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Communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel development are taking a stand against dangerous fossil fuel projects. Take a look at the big fight in the small town of Kalama, Washington. The Chinese government is planning to build the world's largest methanol refinery to convert fracked natural gas to liquid methanol for export to China to make plastics. From a greenhouse gas perspective, this fight is a big deal. The methanol refinery alone would use more natural gas than all industry in Washington combined. Flip it around: If we win this one battle and stop the methanol refinery, we stop the equivalent of doubling industrial natural gas usage in Washington State. While the gas industry tries to spin natural gas as clean, new science shows just the opposite. The bulk of natural gas is methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Methane leakage from gas wells and pipelines led scientists to conclude that fracked gas can be as bad coal for our climate. And it gets worse. Gas production in North America relies heavily on fracking, a process famous for polluting air and water, endangering the health of nearby residents.

America's Best Coffee Roasting Company has been pulling out all the stops to reduce its waste, sending coffee chaff to animal-feed makers and leftover sacks to gardening companies. Now it's switched to using bulk containers rather than plastic bags that can't easily be recycled. "In hindsight, it didn't really take that much effort. I hope other companies feel inspired and consider similar changes for their businesses," says Vice President Kelly Zeissner.

The World Wildlife Fund and Geostellar launched a new program that enables U.S. employees from 3M (CEF member), Cisco, Kimberly-Clark (CEF member), and the National Geographic Society to purchase discounted home solar PV systems. Employees will reportedly be able to purchase solar power at a 35% discount below average prices in the United States.

Americans renew their relationship with paper, ditching the cheap stuff for reading news to buy expensive stock for photo-based cards and albums.

Live Zero is part of a growing movement of "zero-waste" supermarkets that aim to end packaging waste by doing away with packaging altogether. The concept began in Europe more than a decade ago, and has since spread globally. There are now zero waste supermarkets from Brooklyn to Sicily to Malaysia to South Africa.