Rice is the world's main food staple and depended upon by at least 2 billion people to meet their daily nutritional requirements. The European research project META-PHOR is investigating how to produce highly aromatic and nutritious rice. These "super-grains" will give a higher quality product for consumers and a larger export potential for producers.
Courtesy European Commission Research

Centuries ago, Amazonian farmers created some of the world's most fertile farmland by converting biomass to charcoal in their fields. Much of the carbon they buried hundreds of years ago remains sequestered there today. Today, researchers seek to use a similar method to create a "carbon-negative" energy source with the potential to make a huge difference in the fight against global warming.
By Brian Glover, Environmental and Energy Study Institute

Ever since the 1940s, chrome has been used to add a protective coating and shiny luster to a wide range of metal products, from bathroom fixtures to car bumpers.

Chrome adds beauty and durability, but those features come at a heavy cost. Though it's cheap to produce and harmless to consumers, the industrial process to create it is dangerous for workers and pollutes the environment.
By Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

HOME ENVIROSENSE

CITY & COMMUNITY EFFORTS

Being green can be quite inconvenient. Saving water means low flow toilets, low flow water fixtures, and less greenery in the yard. These are all good proven methods of practicing water conservation, but sometimes human behavior can get in the way.
By William J. Lund

Over the span of two weeks, Green Cities Florida identified and contacted 100 cities in Central Florida to find out what sustainability initiatives they have on their radar and what topics they would like to learn about at the conference. Nearly 40 cities responded to our call, sharing their programs which cover everything from renewable energies and water conservation to community education and green work force development.
Courtesy Green Cities Florida

GLOBAL FRONTIER

BACK TO NATURE

Village communities in Western Kenya alongside ones in Niger, Nigeria and China could become the key to unlocking the multi-billion dollar carbon markets for millions of farmers, foresters and conservationists across the developing world.
Courtesy United Nations Environmental Programme

As more than 120 nations gather in Manado, Indonesia for the World Oceans Conference the issue of climate change should be high on their minds.

The world's oceans and seas are now understood to be the biggest sink of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.
By Achim Steiner, UNEP

GREEN LEADER PROFILE

GS PRODUCT PICKS

Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. Beginning in the summer of 2006, he led the organization of the largest demonstrations against global warming in American history. McKibben is active in the Methodist Church, and his writing sometimes has a spiritual bent.

RITI Printer

The RITI printer is an eco-friendly printer based on the concept of a new ink system. This unique printer swaps harmful inkjet cartridges with leftover grounds from your cup of coffee.

TO YOUR HEALTH

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT FOR CHANGE

Have you ever stood in the produce section of your grocery store glancing back and forth between the organic apples and the conventional (regular) apples wondering "Why should I pay more for organic?
By Hillary Marshak

This Arbor Day, members of Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots, the Jane Goodall Institute's global environmental and humanitarian youth program, have something to celebrate.
Courtesy The Jane Goodall Institute

BOOKS FOR THOUGHT

ECO PHOTO & WORD OF THE MONTH

The amazing inventions of Nikolas Tesla over 100 years ago--including wireless communication, radio, fluorescent lights, and more--are explored in this collection of ideas envisoned by the famous Serbian-American inventor on the coming world of super-science.
By Thomas Valone

A beam of light in Upper Antelope Canyon.


clean fuel — fuels which have lower emissions than conventional gasoline and diesel. Refers to alternative fuels as well as to reformulated gasoline and diesel.