News stories by Clarinha Glock* - IPS/IFEJ

The southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, a pioneer in participatory budgets and environmental policies, and habitual host of the enormous World Social Forum, has returned to the international stage.

Using pieces from all sorts of useless equipment, students at the Computer Recovery Centre in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre have put 1,700 computers into operation in three years.

In the city of Garopaba, a tourist destination on Brazil's southern coast, leftover food from restaurants will be turned into fertiliser to be used by farmers, who in turn will grow pesticide-free fruits and vegetables for snacks in the local schools.