Earth Focus - Envisioning the Future: New Models for Cities and Business

April 16, 2012 from Earth Focus

Hamburg, Germany, is setting standards for what it means to be green. Correspondent Constantino de Miguel explains why this industrial port city was voted Europe's Green Capital in 2011. And the world's first carbon financed water scheme. Verstergaard Frandsen, a company that makes products to prevent disease in the developing world, shows how providing safe drinking water while cutting more than two million tons of carbon emissions a year is good business.

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Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitro... Explore this topic

Carbon offset

A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere. Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent and may represent six primary categories of greenh... Explore this topic

Vestergaard Frandsen

Vestergaard Frandsen is a company headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland that manufactures public health tools for people in developing countries. Originally founded in 1957 as a uniform maker, the company evolved into a social enterprise making products for humanitarian aid i... Explore this topic

Developing country

A developing country, also called a less-developed country, is a nation with a low living standard, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development Index relative to other countries. There is no universal, agreed-upon criteria for what makes a country developing vers... Explore this topic

LifeStraw

LifeStraw is a water filter designed to be used by one person to filter water so that they may safely drink it. It filters a maximum of 1000 litres of water, enough for one person for one year. It removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria and 99.9% of parasites. The LifeStraw Fa... Explore this topic

Environment

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements. Environ... Explore this topic

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry meets drinking water standards, even though only a very smal... Explore this topic

Earth Focus

An environmental news magazine that puts a human face on pressing global issues. This essential series features under-publicized stories on how changes to the earth's resources and climate are affecting everyday people all around the world. Earth Focus is funded by grants from... Explore this topic

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Hamburg

Greenhouse gas

Energy efficiency

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