Today, I’ll outline three different schools where sustainability is making an impact. The first is the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California where students incorporate sustainability into the core values along with form and function.

Some of the students are working on projects such as designing bikes from local materials for third world nations, making attractive designer bags from Army tarpaulins and dog tags and inventing an electric tea set that does not waste heat.

Students in the Art Center College’s Design for Sustainability class must submit their projects for a life-cycle analysis first that measures the environmental impact from the beginning of the source materials to what happens after the consumer is finished using the product.

The Denver Public Schools have signed on to using TREES software that will help in reducing greenhouse gases at over 180 public schools in the area. Energy savings and efficiency are key components to using the software.

And, in Cooper Elementary School in Northwest Arkansas, the students have just won the “It’s Good to Be Green” contest for sustainability. Producing a video, a banner and writing an essay on sustainability was the task and the grand prize was a playground made of recycled parts.

With the concept of sustainability integrated into the schools, the green future is looking very promising indeed.

When I was a kid in the 60’s and 70’s we had a dehumidifier that could pull the water out of the humid Midwest summer air and make it reasonably more comfortable. Now manufacturers have upgraded this concept and added all sorts of fancy filtration to it so that the agua is drinkable.

In fact, atmospheric water generators are so hot right now even famed crooner and environmentalist Willie Nelson has jumped on board. Forget that Bio-Willie biofuel stuff and the other ventures the country vocalist has been into. Now, Willie’s making water and money by partnering with Wataire International.

Not only does the atmospheric water generator suck the moisture from the surrounding air, but it also cleans and purifies it with a series of HEPA and carbon filters plus UV light. A company called Xziex has also announced their atmospheric water generator as well.

Seeking to replace some of the bottled water market in the more humid regions of the nation, Xziex is well, pulling water out of thin air and you don’t have to worry about the environmental impact of shipping small plastic bottles of water from Fiji or some other nonsense.

There is another market for atmospheric water generators that a few companies are just now exploring and this is for developing nations. Much of the world as we know it still exists without clean drinking water. Atmospheric water generators may help those in developing nations, outlying areas and places where clean drinking water is prohibitive.

Now couple these atmospheric water generators with a renewable energy source such as a small wind turbine or a few small solar panels and you truly have a sustainable source of clean water.