"Forests provide pure water and regulate temperatures. Wetlands help mitigate floods. Businesses can hurt these and other ecosystem services (like wind breaks and the pollination of crops) or then can assist and benefit from them. A new report from Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) looks at seven tools business can use to assess their impacts on ecosystem services."
"It turned out that a slight difference of acidity between tree and soil creates an imbalance of hydrogen ions, generating voltage. The next question was: What could be done with such limited power?"
"Diversity is valuable socially, economically and now environmentally. Research by Michigan State University scientists has found that growing more corn to produce ethanol — creating less diverse landscapes — reduces the ability of beneficial insects to control pests, a loss valued at about $58 million per year in the four states studied."
"The new research provides convincing evidence that the bitter and sometimes toxic chemicals found in many fruits serve to prevent microbial attack — a popular idea that has been difficult to demonstrate."
