内容摘要：The sunrise appears between the branches of a dragon’s blood tree on the Yemeni island of Socotra, on Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

The sunrise appears between the branches of a dragon’s blood tree on the Yemeni island of Socotra, on Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

After wetting down the trash, teams wielding pressure washers spray garbage off the sidewalks. Tractors bearing bristles and nicknamed “toothbrushes” scrub the asphalt, targeting beads. Bulldozers plow into the piles and dump them into trucks capable of bearing 40,000 pounds (18,144 kilograms) of waste at a time. Small teams on foot armed with brooms sweep anything left over into dust bins.Then comes the final touch: a citrus spray Torres calls “lemon fresh.”

“It’s not just fragrance like putting perfume on a pig. It has enzymes in it that kill the bacteria,” Torres said. “You can have a clean street, but if you smell the puke and the stale beer and liquor that’s washed out onto the streets, it’s a foul odor and people remember that.”Over the past three years, a collection of organizations has stepped up efforts to improve the sustainability of Mardi Gras and cut down on the more than 2 million tons (1.8 million metric tons) of waste generated during the heart of the city’s Carnival season.“It’s almost an unfathomable number and feels like an uphill battle,” said Franziska Trautmann, cofounder of the glass recycling company Glass Half Full. “But the team is noticing a difference.”

Partnering with the city and other groups, Glass Half Full collected more than 33,000 pounds (15,000 kilograms) of glass from nearly two dozen bars as part of a “Bar Wars” contest and at recycling stations along parade routes, Trautmann said.Anna Nguyen, a spokesperson for the city’s Office of Resilience & Sustainability, said the city is working with community groups to engage and incentivize recycling, with groups offering rewards for anyone who turns in bags of beads, cans or bottles and an artist building a mosaic from them.

This year, the city had earmarked $50,000 to support Mardi Gras recycling for the first time and has increased that budget by fivefold for next year’s season, Nguyen said. Convention planners and groups looking for cities to host events are increasingly prioritizing sustainability, she added.

But it’s also part of a cultural shift toward greater sustainability among social clubs and parade-goers during Mardi Gras, according to Kevin Ferguson, vice president of external affairs for New Orleans & Company, a nonprofit dedicated to boosting the city’s tourism: “What we’re building is more of a movement than an individual project.”have spelled trouble for winegrowers trying their best to adapt. Along the West Coast, destructive wildfires are

Solar panels operate at Fox Run Vineyards and Seneca Lake, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)Solar panels operate at Fox Run Vineyards and Seneca Lake, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Many winegrowers say they are working to make their operations more sustainable, wanting to help solve climate change caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline, coal and natural gas.Farms can become certified under initiatives such as the New York Sustainable Winegrowing program. Fox Run and more than 50 others are certified, which requires that growers improve practices like bettering soil health and protecting water quality of nearby lakes.