China – Biogas – Millions of rural households in China have switched to homemade biogas for cooking, with far-reaching environmental and social benefits.
Germany – Freiburg – Improving sustainability with transportation, energy, waste management, land conservation, and a green economy.
India – New Delhi – Urban Rainwater Harvesting – Rainwater harvesting at Shri Ram School makes it a key player in a widespread movement to address Delhi’s water shortages.
India – Bangalore – Upscale Eco-Friendly Housing – A small, upscale neighborhood shows how eco-friendly living is a viable alternative to housing india’s high-tech affluent in unsustainable subdivisions.
India – Karnataka – A Growing Network of Seed Banks and Organic Farms – A network of seed banks and organic farming projects helps farmers reverse the trend toward extinction of local crop varieties.
Kenya – The Green Belt Movement – Tree planting and other projects improve Kenya’s ecosystem and quality of life.
Mexico – Oaxaca – Community Reforestation in the Mixteca Region – The Center for Integrated Farmer Development recently won the Goldman prize for reforesting highly eroded lands and rescuing the traditional sustainable agriculture of the region.
Mexico – Quintana Roo – The Vigía Chico Fishing Cooperative – A remote fishing village devises community management to protect its lobster fishery and ensure a high quality of life for everyone
Thailand – Trang Province – Taking Back the Mangroves with Community Management – Standing up to powerful interests to protect a commonly managed resource triggers a regeneration of society, economy and fishery.
Thailand – Nakhon Sawan Province – Watershed Restoration with Agroforestry and Community Forest Management – Agroforestry farming and community-managed forests empower impoverished villagers to optimize their resources, both natural and human, while showing how to reduce greenhouse gases by sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. **14-minute Video
USA – Hawaii (Oahu) – Waiahole Ditch Water Restoration – Twenty years after their land struggle, the Waiahole-Waikane community achieves stream restoration as well.
USA – Hawaii (Oahu) – He‘eia Fishpond and Watershed – Ecosystem restoration at He‘eia, Hawai‘i spans the watershed from the coastal fishpond to the upper valley.
Australia – A Sustainable House in the City – A small urban family remodels its 100-year-old house to achieve water and energy self-sufficiency.
Austria – Vienna – Biowaste Collection – Curbside collection of compost takes pressure off the stressed landfill and provides fertilizer for local farms.
Austria – Wienerburg – Greenbelt Project – A dumping ground becomes a pleasant green space.
Brazil – Curitiba – Planned “Eco-City” – A participatory master plan makes fast-growing Curitiba a model city.
Brazil – Icapui – ‘Microcredit’ Schemes – “Microcredit schemes” serve as alternatives to lobster overharvesting by struggling fishers.
Burkina Faso – Zabre – Women’s Agroecological Project – An integrated agricultural project improves the local economy and the status of rural women.
Canada – British Columbia – Tsleil-Waututh Nation – A native tribe helps to restore a degraded watershed, with far-reaching ecological and economic benefits.
Canada – British Columbia – Sustainable Oyster Farming – Oyster farming diversifies the economy and provides incentives for ecological protection.
Canada – Northwest Territories – Inuvik Community Greenhouse – An innovative greenhouse increases food security and self-sufficiency in the Arctic.
China – Sichuan Province – Reforestation – Reforestation with local access restores a degraded watershed.
China – Gansu – Rainwater Harvesting – Rainwater harvesting in a dry region has multiple benefits for a drought-prone region.
China – Southern Taklimakan Desert – Tamarix Trees – Drought-resistant trees stop sand dunes encroaching on agricultural land.
China – Fuzhou – Ocean Arks Wastewater Restorers – An innovative wastewater treatment system restores the quality of polluted urban waterways.
Costa Rica – Talamanca – The Talamanca Initiative – A multi-faceted community initiative simultaneously promotes the local economy and ecosystem conservation.
Cuba – Rural Solar Power – Solar power brings numerous benefits to off-the-grid rural areas.
Dominican Republic – Solar Based Rural Electrification – Small-scale enterprises for rural electrification with solar panels begin in the Dominican Republic and spread through Latin America and other parts of the world.
Ecuador – The Battle Against Chevron Texaco – An unprecedented community-driven legal battle fights for justice after what has been called one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in history.
England – Mud Between Your Toes – The Eden Project offers programs to reconnect kids with nature.
Fiji & Cook Islands – Coastal Fishery Restoration – Traditional no-take reserves and seasonal taboos restore troubled coastal fisheries.
Guam – The Humåtak Project – A community-based project works to restore Guam’s watersheds, coral reefs, and fisheries.
Germany – Bavaria – Neumarkter Lammsbrau – A brewery employs a holistic, farmer-to-consumer approach, enabling it to thrive in a climate of small-brewery closures.
Germany – Feldheim – Energy independent community. A community becomes completely energy independent with wind, biogas, and solar.
India – Auroville – Planned “Eco-City” – Reforestation and other projects create an eco-friendly community, transforming a barren landscape to health and productivity.
India – Haryana Province – Forest Management – Communal forest management improves erosion control and productivity.
India – West Bengal – Makaibari Tea Estate – Makaibari Tea Estate simulates a natural ecosystem to enhance sustainability of production.
India – Rajasthan (and other states) – Ranbathore Craft Center – A vibrant artisan community revives local traditions and creates alternative employment for women in depressed rural regions.
India – Rajasthan – “Barefoot College” – A village-based program revives traditional wisdom, self-sufficiency and holistic rural development.
India – Mumbai – Industrial Greenbelt – Reforestation in an industrial area restores soil, water, wildlife and aesthetics.
India – West Bengal – Joint Forest Management – Cooperation between government and villages prevents overexploitation of their shared resources.
Indonesia – Bunaken National Park – Coastal Resource Management – Mangrove restoration and bamboo cultivation provide alternative livelihoods and wastewater treatment.
Indonesia – Borneo – Restoring a Rainforest – An orangutan rescue project provides valuable lessons for re-creating a rainforest.
Ireland – Green Tax on Plastic Bags – A small charge for plastic bags has a big impact on consumption and improves the appearance of the countryside.
Mexico – Sonora – Seri’s Sustainable Fisheries – The Seri Indians made full use of their traditional territorial rights in the Gulf of California to develop sustainable fisheries and scallop harvesting.
Mexico – Jalisco – Ayuquila River Restoration – Communities in the Ayuquila River Basin confronted deforestation and river pollution to set the watershed on a course of ecological health.
Mexico – Michoacán – The Patsari Stove – The Interdisciplinary Group for Appropriate Rural Technologies designed and distributed a low-pollution wood stove.
Mexico – Veracruz and Tabasco – Chinampa System – An ancient cultivation system is revived to provide sustainable wetland agriculture for landless farmers.
Mexico – Michoacán – Forest Reserve – A forest reserve famed for Monarch butterflies enlists active participation from local residents formerly skeptical of conservation projects.
Mozambique – Ecological Sanitation – Using music to promote low cost, environmentally sustainable “ecological sanitation,” a process to transform human waste into nutrient-rich agricultural fertilizer.
Netherlands – Groningen – The “Cycle City” – A bicycle-friendly city revives the economy and improves quality of life for its residents.
Peru – Micro-Hydro Power – Isolated communities on the eastern slopes of the Andes achieve electrification with small hydroelectric generators in rivers and streams.
Peru – Amazon – Forest Product Farming – Raising poison dart frogs provides an economic incentive to preserve threatened rainforests.
Philippines – Marikina City – Urban Revival – A new mayor’s master plan restores the livability and pride of an impoverished industrial city.
Russia – Lake Baikal – Staving off Uranium Pollution – Protecting the world’s oldest and deepest lake from a planned petroleum pipeline and uranium enrichment facility.
South Africa – Working for Water – Removing exotic trees from watersheds brings streams back to life, increases the nation’s water supply, and creates jobs for the unemployed.
South Africa – Thlolengo EcoVillage – An African “eco-village” is a model of rural sustainability in a time of rural decline.
South Africa – Walkerstroom Wetlands – Ecotourism – Nature tourism to protect grasslands and wetlands stimulates the local economy.
Sweden – Ecological Tax Reform – A tax shift creates broad-based, sweeping incentives for sustainability.
Thailand – Pak Mun Dam – Experimental Dam Opening – Experimental reopening of the Pak Mun Dam gates reveals the social and ecological costs of megadams, and the benefits of rivers to the multiple communities who depend on them.
Uganda – Ryan’s Well – A six-year-old Canadian boy starts a movement for safe drinking water in Africa.
Uganda – AIDS control – A holistic approach makes Ugandan AIDS control efforts exemplary.
USA – Community-Supported Fisheries – Modeled after community-supported agriculture, community-supported fisheries benefit fishermen, consumers, and the environment.
USA – Power to the People – Thanks to a new online platform, small investors can join together to fund solar energy projects.
USA – Alabama (Hale County) – The Rural Studio – Architecture students combine their studies with the design and creation of ecological housing for low-income clients.
USA – Alaska – Denali BioTechnologies – Valuable wild blueberries are harvested on deforested land, providing good nutrition and an economic boost to remote villages.
USA – California (San Francisco) – The Garden Project – Organic farming by prison inmates restores their connection to the land and addresses recidivism.
USA – California (Los Angeles) – Natural Urban Park – The Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park turns an urban brownfield into a natural ecosystem that connects local residents to nature and revitalizes their community.
USA – Colorado (Boulder) – Namaste Solar Electric – A photovoltaics company offers renewable energy and a socially conscious business model.
USA – Hawaii (Big Island) – Sustainable Forest Management – The Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, and private companies cooperate in a sustainable forestry venture.
USA – Hawaii (Oahu) – Sustainable Saunders Initiative – College students lead the effort to make the University of Hawai’i more sustainable.
USA – Kansas – Land Institute – Restoring shrinking prairie habitats with sustainable agriculture.
USA – Louisiana – Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program – A cooperative regional management program turns the tide of environmental degradation in the nation’s largest estuary.
USA – Maine – Alewife Restoration – Extraordinary measures are taken to restore Maine’s river herring population, a keystone species in the ecosystem.
USA – Maine – Maine Lobsters – Co-management in the Maine lobster fishery helps promote sustainability.
USA – Massachusetts (Boston) – Nira Rock – An old quarry is transformed into a sanctuary for wildlife and people alike.
USA – Minnesota – Red Lake Restoration – Native Americans restore wild rice and walleye fish on their reservation.
USA – New York (New York City) – Melrose Commons – Local residents resist eviction and gentrification with alternative urban development.
USA – New York (New York City) – Watershed Protection – Watershed protection is a cost-effective alternative to a costly treatment plant to improve the region’s deteriorating water quality.
USA – Oregon (Portland) – The Rebuilding Center – A building materials recycling business thrives in a formerly economically depressed neighbourhood.
USA – Various locations – Phytoremediation – Plants and microbes use natural processes to purify contaminated wastewater.
Vanuatu – Coconut Oil as an Alternative Fuel – In a time of decreasing copra prices and increasing petroleum prices, coconut oil holds promise as a “biodiesel” fuel.
