Lush Walls Rise to Fight a Blanket of Pollution in Mexico City: The vertical gardens recently installed by local architects in Mexico City aim to “scrub away both the filth and the image. One of three eco-sculptures installed across the city by a nonprofit called VerdMX, the arch is both art and oxygenator. It catches the eye. And it also helps clean the air.”

Credit: Rodrigo Cruz for The New York Times

What Is the Best Earth Day Pledge?: “One can find a plethora of ‘green’ actions from a variety of websites and programs. It is sometimes overwhelming to the average consumer; what is meaningful?… The one often overlooked opportunity is the yard. The cumulative impact of how people manage their own yards can have significant impacts on local, regional, and global environments.”

Smart Toilet & Sink Combo Uses Greywater to Flush: A Korean designer has come up with a clever way of saving water in the bathroom with his new device which “uses a double compartment system that stores greywater from a connected washbasin to flush the stainless steel toilet bowl below.”

© Jang Woo-seok

Chicago’s $7 Billion Plan to Fix Crumbling Infrastructure: “From expanding its largest airport to replacing century-old water pipes, Chicago introduces an ambitious construction plan that will be partly financed with public-private partnerships.”

Urban alleyways conjure images of dark, slimy, creepy things. They’re places where only the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles should hang out. But Chicago, the city with the most alleys in the world (1,900 miles of them to be exact), is transforming theirs into cleaner places as a part of the new Green Alley Program. The plan is to repave them with permeable materials to benefit the environment. Here’s how:

1. Pavement absorbs water that then goes into the earth reducing flooding and saving tax payer money which would otherwise be spent treating storm water
2. The pavement is a light color so it reflects heat and is cooler, reducing the “urban heat island effect”
3. They’re made of recycled materials
4. Lights in the alleys will be energy efficient

Green alleys aren’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when I think of ways to reduce the effects of climate change, but I think urban renewal projects like this one can really make a difference in the long run.