With the release of a new computer game, video gamers can build their own civilizations. They can wage wars, conduct diplomacy and even discover new technologies in their virtual wold. But before they begin, each gamer will help choose a charity to receive a quarter of a million dollars in the real world to improve education around the globe.
Video Gamers Help Choose a Charity for Quarter Million Dollar Grant
Video Gamers Help Choose a Charity for Quarter Million Dollar Grant
With the release of a new computer game, video gamers can build their own civilizations. They can wage wars, conduct diplomacy and even discover new technologies in their virtual wold. But before they begin, each gamer will help choose a charity to receive a quarter of a million dollars in the real world to improve education around the globe.
100 Million Poor Families to Get Clean-Burning Stoves From Mrs. Clinton
As the primary cooking and heating tool for nearly three billion people, traditional cookstoves and open fires cause 1.9 million premature deaths worldwide each year.
They not only endanger the lives of women and children but with their billowing smoke, also rank as a major contributor to global warming.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced a new partnership that will create a global market for clean and efficient cooking stoves designed to save lives, improve livelihoods, protect trees, and cut global carbon emissions. She predicted, “Clean stoves could be as transformative as bed nets or vaccines.”
The ultimate goal of the new “Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves” will be getting the stoves into the hands of 100 million households by the year 2020.
100 Million Poor Families to Get Clean-Burning Stoves From Mrs. Clinton
As the primary cooking and heating tool for nearly three billion people, traditional cookstoves and open fires cause 1.9 million premature deaths worldwide each year. They not only endanger the lives of women and children, but with their billowing smoke, also rank as a major contributor to global warming.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced a new partnership that will create a global market for clean and efficient cooking stoves designed to save lives, improve livelihoods, protect trees, and cut global carbon emissions. She predicted, “Clean stoves could be as transformative as bed nets or vaccines.”
The ultimate goal of the new “Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves” will be getting the stoves into the hands of 100 million households by the year 2020.
Post-Katrina, Innovative Charter School in New Orleans Sets Example for Nation
Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has become a laboratory for all sorts of charter schools.
One school promising a college prep environment opened its doors to incoming freshman in the desolate Ninth Ward, where most of the students entered with reading skills at only a fourth grade level.
By focusing on enthusiasm for the goals of reaching college and daily character growth, the Science & Math Academy has designed a program that both addresses their deficits and accelerates them beyond the average. And, the program is working.
In two years, as founder and incoming principal, 28-year-old Ben Marcovitz has taken the original freshman class, previously with little hope for a successful future, to nearly the top of the city’s list for overall test scores.
WATCH the video to witness the transformation of kids enrolled at Sci Academy…
Post-Katrina, Innovative Charter School in New Orleans Sets Example for Nation
Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has become a laboratory for all sorts of charter schools.
One school that promises a college prep environment in the desolate Ninth Ward opened its doors to incoming freshman who mostly entered with reading skills at only a fourth grade level.
By focusing on enthusiasm for the goals of reaching college and daily character growth, the Science & Math Academy has designed a program that both addresses their deficits and accelerates them beyond the average. And, the program is working.
In two years, as founder and incoming principal, 28-year-old Ben Marcovitz has taken the original freshman class, previously with little hope for a successful future, to nearly the top of the city’s list for overall test scores.
How Obama’s Stimulus is Creating Green Jobs
President Obama’s stimulus package is funding green technology around the nation – creating jobs, spurring innovation and quietly transforming the U.S. economy.
A portion of last year’s Recovery Act went towards fulfilling a campaign pledge: 1 million electric cars on U.S. highways by 2015. To that end, $2.4 billion was intended to jump start an entire industry geared toward the production of lighter, more energy-dense lithium-ion batteries to power the next generation of vehicles.
But Stimulus investments in green technology aren’t just about electric cars.
(READ the report by Dan Heffernan in Reuters)
TOP VIDEOS: No More Exercise Excuses for YOU!
Featured in this Nike ‘No Excuses’ commercial is someone who actually HAS an excuse for not exercising. Do you?
Watch UW-Whitewater Basketball Player Matt Scott…
(Watch until the end.) Thanks to Lexie for submitting the link!
Bumper Crop of Kemps Turtles is Encouraging, Relocation Efforts in Gulf a Success
Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are considered the most endangered sea turtle in the world, and are exceedingly rare visitors on North Carolina beaches.
Yet Kemp’s ridley turtles have been showing up this year in increasing numbers in North Carolina’s coastal waters, according to a report in the Winston-Salem Journal.
Alhough she doesn’t know why the turtles, which are strictly protected by national and state law, are more prevelant, Karen Sota, a leader at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, said it was a “good sign.”
The map below shows the historic range of the species.
Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that efforts to move thousands of turtle eggs away from damaged beaches in Florida has been largely successful. Around 14,000 baby turtles have hatched safely after being relocated.
Bumper Crop of Kemps Turtles is Encouraging, Relocation Efforts in Gulf a Success
Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are considered the most endangered sea turtle in the world, and are exceedingly rare visitors on North Carolina beaches.
Yet Kemp’s ridley turtles have been showing up this year in increasing numbers in North Carolina’s coastal waters, according to a report in the Winston-Salem Journal.
Alhough she doesn’t know why the turtles, which are strictly protected by national and state law, are more prevelant, Karen Sota, a leader at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, said it was a “good sign.”
The map below shows the historic range of the species.
Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that efforts to move thousands of turtle eggs away from damaged beaches in Florida has been largely successful. Around 14,000 baby turtles have hatched safely after being relocated.
Radio Personality Searches for Passion as Volunteer for 30 Charities in 30 Days
On September 1st, New York City based radio personality, Trey Morgan embarked on a journey designed to shock him into a more philanthropic way of life. He hopes his non-profit quest to volunteer for 30 charities in 30 days finally ends the quandary which has kept him from volunteering in the past, namely, among so many great charities, which group to choose.
A daily blog, 30 Deeds 30 Days, details his experiences as he goes from one volunteer gig to the next, all while holding down his DJ job and making it home for dinner with his wife. He plans to write a book cataloguing the charity types and providing tips for those who want to give back, but are frozen at the starting line.
A radio personality for New York City’s Z100, Morgan was drawn to charities that help animals or involve music, and because of a family string of illnesses, to cancer-related causes. Many are local charities, but he is also trying out some of the most well-known groups, like Habitat for Humanity and the Ronald McDonald House.
Of the challenge, Morgan says, “It’s so important to give back. With my reach over the airwaves, hopefully I’ll be able to inspire others by showing that even an ambitious feat like this is attainable, all it takes is a commitment.”
So far, one of his favorite charities has been Musicians On Call, which brings music to the bedsides of hospital patients and sick kids. Other non-profits slated to be involved include: Rosie’s Broadway Kids, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Morgan was also inspired to donate a portion of his book proceeds to benefit the organizations he volunteers with.
A Friendly Touch Can Transmit Success to Students, Athletes and Patients
Social scientists have shown in many studies over the years that a supportive touch can have good outcomes in a number of different realms.
Just somebody simply touching our arm and holding it, buffers the physiological consequences of the stress hormone cortisol, lights up the orbital frontal cortex, and increases the release of oxytocin, creating a pleasant sensation that promotes trust.
(READ the story or LISTEN at NPR)
Kohl’s Stores Reach Milestone With 100th Solar Location
After installing its first solar panels atop a California store three years ago, Kohl’s Department Stores marked a bright green milestone last week activating its 100th solar rooftop in Mays Landing, New Jersey. Solar is an integral component of the company’s commitment to be carbon neutral by the end of 2010.
Don’t Forget: The Bailouts Worked (Newsweek Op-Ed)
One year ago, after the fall of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. government made a series of massive moves to restore stability to the financial system. And it’s clear that those actions saved the American—and thus the global—economy from total collapse (and another Great Depression).
The financial system bounced back so fast that the government will likely recover almost 90 percent of the funds it committed during those months, yet the policy remains very unpopular. Why?
Governance is sometimes about practical realities. Had the financial system gone under, the American economy would have come to a standstill. It very nearly did.
(READ the Op-Ed by Fareed Zakari in Newsweek)
3 Teams Win Automotive X Prize With Cars That Achieve 100mpg
Teams from Virginia, North Carolina and Switzerland have won the first Automotive X Prize, the $10 million competition to push the fuel-efficiency boundary with vehicles that achieve at least 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent. While two winners achieved the goal using electric motors, the top winner did it with an internal combustion engine.
The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational nonprofit, along Progressive Insurance, awarded $10 million Thursday to three teams —Edison2 of Lynchburg, Virginia; X-Tracer of Winterthur, Switzerland; and Li-ion Motors Corp. of Mooresville, North Carolina — from an original field of 111 competing teams, representing 136 vehicle entries from around the world. The winning vehicles were showcased to an audience of auto industry, business and government leaders.
3 Teams Win Automotive X Prize With Cars That Achieve 100mpg
Teams from Virginia, North Carolina and Switzerland have won the first Automotive X Prize, the $10 million competition to push the fuel-efficiency boundary with vehicles that achieve at least 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent. While two winners achieved the goal using electric motors, the top winner did it with an internal combustion engine.
The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational nonprofit, along Progressive Insurance, awarded $10 million Thursday to three teams —Edison2 of Lynchburg, Virginia; X-Tracer of Winterthur, Switzerland; and Li-ion Motors Corp. of Mooresville, North Carolina — from an original field of 111 competing teams, representing 136 vehicle entries from around the world. The winning vehicles were showcased to an audience of auto industry, business and government leaders.
UN Finds Global Hunger Easing in 2010
The number of people in the world suffering chronic malnutrition fell for the first time in 15 years — down 9.3 percent in 2010, according to the United Nations’ food agency. – FAO
South Africa, 2010 – The Year it Became Fashionable to Do Good
It wasn’t only government who made the South African World Cup a success. It was the 15,000 citizens who volunteered — South Africans who experienced patriotism like they hadn’t felt in years, or maybe ever.
The camaraderie and shared experiences of ordinary citizens gave strangers a sense of belonging and left us with the realization that we are able to achieve what we set our minds to.
Positive media reports boosted our confidence and created a new self-image, one that led a South African citizen to believe, “I can make a difference”.
Following on from there, we have seen a movement for good spreading throughout the country, so much so that it has become fashionable to do good.
(READ the Op/Ed in Good News South Africa)
World Cup photo 2010, Agencia Brasil, CC license
Will And Jada Smith Donate Their September Birthdays To Charity for Water
Today is Jada Pinkett Smith’s birthday and along with her husband Will Smith, she has joined Charity Water in celebrating both their September birthdays by asking friends and fans to make donations to help build water projects in developing nations. In the last two days they have raised over $19,000.
The Smiths are hosting a contest where the top three fundraisers who start their own birthday campaigns will join the Smith family on a trip to visit the completed water projects in Africa.
WATCH the Smith’s video below, and read more…
Will And Jada Smith Donate Their September Birthdays To Charity for Water
Today is Jada Pinkett Smith’s birthday and along with her husband Will Smith, she has joined Charity Water in celebrating both their September birthdays by asking friends and fans to make donations to help build water projects in developing nations. In the last two days they have raised over $19,000.
The Smiths are hosting a contest where the top three fundraisers who start their own birthday campaigns will join the Smith family on a trip to visit the completed water projects in Africa.
WATCH the Smith’s video below, and read more…