Independence Station's potential rating is owed primarily to its use of renewable energy sources - mostly the sun and vegetable oil - and the means of distributing, storing and managing that energy efficiently throughout the building.

The United Nations Environment Program has launched a major worldwide campaign to plant 7 billion trees by the end of 2009.

In a country with serious waste management problems, the war-ravaged small town of Aytarun is setting an example it hopes will be followed by others.

Over three-quarters of Pal Town's homes in Japan's Ota City are covered by solar panels. The solar panels were distributed for free in 2002 through a 9.7 billion yen state-backed research to ensure steady supply of power and to prevent blackouts.

For more than 70 years, California's abundance of sunshine has enabled the Lundberg family to grow organic rice in the Central Valley north of Sacramento. Now they are using solar power to churn out myriad rice products, from chips to pasta.

Starting next June, Toronto shoppers will have to pay five cents for each plastic shopping bag they use and retailers will be required to accept reusable bags or containers from the shoppers.

The nation's factories, power plants and other emitters released a combined 957 million tons of CO2 last year, a decline of 2.3 percent from the previous year.

The latest demonstration comes from Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, where some 500 women rallied demanding richer nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions and compensate the countries that experts believe will be hardest hit by the climate change.

By generating its own electricity the sign could prevent 18 tons of carbon from being spewed into the air yearly.

Turtuga Blanku records and produces all songs in a small studio called the 'Green Machine' that runs completely on solar power.