In November 2009 Japan's Ministry of the Environment released an Annual Report on the Environment, the Sound Material-Cycle Society and the Biodiversity in Japan 2009, Abridged and Illustrated for Easy Understanding.

The report, Wise Moves: exploring the relationship between food, transport and CO2, Tara Garnett, Transport 2000, 2003, considers the relationship between food miles and CO2 emissions within the supply chain, examining whether measures to shorten transport distance lead to greater or fewer CO2 emissions within the supply chain as a whole. Drawing upon a number of food studies, it concludes that the food chain is responsible for over 20% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.

A report by the European Environment Agency finds that emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases from the shipping sector have increased substantially in the last two decades, contributing to both climate change and air pollution problems.

This annual report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) focuses on the use of refrigerants with high global warming potential such as HFCs, in major supermarket chains in the UK and Europe. It investigates the progress made  in shifting towards more climate-friendly alternatives. 

Two videos on food waste and recycling.

We include this initiative because it addresses the challenges of of ‘closing the food loop’. This innovative solar-thermal toilet was developed by a team led by CU-Boulder Professor Karl Linden to improve sanitation and hygiene in developing countries.

The green economy is widely seen as a potential solution to current global economic and environmental crises, and a potential mechanism by which sustainable development might be achieved in practice.

Permaculture is described here as a grassroots movement whose participants attempt to live in a sustainable way, taking inspiration from natural ecosystems in trying to live off the land as much as possible. The idea behind permaculture is to rely as much as possible on perennial crops, to recycle and reuse materials, and reduce waste.