Green Gazette

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The Green Belt Movement, foundedby Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has planted 30 million trees across Africa since 1977.

The Genius of Wangari Maathai

Sprouts & Snippets

Low Rank in Environmental Index

The United States ranked 45th in the 2005 index of environmental sustainability, which rates nations on their success in addressing such issues as air quality, biodiversity and cooperation with other nations on environmental problems. The index, prepared by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, studied 146 countries and picked Finland, Norway and Uruguay for the top three spots. The United States ranked behind most countries in Western Europe, Japan, Russia and some African nations. Visit www.yale.edu/esi for the full report.

BioWillie

Willie Nelson, the 71-year-old Texas music legend, also is an energy company executive. Nelson and three business partners formed a company called Willie Nelson’s Biodiesel that is marketing the fuel to truck stops. The clean-burning product called BioWillie is made from vegetable oils, mainly soybeans, and can be burned without modification in regular petro-diesel engines. Nelson’s company is negotiating with Oklahoma City-based Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores to carry the fuel at its 169 locations nationwide. Go to www.wnbiodiesel.com for more information.

Kudos for Mother Contributors

Mother Earth News contributing editor Carol Mack and her husband, John Stuart, won the 2004 Washington State Wildlife Steward of the Year award for returning their 40-acre timberland to an old forest-type habitat. In Pennsylvania, Mother contributing editor George DeVault and his wife, Melanie, were named Farmers of the Year by the Lehigh County Conservation District, for their efforts to preserve the environment on their 20-acre organic farm

Low Rank in Environmental Index

The United States ranked 45th in the 2005 index of environmental sustainability, which rates nations on their success in addressing such issues as air quality, biodiversity and cooperation with other nations on environmental problems. The index, prepared by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, studied 146 countries and picked Finland, Norway and Uruguay for the top three spots. The United States ranked behind most countries in Western Europe, Japan, Russia and some African nations. Visit www.yale.edu/esi for the full report.

BioWillie

Willie Nelson, the 71-year-old Texas music legend, also is an energy company executive. Nelson and three business partners formed a company called Willie Nelson’s Biodiesel that is marketing the fuel to truck stops. The clean-burning product called BioWillie is made from vegetable oils, mainly soybeans, and can be burned without modification in regular petro-diesel engines. Nelson’s company is negotiating with Oklahoma City-based Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores to carry the fuel at its 169 locations nationwide. Go to www.wnbiodiesel.com for more information.