When planning a cruise, make sure to set sail with an environmentally friendly cruise ship. Since the ships are like floating cities, make sure the cruise you take is not damaging the water that it floats in.
Developers in California previewed today what they say will be the largest “Zero Net Energy development of its kind in the U.S.,” showing off the first phase of a 130-acre community at the University of California at Davis.
The project will be home to apartments for more than 2,000 students, an education center, recreation and study facilities, as well as 343 homes to be sold to faculty and staff, and a scenic village square. A complex solar energy system created by SunPower, Inc., will supply all of the community’s electricity, allowing West Village to meet its zero-impact goal.
“This is a demonstration of California’s excellence in sustainability, and should set an example for the rest of the nation,” said Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, who toured the complex, called West Village. He was accompanied by UC Davis Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi, Jim Pape, president of SunPower, and Nolan Zail, vice president of lead developer Carmel Partners.
A California social entrepreneur is fighting poverty in Africa. Through a program called Kickstart, he sells, rather then gives, small pumps to poor farmers in an effort to encourage entrepreneurship. Rachel Silverman reports from San Francisco:
A conference on autism is taking place in Pennsylvania with the aim to help teachers and parents deal with challenges faced by children with autism. The disease affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact but symptoms vary. New studies are challenging formerly held beliefs that autism is passed down genetically. Now some experts say a child’s environment has to be taken into account. More from VOA’s Vidushi Sinha:
Deb Lovig’s official title at Cree, the lighting and semiconductor company, is “LED Programs Evangelist.” The description fits. Ask her to pick a favorite project and she’ll name five before you get her stopped. She’ll skip from North Carolina State’s dorm lighting project (see picture, right) to the University of California-Davis’ smart parking garage to Notre Dame’s beautiful acorn-shaped fixtures without taking a breath.
DAVIS, CA — In Dr. Mary Delaney’s office at the University of California, Davis there is a basket of chicken eggs on one of the tables. They are not the kind you buy in a store or crack for breakfast, but the variety tells a story. “They could be reflective of the gene pool; you see the diversity in color, size, shape,” Delaney said.
The project will be home to apartments for more than 2,000 students, an education center, recreation and study facilities, as well as 343 homes to be sold to faculty and staff, and a scenic village square. A complex solar energy system created by SunPower, Inc., will supply all of the community’s electricity, allowing West Village to meet its zero-impact goal.
The village of Stella, Missouri, has constructed a veterans’ memorial of attractive design in the center of the village. 
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift
