Vertical underwater farming solution scoops the Sustainia Award

February 08, 2017

Sustainia

GreenWave – a US-based vertical ocean farming solution – has won the Sustainia Award. GreenWave’s revolutionary technology allows ocean farmers to produce 30 tons of sea vegetables and 250,000 shellfish per acre in a year while restoring ocean ecosystems. Sustainia handed over the Sustainia Award to Bren on Wednesday February 8, at Sustainia’s big Sustainia Living event at the Royal Danish Opera House in Copenhagen.

One of the Film4Climate Global Video Competition winning entries "Three Seconds" (1st Prize Short Film) was showcased at this Sustainia event.

Fed up with the unsustainable practices of the fishing industry, fisherman Bren Smith founded GreenWave just three and a half years ago on Long Island, New York, U.S. GreenWave relies on a new innovative system, which enables seaweed, scallops and mussels to grow on floating ropes, stacked above oyster and clam cages below. The system provides food, fertilizer, animal feed and sustainable biofuels, making ocean farmers the stewards of their local waters. Bren Smith now has 15 farms in development in Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and California.

GreenWave represents a readily scalable and replicable solution, which takes a triple bottom line approach – one that builds a blue-green economy, acts on climate change, and provides better food options – while addressing the global goals, making it a clear recipient for the Sustainia Award.

GreenWave is a single solution to multiple challenges, with one big goal. Simply, we are focused on saving the oceans in order to save ourselves. We’re delighted to win the Sustainia Award, and I hope it helps us take our work to waters all over the world.

- Bren Smith, Executive Director and CEO of GreenWave

Sustainia’s big Sustainia Living event focused on sustainable lifestyle, during which pioneers such as acclaimed architect Bjarke Ingels, food activist Claus Meyer and sustainable clothing advocate Livia Firth guided us through the ceremony.

All ten Sustainia finalists were also eligible for the Community Award, which was decided by public vote during October 2016 – and the winner is Code to Inspire, a solution which teaches Afghan women computer coding and empowers them to find employment or pursue entrepreneurial ventures. According to the founders, 85 percent of Afghan women have no formal education and are illiterate, so Code to Inspire opened Afghanistan’s first female-only coding school in 2015 to provide a safe space for women to learn, express themselves and acquire competitive skills.

Too many Afghan women are denied the chance to fulfill their potential because of the complex barriers that prevent them from receiving education and working. So we’re responding to this national crisis by providing them with the skills they need to find opportunities in the digital global marketplace. Receiving the Community Award from Sustainia gives us the added boost we need to reach as many women as possible, and change even more lives in the region.

- Fereshteh Forough, Founder and CEO of Code to Inspire

Code to Inspire teaches Afghan women computer coding and empowers them to find employment or pursue entrepreneurial ventures. Photo Credits to Sustainia