This year Ode launches its first annual Intelligent Optimists Issue where we will feature people who are not famous yet but should be because of the work they are doing to bring positive change to their communities, their countries, and the world. As part of this special issue, we would like to hear your nominations, too: tales of ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Just tell us who your nominee is and write a few lines explaining why this person is special and why their work is important. Nominate your favorite Intelligent Optimist!
José Luis Zárate is the International Program Director at Coffee Kids, a non-profit dedicated to helping coffee-farming families improve their quality of life. Millions of people worldwide are completely dependent on coffee for their income. Coffee Kids sponsors grassroots programs managed by people in coffee-farming communities to promote alternatives to coffee and create more vibrant local economies. Read more...
A remarkable man who can see, explain and motivate others to live their beliefs. Steaphen's ability to cut through to the core of how we should live our beliefs and values is valid in both work and personal life. It transcends boundaries imposed by our own artificial boundaries.
Steaphen is the author of a range of books that reveal how underlying quantum physics principles operate in everyday life, and how those principles can be engaged and beneficially applied. Read more...
Dhammananda is a former University Professor in Eastern Filosofy in Bangkok Thailand, who became the first Bhikkhuni (female monk) in Thailand. She is the abbess of the only female temple in Thailand: Sondhammakalyani Temple in Nakhon Pathom.
Female ordination was never introduced in Thailand, and still the official Sangha refuses admittance to women. There are 300,000 monks in Thailand, temporarily ordained or for life. Young boys from poor families can get education by entering a temple. Young girls are not allowed. Read more...
Andre Soares and his wife Lucy arrived at a totally devastated area in the Brazilian Cerrado 10 years ago with the mission of spreading the permaculture principals and changing the world by changing their own.
They found Ecocentre IPEC - Institute of Permaculture and Ecovilas of the Cerrado - in the heart of Brazil. Today the Ecocentre is the biggest reference in social technologies in the country and abroad. The land once devastated is now lush, full of animals and food. Annually, the Ecocentre teaches thousands of people how to live sustainable lives, how to build cheap solar power panels and capture rain water, among others. IPEC works with sustainable solutions in food, energy, water, construction and waste management. Read more...
This man is what can be called a modern day Da Vinci. He has spent the last 25 years envisioning a possible future for society, called The Venus Project. To tell all of his accomplishments would be overdoing it, so for those who wish to see the entire list try this link: www.thevenusproject.com/jacqueResume.php
Though I personally think he sometimes surpasses the importance of inherent human emotions (claiming there is no precedent to determine human behaviour in a different form of society), his ideas concerning the construction of a new resource-based economy hold powerful evolutionary advantages for us all, if we would open our eyes to see it. Read more...
Brilliant. Inspired. Caring. Ori Schnapps is a software engineer and founder of the free personal financial advice service Thrive. This site gives Americans the ability to better their lives by allowing users to make informed and actionable financial choices.
Ori is one of our generation's truly inspired ethical visionaries. When he noticed that his twenty and thirty-something peers had little access to credible financial planning, he sat down at a computer for two years, and, built a site to fix the problem! Read more...
For almost ten years, a clown troupe based in Guatemala has been performing shows about HIV and AIDS to indigenous communities throughout Central America. Proyecto Payaso, or The Clown Project, is a non-profit organization comprised of performers - both indigenous and non-indigenous - who see clowning as a powerful way to address the issue.
"The clown is poetic, naive, innocent and can speak about anything without shame," explained Project co-founder Stephane Gue, a clown of 15 years. "Through clowning you can open a door, you can start a debate about sexuality in all its complexity. You can talk about condoms, what is safe sex, what is important in your relationship." Read more...
Gabriela Cordon has had many successes in her career, but she considers La Cambalacha her "obra maestra," or masterpiece.
"If someone had shown me in a crystal ball where we'd be today, I wouldn't have believed it," said the 33-year old Guatemalan-American dancer and founder of La Cambalacha, an arts and education school based in San Marcos La Laguna in western Guatemala. Read more...
Charles Paul is the co-founder and CEO of Worldwise Education, a socially conscious company that promotes youth empowerment through the arts while providing resources to struggling teachers and schools.
Charles worked as a high school teacher in the early 80’s, but at that time, his teacher's salary couldn't support his young family. He moved into mergers and acquisitions and successfully closed nearly $1 billion in transactions. So with the sale of his Charles Paul & Company in 2001, he took an early retirement and set sail with his wife Kathy to explore the South Pacific on their 60-foot schooner, The Bird of Paradise. The Pauls were not typical tourists. Read more...
Mr. Chugh is Biology/Biotechnology teacher at Acalanes high school. His biotech course is one of the few scholastic places I have encountered where discussion of issues (both moral and scientific) are so eagerly encouraged. Mr Chugh honestly believes that all of his students can succeed in his class, and he goes to great lengths to encourage us. He tells us every week how our generation still has the potential to change the world for the better. He also happens to be really intelligent (he was a college-level professor, but he preferred to be able to form actual relationships with his students.) He believes that educating people and keeping a positive outlook are the best ways to change the world. Read more...
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