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.

  Read more...

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