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Reusing air conditioning condensation to water plants and clean. Repurposing advertising banners into fashionable tote bags. Recycling used cooking oil to power generators at a hospital. Today, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) celebrates these and dozens more examples of passion and innovation in the 2012 Global Best of Green report.

What is a sip of clean water worth? Is there economic value in the shade of a tree? And how much would you pay for a breath of fresh air?

That study, started in 2007, has estimated the world economy suffers roughly $2.5 trillion to $4 trillion in losses every year due to environmental degradation. That's up to 7 percent of global GDP.

“This is how science works,” they wrote. “The E.P.A. is not required to reprove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question.”

"Rising sea levels, more intense storms, changes in ocean chemistry due to air and water pollution - all these stress coral reefs," observed Steve Palumbi, an expert on corals with the Center for Ocean Solutions and the chief organizer in developing the consensus statement. "At least 25 percent of the world's coral reefs have been degraded. Because of the global origin of climate change, the only way to tackle this is through a worldwide effort."