In Oslo this morning it was announced that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 will be awarded to President Barack Obama for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
In a press release, the Norwegian committee explained their decision:
In every town, big and small, there are people feeling turmoil and fear. Maybe they lost a job, a home, or a loved one. Maybe they struggle with disease or economical hardship. In every case, hope is needed. In every case, hope can be shared with a very simple action.
We hope this homemade sign donated to the local Salvation Army will be viewed at moments when it is needed the most and that it can provide the simple word someone needs in their darkest hour.
The sign reads ‘HOPE’. The Salvation Army Captain in the Wisconsin town had an idea where to put it as soon as he read it. The look on his face showed appreciation, with a touch of bewilderment. This organization sees first hand the struggles of so many people. The reason for the sign is to help lives who are in need of believing in a better tomorrow. A simple word can say so much. Life dishes out hard hits and unjust situations for all of us at one time or another. We hope for an answer, a change of circumstance, or even a miracle. Some are hanging on to hope with all the strength they have.
What would life be like, living with no hope? What would the world be like? I have often heard ‘there is no hope’ for some people or circumstances. I do not believe it. I have seen that things can change.
We spent about 6 hours making the sign. Each letter was cut out, sanded, stained, and made to spell out the word. You’d think that it would be hard to part with something upon which we worked so hard. It wasn’t.
A car was filled with people outside this building. Everything they owned was tied to the top. I felt bad that I could not give more. I wanted to reach in my pocket and give them the money needed. My pockets were empty though. I’ll probably never forget the looks of despair on their faces.
I am not one who can walk away and pretend that I didn’t see someone hurting. I was asked by one of the people if I could help them out with some gas money. I told him that I was flat broke today and had brought only a sign saying the words ‘hope’. I felt stupid and it was clumsy. I was sure they were thinking that ‘hope’ would not fill their gas tank. The answer back I will also always remember “Thank you. Hope is what we need most right now”. With that our lives went two separate directions.
What an uplifting project this would be for craft hobbyists. Maybe someone reading this will work on a similar sign. The places that can use these simple messages are all around us. It will make a difference.
UPDATE: The response received from Captain Brian was what fuels this project.
Thank you so very much. I read your post on the blog and was very touched by it and the comments posted by others. My plan is to place “Hope” in our homeless shelter in such a way that it’s the first thing the residents see as they walk in the doors, ushering them into a place of hope.
–Capt. Brian
This story has also been featured at a website which has brought over 5000 viewers since September 13,2009. Skipping a stone takes on a life of it’s own. Thank you.
Visit the Sequoia Project
Some people call New York City a concrete jungle. And these days you can even take a “safari” to check out the exotic wildlife. Released or escaped parrots and their offspring are building colonies in a Brooklyn park, far from their species native lands, having adapted to a much cooler climate.
(Watch AFP Video on YouTube)
(UPDATED: original version called the birds parakeets. Thanks to Entera for the correction.)
In a world first, Canadian scientists have decoded all three billion letters in the DNA sequence of a metastatic breast cancer tumor and identified the mutations that caused the original tumour to spread.
The landmark study by researchers at the B.C. Cancer Agency is a major step toward unravelling the mysteries of how cancer begins and what makes it move to other parts of the body.
(Continue reading in HealthZone.ca)
(Stock photo purchased)
A cluster of 20 solar-powered homes will open their doors to tourists as well as energy and design enthusiasts tomorrow in the 4th Solar Decathlon on the National Mall in Washington.
Teams of architecture and engineering students from colleges around the world are competing in the contest, sponsored by the Department of Energy as a showcase for the potential of solar energy.
Sometime today, each of the 800-square-foot buildings will be connected to a “microgrid” set up for the event, to feed excess electricity to the local power grid. In the next ten days, students will have to perform everyday tasks, such as cooking, doing the laundry, and even washing dishes, to test the energy efficiency of their homes.
They are miserable-looking creatures. Featherless, off-balance, skittish to the point of terror. Also, incredibly lucky. These are “rescue” chickens, formerly caged as egg producers in an industrial hatchery somewhere in southern Ontario.
The chickens are being used as therapy animals to treat a small group of troubled children living in a nearby group home. Shepherd thought interacting with the chickens might help teach the boys empathy. “But they were already so gentle with them, right from the start,” she says. “They worry if the chickens are afraid or if its sweater is too tight.”
The shy boy from Malawi, William Kamkwamba, who became a global sensation after he taught himself to build a windmill to power his family’s shack, visited with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show last night.
Watch the charming interview below, about how he transformed his family and village with his electric windmill made out of junk. His new book on Amazon is called, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
A young Chicago medical school gradute is travelling to five countries in 30 days with a big mission — to raise money for a school in Zambia that his parents founded for orphaned and abandoned children.
Greg Krause, 39, bought a JetBlue All You Can Jet Pass, a promotional offer that allowed 30 days of unlimited flights for $599. He began his jet-setting journey on Sept. 8 in Chicago and will end his trip tomorrow in the same city. During that time he will fly more than 55,000 miles and visit 27 cities in five countries to spread the word about the school.
He found a sponsoring partner for his trip in Orphan’s Promise, an extension of the Christian Broadcasting Network that helps orphans and vulnerable children around the world. Watch the inspiring CBN video below.
Many local economists and child welfare advocates were puzzled this week when new census data came out showing a 3 percentage-point drop in Baltimore’s childhood poverty rate from 2007 to 2008 — despite the economic recession.
The truth is Baltimore’s poverty rate for children has been on the steady decline for at least two decades, representing tremendous progress compared to other cities.
(Continue reading editorial by Andrew A. Green in Baltimore Sun)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
A British man who was injured in a car crash more than 50 years ago has miraculously grown back his skull.
72-year-old Gordon Moore had worn a metal plate to protect his brain after an accident, and when surgeons removed it, they found his skull had regenerated underneath.
Doctors say it is an extremely rare medical occurrence, and it is believed there has been only one other similar case in the world.
(Continue reading on AU Yahoo7 News)
Also, see the photos at the BBC …
In a historic step this week, the nonprofit Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine, unveiled the first television advertisement in its 72-year history: a spot that encourages Congress to overhaul health care this year.
The 30-second advertisement, which features Consumers Union President and Chief Executive Officer James A. Guest, puts the reputation and clout of the iconic consumer empire firmly behind fundamental change to the way Americans are insured and receive their health care.
“We want to emphasize the consumer voice and underscore that when it finally comes down to it, the ultimate constituent is the consumer,” he says.
(Continue reading interview on NPR)
Africa is changing faster than many realize, and there is definite momentum for economic reform and development — similar to trends in both India and China.
The best example of that momentum is in telecommunications, said longtime investment banker Thomas Gibian, speaking to the Seventh Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Washington on September 30.
There are approximately 390 million cell phone subscribers presently in Africa, with the rate of growth for the entire continent at more than 58 percent per year.
Gibian predicted that the next “game-changer” for Africa will be affordable high-speed Internet coming around both coasts, a change that is also already under way.
(Continue reading at America.gov)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation will unveil a house today in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood that was largely wiped away by Katrina floodwaters. The house is different from others that were rebuilt after the hurricane: It floats.
The Float House is a new model for flood-safe, affordable and sustainable housing that is designed to float securely with rising water levels. It is the brainchild of Morphosis Architects and its founder, Thom Mayne, winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize.
“We rethought the idea of a house in terms of the potential conditions of the flooding that took place in Katrina,” Mayne tells Melissa Block.
He says the designers gave the building a chassis, made it out of polystyrene foam and covered it with glass-reinforced concrete.
The “Save the Dream” Tour is traveling across the country, stopping in cities nationwide to rewrite contracts for people whose mortgages have become unaffordable. Thousands of homeowners at each workshop get interest rates reduced immediately, often drastically resulting in payments cut almost in half.
All the services are free. The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) is a non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization. Their ability to restructure mortgages comes from agreements they have with many of the biggest lenders, like Wells, Chase, Citi, Bank of America and others.
The tour leaves Phoenix tonight heading for Las Vegas next weekend and San Francisco the following week.
Watch the 9-minute video about the group’s formation and success across the country…
The “Save the Dream” Tour is traveling across the country, stopping in cities nationwide to rewrite contracts for people whose mortgages have become unaffordable. Thousands of homeowners at each workshop get interest rates reduced immediately, often drastically resulting in payments cut almost in half.
All the services are free. The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) is a non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization. Their ability to restructure mortgages comes from agreements they have with many of the biggest lenders, like Wells, Chase, Citi, Bank of America and others.
The tour leave Phoenix tonight heading for Las Vegas next weekend and San Francisco the following week. (See their full calendar and sign up to attend the event at the NACA website .
Watch Sunday’s News report below from KPHO, or read it here: $1,300 Mortgage Payment Becomes $700.
Watch the 9-minute video about the group’s formation and success across the country at the bottom of the page…
Despite almost hunting these beautiful creatures to extinction, humpback whales may soon be graduating from the endangered species list, thanks to efforts that led to steady population growth.
Researchers last year found the North Pacific population had annually grown 4-7 percent, to an estimated 19,000 animals, from fewer than 1,400 before the 1960’s ban on whaling.
On December 7, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to determine the fate of our planet. Meanwhile, the International Advertising Association and a coalition of the world’s leading marketing and media agencies have joined together to work pro bono for the United Nations to create public pressure for bold action.
They aim to turn Copenhagen into “Hopenhagen”.
The international campaign, led by a new agency in the Ogilvy public relations advertising universe called Ogilvy Earth, launched September 21 with a petition drive, website and video ad.
Hopenhagen will allow citizens to make their voices heard to world leaders and the conference delegates attending the meeting. The ultimate call to action will be to secure signatures for the “Climate Change” petition in support of the UN, which calls for a climate treaty that is “ambitious, fair and effective in reducing emissions.”
A variety of new technologies are gearing up to grab climate-warming carbon right out of the air.
This is different from trapping carbon dioxide as it comes out of pollution sources like factories and power plants. This so-called air capture technology could be set up anywhere and suck carbon directly from the atmosphere.
Chemicals giant BASF and glass and ceramics firm Corning are working with a team at Columbia University in New York on a company called Global Thermostat to develop an carbon capture device.
(Continue reading the Reuters report)
Related 2008 Story: New Machine Scrubs CO2 From the Air (photo, right, University of Calgary Scientists with carbon scrubber)
A battlefield visit to the Swat Valley of Pakistan’s war against the Taliban left “one indelible image” upon David Ignatius of the Washington Post — “of a teenage boy’s beaming smile of relief.” The traumatized boy was a symbol of what a successful counterinsurgency campaign is all about: He had been in training to become a suicide bomber; now he is being rehabilitated after being reunited with his family.
The Swat campaign shows how the Pakistanis finally got it right after years of mishandling the Taliban’s rise here. “We told our majors and captains, ‘People should fall in love with you,’ ” explains the Pakistani commander.
An Escondido man with a passion for the bright orange-and-black monarch butterfly will play a key role in the restoration of the butterfly’s winter home in Mexico’s Sierra Madre as a result of a bi-national initiative announced last week at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s climate summit.
Bill Toone’s California nonprofit environmental group ECOLIFE is aiming to plant 1 million trees a year in the lofty mountain range where an estimated 750 million monarch butterflies winter.
“We’re trying to repair decades and decades of damage,” Toone said, in a telephone interview. “Trees are leaving illegally at a very unsustainable rate.”
