Leaves and Twigs: An Unscientific Roundup of the Best Sustainability Stories on the Web

This week, National Geographic revealed the 10 countries with the biggest environmental footprint, Grist explored the link between a tiny patch of desert in Africa and all of the Amazon’s plants, and scientists discovered lions in an unlikely place.

• Is tea the new coffee? [Essentially Catering Magazine]
• Extinction rates are soaring in Brazil’s fragmented forests. [Tree Hugger]
• What makes a Rainforest Alliance Verified™ hotel unique? [Mother Nature Network]
• In Ethiopia, lions have been discovered in the rainforest. Maybe they really are the ‘king of the jungle’? [Mongabay]
• One patch of desert in Africa is inexorably linked to all of the plants in the Amazon. [Grist]
• How can economics impact the fate of our natural world? [Mongabay]
• “Many scientists believe we are now in the middle of the sixth great mass extinction.” [Huffington Post]
• What companies are making impressive strides in the fight to protect our planet? [Whole Living]
• In the Amazon, projects to reduce emissions through deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) are providing new opportunities. [Center for International Forestry Research]
• A heartwarming photo from our friends at Mayakoba Residences, depicting the release of 70 sea turtles. [Twitter]
• What makes a sustainability standard credible? An exploration of the issues. [ISEAL Alliance]
• For many key mammals, fragmented bits of rainforest mean staggering extinction rates. [Mongabay]
• How is Chiquita – which has earned Rainforest Alliance certification on all of its company-owned farms — conserving forests and protecting biodiversity? By linking forest patches and creating biological corridors. [Frog Blog]

Tell us what you think of these (and other) sustainability stories in the comments!