Author Kelly Corrigan wrote this moving essay about the remarkable capacity to which women support each other, laugh together, and endure. The full text of the essay is available in the paperback edition of her memoir, The Middle Place .   Read more...

It's that time of year that everyone is making lists, talking about who's who and sizing up everything that happened in 2008. At the end of a year, your mind can also feed you some pretty tough questions about yourself.

Why didn’t you lose the weight? Why did you not sell those stocks and get into cash? Why are you still single?   Read more...

Earth911.com writes, “Between 30 and 35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. each year.” They say that 93 percent of those trees are being recycled through more than 4,000 treecycling programs.

Treecycling is a simple way to put your tree (a renewable natural resource) back into the environment instead of in a landfill where decomposition rates are slow or burning your tree which can release harmful toxins into the air and creates fire hazards.   Read more...

Hope Milner, a mother of three teenagers, became exasperated watching her kids buy, wear and toss t-shirts with increasing frequency. The end result? ReTeez www.reteez.com was born. ReTeez is a green, eco-friendly and innovative company that creates bags, totes and accessories from old recycled t-shirts.

Using an unconventional material, the company is not only reducing waste but also creating one-of-a-kind treasures. Milner explains, “With three growing teenagers, at least twice a year I would pack up their t-shirts and send them to the local Salvation Army. They changed their t-shirts like most women change pantyhose. In general, people don’t hang onto tees for very long. I wanted to figure out a way to do something with these shirts.”   Read more...

Ferris embraced the principle that "fear is your friend" while overcoming his trepidation of swimming, dancing and learning new languages.   Read more...

If Santa brought your family the purrrfect pet this Christmas, we’re sure you want to give that pet the best care possible. One important thing to take into consideration is your new pet’s diet. What will your new puppy or kitty friend be eating this holiday season?

It seems organic pet food is the way to go. It’s better for your pet, better for you, and better for the environment. Organic pet food is produced without petroleum-based pesticides or fertilizers and uses meat from animals that are raised humanely and fed well.   Read more...

I receive the question quite often about meditation in my clinical practice. What is meditation? How do I do it? And what are the benefits? Quite simply, meditation is the intentional practice of experiencing life in the present moment. It's about realizing the power of now vs. the power of the past or future.

When we meditate, we can feel our breath trickle past our nose, tickle our throat, and expand our lungs and diaphragm. It is the moment when we lie down in bed after a long day, and luxuriate in the warmth and comfort of the sheets. And it is the sipping and enjoyment of a frosty mug of beer.   Read more...

Good news rarely makes the headlines... except in Ode. To celebrate 2008 - and anticipate more good news to come in 2009 - here are Ode's 10 most positive stories from the year that was.   Read more...

J. Craig Venter discusses his work with Synthetic Genomics, where he studied carbon feeding organisms in ocean sinks.   Read more...

Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, speaks at the Long Now Foundation about the history of the X Prize. The X Prize Foundation bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity by creating and managing prizes that drive innovators to solve some of the greatest challenges facing the world today.   Read more...

Intelligent optimists are generally health conscious people who know how to take care of themselves and their families. All of us probably realize that what you put IN your body is very important. So hopefully you are eating a clean diet. My favorite book on the subject is Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food". In it he encourages us to avoid "manufactured food-like substances" or processed foods.

One area of toxicity that often is overlooked though, is what you put in your ears, eyes and mind. I am talking about what you ingest mentally; the news, newspapers, movies, etc.   Read more...

Fly2help is a charity lifting the spirits and horizons of people suffering from life threatening and chronic illnesses, families who have suffered tragedy, and those who are working to recover a sense of self-worth.

Established in the UK in 2006, the charity offers flight lessons to individuals, groups and like-minded charities. They say their core focus, however, is disadvantaged youngsters, "...with whom we aim to inspire imagination, determination, self-esteem and confidence."   Read more...

Ethicalsingles.com is an online dating & friendship site specifically for like-minded singles who are striving to make positive changes in the world. They help connect people who share interests in humanitarian issues, social justice, animal rights, nature preservation, alternative energy, recycling, organic farming or endangered species.

Their website says, "Are you looking for a green dating site? A vegetarian dating site? A vegan dating site? Look no further for your personals! ethicalsingles.com is a global online dating service for people who are interested in human rights, animal rights and environmental issues, and are looking for meaningful, long term relationships, love, romance, marriage and friendship with like-minded individuals.   Read more...

1. Eat Healthy-Let your dog chow down on food made with organic, all natural, human grade ingredients free of animal by-products, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, artificial preservatives & ingredients or genetically engineered ingredients. Anything that you would normally not eat yourself. Treats such as Polka Dog Bakery and more use all natural, organic, human grade ingredients that is even good enough for you to eat.

2. Clean up your dogs poop - Scoop up your dog business with biodegrable earth-friendly alternatives and retire those plastic bags. Plastic bags take 100’s of years to break down when thrown in the landfills and help to preserves that squishy mess. An eco-solution to the "poop-lution" problem is Spike brand Business Pick-up Bags which are convenient, earth-friendly & biodegradable.   Read more...

Citizen space takes the best elements of a coffee shop and a workspace and melds them together to create a place where you can get work done and socialize with other visitors. They rent desks in their San Francisco location for $425 a month and hold events in the space as well.   Read more...

It is becoming harder and harder to believe NGO's, charity's and other organisations who are claiming to be making a difference in the lives of economically poor people in the south when you know they are going for your donating dollar or euro. Fundraising promotion campaigns work on our cultivated image of "the poor" filled with all our prejudices about what's the problem and what's should be the solutions. Wouldn't it be much more fair we ask them what their perspective is on how we are trying to help? With other words to let them tell the story...   Read more...

Are you having trouble finding the perfect thing for that special someone on your gift list this holiday season? Looking for advice? Who better to call than the jolly guy himself - Santa Claus.

I am St. Nick is a new website created especially for this holiday season. After plugging in the phone number of your loved one and your email address, Santa will give them a personal call to find out what they want this Christmas. Santa will then email the results.   Read more...

SingleSpotCamping allows people to share land with each other. Their website says, "The idea is: anyone who owns land (it can consist of your garage entrance) and would like to welcome one or a couple of camping guests are welcome to connect."

The site allows people to register and list their camping-spot which could be a farm, a back yard, or even - like they said - the entrance to your garage. They say the benefits of SingleSpotCamping include a wide range of camping sites to choose from, opportunities to camp spontaneously, cheaper than paying for a camp-site, and many more.   Read more...

Rob Coleman of the Rogue Element, a design and branding firm out of Chicago just announced their first annual Green Design Grant. The team will be giving away a year's worth of design services to a sustainable or green organization in need of design services who couldn't otherwise afford them.

Rogue Element does not have any limitations about where your organization is located, or even if it is in more than one location. They work with clients world-wide. However, any travel costs incurred by Rogue Element while providing services under the Grant will need to be paid by the winning organization.   Read more...

Farm Forward is a nonprofit group advocating Americans to transform the way our nation eats and farms. They oppose the method of "factory farming" which began in the 1920's and is now prevalent in the meat, dairy, and egg industries. New farming technology has not been used positively and instead is promoting factory farming and destroying rural life.

Their website boasts their many accomplishments saying, "From years of innovative efforts to improve conditions on farms and in slaughterhouses worldwide, we have built a unique network of strong relationships with animal welfare experts, food retailers, nonprofit animal advocacy organizations, religious leaders, scholars, small farmers, and writers concerned about farmed animal welfare. This unprecedented network and our tight focus on rolling back factory farming allows us to enhance the effectiveness of existing organizations and implement comprehensive new strategies that are unavailable to other groups."   Read more...

Thomas Friedman advocates for a bipartisan, revitalized definition of the term green.   Read more...

Google is now allowing its users to create themes that showcase the change they are helping to create with an application called iGoogle for Causes.

You can choose to support organizations like Heifer International, Oxfam America, Ashoka, Doctors without Borders, Save the Children, charity:water, and Conservation International.   Read more...

Ma'o Organic Farms is located on the island of O'ahu. They exist to help people who live in the Wai'anne region. Residents there have struggled due to scarce resources. Ma'o Organic Farms says the youth are struggling to achieve their socio-economic goals.

"The statistics suggest a bleak future for many native Hawaiian youth with the State’s highest rates of teen pregnancy, school suspensions, incidents of substance abuse, and juvenile arrests. In addition, Wai‘anae is recognized as the most food insecure region of Hawai‘ with native Hawaiians having the highest rates of preventable disease including diabetes, heart disease and some cancers."   Read more...

Dan Burden, a nationally recognized authority on bicycle and pedestrian-friendly urban design, discusses some of the best communities being developed today - communities for people, not just cars.   Read more...

There are many interesting conversations going on at www.themilkiswhite.com. Here are a few tidbits from the discussions going on there.

Click here to visit the forum.   Read more...

Have you ever thought about how much ink you waste? Think of your ink consumption on a daily basis...or the ink consumption of your office - just one office in one city in one country in the world.

SPRANQ creative communications was concerned about ink consumption and decided to be proactive. They created a new environmentally friendly font called "EcoFont".   Read more...

After walking past street musicians outside subway stations and seeing the emotional impact they often have on even the most passive commuters, Mark Johnson decided to highlight this engaging form of music.   Read more...

We Media and Ashoka have teamed up to present the We Media Changemakers $50,00 Challenge. The challenge is called, "The Power of Us," and aims to find and help launch the best new ideas for inspiring a better world through media and technology. The contest invites entries from all fields. There will be two categories, one for business ventures and one for non-profit ventures. The award will be up to $50,000 in seed funding. The contest is funded by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. Entries can be received until January 21, 2009.   Read more...

You might carry a gym card, a video rental card, a subway card, a store-loyalty card. But a Taxi card? Unheard of.

What if instead of shelling out cash for every taxi ride, you were able to use a card, or to pay one flat rate for unlimited rides?   Read more...

We often hear what is wrong with the environment, and the truth is that we do need to clean up our act so that we don't find cities like Venice - which has experiences recent record flooding - under water completely in the next few years. But there are small victories for the environment every day, and there were at least 10 big ones in 2008. Check out Plantetsave's top ten list here for more info.

1. EPA Required to Regulate CO2 Emissions
2. California’s Proposition 2
3. Sumatran Elephant Sanctuary Expansion
4. 320,000 Acres of Montana Forest Protected
5. Greenpeace Activists Acquitted in the UK
6. Sea Shepherd’s Migaloo Campaign
7. Incandescent Light Bulb Bans
8. Stronger EPA Regulations on Diesel Ships
9. Removal of Two Maine Dams
10. The election of Barack Obama   Read more...

preemptivelove.org is an organization created in 2007 to help save Iraqi children from dying of heart disease after chemical attacks and other affects of war.

The organization works by selling hand-made shoes from Kurdish craftsmen we raise money for kids’ surgeries.   Read more...

The new initiative Fresh2o says that one child dies from dirty water every fifteen seconds. To reduce this statistic, they have designed a campaign to raise awareness of this problem. And since a picture is worth 1,000 words, the UK not-for-profit is using images to inspire others to become educated about water cleanliness.

A photographer named Candice has created a powerful series of underwater portraits designed to, "...connect, engage and motivate consumers worldwide, altering the globe to the fresh water crisis." Many celebrities have joined the cause and have had their underwater portrait taken for the charity. This includes actors, singers and other personalities such as Will Smith, Keira Knightley and Natalie Imbruglia.   Read more...

Playing for Change: Peace through Music is a global collaborative musical project with the goal of uniting people of different cultures, ethnicities and regions. The film and music will be available in 2009.   Read more...

Encore Careers was created for people who want personal fulfillment combined with social impact combined with continued impact. It was created for passionate people who are looking to make a career switch or come out of retirement and do something really meaningful with the rest of their lives.

Their website says, "The Encore Careers campaign is a project of Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. Other initiatives that are part of the Encore Careers campaign include The Purpose Prize, which invests in social innovators over 60; a community college initiative to develop pathways to encore careers; an awards program for employers of people in encore careers; and a pilot fellowship program for boomers in the Silicon Valley."   Read more...

The premise of this idea is that money is one of the fundamental elements of today's society, so changing how money is created and used will change society at a fundamental level! The following are the main propositions of this new currency model:

1. Direct the flow of money towards socially, ecologically and environmentally intelligent producers of goods and services.   Read more...

Egyptian blogger Tarek Amr said he was extremely distraught over the negative news he was finding online. “I was on a verge of a nervous breakdown because whenever I read any of the Egyptian blogs, I find nothing but torture, harassment, demonstrations, etc," he wrote. "Later on, when I started writing for Global Voices, I was required to select and translate blog posts into English for the world to read. At this point I fell in the clutches of a breakdown, it was almost impossible to find that little light at the end of the tunnel, the light that would make the Egyptians feel that Egypt is a beautiful country not a swamp.”

Instead of complaining and continuing the negativity, Amr decided to discuss an initiative with his fellow bloggers and friends. They now dedicate one day of every month to showcase a positive image about their country.   Read more...

Michael Brune is the executive director of Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and a founding board member of Oil Change International, an organization dedicated to dissolving the political barriers to a clean energy transition. Here he cites evidence from a 2001 report which supports that the clean car technology available in 2001 would have saved more oil than is now imported from the Persian Gulf.   Read more...

When Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich was asked to join the Yuri Honing Trio from the Netherlands for a cross-cultural collaboration called "Orient Express" in 2002, a very special and unique musical friendship was forged between her and double bass player Tony Overwater. Since that first project Khcheich and Overwater have frequently performed as a duo, mainly in the Arab world. When I met the two recently in Holland, Khcheich told me that before meeting Honing and his colleagues, she had rarely listened to jazz.

"Having been trained as a classical Arabic vocalist, I was used to singing with an orchestra playing exactly the same melody. So all those strange chords and counter melodies were really very confusing at first."   Read more...

Iqbal Mashih was a Pakistani child-laborer in a carpet factory. Hadijatou Mani was a Nigerian slave. Simon Deng was a child soldier in Sudan's Arab militia. Somaly Mam was a Cambodian brothel-worker and Given Kachepa was sold into slavery in the United States after moving from Zambia with a child choir.

Each one of these former slaves has their own grave story. However, instead of being released and seeking a life of quiet-comfort after so many years of abuse, these people have become activists, hoping to rid the world of such evils and improve the quality of life for others.   Read more...

The parking lot where my car sits while I'm at work every day is frequented by several homeless people. I used to think I had great parking karma when I'd come in at close to 9am and still get a spot up against the building near the sidewalk. Then one day I arrived to find the real reason I was so lucky: at the head of one of these prime spots was a person sleeping. Some days there were two or even occasionally three people there. The days I got great parking weren't due to the "parking angels" at all; it was because someone had been sleeping there not too long before I pulled in.

After nine months of parking in this lot, I've grown accustomed to its nighttime tenants. But today, walking out of the lot, I saw something new. Hanging on the parking meter just 20 feet from where homeless people can often be found was a wool jacket. This in itself was enough to catch my eye, but when I saw the tag still on the jacket I had to take a closer look. The jacket was purchased from Goodwill for just under $10.   Read more...

Ingida Asfaw came to the United States from Ethiopia on a cargo ship when he was sixteen. The two-week-journey was worth the wait. Today, Asfaw is a world-renowned surgeon based in Detroit. However, he always believed he would return to his homeland to improve the lives of his fellow Ethiopians.   Read more...

The World Food Programme and local NGOs are helping Nepalese villagers grow herbs to supplement their incomes. Specifically, they are growing the chiretta plant, which is known for its medical qualities and can be exported for use in other South Asian countries like India. The herb is used to ward off fevers, skin diseases, intestinal worms, and bronchial asthma. It has also been used to heal burns, regulate the bowels and cure hiccups.

"The plant used to be plentiful in the nearby forests and we would pick it for our own consumption and to sell," said Sal Bahadur Rawal, supervisor of the nursery. It is a real income earner. While a kilo of millet costs 20 rupees (about 26 US cents), a kilo of chiretta costs 200 rupees (US$2.66), 10 times the amount.   Read more...

Kraft Foods has been warming up bellies for generations with their warm, delicious dishes. Now, they are warming up bus stops in Chicago to promote their new Stove Top Quick Cups.

Kraft has posted ads in 50 bus shelters that say, "Cold, provided by winter. Warmth, provided by us". It's a good night for Stove Top." Kraft hopes that residents of Chicago will first enter the heated bus stops to enjoy shelter from the cold, and then decide that eating a Stove Top Quick Cup would be a good idea.   Read more...

December 5th is International Volunteer Day, as designated by the United Nations beginning in 1985. The UN says the aim of this activity is to thank international volunteers for their efforts and increase public awareness of their contribution to society. International Volunteer Day is marked by many non-governmental organizations, including Red Cross, scouts and others. It is also marked and supported by United Nations Volunteers.

Organizations like Nabuur.com honored their volunteers. Nabuur is a website aimed at connecting people who want to make a difference all over the world from where they are. They explain that you do not have to travel abroad to be an international volunteer. Nabuur allows communities in need to sign up for the site. They then assign a volunteer facilitator who guides and coordinates efforts of volunteers all over the world.   Read more...

With the meltdown of the financial markets and millions of people in financial turmoil, it is increasingly clear that our collective money shadow has led us down a path that will take years to unfold and understand. It seems that in spite of great personal, social and technological advancements, we remain highly underdeveloped when it comes to money, which is proving to be hazardous to our collective financial health.

As we are learning daily, money is as mysterious as it is elusive. No matter what our attempts have been to control it, no civilization or country in the history of the world has ever truly succeeded. Money has an energy and life of its own. It has a duality about it that is not unlike our own nature as human beings. It is creative and destructive, loving and cruel. It has the capacity to bring forth the best and the worst in human nature.   Read more...

The World Economic Forum announced on Thursday that Lemnis Lighting is one of the visionary companies selected as Technology Pioneers 2009. The company is being recognized for its accomplishments in energy efficient and low carbon emission lighting as well as for its sustainable business model designed to solve global problems outperforming existing alternatives, while protecting and preserving the environment.

The Technology Pioneers award recognizes companies at the forefront of technology and innovation.  Lemnis Lighting’s inclusion as a Technology Pioneer recognizes their achievement in creating life-changing lighting alternatives that have the potential for long-term impact on business and society.     Read more...

Cancer is a reflection of the state of planet earth. When the organism is overstressed by chemicals, pollution and toxins, it's healing capacity are highly reduced.

Thank you for a very interesting article "How to help your body help itself" by David Servan Schreiber. I agree on everything except that conventional treatment is the only cure. I think he confirms this himself as the article develops.

Other friends and myself who have had cancer are a living examples. The problem is that nobody is interested to register us who have healed without conventional intervention, so there are no statistics.   Read more...

300,000 families in Paraguay lack adequate housing. Entrepreneur Elsa Zaldivar has decided to help those people with some unlikely materials. Recyclable homes are now being made from a mix of loofah, the cucumberlike vegetable that is often dried into scratchy sponge, and corn husks. Loofah, which are readily available in Paraguay, are used to make lightweight panels which can be used to build furniture as well.

The panels are extremely lightweight, which makes them easy to handle, and also gives the homes a better chance of withstanding earthquakes and other natural catastrophes. If they happen to be destroyed, the materials are fully recyclable.   Read more...

If North Korea is known for its self-imposed isolation and absence from the global economy, perhaps Sweden should be known for being peaceful and all inclusive because this past year, a group of young Swedes launched a project to forge connections with North Korea through a company that will be the first to produce jeans in North Korea and export them to the rest of the world.

The three young Swedes come from a PR background and are currently operating as Noko Jeans. They say the company is an attempt to approach and get closer to North Korea. They have met with North Korean government officials last summer and secured an manufacturer.   Read more...

The holiday season is now upon us. For Americans, this means that we are buying presents for our loved ones, spending time with family, and decking the halls. Outdoor home decorations have become louder, brighter and more obnoxious in the past few years, bu this holiday, instead of purchasing your seven-foot-tall, blinking, light-up Santa Claus from Wal-Mart take a moment to consider the implications.

Everything we do has an impact on the earth, even during the holidays. While some Christmas-light-enthusiasts might call you a Scrooge, the abuse is probably worth it when you're helping to save the planet.   Read more...

When Silicon Valley entrepreneur Heidi Roizen turned 50, she decided it was time to lose some weight, so she decided to do what she does best: start a company.   Read more...

100 Friends in Kham from 100 Friends on Vimeo.

Gandhi said, "Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it," and Marc Gold took this lesson to heart in 1989 when he started the 100 Friends project. "The idea is very simple," he says. "Every year many people contribute to the project and I take the money to Third World Countries and look for the neediest people I can find. I then put the money to work in the most compassionate, appropriate, culturally compatible, constructive and practical manner possible. You put the donation into my hands and I put the funds directly into the hands of the needy individual or family, or a small trusted grassroots organization helping them."   Read more...

Dogs are often conversation starters. But what if you could meet other dog lovers online instead of on walks through the park? Boston-based SNIF Tags is doing just that: allowing pet owners to forge new connections with fellow dog-walkers online.

The SNIF Tag is a small RFID device that attaches to a dog's collar to record his or her daily movements and social encounters. the tag emits a signal that can be picked up by other SNIF Tags in the area. The dog's owner can then log on and view the profiles of the owners of the dogs their pet has come into contact with.   Read more...

The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) has announced the launch of its new "growing organic" page. The page focuses on information that is practical in the organic sector. They provide information for everyone from grassroots organizers to advocacy groups to encourage the growth of their movement. The page has tools and information from all corners of the organic world and wants to be a community resource designed to represent and serve global organic movements.   Read more...

If you're restless and don't know what to do with yourself, stay where you are. Just be still, be quiet. Let the eagerness to do something cool down. Let the pull of the outside world release its grip on you. Just as the sediment in a bottle settles to the bottom, so will your emotions if you let them be still.   Read more...

The Hippy Gourmet says it is "a weekly, 30-minute public television series that airs nationally on PBS, Dish network channel 9415 (FSTV), syndicated television and globally through YouTube. The show is based in the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco, but travels the world highlighting organic, sustainable agriculture, alternative energy, and people making a difference for a better world.   Read more...

Marion Nestle traces the obesity epidemic to its societal causes: the "gorge-yourself environment," farm subsidies, and the shareholder value movement.   Read more...

In 1996, after some fifty-three years of consciously and subconsciously seeking the purpose of life and answers to connected questions, I wrote the first part of the book "The Milk Is White", a philosophical treatise, and said to myself, ‘Why am I writing this book when all that is needed by seekers of the Truth is already available from many sources? Why do I embark on this with no experience in such an endeavour and with the knowledge that 'little me' will be attempting to convey some rather awesome spiritual truths?’

I had no idea how this would turn out and was responding to an inner prompting, a recent meditation period during which a computer keyboard floated down accompanied by the message, "The answer lies in the keyboard!" and advice to us in the Edgar Cayce Readings that we should start where we are, with what we have in hand, and leave the result to God - the Creative Force.   Read more...

The boy and girl stand close together, sweaty palms touching, eyes averted and waiting for their cue, and then the music starts. Is it another episode of the OC? No, it’s ballroom dancing. A new phenomenon is touching the nation’s youth, and I could not be more thrilled. Through ballroom dancing, young people are touching each other, in a positive way. Self-expression and self-esteem are being reinforced in a new way through one of the oldest forms of movement - dance. The fact that someone is attempting to make ladies and gentlemen out of kids on the brink of awkward adolescence, is nothing short of a miracle. Letting young people know that some adults view them in a positive light, genius!   Read more...

A soon-to-be-published study by The Archives of Internal Medicine shows that some forms of cancer may under some circumstances go away without treatment. Doctors say if their findings turn out to be credible, it could change the way we approach the disease. Women diagnosed with breast cancer, for example, might be advised to opt for “watchful waiting,” whereby a tumor is monitored, rather than immediately removed, to see if it might shrink without treatment. The New York Times reported on this story and said, "At the moment, the finding has no practical applications because no one knows whether a detected cancer will disappear or continue to spread and kill."

Doctors say that if the theory turns out to be credible, this could turn into a huge point of interest within the medical community. Women diagnosed with breast cancer could be allowed to opt for a watchful waiting process, monitoring a tumor within the breast to see if it grows before deciding how to treat it.   Read more...

The Green MicroGym in Portland, Ore. is stocked with more than just hand weights and power bars. The workout rooms are filled with generators, which are linked to various machines and equipment like stationary bikes and treadmills. When gym members come to work out, they are not only keeping their bodies in shape, they are keeping the gym running.

The gym currently relies on the solar panels to cover about 40 percent of the operational energy. They are attempting to increase that number. They have a calculated need of 240 hours a day on the equipment to reach the goal of the gym being 100 percent self sustainable.   Read more...

Australian based outdoor outfitters, Northland Professional recently began a marketing campaign using billboards that give away free merchandise. Northland attaches samples of caps, gloves and scarfs on 50 billboards throughout the city of Ganz. They call the campaign, "Free love". It will run through the end of November.   Read more...

Recent press coverage of the dairy industry has been less than positive: lack of access to pasture, use of antibiotics and genetically modified feed have all made headlines.   Read more...

Over 125 million people around the world are dependent on coffee as their only income and many of them live on less than $2 a day. Coffee Kids is a non-profit that supports grassroots initiatives to provide coffee-farming families with options outside of coffee.

We support initiatives in economic diversification and microcredit, health care, education and other community-based activities to create vibrant communities. We currently work with 12 different groups in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru.   Read more...

The economy is hurting big businesses, but what about the little guy? The guy with socially conscious ideas and new developments in the works? They're getting together and sounding off at a place on the web called Ideablob.com. The website is a community and sounding board for social entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Instead of continuing "non-disclosure agreements", the website encourages entrepreneurs to share ideas and tips to success while promoting new ideas and fresh visons. Each month the website wards $10,000 the best new small business idea, which is voted on by ideablob.com users.   Read more...

Do you walk for half an hour a day? On the way to work? From your parking spot downtown to the cafe? Or maybe around the block on a cool, crisp fall evening? If you do, you could unknowingly be reducing your risk of cancer.

New research shows half an hour of walking at least five days a week can help prevent cancer, and slow down the progression of the disease if you already have it. This is because exercise lowers insulin levels - the hormone that causes most of the body's cells to process glucose in your blood.   Read more...

The Creators Inn is a new venture from the creators of the Swedish clothing brand Elvine. It offers people who consider themselves creative types a free place to stay with no strings attached. The project is funded by various independent donors throughout the city of Gothenburg, Sweden where it is based, but mostly by the Elvine clothing brand itself.

Creators Inn is located near the city center of Gothenburg. The center is just a ten minute walk. Foreign visitors are given priority for rooms, but all writers, artists, and creators are welcome.   Read more...

The video above is a representation of some of the ideas that are being thought up as a result of the competition sponsored byNike and Ashoka's Changemakers. The goal of this contest is to create more opportunities for women in the world of athletics, and to recognize women in their communities who are contributing through athletic endeavors.   Read more...

Starbucks customers in Loveland, Colo. are paying it forward by paying it backward. People are showing up to the drive-through and coffee counter to find that the person in front of them has footed their bill.   Read more...

The Free Hugs program began four years ago in Sydney, Australia. SInce then, there have been hundreds of Free Hugs campaigns throughout the world, and now, Free Hugs has a new goal.   Read more...

About 30 Indian teenagers have started putting together their own newspaper called The Yamuna. The paper is printed in New Delhi and features articles of social relevance. The girls launched their project in 2007 as part of the Gandhi Media Literacy Program (GMLP), a group whose aim is to help develop writing skills of India's youth and encourage them to raise their voices against social injustice and concerns.

The newspaper's printing schedule is set in accordance with the examination schedules of the students involved. The large editorial staff has a variety of interests and opinions, allowing them to create interesting longer feature stories, interviews and even cartoon strips. The students keep in touch through email and talk about journalistic principles like good news judgment and what stories will be included in upcoming issue.   Read more...

It's true that sometimes things aren't as they seem...but that is not the case with Jens-Peter Jungclaussen, founder of Teacher With The Bus. Jungclaussen is exactly that. He is a teacher...with a bus.

There are two buses, actually. One is a mobile venue used to "drive kids to learn, naturally," and the other is a sustainable school bus with 52 seats, wi-fi, and a state-of-the-art sound system to take kids kids out to nature. After all, with the Teacher With The Bus," Everything is a field trip".   Read more...

My friends and I have created a holiday tradition that I believe many others would enjoy as well because it involves getting together with friends, enjoying food and exchanging gifts - but costs almost nothing. It is called a Recycled Yankee Swap Pot Luck

A pot luck is when everyone brings a dish and whatever they would like to drink to the party, therefore, no one has to worry about footing the bill for food and beverages and you end up with a wide variety of wonderful food prepared by your friends. For anyone who either does not cook, a simple bag of chips or nothing at all is acceptable. There is always more than enough food to go around.   Read more...

The Amphibian Project was created to raise awareness about amphibian decline. Recently, they have launched a fundraiser to help protect the Large-crested Toad, a critically endangered species in Mexico.

Their website says, " The Amphibian Project recognizes that people care about wildlife and genuinely want to be good stewards of the earth. Unfortunately, the environmental problems of today

My wife and I have been married for a little over a year now. She was born and raised in Brazil, has olive-complexion skin, long black hair, and, as Vice President-elect Joe Biden described his wife during the event in Springfield, IL, when President elect Obama introduced Biden as the vice-president selection on the Democratic ticket, “Is smokin’ hot.”

My wife’s mother is a native of Paraguay, and her father is a native of Brazil. I was born and raised in the United States, Texas to be exact, have white complexion skin, short brown dirty blond hair, and am lucky to be my wife’s husband. My mother and father our both natives of Texas.   Read more...

Author, businessman, and programmer Daniel Suarez (aka Leinad Zeraus) explains how bots, (i.e. automated computer programs) decide important aspects of our everyday life, affecting everything from our jobs to our health.   Read more...

Geocaching says it is the sport where you are the search engine. The goal of the "sport" or "game" is to use your own personal GPS device to locate hidden containers called geocaches outdoors and share your experiences with others online. This is a new activity for people of all age groups, "with a strong sense of community and support for the environemnt."

Geocashing.com encourages everyone involved in the project to share their experiences with each other and to be mindful of the environment. Their program, "Cache In Trash Out" holds annual events and smaller community events to educate geocahcers about the environment. They also always encourage geocahce searchers to bring trash bags with them when they go out hiking and searching.   Read more...

What would you think if you saw a massive oil spill? Would you think, "Oh no, this is horrible," or "What can I do to help?" If you're a man named John Francis you might think, "I'm going to give up motorized transportation..."

That is exactly what Francis did in 1971 after witnessing the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay. For 22 years, he gave up driving and riding in cars all together. Francis did not let his new found dependence on walking constrict him at all. He took treks across the United States and South America hoping to inspire others.   Read more...

You've tried everything to cure your cold: medications like tylenol, home remedies, staying in bed all day and drinking plenty of Vitamin C. Have you tried smiling? If not, Sheldon Cohn, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University thinks you should.

New research shows that a positive attitude brings fewer cold symptoms. Cohn's research included interviewing 334 volunteers three evenings a week for two weeks to assess their mental state. Volunteers were given a squirt of rhinovirus, the germ that causes the common cold, and were checked for five days afterward for signs of infection.   Read more...

Frank Furedi defines truth as the "experience of meaning," cautioning against confusing the debate of truth with the conflict between religion and science.   Read more...

AlertMe is a security system...but not just any security system. This new technology, released in January of 2008 can monitor doors and windows without the annoying wires and drilling before hand. Instead, AlertMe uses small sensors placed at strategic points throughout the home.

How about your energy-saving needs? AlertMe has taken care of that too. In September, they announced a new application that will use an energy monitoring SmartPlug, which will allow users to control devices automatically from remote locations.   Read more...

You've heard the expression "raining cats and dogs", but for one central California woman, the part about cats is almost literally true....It looks like a storm of cats rained down upon Lynea Lattanzio's 12-arcre ranch where she feeds and cares for over 600 feral and abandoned cats. Lattanzizo keeps the cats alive and healthy in hopes of having them adopted to good homes.   Read more...

...Or so a study has come to believe. In a study focusing on the state of Alaska, Dr. Alexander Wagenaar, a professor at the University of Florida's Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, concluded that while higher taxes on alcohol can make a night out more expensive, it can also save lives.

Based on the idea that high taxes prevent some drinkers from perhaps over-buying, the study, which spanned nearly three decades is fairly decisive. And looking at all that information caused each researcher to develop a key eye when examining death certificated from 1976 when it began to 2004. By tracking the number of deaths, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded study showed the relationship between high alcohol tax years compared to low years. The the results were startling.   Read more...

Christians...Muslims..Jews, and people of all different faiths are coming together to write a document called the Charter for Compassion. Throughout the next four weeks, the Charter will come together with the help of participants all over the world who speak many different languages. Many religions leaders from all over the world have already lended their voices and support to the Charter, but anyone is allowed to participate. The goal of this document is to inspire religious people to focus on what brings them together with those of different faiths, instead of what divides them. The final document will involve all major world religions and will be released in 2009.   Read more...

Dr. Binayak Sen is a public heath specialist, and national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties in the Chhattisgarh state of India. He has won awards for his promotion of human rights and has helped poor people in India maintain health care.

On May 14, 2007 Dr. Binayak Sen was arrested on charges of supporting the Maoist party (for drawing attention to the unlawful killing of several indigenous tribal people in his region).   Read more...

Midwestern grocery store cashiers have looked at me, dumbfounded while I tried to purchase a thorny, green, pine cone-shaped vegetable. Well, for the grocers out there, that vegetable is PLU code 4084. And for the rest of us, it's just an artichoke.

The artichoke is a member of the thistle family and originated in northern Africa, southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The Dutch introduced the British to this amazing plant in the 1500's, although it was not brought to the United States until the 19th century.   Read more...

Between advice from the current U.S. President, to higher-ups in the now-ruling Democratic party, U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama has everyone's two cents to sift through. Even yours.   Read more...

Vanille Lattes, Mocha Frappacinos, Brewed Coffee; caffeine makes life that much better. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. Not only is caffeine a necessity for the early morning hours, but some distributors are now going the extra mile with sustainable coffee farming and fair trade certification. American super coffee shop: Starbucks announced earlier this week its thirteen new goals, as part of Starbucks' good business practices guidelines initiative, Shared Planet. The company plans to meet all of the goals by 2015. Goals include ethical sourcing, environmental stewardship, and community involvement.

“Starbucks Shared Planet is not just about how important it is to us that we’re a socially responsible company, it’s to reaffirm Starbucks leadership in the retail and coffee industries and the communities in which we are operating,” said Howard Schultz, chairman, president and CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, to Triple Pundit. “During this time of economic uncertainty we realize that we have the opportunity and the responsibility to keep our focus on our commitment to keep our communities strong, and I’m proud of what we’re doing to live up to the guiding principles of this company.”   Read more...

America Recycles Day will take place on November 15th, and the National Recycling Coalition wants you to be involved - even if it's just a little bit.

On their website, they write, "It all comes back to you. Even a small shift in your attitudes and actions, multiplied many times over by others accepting this challenge, can change the world. Maybe you'll throw those soft drink cans into the recycle bin, or buy recycled-content products..."   Read more...

At this juncture in human history, urgent global crises challenge us to learn to live sustainability, in harmony and gratitude with one another and with the living universe. The changes required of humanity are broad, deep, and far reaching. Only by acting swiftly and creatively can we birth a planetary culture that will bring well-being to every form of life in the Earth community.

The good news is that a compelling new story of our potential as a whole human species is emerging, a story of collaboration, citizen action, dialogue and new understandings propelled by unprecedented levels of democratic freedom, multicultural exchange, and access to communication technologies. It is nothing less than the story of our collective evolution.   Read more...

The New England Grassroots Environment Fund (NEGEF) has a mission to "energize and nurture long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and environmentally sustainable communities".

In November NEGEF will be giving a grant to their 1,000th unique group. This means that over 1,000 volunteer community groups around New England will be working on solutions in their community: local food, local energy, land & water stewardship, to name but a few issues.   Read more...

Playpumps and Kiya are two inspirational and exemplary initiatives that have been celebrated by Pop!Tech, Oprah, Jay-Z, former President Bill Clinton, National Geographic, MTV, CNN, PBS, and NBC. Playpumps, provides fresh drinking water to thousands of people in Africa via an incredibly simple, innovative, and scalable system, while Kiva, facilitates peer-to-peer loans via the Internet to allow impoverished people develop their own businesses.   Read more...

These days it's pretty hard to come up with solutions to not lend a helping hand. Whether there's a tornado that rips through town, a hurricane washing homes out to sea, or an after school program short of helpers, opportunities to volunteer at non-profits are overflowing. Cross-Cultural Solutions, a non-profit organization was founded in 1995. It has been focusing on operating and facilitating international volunteer programs for over 10 years, with over 4,000 volunteers participating each year. With a worldwide staff of over 300 people in 12 countries, and offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, crossing cultural paths has never been easier.   Read more...

Operation Christmas Child starts this week. That is, the Christian nonprofit organization that has over the course of 15 years delivered over 61 million boxes of gifts to young children throughout the world this holiday season. All over the US churches are collecting shoe boxes full of gifts to be delivered to poverty-stricken children around the world. Though the organization is headed by Samaritan's Purse, a Christian organization that has been doing charitable deeds for 35 years, the group's main prerogative is bringing the joy of gift-giving to those who are without. Through shoe-box gifts, filled with hard candy, school supplies, toys, hygiene items and other nicknacks, children from Uganda to Peru, the Philippines to Mexico, can enjoy what so many take for granted: presents.   Read more...

Thai politician Mechai Viravaidya describes the creative measures for Thai birth control which grew from the 1970s overpopulation crisis. Methods included "de-sexing" the birth control pill by calling it a "family welfare vitamin" and asking monks to bless contraceptives.   Read more...

"Ubuntu, a traditional African philosophy, recognizes how we are inextricably bound in each other’s humanity. Translated as, “I am because you are,” Ubuntu describes a sense of unity between people through which we each discover our own strengths and virtues. Featuring healer Credo Mutwa, GreenHouse Project director Dorah Lebelo, and former Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, this glimpse of South Africa shows compassion as a way of life." - from Global Oneness   Read more...

With Barack Obama's election to the highest office, many of us sigh with relief since the course for change and equality is open.

Only days after this landslide decision by the American people, the same electorate decided against allowing the huge LGBT minority to enjoy the same rights and means for fruition and fulfillment that the straight majority has been able to opt for for centuries: marriage and the legal framework to raise children in a loving, secure and protected environment.   Read more...

Everyone needs a voice, no matter how young, says Ishita Chaudhry, founder of India's Youth Parliament Foundation. After India's Gujarat violence and riots in 2002, Chaudhry gathered support to help inform the country's young people of various national issues, from how to control riots to understanding the food crisis. The now 23-year-old holds that the country needed a forum for young people's voices to be heard and topics understood. Now six years later the Delhi, India native's foundation is going strong drawing on support from NGO Pravah's SMILE fellowship and The Ashoka Foundation. Plus, in 2007 they were legally incorporated. Just this year the organization was given the Seen and Heard 2008 Award, an International UK based award given by British Telecom and The UK Youth Parliament to recognize exceptional initiatives that have created platforms for young people. And Chaudhry herself picked up a nomination for the MtvIndia Youth Icon as well.   Read more...

It is a commonplace that sometimes you need to leave your country in order to find it. This Election Day found me in Graz, Austria, where I am attending the Elevate Festival, an annual four-day gathering that brings together cutting-edge indie music with a forum on political culture. This year’s theme was the commons.

At 4 o’clock in the morning, I found myself awake, watching President-Elect Barack Obama’s stirring speech in Chicago’s Grant Park. I was watching on CNN International, but two Austrian channels were also covering the event live, no small indication of the intense interest with which people around the world are watching Obama’s improbable political journey. People here are mesmerized by Obama’s quintessentially American story: the son of a Kenyan man and a Kansas woman who by dint of hard work, resourcefulness and self-reliance, catapults himself into the White House. Could there be a more persuasive telling of the American Dream?   Read more...

"Girls living in poverty are uniquely capable of creating a better future," says the Girl Effect, an organization that advocates education instead of poverty, business advancement instead of arranged marriage, and hope instead of desperation.   Read more...

The Obama rally on Tuesday night attested to the American peoples' desire for change and appreciation for politics. But a few great things happened that night, and not just on the podium. These photos have become a Web-based phenomenon capturing the essence of what today brings for the United States' future. And I think we can all appreciate the landmark events that will continue to happen throughout the next years.   Read more...

It might not be St. Patrick's Day, and you may not be Irish, but lately everyone is going green. Even trucks are going green. Or at least the United Parcel Service is. One of the world's largest package distributers in the world. "As part of a public-private partnership to increase the commercial availability and use of alternative fuel vehicles, UPS announced its first purchases of a little-known technology: the hydraulic hybrid vehicle," according to CSRwire, promising intense fuel savings and environmental benefits.   Read more...

If you ever need a little pick me up, and don't have time for a good book, a nice cup of coffee or a chat with a friend over the phone, maybe cartoons are for you. No seriously. Every day I'm shocked by the amount of appreciation I have for a woman named Natalie Dee (and her husband, Drew).

She might not have a Wikipedia entry, but the sketch cartoonist definitely uses the web to the best of her ability. Her daily cartoons can be seen on her website NatalieDee.com . Some might be crass, while others can make the often hilarious point a good news story just can't. See October 8's posting if you don't believe me.   Read more...

The just-out-of-college crowd has been dubbed the entitlement generation. People like me, 22 years old, equipped with the college degree we were told would grant us a good paying job, armed with the sense of right and wrong when it comes to the environment our baby boomer parents destroyed, and supplied with enough wit to know the right thing to say and when to say it. Yes, perhaps we think that we too should reap the benefits of our world as our parents have, but upon graduation with tens of thousands in debt, there's an unfortunate financial reality that awaits us instead. But, perhaps it's not that unfortunate. Collectively my generation might not make as much money as the generations before us did, but whether that's a choice or just the way of things, the generation now, Ode called this future population in the September issue of Ode, has also an ingrained notion that the we can indeed change the face of things. When everything is as low as it can go, there's no better place to push up from than the bottom, as noted in Ode's story on Failure in the October issue.   Read more...

Before this election and before global warming I can't remember one person talking about building codes, other than perhaps when my friends and I would gather to talk about our bad college landlords. But when global warming became climate change, and solar panels were more than coffee talk conversation tools, that's when I first started hearing about LEED certification on a regular basis, though its been around since 1998. The nonprofit organization, LEED, otherwise known as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, has a Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and it provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. LEED awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria, within their six major environmental categories of review: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design.   Read more...

Changing the world is like playing Dominos. Once one thing gets in place, starts to work, there's an all encompassing effect that takes over. That's the premise of Chain Reaction, a two-day event taking place in London, UK, with the purpose of bringing together social leaders, community activists, policy makers, business leaders, and young people from around the globe to share learning and to generate new ideas for social change in a big way.   Read more...

When you think of Nepal, you might think of images of the Himalayas and decorated child goddesses. The Western media often does not focus on what is going on in this small country nestled between China and India. Perhaps they should. Nepal is doing the opposite of the Western media today. While the western media scales back on hiring and funding, media outlets in nepal are hiring new reporters, editors and broadcasters left and right. Newspaper readership and radio participation has taken a huge jump. This more effective flow of communication played a vital role in recent pro-democracy movements.   Read more...

If I had the choice between living in a housing project in one of the United States' most densely populated city, or a typical American Dream home, you can bet I'd pick the dream.

But, that's not how research gets done, so say Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, an economics and political science Ph.D. graduate of MIT and now University of California at Berkeley ethnologist. For nearly a decade Sánchez-Jankowski took the road laced with poverty in the form of living in some of the world's most crime-ridden residences. The Berekely professor lives his life surrounded by violence and poverty. For much of the '90s he lived in housing projects from New York to Los Angeles, documenting what he calls the “subculture of scarcity” for Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods, published by UC Press.   Read more...

Fair-trade, locally grown, healthy, non-violent and organic. That's what consumers want these days. With the little extra spending shoppers can afford, the trend seems to be hitting a sustainable note. And after many wink-winks and nudge-nudges, company owners are finally getting the hint. By implementing stricter codes and actually following health regulations, workers are benefiting left and right. But still the little people behind big corporations need a voice. A clear voice. Clear Voice, a confidential communication hotline for workers, has successfully completed its first year of operations in Latin America and China, both big low-cost producers, and is planning to gain five more Asian countries in partnership with Verité, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to protecting against sweatshop abuses.   Read more...

After decades of flushing toilets, staying sanitary, and celebrating cleanliness, the World Toilet Summit and Expo is in the midst of its eighth annual event. The summit began yesterday with keynote speeches from Guy Hutton, senior economist for the World Bank Water and Sanitation program and a pledge to sanitation, along with Chea Samnang from Cambodia's Department of Rural Health Care and Kamal Kar, expert of Community Led Total Sanitation in Calcutta, India. The summit initiative from WTO serves to bring experts together in order to focus on promoting clean toilets, sanitation issues and hygiene. Right now 2.5 billion, or rather 40 percent, of the world’s population have no access to personal sanitation.   Read more...

The tears in the eyes of Jesse Jackson. That was the most moving moment for me. His face spoke the defining moment in history. Injustice fading into hope. And please watch this once more. Barack Obama lost a grandmother just before the election. He still has another grandmother. It's almost unbelievable that the president of the most powerful nation in the world has a grandmother living in rural Kenya.

For me, more than anything else, that's his promise to the world. Where the world of the White House meets rural Kenya, that's where progress is made and the future is changed.   Read more...

Eighteen is a big birthday for kids in the United Kingdom. Most kids enjoy hitting the pubs legally for the first time. However for his eighteenth birthday on October 1 of this year, Charlie McDonnell decided to go for an upper instead of a downer and raise money for cancer research.

Charlie asked people to donate money to the charity, Cancer Research UK. It helped that Charlie is somewhat famous on YouTube. His channel has over 92,000 subscribers. On the eve of his birthday, Charlie hosted a live show on the live-video blog website BlogTV for his friends and loyal YouTube fans.   Read more...

When it rains, it pours, or so the saying goes. But, what about when it doesn't pour at all? These days most homes are equipped with sprinklers, though they can be quite the water guzzler. So to combat wasteful water use, HydroPoint Data Systems, a Petaluma, California-based startup, founded in 2002, makes sure you don't have to worry about it. As the world's first water monitoring sprinkler system, WeatherTRAK allows users to monitor their irrigation systems with real-time feedback on field conditions, reducing the number of required site visits.

The system, seemingly complex, takes in weather data from 40,000 independently operated stations in order to create a high-resolution map, which then informs WeatherTRAK of everything from rainfall to evaporation rate. After inputting the type of climate, plant species and other environmental factors, the plants end up being watered just the right amount after all this information is transmitted to the field via cellular networks.   Read more...

DreamBank believes that gifts are important...but only if they are something you really want...a dream! The site allows its users to sign up and post a dream. These range from global awareness causes, to people asking for funding for trips and vacations, to building their dream homes. Other users can contribute money via PayPal to make dreams come true.

Mostly, users donate for causes posted by people they know, but there is no rule against contributing to a dream you happen to stumble upon. You can contact the organization if you have a question about a particular dream. They also keep a blog to keep you updated on the most recent goings-on at DreamBank.   Read more...

Though affirmative action and other race integrative programs have received controversial opinions, a University of California at Berkeley study suggests that students making friends with someone from a different race or ethnicity can reduce anxiety in academic settings among both whites and minorities. The researchers began the study by pairing up students prone to racial biases, both white and Latino, and through an accelerated friendship process found that members of both groups benefited from getting to know one another. This "accelerated friendship" entailed three weekly one-hour meetings in a casual lab setting. This method was developed by psychologist Arthur Aron, of Stony Brook University in New York. During these sessions participants asked one another questions specifically designed to foster openness and friendship. And during the last session of the week participants played a game like "Jenga" to ease tensions.

How the researchers measure success rates is by measuring the participants' levels of Cortisol, a hormone triggered by stress and anxiety. After measuring levels throughout the three-time sessions students felt more comfortable and relaxed around peers of another ethnicity or race. Now the researchers want to see if these friendships last, and hopefully they will.   Read more...

So the summer's over, and you're not eight years old anymore. Big deal. You can still sign up for Social Innovation Camp, who's motto is "Another World is Possible." The camp is now taking submissions to answer the question: "What does that other world look like, and how can we use social tech to make it happen?" Social Innovation Camp is a vessel for helping to make those ideas happen. The first step is simply to gather a diverse group of software developers and designers along with people who know about the social need to build web-based tools that will change the world. The rules are off and all suggestions are valid. Imagine whatever you want, they say.   Read more...

Zeitgeist is a German word that literally translates: zeit = time, geist = spirit.

Zeitgeist, The Movie is a 2007 documentary film made by Peter Joseph about the events of September 11, 2001 and various conspiracy theories. Zeitgeist: Addendum was its 2008 followup. The films were created as not-for-profit expressions to communicate what the author felt were highly important social understandings, which most people are generally not aware of.   Read more...

“..education is failing its objective based on the Latin root of the word: educare, to nourish. [Those teaching] should challenge the natural creativity of children, inviting them to follow their inborn curiosity rather than pushing them through textbooks.” -Jurriaan Kamp, Ode magazine, October 2008

An education system with something missing. What is missing? We wonder We ponder and question, hypothesize and experiment; Congregating to share insight and new theory.   Read more...

Social networks crop up every day. From Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, Twitter, LinkedIn and loads more, it seems everyone has a place to feel welcome, no matter how cold it's getting outside. Even universities are getting involved. Through the City University of New York, the Women Writing Science project, a multi-faceted initiative to involve young women in science and to encourage them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math, announced the launch of their new networking site: underthemicroscope.com, sponsored by IBM.

But the big difference between sites like Friendster and Under the Microscope is the career opportunities the group's organizers profess to have. The site now provides the option to post personal stories through blogging, science news updates, and links to other resources. Throughout 2009 the site plans to include more social networking opportunities to keep users attuned, while also adding careers tips, guides for parents, and a mentoring opportunity. Though the main purpose of the site is to inform users of internships and scholarships as well as serialized chapters of Women Writing Science publications that can be downloaded free of charge and an online book club.   Read more...

This election day, with online tools like Twitter and Google Voter Info, it is easier than ever to stay connected, stay informed, and voice your opinion.

Twitter
While TwitterElection has been going strong for months, TwitterVoteReport is designed to keep information flowing and give everyone the most up to the minute information on November 4th. By adding #VoteReport to the end of your "tweets," or updates on Twitter.com you can share your experience at the polls. Reports will be available to anyone who wants to read them via TwitterVoteReport.com or specific mobile programs and widgets.   Read more...

This Halloween brought more than tricks, for MIT planetary scientist Benjamin P. Weiss, October 31 marked the day his and five colleagues' work on the connection between meteorites and the records they hold regarding magnetic fields and the early history of planets. Talk about a treat!

Published in Science magazine, the study found that during the formation of the solar system, dust and rubble in a disk around the sun collided and stuck together to eventually form our planets, on the big scale. On the small-side, the tiny rocks which formed the larger planets first had the ability to melt, something past theorists did not believe. Weiss discovered that these mini planets could melt in such as way as to form those large chunks of rock, also known as planetesimals, and thereby force their constituents to spread out. This created lighter materials which formed a crust, while iron-rich materials entered the middle inside that crust, developing into a magnetic dynamo.   Read more...

Wangari Maathai, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 talks about civil rights and changing opression in the U.S.   Read more...

Though Nike has long been seen as an opponent of more environmental and fair labor standards, the company is now attempting to walk the tight rope to redemption. Last week the brand revealed a more eco-friendly line of products, hitting high notes as sustainable and made from recycled materials, all with the hope of reaching high profits in a more concerned world.

Titled "Nike Considered," the world's largest shoemakers know that spending is on the down turn, but these new kicks, with efficient design patterns, less and easy to recycle materials and use of nontoxic chemicals and sustainable cork and organic cotton, will definitely keep customers rolling in. With 15 percent of the company's spring lineup as part of the "Considered" label, Nike's deliverance into a sustainable future isn't far off.   Read more...

Juan Enriquez (2008) Pop!Tech Pop!Cast from PopTech on Vimeo.

I recently watched this presentation (via the web) that was happening at Pop!Tech in Camden, Maine. Mind you, for three solid days there were dozens of presenters and all of them were incredible - Benjamin Zander, Clay Shirky, Malcolm Gladwell, Imogen Heap, Saul Griffith - and so many more. But this particular presentation was so timely, poignant and real that it has stuck with me and will likely affect my behavior for the perceivable future. It was by Juan Enriquez. He spoke about the economy, how we got to where we are and what it will take to fix it. I encourage you to watch it with this warning: it's not easy to take, but it's honest and real.   Read more...

According to a recent study by Javelin Strategy and Research, bank customers want green banking. 43 percent of customers polled said they would rather do business with a bank that seems more “green.” But many big banks are trying to paint themselves green simply by promoting an online billing system.

It is true that monthly paper statements have a big impact on the environment. If every household in the US were able to switch to paperless billing, this would save an estimated 16.5 million trees per year or about 46,000 acres (averaging 360 trees per acre). Trees protect watersheds, support wildlife habitats, and build soil fertility while sequestering carbon (deforestation is now the second leading cause of global warming).   Read more...

Globalization turns the world's attention to our Presidential election. Ode's founder and editor, Jurriaan Kamp, gives us his thoughts on why Obama is so well-liked, a true citizen of the world.   Read more...

If knowledge is power, then greater fuel efficiency has to be King.

In today's hustle and bustle, everyone in their own cars driving to their jobs without even looking to the carpool lane, conserving fuel is a tricky matter. So, Ford has announced they will be installing SmartGauge with EcoGuide instruments in the Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrids, coming in 2010. And while that might seem a bit to the future, it's only because Ford wants this new gadget to be the way of the future. The SmartGauge provides real-time information on the hybrids' fuel economy and allows drivers to select what level of detail they want displayed. From a short easy to check "Inform," which shows fuel level and battery change status, to "Enlighten, "Engage" and "Empower," each level adds more information on the car. But the best part is how long-term fuel efficiency is displayed

Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra has been a long-time advocate for embracing life's possibilities. Recently, he spoke a the audience at a Pop!Tech conference where the audience watched, amazed as Zander performed a transformative music lesson with a 15-year-old cellist.   Read more...

What do you do after earning degrees at Princeton and Berkeley? Well, you lead the development of Java and service as chief technology officer and corporate executive officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc. of course! ...But after that? You go to Google, become a CEO and reintroduce a vision for green energy. Eric Schmidt is doing just that. As a CEO of Google, he also sits on the Princeton University board of trustees and is a member of the board of directors of Apple, Inc.   Read more...

Free platforms are the best forms. Giving the world more opportunities to give is just the ticket our world is calling for. And Amazee, a philanthropic collaboration platform, knows that. Within the last weeks the Zurich, Switzerland-based internet start-up website has launched two free tools to help promote non-profits all around the globe: Amazee Camp and Amazee Bucket.

Founded in fall 2007 Amazee hopes to stand for social collaboration just as Google stands for online search and Facebook for social networking. Their mission is social collaboration for the greater good, and their method is online network geared at those willing to help, but without the opportunity to do so. By adding the Camp and Bucket features, where Camp offers courses n learning how to use the web to boost activity and results, and Bucket, which donates up to $5,000 to the Amazee project that has the most members come January 22, 2009 with the second and third place winners receiving $3,000 and $2,000 each.   Read more...

Craig Venter wants to cure us of our oil addiction, and like all addictions this will be a hard one to break. Venter has hope that we can use microbes to create alternative fuels. He wants to create a designer microbe from scratch and add genes culled from the sea in order to turn crops such as switch grass and cornstalks into ethanol.   Read more...

For millennia languages have evolved and changed, morphed into something completely different and some have even gone extinct, or practically, see root language: latin. There are over 7,000 languages spoken on earth today, but that number is rapidly decreasing. K. David Harrison, a professor of Linguistics at Swarthmore College and author of the book When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge is on a quest to stop this massive upheaval of knowledge, fearing thoughts and ideas will become lost in translation. Harrison's research focuses primarily on those endangered languages and many undocumented or only mildly documented languages. And now he's come up with the notion of "language hotspots," which are places in the world where a vast variety of endangered languages coexist along with the knowledge of that culture.   Read more...

When Dickson Despommier, a Microbiologist and professor at Columbia University in New York, first thought up "vertical farming" the concept of indoor farming wasn't new. He'd been working on a rooftop gardening project, which over eight years spun into a full building venture. With the world's rapidly decreasing good farm soil on the horizon, Despommier and his crew took the statistic that 80 percent of the world by 2050 would be living in urban dwellings and turned it on its head by having the country come to the city. Vertical farming isn't just a play on words, the idea is to create skyscrapers that are literally farms of produce from strawberries to corn on each floor, and in the middle of town centers. According to the group's website, "If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming."   Read more...

AIDS awareness is everywhere today. From the GAP's RED Campaign to news features about the epidemic, to numerous schools and conferences around the globe. And South Africa's Project Masiluleke, or Zulu for "lending a helping hand" and "give wise counsel," reads much the same way. Born out of a speech HIV campaigner Zinhle "Zinny" Thabethe gave at the 10th anniversary of Pop! Tech, an annual conference about science and technology can further future ideas, this project seeks to use mobile cell phone technology to remind South African's of AIDS and tuburculosis testing sessions, appointments and information on how to get help.   Read more...

In my review of The Compassionate Carnivore, I mentioned that I enjoy a good steak.

That is not to say that every meal I eat has to contain some sort of meat product, and in fact, about a year ago I moved to cut back on the amount of meat my family and I eat to one meat meal a day (with smaller portions of meat) with two or three total vegetarian days each week.   Read more...

Sharing is caring, especially when it comes to bikes - environmentally friendly and perfect for a quick pop to just about any shop in the 2,586 sq km Luxembourg. Recently the country's namesake capital, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, has shot for a unique way to bring two-wheelers to the streets with their new bike sharing system, vel'oh! With the options of a 7-day or a long-term pass, the company has 25 bike stations in place all over the city, about 300 to 400 meters apart, and has 250 bikes already hitting the roads.   Read more...

13.23 million people joined the Stand Up And Take Action mobilization in Bangladesh by pledging to fight against poverty. The mobilization is in accordance with the Millennium Developmental Goals.   Read more...

When Riccardo Tesi discovered the melodion (diatonic harmonica) more than thirty years ago, the only people playing it were folk musicians from Southern Italy and Sardinia. Being a sophisticated city dweller from Tuscany, Tesi couldn't care less about the simple dance tunes played in these rural areas, but the sound of the instrument haunted him. In order to use it to play the music he liked - contemporary chamber music and jazz - he had a special version of the melodion made which is chromatic rather than diatonic, which means one can play in any key, rathen than just one plus its parallel minor. De Castagnari brothers, renowned melodion builders from Italy, supplied him with exactly what he needed and he has used their instruments exclusively ever since. The three-row chromatic version designed especially for Tesi at first, is now part of their regular catalogue.   Read more...

When Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy started working as an unskilled laborer in Bahar, India during a famine, his mother was a wreck. She viewed his drastic career change from architect to a "nobody" as a waste of time and talent. However, Roy claims it was his first real experience in education even after he attended the prestigious St. Stephen's College in Delhi. When the now 53-year-old created Barefoot College in 1972 his understanding of social service for the greater good was understood. The college operates under the notion that the solutions to rural problems, from natural disaster to lacking education, can be found in those same communities. After Roy's work as a laborer, he saw more clearly how to address the problems associated with finding and cleaning drinking water, educating girls, health and sanitation, unemployment, income generation, electricity and power, and the social awareness of these rural communities with the outside world. But the main purpose of the school is to benefit the poorest of the poor who truly have no where to turn at the end of the day.   Read more...

Abundance is a project to harvest the seasonal glut of local fruit like apples, pear and plums. Each year hundreds of fruit trees go unpicked either because people don’t notice them, may not be physically able to harvest them or there are just too many fruits at one time. Abundance is a team of volunteers who have been helping harvest city fruit and redistributing the surplus to the community on a non-profit basis - to community cafes, nurseries, Surestarts and individuals. Abundance has been distributing free fresh fruit around the streets of central Sheffield and Meadowhall Shopping Centre from the custom designed mobile fruit unit. We have also juiced tonnes of fruit and made jams, pickles and preserves. Abundance continues through the seasonal cycle with planting and pruning workshops.   Read more...

Do you use Brita water filters to purify your tap water or know someone who does? Have you ever wondered what happens to all the used plastic filter cartridges at the end of their lives?

If you lived in Europe, you could take that filter to a drop-off location where it would be sent back to original German Brita company for recycling.   Read more...

Ode magazine has been nominated for one of DivineCaroline.com’s “Love this Site” awards. You can vote for Ode here. DivineCaroline.com is an online community for women that allows its members to submit thoughts and stories.   Read more...

Anna Lappe of Small Nation Institute argues against claims that organic farming could never satisfy food demand. Quoting her mother, Lappe says, "The problem today in terms of hunger is not a crisis of scarcity, but a crisis of democracy."   Read more...

I was reading an article about the new wave of activism that is occurring all around the world. People are taking action and making a difference and a contribution, each in their own unique way. I realized I felt quite excited reading the many varieties of activism available to each of us.

I am an inner activist, I am a person who has dedicated her life to Self Awareness without Judgment. I have a deep knowing that to live to my full potential and make a meaningful contribution to humanity I need to shed the light of self awareness on my thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations.   Read more...

Life Mastery Skills is dedicated to helping you access and live your emotional full potential.   Read more...

The Save the Children organization helps children by providing a myriad of health care services and educational programs. They target children from all over the world. You may recognize some of their projects such as The ONE, Knit One and the Save One campaign which are a few of hundreds of projects and missions they are involved in.

Trip Advisor wants you to leave more than footprints behind when you travel. Based on your votes, Trip Advisor will give one million dollars to the global community. Your vote for Save the Children will support healthier and more educated children in the places you travel. Please click on here to vote for them!   Read more...

The ill-fated event of 9/11 where thousands of innocent persons had lost their life is the most unfortunate incident that could happen to Islamic world. It changed the world’s view of Islam and in some cases strengthened the doubts and apprehensions surrounding this faith.

The world got caught in an increasingly strong grip of “Islamophobia”, and Muslims found themselves beleaguered and persecuted.   Read more...

The mission of the website Nabuur.com is to connect people they call neighbors: people that want to take action and benefit people in developing countries with Villages: people in need of knowledge, contacts, and new ideas to improve their quality of living. The "villages" are all over the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.   Read more...

Ben Affleck comments on his recent trip to Africa and the grassroots efforts Africans are engaging in themselves. Affleck says the U.S. can help by "imposing solutions into existing social grooves." On the adage "teach a man to fish" Affleck comments stating "these people know how to fish, they need a pond to fish in."   Read more...

“Energy flows where attention goes.” Most would agree that “everything” in life is comprised of energy. Energy, both positive and negative is constantly flowing. We are energy, you are energy, and life is energy.

Most would also agree, that millions and millions of people are very engaged and paying attention to the upcoming American Presidential Election November 4th. We are seeing record numbers of new voters finally coming out to exercise their right to vote for the candidate of their choice.   Read more...

For those looking for a nontraditional and unselfish gift for a friend or family member, the nonprofit organization, Changing the Present may be the place to look.

Changing the Present offers gifts in the form of donations that will help change the world. On their website, instead of purchasing traditional holiday presents, you can make donations to nonprofit organizations and specify exactly what you want your donation to do.   Read more...

For about the past two years, we've been hearing that change starts with us...and it's true. Jim Wallis said recently that change doesn't happen because new presidents are elected, it happens because individuals rally behind social causes and push them to the forefront. It happened with the Civil Rights movement. It's happening with Blog Action Day (kudos to all the bloggers here participating, your stories are encouraging, touching and inspiring). And it's happening among a committed group of high school students at Manhattan's Hunter Science HS.

History teacher Kevin Froner issued a challenge to his students - register to vote, and register your friends. The result is a new non-profit called the Youth Voter Project (www.first30days.com/making-change-easier/articles/rock-the-youth-vote.html), which aims to register every 18-year-old student in the country...no small feat for a group of kids from the Bronx!   Read more...

Today, October 15th, is the second annual Blog Action Day where bloggers around the web unite to put a single important issue on everyone's mind. Last year, the subject was the environment. This year, the focus is on poverty. The aim of this project is to get everyone talking about ways to build a better future. We’ve invited Ode’s own Editors and Readers Bloggers to participate in this worldwide discussion on the environment. Check out our Editors' Blog and Readers' Blog for the latest entries.

• Muhammad Yunus talking about poverty
• Poor people show us how to save the world economy
• An ode to richness
• Poverty robs families of proper nutrition
• Measuring poverty differently
• The poverty of peace
• Poverty, a Turkish story
• Rural tourism as a tool for poverty alleviation in Africa
• Poverty of imagination? Lets make peace immortal!

With gas prices high, many commuters have downgraded from four wheels to two and started riding bikes to work. To help these commuters, Congress passed the Bicycle Commuter Act, which will make bikers eligible for a $20-a-month tax-free reimbursement from their employers for bicycle-related expenses beginning in January.

The League of American Bicyclists say they have been pushing for this legislation for about seven years. Now, the organization is obtaining guidance from the IRS about how employers can set up this type of program.   Read more...

Video Volunteers is a non-profit organization working in the villages and slums of India to create content relevant to issues in the area for the people living there. Many in the villages being covered cannot read or write.   Read more...

An amazing story of a lion reuniting with his closest friends.   Read more...

He's been a quadriplegic for 33 years and his medical and personal care expenses are through the roof. As his friend and ally I am forever trying to find ways to help him raise much needed funds for medical treatments, van repairs and the odd unanticipated catastrophes. It's a tough gig, though.

When Michael was 16, and newly injured it was easier. Kids elicit public sympathy in a way that a 49 year old white man in America just doesn't. And the adults that were his champions back in the day are getting old now, if they are even still here.   Read more...

Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari said Saturday that finding jobs for young people in the Middle East and Asia will be a major challenge to peace building in the next decade. Within the next 10 years, more than 1.5 billion young 15-30 year olds will be entering the job market. However, only 300 million on them will get a job because of poor education.

Therefore, Ahtisaari Ahtisaari, is working with a group in Qatar to educate young people in effort to continue building peace around the world.   Read more...

I have stopped reading the news headlines and turning on the TV. It's disheartening to watch as desperate Republican supporters yell "kill him!" and "terrorist!" at McCain rallies across the US.

No matter what a person's political beliefs are, now is not the time to create division, hostility or fear. It's hard to watch people who are angry and scared start to lose control...in part because it's a feeling we can all identify with.   Read more...

MicroPlace says their mission is to help alleviate global poverty by enabling everyday people to make investments in the world’s working poor. It allows customers to purchase investments on MicroPlace from security issuers. The security issuers use the funds to support loans to lending borrowers. Borrowers use the loans for their small businesses. Their profits help repay their loans and also go to help improve their families living conditions.

Tracey Pettengill Turner was inspired to start MicroPlace when she returned to the United States from Dhaka, Bangladesh with the belief that microfinance could be a powerful tool to alleviate world poverty. She loved that microfinance combined capitalism, human dignity, and hard work. In 2006 MicroPlace partnered with eBay who believed MicroPlace could be an opportunity to but their assets to work in a way that could change the world.   Read more...

On their website, the Happinness Foundation says it is an “alternative to traditional philanthropy.” They provide pro bono consulting services to Nonprofit Organizations. All workers are volunteer business experts who want to help Nonprofits increase their impact on society and the world.

They say their purpose is "...to inspire and enable people to make other people happy by giving of themselves, improving the quality of life for everyone envolved.”   Read more...

A new initiative aims to give adolescent girls the skills and confidence they need to build happy and healthy lives. In many regions of the world, girls are discriminated against in education, health, and in their ability to find decent work. And evidence shows that investing in girls can pay off for them, their future children, and society as a whole.   Read more...

Once in while comes along a fiction that is so plausible that it would make some hard core news stories read like “Snow White And Seven Dwarfs’ For most of you out there, India is incredible, mystical, spiritual, beautiful, culturally rich, amicable, hospitable, and magical. Right? You bet it is!

The tourism industry thrives on it. The ‘Incredible India’ is on the world map for its tourist pulling capacity. Every year millions of tourists flock here, charmed by this promising land.   Read more...

Michael Swaine is a ceramics arts instructor based in San Francisco, California, and a lifelong mender. Once a month Michael travels to San Francisco's neediest neighbourhood, the 'Tenderloin' where he offers all-day free mending, friendship, and conversation. His mending is not only about the clothes -- it is about the community, the people in it, and his own needs to find comfort in a world that is so used to throwing things away.   Read more...

Better irrigation, training in how to select seeds and cheap fertilizer made from wild plants and animal or bat droppings have more than doubled the yield of rice fields in Cambodia from 1.5 tons to 3.4 tons per hectare.

The government hopes to increase rice exports and cut poverty among its 14 million people, 85 percent of whom are farmers or members of farming families. Thanks in large part to vastly improved irrigation, farmers can get two crops a year from their fields, earning them an income of $1,500. Per capita income in Cambodia is around $500.   Read more...

On December 24, a train full of 350 of India’s most highly motivated youth, age 18-25, will set out on a journey called Tata Jagriti Yatra to meet a handful of unsung heros on India.

There will be six televised debates at key stops through the journey to increase awareness and participation. Their aim is to encourage entrepreneurship within India’s youth and to inspire community leadership.   Read more...

Ratrian, an extremely poor village in north Pakistan has only the necessities of survival. Villagers have limited access to electricity, and occasionally are able to use a hand pump to get water. But help may be on the way for Ratrian.

Prince Rafeh Malik inherited the village from his father on his 18th birthday. While sitting with a friend in a cafe' in Islamabad, he decided to apply eight basic targets for developing countries (called the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations) to Ratrian - just one village - in hopes to improve the quality of life there. Rafeh says it will be difficult to sell the idea to his father, King Malik Atta Mohammad, but he is prepared to do so.   Read more...

K.S. Saleeka began her political career in India has a panchayat head, and is now the only Muslim woman MLA in the Indian state of Kerala. She also makes up less than one percent of Muslim women in Indian parliament.

She hopes her determination will be an inspiration for many other Muslim women to become involved in politics. However, it seems that many women do not have the knowledge they need to jump into the political sphere.   Read more...

The 2008 Right Livelihood Awards were founded in 1980, and are sometimes called the Alternative Nobel Prize. They are awarded to individuals who offer practical answers to challenges facing the world. This year's awards ceremony will take place on December 8 at 8 at Sweedish Parliament in Stockholm.

The awards are supported by individual donors. Winners receive approximately $300,000 USD (210,000 EUR). This year’s award is shared between four recipients. The organization believes these four people care champions of independent journalism, peace-building and social justice.   Read more...

Everyone knows when school is back in session when the office lunch room is scattered with catalogs of cookies, candles and gift wrap. It means school fundraising has begun. Luckily, there is now a better alternative called Greenfundraising (www.greenraising.com).

From their website:   Read more...

Notice I didn't say "cheap" living...being frugal doesn't mean becoming a curmudgeonly miser, hoarding your pennies in a corner. Frugal living, especially right now, means making smarter choices so that the money you work for goes a little further than it did before.

With today's headlines reminding us that things are probably going to get worse before they get better, now is a great time to review spending habits and figure out where you can save a little more here and there. And no, it's not about cutting out all the fun! It's about using common sense when it comes to purchasing. Want has replaced need in our culture - how can we tell anymore whether we truly have to have something? Let's recalibrate and start listening to those wise voices in the finance world who know that it's all about balance and making smart choices.   Read more...

Inmates in the UK are becoming conservationists as they use their time behind bars to help protect vital natural habitats that are home to rare species.

The work, which involves inmates and conservation volunteers, ranges from building bird and bat boxes to surveying bird species from cell windows and constructing purpose-built habitats, such as ponds. Their actions are aimed to protecting the nation’s biodiversity.   Read more...

New York Women Social Entrepreneurs (www.ywse.org/nywse) is hosting its inaugural event in its Breakfast Series in NYC on November 7, 2008 to ensure that women can find the help and resources they need to step up the sustainability efforts of their firms.

Corporate leaders confronted by the twin challenges of peak oil and rising environmental and social concerns have an ally in their employees, if they can just figure out how to help their employees harness their concerns in ways that bring benefit to the brand and company.   Read more...

Americans are the only ones who can elect the United States president, but the 2008 election offers a unique opportunity to harvest global commentary on America's politics and foreign policy and how it affects the rest of the world.

Voices Without Votes highlights conversations in non-American blogs and citizen media, with emphasis on the regions such as Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Their goal is to monitor global citizen media responses, illuminate the effect of US foreign policy abroad, and to enable readers to experience American events through the eyes of ordinary citizens from outside the United States.   Read more...

Xerox Corporation is unveiling its erasable paper to the public for the first time this week. The experimental paper can be printed on again and again, reducing paper use in the office and cutting back waste.

The erasable paper is coated with chemicals that react to light of a specific wavelength. When the paper is exposed to that wavelength, it creates visible text on the page. Within 24 hours, the paper erases itself and can be used again--good news in offices where 40% of all printouts are discarded the day they are printed.   Read more...

On this tenth evening of The Globalised Crystal Ball we will turn the discussion to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). What place do they have in the international system of the future? What effects will economic and political power shifts have for development cooperation? Some of the reasons behind development aid- equality ideals, unfair distribution of wealth, colonial history, white man’s burden- certainly carry less weight for the new future super powers. Will that hamper achieving the MDGs? Or does it offer the greatest possibilities, achieving the goals not through aid, but through growth? Has the time perhaps come for a shift from a ‘planners’ paradigm to a ‘searchers’ paradigm?

Wilbur Perlot will discuss these questions with international panellists Wendy Harcourt and Richard Kavuma.   Read more...

In response to people asking "what can I do," founder of the Genocide Intervention Network Mark Hanis created a program of three tools anyone can use to help fight genocide.   Read more...

October is Fair Trade Month, designed to educate others about the importance of fair trade and encourage them to buy fair trade products.

The goal of fair trade is to empower producers in developing countries, advocate for a fair price for their goods, and to establish social and environmental standards for the production of those goods. (Find out more from Wikipedia:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade).   Read more...

The founder of First30days.com, Ariane de Bonvoisin, shared some tips for getting through job loss with the New York Daily News that are especially timely. It's not your run of the mill "network, network, network" spiel.

Some interesting ideas include:

-Embracing transition. The next job you take may be a transitional one. Whether it's full or part time, embrace it. Every experience is a valuable one and you never know where it may lead. It's okay to freelance or find part-time work to create cash flow until you find a better position.   Read more...

This is a piece I recently wrote on my blog Greendig. I think its important because it demonstrates how corporations can actually take the lead in the environmental movement.

For decades, the green movement has misplaced its focus on a question of failed policy: “when will government agencies step in and force companies to be more green?” This question of policy misses the boat. Yes, government incentives are important, but many corporations are voluntarily driving change simply because it makes great business sense.   Read more...

Check out this new book, The Tactics of Hope (www.TacticsofHope.org), which inspires and supports individuals by providing strategies and tactics that will help transform personal concerns into meaningful actions that address critical personal, social and environmental challenges.

It tells 27 stories, in their own words, of individuals from around the world - as diverse as the Amazon Rainforest, Himalayan Mountains, New Orleans, and Silicon Valley - who have succeeded in moving from passion to action around a social or environmental challenge, creating solutions and opportunities that are innovative, business-oriented, and often profitable.   Read more...

When Melissa Etheridge and Junoon performed last December at the Nobel Peace prize ceremony in Oslo, we were doing sound checks before the show at the Oslo Spectrum in Norway. Listening to her sing just from a few feet away, I was blown away by the power of Melissa's voice and the unity of vibrations contained in it. She gave me goosebumps. Later that evening Al Gore and the Nobel peace prize gathering of Hollywood stars and moguls, rock stars, King, Queen, Prince, Princess of Norway's, politicians, business leaders and environmentalists all agreed with my observation.   Read more...

It's been over a month now that I've been on this quest to spy joy (ispyjoy.com) and I've noticed a few things.

1) Joy is most easily and most often found in children. Children are quick to run and laugh and play. They do not hesitate to have a good time. I used to think this was because they aren't worn down by the pressures and stress we adults shoulder every day. That's not fully true. Children have their own pressure and stress and although we can see missing recess for a day is a trifle, to them it's monumental. The difference is they let it go. They sulk and pout for 20 or even 40 minutes, but then it's gone and forgotten and they've found another game to play. And children are transparent: feel joy, smile and laugh; feel sad, cry and pout.   Read more...

Bharat Renewable Energy, a firm based in India, announced today that it will invest up to $480m in the development of more than a million acres of jatropha plantations in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Ode predicted back in July of 2007 that jatropha held more promise as alternative fuels than corn and sugarcane. Jatropha grows rapidly in even the most arid climates, requires little in the way of fertilizers or other agricultural input, reverses desertification and produces valuable byproducts after the fuel is extracted. Moreover, it can yield up to 1,000 barrels of biodiesel from a single square mile of otherwise inhospitable cropland each year. It also required no annual replanting as it is a shrub that lives 40 to 50 years, and it is a low-energy consumer

This fall, step into the lives of an estimated 42 million people worldwide who have fled their homes to seek refuge from war or conflict in places such as Sudan, Colombia, and Iraq. "A refugee camp in the heart of the city" is an outdoor, interactive exhibit organized by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Experienced aid workers (doctors, nurses, and logisticians) will guide visitors through an outdoor reconstruction of a refugee camp, asking them to imagine that war has broken out in their home town. Visitors learn how refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) confront the challenges that threaten their survival, including those of building shelter, finding food and clean water, and enduring disease.   Read more...

Craig McNamara reads from the California Agricultural Vision Policy Statement while Alice Waters' outlines her school lunch plan in a panel at the Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco, CA on Aug 30th, 2008. Both policies use sustainable agricultural practices, but differ in interesting ways.   Read more...

Water is something we take for granted here in the US - so much so that we pay for it when we can get it for free. Instead of buying bottled water we should be focused on cutting down our own consumption and using that money instead to bring clean drinking water to nations that have for too long been taking dirty, bacteria-laden water home for cooking, drinking and cleaning because no other option exists.

Thankfully, someone is doing something about it in a big way. Charity:water founder Scott Harrison began the September campaign last year to encourage people to give much needed funds to his new non-profit rather than give him gifts on his birthday. This year, the stakes have been raised. Hundreds of people are asking the same thing of their friends and relatives. Over $800,000 has been raised - but the work isn't done!   Read more...

I’m not an economist, but I, like many Americans, have been trying to understand and develop a cogent opinion about the economic crisis we are facing. A $700 billion dollar taxpayer bailout of Wall Street investment firms doesn’t sit well, although I’m convinced that speedy action is necessary to avert economic collapse. During the great depression, President Roosevelt offered the United States a new deal; he did not bail out Wall Street.

Our country’s infrastructure is in shambles. We face a desperate need to develop clean, viable energy sources. We need more schools and more humane educators so that classes are reasonably-sized, and students receive the education that will help them become citizen problem-solvers. We need more farmers producing food in a sustainable and organic manner. And people need jobs in order to pay their mortgages.   Read more...

Last May, Ode featured a story called "I defeat my enemy when I make him my friend where we featured Simon Atem, who escaped a civil war in his native Sudan at the age of seven. Now 19, he has moved to Calgary with a mission to go back to Sudan one day to build a school where kids can learn the difference between right and wrong to prevent what had happened to him years ago.

His dream has finally come true! Simon Madhol Atem and several volunteers from the For Love of Children Society will be leaving for Aweng, Sudan on Friday, October 3 to begin Phase 1 of the construction of the school in his home village and to reunite with his family. Thanks to the support of the many staff and students, they have raised more than $40,000 for Simon to go back home to build his school.   Read more...

I recently completed a sixty-six hour silent retreat. My time was spent at a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains that was built to offer individuals a mountain location for relaxation, reflection, and renewal. The place was absolutely beautiful and resonated with peace and serenity. When I arrived, I could feel that whatever had previously happened at this location was consistent with what I was looking for. After unpacking and walking the grounds, I crawled onto the bed and experienced what I what believe to be one of the best naps of my life.   Read more...

We would like to share our not-for-profit business. Humanitarian Dating (http//:www.humanitariandating.com) is a community of thousands of people many working as humanitarian and international development practitioners as well as people making a difference in their own communities from all around the world. The site is in English, Spanish and French. We are simple a dating site for people who care about the world and its people.   Read more...

Ah! The 30's, 40's and beyond.

Looking back, I now realize that my younger sister and I lived in a dramatic time in the history of the world - that is, in the 1930's and 1940's (the second decade of my life). At the time, we had only a vague vision of what the future had in store for us, or anyone.   Read more...

And the winner goes to...Portland, OR (again) as the top rated sustainable city in the U.S. for 2008.

Now in its third edition, the peer-reviewed Rankings track the unfolding story of cities working to improve their residents' quality of life and sustainability efforts. Their methodology included ranking items such as commute to work, air quality, tap water quality, local food & agriculture, housing affordability, city innovation and more.   Read more...

Change may be a big buzzword this year, but chances are you've been undergoing change - or anticipating it - for quite some time. There's a new website dedicated to helping people get through and become better at every kind of change called www.first30days.com.

There are over 60 topics to choose from, in topic areas ranging from Career to Relationships to Family and Health. Popular changes include Divorce, Making Change Easier, Improving Your Sex Life, Finding Your Dream Job and Getting In Shape.   Read more...

You purchase organic cotton bedding and pesticide-free fruits and vegetables. At home, you use a vacuum with a HEPA filter and make sure that your children wash their hands before eating. But are you hiding skeletons under the sink or in the closet? I’m referring to chemical-based, conventional cleaning products - those bottles usually marked, per federal regulation, with a skull-and-crossbones logo.

In the US, accidental ingestion of chemical-based cleaning products accounts for many trips to the emergency room and calls to the Poison Control Center. Bleach is a strong corrosive and may cause pulmonary edema or coma if ingested, while ammonia can damage the eyes, respiratory tract, and skin. These aren’t the only harmful ingredients in conventional cleaning products, but manufacturers purposely omit many dangerous ingredients from labels. Additionally, chemical cleaning products end up in our waterways, soil, and landfills, where they contribute to oxygen-depleted ocean dead-zones, release harmful gases into our air, and poison both humans and wildlife.   Read more...

Celebrating 10 years in Africa, the Sept - Dec 2008 blog party At christinaswwworld.com is a time and space where I'm winding down, winding up and winding on about whatever it is that's meant to come next in my global life as a social entrepreneur with cyberwings.

Along the way I'll be piloting some new fun and games for raising social capital online and making other good things happen (in your life, in my life, and in the lives of others). Watch, learn with me, think, please comment, and be sure to look out for some unconventional ways that you can participate in this latest of my social impact experiments online.   Read more...

Recently we conducted a staff retreat workshop where we used Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a process developed by David Cooperrider in the 80s at Case Western Reserve. This process invites individuals and groups to inquire about the positive, best practices in an organization or system. AI compels us towards appreciating the wholeness of an organization and away from problem solving. Learn more about what we did with Appreciative Inquiry here www.colemansmithllc.com/2008/09/16/appreciative-inquiry/.   Read more...

Regular home cleaning contributes to better health for your family and visitors. Many popular chemical-based cleaning products, however, contain powerful chemical toxins that may negatively affect human health. In an increasingly polluted world, a greater number of families strive to make our homes relatively safe havens in which our families thrive - not sources of toxic chemical loads.

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Books, indeed, illuminate our lives. But you also need good light - as in honest-to-God lumens, hard-core wattage. The Enlightenments, a lamp in the form of a book, combines these principles, with a nod, alls well, to the 18th-century age of reason. The Enlightenments is available from its creator, Studiomeiboom Communication, a Dutch design firm, which will give 10 percent to the Edukans Fund, a charitable organization. The purchase price is €89.00, exclusive carriage costs. www.lightupyourworld.nl   Read more...

Norway will donate $1 billion to Brazil's Amazon protection fund through 2015, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday, to help Brazil fight deforestation.

Norway, the first country to pledge money to the fund, will donate as much as $130 million next year, the Norwegian Embassy in Brasilia said.

Via: reuters.com   Read more...

AT&T announced today that 172 schools and nonprofit organizations across the country will receive $29 million in competitively awarded grants that are designed to support high school retention programs at national and local levels for at-risk students.

The recipient programs of this year's High School Success grants provide a range of support for students, including academic intervention, academic coaching and mentoring and tutoring services that are focused on improving reading and math skills, reducing truancy and building teen confidence. The recipient programs are managed by a variety of governmental and nonprofit organizations, including school districts, townships and education-serving nonprofit organizations.   Read more...

How do you save the world with 60 Asian elephants, 25 teen volunteers and 100 saffron sashes? It’s all in the Power of One - one rescued elephant stems the tide of extinction; one Thai teen decides to go to college; one sash blessed by a monk is draped around a teak tree to protect the rainforest.

The Power of One program, sponsored by the nonprofit Blue Star of Hope (www.bluestarofhope.org), is a two-week, intercultural, global service learning experience that brings kids (student ambassadors) and adults together from all over the world to effect personal, social, and environmental change. Last year, volunteers from the US, Thailand, Russia and China stepped forward to do just that.   Read more...

Carpooling sites are not new to the web, but Carticipate.com has advanced the network into your phone...iPhone that is. They have created an iphone application allows you to broadcast your timing and destination to other iPhone travellers to share or find a ride - which translates into less gas consumed, more new friends, and more money saved. Not to mention the oh so much faster carpool lane.

via: TreeHugger   Read more...

DivineCaroline.com is a new social media site set up for women to come together to share stories and reflect on shared experiences. You’ll find topics ranging from relationships, politics, travel and money. Its main goal is to build a circle of friends that allows women to express themselves by writing and publishing stories about anything that matters to them.   Read more...

A few years ago I had the privilege of flatting with a wonderful Australian teenager who was, what I grew to call, a “fully functioning human being”. If the need arose, she could paint, draw, sew, dance, sing, play an instrument, laugh or cry. She, in my eyes, was proficient in essentially the whole gamut of human creative ability. After meeting her, I aspired to becoming a fully functional human being, myself.

What does it mean for me to be a fully functioning human being?   Read more...

The world's greatest bicycle thief is caught, find out how green Joe Biden is, and check out the latest in Alt-Autos   Read more...

A couple months ago there was an Exchange item on a new tracking device created by Patagonia where you could track the footprint of an individual garment. It turns out that there is a new tracker on the block called the Baacode offered by a New Zealand based Merino outdoor clothing company called Icebreaker.

Deep rooted in their commitment to environmental ethics, manufacturing ethics and animal welfare, Icebreaker has created a tool called the Baacode. Every garment sold comes with a unique id where - once submitted on their website - will let you see the living conditions of the high country sheep that produced the merino fibre in your garment, meet the farmers, and follow every step of the supply chain.   Read more...

On October 2nd, 2008, the Mirca Art Group, an international coalition of professional artists, will release their landmark collaborative effort, a book entitled Freedom & Art, to the public.

The book features 74 works of art, each accompanied by a short statement about the synergy of freedom and art in our world, and is being sold to raise funds in support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a key political figure who has been under house arrest in Myanmar (formerly Burma) for the past 18 years over her bid for political freedom.   Read more...

A social enterprise group in London called "Growing Communities" have found a way to cut down on spending money for groceries. For several years now, they have put on an annual event called "The Great Food Swap" where members get together to share a wide range of wonderful produce that they had made, grown, picked or found. At the last winter event, participants traded mince pies, oyster mushrooms, home made yoghurts and home made bread.

Growing Communities hopes to inspire people's skills in food growing and food making, as well build excitement about home-produced and seasonal food.   Read more...

Google announced today that they will be sending 16 low-earth orbit satellites into the sky to help give Internet access to 3 billion people and emerging markets in Africa.

The search engine has joined forces with cable television magnate John Malone and bank HSBC to set up 0B3 Networks.   Read more...

The island that I live on is presently involved in seeking to create a public utility district (known by that cute acronym PUD). The conversation is morphing towards setting up our own energy generation through solar, wind, tide and geothermal methods.

I would be interested in any feedback from people having gone through or in the same process.   Read more...

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...

I just read an interesting article in the local paper about by a woman who spent a month eating locally only. Being part of an CSA farm, I dug what she had to say. Even more so having recently read "Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World" by Alan Weisman, "Hope, Human and Wild: True Stories of Living Lightly on the Earth " by Bill McKibben, and "Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture" by Toby Hemmenway. I am also supporting the local public utility district drive. So imagine my great surprise and joy at the first Ode we got about energy!

So I've been raising my voice not just for a PUD, but that our energy be completely fossil fuel free. I could really get into that! Eating local may cost a bit more, but it's better if it's natural, and it saves on the shipping and refrigeration costs.   Read more...

KFC Canada tries to do chickens right, China's air control, and new alternative autos: Shelby Supercars, Prius, Chevy Volt, and more.   Read more...

Just in time for back to school season, Earth Day Network has come out with a list of suggestions for students, teachers, and parents to green their schools. Even as the trees start to change colors, these activities are sure to keep many communities green.

1. Teachers can have students patrol to check that lights are off in vacant rooms, and make signs or stickers such as “Flip the switch when leaving!” as a reminder to turn off lights.
2. Use Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) or LED bulbs and have students compute energy savings.
3. Keep air vents clear and up to date and work with custodians to fix drafty rooms; ensure that furnace filters are cleaned often.
4. In winter, close classroom doors to trap heat in.
5. Make sure computers are programmed to enter “sleep” mode when inactive, and avoid screen savers. Turn off computers when the day ends.
6. Urge students or faculty to start a recycling program for the school

The increase in global carbon dioxide emissions is not just damaging the Earth’s climate, but also threatening the very fabric of our oceans. Today, The Nature Conservancy, along with a dozen of the world’s top marine scientists, introduced key findings and recommendations to tackle ocean acidification as part of the “Honolulu Declaration on Ocean Acidification and Reef Management” revealed at the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force meeting in Kona, Hawai‘i.

Two major strategies emerged as the backbone of the Declaration resulting from the workshop:

1. Limit fossil fuel emissions - stabilization of atmospheric CO2 is the most logical step to address ocean acidification impacts
2. Build the resilience of tropical marine ecosystems and communities to maximize their ability to resist and recover from climate change impacts, including ocean acidification.

Green School opens on 1 September 2008 for children in Preschool and Kindergarten through Year 8 with students and faculty from Bali and 16 countries around the world. Here in Bali, Indonesia, we are building a new school where Western and Indonesian students can learn together to become more curious and more passionate about their education and our planet.

Green School's beautiful eight-hectare, environmentally sustainable campus in Sibang Kaja is bisected by the Ayung River, on whose western bank are the School's classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and kitchens. Aquaculture ponds, organic vegetable gardens, edible mazes, and permacultural gardens are interspersed throughout the vast campus, which is built entirely of low-impact and environmentally conscious materials such as bamboo, alang-alang grass, and traditional Balinese mud walls.   Read more...

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Greetings to Ode readers worldwide! I am one of 34 students studying at the KaosPilots International Education in Aarhus, Denmark. As part of our fourth semester (last spring), my team and I lived and worked in Shanghai, China. Our mission was to explore the term "Social Innovation".

We heard from the experts, we investigated on a street level, we discussed, shared and eventually...we wrote!   Read more...

We all know the sense of belonging and safety that comes from being a part of a community-how it nurtures our identity and fosters our aspirations. Few of us have experienced anything beyond a brief and partial separation from our community of friends, relatives, home and chosen paths-the elements that give meaning, purpose and direction to our lives.   Read more...

Are you a high school student active in or interested in environmental issues? The Weather Channel is sponsoring the Forecast Earth Summit in Washington D.C., to educate the next generation about climate and environmental literacy.

Twenty high school students will win free trips to attend the Summit where they will participate in several activities such as creating public service announcements for The Weather Channel, building and launching a boat made from recycled materials, and meeting with environmental leaders and scientists.   Read more...

"When all else is lost, the future still remains" - Christian Bovee

What have you lost? A house? A car? A loved one? Innocence? Hope? Faith? Happiness ... or maybe you have just lost interest altogether - in everything.

However painful or disheartening it may have been to suffer a loss, the good news is that "lost" is a past tense word. It's done. It's finished. Outside of playing it over and over again in your mind with dead-end, "what if" scenarios, you cannot experience the loss again. What you DO have is what is important, ad what you DO have is that most-important, unwritten, unpainted, blank piece of canvas that is your future. It remains, and it will be what you choose to make of it: that includes the next hour, the next day, the next week, or the next fifty years.   Read more...

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Theo Jansen unleashes his Strandbeest, ice shelves are melting in both poles, and we bring to you new Truly Useless Crap!   Read more...

In Nigeria many are building up camps at gas stations so that they can buy cooking fuel. The situation is so bad that women and children may end up spending their whole day just queuing up to get the now expensive fuel. Most fuel stations sell a liter of kerosene at fifty naira Nigerian money but at the black market (that’s the situation where you buy kerosene at unauthorized sites in the country), kerosene is sold at three times the pump station stipulated price.

Because of this exorbitance and most often the non availability of the petroleum derivative, people in most urban areas have now resulted to using fire wood, coal, and other fuel derivatives as an alternative cooking fuel, despite the tedious routine of using firewood, most women claim that firewood and coal is a far cheaper cooking gas than kerosene which can simply fill the can of a China made cooking stove.   Read more...

Calling all college graduates: this fall Idealist.org will host 16 Graduate Degree Fairs for the Public Good across the United States, where potential applicants can meet with representatives from graduate programs. Each event will also offer a set of workshops that will describe the various degrees, illuminate the application and financial aid process, and guide attendees in how to transition back to school.

At each of the fairs, you will meet representatives from 60 to 120 of the leading nonprofit-related graduate programs in the country, representing degrees ranging from MPAs and MBAs through Law, Social Work, International Relations, Urban Planning, and many more.   Read more...

Over the past year I have heard numerous contemporary spiritual teachers, such as Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, and Marianne Williamson, predict a profound shift in consciousness accompanied with an evolution to the next stage of humanity.

Where? When? How? I wanted to know. Could it be the fervor of an election year and promise of change? Could it be related to the intriguing prophecies of 2012 which predict a major transformation?   Read more...

I'd like to suggest trying a one day "giving" experiment.

The idea simply would be for one 24 hour period to lay down all of our own desires, wants, selfish interests of any kind, and completely be unselfish, and do whatever would be helpful and beneficial to anyone we come in contact with during that 24 period.   Read more...

The same day I began reading this month's Ode about energy generation and green energy I heard the most beautiful interview on National Public Radio on ethanol and other fuel alternatives.

The program was Science Friday and in it the host interviewed a biofuel advocate, David Blume (author of "Alchohol Can be a Gas"). I would highly recommend Ode put Mr. Blume on the short list of people to interview for future articles---if only to hear him paint beautiful pictures of a world where alternative fuels are promoted on a local grass-roots level and alternative fuel sources are plentiful and actually environmentally beneficial.   Read more...

When I was a kid, which was conveniently during a time I lived in Hawaii, I became obsessed with starfish. What stunned me most was their ability to, rather quickly, shed and regenerate a limb. I wondered if it hurt to do this, or if it was some sort of everyday occurrence. I noticed the same thing about geckos and their tails and sea cucumbers that would vomit out their own internal organs. All of these biological feats are meant to be life-saving, so I imagine shedding a limb or spilling out one's guts isn't taken too lightly in the animal kingdom, but I cannot tell you how many quivering gecko tails wound up in my hands sans rightful owner.   Read more...

BBC Journalist Christine Jeavans has challenged herself to give up plastic for a whole month. This is certainly a large feat when you think about all of the coffee cup tops, grocery bags, water bottles - not to mention babies diapers that people use everyday. Can it be done? Keep up with her challenge on her blog here.

Read full story:news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7535500.stm
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China's cheap gas leads to more SUV sales, find out where to take a walk in your neighborhood, and make your office sustainable with People Cube.   Read more...

"The past is never completely lost, however extensive the devastation. Your sorrows are the bricks and mortar of a magnificent temple. What you are today, and what you will be tomorrow are because of what you have been." - Gordon Wright

All of us have experienced, (or likely know someone who has experienced - especially in today's volatile world), some type of devastation in the past. Perhaps it took the form of the violence of war, crime, or domestic abuse. Or maybe it was economic ruin, or the loss of a loved one or a failed relationship.   Read more...

Did you know that all the world's faiths are filled with wisdom for work? That major media (e.g., Fortune and Industry Week) have reported favorably about the trend to integrating spirit and work? That when you bring spirit to work, work is more ethical and satisfying; and you typically have more time and energy for a rich life?

The Spirit and Work Resource Center (/www.spiritandworkresourcecenter.com) is filled with examples of how to fill any job, anywhere, with integrity, purpose and great joy. We've recently expanded our free online resources. Here you will a recommended books list; links to articles including an interview with Huston Smith on the wisdom of all the world's religions for work, and a FAQ sheet. New resources are being added weekly.   Read more...

If one understands the basics of how the human body works, then most assuredly they paid attention during health or biology class. As we quickly take a deeper look inside the body both science and spirituality agree we are energy beings or energy centers as well as flesh, blood and bones. This is why defibrillators (devices which give an electrical charge) can either stop or start the heart.   Read more...

Begone, evil spirit! Begone! OK, so that’s not how a typical acupuncture treatment begins (at least in my clinic). Even for possession. And when we talk about possession in Chinese Medical terms, we’re not usually referring to an evil spirit or the devil, like in the movie “The Exorcist”. Instead, we’re referring to an internal possession of the mind. This internal possession occurs when a person is unable to control their own thinking, resulting in a pattern of compulsive thought and behavior.   Read more...

Community-based tourism generates lucrative revenues for poor or native communities in developing countries while enabling travelers usually accustomed to chain hotels and beachfront resorts to learn about traditional cultures. Pictured: A room at the Posada Amazonas lodge in Peru’s Esé-eja community of Infierno.   Read more...

Dear EarthTalk: How does congestion toll pricing, used in some cities around the world, cut down on vehicle traffic and promote green-friendly public transit? -- Bill Higley, via e-mail

Despite increasing green awareness and steadily rising gasoline prices, Americans and other denizens of the developed world—not to mention millions of new Chinese and Indian drivers hitting the road every week—are loath to give up the freedom and privacy of their personal automobiles. But snarled traffic, longer commute times and rising pollution levels have given city transportation planners new ammunition in their efforts to encourage the use of clean, energy-efficient public transit.   Read more...

We are a small group of filmmakers and digital media practitioners who have been concerned for some time about Tibet’s struggle for independence as well as China’s treatment and lack of recognition for the basic human rights of native Tibetans.

With the Olympics being held in China this year we, like many people around the world, hoped that such an event would help ‘shine the light’ on Tibet’s plight.   Read more...

Mandakini and Prakash Amte have been conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, for serving the medical, education and livelihood needs of remote tribal communities in Maharashtra for over 30 years

Prakash Amte and his wife Mandakini, both doctors, have been awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership 2008. The Magsaysay Award, given annually by the government of the Philippines, is considered to be the Asian Nobel.   Read more...

Two photographers are heading off on a trip around the US to photograph offbeat festivals. They are traveling in an old airstream hitched to a diesel truck, which they will run on vegetable oil. You can even help fund their project by purchasing a print from their website!

Some of the festivals on their list:

• Hairy Chest, Legs, and Beard Contest in Fairbanks, Alaska
• All-Night Gospel Singing in Bonifay, Florida
• Machine Gun Shoot in Westpoint, Kentucky
• Toboggan Championships in Camden, Maine
• Little People of America Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• The Quiet Festival in Ocean City, New Jersey
• The World Senior Games in St. George, Utah

Natalie Portman releases her vegan footware line. China get the greenlight to import African ivory, and Randy Olsen talks about his movie Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy.

Creative alternative fuel sources lead the news these days for good reason. From Switch Grass to industrial scraps we are waking up to the possibilities all around us for closing the loop on waste and energizing our ventures in the process. Here is a great story about researchers at Clemson University using microbes to digest the 20 million rotting peaches that are wasted each year in South Carolina. The result: hydrogen fuel from peaches for tractors to harvest peaches. What's not to love about that loop?

For more information please click on this link: www.clemson.edu

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The Pickens Plan is blowing in the wind and Green Gadgets: We tell you where you can recycle your gadgets   Read more...

As we head steadfast to the year 2012, the age of Aquarius or age of awareness, I notice the blend of science and spirituality becoming more apparent in mainstream society. Media outlets geared towards the average Joe now host an increasing number of movies, books, TV shows and the like around the subject of the unseen power of the human thinking potential.

How much power do our thoughts really have? If one would agree that we are energy beings housed in physical, flesh bodies then one might also agree that each individual energy being is connected to a much larger universal energy that thinks (has intelligence). These deeply held thoughts become beliefs which in turn spurs creation. If this is true then our thoughts are as powerful as we believe them to be. In this light, our beliefs may very well be the most valuable thing that we own.   Read more...

GreenEdge Kids (www.greenedgekids.com) is a brand new website devoted to eco-friendly and stylish fashions for kids, sizes 2-12. The site is filled with information about organic cotton, hemp, recycled fabric, organic wool, soy, made in USA, fair trade, etc. It allows you to Shop by Conscience, by Brand, by product category or by size.

The styles are adorable, and hard to believe they're eco-friendly...green style for kids has come a long way! By providing the very latest in kids' eco-fashions, GreenEdge Kids makes is possible to be green...look good...and play hard.   Read more...

Boredom is that frustrated sense of having nothing interesting to do. It is the companion to loneliness and depression for when we are bored we no longer feel good about our self.

Here are six steps to get your energy revved up and to recapture a lively sense of yourself.   Read more...

Please take a few minutes to view my website, "Doing Good, While Doing Business." It features businesses that give back to the community in a variety of different ways. You may see it at www.changethemold.com.

Thanks, Myrna   Read more...

This year's edition of Sfinks (festival for world music just outside Antwerp) was number 29, making it one of the oldest of its kind. The program was a mixed bag with quite a few disappointments but also some remarkable highlights.

By far the most surprising of those was a magic performance by Cryptonique, the bellows duo of composer and accordion player Fabian Beghin and diatonic harmonica virtuoso Didier Laloy, both hailing from Wallony, the French speaking part of Belgium. I was already familiar with their repertoire from the excellent CD Cryptonique they released in 2006, but their spectacular live performance rendered that album bleak in comparison.   Read more...

I'd like to share with you Laughter Yoga, as it profoundly uplifts my life. Laughter Yoga has connected me with that inner place of well-being from which springs joy. As a physician/healer I am still blown away by the power of Laughter Yoga to heal, uplift, and create well-being. Everyone can practice it. Besides it's fun!   Read more...

What constitutes pain and confusion in love and physical attraction? Why do we often find ourselves in agonizing situations despite the primary magic of an intimate association?

Emotions are an integral part of our social and civic self, but we are often conditioned to restrict and push it away, and maintain a stoic facade. The words ‘stiff upper lip’ are not conjecture; we often fall prey to it and end up with a stiffer heart and soul.   Read more...

Great Leader seems always to be first defined as what we don’t have at the moment. Descriptions include decisiveness, courage and a fervent wish to serve the definers particular ethnic or economic group. And because everyone wants someone who believes in the same truth they believe, getting at what constitutes true leadership requires some study. I got caught up in this endless circle recently with a couple of friends. Reaching no consensus with them, I decided to do a reality check with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, one time Roman Emperor.   Read more...

Peace is like a baby we wanted to be born and grow in our lives. It has growth stages nurtured like a child's with love and care, wisdom and faith. This peace process and outcome is what we really need and want in our lives made more meaningful.

Do we look for wisdom to nurture peace by knowledge? We realize it’s not what we know that gives peace. It’s in the wisdom of contradictions when we react to situations in unloving ways, by judgments and preconceived ideas, without seeking the truth that lies behind biases. Wisdom to find peace is in forgiveness, of ourselves for mistakes and not persecute ourselves and others with what we can’t change in the past but in the present with new-found courage.   Read more...

A major new fund has been created at The Pittsburgh Foundation to support The Pittsburgh Promise, a program designed to help students and families of the Pittsburgh Public Schools plan, prepare and pay for education beyond high school at an accredited post-secondary institution within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The Pittsburgh Promise serves to inspire and motivate Pittsburgh Public Schools students to “Dream Big” and “Work Hard” in order to improve the prospects for their future.   Read more...

The EPA drops the value of human life. Greensburg, Kansas rebuilds into a sustainable emerald green city. Check out the latest news in alt autos: Stella, Tesla, Tata Nano, Prius, and more.   Read more...

An expert in body/mind healing says that the secret to happiness, health and long life is as simple as breathing. It is so simple that anyone can master it with a little practice. There are no gadgets to buy or clubs to join to reap the benefits. You don’t even have to visit your doctor for a prescription. Does this sound too good to be true? Well, for once it isn’t!

According to Zen Yoga master, Aaron Hoopes the art of deep breathing has been called by a variety of names: conscious breathing, abdominal breathing, dynamic breathing and even belly breathing. Mr. Hoopes calls it Smart Breathing in the updated and expanded 2nd Edition of his book Breathe Smart. He calls it smart because it has immediate rewards, costs nothing and is a no-lose endeavor. It makes you feel good while you do it in the short term, and in the long term you will find yourself living a more energized, healthy and peaceful life.   Read more...

In 1991, six Wall Street professionals established Minds Matter in New York City to mentor high-achieving, low-income high school students who had the potential and ambition to pursue a college education, but who lacked the resources to achieve that dream. Since then, Minds Matter has grown into a national organization with chapters across the United States in Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; New York City, New York; and Portland, Oregon. In the 2008-2009 school year, Minds Matter will launch a new Chapter and open its doors to students in Cleveland, Ohio!

The organization's services have also developed into a comprehensive three year curriculum for high school sophomores, juniors and seniors. Each year students are guided through valuable lessons in Academic Preparedness, Writing & Critical Thinking and Test Preparation.   Read more...

Dear EarthTalk: I was intrigued to hear that there were a number of ways one could modify or construct a roof on a house or office facility that would provide great environmental benefit. Can you enlighten? -- Bill Teague, Menlo Park, CA

Most buildings are designed to shed rain, and as such are built with hard, impenetrable roofing surfaces. As a result, rainwater bounces off and collects as runoff, picking up impurities - including infectious bacteria from animal waste as well as harmful pesticides and fertilizers - on the way to municipal storm sewers, which in turn eventually empty out into local bodies of water.   Read more...

More and more we're hearing that would-be vacationers are staying home this year in favor of the "staycation". It's a matter of striking a balance and not going too far off the all-or-nothing vacation deep end. Because in the end whether it's a vacation or a staycation, it's all about living, that rich life experience, that Leafpond Moment. So if you would like a vacation but can't get away, watch our video Leafpond Moment.   Read more...

People suffering anxiety often focus on fearful thoughts of losing control or going crazy. Thoughts can trigger anxiety but it is the body's response to the threat conveyed by our thoughts or our senses that accounts for anxiety. Some of those reactions include: increased heart rate, sweating, choking sensation, tightness in body, nausea, numbness, chills or hot flushes. Fortunately, it is through breath therapy that we have a means to calm our body and relieve the pain.

Breath therapy is a kind of mindful breathing whereby in different ways one focuses on breathing and simply notices it. This kind of breathing connects to chi, the body's powerful healing energy. As this connection happens it can evoke a warm tingling or a subtle vibration that eases pain, calms emotions, invigorates energy, improves digestion, and contributes to restful sleep.   Read more...

I have heard and experienced too, that everything turns rosy when one falls in love. The proverbial rose tinted glasses, rosy dreams, pink roses, and the blush on the lover’s cheeks! I have read many books on relationships, human psychology, have observed people, studied human behavior, have worked with centers that do ‘paid listening’ for the broken hearted and have listened to many stories of love getting bruised, with ennui, neglect and emotional asphyxiation. True, that everything looks pink in its initial stages, but turns blue with carelessness, extra carefulness, neediness, unfair expectations, suffocating possessiveness and at times, just for no reason at all.

I have written some motivating articles on the intricacies of relationships in various journals; perhaps involuntarily taking on the mantle of being a ‘so called expert’ on the subject. Well, even after all this I cannot vouch for being ‘the expert’ in relationships, because the fact is that it is difficult to figure out people and something as fragile as “feelings”. Human mind is a never-ending mystery, and so is the heart.   Read more...

Buying a product can sometimes seem like a self-indulgent process: you purchase it, take it home and that is that. Your wardrobe may become a little more expansive or your living room a little more decorated, but that is about all that will change. Today, however, with increased opportunities and abilities for global collaboration, markets are being created based on the inspiring idea that purchases have the potential to do more than just become something to own. Products now have the capacity to actually do good.   Read more...

Tree growth in the Arctic Tundra increases climate change, rival corporations are lightening the load on the roads by truck sharing deliveries in the UK due to high gas prices, and take a look at some new green gadgets.   Read more...

Scholar, futurist, and activist Riane Eisler explains the potential of an economic system based on caring rather than domination. By giving economic value to life-sustaining activities like parenting, an economics of caring provides a more realistic view of human life and suggests policy that is more coherent with human nature.   Read more...

A trip for those who like to experience culture, adventure and beauty and believe in "responsible tourism".

Embark on a walking camel safari set in the middle of 400 miles of vast mountain ranges in Kenya lead by honorary game wardens and nomadic Samburu warriors. Discover an Africa few encounter. Trek pure unspoiled land. A luxurious camping adventure complete with hot candlelit showers, delicious meals and personally tailored experiences. A once in a lifetime opportunity that will be talked about for years to come. And all this to benefit one of Kenya’s most renowned charity’s, MEAK (Medical and Educational Aid to Kenya).   Read more...

I just read the news about the third doping case at this year's Tour de France: Italian rider Riccardo Ricco has tested positive for the banned blood-booster EPO. And of course, as it happens so often with sportsmen who are associated with artificial performance-enhancing measures, Ricco was "booed by spectators when he was taken off the Saunier-Duval team bus by police Thursday," the AP report said.

Poor Ricco! I don't think using drugs was such a great idea, but I do feel we need to ask ourselves some serious questions before we condemn him. After all, in the rest of society, performance-boosters have become increasingly commonplace.   Read more...

Feeling guilty about the carbon emissions that you caused by attending that London meeting in person rather than by videoconference? Unsure how to make it up to the planet without being taken for a ride by a carbon cowboy?

Part of the trouble with carbon offsets

Hawaii has become the first state in the nation to require that all new homes come equipped with solar water heaters. The new law will apply to homes built after January 1, 2010, and add about $5,000 to a home’s cost. Solar water heaters pay for themselves in a few years because they cut average electricity costs by 30-35%. Israel and Spain also require solar heating in all new homes.

Source: World Business Alliance (www.worldbusiness.org)   Read more...

Another highlight of the Sommelo Festival in Finland was Jouhiorkesteri, otherwise known as the Horse Hair Orchestra.

Thanks to musician, instrument maker and researcher Rauno Nieminen another ancient instrument has been revived from museological hibernation. This time it's not the kantele - a plucked zither which, according to recent theories, has been derived from Celtic lyres - but the jouhikko, a bowed lyre which has been in use around the Baltic Sea until the beginning of the 20th century. Its strings are stopped by simply resting the finger on them instead of pressing them down on a fingerboard.   Read more...

One of the most popular 80’s pop classics, “Every breath you take”...by Sting often made me wonder: Is it really a song of love? Or of resentment and an obsessive need to possess?

If you listen with close attention, “Every smile you fake, every vow you break, I’ll be watching you...” speaks of vicious possessiveness and furious resentment.   Read more...

When it comes to babies, safety is a priority for parents. We make sure the crib is sound, that we use safe mattresses and bedding, that toys are safe... But many of us are overlooking one key danger that lurks in the nursery -- and throughout our homes.

Many household cleaning products contain hazardous ingredients, which, if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin, can cause everything from eye irritation to death. It's important to look at the ingredients on all cleaners used in the nursery (and in the home in general) -- if they are disclosed, because some of the chemicals they contain (and what they can do to you) may surprise you.

Just got back from a wonderful festival called Sommelo, taking place in Finland (Kuhmo) and across the Russian border in Viena Karelia (part of the republic of Karelia).

This annual event, founded in 2006 by singer and song collector Pekka Huttu-Hiltunen, focuses especially on the old Karelian tradition of runo singing, epic songs with a typical meter of eight syllables. The young Finnish artists who are now reviving this ancient art form, study not only field recordings and transcriptions, but also visit the last remaining runolaulaja (female runo singers) still living in remote vilages in Viena Karelia.   Read more...

Between the 10th and 24th of September David and Cinthia, two of the FairMail teenage photographers are coming to the Netherlands for a big promotional campaign. During these two weeks they will be visiting different fairs, festivals and shops to tell the positive story behind FairMail.

Our clients in the Netherlands have the chance to win a private meeting with David and Cinthia! They will be visiting the winner together with the two initiators of FairMail. That can be at home to have breakfast together, or meeting in a nice cafe nearby in the evening. During the 'Meet and Greet' you will have the opportunity to personally get to know David and Cinthia and ask them whatever you want to. Maybe you can even give them tips on what pictures to take in the future!   Read more...

I draw this comic about a fictional couple. They face existential struggle daily! Well, 3 days a week. But, somehow Ellen's optimism always pulls them through.

www.webcomicsnation.com/boxbrown   Read more...

The Aravind Eye Hospitals in south India have contributed significantly to preventing debilitating blindness. Aravind was recently awarded the $1 million Gates Award. It all began with late Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy's dream. Ramesh Menon tracks down the pioneer.

Read full article: www.indiatogether.org/2008/jun/hlt-blindness.htm   Read more...

US driving is declining. Nantucket Sound wind power battle. Prius ads let you get away with murder. And check out the latest in weird stuff.   Read more...

What green-friendly lawn and garden pesticides are available today? I’m particularly interested in options that won’t harm my cats. -- Nancy Blanchard

Pesticides have greatly boosted agricultural yields over the last half century, so it is no wonder, given the commercial availability of many of these synthetic chemicals, that American homeowners apply 100 million pounds of the stuff each year to make their own gardens grow bigger and faster, too.   Read more...

I am excited to share my new website with my fellow Intelligent Optimists. It is called myskinbetter.com and is a source of natural, self care tips and suggestions for improving skin conditions. My goal, which I hope you'll help me achieve, is to share this free information with 10,000 people in 3 months.

The site explains how environment, washing, products, the mind, diet, allergies, and more affect the skin and what simple self-care actions a person can take to improve skin.   Read more...

I recently bumped into a “story” of a story, that became a book...

“Not Quit What I Was Planning ~ six word memoirs by writers famous and obscure" by Larry Smith and Rachel Ferschleiser, was inspired by the legend/story of how someone challenged Hemingway to write a story in six words or less, his response:   Read more...

A group of us who have been marketing technology since the early 80’s are applying our expertise to help increase the U.S. awareness of sustainability. As part of a sustainability initiative within our direct marketing company, RED Direct, we created a prototype Web environment at www.earthsayers.tv. We saw a need and decided to fill it.

EarthSayers is a Website dedicated to the sustainability movement. The .tv denotes we feature the voices of sustainability, audio and video from across the Web, not print. We aggregate content from over twenty channels including YouTube and Blip.tv and unlike any other site, in addition to focusing on sustainability, we cover multiple formats ranging from documentaries to news to lectures to interviews.   Read more...

In 2006, while still completing his studies in economics at Hampshire College, Alexander Petroff, the founder of Working Villages International, journeyed to the Ruzizi Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There his Congolese friends knew a progressive village chief who might be willing to donate land to start an eco-village for some of the victims of Congo’s ten year war

As Reiki originates in unity consciousness, so its practice also engenders the same. Let's understand how this happens. Earth and Celestial Ki are polar expressions, rather than being dualistic. There's a subtle distinction. Duality is one or the other, two oppositional forces that are separate. Water in the refrigerator is cold; water boiled in a kettle is hot. It's tough to jump from these directly to warm. Yet introduce polarity and the possibility of blending hot and cold appears. Polarity is the balance between two complementary states. It's the in-between state that can take us from duality to unity.   Read more...

Prof. Robert Thurman (www.bobthurman.com) will be in Boulder, Colorado on July 23rd for a book signing and interview at the Boulder Theater. It promises to be an amazing time with an amazing man. Come check it out!

www.bouldertheater.com/event_detail.php?id=896   Read more...

Get ready for the trip of a lifetime: yours. www.evolutionthroughvacation.com

Hi everyone! My name is Elissa. My colleague Gretchen + I have created something really fun and we'd love your input! It's called Evolution Through Vacation. And it helps transform vacations into powerful, personal development experiences.   Read more...

YouTube star, Matt Harding, became a video start when he released his debut video "Where in the hell is Matt" in 2005 where he danced around the world. After 10 million people tuned in to watch Matt bust a move on an international level, Stride gum came calling and paid him to do the whole thing all over again, this time joined by his new legion of fans.   Read more...

We live in a society that is fast-paced, consumer-oriented, and often impersonal. For this reason, so many people now crave