British doctors have revived a 12-year-old girl’s dormant heart after 10 years to reimplant it after her transplanted organ began to cause problems. It appears that because the heart had been given a chance to rest it became healthier and more able to sustain life. Read about the stunning turn of events, and the good news for Hannah Clark, from South Wales.
Polar Robot to Roam South Pole doing Science Experiments
Look at the Cool Robot! That’s the name for the new solar-powered mobile science station built by Dartmouth students and faculty to specifically withstand the harsh conditions of the Antarctic plateau. The finished product is designed to navigate itself over 1000 km, using the abundant solar energy of the Antarctic summer, and carry out an array of scientific experiments without human intervention. WorldChanging.com is an excellent site and has the story and links.
1,000-Home Eco-Neighborhood Planned for London; 100% Renewable
At least 1,000 homes will be open for residents maybe as soon as 2010, all powered entirely by renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and the burning of waste. The mayor of London made the announcement today and GreenPeace will play a role.
Homes for Convicted Prostitutes Transforming Women’s Lives
Magdalene is a two-year sanctuary for women with a criminal history of prostitution and drug abuse. It provides safety, discipline, and “an unconditional love that the women have never known — it has apparently worked wonders.”
The community has grown from one to four houses, plus a new beauty-products business where a number of the women work. More than 50 women have turned their lives around – to be “clean,” hopeful, and productive. . . Today’s Christian Science Monitor alerts us to this terrific news.
Magdalene enjoys a 87 percent success rate for its residents and illustrates at least five of the seven values represented in our good news philosophy: Responsibility, Integrity, Compassion, Cooperation and Generosity. Donate to their Capital Campaign, or learn more about the program here.
Chemical Pollution Decreases
The EPA reported that chemical pollution released into the environment fell more than 4 percent from 2003 to 2004, due mostly to the metal mining, electric utility and hazardous waste industries.
Female Nobel Laureates Campaign for Peace between U.S., Iran
Two women who are Nobel Peace Prize winners are teamed up with other women laureates to launch a campaign to promote peaceful solutions to the current U.S.-Iran conflict.
Jody Williams (land mine ban) and Shirin Ebadi (women’s rights in Iran) are spearheading the Women Nobel Peace Laureates’ Initiative which also includes Betty Williams of Ireland. "No more military attacks. No more war," they said in a written statement. "We demand a nonviolent world where human security is the basis of our common global security." (Star-Telegram story and photo)
U.S. WWII Flying Ace Dies, Lived Heroic and Humble Life
Fred Christensen was an ace pilot in World War II. He always flew his P-47 Thunderbolt with a stray black cat he found named Sinbad. Every time he returned from a mission carrying the cat in his arms, it would cheer and encourage the other pilots.
Some believe he was the last living WWII flying ace. Christensen, 84, died this week but lived a great and heroic life. He didn’t want to be known as a hero, but he was always happy to talk to groups of people, especially children, to let them know that wars are not always good things. While studying at MIT and Harvard, he "joined the military after Germany invaded Norway, where his ancestors were from, and his extended family lived," reports the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Mango Moon Yarn: Benefits Nepali Women, Hollywood Stars
Margaret Martin is a Performance Development Specialist and she loves her work. But it is her hobby that brings her life into balance. “Knitting and crocheting are both really fun and relaxing to me,” says Margaret. “As it turns out, they seem to be taking me to another exciting place."
"I knit ponchos, scarves, and shawls — very simple! In the process of making these as gifts for my friends, I’ve discovered a special yarn made from the recycled silk of the saris of East Asian women."
It’s called Mango Moon yarns. The proceeds from this yarn go towards the health care, education, and safe shelter of the women of Nepal. It supports the Nepali Women’s Empowerment Group, which utilizes a self-help instructional model to teach literacy, small business development, and personal and social advocacy to 125,000 Nepalese women.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Adds Biodiesel Cars to Fleet
Enterprise Rent-A-Car has added five biodiesel vehicles to its Portland fleet, testing customer demand for environmentally friendly rentals. The Jeep Liberties come filled with bio-fuel and can be refilled at four local stations or with regular diesel.
Tanzania Bans Plastic Bags
The manufacturing, importing, buying and using of thin plastic bags is now banned in Tanzania. Bags are blamed for harming livestock, blocking drains and reducing soil fertility.
Teacher to Donate Kidney to 10-Year-Old Student
Cbs2Chicago.com features the inspiring story of fourth grade teacher Patricia Donohue and her decision to donate a kidney to her 10-year-old student, Brandon Shafer.
Brandon’s mother tried to donate her kidney but was not a match. Donohue knows what life is like for Brandon’s family. Her own father had leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant.
“I wouldn’t have my father without somebody donating to him, so I can’t imagine not doing the same thing for Brandon and his family,” she said. (details and photo here)
Morals Guide Young Voters in their Politics
Harvard students published the results of their spring poll which measured the political ideals of college students today. The study showed that morality and values play a critical role, more than traditional ideological labels like liberal and conservative. Forty percent of those polled are "religious and secular centrists" who incorporate religious and spiritual views with their political attitudes and actions. The Christian Science Monitor analyzed the moral lens through which these 1,200 students view politics. They perceive not just the obvious issues, like a woman’s right to choose or the death penalty, as moral ones, but also the federal government’s response to hurricane Katrina, education policy, and the Iraq war. College students are voting in greater numbers, too. More than 11 million cast ballots in 2004, the highest number since 1972.
In the survey only one-third of students say they approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as President, down eight points from this past fall. Following recent trends, students also continue to feel the country is on the “wrong track” rather than headed in the right direction. . . (To me, that is good news. From an elevated perspective, and in the long run, discontent always breeds innovation and evolution toward a better world and better practices.) Click read more to see what else I find heartening about the poll.
Biggest Energy Companies in U.S. call for Caps on Carbon Emissions
Check out this lead paragraph in the online Grist magazine for April 6:
Tuesday saw a tectonic shift in the climate-change debate during an all-day Senate conference on global-warming policy. A group of high-powered energy and utility executives for the first time issued this directive to Washington: Bring on the carbon caps!
They have the details if you want them… thanks to excellent reporting by Amanda Griscom Little from a packed US Senate hearing. She quotes John Stanton, a vice president of National Environmental Trust: “I began the morning far more cynical than I felt at the end of the day.”
Photo by Why 137 via Flickr, CC license
Silicon Valley to Invest Heavily in Emerging Green Technology that Cleans Air, Water and Landfills
Venture Capitalists are poised to invest hundreds of millions in the emerging "green technologies" and believe they could become as lucrative as anything that preceded it in Silicon Valley. That means we will soon see solutions to environmental problems: smaller landfills, cleaner air and water, weening ourselves from the oil addiction. ENN reports:
Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins plans to set aside $100 million of its latest $600 million fund for technologies that help provide cleaner energy, transportation, air and water. That’s on top of more than $50 million already invested in seven greentech ventures.
"This field of greentech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century," the firm’s founder, John Doerr, said.
And, some say, when John Doerr talks, investors listen.
Bon Jovi to Sponsor Six Homes with Habitat for Humanity in Philly
A Philadelphia radio station announced the expansion of a partnership between Jon Bon Jovi and the city’s Habitat for Humanity charity by highlighting the star’s beliefs:
Jon Bon Jovi has gone on record in the past as saying that along with rock-star status and clout comes the responsibility to improve life in the community. “Why’s it always gotta be me, me, me and my tax dollars and ‘Give me mine’, as opposed to we, we, we and taking care of those less fortunate?”
On March 31, Bon Jovi delivered $200,000 to fund an additional two homes through his partnership that began in June 2005, broke ground last October, and will build six homes in Philadelphia through Summer 06.
Last October, Bon Jovi, Habitat for Humanity, local volunteers and families, and corporate sponsors, like Comcast and Sprint, gathered on a build site in Philly (left photo) to formally announce a partnership to build two duplexes (four homes). The site also served as the location for Bon Jovi’s music video for Who Says You Can’t Go Home, which highlights the efforts of Habitat families and local volunteers whose work continues. The video is now in top rotation on VH1, CMT, and GAC and emphasizes the band’s support for Habitat for Humanity and their core mission of eliminating poverty housing.
House #1 is expected be complete in Mid-May and House #2 will be ready in August.
People around the world have seen and been inspired by Jon Bon Jovi’s commitment to Habitat for Humanity through the video. “Who says you can’t go home,” said Chris Clarke, senior vice president of Communications for Habitat.
Tim Block, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia said, “This partnership with the Bon Jovi organization… has been a godsend for us. The need for affordable housing in the city of Philadelphia grows bigger each day. Each house we build helps, but the spotlight that groups like these bring to the overall challenge facing working families is priceless.”
Said Jon, “These good works with Habitat for Humanity have already made a difference to families in the city of Philadelphia.”
An area-resident known for his community involvement, Jon Bon Jovi approached Habitat in June 2005 with a proposal for a local build on a large scale. To fund the build, Bon Jovi pledged the majority of the band’s video budget from Island Records, contributed his own money from the Bon Jovi Family Foundation and secured additional sponsorship through pre-existing relationships in the private sector. By setting aside a small sum to document the process, the band planned a music video with a “think global, act local” theme.
Habitat for Humanity in Philly
Photo: David Shankbone, CC license
Hundreds of thousands of young Sudanese to go to school for first time thanks to UN aid
3 April – In a massive campaign to double the number of children in school as part of peace dividend, hundreds of thousands of children will go to school for the first time in Southern Sudan. The massive United Nations-backed campaign targets a system ruined by two decades of civil war where only 22 per cent of an estimated 2.2 million youngsters are enrolled in primary school.
UNICEF says their campaign aims to more than double the number of children in primary school during the course of the school year, which starts today; deliver over 3.8 million textbooks and teachers’ guides and basic school supplies for up to 1.6 million children, including 6 million exercise books and 1.6 million pencil sharpeners.
Over 1,500 new classrooms are being constructed and accelerated training is underway for teachers and classroom facilitators.
Peace Plan Back on Track in Ivory Coast
The Independent Online in Cape Town, South Africa reports:
The five main rival leaders in Ivory Coast have got their country’s peace process back on track by agreeing to launch a disarmament programme and a census leading to elections by the end of October, African Union head Denis Sassou Nguesso said after talks here at the weekend. (full coverage)
World Bank Cancels Debt of 17 of the World’s Poorest Countries
The World Bank approved details to implement the 2005 debt relief initiative, which will cancel the debt of some of the world’s poorest countries starting on July 1, 2006, at the start of the Bank’s fiscal year. Full Debt Cancellation of more than $37 billion will be provided over the next 40 years.
“This is a historic agreement combining increased financing with debt relief, which will help poor countries meet the Millennium Development Goals” said Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank. “I am particularly pleased that the Bank’s shareholders have agreed on a funding package that will help to preserve the International Development Association’s (IDA) role as a cornerstone in development finance for the poor countries of the world.”
Debt cancellation will be provided by the IDA, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Fund to countries that have graduated from the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.
Initially, 17 HIPC countries will be eligible for 100 percent debt cancellation: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Mauritania has completed the HIPC program, but will qualify for relief after implementing key public expenditure management reforms. The remaining HIPC countries will be eligible for debt cancellation once they have completed the requirements of the HIPC Initiative.
Donors have agreed to a financing package that calls for additional donor contributions over time to ensure delivery of fresh resources for poverty reduction. Compensatory financing over the duration of the cancelled loans will be based on strong indicative pledges already made, and donors are undertaking the necessary steps in their home countries to provide their financing commitments.
“IDA deputies have agreed to financing that exceeds the threshold we initially set for funding debt relief,” continued Wolfowitz. “The deal reflects what has been under discussion all along: that there will be firmer commitments for most countries over the near term and more qualified long-term commitments, especially for the last 30 years. The long-term commitments simply reflect the reality of parliamentary and legislative procedures in most countries.”
Amur Tiger Cubs Born in Southeast Siberia for First Time in Over 100 Years
VLADIVOSTOK — The first birth of Amur tiger cubs in over a century has been reported in southeast Siberia, according to World Wildlife Fund.
Scientists who travelled to the Amur Region and the Amurskaya province to check the reports, found traces of cubs they said were about six months old and their mother in the snow-covered taiga.
The fact that tiger cubs have been spotted in this area is seen as welcome news by conservationists because tigers have been lost through poaching and habitat loss in many critical areas and former ranges.
HP Leads in PC Recycling
From Business Week comes an article about the movement in statehouses from Maine to Washington to rid local dumps of toxic old computers and televisions. The lead, chromium, and mercury inside could leach into local groundwater. Hewlett-Packard Co. has been in the forefront of the recycling movement and has strategized to benefit from it:
In 2005, HP recycled more than 70,000 tons of product, the equivalent of about 10% of company sales and a 15% increase from the year before. And it collected more than 2.5 million units (in excess of 25,000 tons) of hardware to be refurbished for resale or donation. (read more)