The new trend in green living is building entire green cities – like Tianjin Eco-City in China, which is a joint project between the Chinese and Singaporean governments to create a completely eco-friendly metropolis.

It’s expected to be up and running by the year 2020 and feature the latest in green technology. People who live in Tianjin will be able to choose which eco-friendly landscape they like, from green to a sun-powered solarscape. The whole city will cover about 30 kilometers and transportation will depend on an advanced lightrail system. And about 350,000 will live in the urban center. What’s more, Tianjin Eco-City will make use the latest sustainable technologies, like solar power, wind power, rainwater recycling, and desalination of sea water to create a smooth-running green paradise.

It’s expected to be a model for the rest of China, but could it also serve as an example for the rest of the world?

Among renewable energies wind power is number one. Wind energy facilities are cheaper to set up and maintain, require less infrastructure and generate greater returns in the long run. Wind power has become a booming global industry with new and ever larger wind farms springing up everywhere. Large scale facilities in particular are supposed to be crucial for a global switch to renewables. Over the last three years alone the number of wind turbines across the world has more than doubled. The GLOBAL IDEAS reporters have visited China, India, Morocco and Germany to investigate the promises ? and challenges ? of wind power.

Are forests back on the rise? The latest study from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows the rate of forest loss is actually slowing down, surprisingly enough. That's mainly thanks to a push to plant–rather than cut down–forests in Asia.

 

According to the State of the World"s Forests 2011 report, the rate at which the planet's forests are being cut down decreased from 8.3 million hectares a year between 1999-2000 to just 5.2 million over the last decade. And, the UN says the world's forest regions could even start expanding in the near future!

 

China has focused on a big reforestation project, which includes increasing the country's forested land area from 120 million to 200 million hectares. There's just one small problem, according to the FAO: a lot of that new growth will likely be "junk" forestation because it won't have the same carbon storage value as existing forests. Plus, a lot of valuable forest land is still being razed at a very high rate in South America and Africa.

 

What about in your region? Is your home country planting or cutting down–and have you noticed any changes?