Here's a ray of sunshine: The New York Times released a poll today in which 77% of those polled were optimistic about the next four years with President Obama. With 5% holding no opinion, that leaves less than 2 in 10 people who are pessimistic about the next four years - despite widely publicized economic turmoil.   Read more...

You can catch him praying to stones, painting small symbols on fabric and weaving together the future with the sweat on his palms. She calls him from a distant village, where electricity is not a necessity but a burden. Where running water through the tap would cause her to become overweight. You can find them together, spinning progress by praying to stones, carefully placing them in areas where shade can be found. You can find them quietly and diligently writing a new story. A story of those who kneel down, surrender and find a way to blend together religion and faith in a final attempt to circumvent spiritual war.

Here you will find cows doing kung fu, elephants doing yoga and some of the most poisonous snakes in the world simply wanting to be loved. The dogs in Mumbai simply wanted to be adored, but instead, would be found fleeing from little boys who would make it a game to pelt them with stones.

We are not alone. I don't know about extra-terrestrials, but I have discovered other people willing to take a timeout from the daily grind and consider the problems of being a politically, ecologically and spiritually responsible human being. I think I've found a friend in the Elephant Journal.   Read more...

Adrian Hyland, a father in rural Victoria, chronicles how a local community and school district recovered from a firestorm, "a 13-metre wall of flame that melted steel" and "swept through the valley in two minutes." Buildings exploded in flames, taking hundreds of houses as well as the community hall and a school that Hyland describes as "the shining light of the local community." What he describes in his article is about the most frightening event you can imagine.

However, the community did not just endure, it rebuilt.   Read more...

I'll confess, it's relatively rare these days for me to take a deep breath and consider the consequences of my actions - not the consequences for the next five minutes, for today or for tomorrow, but for a lifetime. Or for many lifetimes. In an era of Ponzi schemes, pollution, confusion and apathy, Andrew Zuckerman's book Wisdom: 50 Unique and Original Portraits is a much needed reminder. Zuckerman has interviewed 50 prominent individuals who have lived full lives and left their mark on the world. 50 lifetimes of thought, consequences and life lessons remind us of simple truths. That we never really get ahead by sacrificing others or that our actions may outlive our lifetimes. They also address harder questions: what really matters, and how does an individual life make a difference?   Read more...

When I was a child, my father would come into my room most mornings and ask me to choose which tie he should wear with the suit he had on that day. He usually brought two ties into my room from which I could choose. As I got older, sometimes I felt that neither choice was ideal, and I’d head over to his tie rack to suggest a better option. I adored my dad, and I took my job helping him with his ties quite seriously.

As a humane educator, my job now includes offering other people choices, although the choices revolve around more pressing issues than tie fashions.   Read more...

In the spring of 2002, graphic artist Brian Nesline began manifesting a dream by approaching two homeless men and asking them to draw self-portraits. One by one, he and his now-wife, Mary, collected self-portraits from individuals all over the city of Buffalo, until he had enough faces to create a new art form. Each face became a mosaic to build the whole of something entirely different: a buffalo. Thus Faces of Buffalo was born.   Read more...

The International Ecotourism Society’s newest initiative, ecoDestinations, offers conscious travelers and nature lovers the perfect opportunity to find exemplary ecotourism trips, with the peace of mind that they’re investing in a travel experience that positively impacts the destination and its people. During the month of February, ecoDestinations features Costa Rica, a naturally peaceful and beautiful country with unmatched biodiversity and warm-hearted hospitality.

Moved by the recent havoc wrought by Mother Nature in many communities in Costa Rica, TIES sought to benefit the Yorkin community in the Talamanca region. Devastating floods left this largely indigenous community in need of everything from food and medicine to clothing and emotional support, in order to help rebuild their homes and restore their land.   Read more...

It may seem like an unlikely marriage, but successful eating and cooking tours can lead directly to less hungry people.

Here is the logic. Increased awareness in food leads to increased awareness of how modern life impacts ecosystems and how food chains work. Most optimists (and definitely Rachel Maddow) believe that increased awareness yields respect and compassionate understanding for whatever the subject.   Read more...

If you want to raise money for your school, church, sports team or other organization and do something back for producers in developing countries, you should consider a fair trade products fundraiser.

Fair trade promotes the payment of a fair price to local producers, as well as adherence to social and environmental standards. Fair trade intent is to work with marginalized producers and workers in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to one of security and sustainability. It aims at a greater equity and partnership in the international trading system. Fair trade products include coffee, tea, chocolate but also products as bags and candles. For certain products like coffee certification programs have been set up in order to guarantee the products have been produced and bought in developing countries while taking into account fair trade principles.   Read more...