Caught between the promise of prosperity that natural gas extraction in the Karoo Basin might bring and concerns about environmental and health impacts, citizen resistance to fracking is growing in the Republic of South Africa. Earth Focus correspondent Jeff Barbee reports.

The "dash for gas" has gone east and the fracking multinationals have moved in to secure the sizable shale deposits lying deep in Poland's underbelly. Advocates say this will bring prosperity and jobs, but opponents cite the US experience -- where fracking has been marred by environmental and social concerns -- and fear it could be the final nail in the coffin for Poland's traditional rural communities.

Across the UK, Britain's green, picturesque land is facing uncertainty after the arrival of fracking. The spectre of gas wells and drilling sites, articulated trucks, waste lagoons, and other fracking detritus hangs heavy in a land more typically associated with small scale farming, cricket on the green, and "cottage" industries. But, not prepared to see their landscape altered forever, a new wave of citizen activists is gearing up to fight back.

With hunting now permitted in many Western states, the future of this once endangered species may again be in question. Can we live with wolves? Earth Focus travels to Montana and Wyoming to find out.

The corrupt practices, human rights abuses, and environmental degradation caused by the shrimp industry are exposed in an original investigative report by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. Find out how shrimp from Bangladesh, exposed to pesticides and injected with dirty water, may be toxic to your health.

Upgrading your smart phone may be cool, but there is a hidden cost: human lives and environmental degradation. The rapid growth of the electronics industry worldwide has increased demand for tin. Almost half of all tin produced is turned into solder for use in smart phones, iPads, and flat screen TVs. And much of the world's tin comes from Bangka Island in Indonesia.

Meet Crosby Menzies, a former journalist now on a mission to bring solar cook stoves to the most remote places in southern Africa. Jeff Barbee reports.

South African energy pioneer Pat Downey development of micro-hydro power, generating electricity from falling water on a small scale, is transforming rural African communities. Correspondent Jeff Barbee reports.

The tiger prawn industry in Thailand exploits people and the environment. Small fish and juvenile sharks, caught by Thai trawlers operating illegally in foreign waters from Indonesia to Bangladesh, are ground into fishmeal for prawn food.

The Mbaula Chititezo Stove and Rocket Barns are pioneering technologies that are saving forests in Malawi and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the process.

Solar powered cell phones are fueling communications revolution in Botswana's remote Kalahari Desert. Earth Focus reports.

Mark Wright found a way to generate electricity from the Bisasar Road Landfill, one of the largest dumps in southern Africa, to provide electricity for the city of Durban. Correspondent Jeff Barbee reports from South Africa.

Namibia's innovative new solar smart grid is eliminating the need for expensive imported electricity and promotes clean domestic sources of energy. Correspondent Jeff Barbee reports.

With more droughts and water shortages coupled with growing numbers of people to feed, innovative ideas are urgently needed to help produce food. Dr. Jonathan Lynch, plant nutritionist at Penn State University, explains his cutting edge research on root systems.

Need to grow food but short on space? Entrepreneur and filmmaker Ian Cheney has a new take on urban agriculture - truck farms. They're hot in New York and going international.

The Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, also known as KAZA, spans five nations in southeastern Africa: Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia. One million people practice subsistence agriculture on marginal land, exposed to variability.

In the dramatic valleys of the Baviaanskloof Mountains in Eastern Cape South Africa, climate change is a reality. The whole southern Africa region is warming up and drying out. This trend will become much worse if nothing is done. Earth Focus speaks with Eastern Cape farmers about what's being done to restore the natural landscape.

Zambian farmers have seen growing seasons drastically altered due to climate change, causing their current systems of agriculture to break down. But the country has adopted a sustainable farming system on a national level, called Conservation Agriculture. As Earth Focus reports, it reduces the costs of agricultural supplies and increases food security.

The Gobabeb Training and Research Center, deep in the heart of the Namib Desert in Namibia, is a much sought-after location for climate scientists. This isolated research lab has become a destination for scientists from around the world to gather data on how live sustainably with the environment. Earth Focus travels to Gobabeb to meet the scientists on the front lines of climate change.

Between 70-210 million gallons of waste oil are illegally dumped at sea by commercial ships each year. This Earth Focus special report exposes the impact that this dumping has on marine life and the entire ecosystem.