Sustainable clothing for refugee women

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Women refugees who have resettled in Massachusetts and across the country are working to rebuild their lives. Donations, including food, clothes, and other items remain the main source of aid for refugees. However, their needs aren’t really being met. The challenge is that most of the donated clothes the refugee women have received in the U.S. do not align with their religious or cultural values. We use a life cycle assessment method to calculate environmental, social, and economic impacts of the current donation and garment production system and provide alternative options and recommendations for improvement including, but not limited to, material, energy use, and a living wage.

Life Cycle Assessment of biomethane production in a biodigester using hemp cultivator’s waste

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Licensed hemp acreage increased from 11,572 in 2019 to 405,863 in 2020 production season in North Carolina. This rapidly increasing market growth needs short-term and long-term strategies for farmers and CBD producers to further expand sustainably. Our overall hypothesis is that adopting the circular hemp and CBD industry is a major step in achieving greater sustainability in the Appalachian production regions. The project aims to assess the environmental, social, and economic impacts of agricultural hemp production for CBD oil in the Appalachian Regions, which will help farmers implement more sustainable practices. Second, eliminate hemp waste from CBD processing plants by integrating in-situ small anaerobic digesters (A.D.) and produce biogas, which will circulate back to hemp and/or CBD producers. This will enable circular hemp and CBD production in the Appalachian region including but not limited to states that currently produce hemp for CBD oil and further expand awareness and increase its adoption across the US.