A group of students and design professors in Bogota, Colombia have invented an Environmental Traffic Light. No it's not a solar powered light or CO2 munching machine. It is a contraption looking suspiciously like a traffic light that alerts people of the latest climate developments.

Instead of the general 3 light scenario seen at intersections across the globe, this Environmental Traffic Light has eight tiers. It gives figures on CO2 levels, LED temperature and information on other elements that are harming the environment.

The idea behind the project is to raise awareness amongst city residents of the real-time hazards of their immediate environment.

Hernando Barragan, designer of the Environmental Traffic Light explains his vision to Planet Ark: "What we want to do with this (traffic light) display is to allow people, residents of a city, different contexts to be able to see varied climate phenomena that while generally are not in plain sight are important. One of our ideas is for people to begin to understand how all this stuff works and how to get informed."

Last week astronauts hooked up the last of several solar panel wings bringing the orbital outpost of the International Space Station. These very delicate panels were built by Boeing for NASA and contain many solar cells that collect the sun's light.These last solar wings took the two spacewalkers six hours to install with reportedly a few shaky moments to keep them on their moon boot snug toes. But it was well worth the eco space trip. The new solar panels will bring the space station to full power enabling it to generate 124 kilowatts of electricity. The extra power support will boost the project by increasing the space team from six to twelve astronauts, meaning more science experiments to be done.

According to Reuters World Environment News station commander Michael Finck said upon the astronauts solar mission return: "Welcome back aboard the space station. It's a lot bigger than when you left". Nice quip for a space walking fellow wouldn't you say?

The International Space Station is a $100 billion project involving 16 different nations, has been underway for nearly a decade and is expected to be finished next year.

If all you've planned for the Easter break with the family this year is a hot cross bun feast and a morning bunny surprise perhaps you should add fresh air (chocolate) in the country.

Green & Blacks and the Soil Association have organised a whole lot of Easter egg hunts at a whole host of organic farms across the country.

After the kids have sniffed out as many organic choccy eggs as they can handle they can watch a cow being milked and feed some of the animals.

Nearly 40 farms are participating and they will all have different activities from egg decorating to fancy dress competitions to tractor rides to hot cross bun making.

Some of the farms have woodlands others have coastal trails but all offer a bit of fresh air. Yes the air may have a touch of cow in it but nonetheless its organic cow is likely to be fresher than a city park.

For full details of all the organic farms participating in this great Easter egg hunt visit the Soil Association's Easter web page.

Japan has been working very hard in the last few years to shift from being a mass producing, mass consuming society to a sustainable, earth friendly one. Last week the country boosted its green cred by announcing a new $5 billion loan fund to assist developing nations improve their environmental infrastructure.

What does this mean exactly? Loans will be supplied over the next two years to fund large eco-conscious projects in both the public and private sectors. Projects may include improving environmental infrastructure around solar power systems, sewage systems, water-treatment equipment and transportation systems to reduce CO2 emissions.

The Japanese have been expressing for a while their concern for developing nations during this time of global economic downturn. Many developing nations and emerging markets have used US and European financial institutions to finance public projects. But since the credit crunch launched into full swing lenders have been pulling out their investments in an attempt to repair finances at home.

The loans will hopefully stimulate the emerging economies and develop long-term eco-focused infrastructure within the developing countries. This program is in addition to the US$1 billion Tokyo committed to last month to help its Asian neighbours with their dwindling global trade.

Rare is the website that offers a one-stop-shop of gifts that change the world. Changing The Present is the best, and only, one we know of. The not-for-profit website that offers 1500 charitable gifts.

The website breaks these down into categories which makes it far easier and quicker if you are say shopping for your dad who happens to have a soft spot for the vision impaired and is a budding environmentalist. From disaster relief to landmine victims, global warming to animal welfare, poverty alleviation to cancer treatment technology - there's a charity to suit every heart and occasion; a price tag to suit every wallet.

We really liked the environmental section which not only has a whole heap of fantastic eco friendly present ideas but also a facts section to get people inspired to actually make that charitable purchase. Try these two for pondering time: one third of the earth's soil is now unfit for growing food, due to deforestation, waste disposal and overuse of fertilizers (Overpopulation.org); every ton of recycled paper saves 380 gallons of oil (World Health Organization).

Considering Americans alone spend $250 billion on gifts every year and the proven power of the Internet to reach massive amounts of people, Changing The Present is on to a very good thing!