What if roads and parking lots were solar, fuelling enough energy from the sun to power nearby communities as well as electric vehicles?

Co-inventors/founders of Solar Roadways Scott and Julie Brusaw, have the answer.

This video from Focus Forward Films explores how the world is being reshaped by solar roads, bionic eyes, honour codes, and one legendary drum machine.

Join the conversation and tweet #SOLARROADWAY to have your tweet featured on the Focus Forward website.

Learn about the infinite solutions of Solar Roadways or follow them on Twitter.

Check out more films in the Focus Forward series on Vimeo.

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Tom Szaky is the quintessential eco-entrepreneur. While a freshman at Princeton, Szaky founded a company that recycles garbage into plant fertilizer, then packages it in discarded soda bottles. Fast forward five years, and TerraCycle Plant Food is available in every Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, and more than 3000 other locations. Today, TerraCycle is finding new uses for trash, creating products ranging from bird feeders and park benches to tote bags and more. Major companies like Kraft and General Mills have taken notice, and are engaging the eco-biz to sponsor their waste streams.

Watch the video and learn more from a man who is showing how business can be good for people, good for the environment, and good for profit.

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Judy and Sophie’s Story: Judy met George while on a sailing trip in the Caribbean. They fell in love, married, and began an active life in Vermont. From the moment Judy discovered she had progressive multiple sclerosis, life for the couple began to change in ways they could have never predicted. By the summer of 2011, Judy had long lost her ability to walk and most of the motion in her upper body and George had become a full time caregiver. This is the story of how Sophie, a capuchin monkey, came to change both of their lives.

Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled is a national nonprofit serving quadriplegic and other people with severe spinal cord injuries or mobility-impairments by providing highly trained monkeys to assist with daily activities. Through the generous support of donors and volunteers, their monkeys are placed at no cost with disabled people and their families.

For more information, please visit monkeyhelpers.org

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What happens to nature after a nuclear accident? And how does wildlife deal with the world it inherits after human inhabitants have fled? In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of the historic nuclear accident at Chernobyl, filmmakers and scientists set out to document the lives and genetics of packs of wolves and other wildlife thriving in the “dead zone” which still surrounds the remains of the reactor.

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How does nature repel bacteria? Biomimicry studies reveal the skin pattern of sharks in the Galapagos acts as a natural repellent to bacteria. Vital insights for reducing the use of antibiotics, harsh cleansers and fighting superbugs. Currently the world’s population of sharks is under threat – targeted for their fins which are used to make soup. This video highlights why studying the species instead, is of far greater value. “Sharks are much more valuable to us evolving a great idea than they are sitting in our soup” ~ Janine Benyus

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Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and suffering in the world’s poorest countries.

They work in partnership with the very poorest people in these countries, directly enabling them to improve their lives, using knowledge and experience to influence decisions made at a local, national and international level that can significantly reduce extreme poverty.

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Wild Wonders of Europe

by Action Advisor on May 17, 2012

On 22 May 2012, The United Nations International Day for Biological Diversity, the next Wild Wonders of Europe outdoor exhibition will open in Berlin.

If your passion is photography or you simply delight in the visual beauty of nature – then you won’t want to miss this ‘free’ outdoor exhibition comprising of 100 spectacular and unforgettable European nature photographs.

The Wild Wonders of Europe team asked 69 of Europe’s best nature and animal photographers to travel the continent: 135 assignments in all 48 countries of Europe reflect the natural wonders of the continent.

The goal of the exhibition is to raise the visitors’ awareness of the value and the delicate balance of nature. Informative captions and topical documentation on biological diversity will complement the exhibition and Federal Environment Ministry staff will answer questions in an information pavilion.

Made possible by The Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit), the Wild Wonders of Europe exhibition will form the central part of the city’s official UN decade of Biodiversity celebrations.

This year’s crucially important UN theme is Marine Biodiversity. In line with that, the exhibition contains many fabulous marine images by some of Europe’s leading underwater photographers (a selection of these images to feature in the book ‘Wild Waters of Europe’ published later in the year).

A special selection of images from Berlin’s impressive urban biodiversity and of Germany’s UNESCO World Heritage Beech Forests will also be on display.

Along with a captivating image of wild boar in central Berlin (link: image 10) taken by photographer and Wild Wonders of Europe Director, Florian Möllers – who was recently awarded the position of Biodiversity Ambassador for the UN Decade of Biodiversity for Germany.

His own much acclaimed exhibition “Biopolis-Wild Berlin” will be on show at Berlin’s Natural History Museum (the Museum für Naturkunde ) 8 Nov 2011 – July 31st 2012.

The exhibition will be inaugurated by The German Minister for Environment, Norbert Röttgen, at Washingtonplatz, right in front of the Hauptbahnhof, Europe’s largest central station and close to the Reichstag and Kanzleramt.

It will remain on display until 27 July 2012.

The exhibition is open 24 hrs a day, with free admission to all!

The Wild Wonders of Europe Outdoor Exhibition will be on tour throughout Europe and beyond until 2013 – check the website for details.

Whilst the exhibit is great for locals or tourists visiting Berlin at this time of year – everyone can enjoy the diversity of nature with the free ‘Wild Friends’ App.

Designed for families, nature lovers, photographers or explorers, Wild Friends provides exciting content, updated daily, delivered as Visual Stories.

Whether you’re looking for adventurous up-close nature photography or just some relaxing wallpaper for your desktop or iOS device, Wild Friends delivers.

You can download the App here!

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Curried Cauliflower Pancakes

by Action Advisor on May 15, 2012

Winter Warmth Never Tasted So Good.

For a fusion of flavours and textures combining street food style with home cooking try our curried cauliflower pancakes, served with DHA infused maple syrup and a quenelle of coconut cashew cream.

Ready in 15 minutes / Serves Two

Ingredients
1/2 cauliflower head (steamed till tender, 4 minutes on high in the microwave)
1 heaped tablespoon of flax meal (buy pre-milled or mill linseeds in a coffee grinder)
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1 tablespoon of maple syrup (or agave syrup)
2 tablespoons of Udo’s DHA oil
1 tablespoon Coconut Cashew Cream

Method
Place steamed cauliflower, flax meal and curry powder into a large mixing bowl and use a stick blender to combine ingredients. Continue blending on high until the flax meal is no-longer visible and the mixture forms a wet dough in the center of the bowl.

In a departure from traditional pancakes cooked in a frying pan, you will be baking these in the oven as you would a focaccia or Lángos. This is due to the consistency of the mix which is much thicker than traditional pancake batter and works best when spread with a spatula onto baking paper.

Cut a piece of baking paper approximately 25-30cm in width and length and spoon your mix into the middle – then using the back of a spoon or a spatula, spread outwards forming a round roughly 1cm thick.

Place this onto a wired rack (this helps circulate air, so the bottom bakes rather than steams) into pre-heated oven on 250°C for 5-6 minutes until golden on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to stand for a further minute before flipping and removing the baking paper (so it peels-off without sticking). Return to the oven without paper and cook for a further 3-5 minutes. It should be golden on both sides, crispy on the outside with a soft mashed-spud texture in the center.

In a separate mixing bowl combine DHA oil (available through NTP Health Products) with maple syrup, then drizzle the infused dressing over your hot pancakes.

Serve with a quenelle of Coconut Cashew Cream (available through Loving Earth).

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A View from the Summit

by Action Advisor on May 11, 2012

Spruce-up your Screens with ‘A View from the Summit’.

For desk-bound daydreams or post-meeting motivation, Bare Essentials created this FREE wallpaper for the intrepid soul anticipating their next adventure, enjoy!

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Nature’s Plate ‘Awarding Sustainable Service’

by Action Advisor on May 9, 2012

Got a favorite green restaurant?

Cast your vote for your fave, and help them compete for the top honor — People’s Choice Winner of the Nature’s Plate Award!

Nominations will help showcase the most sustainable practices and eco-innovative eateries across the United States. Checkout ‘What is a Green Restaurant’ this outlines what the judges are looking for. To locate sustainable venues worthy of the title, search the database provided by the Green Restaurant Association.

By participating in this survey you become part of Nature Conservancy ‘All Hands on Earth’- a larger effort to educate and embrace environmentally-friendly initiatives. The premise of this campaign focuses on breaking-down the challenge of lifestyle change into bite-sized objectives. ‘Every action counts and small steps are embraced more easily and sustained for longer!‘

This formula fosters positive attitudes towards the otherwise daunting and confusing issues we face coming up with solutions to tackle climate change. Building a community to take action together harnesses the power of many and turns small actions into big achievements.

The website invites people to contribute to the growing list of actions many of which take less than 5 minutes to complete or require only a small shift in how you already do things ‘Easy Actions, Big Impact!’

At the next level you can support the campaign through fundraising or donation.

Plus, the community-based platform encourages comments and networking for various earth conscious resources, events and other announcements worth sharing.

So the question is ‘how will you leave your mark on the Planet today?’

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Anatomy of a Protest

by Action Advisor on May 7, 2012

Using Twitter to monitor news also offers people a tool for mobilising public gatherings and capturing events as visual information.

Applications that provide this kind of visual data are not new, take for instance Ushahidi a free open-source software, first developed in early 2008 to map reports of violence in Kenya after post-election fallout. But Twitter has trending power and a platform universally recognised around the world – now managing over 465 million accounts.

In this article by John Nelson, Twitter coverage is integrated into a visual graph that offers insight into the anatomy of an event as it trends in space and time.

An analytical reference sourcing data from a huge resource of Twitter users (supporters, detractors and everybody in between) to examine behavioural aspects, influence and impact of large-scale movements like the example illustrated here of March’s Mayday protest in Manhattan.

The visual coordination of three dimensions of data: location, time, and topic, provides an up-to-the-second profile of a social event as it forms, moves, and dissipates. A catalyst for geospatial awareness with valuable application for understanding and interpreting the organic nature of social phenomena so as to anticipate events before they happen!

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