HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Good Times wishes you optimism and more positive news in 2012!

gelukkige nuwejaar / voorspoedige nuwejaar / ilufio ètussé / Gëzuar vitin e ri / e glëckliches nëies / güets nëies johr / عام سعيد (aam saiid) / sana saiida / shnorhavor nor tari / amokitanone / yeni iliniz mubarek / aw ni san'kura / mbuee / urte berri on / З новым годам (Z novym hodam) / subho nababarsho / asgwas amegas / mbembe mbu / bonne année / sretna nova godina / bloavezh mat / bloavez mad / честита нова година (chestita nova godina) / hnit thit ku mingalar pa / sun lin fi lok / kung hé fat tsoi / bon any nou / xin nian kuai le / xin nian hao / pace e salute / sretna nova godina / šťastný nový rok / godt nytår / sale naw tabrik / mbu mwa bwam / gelukkig nieuwjaar / happy new year / feliĉan novan jaron / head uut aastat / eƒé bé dzogbenyui nami / mbembe mbu / gott nýggjár / onnellista uutta vuotta / gelukkig nieuwjaar / lokkich neijier / bon an / feliz aninovo / გილოცავთ ახალ წელს (gilocavt akhal tsels) / ein gutes neues Jahr / prost Neujahr / kali chronia / kali xronia / sal mubarak / nootan varshabhinandan / rogüerohory año nuévo-re / bònn ané / barka da sabuwar shekara / hauoli makahiki hou / שנה טובה (shana tova) / ombura ombe ombua / nav varsh ki subhkamna / nyob zoo xyoo tshiab / boldog új évet / gleðilegt nýtt ár / selamat tahun baru / ath bhliain faoi mhaise / felice anno nuovo / buon anno / sugeng warsa enggal / akemashite omedetô / asseggas ameggaz / hosa varshada shubhaashayagalu / nav reh mubarakh / zhana zhiliniz kutti bolsin / sur sdei chhnam thmei / ngethi cya mwaka mweru / umwaka mwiza / seh heh bok mani bat uh seyo / sala we ya nû pîroz be / sabai di pi mai / felix sit annus novus / laimīgu Jauno gadu / bón ànno nêuvo / bonana / mbula ya sika elamu na tonbeli yo / laimingų Naujųjų Metų / gelükkig nyjaar / e gudd neit Joër / Среќна Нова Година (srekna nova godina) / arahaba tratry ny taona / selamat tahun baru / nava varsha ashamshagal / is-sena t-tajba / kia porotu te ano ou / kia hari te tau hou / navin varshaachya hardik shubbheccha / kaoha nui tenei ehua hou / ose:rase / Шинэ жилийн баярын мэнд хvргэе (shine jiliin bayariin mend hurgeye) / wênd na kô-d yuum-songo / umyaka omucha omuhle / ngeu' shwi pong mbeo paghe / godt nyttår / bon annada / subha nababarsa / naba barsara hardika abhinandan / naya sar Mubarak / felis anja nobo / nawe kaalmo mobarak sha / سال نو مبارک (sâle no mobârak) / szczęśliwego nowego roku / feliz ano novo / ਨਵੇਂ ਸਾਲ ਦੀਆਂ ਵਧਾਈਆਂ (nave saal deeyan vadhaiyaan) / bun di bun onn / baxtalo nevo bersh / un an nou fericit / la mulţi ani / С Новым Годом (S novim godom) / ia manuia le tausaga fou / nzoni fini ngou / bonu annu nou / bliadhna mhath ur / srećna nova godina / Срећна нова година / mwaha mwema / goredzva rakanaka / nain saal joon wadhayoon / shubha aluth awuruddak weiwa / šťastný nový rok / srečno novo leto / dobir leto / sanad wanagsan / feliz año nuevo / wan bun nyun yari / mwaka mzuri / heri ya mwaka mpya / gott nytt år / es guets Nöis / manigong bagong taon / ia orana i te matahiti api / assugas amegaz / iniya puthandu nalVazhthukkal / yaña yıl belän / నూతన సంవత్శర శుభాకాంక్షలు (nuthana samvathsara subhakankshalu) / สวัสดีปีใหม่ (sawatdii pimaï) / tashi delek / losar tashi delek / sanat farah wa khare / tshidimu tshilenga / itumelele ngwaga o mosha / posa varshada shubashaya / yeni yılınız kutlu olsun / gluk in'n tuk / Vyľ Aren / Щасливого Нового Року / З Новим роком (Z novym rokom) / naya saal mubarik / yangi yilingiz qutlug' bo'lsin / Chúc Mừng Nǎm Mới / Cung Chúc Tân Niên / Cung Chúc Tân Xuân / ene boune anéye, ene boune sintéye / blwyddyn newydd dda / bon lanné / dewenati / nyak'omtsha / a gut yohr / unyaka omusha omuhle

MassiveGood

Check out MassiveGood, and fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and improve maternal and child health. How?


It's "the social network generation’s solution to put a stop to the millions of deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and to improve maternal and child health in the developing world. If social media has revolutionized the way in which we interact, why can’t we harness its power to change the way we think about humanitarian aid? Is it possible to use the reputed “network effect” to raise awareness and increase funding for some of the most pressing global health issues in the 21st century? MASSIVEGOOD does both, by creating a worldwide community based on a simple and easy act—the 'micro-contribution'.”

'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

Bicycles for Africa

Got an old bicycle in your garage that you don't know what to do with? Send it to Bern, where it will be restored and shipped to Africa so people living in rural areas can cycle to work. That's what Paolo Richter does. His company, Gump-& Drahtesel hires unemployed individuals to recycle old bicycles for Africa, while helping them get back into the labor force in Switzerland.

Hundreds of jobless people work in Richter's bicycle and wood workshops, where they learn to be mechanics or sales people, and receive professional and personal training to reenter the job market. Over 7,000 repaired bikes are sent to Africa each year. Gump-& Drahtesel also makes lamps, jewellery and decorative items from spare bicycle parts, which are then sold in Bern to support the company's African project, while giving unemployed individuals work experience.

What a great idea: employing people who need work, training them in new skills while providing a product that offers greater mobility to people who need transportation to get to work.

Grocery Audits and Change Clubs

Here's something worth knowing about. Women out there are actually conducting grocery audits, walking down store aisles scrutinizing the ingredients in food products and translating their findings into actions that provide communities with suggestions on how to be healthier.  One idea to help parents in grocery stores identify healthy snacks for children quickly is adding labels next to those items on the shelves.

Groups of women in the United States in "Change Clubs" have been leading campaigns to do such things as analyze the food on shelves, wander through neighborhoods to make out what prevents the locals from walking and exercising more, and discover ways to help people become healthier.

Dr. Miriam Nelson, professor of Nutrition at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, is the one who actually started the Change Clubs. Her idea is to use the power of women working together to increase health in communities. With 8 initial Change Club sites in the US, click here to form a Change Club, helping women support change and healthiness in your area. 

Logistics Emergency Teams

Here's a message from the Geneva-based World Economic Forum:

"In case of a major humanitarian disaster, the primary mechanism for coordinating humanitarian assistance is the Cluster system - unique cooperation involving key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners.


The Logistics Emergency Teams (LET) developed by the World Economic Forum and partner companies are the first example of a successful operational partnership between the private sector and the Cluster system. The Logistics Emergency Teams have deployed in support of emergency relief efforts in Mozambique, Philippines, Pakistan, Haiti, Indonesia, Myanmar, Chile, Japan and the Horn of Africa since 2008.

This week LET and the Forum hosted the global meeting of the Logistics Cluster [at Forum Headquarters] in Cologny - bringing together our partner companies with over 50 humanitarian logistics leads from the World Food Programme, World Health Organization, OXFAM, Save the Children, UN Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNICEF, and many others.

This meeting allowed a global sharing of best practices and lessons learned. It is an excellent example of multistakeholder cooperation to assist those in need. We will continue to support the further development of the Logistics Emergency Teams to improve preparedness for emergency response."

Chaka Chaka

South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka empowers communities in the fight against diseases and poverty.

In addition to being UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador against malaria and an Ambassador for Roll-Back Malaria, a worldwide initiative to fight the disease sponsored by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization, among other institutions, Yvonne ceaselessly endeavors to raise money for the cause. In 2006 she created the Princess of Africa Foundation to further combat malaria and "to carry out community and social charity works."

As she herself says, "We want to raise awareness and take initiative to eradicate this needless disease. People need to know more about malaria because it kills almost one million Africans a year, most of them children."

Yvonne Chaka Chaka holds degrees in adult education and government administration, and has lectured on literacy.  In addition to all that, she promotes the empowerment of African women as they battle disease, poverty and gender discrimination.

So do you suppose that's why she's called the Princess of Africa?

See her in action:

The Whale Song Project

Help marine scientists identify whale "dialects," by listening to them online. Whale songs translate into a complex language that researchers are trying to decipher. You can help marine researchers understand what whales are saying simply by listening to their sounds and deciding which calls match, grouping them into categories.

The Whale Song Project aims to "understand how and why marine mammals respond to various sound stimuli. These studies are badly needed in order to establish regulations and guidelines to mitigate the impact of man-made sound on marine life."

Click here to hear the sounds and have fun helping science.

The Three Paradoxes that Obstruct Water Conservation, and How We Can Resolve Them through H2Ownership

Here's part 4 of the series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured here.

James Workman is author of Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought. He is a visiting professor at Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment and co-founder of SmartMarkets LLC, an online utility-based platform that unlocks equitable water and energy markets for cities using the system that has sustained the Kalahari’s indigenous people for 30,000 years.

IV. Resolving the 3 Paradoxes of Water Conservation:
Forget virtue, durable conservation must tap human vice

In April 2001, US Vice-President Dick Cheney famously trashed the idea of doing more with less: “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue,” he said, “but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”

It pains my liberal conscience to admit it, but ten years later it seems he’s right. To save water and energy and build deep-seated resilience from the grassroots level up, cities need to start tapping into a far deeper human instinct: avarice.

Yes, yes. I know that sounds rather crass, even for me, but hear me out.

We can agree that climate mitigation demands clean energy; likewise climate adaptation demands efficient water use. Building on that, we all know that water and energy conservation remains by far the fairest, fastest, cheapest and cleanest route to global security. It restores a resilient society, a stable climate, an autonomous foreign policy and a robust economy while avoiding political land mines of regulations, carbon taxes or cap-and-trade treaties.

The Value of Volunteering

Globalteer is an "organisation independent of government, politics and religion with the objective to help projects and communities around the world." It is a non-profit charity that aims to help those in need.
According to Globalteer's website, the organization's mission includes: 

• Support - To provide support to communities and projects in need.
• Awareness - To raise awareness in developed countries of the plight faced by poverty stricken countries.
• Education - Educate locals and volunteers about environmental issues and the need to protect wildlife.

Currently the charity has projects to help children in Cusco, Peru; Medellin, Colombia; and Siem Reap, Cambodia, as well as wildlife and conservation ventures in Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.

Globalteer says: "We send volunteers to schools to provide free education to children who are unable to pay fees to go to local schools. We work closely with centres that care for children providing support and funding to allow a safe and comfortable environment in the most important and vulnerable time in their lives. In developing countries the poorest people are often overlooked as there is little governmental funding available to provide support. We work with projects that help the most vulnerable children and communities. By providing an education and vocational training to children we give them an opportunity to break the relentless cycle of poverty and support their own families by becoming a useful and productive member of their society."

Want to help? Make a donation or volunteer!

The Three Paradoxes that Obstruct Water Conservation, and How We Can Resolve Them through H2Ownership

Here's part 3 of the series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured here.

Last installment: next Friday!

James Workman is author of Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought. He is a visiting professor at Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment and co-founder of SmartMarkets LLC, an online utility-based platform that unlocks equitable water and energy markets for cities using the system that has sustained the Kalahari’s indigenous people for 30,000 years.

III. The Third Paradox of Water Conservation: Monopoly
Why must solvent utilities encourage and reward waste?

Let me introduce you to my friend – a professional schizophrenic – who manages conservation programs at a local urban water utility in the US.

She’s hardly alone in her mental instability or the predicament that caused it. Using her name would jeopardize her career. But based on 53,000 American water utilities, I estimate at least 100,000 people like her suffer from split personality in the US alone. Her symptoms remain mild – a nervous twitch, sweaty palms and rolling eyes – but worsen as water scarcity puts competing stresses on her utility’s ageing system.

The roots of her disorder are simple. Nearly a decade ago she was hired, given a small staff, budget and discretionary funds to promote ambitious conservation programs and rebates throughout the service area of her water utility. It was the ideal job to match her ideals, a rare opportunity that pays you to do what you love. But there was, alas, a deep and hidden problem, which gave rise to psychological complications.

Impressions from India

India Gate, Mumbai

Having just returned from a trip to India, visiting Mumbai and Kolkata, the good news to report is that India seems to be on the rise, with more and more people climbing out of abject poverty. There's been a huge increase in the size of the middle class. Sure there are still very young mothers in the streets dodging traffic while holding very young children in their arms as they beg for food, but there seem to be fewer than 5 years ago when I was last there. The colors are still fabulous, from the infinite shades and patterns of the sarees down to the multiple sparkling, multihued bracelets on the vagabonds' wrists as they ask for alms.

The animals are gone too. The holy cows, the monkeys, the goats, camels and horses that used to roam the streets are rare now. Only the dogs are still around, the others having been carted off to reserves outside of town.

The optimism is palpable. Mumbai seems less poor. The cars that clog the streets include more affluent Japanese and European brands than before. Indians, not just tourists, make up the clientele of the large, luxurious hotels. India's booming economy is on the way to achieving its milestone of 9% GDP. The current economic growth rates are projected at around 7.5%-8% for the financial year 2011-2012. And India's economy is the ninth largest in the world by nominal GDP.

Let's celebrate India's achievements. Before long the country's economic growth is predicted by Goldman Sachs to make it the third largest economy in the world by 2035,  just after the US and China.

The Three Paradoxes that Obstruct Water Conservation, and How We Can Resolve Them through H2Ownership

Here's part 2 of the series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured on the right.

Next installment: next Friday!

James Workman is author of Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought. He is a visiting
professor at Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment and co-founder of SmartMarkets LLC, an online utility-based platform that unlocks equitable water and energy markets for cities using the system that has sustained the Kalahari’s indigenous people for 30,000 years.

II. The Second Paradox of Water Conservation: Efficiency
Why does your water-saving device increase our collective thirst?

The ghost of the late British economist William Stanley Jevons is disrupting our best efforts to tackle climate change.

Jevons’ specter first haunted hybrid vehicle owners. To get their extra mileage’s worth and display clean and fuel-efficient credentials, they began to drive faster, farther, more frequently than before. Jevons then haunted homes that installed compact fluorescent bulbs and “green” appliances, making people switch on more lights and gadgets, more often, and leave them on longer or even continuously.

In short, Jevons makes us frugal misers burn more of the energy we set out to save. And even if I’m disciplined enough to resist Jevons and still stamp down demand, my haunted neighbors offset my savings by using up my spare fuel and electricity.

Saving the Florida Panther

The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) had almost disappeared. Of this subspecies of puma – also known as cougar or mountain lion – only 20 were still alive at the end of the 20th century. Today 120 to 160 Florida panthers roam their habitat in the south-west of Florida.

In 1967 the Florida panther was added to the list of endangered species. But in 1989 natural park land was put aside for the animals, and in 1995 the US Fish and Wildlife Service established a plan to "genetically restore" the species. Eight Texas puma females (Puma concolor stanleyana), the closest subspecies to the panther, were brought to the park. Seven years later, when the conservationists deemed sufficient time had passed for the Florida panther population to be revived, they discovered three of the females had died but captured the other five to return them to Texas.

By 2003, the number of Florida panthers had tripled. Today the population is estimated at 120 to 160 panthers. What's more, in the 24 September 2010 issue of Science magazine in an article entitled, "Genetic Restoration of the Florida Panther", the authors note that the specific morphological characteristics of the species have been maintained, despite the introduction of new genes. A success story all around!

The Three Paradoxes that Obstruct Water Conservation, and How We Can Resolve Them through H2Ownership

Here's the first of a four-part series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured here.

Look for the next installments of this important story on Fridays.

James Workman is author of  Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought.  He is a visiting
professor at Wesleyan University’s College of the
Environment and co-founder of SmartMarkets LLC,
an online utility-based platform that unlocks equitable water and energy markets for cities using the system that has sustained the Kalahari’s indigenous people for 30,000 years.

I. The First Paradox of Water Conservation: Value
Why is water so "priceless" in use, yet so worthless in exchange?

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe chairs Nestlé, the world’s 44th largest company, which last year earned US$ 9.6 billion profits on US$ 100 billion in revenues. He is the consummate international businessman, bargaining hard, overseeing 280,000 employees, outflanking competitors, and at ease with heads of state. Yet he remains incapable of negotiating one simple and irreplaceable ingredient without which his company ceases to exist: water.

He hardly seems the quintessentially gloomy Malthusian, yet Brabeck foresees “limits to growth” because our global fresh water supply is both finite and being rapidly, stupidly, depleted. The world can sustainably use 4,200 cubic kilometers of water he notes, but it consumes 4,500 even as aquifers plummet and rivers run dry.

Another Inconvenient Truth
A few years back he called water scarcity “the other inconvenient truth,” one riskier than climate change, and predicted that the cost of staple cereals would rise as the world exhausted its water. Time proved him right. Grain prices spiked 90%, triggering widespread urban food riots like those from Tunisia and Yemen to Egypt and Libya.

A Commitment to Safeguard Children

Who is building a world in which every child:

• Is loved and respected regardless of race, religion or caste
• Is fed and clothed and housed within a caring family environment
• Has free access to quality education and training in line with his or her abilities
• Has free access to quality health care
• Has free access to recreation and leisure
• Has a voice and can speak out without fear of the consequences
• Is free from exploitation and abuse
• Is free from the direct and indirect effects of armed conflict and communal violence?

Butterflies is.  "Butterflies addresses the challenge of making the Convention on the Rights of the Child a reality, particularly of those children who are most vulnerable, neglected, abused and exploited. Butterflies is committed, within its mandate, to work towards solidarity among NGOs, Government and all Civil Society organizations for addressing the concerns of all children."

According to its website, "Butterflies is a registered voluntary organization working with street and working children in Delhi since 1989.  We believe in the right of every child to have a full-fledged childhood where she/he has the right to protection, respect, opportunities and participation in his/her growth and development. Rights of street and working children are no exception.  Butterflies is committed to a non-institutional approach, follows principle of democracy and promotes children's participation in decision making as part of its programme planning, monitoring and evaluation."

Its aim is "to empower street and working children with skills and knowledge to protect their rights and to develop them as respected and productive citizens. We use the Constitution of India, Laws related to Children and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as a major tool for ensuring government and public accountability for all."

Help Butterflies and make a difference in the life of a child who needs care and protection. 

The End of Polio Is Near

"We are within grasp of declaring the end of polio worldwide," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said end October, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth. During that meeting, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Nigeria and Pakistan, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pledged over $100 million in new funds to stamp out the last 1% of the disease that has not been eradicated yet.

Help put an end to this disease and save children's lives by contributing to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Also check out The End of Polio website: sign the petition!

We're Back!

The Good Times is back. After a short absence, during which time it seemed there was no good news to report (the Euro crisis, the lack of world leadership, human rights abuses worldwide, crazy weather across the globe, just to mention a few), The Good Times has surfaced much that's good to profile. So stay tuned!

A Pioneer in the Field of Genetics

Eric Engel had never been averse to adversity. As a young internist in Geneva, Switzerland, he soon realized he had little opportunity to achieve his ambitions at his hometown University Hospital. So in 1960 with his wife and three small children, none of whom spoke English, he accepted the position of research fellow at US Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and so moved to Boston. There he shifted his focus to the study of chromosomes and concentrated on investigating these structures that carry our genes, but in blood cultures rather than in fibroblast (skin) cells as was the norm. He also disengaged from the prevailing practice of predicting hereditary conditions through charting a family tree and calculating mathematical probability, to studying the chromosomes of individuals and their offspring based on clinical analysis and experience instead.

In 1963, leading endocrinologist, Grant Liddle, asked him to move to Nashville, Tennessee to start a Genetics Division at Vanderbilt University within the Department of Medicine. For 15 years he promoted the knowledge and development of genetics there, helping over time to advance the field of human and medical genetics from one few people had heard of to a topic regularly discussed and debated in the general public. His observance of chromosomal aberrations and their effects on health and disease over the years led in 1980 to a scientific article describing an unproven concept he called “uniparental disomy (UPD),” which in effect theorized a chromosomal occurrence that goes against the rules of traditional Mendelian inheritance. Indeed, normally half a person’s chromosomes are inherited from the mother and the other half from the father. But UPD arises when a person inherits both copies of a particular chromosome from one parent (with no copy from the other parent). This idea went against even Mendel’s laws of heredity, but he was convinced it existed and played a role in health and disease, and thus was determined to disseminate the idea.

Unfathomable and unconfirmable, his article on UPD proved difficult to publish. The reviewers were broadly against its appearance. But the editor of the American Journal of Medical Genetics, Dr. John Opitz, decided to publish the piece, a prescient decision, since 7-8 years later molecular laboratory studies began to validate the concept of UPD. Since the identification of the first case of uniparental disomy in 1987, many cases of UPD have been reported, and have contributed to the emerging area of “non-Mendelian inheritance.”

Having returned to Geneva in 1978 as Director of the University Institute of Medical Genetics, the adversity he faced was not in the acceptance of his ideas but of a different nature. Apparently more interested in making money than in advancing science, certain doctors and a private Genetics laboratory in Geneva countered his ability to provide genetic counseling at reduced cost to low-income individuals who had genetic illnesses in their family. Certain gynecologists even sent their patients to the private lab for testing rather than to the University Genetics Institute. Although he lost that battle, as the medical establishment proved fierce in its fight for profit, his patients, students and colleagues recognized him as the brilliant and compassionate medical geneticist that he was.

Over these past few months Eric Engel had been fighting a different war – the right to die. Today, at the age of 85, having received recognition and success in his field of Human Genetics but with setbacks and loss along the way, he died at Geneva University Hospital, struck down by lung cancer and brain metastases. The Good Times would like to recognize someone who served science and mankind above all, persisting in his vision of truth while defying norms and confronting difficulties along the way.

AppBridge.com: Empowering through Mobile Applications

The AppBridge.com initiative aims to empower “the Bottom Billion” through the development, implementation and promotion of education and health-focused mobile applications.

Here in AppBridge's own words is an overview of the initiative: "Through collaboration and in partnership with others, we are developing an open source, cloud-based digital platform designed to connect talented mobile application developers with formal and informal education and health content providers, and co-create a powerful distribution channel to bridge the digital divide and educate young people in the bottom billion through their cellular phones. Each educational app will be submitted to The AppBridge platform, vetted, distributed to partner Telecom Operators and promoted in 'The AppBridge Zone', where it will be available to end-users. The AppBridge platform will track the download activity and usage of each distributed app, enabling 'real time' feedback and allowing for a dynamic, evolving virtual educational experience for users.

"With an estimated 3.8 billion mobile subscribers in the developing world, there is enormous opportunity to provide formal and informal educational tools to individuals who do not otherwise have access to basic math, literacy, and health information. The AppBridge is committed to co-creating an important 'blueprint' for how digital and information based solutions can be launched in a frictionless way in critical environments. This is a non-profit social enterprise."

Intended to distribute educational apps for young adults with limited access to education, this is definitely an idea to follow!

A Better Place

Better Place is "accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation." Located in Palo Alto, California, the company aims to "turn the dream of mass-selling electric cars into reality." With Better Place, Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi, who founded the company, endeavors "to reduce worldwide reliance on oil with a market-based model and infrastructure that could potentially spur widespread adoption of a new breed of electric vehicles."

It is possible: "Better Place delivers the network and services that make an electric car affordable to buy, easy to use, and amazing to own. Electric car drivers will have access to a network of charge spots, battery switch stations and systems that optimize the driving experience and minimize environmental impact and cost." Today,  a 24 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery (about 200 kg/440 lbs) in a mid-sized sedan provides a range of about 160 kilometers (100 miles) on a single charge. At  battery switch stations, an electric vehicle's depleted battery is exchanged for a fully charged one in less time than it takes to stop at a gas station to fill one's tank.

The good news is that, according to Better Place, "sustainable transportation for the mass market is just around the corner. Electric vehicles present the opportunity for energy independence, environmental restoration, and new sources of economic growth." Go to http://www.betterplace.com/ for more information on this sustainable tranportation opportunity.

Stemming World Hunger

Karuturi Global is a genuine change agent, committed to sustainability.  Its stated mission is: "To emerge as an integrated agri-products company servicing the world market through unmatched product, cost and quality advantages.” Today Karuturi Global is a large producer of cut roses, with an 8% share of the floriculture market. The company has businesses in Ethiopia, Kenya and India, producing around 555 million cut roses per year.

However Karuturi Global is now taking up agribusiness as its next ambition. It wishes to be recognized as a genuine change agent for global growth, prosperity, and cultural and economic transformation - to do whatever it can to help alleviate worldwide and African food shortages. Thus Karuturi was among the first foreign firms to acquire land from the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments – more than 300,000 hectares – to grow and produce maize, vegetables, grains, corn, palm oil, and sugarcane.

In Ethiopia, Karuturi Global's social welfare contributions have included distributing wool blankets to the poor and elderly in 2007 and 2008, contributing $75,000 towards the drinking water supply in Holetta and providing free food every week for two years to 100 needy people.

In Kenya, the company has provided healthcare services to locals, food to drought victims and infrastructure to the local police. Karuturi Global affirms that, "Our labour welfare measures in Kenya are having a positive impact on the lives of our Kenyan workers, their families and communities. Taking cue from the success of these measures, we are working on implementing the same in Ethiopia. We plan to provide schools, hospitals, housing and bus facilities to our workers in Ethiopia, along with our social welfare initiatives."

Karuturi also applies eco-friendly policies in its production chain, including using indigenous greenhouses, in-house power generation from biomass, rainwater harvesting, and environment-friendly fertilizers and chemicals. 

According to Karuturi Global, "Every small change counts. ... We do our utmost to conserve the environment and to ensure that our people and our communities grow with us."

Thanks to a Deceptively Simple Product

What company's products have been used in 140 countries? What company has had an effect on millions upon millions of children? What company's CEO has said he reaches more youngsters in the world "than Coca-Cola or Pepsi could ever hope to reach up to the age of ten"?  Give up?

It's Serum Institute of India.

Serum Institute of India is a leader in the production of vaccines. The Insitute was founded in 1966, "with the aim of manufacturing life-saving immuno-biologicals, which were in shortage in the country and imported at high prices." It manufactures vaccines against Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis, as well as Measles, Mumps and Rubella.  The company's reputation and reach is such that agencies like the World Health Organization, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), and the US National Institutes of Health are working with it to develop vaccines against Meningococcal A, H1N1 Influenza, Rotavirus and other diseases.

Serum Institute's mission is "to develop quality vaccines and offer them at inexpensive prices." Learn more about Serum Institute's high quality standards and modern production means on the company website. 

Simple as ABCD...

John ‘Jody’ Kretzmann and John  McKnight  are the directors of Assets Based Community Development Institute (ABCD Institute) at Northwestern University in the US. ABCD mobilizes struggling communities using resources already at hand and shows them how to work toward positive change.

"Challenging the traditional approach to solving urban problems, which focuses service providers and funding agencies on the needs and deficiencies of neighborhoods, Kretzmann and McKnight have demonstrated that community assets are key building blocks in sustainable urban and rural community revitalization efforts. These community assets include:

-the skills of local residents

-the power of local associations

-the resources of public, private and non-profit institutions

-the physical infrastructure and space in a community

-the economic resources and potential of local places

-the local history and culture of a neighborhood."

Such is ABCD Institute's description of the positive features they employ to facilitate successful "inside out" local community development.

Two examples of ABCD capacity building:

"Jody Kretzmann partnered with Coady International Institute to help facilitate a week of discussions by community development leaders from Brazil, Ecuador, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Vietnam, Philippines, India, as well as Canada and the US, describing and analyzing their successful community building efforts and sharing strategies and perspectives. These discussions led to the publication of a volume of case studies, From Clients to Citizens: Communities Changing the Course of their own Development."

Faculty member "Deborah Puntenney worked with Greater Lyons Township, Illinois on their Aging Well initiative for which she designed and implemented an asset-based citizen-engagement project emphasizing healthy aging."

Visit the ABCD Institute at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy for more information on doing asset-based community development work.

Good News on a New Health Blog

High-Tech Volunteer Emergency Medical Services Group Speeds Care in Israel: ground-breaking volunteer rescue scheme serves as the subject of Bill Hinchberger's debut as a health blogger. Hinchberger is a Paris-based writer who is on the lookout for story ideas for the new blog. Leave your suggestions and tips as comments here.