When it comes to natural healing in the green consciousness there is a strong movement away from invasive treatments and long-term dependence on pharmaceutical drugs.

Skin and coat problems are often the first indicators of poor health and care, as the skin is the largest eliminatory organ in your animal's body. Yet, almost every pet suffers from some sort of skin condition.

Allan Savory has spent the last 50 years refining and evangelizing for a method of reversing desertification that he calls "holistic management." The African Center for Holistic Management International, an NGO he helped found, will take home a $100,000 grant.

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is meant to award big, sweeping solutions to seemingly intractable problems. As the Institute's executive director, Elizabeth Thompson, told FastCompany.com, "The approach was pioneered by Fuller. We're looking for strategies that solve multiple problems at once, not just surgical implementations that don't address the root problem."

This is the first article of a series on the wisdom of cooking according to Ayurvedic principles. The word Ayurveda comes from two Sanskrit words Ayur meaning life and Veda meaning science.