Join the People 4 Earth webinar on the 4th of November for an exclusive discussion with bestselling author, Daniel Goleman, on how a new wave of information on the sustainability impacts of products is shifting the balance from seller to buyer. The experts discuss how 'radical transparency' promises to mobilize sustainable consumption among consumers, reward sustainability leaders in business with competitive advantage, and help drive a higher standard of business innovation. The briefing will take us from the farmer's market to the capital markets to the corporate boardroom.

How to attend?
To attend, please register here. The Moving Markets Webinar Series is complimentary.   Read more...

Imagine you’re a participant on a new game show called “Your Life”. The host of the show presents you with two locked doors and two keys. The door on the left is labeled “External Substance.” The door on the right is labeled “Internal Substance.” The rules of the game are simple. You can choose only one door. Behind each door is an unlimited substance of its type.

External substance is all the material stuff of the universe. Whatever your heart desires; gold, riches, houses, cars, the new MacBook Air, food, wine, travel, chocolate, books, art, planes, boats…essentially any and every external, physical thing you can consume or experience.   Read more...

Humanitarian Dr Lyly Rojas is teaching the culture of peace to business students at the University of Applied Sciences and Technology in Vienna, Austria. Her challenge to future business leaders is to make waves in the corporate world and drive a culture change.

In the current economic climate, her message to the business world is particularly poignant. “I don’t think of the financial recession as a financial crisis, but as a human crisis,” she states. Rojas explains “The current economic situation is a consequence of the way the business world has conducted itself; economic greed has eroded the quality of human life and unraveled many of society’s structures. Now is a transformational moment”.   Read more...

Back in June 2007 I was 29 years old, living a balanced life as a business management consultant, yoga practitioner, artist, and philanthropist in Austin, Texas. I had nothing to complain about; life was good. I could not foresee the ways that my life would change as I was simply waiting to get on the highway. My car was suddenly rear-ended, and it was while I was being treated for a concussion that I learned of my benign brain tumor.

The head injury from the accident led to frequent partial complex seizures caused by microscopic level bleeding from the newfound tumor. These episodes manifested at various levels of intensity in the forms of false visualization, altering emotion and speech and movement impairment. Fortunately, my mind, strengthened by over 10 years of daily mediation, was able to control the seizures’ activity of the brain. I learned much about this mind-brain relationship during a five-day video electroencephalograph (EEG) study. My life changed dramatically as I became dependent on friends and family to help me with basic life functions. Yet, the situation didn't stop me from living my life with energy and enthusiasm. I believe that life’s moments are often placed in a rightful way, and we only need to choose to see them for what they are.   Read more...

A husband and wife recently celebrated 21 years of marriage. Still deeply in love, the wife has been battling episodes of depression and it hasn’t been easy. For several months now, she hasn’t felt like her old self. Desperately searching for ways to feel clear, happy and healthy again, she’s tried all of the standard medical remedies.

To celebrate their anniversary, the couple met for drinks at their favorite restaurant. The conversation and the date started poorly. Saddened and slightly frustrated at what seemed to be a missed opportunity for a joyful anniversary celebration, the man was at a loss for how to save the evening and reconnect with the woman he loves. Then, in a flash of inspiration, the husband said, “Honey, I love you so much and I am so grateful and lucky to be your partner. I am going to share with you 21 things I appreciate about you to represent the 21 years we’ve been married.”   Read more...

Last week when I was in Armenian Church, the priest presented the parishioners with a quiz that he said five-year-olds had answered accurately but that graduates of Princeton couldn’t. Here’s the quiz:

What is greater than god, more evil than the devil; rich people want it, poor people have it and if you eat it you will die?   Read more...

On my morning walk, I encountered a tow-headed two-year-old caught up in unbridled enthusiasm. The garbage truck had arrived.

The sights and sounds of the hulking vehicle triggered jumping, flailing and cheering. A moment of religious ecstasy.   Read more...

Journalist and camerawoman Margaret Moth is an amazing woman. No doubt. No argument. And definitely no fear.

She stands out in a profession populated with rebels and risk takers for her devotion to her work, her complete and utter fearlessness, and her strength of character--even, maybe even especially, in the face of death. She doesn't consider herself a heroine. But many others do.   Read more...

Have you ever walked into a clock shoppe and noticed the pendulums all swinging together in perfect rhythmic harmony? It's true, when placed together clocks with pendulums will "fall together" into rhythmic unison. It's really amazing when you think about it. Here you have these mechanical instruments, and something draws their functions into harmony. But what is that something? I honestly don't know if I could really understand it if it were explained to me. Yet having seen it, I can accept it as true. Sometimes we don't necessarily have to have proof to believe something as true. We may see it written or hear it said and just have a deep inner knowing that it is so. It resonates with us.

This phenomenon of spontaneous synchronization is called entrainment, and it exists in many different schools of thought. In physics, it is described as "the tendency for two oscillating bodies to lock into phase so that they vibrate in harmony..."   Read more...

Red-green colorblindness could soon be a thing of the past for humans. In a study at the University of Washington is Seattle, recently published in Nature, scientists injected naturally red-green colorblind squirrel monkeys with a gene for a human photoreceptor, according to the MIT Review.

The monkeys were given a test before and after the gene therapy similar to tests given to humans to test color-blindness. Two years after the gene therapy the two monkeys involved in the study have much-improved color vision with no negative side effects. Because human color-blindness is nearly the same as color-blindness in squirrel monkeys, researchers are hopeful that the gene therapy can be used on humans in the future.   Read more...