In late December, the Council approved a bill that would restrict retailers from offering plastic bags at the checkout counter. And just over a week ago, the bill was signed into law by Kenoi. In doing so, the Big Island joined its neighbors Kauai and Maui which already have similar bans in place. However, support for the bill was far from unanimous.

A frequent surfer, Kenoi acknowledged that plastic bags can become unwelcome litter and also threaten marine mammals that mistake them for food. However, Kenoi said he also agrees with bill opponents who feel charging for plastic bags, education and voluntary recycling are better solutions than government mandates for addressing littering issues.

Hawaii County’s law affects only plastic shopping bags distributed at the checkout counter; garbage bags, those available in the produce section of supermarkets and packaging material are excluded.

For those who feel that the bill is unfair, or will negatively impact retailers in extremely wet areas like Hilo, there will be plenty of time to create an adaptation plan, as the law won’t take effect until Jan. 17, 2013. After that, businesses may sell plastic shopping bags for an additional year without violating the law.

For the full article: Care2

What began as a classroom discussion in Wisconsin has blossomed into a national project to raise water conservation awareness and help people lower their daily water use.

For the full article: VOA News

These lush expanses have found their way onto the walls — both inside and out — on numerous sites in recent years revitalizing public buildings, hotels, offices and even a multi-storey car park in Netherlands.

Aside from their pleasing aesthetic qualities, vertical gardens could also deliver more practical benefits says Mark Laurence, creative director at Biotecture, a UK company who design and build green walls.

“The market is rapidly moving into looking at how they can provide eco-system services and green infrastructures for urban environments,” Laurence said.

The market is rapidly moving into looking at how they can provide eco-system services and green infrastructures for urban environments

Mark Laurence, Biotecture LtdTheir modular hydroponic system — where plants sit in a soil-free set up with nutrients delivered through irrigation channels — can be retrofitted to just about any wall.

A recent creation erected on the side of Edgware Road Underground station in central London is hoping to improve air quality.

The 200-square meter wall near Marylebone Road — one of the UK capital’s grimiest thoroughfares — is being monitored by Imperial College, London.

The leaves also have an electrostatic charge that also attracts particles.

“A researcher I was speaking to recently reckons green walls in urban canyon environments (areas where walls are higher than the width of the road separating them) are more effective than trees at collecting particles because the way the wind eddies around and then moves down the wall,” Laurence said.

Some believe that in less polluted areas, green walls could be employed to grow food, which could aid urban food security. Biotecture have successfully trialled a wall which grew 45 varieties of vegetable.

There are various systems for DIY constructions with most requiring a compost-based system, he says, but homemade hydroponic systems can be made using plastic bottles. All you need is irrigation and adequate light.

For the full article: CNN News

Partners in the initiative, including 13 manufacturers of drugs or medical equipment, pledged to come up with new products and infrastructure to improve the lives of the 1.4 billion people affected by 10 illnesses such as visceral leishmaniasis, river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, the manufacturers said in a joint statement today.

The group will include the World Bank, the U.S., U.K. and United Arab Emirates governments and global health organizations working to accelerate progress in treating debilitating and fatal illnesses that thrive in hot and humid conditions. Commitments total $785 million for research, development and distribution, including $363 million from the foundation over five years for research, the partners said.

“We pledge to work hand-in-hand to revolutionize the way we fight these diseases,” Andrew Witty, the chief executive officer of London-based Glaxo who was acting as spokesman for the drugmakers, said in the statement in advance of a press conference in the U.K. capital.

The project is part of the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s work on treating neglected tropical diseases in the past decade. The foundation pledged on Jan. 26 to provide $750 million in grants over six years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to make up for cutbacks in government donations.

Participants in the neglected tropical diseases project promised to sustain or expand existing drug donations to meet demand through 2020, the group said today. They also committed to sharing expertise and compounds to speed up the search for new treatments. The program is intended to follow goals set out in the WHO’s 2020 Roadmap on Neglected Tropical Diseases.

“The efforts of WHO, researchers, partners and the contributions of the industry have changed the face of neglected tropical diseases,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in the statement. “These ancient diseases are now being brought to their knees with stunning speed.”

The WHO’s goals are “completely unachievable” without today’s effort, said Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp. who is co-chairman of foundation, in an interview.

For the full article: Bloomberg

Two years after India launched an ambitious plan to dramatically increase the use of solar power, this renewable energy is beginning to light up homes and fire factories. Falling costs of solar energy are making it a viable alternative to power generated by fossil fuels.

For the full article: VOA News

Dentists across the country, including New Hampshire, will be offering free services to low-income children this week, including dental examinations, cleanings, fluoride treatment, and sealants.

The American Dental Association about a decade ago started the event, in order to offer services to children who did not have regular access to dental care and to raise awareness about the importance of dental health, according to James Williamson, the executive director of the New Hampshire Dental Society. He called it both a service opportunity and a chance to help those in need.

In February, the society and its dentists visit schools to talk about the importance of oral health, how to properly brush, good nutrition, “and all the things that lead to good oral health care,” Williamson said. Education opportunities like this, as well as the sealant programs offered in Concord, Manchester, and other communities, have helped prevent a lot of problems down the road, he said. The Concord Sealant Coalition, a group of dentists that offer the treatments, go into the Concord School District and screen kids at certain ages each year and provide the sealants.

During the last few years, the society has been trying to increase the number of participating dentists. Williamson said some groups get together in Concord at one office and after determining that there are kids who are in need, each of the dentists will take the kids into their offices and provide the treatment, he said.

Feb. 3, he said, is really about kids. Williams said the society was beginning to stress the need for children to come in during their first year to have their teeth checked out. He said that old adage that, “they’re only baby teeth, they don’t matter,” was a false one, adding that was early visits in the first three years can detect problems early. Dentists have also reached out the family practitioners to stress the need for early oral health care.

Williamson said the goal was to eventually get to 100 percent coverage for New Hampshire residents although he readily admitted that he didn’t know if that was possible or not. He said there were “many barriers,” including financial ones, to good dental health care, adding that the resources were there. Williamson said that many children don’t qualify for assistance and their parents can’t afford dental care.

Williamson said the society has tried to get funding into the state budget for children and adults but it often gets shifted around to other things.

According to officials, more than 9,000 dentists and 28,000 volunteers participated last year, offering services to nearly 400,000 children in the United States.

For the full article: Patch.com

Now the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is presenting a “mini-museum” inside the Prado Museum in Madrid, showcasing paintings by Velazquez, Titian and Caravaggio, as well as ancient gold artifacts from Siberia.

“The Hermitage in the Prado” is the second part of an exhibition exchange — initiated as part of Spain-Russia Dual Year 2011, dedicated to promoting and strengthening the economic, political, cultural and scientific ties between the two nations — that saw the Prado exhibiting precious items from its own extensive collection in the State Hermitage Museum in February 2011.

“It was really the finest show that’s ever come out of the Prado and it reflected the idea of our museum, as it were, nestling inside theirs,” said Gabriele Finaldi, Deputy Director of the Prado Museum and curator of the exhibition.

Now some 180 items from the Hermitage’s world-class collection are nestling inside the many galleries of the Prado, ranging from archaeological pieces all the way to modern masterpieces by Kazimir Malevich.

“You’ve got to remember that the Hermitage has not been visited by many Spaniards and it’s still far away and it’s still mysterious and exotic and we wanted the public to experience something of the special character of it, which is of course a palace as well as a museum,” said Finaldi.

Special furniture and ornaments typical to the Hermitage, such as granite vases, were brought in to decorate the galleries to make it look more like the Russian museum, whose collection was begun by the Empress Catherine the Great.

In a statement to the press in November, Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage, said: “With this exhibition, we wanted to tell the story of our museum and its collection and the history of the Tsars.”

In addition to the objects collected by the voracious Catherine the Great are ornate Scythian gold objects from the collection of earlier Tsar, Peter the Great.

Aside from both having world-class collections, Finaldi points out that they have something else in common — both have their origins as royal collections.

“One can think of Catherine the Great in Russia and Charles the Fourth here in Spain, who collected with a real passion, because they were personally interested but also because they knew it brought glory to the monarchy and to the country,” said Finaldi.

“They’re also the two extremes of Europe, the Hermitage at the very top end and the Prado at the bottom end, so they’re the two extremes of Europe coming together, showing things that are on one level very similar and on another level, very different,” he finished.

For the full article: CNN News

Civil rights drama The Help has won three prizes at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, including best cast and best actress for Viola Davis. Another of the film’s stars, Octavia Spencer, was named best supporting actress.

“Dream big and dream fierce,” Davis told the audience at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium on Sunday.

Silent movie The Artist, tipped for Oscar glory, could only manage one win, a best actor prize for Jean Dujardin.

Veteran Christopher Plummer was named best supporting actor for his portrayal of an elderly man who comes out to his family in Beginnners.

Paul Giamatti was named best actor in a TV film or mini-series for his role in Too Big to Fail, a drama about the 2008 financial meltdown.

Kate Winslet was named best actress for playing the title role in Mildred Pierce, having won the same award at the Golden Globes earlier this month.

The cast of Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire picked up the TV drama ensemble prize, while its star Steve Buscemi was named best male actor in a drama series.

Jessica Lange was named best actress in a drama series for her role in American Horror Story.

Alec Baldwin won best actor in a comedy series for 30 Rock, while Betty White picked up the best comedy actress prize for Hot in Cleveland.

Modern Family won the comedy ensemble prize, while the best stunt award went to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

The ceremony also saw Dick Van Dyke present a lifetime achievement award to Mary Tyler Moore, best known for her self-titled sitcom in the 1970s.

For the full article: BBC News

Electronic books, or e-books, have changed the way many of us read for pleasure. Now digital text books – educational volumes which are read online – are transforming the way many students learn. The Washington region’s largest school system, with 175,000 students, has begun using online course material for its middle- and high-school students.

For the full article: VOA News

World-renowned jazz keyboardist and composer Yanni is planning a four-month tour of the United States and Canada.   “An Evening With Yanni” will take him to 15 states in the North, East, West and South. Lauded as the top New Age artist of 2011, Yanni will play songs from his most recent album Truth of Touch. It is his first album of original music in years and was the top-selling New Age album of 2011. The tour starts on April 17.

For the full article: VOA News