Latest Attraction at French Theme Park: Crows That Pick Up Trash

Nationally, only about a third of municipal solid waste is recycled. An initiative to use simpler, standardized signs and labels is helping communities reap greater benefits from recycling.

Each year, close to three million dogs and cats are killed in shelters - in some cities more than 70 percent of the animals in shelters are euthanized. Target Zero is a program that works with fellow cities to spay and neuter animals and return them to the streets. Public complaints about animals have plummeted, and many shelters are well on their way to achieving a 'zero-kill' status.

Throughout the American West, recovering populations of wolves and grizzly bears have crept beyond the boundaries of national parks, clashing with sheep and cattle as they advance. Looking to Europe as an example, researchers are training and testing guard dogs in various western states as a means of deterring predators and protecting valuable livestock.

Most cities may have enacted smoking laws to curb people from lighting up in public, but cigarette butts continue to blanket streets, parks and beaches. Salem, Mass., and New Orleans are two such communities that have partnered with TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company that pays by the pound for cigarette waste.

Food waste costs billions of dollars a year and is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. French government just passed a law banning grocery stores from destroying or throwing away unsold food, and instead directing it to those in need.

America loses about 31 percent of its food to waste. Driven by environmental, social and economic pressure, more and more cities are starting mandatory compost programs.

Lack of access to sanitary bathrooms in the village of Kivalina, Alaska led to the implementation of a novel, home-based water sanitation system, currently being tested for effectiveness. The hope is that it proves to be a solution for areas all over the state with lack of access to clean water systems.

Throughout India, wastepickers – people who scour landfills for garbage they can sell to recyclers – live at the bottom of society. But the city of Pune did something radical: with the help of a collective, they did away with expensive garbage trucks, and now all household garbage is collected by wastepickers with pushcarts. Pune saves millions of dollars each year and recycles more – and the wastepickers have decent wages and social standing. The concept is now spreading globally.

Ivory poaching has decreased the number of live elephants by one-fifth in the past decade. Although Kenya has ratified laws that make ivory poaching and trafficking punishable, identifying smugglers at border security is still a challenge. Airports in Kenya and Tanzania have employed dogs to sniff out ivory hidden in transit with a high success rate of 18 busts in four months at the Kenya location.

The amount of plastic debris in our oceans and water sources - especially nanoplastics that are increasingly prevalent in our food chain - is so enormous it's often beyond comprehension, and immensely difficult to address. As countries continue to industrialize and single-use products become more commonplace, the flow of harmful plastics into the environment seems insurmountable. But a number of clever inventions and dedicated individuals are working to help get plastics out of our water - and more importantly - encourage practices to reduce, reuse, and recycle.