Design for life

In India, children are trained to monitor air and water quality, trees and green spaces using specially designed field kits Photograph: Jenny Zarins/Thames & Hudson

Children are empowered to lead their own programmes rather than being led by an adult, and they propose remedial action where problems are detected Photograph: Jenny Zarins/Thames & Hudson

In Argentina, artistic collective Ala Plastica has built emergency lodges in flood-risk areas in the delta of the Rio de la Plata, one of the largest water systems in South America Photograph: Alejandro Meitin/Thames & Hudson

One of Ala Plastica's biggest projects involved efforts to repair the environment and inform the public following a massive oil spill in 1999 Photograph: Ala Plastica/Thames & Hudson

In Berkeley, California, the Edible Schoolyard is a one-acre organic vegetable garden and kitchen on the campus of Martin Luther King middle school that encourages children to learn about the importance of what they eat Photograph: Justine Kurland/Thames & Hudson

Classes involve all 950 pupils in every aspect of the seed-to-table process, from deciding what to plant to caring for and harvesting the produce, to cooking and eating it together Photograph: Edible Schoolyard/Thames & Hudson

In Germany, a public green space was created at the site of a disused steelworks in the Ruhr Valley. One of the huge concrete coal-storage silos has been turned into a rock-climbing wall managed by a local group Photograph: Peter Liedtke/Thames & Hudson

In the UK, Common Ground promotes Apple Day, celebrating the diversity of traditional English apples and orchards which are under serious threat due to supermarket reliance on foreign imports Photograph: Common Ground/Thames & Hudson