On December 24th, 400 Indian youth will leave Mumbai India on an adventure that will lead them through 13 Indian cities and over 8000 km. The students will travel throughout India to meet with business leaders and innovative social entrepreneurs in an effort to inspire a new vision for India's future.

This journey, called the Tata Jagriti Yatra 2008, is sponsored by Tata Group, India’s renown, socially minded business conglomerate, and Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, an NGO based in India that promotes entrepreneurship. (Ode covered the Tata Group and social capitalism in the May 2008 issue.)   Read more...

I'd like to 'Float' this idea...

The purpose of the project is to help reduce peoples dependency on mass produced unsustainable energy sources through the provision of locally sourced and produced solar/wind energy packs that could be fitted to existing houses.   Read more...

The Bush Administration endangers the Endangered Species Act, searching online becomes green & charitable with Good Search, and check out some new Green Gadgets.   Read more...

“For This Earth: Visions in Literature” is the theme of the Maine Literary Festival, to be held November 7 - 9, 2008, at the Camden Opera House.

The Festival explores the roles of writing, poetry, nature, and science in shaping the way we treat the planet and live our lives. Professor Verlyn Klinkenborg is the 2008 E.B. and Katharine White Memorial Lecturer. University of Vermont Professor Emeritus of Biology Bernd Heinrich and Gourmet magazine Editor in Chief Ruth Reichl headline the Saturday and Sunday sessions, respectively.   Read more...

More than 1 billion people live on $1 or less a day. Christopher Greenslate, M.Ed. graduate of the Institute for Humane Education (www.humaneeducation.org) and his partner Kerri -- both social studies teachers -- have embarked on a project to each eat on a food budget of $1/day. As they say in their first post:

"When we first started talking about doing this, we didn’t really have an agenda, or any developed sense of why we wanted to do it. It just seemed like an interesting challenge; one that would force us to see things differently.   Read more...

I knew that Walmart was working on different green initiatives, but I had no idea they'd established this challenge. They challenged electronic manufacturers to produce a product that would reduce environmental impact.

HP stepped up to the challenge by createing a product that reduced packaging materials by 97%.   Read more...

In 1999 filmmaker Jeremy Gilley decided to try and establish the first ever Day of Peace with a fixed calendar date. In September 2001 the Member States of the United Nations unanimously adopted the first-ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence

Around the globe, Lokenath Divine Life Mission founder Baba Shuddhaahahdaa Brahmachari, an economist-turned-monk, awakens and stimulates the feeling heart in those lives he touches as he describes his simple, yet profound philosophy of self help. LDLM Programs, located in West Bengal, India, are designed so that those served will discover the magnitude of their own strength, character and capacity to make a difference, not only in their own lives, but in the lives of others and that of their community. Baba does not believe in traditional charity. He prefers to support people in liberating themselves rather than do anything to reinforce their sense of powerlessness.

His Lokenath Divine Life Mission in India has served millions of people since its inception in 1985. Baba’s Missions programs range from street schools and mobile health clinics in the slums of Calcutta to Self Help Groups for women in rural areas of India.   Read more...

I often get a sense that we undervalue the inherent wisdom we individually have in life. All too often we minimize this inner wisdom by deferring instead to outside sources for answers to our most important and meaningful questions about life and the world we live in.

In my experience when we begin to value our own innate wisdom by giving it our attention and trust, we end up not only cultivating the faith we have to our Self, but also in that practiced valuing, create the space for us to elevate the quality of our life experience itself.   Read more...

A small start up solar array modeling service in California called RoofRay (www.roofray.com) is helping to shed some light on your solar potential. With the help of Google Maps aerial imaging, they have created an application that calculates your estimated monthly solar output in Watts per sqaure foot.   Read more...