In this report from Earth Focus, briquettes made from saw dust and agricultural waste help save forests and improve people's health.

With US carbon emissions down 7% in four years and bigger drops coming, the United States may emerge as a global leader in cutting carbon and stabilizing climate.

Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, tells Earth Focus that new forces including life style and demographic changes are reducing the use of both coal and oil in the United States. He expects that carbon emissions could decline by as much as 20% in the United States by 2020.

This original investigative report by The Ecologist Film Unit and Link TV's Earth Focus, which is now leading to calls for an overhaul of how the UN does business, shows the consequences of incentive programs like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). A plant owned by India's energy giant Reliance Power is set to become the largest coal power project awarded carbon credits under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) -- which lets industrialized countries offset their pollution by investing in greenhouse gas reducing projects in developing nations. This investigation shows what can, and does, go wrong. It documents the displacement of village communities to make way for plant construction; the exclusion of villagers from the decision making process; and the broken promises -- the benefits promised but never delivered to villagers like free education, employment and healthcare. Thousands of acres of forest land are being destroyed to make way for the plant. Critics say that the project sets a dangerous precedent because it shifts investment away from renewable energy and supports coal, an industry seen as a leading cause of carbon emissions. Campaigners are now calling for an urgent overhaul of the way the Clean Development Mechanism is governed.

The corrupt practices, human rights abuses, and environmental degradation caused by the shrimp industry are exposed in an original investigative report by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. And, find out how shrimp from Bangladesh, exposed to pesticides and injected with dirty water, may also be toxic to your health.