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What's the best way to protect elephants? One way is refusing to buy ivory-demand for the material stokes poaching, which has demolished elephant populations in Africa. Now, the United States is taking an even stronger stance on ivory in a bid to protect the majestic creatures. As Jada F. Smith reports for The New York Times, the United States will now almost totally ban the sale of African elephant ivory.

Recent studies show that many of the world's savannas, including famed southern African landscapes, are experiencing significant change as rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere favor the growth of trees over grasslands.

The governments of the East African Community hoping to ban imports of secondhand clothes. The logic is that by stopping the trade of used garments, the apparel industry will be revitalized, create jobs and exports, and bolster their economies. What impact would this ban have on the donating Western countries? If we could no longer offload our unwanted discarded clothing onto the poor, what would we do with those clothes?

The African archipelago nation of Cape Verde is powered by gas generators, but it has adopted a plan to run entirely on renewables by 2025. Cape Verde has a variety of options to make the move not only viable but affordable, including northeasterly trade winds that make the archipelago an excellent candidate for wind farming.

For a growing number of companies, fighting climate change is a zero-sum game. In late September, several organizations associated with nonprofit sustainability outfit The B Team declared a "net zero by 2050" (PDF) aspiration pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions. Among them: consumer products giant Unilever; apparel company Kering; Chinese construction company Broad Group; African telecommunications carrier Econet; Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer Natura; and British-born investment group Virgin - a geographically diverse group that underscores the global nature of climate challenges.

NIFORM now aims to get 2,000 backers by the end of the Kickstarter campaign. Each UNIFORM tee is made from premium fabrics, including 100 percent African organic cotton and a blend of nylon, silk, and 63 percent recycled beechwood. The UNIFORM t-shirts are being sold exclusively through Kickstarter until July 17.

Large palm oil companies that have promised to act ethically have been accused of land grabbing, ignoring human rights and exploiting labour in their African and Asian plantations.

President Barack Obama moved Saturday to tighten U.S. rules on sales of ivory from African elephants, aiming to show progress on conservation as he began a trip to the region.

Governor Andrew Cuomo celebrated World Elephant Day today by signing into law a bill (A10143/S7890) that will help stop the slaughter of African elephants for their tusks by drying up the nation's largest market for ivory: New York City.

Production of palm oil - the most widely used vegetable oil in the world - and a strong El Niño have converged into a perfect storm to amplify the effects of Indonesia's dry season. Indonesia produces half of the world's palm oil, which has led to illegal burning to clear land and plant African oil palm trees. Deforestation typically accounts for about 60 percent of Indonesia's total greenhouse gas emissions.