Sustainability

Architectural Digest recently featured a stunning home designed by Hong Kong-based commercial interior design studio that utilizes sustainable materials, filters for clean water, as well as an Urban Cultivator in the eco-sensitive home. The 1,730 sq. ft. three-bedroom apartment located in Hong Kong's Clearwater Bay was designed by Rowena Gonzales, the founder of Liquid Interiors. Strongly influenced by her learnings on cancer triggers that suggest high formaldehyde levels that are created from home renovations, Gonzales' mission is to design interiors that do not have the negative side effects of renovations past. Below is a highlight from the feature:

During a gathering of the world's nations at a meeting that was overseen by the United Nations in Paris, an agreement was reached that aims to strictly limit fossil-fuel pollution. Over the two weeks, 195 nations endorsed a program that set up methods to measure and verify emissions that not only reduce pollution, but also introduces ways to implement those reductions for decades to come.

Sustainability has been a hot topic for some time now, but really, what does it mean? And have you been doing what you should be to be sustainable? We live in a biological system. In order for us to survive, we need it to be diverse, and we need it to stay diverse. That's what sustainability; it's crucial because it contributes to survival of all organisms, the ones currently living, and the ones in the future. We need to use our resources wisely so that our future generations will also have them to live. But of course, of course—you're busy. You don't have time to go out of the way to do more. But remember: the future is yours. You have a direct hand at making it better. So what are some real ways you can contribute without, say, driving a solar-powered car and only using candles? Here's how you can be a little more sustainable every day.

Earlier in the month, Urban Cultivator headed down to New York to join renowned Chef David Bouley and Connecticut-based Urban Cultivator distributor Green Up in New York in an effort to promote sustainable urban farming. As purveryors of sustainability and the local food movement, we hoped to showcase the benefits of growing your own food and the importance of sustainable practices in the kitchen.

We talk a lot about reducing our carbon footprints, but what are you doing to actively diminish the negative impact you leave on our planet? There are a lot of ways to go about it, and in small increments, you can leave a positive difference on our planet. Here are 10 smart and easy ways to diminish your carbon footprint.

You've come across the "Chefs for Oceans" initiative a few times if you frequent the Urban Cultivator blog, but what is it really, and why should you care? The mastermind behind the initiative is Vancouver's very own Chef Ned Bell, the Executive Chef of the Four Seasons Hotel's YEW bar + restaurant. His goal? A brighter, more sustainable future. Chef Bell's goal is to create a movement. He hopes that within the next 10 years, every Canadian will be able to easily and readily access sustainable seafood for themselves and their families.