Region of the Americas Finally Declared Measles-Free

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Sep 27, 2016

Even though this city is a bustling hub of activity and business, everyone seems to slow down a bit when surrounded by the sound of music.

The two-week outdoor Pianos For Peace art exhibit placed 29 different pianos around Atlanta, Georgia for its people to play.

The gorgeously painted instruments serenaded about half a million visitors and residents during their time on display in September.

WATCH: Listen To This Concrete Organ Played By The Ocean

Once the pianos were finished with the display, they were donated to schools, hospitals, and nursing homes so the Pianos For Peace volunteers can make artistic education accessible to all.

Malek Jandali, the German-born Syrian-American concert pianist, created the nonprofit as a means of building peace through music.

“Through the volunteer service of dedicated artists, musicians, painters, filmmakers, students and more – Pianos for Peace transforms lives by bringing the soft power of music and the arts to those who need it most,” says the organization’s website. “Music unites people and by actively involving people in music, together we can make for a more peaceful community.”

(WATCH the video below)

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Study Shows Low-emission Cars Less Expensive than Polluters

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Sep 27, 2016

Buying a low-emission vehicle could lead to a bigger payoff for consumers, according to a study released today by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Researchers examined the most popular 125 vehicles on the market — including those powered by batteries, hybrid drives and internal combustion engines — and found that when the full-costs of buying and owning vehicles were compared to their total greenhouse gas emissions, lower-emitting cars were less expensive.

“One doesn’t have to pay more for a lower carbon-emitting vehicle,” said Jessika Trancik, associate professor in energy studies at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society. “In fact, the group of vehicles at the lower end of costs are also at the lowest end of emissions, even across a diverse set of alternative and conventional engines.”

WATCH: Tesla’s New Affordable Electric Car Went on Sale, Website Swamped With Orders

Trancik and her team looked at a car’s sticker price and its lifetime costs for operations and maintenance. They then compared those figures to emissions from vehicle operation and manufacture and pollution from producing its fuel or generating its electricity.

The researchers found the Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf and other small hybrids and electric vehicles were among the cheapest per mile driven. Smaller traditionally fueled vehicles were also cheaper but emitted almost 40 percent more greenhouse gases than comparable electrified cars.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, large internal-combustion engine cars like the Chevrolet Suburban were among the most expensive and most polluting.

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Co-author Geoffrey Supran said the study results provide a definitive counterpoint to arguments that electric vehicles aren’t worth the cost because they use electricity produced by polluting power plants.

“There are a lot of myths floating around about hybrid and electric cars, like that they’re no better than your average gasoline vehicle,” he said. “Our study shows that is just not true.”

And while alternative powertrain cars have lower life-cycle emissions, they do not necessarily cost more.

About half of the hybrid vehicles examined in the report were cheaper overall than their internal-combustion engine counterparts.

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While two electric cars studied were significantly more expensive than traditionally fueled vehicles, the Nissan Leaf cost 20 percent less than the average internal-combustion engine vehicle.

By the same token, the Ford Focus battery electric and the Ford Fusion plug-in hybrid were cheaper than their internal-combustion engine version.

The study noted that consumers may not be aware of the full costs of purchasing traditionally fueled vehicles. Indeed, when researchers only examined vehicle sticker prices, they found that the comparison shifted in favor of internal-combustion engine vehicles.

“There are a lot of opportunities for decarbonization in the transportation sector,” Trancik said. “It’s fairly easy to buy a lower-emissions vehicle if you have easy access to the information.”

Reprinted with permission from E&E Publishing

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Policeman Drives 100 Miles So Youth Can Be Home After His Sister Dies

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Sep 27, 2016

It was 3AM on a Sunday when Mark Ross learned that his 15-year-old sister had been killed in a car accident by a drunk driver.

Devastated by his loss, he begged his friend to drive him from his home in Indiana to where his family was in Detroit, Michigan. Even though Mark had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant in the city and his friend had a suspended license, the two hit the road.

Until, however, they got pulled over in Ohio by Sergeant David Robison.

LOOK: Cop Posts Selfies with Dogs He Saved To Help Them Reunite With Owners

“I explained to the officer that my sister had died and that I needed to get to my mother asap,” Mark wrote on Facebook. “I broke down crying and he saw the sincerity in my cry.”

David called the Wayne County police department about coming to pick up Mark but they refused because of the distance.

That’s when he offered to drive Mark the last 100 miles himself.

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“Everybody knows how much I dislike cops but I am truly grateful for this guy. He gave me hope.”

Robison drove Mark the rest of the way to Detroit, prayed over him and his family, and dropped him off at a coffee shop where his cousin picked him up.

His grieving family was so touched by the officer’s gesture that they invited him to the funeral, to which he is attending.

Multiply The Good: Click To Share – Photo by Mark Ross

India Saves Its Tigers Instead of Mining For $330M in Diamonds

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Sep 27, 2016

Tiger_in_training CC Keven Law — Keven Law, CC license

Earlier this year, an Indian Environment Ministry Panel decided to defer mining corporation Rio Tinto’s requests for the clearing of dense foliage in the Madhya Pradesh region.

Surface mining can destroy landscapes on a multitude of levels, and – in this instance – the habitat of a tiger population.

“[Based on a] NTCA report,” the committee told New Indian Express, “the project can potentially disrupt the landscape character [in relation to] tiger dispersal around the Panna landscape.”

MORE: Halting a Century of Decline, Tiger Numbers are Now Growing

Planned to take place near central india, the mining project would fall between the Panna Tiger Reserve and the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary.

An article by the Wildlife Protection Society of India, states that the population of tigers in India stood around 1,700 in 2011.

Though poaching can still claim the lives of some of the endangered species, deforestation – particularly in an area of species protection – could guarantee the deaths of many.

WATCH: Gorillas Spring into Action to Dismantle Poacher’s Traps

The proposed removal of 500,000 trees from the tiger corridor would have amounted to about 1,800 football fields worth of habitat.

Protecting this land will also save a predicted 130 million pounds of oxygen to be produced in the next year.

The actions of those who deferred this program have implied that protection of tiger populations and conservation of the environment are worth much more than the $330,000,000 that would have come from harvesting the proposed diamonds in this area.

It’s Grrrrreat! Click To Share – Photo by Keven Law, CC

Boy Throws Opening Pitch at Baseball Game 1 Year After Double Hand Transplant (WATCH)

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Sep 27, 2016

Faced with the prospect of a life without hands or feet at just two years old, this little boy continues astonishing the world.

Back in 2007, Zion Harvey’s hands, feet, and kidneys were lost to a bacterial infection known as sepsis.

Though he was able to receive a new kidney from his mother, medicine was yet to facilitate giving anyone a bilateral hand transplant.

The cards were not in Zion’s favor.

For 6 long years he remained optimistic despite his circumstances, and in 2015 – thanks to a newly developed procedure – Zion became the first youth to be given a new pair of hands.

After completing the 11 hour procedure, it was predicted that it would take two years of intense physical therapy before Zion would gain full function of his extremities.

Just a year into his recovery, however, Zion started being able to do things like write his name, eat with a fork – and throw the opening pitch at a Baltimore Orioles game near his home in Maryland.

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Throwing that opening pitch may be the dream of many children Zion’s age, but he made it clear that the best part about his new hands is “just being able to wrap them around my mom”.

And Zion’s actions have only continued to exceed the expectations of the staff at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Since his surgery, more than 200 patients with similar circumstances have inquired about the procedure, and his never-failing optimism has lead to new studies in early childhood development of child amputees who have received transplant appendages.

LOOK: Child With Invisible Disability Creates Bathroom Sign With Go-Ahead from Government

He even told Dr. Scott Levin, program director of his transplant, that he wanted to use his new hands to write the family of the donor a letter of gratitude.

He also requested that Dr. Leven refer any future to children that undergo this procedure to him, so that he can support them in their recoveries.

“Zion’s progress has been spectacular, highlighting what can be accomplished by the committed and coordinated collaborative effort amongst multi-disciplinary teams at CHOP, Penn Medicine, and Shriners Hospitals for Children,” said Scott Kozin, MD, chief of staff, Shriners Hospitals for Children—Philadelphia. “The dedication to Zion’s hand functionality and rehabilitation has expanded to the Kennedy Krieger Institute, as well the amazing community that has rallied behind Zion and his family. Their support has been instrumental to Zion’s success. Zion’s remarkable improvement, and his newly found ability to perform tasks previously unobtainable, is inspiring. Shriners Hospitals for Children is committed to continuing to advance this field and hopefully providing future children with the opportunity of this life-changing surgery.”

(WATCH the video below)

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Boy Caught Sneaking into Garage to Hug Neighbor’s Dog Given Pup of His Own

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Sep 26, 2016

Security cameras have never filmed anything as darling as this little boy who just wanted a furry pal.

Hollie Mallet of Pierre Part, Louisiana was checking her CCTV footage back in May when she discovered a young intruder – but not one with any ill intentions.

The video showed a young boy leaping off his bicycle in front of her house and running into her garage so he could give her dog Duchess a quick hug before guiltily mounting his bicycle once more and riding away.

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Instead of feeling negatively, Hollie posted the video to Facebook asking her neighbors if anyone knew who the sweet kid was.

After the clip was viewed and shared thousands of times, the boy’s mother Ginger Breaux identified the culprit as her 9-year-old son Josh.

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Considering Josh had lost his own dog the year previously, Hollie gave Josh permission to come over and love on her Labrador whenever he wanted.

Since Ginger was also sympathetic to her son’s need of a canine friend, she went one step further and surprised her kids with a new 3-month-old puppy named Drake earlier this week.

“Josh was in shock and literally almost cried,” the mom wrote on Facebook. “[He] was hiding his face in the pillows [and] Janie kept asking ‘is it really ours?’”

(WATCH the cute video below)

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New Opportunities Come to Homeless Hero Who Found Bomb in the Trash

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Sep 26, 2016

Following a series of domestic bombings in New York and New Jersey, these two men are being hailed as heroes for preventing another explosion.

Lee Parker and Ivan White of Elizabeth, New Jersey were going through trash cans at the local train station when they found a backpack containing five undetonated pipe bombs.

The two immediately stashed the bag in an isolated area and contacted the police.

Since Lee is homeless and Ivan lives on a fixed income, a Go Fund Me campaign was set up by Donald Goncalves for donations in honor of their heroism.

The funds were to be divided three ways between Lee, Ivan, and the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless, which is credited for already finding an apartment for Lee.

The crowdfunding page has raised $30,000 for the New Jersey residents.

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Lee had also been on his way to a job interview when he discovered the bombs, but since he was busy being interviewed by law enforcement, he didn’t make it in time. However following his heroism, a food company in Elizabeth has already reached out with more employment opportunities.

(WATCH the video below)

Click To Share The News With Your Friends – Photo by Donald Goncalves

UN Passes Declaration to Finally Address Refugee Human Rights

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Sep 26, 2016

On September 19th 2016, a declaration was passed at the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants granting displaced persons their basic human rights.

The personal accounts of those faced with no option but to leave their birth countries lead State members in attendance to a consensus agreement adopting the “New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants”.

Member States proudly committed themselves towards reform addressing the present disregard for basic human rights of relocated persons. By accepting this manifesto, states have taken the first steps necessary for integrating a system of humanistic values.

MORE: Turkish Town Does So Much for Syrian Refugees It’s Up for Nobel Peace Prize

The new policies will encourage treating asylum-seekers as the people they are, not the stereotypes of where they came from.

Emissary’s will enact preventative measures protecting women from gender-based violence and discrimination. They will also unify their efforts in disbanding human-trafficking operations and smuggling services.

There is a specific scope involving children; investing in their futures, and creating progress towards integration. Proposed plans guarantee access to education within a few months of arrival. Child refugees’ potential for helping a country’s economy is furthermore solidified by recognition in the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, which predicts a direct relation between migrants and long term economic growth.

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Mirroring the actions taken by the private sector, states will also create jobs for adult refugees – something economically beneficial to both parties involved.

And for refugees unable to work, assistance programs will face reform to better accommodate their needs.

“We need to prevent and speedily resolve political crises,” said Jan Eliasson, UN Deputy Secretary-General, “We need to respond to humanitarian criseses.”

WATCH: Pope Francis Brings a Dozen Syrian Refugees Back to Rome

The overall message within the declaration is one of cohesion being the means to help refugees and migrants integrate safely. Its acceptance marks the ending of a problem long left on the back burner.

In conclusion to the closing session for the high-level plenary, Eliasson stated, “Some of the refugees and migrants who joined us today suffered terrible ordeals. They have demonstrated courage, resilience and offered a measure of hope. We must respond by carrying out the New York Declaration in that same spirit.”

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Acid in the Air Returns to the Same Levels of a Century Ago

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Sep 26, 2016

New research indicates atmospheric acidity levels have almost returned to a low similar to those of the 1930s.

Commencing shortly after the Great Depression, large scale industrial production pumped significant amounts of pollution into the earth’s atmosphere.

Since levels of pollution only continued to increase leading into 1950s – as vehicle ownership became less of a luxury and more of a necessity – the American lifestyle found itself wearing the shoes of an increasingly large carbon footprint. By the 1960s, atmospheric pollution had reached the apex of its trendline.

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Gluttony and disregard were turning the earth into a large scale science project about corrosive reactions from acid.

Those increasing levels miraculously began downtrending when the US government enacted the Clean Air Act in 1970. University of Copenhagen scientists were able to notice the change in acidity thanks to a newly-developed method called “continuous flow analysis.”

CFA works by “directly measur[ing] the acidity of the ice using a spectrometer,” said Helle Astrid, postdoc in the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute, UCPH.

“You can also measure the acidity [of melted ice core runoff], that is to say, we measure the pH value and this is seen when the water changes color after the addition of a pH dye,” states Kjær.

This new method allows acidity levels in the past 100 years to be measured, something that was previously unattainable due to the the porous nature of more recently formed ice core samples.

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The findings of Kjær and other researchers has allowed for a more precise and current timeline of atmospheric acidity, the analysis of which has proven the effectiveness of both pollutant filtration systems and legislative regulation of dirty production methods. Perhaps when moving forward, these findings will influence industries to give more regard for the environment, and the earth that they inhabit.

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Historic First: Fighter Jet Takes Flight Powered Only by Biofuel

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Sep 25, 2016

Continuing its quest to maximize the use of renewable fuels, the Navy successfully used a 100 percent biofuel blend to power fighter jets during a test at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland this month.

Until now, the Navy has used biofuel blends to fly its “Great Green Fleet” — the brainchild of Secretary Ray Mabus, who sees shifting to renewable fuels as key to energy security.

The testing of the EA-18G “Green Growler” jet this month is the first time the Navy has examined whether it could power the fleet on biofuels alone.

“Today is a further example of how the Navy and Marine Corps continue to lead in energy innovation and, in doing so, remain the greatest expeditionary fighting force the world has ever known,” Mabus said in a statement.

Test pilot Lt. Cmdr. Bradley Fairfax said the jet “flew completely the same” as it would on petroleum fuel.

“From takeoff to landing, you couldn’t tell any difference,” he said.

The fuel is produced by Florida-based Applied Research Associates and Chevron Lummus Global. The fuel uses the same feedstock as another 50 percent advanced biofuel blend already used by the Navy but goes through a unique conversion process to provide a fully synthetic fuel that does not need to be blended, according to Rick Kamin, energy and fuels lead for the Naval Air Systems Command.

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The Navy first used the fuel in a ground test in August before using it to power a jet in flight this month.

“We shot for this 100-percent drop-in fuel from the beginning,” Kamin said in a statement. “We wanted to know if a fully synthetic JP-5 from a non-petroleum source could work in our systems and we proved that it could.”

Reprinted with permission from E&E Publishing

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Check Out This Amazing Artwork From Discarded New York Subway Tickets

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Sep 25, 2016

You know what they say – one man’s trash is another’s art medium.

Nina Boesch is the artist who creates these beautiful mosaic-like collages from thousands of thrown-away New York City subway cards.

Ever since she moved to the Big Apple from Bremen, Germany in 2001, she’s been inspired to make striking works out of the discarded yellow and blue tickets.

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Each collage can contain up to 10,000 pieces of 500 torn-up MetroCards.

You can check out the rest of her pieces on her website as well as request a custom-made creation based on a photo or scene of your choice.

(WATCH the video below)

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Billionaire Commits $500M to Help Refugees and Migrants

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Sep 25, 2016

In the wake of the civil war currently destroying Syria, thousands of refugees have fled their homes to seek safety in Europe.

That’s why billionaire philanthropist George Soros is contributing $500 million to organizations offering relief for migrants and refugees.

“Governments must play the leading role in addressing this crisis by creating and sustaining adequate physical and social infrastructure for migrants and refugees. But harnessing the power of the private sector is also critical,” George wrote in an essay. “Although my main concern is to help migrants and refugees arriving in Europe, I will be looking for good investment ideas that will benefit migrants all over the world.”

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The announcement follows the ‘Call To Action’ initiative launched by President Barack Obama asking private sector businesses to allow more work opportunities for asylum-seekers.

Soros’s contribution, however, has gone above and beyond the average donations made by global governments to the crisis – the investment totals the combined $262 million spent by the UK and the $191 million from the European Union.

“We will seek investments in a variety of sectors, among them emerging digital technology, which seems especially promising as a way to provide solutions to the particular problems that dislocated people often face. Advances in this sector can help people gain access more efficiently to government, legal, financial and health services.”

WATCH: WWII Refugees Write Comforting Letters To Syrian Refugee Youth

George Soros is the founder and chairman of the Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Foundations. Born in Budapest in 1930, he survived the Nazi occupation during World War II and fled communist-dominated Hungary in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics. He then settled in the United States, where he accumulated a large fortune through the international investment fund he founded and managed.

The Open Society Foundations now operates in more than 100 countries, with annual expenditures that reached $835 million in 2011, working to promote the values of open society, human rights, and transparency.

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What Happens When Paris Bans Cars on 400 Miles of Road for a Car-Free Day Sunday

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Sep 24, 2016

Almost half the center of Paris will be accessible only by foot or bicycle this Sunday to mark World Car-Free Day.

In response to rising air pollution that made Paris the most polluted city in the world for a brief time, Mayor Anne Hidalgo promoted the first World Car-Free Day last year.

Hidalgo also has supported a “Paris Breathes” day that clears traffic from eight lanes of the Champs-Élysées once a month.

About 400 miles of streets will be closed to cars, which is expected to bring significant reduction in nitrogen dioxide levels.

LOOK: World’s Most Eco-Friendly Country Hails Newborn Prince in a Perfect Way

Last year’s car-free day showed a 40 percent drop in nitrogen dioxide levels in some parts of the city, according to an independent air pollution monitor, reports The Guardian –and sound levels dropped by 50 percent in the city’s center.

Reprinted with permission from E&E Publishing

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The Magical Murmurations of Half a Million Starlings (WATCH)

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Sep 24, 2016

There’s nothing more soothing than the sound of thousands of beating wings creating the illusion of black ocean waves transforming the sky.

The starlings of southern England return to their roosts every evening in winter to cozy up for the night, but before they do, they scope out the land looking for predators.

Dylan Winter, a cinematographer and producer of Flight: The Genius of Birds bears witness to the spectacular event.

(WATCH the video below)

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This Cheap, Portable Solar Panel Will Be the iPad of Renewables

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Sep 24, 2016

A California-based startup unveiled a product this week that aims to disrupt solar power production, much like the iPhone changed communications.

SunCulture Solar Inc. is calling its wire-free SolPad, which resembles a large iPad, the “world’s first integrated solar energy solution.”

It combines batteries, software, inverters and solar panels into one device. Typically, a solar system involves installation of separate parts, increasing costs.

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SolPad can be used off grid or tied to the grid, and uses batteries that the company says are safer than traditional lithium-ion ones.

”If the grid goes down, SolPad can keep delivering electricity,” the company said in a video unveiling the device in California this week.

“We’ve transformed solar — much like the smartphone revolutionized the personal computer sector, combining numerous components into a single device that’s significantly less expensive, more powerful and easier to use than conventional systems,” said CEO Christopher Estes.

The company plans to bring the product to market in the second half of next year.

Even though SolPad is just one of many similar products and could be one of many to fail, it is getting more attention because of its sleek design and an array of promises, including the potential to act as a microgrid and internet hot spot.

The product also highlights potential options under consideration for the “next phase” of solar design, according to analysts.

“In addition to the integration of the ‘three S’s’ — solar, storage and software — SolPad has also focused on aesthetics and ‘cool factor’ aspects of these technologies,” said Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Spice Solar and a longtime solar industry installer.

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“As solar moves to the millennial mainstream, more people will be motivated by these lifestyle benefits, which are buying factors that many solar and storage companies completely ignore,” he wrote in an email.

In an online review, PV Tech called it “potentially game-changing” as the only photovoltaic system that fully integrates energy management, storage and solar cells.

SunCulture’s goal is to circumvent some existing challenges for solar, such as the need for complicated wiring and access to a roof.

The company plans to give consumers a choice of building a portfolio of panels of different sizes and portability that can either be installed on a roof or placed around the house, without the usual wiring.

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The startup designed its panels to easily link. It plans to sell two initial versions: a product that is more for roofs, and SolPad, the portable device.

SolPad can interact with consumers and provide information about their power use via a smartphone app. It has an inverter that switches the device to stored battery power and can detect power outages so it can essentially act as an islanded microgrid.

It remains to be seen whether the company can live up to its promises, considering the failure of other models called potential breakthroughs.

Cinnamon said the company still needs to figure out how to scale up, manufacture at volume and find suppliers, which could affect the ultimate cost. The company also has not finalized a battery provider.

SunCulture says it can reduce installed solar costs by about 50 percent, because of the elimination of adding separate batteries and panels in a typical system.

Another company, SolarCity Corp., is planning to unveil a “solar roof” that transforms the idea of installing panels on an existing roof, according to Greenwire.

On Twitter yesterday, Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk, whose company is planning to acquire SolarCity, said the product would be unveiled in San Francisco on Oct. 28.

Reprinted with permission from E&E Publishing

Click To Share The Sunny News With Your Friends – Photo by Impress Labs

Ready for 3 Amazing Gifts That Give Back, While Also Uplifting Your Lifestyle?

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Sep 24, 2016

It’s National Yoga Month and practitioners everywhere are throwing their mats down and getting ready to work their hamstrings in warrior pose 1, 2, and 3. But, yoga also inspires a healthy and fun lifestyle outside the studio, as well.

That’s why we’ve chosen a few of our favorite products to try out for yourself, or send as gifts to friends. Best of all, these companies donate a portion of the purchase price to elephant protection, girls’ education, and other empowering charities.

A Yoga-Inspired Goodie Box

The Buddhi Box is a monthly gift box delivered to your house filled with 4-6 samples of guru-geared goodies for professional and amateur yogis alike. All their products are ethically sourced, cruelty-free, and results in a donation to a different charity each month.

Some of the samples might include health snacks to keep your body temple lean and green; elephant necklaces and temporary tattoos to emulate the yogi spirit on and off the mat; or soothing aromatherapy concoctions to relax your muscles and nerves post-workout.

No matter what you find hiding in the package, it’s going to be a fun surprise. If a sample strikes you as especially fantastic, you can just visit the Buddha Box website to buy a fully-sized product. Subscriptions for the delivery start at $34.95 + $5.00 for shipping a month.

Save the Elephants With These Fun Pants

Also for Yoga Month, try out some authentic Thai designs from the stylish apparel brand, One Tribe, dedicated to putting an end to elephant poaching. A donation of $1 from every item sold will help provide medicine and care for the Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand.

The One Tribe company specializes in loose, comfortable elephant pants, but also features elephant bracelets, tapestries, and more.

The expansion of products came after the young couple that was running a youth hostel in Thailand noticed a surge of interest for their boho fashion—and decided they wanted to do more to help the threatened elephant species.

Cute Customized Sandals

Summer may be wrapping up for some, but the new FLEEPS sandals will be a hot favorite all year because of the company’s unique custom ordering that can match any personality and style.

I tried out a pair of FLEEPS on my vacation recently (click to enlarge my photo, right) and I loved both the comfort and sleek design. But, there are two other reasons that I wanted to showcase this product.

First, is the customization. FLEEPS gives its customers the option to design their own color scheme – whether it be for matching their wedding colors, opting for orange and black on Halloween, or choosing colors that match their favorite sports team, they can select the 3 hues for the sole, ankle strap, and top strap.

Secondly, they donate 10% of every purchase price to charities that empower and educate women and young girls —Shining Hope for Communities out of Kenya and Starfish Impact Foundation out of Guatemala. They also employ 100 women annually that make the FLEEPS sandals, and whose children go to schools funded by the project. The donated funds also are improving a community in San Jose.

So far, FLEEPS, which sells the shoes for $29.95–$34.95, has donated over $5,000, with a goal of selling 1,000,000 pairs by 2019, which will be able to educate 10,000 girls around the world.

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First Ever Quadriplegic Treated With Stem Cells Regains Motor Control in His Upper Body

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MORE: After Marrying On Her ‘Deathbed,’ This Bride Made a Miraculous Recovery After Quitting 1 Food

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Sep 23, 2016

For the first time ever, neuroscientists have treated a total quadriplegic with stem cells, and he has substantially recovered the functions of his upper body only two months into the process.

The Keck Medical Center of USC announced that a team of doctors became the first in California to inject an experimental treatment made from stem cells, AST-OPC1, into the damaged cervical spine of a recently paralyzed 21-year-old man as part of a multi-center clinical trial.

On March 6, just shy of his 21st birthday, Kristopher (Kris) Boesen of Bakersfield suffered a traumatic injury to his cervical spine when his car fishtailed on a wet road, hit a tree, and slammed into a telephone pole.

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Parents Rodney and Annette Boesen were warned there was a good chance their son would be permanently paralyzed from the neck down. However, they also learned that Kris could possibly qualify for a clinical study that might help.

Leading the surgical team and working in collaboration with Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and Keck Medicine of USC, Charles Liu, MD, PhD, director of the USC Neurorestoration Center, injected an experimental dose of 10 million AST-OPC1 cells directly into Kris’ cervical spinal cord in early April.

“Typically, spinal cord injury patients undergo surgery that stabilizes the spine but generally does very little to restore motor or sensory function,” explains Liu. “With this study, we are testing a procedure that may improve neurological function, which could mean the difference between being permanently paralyzed and being able to use one’s arms and hands. Restoring that level of function could significantly improve the daily lives of patients with severe spinal injuries.”

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Two weeks after surgery, Kris began to show signs of improvement. Three months later, he’s able to feed himself, use his cell phone, write his name, operate a motorized wheelchair and hug his friends and family. Improved sensation and movement in both arms and hands also makes it easier for Kris to care for himself, and to envision a life lived more independently.

“As of 90 days post-treatment, Kris has gained significant improvement in his motor function, up to two spinal cord levels,” said Dr. Liu. “In Kris’ case, two spinal cord levels means the difference between using your hands to brush your teeth, operate a computer or do other things you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, so having this level of functional independence cannot be overstated.”

Doctors are careful not to predict Kris’ future progress.

“All I’ve wanted from the beginning was a fighting chance,” said Kris, who has a passion for fixing up and driving sports cars and was studying to become a life insurance broker at the time of the accident. “But if there’s a chance for me to walk again, then heck yeah! I want to do anything possible to do that.”

Because the window for performing the surgery was tight, everything needed to go according to schedule in order for Kris to qualify.

Once Kris made the decision to pursue enrollment in the study, dozens of doctors, nurses, rehabilitation specialists and others sprang into action. Because he would need to provide voice confirmation of his desire to participate in the study, Kris had to be able to breathe without a ventilator. Weaning a patient from assisted breathing generally is a three-week process. He did it in five days with the help of a respiratory care team. He signed the paperwork and began a week of assessments, scans and other pre-surgery tests.

In early April, a surgical team from Keck Hospital of USC carefully injected 10 million AST-OPC1 cells directly into Kris’ cervical spine. Nearly six weeks later, Kris was discharged and returned to Bakersfield to continue his rehabilitation. Doctors reviewed his progress at seven days, 30 days, 60 days and 90 days post-injection, and Kris can look forward to detailed assessments after 180 days, 270 days and one year.

Rodney and Annette Boesen say they are amazed at the level of collaboration and cooperation that enabled their son to participate in the study. “So many things had to happen, and there were so many things that could have put up a roadblock,” marvels Rodney. “The people at Keck Medical Center of USC and elsewhere moved heaven and earth to get things done. There was never a moment through all of this when we didn’t think our son was getting world class care.”

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The pioneering surgery is the latest example of how the emerging fields of neurorestoration and regenerative medicine may have the potential to improve the lives of thousands of patients who have suffered a severe spinal cord injury.

The stem cell procedure Kris received is part of a Phase 1/2a clinical trial that is evaluating the safety and efficacy of escalating doses of AST-OPC1 cells developed by Fremont, California-based Asterias Biotherapeutics. AST-OPC1 cells are made from embryonic stem cells by carefully converting them into oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), which are cells found in the brain and spinal cord that support the healthy functioning of nerve cells. In previous laboratory studies, AST-OPC1 was shown to produce neurotrophic factors, stimulate vascularization and induce remyelination of denuded axons. All are critical factors in the survival, regrowth and conduction of nerve impulses through axons at the injury site, according to Edward D. Wirth III, MD, PhD, chief medical director of Asterias and lead investigator of the study, dubbed “SCiStar.”

“At the 10 million cell level, we’re now in a dose range that is the human equivalent of where we were when we saw efficacy in pre-clinical studies,” says Wirth. “While we continue to evaluate safety first and foremost, we are also now looking at how well treatment might help restore movement in these patients.”

To qualify for the clinical trial, enrollees must be between the age of 18 and 69, and their condition must be stable enough to receive an injection of AST-OPC1 between the fourteenth and thirtieth days following injury.

Keck is one of six sites in the U.S. authorized to enroll subjects and administer the clinical trial dosage.

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