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For the past year, President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana has traveled the world offering to place his nation's forests under international supervision if other countries paid his citizens not to deforest the tropical landscapes.

The campaign received major support last week when Norway announced a $30 million commitment on Monday for the small South American nation to implement an "avoided deforestation" plan. If the program demonstrates success, Guyana will receive an additional $250 million through 2015.

"We are giving the world a workable model for climate change collaboration between North and South," said Erik Solheim, Norway's minister of ...

This week's dose of organic headlines, updates, resources, goodies, and recipes courtesy of DSnodgrass...

New research shows that the use of genetically modified crops have put more pesticides on consumers dinner tables. 

The rapid adoption by U.S. farmers of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton has promoted increased use of pesticides, an epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds and more chemical residues in foods, according to a report issued Tuesday by health and environmental protection groups.

The groups said research showed that herbicide use grew by 383 million pounds from 1996 to 2008, with 46 percent of the total increase ...

With the United States of America's ever-mounting trade and budget deficits, unemployment above 10 percent (and, dependent on counting, un- and under-employment above 20 percent), looming peak oil and other resource (water, for example) limitations, environmental challenges, and ever-mounting climate chaos , America faces a very serious situation.

In fact, to one degree or another, these same intertwined challenges (with the exception of trade/budget deficits for some countries) are those face by societies and nations throughout the globe in our networked, systems-of-systems global community.

These serious challenges are a networked system-of-systems that interact and reinforce each other. As we ...

Speakers at the opening session of the World Summit on Food Security, hosted by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, called for increased investment in agriculture and emphasized the role climate change is playing in agricultural production.

“There can be no food security without climate security,” said Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General to the delegates gathered in Rome. “That is why next month in Copenhagen we need a comprehensive agreement that will provide a firm foundation for a legally binding treaty on climate change.”

Global leaders are trying to accomplish a foundational agreement, instead of a full-fledged treaty ...

In order to generate excitement around humble dirt - the star of a new movie bearing its name - people are being encouraged to visit the official site and share their own soil stories.

Dirt! The Movie, due out in December, tells the amazing story of humans and our relationship with the earth beneath our feet. As described on the website:

"Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth's climate. Dirt is the ultimate natural resource for all life on earth."

Of course the issue ...

Actions Speak Loudest: Keeping Our Promise for a Better World, a new book by Robert McKinnon inspires us to keep a generational promise to leave the world a better place than we inherited. This collection of photos, essays, and calls to action draw attention to thirty-one important issues facing this and future generations.

The topics covered range from childhood obesity to climate change, and the contributors McKinnon selected demonstrate “an action-oriented” approach. Notable voices include President Jimmy Carter, Mia Hamm, and Dave Eggers as well as everyday heroes who have overcome challenges to impact the youth in their community. Readers ...

Al Gore hasn’t been resting on his laurels since An Inconvenient Truth. His substantial new book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis has grown out of the more than 30 lengthy and intensive “Solution Summits” he has organised to enable leading experts from round the world to share their knowledge and experience in subjects relevant to solving the crisis, as well as the one-on-one sessions he has had with others. 

The expertise shows. The discussions of energy sources are focused and packed with useful information and judgments. Electricity from the sun is the first. Concentrated solar ...

I recently wrote a story on the growing popularity of so-called smart appliances that link into utility's smart grid programs, allowing consumers to manage and cut down on their own power use. 

By the end of this year, energy customers in much of Texas can expect the installation of close to 700,000 advanced smart electric meters and corresponding communications systems.   Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC, the state's largest utility company, and Landis+Gyr, a developer of energy management systems, have already installed more than 350,000 smart meters in Texas. 

Oncor provides transmission distribution of electricity to ...

In Sayerville, NJ, the doors of the Center for Lifelong Learning recently opened. It's a school that can serve up to 175 students with autism and related disorders, providing education and training for many life skills which are taken for granted by neurotypicals.

Here's the kicker.

The facility, designed by USA Architects, is one of the first public school buildings in the state to be built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, and could become the first to be certified LEED Platinum. This is due largely to its all-natural building materials and its use ...

The upcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen have highlighted an interesting dilemma.  Nations worldwide are trying to shirk their responsibilities around emissions and their economies. 

So called “developed” nations like the U.S., U.K., and Australia are having a difficult political time getting industries to swallow the fact that big changes need to happen.  Industry needs to clean up its act.  Of course, then the political dance begins: 

• “But what about xyz country?  Are they going to do it too?”  Yes, yes, always point the finger somewhere else.  Someone else should be the leader, start things off, too risky for ...

Some very good news on the international front, as the UK Guardian reports today:

During a hastily convened breakfast meeting in Singapore, the US president supported a Danish plan to salvage something from the moribund negotiations by aiming for a broad political agreement and postponing contentious decisions on emissions targets, financing and technology transfer….

The deferral plan was outlined to 19 leaders, including Obama and Chinese president Hu Jintao, who were in Singapore for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

“Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries we must, in the coming weeks, focus on ...