Tamara Mekler: Cooling the Earth and Your Drinks With Renewable Materials
Tamara: Plastic foam boxes are the go-to packaging solution for temperature-sensitive goods, yet these boxes are always breaking, ending up as small plastic beads that blow out to sea and pollute our oceans. Meanwhile, nature has been keeping coconuts cool for years with tough, insulative husks. But after the coconuts are harvested, the husks are burned as waste, emitting tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Fortuna Cools seeks to replace plastic foam once and for all with upcycled coconut fiber insulation.