Start your day with a good idea. Whether it is a solar powered hearing aid, using a horse to help an autistic boy, or helping the homeless get a shower, the human spirit is making progress. Join me in spreading the word about "ideas that work".
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Psychology student Alex Loughlin is using Halloween as part of a nationwide campaign to encourage people to get to know their neighbours, the program is called Meet Your Street.
Alex is encouraging students to enter the Pass the Pumpkin competition as a way to meet their neighbours. The idea is for folks to buy and decorate a pumpkin - then knock on a neighbor's door in their street and pass it on to them as a Halloween treat, taking a picture which can be posted on Alex's Facebook page.
I wish I had found this link a few weeks ago, I would have posted it earlier.
Alex has another campaign "Pass a Pie". Make a pie and give it to your neighbor this holiday season
United Through Reading helps parents separated from their children share the simple joys of reading aloud together.
Picture a young Soldier in Afghanistan walking into a tent, dropping his gear, and picking up a copy of Green Eggs and Ham to read to his daughter at home. Imagine, back home in base housing, his wife and daughter sit down to watch Daddy read a bedtime story from the other side of the world. At that moment, Daddy is home.
The Military Program, has more than 250 recording locations worldwide including nearly every deployed US Navy ship, in 75 USOs, and from forward operating locations around the world, including 46 camps in Afghanistan.
More than one million American children are separated from one or both parents due to military deployment and nearly double that for children separated from their loved ones due to incarceration, drug treatment, or social services. Still others are separated from their grandparents, and therefore, from generational love and learning. United Through Reading has served 1 million beneficiaries over the past 21 years.
If you know of someone who can benefit from this program, please pass along the resources listed below.
John La Grou unveils an ingenious new technology that will smarten up the electrical outlets in our homes, using microprocessors and RFID tags. The invention, Safeplug, promises to prevent deadly accidents like house fires -- and to conserve energy.
His solution, Safeplug, is a cheap data chip placed into the plugs of appliances that can be read by a cheap wireless receiver in the socket. The device and the outlet are now an intelligent network, trading information of the safe operating ranges of the device. This allows the wall socket to shut off power if too much energy is flowing.
Whenever there is nothing plugged in, the wall unit can just simply shut off. Considering the amount of sockets in the States alone, shutting them off when not in use can save an unbelievable amount of wasted energy. It could even prevent injuries caused by children playing with electrical sockets.
The Giants are in the World Series, sports miracles abound!!
The next time you attend a sporting event take a look at how the garbage is handled and consider getting involved to promote recycling. After the crowds abandon their seats, it’s unbelievable to see how much waste has accumulated over a few hours.
Here is a success story we can all use as a model. For the past 17 years, the Good Sports Always Recycle™ program has not only encouraged University of Tennessee fans to recycle their plastic bottles and cups at every UT athletic home game, but also sparked competition among Tennessee schools.
Each year, the top 10 schools win $500 to improve their recycling program, a plaque, and a trip to a University of Tennessee football game. At the game, representatives from the winning schools will participate in a one-of-a-kind tailgate party with numerous special guests and will be honored on the field during the game.
Since the start of the program, 160 schools have been recognized for their recycling and environmental programs, and previous winners’ programs represent every aspect of recycling – from everyday paper and plastics to computer parts and cell phones.During that time they have achieved quite a recycling feat — 8 million plastic cups!
If Tennessee can do it - so can you. Visit their website to learn about the program. Talk to the other "soccer moms and dads" and mobilize your community. Who knows, maybe your school will be recognized and you can all go to a Giants game.
When I say food truck you may visualize tacos, coffee, or a burger. What about vegies and fruit?
Some clever entrepreneurs are bringing farm fresh produce to those in both urban and rural areas. They are calling themselves Mobile Farm Trucks or Mobile Farmers’ Markets, and they don’t just cater to high-end shoppers, but provide low-income residents with affordable, fresh produce, grown using sustainable and/or organic methods.
For example, in New York City, the Holton Farms Mobile Farm Truck has taken to the streets with a progressive mobile farm stand, that will operate throughout New York City, to serve as the public and restaurant wholesale clients. "The Farm Truck allows us access to neighborhoods throughout the Five Boroughs without having to open a store.”
The Farm Truck is run by sustainable farmers who partner with other farms and artisan producers to bring other products to its members including ice cream, cheeses, breads, coffee, grains, and soaps. They are accepting Food Stamps and discounting their prices by 20 percent for low-income New Yorkers.
Last year, Maine’s Jordan Farm started a Mobile Farm Stand that travels to senior housing sites in South Portland and to Portland and Scarborough businesses. Using a renovated school bus, they offer the same fresh produce that is available at their farm stand in Cape Elizabeth.
My 2 cents:
Wouldn't it be great if at lunch and after work we could shop from the Mobile Farm Truck parked in the corporate parking lot. Saves time running to the market after work and supports local farmers.
This good idea is a "twofer":
1. sharing instead of owning to make your $$ and energy go farther
2. supporting a type of law that helps facilitate cooperation instead of promote contention.
I strongly recommend you read the entire article instead of just reviewing my summary. This is big one.
The author, Janelle Orsi calls this sharing law which would help people like Lynne:
Lynne lives in an urban cohousing community and shares ownership of a car with two neighbors. Every day, she fluidly shares, borrows, and lends (rather than owns) many household goods, tools, electronics, and other items.
She is a member of a cooperative grocery, through which she receives significant discounts in exchange for putting in a few monthly work hours. She grows vegetables on an empty lot and sometimes sells the veggies to neighbors.
She has a successful rooftop landscaping business, which she launched using 20 microloans and investments from friends and family. She often barters, doing odd jobs in exchange for goods and services.
She also owns a 5 percent share of a hot springs retreat center outside of town, which she acquired through sweat equity.
If you have a fur coat gathering dust in your closet, the Humane Society suggests recycling it by putting it on the backs of other animals.
The Coats for Cubs programby the Humane Society of the United States helps orphaned, injured or sick wildlife by gathering fur coats and using them for nests, bedding or cuddly replacements for mom and dad. In 2009, 2,687 fur items were donated.
"We use the discarded furs as bedding to give the animals comfort and reduce stress," said Michael Markarian, the agency's chief operating officer in Washington, D.C. "The fur garments act as a surrogate mother. It is a warm and furry substitute."
The coats go to wildlife rehabilitation centers that take in baby raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, coyotes, skunks and other animals, and has helped thousands of animals since it began in 2005 with the Fund for Animals.
Markarian said many of the coats are donated by people who find fur to be inhumane - whether the animals are trapped in steel-jawed traps or raised on factory farms. For those who have fur and no longer want to wear it, "This is a great way for them to give back to the animals," he said.
OK folks look in your closet, i have a ratty mink left to me by my grandmother. Mail it off to the Humane Society or if you live by a Buffalo Exchange, you can drop off the fur at their store.
Tennessee has made changes to its health care system which are allowing the elderly and disabled to get the assistance they need in their homes - at a much lower cost than at a nursing home. A lot of this change is the direct result of efforts by Governor Phil Bredesen.
“It’s a good thing to do and it probably can save some costs, but more importantly it really is an easy way to keep an awful lot of people in their homes, which is what I would want. I know it’s what my mother wants,” Bredesen said in an interview with Stateline.
There are many success stories. A 56-year-old Nashville resident named Larry is a good example. He suffered a stroke two years ago and had an amputation. Because his wife could not care for him at home, he reluctantly entered a nursing facility. When the new program began providing training and support services for his wife, Larry was able to go home and spend time with his children and grandchildren.
The AARP, which advocates for the elderly, says that three people can receive long-term care services in the community for the cost of serving just one person in a nursing facility. Still, the big fear in offering more home-based services is that people who never would consider entering a nursing home “will come out of the woodwork” and apply for Medicaid. Surveys have shown that for each patient in a nursing facility, two more with the same level of disability are making do at home.
Alaska, California, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington State now spend more than half of their long-term care dollars on alternatives to nursing facilities.
The new federal health care law — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act— has a chance of changing that. It includes financial incentives for states to spend at least 50 percent of their long-term care dollars on non-institutional services and offers a grant for every person who leaves a nursing home to receive services in the community. Still, experts say the federal dollars may not be enough to persuade some states to make the changes.
This device is so simple and effective you can tell by looking at it that you have found a winner.
The Problem: I was surprised to learn that a shocking 6,000 people die daily from consuming unsafe water.
The Solution: The Danish company Vestergaard Frandsen has created a clever portable water filtration system called the LifeStraw. Designed to be worn around the neck, this life-saving accessory transforms mud puddles into a refreshing sip of water. Best of all, it requires no training to use and lasts for roughly a year (if used by a single person) without any maintenance what so ever.
I'm wondering if this could be used in this country for back packers who need clean water in remote locations.
Two doctors from the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center took a look at the legality and practicality of collecting pacemakers, after a patient has died, sterilizing them and reusing them. The devices are used wth patients who live in a country where the price of a pacemaker is prohibitive.
Kim A. Eagle, MD, a cardiologist and a director of the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center, explained that “establishing a validated pacemaker reutilization program could transform a currently wasted resource into an opportunity for a new life for many citizens in the world.”
Eagle notes that small humanitarian efforts have demonstrated that the risk of infection when using recycled pacemakers is the same—less than 2 percent—as implanting a new device. Patients also live as long and have as good a quality of life with a recycled pacemaker as patients who receive a new one.
Even though the cost of new pacemakers is as low as $800 in some foreign markets, this amount is “often more than the annual income of the average worker in underdeveloped nations,” noted Eagle. Cardiovascular disease continues to be an epidemic in these countries and others around the world.
Bill Daem has been doing this without the approval of the medical establishment since the mid 90s. During that time he has sent between 1,400 and 1,600 pacemakers overseas. Many of them were given to children. This new study may help Bill's organization Heart Too Heart expand it's efforts.
This is a truly inspirational story. I hope business schools will start to emphasize these types of success stories as they work with young MBAs. Make sure you watch the video as he explains what he thinks is important to a successful company.
25 years ago, Amitabha Sadangi was so poor he couldn't afford 2 meals in one day. He worked hard to put himself through school despite his deep poverty, so that he could get a good job and become wealthy. Today, he is a businessman giving up wealth and fortune to tackle irrigation and poverty in India.
Amitabha Sadangi's vision is to empower even the poorest farmers to irrigate their land. He believes that giving rural farmers a chance to pull themselves out of poverty is the way towards sustainable and dignified development. All you need is a $1 and a dream...and a lot of hard work.
I am always encouraged when a "good idea" makes it's way to a box store like Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart is planning to double the sales of fresh produce from local farms in its U.S. stores by the end of 2015, this would lift local produce to 9 percent of total produce sales in the country.
Wal-Mart also said it will require that palm oil from sustainable sources be used in all of its private-label products by the end of 2015. The company sells hundreds of products that use palm oil. Concerns had been raised that some producers add to global warming by felling forests.
Environmentalists contend that using locally sourced agriculture and supporting small farms is one way to preserve local jobs and prevent dwindling farmland from being lost. It can also help reduce the use of resources such as fuel to transport food over long distances.
Wal-Mart joins a growing list of corporate and charitable organizations lending support to sustainable agriculture programs and small and local farmers.
I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart, but I think they got this one right. Since they are such a major force in the economy their efforts to support local farmers are to be applauded, now when they start offering health care to employees it will be even better.
Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio announced an agreement to create a huge solar energy field at an old strip-mine adjacent to a nature conservation site.
Approximately 300 jobs will be created to build the solar project, known as “Turning Point Solar”. In addition, Prius and Isofoton the solar companies providing the panels, have agreed to locate their North American operations in Ohio, creating an additional 300+ permanent manufacturing jobs.
Turning Point will have a total of 239,400 panels. If operating today, this project would be the largest photovoltaic solar array in the United States.
Woo Hoo!! This is such a hopeful sign. As I watch all the ads about Prop 23,it will be nice to think of this project and take hope that many folks are trying to do the right thing when it comes to renewable energy. Go Ohio.
This is a heart warming story about a technology that makes sense on so many levels. The hearing aid can be charged by solar power. The cost is $100 and deaf folks are employed to make the device.
As someone who is loosing my hearing, I hope this technology can come to America soon.
Rupert Isaacson decided to take his five-year-old autistic son on a three-week trek across Mongolia on horseback, his wife thought he’d gone crazy. Rowan was autistic: incontinent, uncommunicative and given to fearsome bouts of nerve-shredding screeching, even at home.
Rupert had noticed that Rowan responded positively to a neighbor's horse, he also had learned about Shaman from Mongolia who were reported to have strong healing power. He combined the 2 experiences and went to Mongolia in 2007.
“Three months ago he had no maths, now he’s exactly where he should be,” Isaacson says. “He’s started drawing. He’s doing chores to save up for a baby chick. We went away to Mongolia with a kid who was subject to neurological fits, who was incontinent and completely cut off from his peers. He is still autistic, but he’s no longer suffering from these major dysfunctions which were impairing his quality of life – and ours.”
Rowan is seven now. He is educated at New Trails, a special centre set up by his parents near Austin, Texas, with the money from their publishing advance. At the New Trails centre, autistic children are given time to spend with horses, rabbits and goats. One of the problems with the endless round of behavioural and occupational therapy Rowan had in his early years was his rigidity, Isaccson says; at New Trails the children can interact with the animals at their own pace.
Rowan's adventure was filmed and made into a documentary: Over the Hills and Far Away, a documentary filmed during the journey.
View Trailer here - http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2898395673/
Time banking is a system where you spend an hour doing something for somebody in your community. That hour goes into the Time Bank as a Time Dollar, then you have a Time dollar to spend on having someone doing something for you.
It's a simple idea, but it has powerful implications for folks who are trying to stretch their money, are unemployed or who have specific needs they can't afford to hire out.
If you want to save $$, have skills you are willing to share, and want to get a great deal, this is an idea for you.
If you hear about a great idea, send me an email or post a comment at this site. Let's all get hooked on finding "ideas that work". lhemenway@santarosa.edu
If there is anything I love more finding an idea that works, its finding an idea that works and involves plants.
Here is a just such an idea – Green Curtains. The concept is to plant a living fence that shades a cool air pocket between the “curtain” and the building. So don't worry too much about pruning those overgrown vines - live and let grow. http://www.ijdesign.com/blog/?p=182
A Japanese company called Blest created a small, very safe and easy to use machine that can convert several types of plastic back into oil.
You put in plastic bags, styrofoam containers and bottle caps and out comes gasoline, diesel, or propane. I hope that someday soon plastic bottles and styrofoam containers will be eliminated, but until that day we have to do something with them. Recycling them would be so cool.
Greg Woodburn, a sophomore at the USC cleans used sneakers and shares them with underprivileged children in the United States and 20 other countries. I'm going to look in my closet right now, surely there is an old sneaker waiting for a new life.
Folks in Atlanta are using Goats to get rid of kudzu (an invasive grass). No need to use Roundup or other harmful chemicals, just Goats. I hope Goats will be used in more situations where chemicals have previously been employed. I hear they can eat berry bushes and poison oak.
Charlie Starbuck has helped to plant trees on the streets of San Francisco for 30 years. As an avid gardener I applaud Charlies efforts. Trees give me tremendous satisfaction in my backyard and I am sure the trees Charlie has planted have brought great joy to San Franciscans.
I admire his efforts to "spread the green" in an urban environment. Planting a tree is such a "hopeful" event.
Frank and Louise Fargo from Everett, Washington have a mobile home they use to offer showers to homeless folks who are in need. How cool is that? Its a simple comfort, provided by generous hard working people.
This blog is a collection of posts about "ideas that work". Simple, isn't it?
I find myself in a world where the news is filled with failed programs, wasted tax dollars, discouraging statistics, and folks screaming at each other.
After watching this news, I often need a lift.
If you are tired of hearing about how our schools are broken, alarmed by Global Warming, or annoyed by fanatics, check in often, to read about ideas that make things better. Learn about folks who are helping to solve problems. Who knows, maybe you can use some of these ideas in your community?
I love finding out about people, organizations, and governments that are making things better. I find it immensely inspiring. After reading one of these stories I find myself thinking about it at random times during the day. A little bit of encouraging news can go a long way.
I hope my discoveries can also cheer you.
Please send me a note if you discover an "idea that works" so we can all be encouraged, motivated, and enriched. lhemenway@santarosa.edu
