On April 22, HeartMath is asking everyone around the world to stop to take 2 minutes and genuinely focus on the feeling of appreciation and gratitude for our beautiful planet.

Ode featured HeartMath in an article a couple years back titled "A change in heart changes everything" (www.odemagazine.com/doc/24/a_change_of_heart_changes_everything).   Read more...

On April 15, 2008 The Kindness Center founder, Michael Chase ventured out on a non-stop day of performing spontaneous acts of kindness. Joined by his kindness crew, Michael Hallahan and Tracy Chaplin, they spent a full 24 hours on the streets of Southern Maine looking for anyone that could use a helping hand or a dose of kindness. See some of the heartwarming results at www.thekindnesscenter.com.   Read more...

Things you can do on Earth Day, Dutch scientists prove they're dumb, China plans to modify the weather with rocket launchers, and celebrity news, including Miley Cyrus, Madonna, and the new James Bond movie.   Read more...

The western Ghats in India are home to "a sequence of green hills and valleys, balmy sunshine, friendly smiles, ample houses -- and countless rivers." These rivers often swell during rainy season to the point that it cuts off the villagers access to mainland life.

This is a story of how one man and a community gathered to build over 48 footbridges. These bridges are now connecting communities, increasing the local economy and helping children get to school.   Read more...

Dear EarthTalk: Are there any efforts underway to green the air travel industry? It seems to me that it must be one dirty business from a pollution standpoint. -- Elias Corey, Seattle, WA

Environmental battles over the siting and expansion of airports are as old as the air travel industry itself, but only in recent years have the airlines themselves been under pressure to go green.

And there’s no time like the present for the industry to take some action: Air pollution from commercial jets is a growing concern among scientists, as is air travel’s role in climate change because of the more acute warming effect of emissions when they are disbursed so much closer to the upper atmosphere.   Read more...

The Take Care of Your Share™ Program www.takecareofyourshare.com was started as a means to provide solutions for every citizen that is ready to help "take care of their share" of the environment ... their own homes and yards. Our aim is to provide information to all residents, old and new alike, about what they can do as individuals to help protect the wildlife habitat and natural ecosystems that make our land so special and unique. By focusing on their own homes and property, we believe that each citizen can make a tremendous difference to the environmental health of the entire planet.

By changing a few actions around their homes and yards, each citizen can do their part to take care of the environment. The result is lower electric bills, lower water bills, cleaner natural water supplies and yards that are safe havens for local wildlife.   Read more...

In 2006, two friends in Nashville decided to make organic cotton t-shirts with the logo, Cool People Care. Sam Davidson and Stephen Moseley wanted to inspire conversations in public spaces. The t-shirts created a buzz and the two friends decided to launch www.coolpeoplecare.org, a website that promotes meaningful change by offering a daily action that takes five minutes or less to complete and makes a positive impact on the planet.

I recently interviewed Sam Davidson. He told me that he felt, “the two big hang-ups people have when asked to make a difference are that they don’t know how, and they don’t have enough time. We wanted to eliminate these two excuses by offering things people could do in five minutes a day or less, and also by providing an events calendar for things they could do and get involved with in their local communities.” The website currently hosts free events calendars for 43 communities, so people can get involved locally.   Read more...

I would love to share my new album of conscious alt-folk music with you.

While writing these songs, I felt so in the flow, that they seemed to come through me. To continue the flow, I want to share this music with other hearts in the most fluid way, which I think is the internet as opposed to non-biodegradable CDs.   Read more...

I think butterflies can save the world. Butterflies and birds and insects and hummingbirds. See, I'm a real nature nerd. And I believe that the preservation of the future depends on people getting close enough to nature to allow it to restore their sense of wonder. If they see the really cool things, maybe then they'll want to protect them.

So I spend my time running into my yard and recording the little miracles that others find mundane. I write and every now and then I'll give a seminar.   Read more...

Johnny Bunko trailer from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

Ever since I read "A Whole New Mind" (see an article about it here: www.odemagazine.com/doc/23/revenge_of_the_right_brain), Daniel Pink has been one of my favorite writers. The good news is he has a new book out, titled "The Adventures of Johnny Bunko." I can't wait to get my hands on a copy, especially after seeing its trailer. (A trailer? For a book?! You bet.)   Read more...