Kasia Grobelny

It is summer in Antarctica. Frigid temperatures have been replaced by mild, 50-degree days. Surrounded by green hills rolling into lush, snow-capped mountains and thick fog, Joel Sartore is crouching low to the ground. Usually, it is he who is chasing his subjects, but this time the tables have turned. Instead, in the middle of the beach-like terrain, Sartore is surrounded — by penguins. King penguins to be exact. “Most of the time the animals I’m seeing are running away, they don’t want anything to do with me,� Sartore says, adding that the King penguins did the exact opposite. “They just wanted to stare at me. I got low on the ground and they stood right over me and looked at me. The whole thing was just tranquil, peaceful, and one of the most impressive things I’ve ever been a part of.�

There was a time when a diagnosis of cancer almost always meant death. But advances in cancer research and treatment have greatly improved cancer patients' chances of survival. Throughout the Valley and Arizona, cancer centers touting new technologies and treatments are helping the state become one of the nation's leaders in the fight against the disease.

For years, state tourism and hospitality enjoyed a healthy dose of success. As the population boomed, so did travel, with out-of-state visitors increasing steadily from 2002 through 2007. But the recession, coupled with a decline in corporate meetings, made 2009 a very difficult year for the tourism and hospitality industry. Arizona resorts and hotels that promoted staycations as a way to ride out the slow summer months, are now counting on them year-round to remain viable until the economy improves significantly.

Search for the word "sustainability" on Google and you'll end up with nearly 25 million hits. But what does sustainability mean to Arizona, especially as the state's economy crawls out of the crater left behind by the recession? Though 2009 proved to be a difficult year economically, it was a landmark year for the green industry in the Grand Canyon State.