Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring food security and fighting the spread of deserts are among the biggest challenges facing humanity. But the solution for all of them may literally lie inside humans – as we hope to show in this bog post -pardon – blog post. Human waste has traditionally been used in some parts of the Amazon to create  Terra Preta – black soil rich in nutrients – the result of mixing charcoal and human faeces into otherwise less fertile soil.

This super-rich black soil captures carbon dioxide, stores amazing amounts of water and sticks around for hundreds of years. And, yes, it also works with other types of waste (watch our report about how this works in India). In short: Terra Preta may be a potential one-stop shop for creating sustainable habitats – even in outer space. A bunch of filmmakers thinks that the human colon may help colonize Mars or operate space stations in the future. Here’s the trailer for their complete Terra Preta sales pitch:

Not convinced? Well, to learn more you may have to wait: the makers of the documentary are running a bit low on cash to complete post-production. To help fill their coffers go here.

The GLOBAL IDEAS project has been running for nearly one and a half years now. And if there’s one thing our climate reporters have learned in this time it’s that climate change is super-complex and that important but small details are easy to miss. So, as a first step in the way to get the whole picture more accurately we have started to put on better goggles – and equipped our cameras with sharper vision.

Starting today we’ll put online video footage from our reporters in High Definition quality. We hope to be following this up very soon with our first GLOBAL IDEAS documentary that you can watch online in HD.

For starters here’s some HD footage of the amazing biodiversity our reporters came across on their recent trip to Costa Rica:

And here another one from Madagascar:

Tomorrow (March 4th) is the very last day of voting for the '48 Go Green' film competition! It's an international contest that calls for filmmakers and producers to make green-themed films–but they only have 48 hours to do so. All the projects are submitted and, with your votes, the online festival will narrow it down to the top eight selections by Friday!

 

48 Go Green, which was inspired by the 48 Hour Film Project, got started in Athens, Greece back in 2009. It was such a big hit that organizers decided to take it global. Filmmakers can choose any style of fiction film, from comedy to romance to mockumentry–as long as it has an eco-theme. This year, 183 people took part around the world. And the winning film will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival plus $5,000.00–not a bad prize!

 

You can watch last year's winning film and screen all the official entries for this year, too, so cast your votes!

 

 

Three GLOBAL IDEAS video reports were selected for screening at the Development and Climate Days Annual Film Festival on December 4th and 5th in Cancun, Mexico. You can check them out here:

Green Energy in Guyana

Deforestation is rampant in many countries with rainforests being cleared for industry and agriculture and the mining of natural resources. Guyana is trying a different approach thanks to the government's Low Carbon Development Strategy. It's a revolutionary scheme, which aims to transform Guyana's economy while combating climate change. The plan is to have the international community recognize the financial value of the rainforests and pay compensation for their conservation. The UN has yet to approve it.

Eco-Cooling in Swaziland

Swaziland, a small kingdom in southern Africa, is one of the poorest regions in the world. Most residents depend on farming and cattle grazing for their livelihood. Only a few own cars. They aren't responsible for climate change but Swaziland has been hard hit by the consequences – rising temperatures and drought. Appliances that keep food and medicines cool are hugely important. One of the few factories in the country now produces refrigerators and freezers in an environmentally-friendly way. And the appliances are powered by solar energy.

Energy for the Andes

Many villages in the remote northern highlands of Peru are not connected to the electricity grid. Alternative energy sources are proving a big help. The aid organization "Soluciones Practicas" has installed micro wind turbines in many villages in the Cajamarca region that provide several thousand people with a daily electricity supply. It's helping boost their educational chances, improve communication and facilitate the setting up of businesses. The NGO is hoping to expand in South America.