It should come as no surprise that sugar is chock full of energy; parents of small children are especially mindful of this fact. But what if we could harness that energy to do something useful, such as power the electronic gadgetry so ubiquitous in modern life? Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a battery that might soon make this fiction a reality.

The research team, led by Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering, has developed a battery that runs on sugar - in this case, maltodextrin, an ingredient you've probably seen listed on food labels.

Using synthetic enzymes as a catalyst, Zhang's battery strips all electric charge from the sugar to generate electricity in an enzymatic fuel cell. "Sugar is a perfect energy storage compound in nature," Zhang said. "So it's only logical that we try to harness this natural power in an environmentally friendly way to produce a battery."

Research on sugar-powered batteries is nothing new; in fact, it's been going on for at least 20 years. But Zhang's battery is the first to extract all of the energy in sugar and convert it into electricity, making it an order of magnitude more powerful than previous sugar batteries.

If they can work out the kinks and build a practical sugar-powered battery, there will be many things to love about it:

• It's refillable - just add sugar
• The enzymes and the sugar solution are both biodegradable
• The fuel - a sugar solution - is neither explosive nor flammable
• A battery life at least ten times longer than current lithium-ion batteries, according to Zhang 

Not only that, but a refillable battery powered by sugar would replace countless disposable batteries that get tossed every year. Here in the U.S. alone, billions of batteries - and their toxic heavy metals - get dumped in landfills each year, posing a threat to the environment, and human health as well.

To read more about the battery that could turn today's public health enemy #1 into the clean energy hero of tomorrow, visit www.vtnews.vt.edu .

As the name implies, the Los Angeles-based company deals with one thing and one thing only: used cardboard boxes. UsedCardboardBoxes.com saves trees by buying quality used boxes from large companies that would otherwise just recycle them as scrap. They then sell those very same boxes back to consumers and businesses. They claim that their boxes are used just once or not at all (new factory misprints, overruns or customer returns), and they guarantee their boxes to work just as well as new boxes.

Visit UsedCardboardBoxes.com to learn more.

The world gets serious about wildlife trafficking

Victims of the booming illegal wildlife trafficking business got an early Valentine's Day gift from President Obama last month: on February 11th, his administration announced a new National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking.

Wildlife trafficking - the poaching of and illegal trade in protected or managed species - has been escalating rapidly over the past decade, and is now estimated to be the fourth largest transnational crime in the world. It is estimated that as many as 35,000 elephants died at the hands of poachers in 2012, and 2013 data shows that nearly 100 elephants were killed every single day. Globally, the illegal ivory trade has more than doubled since 2007.

While many believe that ivory trade in the U.S. has long been banned, we in fact host the second largest ivory marketplace after China. "The U.S. market is contributing to the crisis now threatening the African elephant," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. "The largely unregulated domestic trade in elephant ivory has served as a loophole that gives cover for illegal trade. Through a series of administrative actions, we can establish a commercial ivory ban and provide the urgently needed protections for elephants and rhinos that will help counteract the unparalleled threats facing two of the world's most treasured species."

This new National Strategy calls for strengthening the enforcement of laws and international agreements that protect wildlife, while reducing demand for illegal wildlife and wildlife products through public awareness campaigns. It proposes to immediately pursue a series of administrative actions to establish a U.S. ban (with limited exceptions) on elephant ivory and rhino horn trade. It will also restore Endangered Species Act protections for African Elephants that had previously been  relaxed.

The London Declaration, adopted by delegates representing 46 nations - including Botswana, Chad, China, Gabon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Russia, Tanzania, Vietnam and the United States - pledges to wipe out markets for illegal wildlife products, ensure effective legal deterrents, strengthen law enforcement, and support sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by wildlife crime.

Prince Charles, who attended the conference with the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, told the conference, "Today you are breaking new ground by coming together and committing - at high levels never before seen at a conference on this topic - to take urgent action to put a stop to this illicit trade, which has become a grave threat not only to the wildlife and the people who protect them, but also to the security of nations."

Meanwhile, a wildlife crime sting involving law enforcement officers from 28 countries lead to the arrest of more than 400 wildlife crime suspects, several of whom were identified as wildlife trafficking kingpins. The operation included the first ever joint China-Africa undercover sting that identified and arrested members of a major ivory trafficking organization.

The month-long operation, code-named Operation Cobra II, resulted in the seizure of 36 rhino horns, and more than three metric tons of elephant ivory, 10,000 turtles, 1,000 skins of protected species, 10,000 European eels and 200 metric tons of rosewood logs.

To read more about these victories for wildlife, visit:

National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking
London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Global Wildlife Crime Sting

By Vincent Vitale

Can you recall the last dam you saw? Perhaps it was the Hoover Dam, sandwiched between Arizona and Nevada, or maybe it was the Grand Coulee Dam, located in Washington state. Dams of this size and structure are marvels of engineering, supplying electricity to citizens through the motion of flowing water. These dams are not the concern of this article. Did you know that less than 5% of all dams in the United States are able to produce hydroelectric power? Did you know that of the more than 78,000 dams in our country, the overwhelming majority, are less than 30 feet in size and do little more than exist, choking our nation's rivers?

Dams are highly complex for they represent much more than a vertical slab of concrete in the land.  When a dam is inserted, it chokes off a free-flowing and self-regulating river. Without human intervention, rivers operate in a highly sustainable manner. They allow sediment and nutrients to flow through the entire entity, creating one long hospitable and profitable ecosystem. Dams put a halt to  these natural processes.

The majority of dams in America were constructed between 1910-1940 to irrigate the quickly developing western farmlands. Though they served at one time, irrigation technology has rendered the majority of these structures obsolete. Providing no benefit to today's society, these medium to small scale dams are instead wreaking havoc on ecosystems across the country. Our planet is hospitable to the variety of life around us due to water existing in its liquid state. Rivers therefore act as the Earth's arteries, supplying precious water over large-scale stretches of otherwise uninhabitable land.  

There exists a solution, and it isn't ethically radical or expensive: dam deconstruction.  Deconstruction of a dam requires legislation and money, just as inserting it did. However, these are one-time costs which are economically more feasible than the cost of maintaining a dam which provides no economic return. The irony lies in the fact that a re-established, free-flowing river actually pays us back. Over the course of 5-10 years, at locations where a dam existed but was removed, river ecosystem health has been seen to return.

If we allow ourselves to do so, we may see that decisions made nearly a century ago simply do not correspond to today. Nothing illustrates this fact like dams. In doing so, we arrive at the sound conclusion that a dam removed is all around better in economic and ecological concerns than fighting an unnecessary and costly battle with nature.

STAR ECO Station's 14th Annual Children's Earth Day
Date: Sunday April 6
Time: 11:00am - 4:00pm
Location: STAR ECO Station, 10101 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City 90232
Cost: FREE (tours of the ECO Station are $5)

Sanitation Districts Earth Day
Date: Saturday April 12
Time: 10:00am - 2:00pm
Location: Sanitation Districts Parking Lot, 1955 Workman Mill Road, Whittier 90601
Cost: FREE

Earth Day Bird Fest
Date: Saturday April 19
Time: 8:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium; 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro 90731
Cost: FREE
 
VOICE 21st Annual Earth Day Celebration & Concert
Date: Saturday April 26
Time: 11:00am - 4:00pm
Location: Polliwog Park, Manhattan Beach 90266 (corner of Manhattan Beach Blvd. & Peck Ave.)
Cost: FREE

Earth Day Festival at Santa Monica Pier
Date: Saturday April 26
Time:  9:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, 1600 Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica 90401
Cost:FREE, and anyone who participates in the beach cleanup will be rewarded with free admission to the Aquarium

Aquarium of the Pacific's Earth Day Celebration
Date: Saturday & Sunday, April 26 & 27
Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach 90802
Cost: FREE with general admission and for AOP members; 20% off for their guests

Second Annual Long Beach Lawn-To-Garden Tour
Date: Saturday, May 3
Time: 10:00am - 2:00pm
Location: Register to receive a map via email
Cost: FREE
This self-guided tour will showcase 30 beautiful Long Beach Lawn-to-Garden landscapes throughout the City. Homeowners or representatives will be available at each home to talk about their experiences during their garden transformations.

8th Annual Solar Homes Tour of the South Bay
Date: Saturday May 17
Cost: FREE

Join Environmental Priorities Network for their annual solar homes tour. For more information and to

obtain a tour flyer contact Lillian Light at lklight@verizon.net. 

WorldFest 2014 Earth Day Festival
Date: Sunday, May 18
Time: 10:30am - 7:00pm
Location: Woodley Park, 6350 Woodley Ave. Lake Balboa, CA
Cost: $8; $12 after May 1st; 12 & Under and 91406 zip code residents FREE, Parking $5
Enjoy live music, empowering speakers, environmental, humanitarian and animal welfare non-profits, kids' activities and a delicious food court.

Saturday, March 29, 8:30pm

On March 29, 2014, pledge to turn out your lights at 8:30pm (your local time) for Earth Hour, a worldwide collective display of commitment to protect the one thing that unites us all--the planet.

Are you an early education teacher? If not, do you know any preschool or kindergarten teachers? We are getting ready to officially launch our new Growing Up Green TOTS program, and we need your help to spread the word!

Sincerely,


Kathleen Jacecko
Founder/Director