said Stephen Lux, CEO of Gemesis Diamond in Sarasota, Fla. "The alternative of lab-grown diamonds is a reality, and these diamonds are a nice value as co

Companies have the power to reach "true net zero" by midcentury, according to former vice president Al Gore, if they "stop using the sky as an open sewer. We've got to get to true net zero, and then we will solve this crisis."

Gore, who since his controversial defeat in the 2000 presidential election has chaired the ESG-focused Generation Investment Management firm that he co-founded, sat on Apple’s board for two decades and advised Google and Kleiner Perkins, spoke to GreenBiz at this weekend’

In 1850, San Jose was the first city to be incorporated in California. Fast forward 180 years, and it will be the nation’s largest carbon neutral city, if Sam Liccardo has his way. The mayor, reelected in 2018 with 75 percent of the vote, has partnered with businesses to advance a mix of policies to decarbonize and densify San Jose. The 10th-largest U.S. metropolis has a disproportionate share of high-tech headquarters — Adobe, Cisco, eBay, Netflix and PayPal, to name a handful.

Under Liccardo'

Ryan Panchadsaram’s career arc bends toward tackling systemic problems of increasing size, choreographing big sets of data for the public good. The industrial engineer in his 20s helped to mend a botched national system — the 2014 launch of the federal "Obamacare" signup website.

The former U.S. deputy chief technology officer has since pivoted to "save the world," pushing for collective climate action. Panchadsaram is technical adviser to John Doerr, chair of legendary venture capital firm Kle

San Francisco may have shaken some flowers from its hair since hosting the first Earth Day 38 years ago, but the city continues to be named one of America's greenest. Satirists mock its politically correct "smug cloud" of eco-hipness, but many other regions tend to follow the city's environmental lead. For instance, more than a handful of U.S. cities are now mulling a ban on plastic grocery bags, first passed in San Francisco last March.

Fresh into his second term, San Francisco Mayor Gavin New

Borders are elusive when it comes to the oceans, whether in the public imagination, business or the law.

Naturally, much of Janis Searles Jones' work as Ocean Conservancy CEO is to transcend borders; she finds that passion for the oceans is bipartisan and building partnerships among "unusual bedfellows" is essential. The 46-year-old advocacy group's focus areas are vast: ocean acidification; smart planning; sustainable fisheries; "trash-free seas"; and regional protection of the Arctic and Gulf

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating is the brand to beat for any business seeking a sustainability showpiece in its headquarters or offices. The force behind the Greenbuild events is at a crossroads, entering its 24th year with Mahesh Ramanujam as the new president and CEO.

He's both a fresh face and an insider, transitioning from the COO role while continuing to head up Green Business Certification Inc., which administers LEED. Ramanuja

Usually found in an operating room or welding shop, a Class 4 laser is just one of the tools Moto chef Homaro Cantu uses to bend diners' expectations of what's edible.

A thick confidentiality agreement prohibits this reporter from describing more about this culinary rabbit hole where meals are printed on edible paper, frozen instantly in liquid nitrogen, and baked in polymer ovens that fit in the palm of your hand. (Foodies often fly into town and shell out $165, plus wine, for a taste of the f

Just like cars, old electronics are considered classics after 25 years. But how can you tell which products are valuable collectibles, and which ones won’t appreciate at all? Should you drag your old IBM computer or Nintendo console to an e-waste center? Or does it make more sense to sell it today? Some collectors of vintage tech aren’t looking for objets d’art. No, they actually want to use your discarded PCs. On the other hand, says Jim Griffith, eBay’s dean of education, “If you had an origin

Managing technology comes last on the to-do list for many small companies. You want to focus on front-end business while hardware and software magically work behind the scenes.

For your tech backbone to function, however, it needs steady support. Finding the right IT expert can not only save money over the long run but also make the difference between merely surviving an emergency and powering ahead for growth.

Many mom-and-pop or home-based ventures rely on family and friends for tech help. I

In the world of information technology, some professions are particularly perilous. Whether you’re risking psychological stress or your very life, these fields aren’t for the faint of heart. Some people in these roles thrive on adrenaline, climbing thousands of feet to fix communications towers. Others risk only emotional damage, getting paid to consume disturbing Internet content.

Workplace deaths in the United States have dropped in recent years, along with the employment rate. In the develop

Younger adults lead other generations in seeking purpose-driven work. They’ll even “climate quit” when their employers renege on sustainability commitments.

Decarbonizing disaster relief, supply chains and industrial chemicals. Developing whole-food snacks, circular apparel and climate-savvy financial products.

Corporate sustainability professionals often speak of "moving the needle." At the risk of mixing metaphors, sometimes industries really need a poke from a different kind of needle to move faster. Nonprofit groups, pursuing a noble cause, setting long-term goals and owing nothing to shareholders, can provide that jab.

No single organization can solve systemic, planetary problems on its own. Green business efforts regularly enlist not-for-profit groups to share resources, bridge gaps among compet

Forget about small talk. In Difficult Dialogues in Health Communications, students learn how to set aside social taboos to address some of life’s most emotionally painful moments, including death, grief, and loss. They engage in difficult conversations with loved ones and with each other so they can develop effective tools for navigating the uncomfortable feelings that make us feel uncertain and out of control. They also put what they’re learning to work in the world by partnering with child-cen

A beloved bookstore. A go-to local cafe. A softball team. The varied places where queer communities have flourished in Central Florida is the focus of groundbreaking new research by Rollins students.

In history professor Claire Strom’s History of American Sexuality course, students have been uncovering little-known local history about places of import in the LGBTQ+ communities through a partnership with the LGBTQ History Museum of Central Florida, where Strom sits on the board. For their final

Found across cultures for at least 4,000 years, labyrinths are revered spaces at the Chartres Cathedral in France, the Amathole Mountains in South Africa, and the old summer palace in Beijing. Now the ancient tradition is finding a modern home on the Rollins campus, with completion set for early September.

Thanks to a generous donation from Victor ’73 and Jackie Zollo ’73, a beautifully paved permanent labyrinth walk and meditation garden will be a peaceful focal point of a new “neighborhood” o

Now more than ever our Rollins community is in need of the “helpers” who our beloved alumnus Fred Rogers ’51 always found in times of crisis.


As the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic continue to evolve, the Rollins community is grappling with a wave of student needs that reflects what the nation as a whole is facing. The first surge came with the departure of nearly 3,000 students from the campus in mid-March. Many members of the faculty and staff from across departments and offic

Female entrepreneurs are critical to solving some of the world’s greatest challenges, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to advance gender equality and eliminate poverty. In emerging economies, however, businesswomen often lack resources and support.

An innovative program through Rollins’ Crummer Graduate School of Business, the Global Links Initiative (formerly known as the Global Links Scholar Program) is in its 10th year of building bridges across cultures to n

Legendary voices like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes are household names, but what about Rita Dove and Countee Cullen? These Black poets are among hundreds of influential figures being explored by Rollins faculty, staff, and students for a groundbreaking new project from the famed British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare.

Commissioned by Barbara ’68 and Ted Alfond ’68, the final artwork will be part of the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art and will be installed in 2022 in Kathleen W. Rolli

Joanne Rogers ’50 ’05H, acclaimed concert pianist and wife of Fred Rogers ’51 ’74H, died Thursday, January 14, in Pittsburgh at the age of 92.

An only child, Sara Joanne Byrd was born March 9, 1928, 11 days before her future husband and Rollins’ beloved alumnus, Fred Rogers ’51 ’74H, who created the iconic children’s television show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Joanne was raised in Jacksonville, Florida, by her parents, Ebra and Wyatt Byrd, and at age 5, took up piano lessons after a neighbor

International Tennis Hall of Famer Shirley Fry Irvin ’49, a child prodigy who grew up to inspire legends like Billie Jean King and Serena Williams, passed away at age 94 on July 13 in Naples, Florida.

One of the greatest tennis champions to emerge from an impressive tradition at Rollins College, Fry Irvin was a household name in the 1950s. She became one of only 10 women to win the singles titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Championships, and the Australian