In an effort to create a “good-forest-keeping seal,” a nonprofit institute in northern California has developed a system to identify lumber harvested in an ecologically sound manner.
The labeling program calls for land owners and logging operations to follow 10 elements of sustainability in harvesting their forests. To receive a seal of approval, the affected forests [...]

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Some people proudly wear buttons proclaiming, “Save the Rain Forest.” Now they can also wear buttons that actually do help save the rain forest.
Thanks to an ongoing program that links human needs with conservation practices, tagua nuts from South American rain forests are being used to make ivory-like buttons for more than 30 clothing manufacturers [...]

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New Mexico is setting an environmental example while putting a new twist on the nation’s Christmas tree this holiday season.
In the past, Christmas trees displayed at the U.S. Capitol have all been cut. But this year, New Mexico carefully removed a 60-foot spruce tree for transport to Washington, D.C. — complete with a 50-ton root [...]

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Anyone in pursuit of job security should take a look at the oil spill cleanup business. With about 10,000 spills on America’s waterways every year — or one spill every 53 minutes — there’s plenty of work. And if you count chemical spills, the numbers triple.
Dr. Roy Hann, Jr. has been leading the fight against [...]

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The first ever “tree clause” in a book contract allows environmentally minded authors to symbolically replace the trees used in the printing of their works.
Harper & Row in San Francisco developed the clause at the request of Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead music group, for his book, Drumming at the Edge of Magic. [...]

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Wetlands are to nature what kidneys are to the human body.
By using these natural kidneys as filters, a South Carolina county is processing wastewater in an energy efficient manner while leaving the wetlands unharmed.
In Horry County — South Carolina’s fastest growing county with Myrtle Beach as its hub — a sewage disposal system is dumping [...]

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The question of cutting down or preserving old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest has been a controversial issue for years. Now a specific tree in the forest — previously thought of as economically useless — is adding fuel to the already heated debate.
Bark and needles from the Pacific yew tree contain the drug taxol, which [...]

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