Posted by Unknown on 12:28 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 3:08 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 3:34 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 10:19 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 7:15 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 9:22 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 6:24 PM
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 program by 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...
Posted by Unknown on 11:57 AM
This website allows you to post books you are willing to give away. Once someone requests your book, you mail it to them (you pay shipping).
Then you receive a credit you can use to request a book for yourself. The book is shipped at no cost to you.
You can do this all from home, post your books, pick out new ones, and print the mailing labels from your home computer.
Great for college students on a budget or anyone who is a "bookie".
The have almost 5 million books at the site.
Watch video that explains the process:
http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/how_to_swap_books.php
Visit the Website:
http://www.paperbackswap.c...
Posted by Unknown on 4:50 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 10:13 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 10:42 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 6:15 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 1:17 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 5:07 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 11:18 PM
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.
Watch a video about the product and the inventor Harold Weinstein
Read the story here:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/solar-powered-hearing-aid.html
Visit the solar ear website:
http://www.solarear.com.br/solar/index....
Posted by Unknown on 9:44 PM
A recycled Newspaper box has become a drop box where anyone can
take an object
leave an object
check back to see what is in there.
A simple idea with wonderful possibilites.
I wonder if I can put one in my front yard? I have been wanting to give away extra tomatoes - how fun to have a treasure box right outside your door.
Read more http://www.life-connected.com/2009/11/the-stranger-exchan...
Posted by Unknown on 1:48 PM
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...
Posted by Unknown on 10:44 PM
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.
How it works
http://www.timebanks.org/how-it-works.htm
Where do I start
http://www.timebanks.org/get-involved.htm
If...
Posted by Unknown on 9:07 PM
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=...
Posted by Unknown on 11:28 PM
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.
I want one of these machines....Here is the video and article. Watch the movie and be amazed. the article is pretty long, but worth your time. http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/plastic-to-oil-fantast...
Posted by Unknown on 9:01 PM
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.
Read his story online at the Reader's Digest
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/recycled-sneakers-fit-for-sharing/article167335.html
Learn more about his non profit - Woodburn's Share Our Soles (S.O.S.)
http://www.shareoursoles.o...
Posted by Unknown on 7:52 PM
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.
Read all about it at:
http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2010/10/01/trees-atlanta-employs-goats-yes-goats-to-clean-up-kudzu-at-future-beltline-park
The organization that rented out the goats may have other interesting ideas visit their site at: http://www.treesatlanta.o...
Posted by Unknown on 6:50 PM
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. Read about Charlie's efforts at http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2010/0405/One-man-s-volunteer-effort-to-plant-trees-in-San-Franci...
Posted by Unknown on 10:36 PM
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.
Read about the Fargos at
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100923/NEWS01/709239891/0/FRONTPAGE
How you can help
Donations of toiletries and new socks and underwear can be dropped off at Cascade View Presbyterian Church, 1030 E. Casino Road, Evere...
Posted by Unknown on 10:22 PM
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 ...
