"IF THE best way to create the future is to invent it, we say the second-best way is to finance it." John Doerr is only half joking. He is one of the most influential venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, and he knows a thing or two about financing the future. But ask him what he's focused on now and you won't hear venture-capital buzz-phrases such as "Web 2.0". These days, Doerr is firmly focused on clean technology - and in particular, energy technologies that can save the planet from global warming.

Public health issues are inextricably linked with human rights and it is only apt that many health professionals will involve themselves in such issues. The response of governments and the corporate sector to the work of such professionals suggests how they are seen as threats to the established order.

The Orissa government's agreement with Vedanta Alumina to allow mining of bauxite deposits in the Niyamgiri hills, the home of the Dongaria Kondha tribe, is an example of how corporate interests backed by state support are trampling on tribal livelihoods and threatening an ecologically rich and important region.

At the heart of the original vision for extended producer responsibility (EPR) was the desire for a policy strategy that could provide ongoing incentives for the incorporation of environmental concerns into the design of products. If producers were made responsible for end-of-life management (i.e., reuse, recycling, energy recovery, treatment, and/or final disposal) of products, they would find it in their self-interest to anticipate end-of-life costs and obligations and design their products to minimize those costs.

Issues relating to protection of the planet continue to capture media headlines and provoke public and political debate. The United Nationsʼ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has referred to global warming as a ʻweapon of mass destructionʼ (IPCC, 2007). However, global warming is not the only earth-threatening issue – there is also an increasing amount of environmental crime. The term ʻenvironmental crimeʼ is relatively new to the UK government lexicon but does not capture or harness the actions of the powerful towards acts of global environmental harm.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) has been used to describe the physical exchange and shared management of input and output materials by geographically proximate firms. Firms that engage in IS are said to belong to an industrial ecosystem.

Carbon footprint is a new buzzword that has gained tremendous popularity over the last few years-especially in the United Kingdom. Debates on the appropriate use of carbon footprinting are spreading through society.