GEORGE TOWN: Japanese restaurants are known to serve their food fresh and natural. But Penang’s Isaribi Tei goes further. It’s green as well. Since it opened in 2004, owner and director Yasuyuki Kayashima has made a point to ensure the restaurant co-exists harmoniously with nature and be among the most eco-friendly eateries in the country.

The kitchen is a good place to start going green.

IT has taken a while but we’re slowly moving closer to being an environmentally conscious society. One positive step is the introduction of “no plastic bag day” at supermarkets and stores in several states. More and more shoppers make an effort to bring their own cloth or canvas bags for their groceries. But what you do once you get home with your groceries is just as important.

There's a new breed of urban agriculture germinating throughout the US, one whose seeds come from an unlikely source.

Local government officials from Baltimore, Md., to Bainbridge Island, Wash. are plowing under the ubiquitous hydrangeas, petunias, daylilies, and turf grass around public buildings, and planting fruits and vegetables instead -- as well as in underutilized spaces in our parks, plazas, street medians, and even parking lots.