GrowNYC, with a mission to ensure that all New York City dwellers eat their veggies, is a small example of a community business model with with big potential. The nonprofit has had to snub requests from dozens of the city’s food pantries and soup kitchens because it couldn’t move enough produce through its 5,000-square-foot warehouse. Now it will be operating...

Farmers in the American tobacco belt have high hopes for hemp. Hemp was a staple crop in the region from colonial times until tobacco became more lucrative. When the US government classified hemp as a controlled substance akin to heroin and LSD, the industry died. Now it’s reviving. More than 25 states have legalized the growth of hemp – and...

The Asia-Pacific region will be the world’s hotspot for future water shortages, according to a new report from the Asia Development Bank. Almost 3.5 billion people will be living in the region’s water-scarce areas by 2050, with Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan and Singapore the hardest hit. Because most of the region’s water – up to 90 percent in some countries...

If pending legislation passes, the Netherlands will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2025. The proposal has passed the parliament’s lower house and is likely to be approved by the upper chamber. Norway considered a similar measure but rejected it in favor of exploring incentives to lure drivers toward electric transport. For now, the Netherlands’ action is largely...

Gerald Celente’s “Trends This Week,” a weekly show on the Progressive Radio Network, PRN.fm, airs live each Wednesday at 11 a.m. Trends This Week breaks down essential trends in economics, geopolitics, health and well-being, pop culture and more in classic Celente style. And, if you can’t catch the show live, you can listen 24/7 by accessing Trends This Week in the archives section...

Earnings dropped significantly for dollar stores this summer due to competitive and economic factors. But discount start-up Hollar is gaining attention with an online discount shopping business model – one that will become increasingly attractive to Millennials and the next generation. Millennials are now responsible for 80 percent of US births, according to the “Millennials as New Parents” study by...

Imagine storing all the e-mails, videos, documents, and other files on your computer and cell phone in a space the size of a dull pencil point. But you don’t have to imagine it; researchers at Microsoft and the University of Washington have done it. The engineering team stored 200 megabytes of data – including graphics, high-speed video, the contents of...

Starting next year, California will start making electricity from its roads. The state is pilot-testing piezoelectric sensors, which turn mechanical pressure or stress into power. The sensors, each about the size of a dime, will be embedded in road surfaces and wired together. As cars and trucks press on and vibrate the road, the sensors will generate power. It’s estimated...

Singapore’s Land Transit Authority and the software company nuTonomy are testing driverless taxis in the island nation. The open-ended pilot project allows riders to use nuTonomy’s ride-hailing app to flag a hack, then travel within a portion of the city-state’s business district. For safety, and to take data, a human engineer will ride along – but probably won’t split the...

Follow the money. And who controls it – the banks. Soon you won’t be able to see or touch your cash in the coming global cashless society. From Bitcoin to Citicoin to SETLcoin, the world is moving to digital currency. Forget those vaults where cash once was stored. Digital dough will be stored and transacted electronically. And driving this digital...