All eyes are on Brazil, as it takes the lead in developing and marketing the next generation of bioplastics.
By Maggie Romuld

At a time when everyone is trying to be a little more environmentally conscious, even dull grey slabs of concrete have the possibility to go green.
By Melissa Reynolds

A cellphone is not just for calling, texting and taking pictures anymore. Several startup business ventures spawned by MIT students are using phones to help people, especially in developing nations, to raise their incomes, learn to read, get where they're going and even diagnose their ailments.
By David Chandler, MIT / Photo: Donna Coveney

HOME ENVIROSENSE

CITY & COMMUNITY EFFORTS

Gardening is quickly becoming one of the most popular "green" hobbies. Consumers are growing some of their own food and creating hospitable environments for the bees, insects and birds that are so remarkably beneficial to our environment.
By Jonathan Gal

Edmonton, Alberta will soon become the world's first commercial waste-to-biofuels city. After much planning and testing, Enerkem GreenField Alberta Biofuels (EGAB) has recently been granted a 25-year commercial permit.
By Madelyn Lipszyc

GLOBAL FRONTIER

BACK TO NATURE

If you have a cat or dog who likes to hide under the deck or children who play on equipment made with pressure-treated wood, you'll be glad to hear that analytical chemist Julian Tyson and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently developed the first-ever accurate test for arsenic compounds in soil, promising a significantly improved environmental and health impact assessment. The method holds some promise for detecting naturally occurring high arsenic levels in Asian rice, as well.
By Janet Lathrop - University of Massachusetts Amherst

Around 25 million cubic metres of wood are wasted each year in Europe. In an effort to reduce this waste, researchers are developing solutions, such as radio tags and invisible inks, to improve the traceability of individual logs.
Courtesy European Commission

GREEN LEADER PROFILE

GS PRODUCT PICKS

In 1993, Erin Brockovich was a single mother of three working as a filing clerk in a law office. She came across some medical information in a little-known case filed against a California Utility Company, Pacific Gas and Electric, and began investigating when the facts didn't seem to add up. She persuaded her boss to allow her to do further research and eventually discovered a cover-up of the industrial poisoning of a city's water supply. After nearly four years in arbitration, the case was settled behind closed doors for $333 million.
By Maggie Romuld

Solar Powered GSM Cell Phone

Samsung's first GSM Solar Powered cell phone takes away any battery-charging worries. The Crest Solar E1107 gets its juice back in about one hour for ten minutes of talk time by setting the handset in the sun. Containing all regular cell phone features, the only hitch is waiting for the sun to shine on a rainy day!
By Melissa Reynolds

TO YOUR HEALTH

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT FOR CHANGE

Omega-3 sounds like it originated from a sci-fi film, but these essential fatty acids have rapidly become one of the hottest food additives highly beneficial to human health. Food manufacturers were quick to respond to research that indicates these potentially life-saving fatty acids can enhance their products to help people live longer.
By Karen A. Stephenson

The human population is being bombarded with statistics daily - in the media, in educational institutions, everywhere. We hear of mass deaths, tons of toxic waste that has been spilled, and other figures struggling to explain the annihilation that has occurred. The amalgamation of numbers surely speaks to us, but there is something about statistical information that is hard to really imagine - or to connect with.
By Madelyn Lipszyc

BOOKS FOR THOUGHT

ECO PHOTO & WORD OF THE MONTH

The amazing inventions of We are almost halfway through the United Nations Decade for Action - Water for Life and if you do nothing else to raise your level of awareness about the fate of water supplies around the world and the impact on human society, you should read Water.
Reviews by Maggie Romuld

Cornwall, UK: Gwithian Beach - Plastic Sandwich Container.


halon — Synthetic chemical compound containing one or two carbon atoms, bromine, and other halogens. Used mainly in fire extinguishers, halons are very stable and unreactive, and 10 times more destructive of ozone layer than chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).