The Fair Trade movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards. Fair Trade labelling is a certification system designed to allow consumers to identify goods which meet agreed standards. Overseen by a standard-setting body, called FLO International and FLO-CERT, a certification body, the system involves independent auditing of producers and traders to ensure that the agreed standards are met.

Fair Trade certification aims not only at fair prices, but also at the respect of the principles of ethical purchasing, which include ILO agreements, such as those banning child and slave labour. Fair trade principles also include guaranteeing a safe workplace and the right to unionise; adherence to the United Nations charter of human rights; and a fair price that covers the cost of production, facilitates social development and respects the environment.

It explores sources of geothermal energy, from volcanic heat just under the surface of the Earth to radioactive heat five kilometres below. Hot springs are used to generate electricity and heat buildings in Iceland and Tuscany, where one-tenth of the world’s geothermal energy is produced. Harvesting deep geothermal energy is more complex, however. The video illustrates how Norway’s thermal power plants work and how they hope to use technology developed for offshore oil drilling to overcome some of the challenges of extracting deep thermal energy.

The Earth’s geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet (20%) and from the radioactive decay of minerals (80%). Extremely high temperature and pressure cause some rock to melt, forming magma which, being lighter than the solid rock, convects upward. This magma heats rock and water in the crust, sometimes up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, sustainable and environmentally friendly, but has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological advances have dramatically increased its applications, such as home heating, opening a potential for widespread exploitation to help mitigate global warming.

Every haiku must contain a kigo, a word associated with a particular season. In Japanese culture beauty lies in the things left unsaid, and it was the love of brevity that gave birth to this type of “miniature literature.” Haiku are traditionally printed in a single vertical line while haiku in English often appear in three lines to parallel the three phrases of Japanese haiku.

Previously called hokku, haiku was given its current name by the writer Masaoka Shiki at the end of the 19th century. It used to be the opening stanza of an orthodox collaborative linked poem called renga. Haiku was elevated to an art form in the 17th century by the poet Matsuo Basho, whose works have been translated into many languages and have received international acclaim.