Go ahead…laugh
February 25, 2009 | Filed Under Great ideas, Health | Leave a Comment
Interesting concept. I’d definitely like to try Laughter Yoga. I know that I’m certainly prone to the contagion of laughter. Anyone else in San Antonio curious?
Pay it forward
February 19, 2009 | Filed Under Challenge, Great ideas, Random | 2 Comments
Got an idea that can help millions?
September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Challenge, Great ideas, Plain cool, Watch this | Leave a Comment
Google’s hosting a competition for great ideas that can benefit the lives of millions. The more you help, the better your chances of winning. Find out more here. The deadline is October 20, 2008.
Laughter: Finding the good
September 19, 2008 | Filed Under Great ideas, Inspiring, Plain cool, Random, Watch this | Leave a Comment
There’s a connection between being able to find the good and being optimistic. Optimists are usually in high spirits. Laughter is one of the ingredients of that condition. This made me laugh, so I thought I’d share.
The book she’s reading from is Thank you and You’re Welcome by Kanye West and j. SaKiya Sandifer. SaKiya’s mission is to be a spark to those who want to create a positive change in their lives. Being a friend of his, I can personally attest to the fact that he is definitely a spark and will make you think during every single interaction with him. His first book is actually entitled Think Think Think and Think Again. Both are worthwhile reads that are certain to be of inspiration to you on some level or another.
What’s good? Critical Education Theory and this man…
September 2, 2008 | Filed Under Consider this, Great ideas, Inspiring, Learn something, Moment of Truth, Read this | Leave a Comment
Safe water shortage…solution
July 18, 2008 | Filed Under Give time/money, Great ideas, Health, Plain cool | 3 Comments
The UN established Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as part of the Millennium Declaration adopted in 189 nations and signed by 147 state and government heads in 2000. Those eight goals are as follows:
- Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
- Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
- Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
- Goal 5: Improve maternal health
- Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
- Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
One company that understands the roles of corporate social responsibility and social enterprise is working to address a few of those MDGs. The name is Vestergaard Frandsen and they offer several innovative life-saving and quality-of-life-enhancing products that would make any social entrepreneur or human rights activist proud.
The product I fancy most at the moment is the LifeStraw, available for individual or family use. LifeStraw Personal filters a minimum of 700 liters, while the LifeStraw Family filters a minimum of 15,000 liters of water. It would take 40 faucet-mount Brita filters to treat the amount of water just one LifeStraw Family can. And how much is it? $15, half of the cost of one Brita filter. Awesome.
At any given moment, about half of the world’s poor are suffering from waterborne disease, of which over 6,000 – mainly children – die each day by consuming unsafe drinking water.
Today, more than one billion people of the world’s population are without access to safe drinking water, causing lack of safe water supply to rob women and young girls of dignity, literacy and time.
Safe water interventions have vast potential to transform the lives of millions of people. Water filtration tools not only provide safe drinking water but also have a positive health impact on the most vulnerable populations, including young children, pregnant women and those with debilitated immune systems.
Go here if you’d like to help end the safe water shortage by donating a LifeStraw Family. Read more about the LifeStraw here. Discover other portable water systems here.
Read more
Majorly discounted food
June 8, 2008 | Filed Under Great ideas, Plain cool | Leave a Comment
The slowing economy is hurting a lot of people’s pockets. Food prices are rising and wages aren’t. Where’s the relief?Â
Well, I’m glad you asked. 
 I just discovered a site called Angel Food Ministries that will provide relief for many for as long as they can. For $30, you can order a medium-sized box of food valued at about $65. The drop occurs only once a month, with different order and pick-up times for different parts of the country. The drawback is that you have to order the food 2 weeks before you pick it up, but if it’ll save you 50%, I’d have to say it’s worth it.Â
Just type in your zip code to locate the closest hosting site to you–usually a church–and place your order directly with them.
Here’s next month’s menu. Thirty bucks gets you:
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Unfortunately, this doesn’t at all work with my pescatarian/vegan/”healthy” diet. But maybe it works for you.
Tonight: Do the world a favor
April 1, 2008 | Filed Under Consider this, Do your research!, Great ideas, Inspiring, Pay attention, Plain cool, Spotlight | Leave a Comment
My last trip to New York provided me with the opportunity to see a film I’ve been interested in seeing for over four months and the opportunity to speak with the subject of the film, biotect Michael Reynolds. On Tuesday, April 1st at 9 pm est/pst, the Sundance Channel will begin its second season of The Green premiering that film, The Garbage Warrior, which introduces viewers to Reynolds and his brilliant homes, earthships.Â
Before watching Garbage Warrior, I was already enthralled with the idea of earthships. I was certain that I wanted one and became an informal spokesperson for these houses, which are completely self-sustaining. They produce their own electricity, their own heat, contain and treat both water and sewage, and render the perfect atmosphere for food production. They’ll survive 30-below-zero winters, earthquakes, and hurricanes. Seriously, they’re wonderful and necessary. The film traces Reynold’s journey to getting the Sustainable Development Testing Site Act passed in New Mexico which allows for the testing of sustainable homebuilding technologies.Â
After seeing this film, more than ever, I know that I need to get a piece of land and build one of these homes. I urge you to watch this film, screening on Sundance tonight at 9:40 pm e/p; Friday, April 4th at 10:40 am e/p; and Sunday, April 6th at 3:40 pm e/p. Garbage Warrior is also available for viewing OnDemand on the Sundance Channel.
I’m inspired!
February 29, 2008 | Filed Under Give time/money, Great ideas, Inspiring, Plain cool | Leave a Comment
My very favorite organization at this exact moment is 826 National, a “family of seven nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping students, ages 6-18, with expository and creative writing.” The idea behind the organization is that writing is a democratic process that children need to learn to actively engage in society and that children need one-on-one attention to maximize their educational experiences. They offer free tutoring, field trips, workshops, and in-school programs.Â
All locations are locally designed and locally funded. To assist in funding, each chapter has its own unique retail experience…and they do mean experience. There’s a pirate store in San Francisco, a superhero supply store in Brooklyn, the Boring Store featuring secret agent supplies in Chicago, and the Big Foot Research Institute in Boston. Each location has a storefront with an off-beat retail idea that piques your curiosity while the mission of the stores makes you want to buy something simply because it’s for a great cause.Â
The founder, Dave Eggers, is one of this year’s TED prize winners. As a TED prize winner, you get $100,000 and the chance to make a wish to change the world.  TED helps to make that wish a reality with funding, collaboration, and by providing the platform for them to speak. Eggers wish was that everyone at the TED conference directly engages with the public schools in their area. As the result of that wish, Eggers and TED teamed up with a local website design company to create Once Upon A School, where people can share ideas about engaging with local schools, be inspired by those ideas, and share their stories.Â
The 826 projects are such wonderful ideas that have the ability to create so much positive change in our neighborhoods and country. There should be more than seven of them and, in fact, there are plans to create more in the future. Currently, though, the organization is dedicating its resources to further developing the centers already instituted, but offer information and ideas as to how you can be of service to the children in your community. If you happen to live in an area with an 826 location, please consider volunteering.Â
What’s your form of service and/or activism?
Great Idea!
February 29, 2008 | Filed Under Consider this, Great ideas, Inspiring, Plain cool | 1 Comment
As a most-of-the-time loner, I would’ve never thought I’d be so into the idea of community, yet I am. Perhaps because I don’t think I’ve experienced the living ideal very much in American cities. Perhaps because Americans ironically pride themselves on rugged individualism, despite actively engaging in an economic structure that cannot flourish without dependency.Â
Anyway, I just learned about a small, developing community in Carroll County, Georgia, about 50 miles southwest of Atlanta by the name of Brokenfoot Ranch. It’s such a cool idea because what makes this community different–and real–is that it’s an agrarian community whose basis is centered around the farm. Communal and domestic land will account for only 10% of the 66 acres, while the remaining 90% will remain dedicated to the forest and organic agriculture.
With some experience of community living, and the good fortune to live on 66 acres of rural land in Carroll County, Georgia (about 50 miles west/southwest of Atlanta not far from the Alabama line), I am working to create Brokenfoot Ranch, a small organic farm community whose members will share the work, responsibilities, and rewards of an agrarian, environmentally-friendly, humane, and socially-just way of life.
Brokenfoot Ranch won’t appeal to everyone. For example, it won’t be a co-housing development, although some of the design principles are similar. It won’t be a hippie commune, a religious institution, a haven for malcontents, or a place for people who like to talk about what ought to be done, but suddenly disappear when it’s time to “git’r done”.
Brokenfoot Ranch will make sense to people who aspire to a more environmentally-sound, community-based, agricultural way of life – and are committed to investing themselves personally, socially, economically to make this a reality. Brokenfoot Ranch is about the genuine spirit of sharing, cooperation, and careful stewardship of the Earth’s gifts. It is about the hard work, sincerity, humility, and joyfulness needed to create a sane way of life over the long term.
Read more about the ranch here and if you’re interested in visiting and/or learning more about the ranch, please contact Myra Banes at 770.258.3344 or at 404.895.7057 by telephone or at verdolagas[at]toast.net by email.
I’d love to see this idea reworked to be as self-sufficient as possible, utilizing biotecture such as Earthships and definitely an extensive herb garden. 
 I can have lots of fun with this idea…I hope you can, too.
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