Friday September 21st was International Peace Day and it is time to celebrate peace. Yes I know peace is still a work in progress but celebrating peace is a positive thing to do on the road to our goal. Peace is possible if we believe it is and if we are willing to visualize it, feel it, sense it, imagine it, and even dream about a peaceful world. Those that think peace is not possible are limiting themselves with that belief. There are many things going on in the world that do not fall into the category of peaceful but that doesn't mean you and I shouldn't have peace inside. Inner peace is a good place to start.   Read more...

With natural sections popping up in virtually every retail store these days, it seems that consumers are more interested than ever in buying natural care products to maximize their well-being. But in the smoke and mirror world of today's mainstream marketing, how do we know what ‘Natural' really means.   Read more...

I want to invite everyone to visit The Good News Network, for daily updates of positive news from around the world... from Pets, to Business, Celebrities to World News, Inspiring individuals to Earth news, the stories are always compelling and uplifting, sure to inspire... Geri, Managing Editor and founder www.goodnewsnetwork.org   Read more...

Some years ago I went through a very hard time. The burden of starting a business weighed increasingly heavily. I felt that the challenges of work were completely consuming me, and I didn't have enough time to spend with my family and friends--let alone time to spend by myself. I ran into a good old friend and over a cup of tea I shared my "complaints" with him. Johan listened supportively, and after a while he posed a question: "Do you remember that talk we had about our futures a few years ago?"

I did remember. My friend reminded me about the dreams--the things I wanted to achieve--that I had shared with him during that conversation. He brought me back to that earlier conversation and invited me to look at my present reality from that perspective. And, interestingly, it turned out that many of the things I had wished for years ago had in fact become part of my everyday reality. That meeting changed my life, because I realized that my wishes and dreams do tend to come true. It is only that I forget, because I'm always on the move to the next goal. "Count your blessings," Johan said, and the heaviness of the time fell from my shoulders.   Read more...

We are a young Australian film Production Company called Glass Kingdom (www.glasskingdom.com.au) committed to making a difference through our film projects. Recently we have embarked on this amazing adventure of making a feature film called Belladonna which is a co-production between Australia and Poland. It's a contemporary love story that travels centuries. It starts in the 15th Century in Europe, where a couple falls in love and they meet once again in the 21st Century in Australia 2008.   Read more...

Over the years I have been collecting and shipping medical and science textbooks overseas through the Peace and Justice center in Burlington, VT. College teachers donate surplus textbooks to the project. Many times these textbooks would end up in the landfill.   Read more...

I was pleasantly surprised this morning while reading this months issue of ODE Magazine. I thought to myself, "hmm... maybe I should write an article about Linux operating systems (Ubuntu/Kubuntu) and open source software and the free software movement", when I turned the page to find "Ubuntu for all".

A wonderful little article, but not what I expected being the closet geek that I am. There is a parallel here though. Ubuntu, as the article says, means "I am because you are." The article goes on to describe African democracy.   Read more...

Living Earth Television is creating an international village square so that people everywhere can get to know their neighbors across the globe. Visit us at www.letv.org. LETV finds programs made by and about local communities everywhere for translation and broadcast to an international audience.   Read more...

How do we stop child abuse? We believe the world needs a positive role model to help in creating healthy, safe, and nurturing environments for our children. So we created Angie the Ant, and she has become the official mascot of Prevent Child Abuse America.

Our goal is to make Angie the Ant a successful, recognizable entertainment icon, so that we can help fund the vitally important programs and services offered in child abuse prevention arena.   Read more...

Thought this might be interesting for the Ode Community. I just received an email from one of my friends, Chris Anderson, who is a TED Curator.

"Maybe it's just me, but every time I see this trailer, it sets my spine a-tingling. I hope you’ll take a minute to view it, rate it, write a quick comment about it and then blog it, or pass the link along to friends. Each of these actions will have a multiplying effect and will help us reach out to thousands of film-makers around the world who we need to submit content for possible inclusion in Pangea Day."   Read more...

Every now and then science runs into what is called an “anomaly” – an event or observation that deviates from the rule, something that doesn’t make sense. If the anomaly cannot be explained by the current way of thinking – by the current paradigm – what usually happens is that scientists will say: “We cannot explain this as yet, but don’t worry. In time – when we gather more information – we will.” This attitude gives scientists a reason to ignore the anomaly and to postpone asking fundamental questions about their current way of thinking.

The late American physicist and expert in the history of science Thomas S. Kuhn, described a very interesting psychological experiment in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). Researchers Jerome Bruner and Leo Postman asked their subjects to identify playing cards on short and controlled exposure. Many of the cards were normal, but some were “anomalous”, like a red six of spades and a black four of hearts. When these cards were first exposed briefly they were almost always identified as normal. The black four of hearts was, for example, identified as the four of either spades or hearts. So the cards were immediately fitted into one of the conceptual categories based on prior experience.   Read more...

I've just been told that the woman in whose hands the world would always change for the better passed away. At 64, much too early, Anita Roddick, left us. What a brave soul she was, never afraid to address the painful issues in our societies. She was never interested in being politically correct or in even being sensitive to her audience, she would just speak from her heart. She fought injustice with all her energy and passion.   Read more...

I've just been told that the woman in whose hands the world would always change for the better passed away. At 64, much too early, Anita Roddick, left us. What a brave soul she was, never afraid to address the painful issues in our societies. She was never interested in being politically correct or in even being sensitive to her audience, she would just speak from her heart. She fought injustice with all her energy and passion.

What a drive she had…! There were only a very few bridges too far for her. She got far, very far, because she dared to cross whatever challenge was in front of her. From a tiny shopk in Brighton, she created, together with her husband Gordon, one of the first companies – The Body Shop – that really did business just for social change. Yet for me, the most important part of her legacy is not her company – it is the simple fact that every individual can indeed change the world. "Just do it", could have been her tagline. So she lived. No regrets.   Read more...

A few years ago a group of educators from BC, Canada set out to try to get an objective look at the state of the world. They wanted The Big Picture, not just this or that issue, but the most essential points of every important issue. The Executive Summary of the state of the planet.   Read more...

More than 70% of most cities' outdoor space is dedicated to the private vehicle while only a fraction of that land is allocated to open space for people. Around the nation, inexpensive curbside parking results in increased traffic, wasted fuel, and more pollution.

PARK(ing) Day is a one-day, global event centered in San Francisco where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform parking spots into "PARK(ing)" spaces: temporary public parks.   Read more...

I am a co-founder of www.projectreadon.com. We are working hard to provide English and Spanish captions for online videos and have been working closely with all the political campaigns for the US Presidential Election in 2008 and Rock the Vote. I just wanted to highlight my company here because I am so proud of the people I work with and who work so hard every day and are committed to making this seminal election in American history accessible to all whether they are hard of hearing/deaf, for whom English is not their native tongue or if they simply cannot turn the sound up on their computers for any host of reasons! Thank you to my co-workers, friends and allies in this great cause!   Read more...

Kids have more council for you than you'd expect! They see more through you than you are aware. Both you and children can benefit enormously from this knowledge.

As founding member of the Open Up festival, a festival that focuses on collective growth, I was asked how to connect the children's activity more to the adult part. Then I remembered ‘The Fairy Tale of Reality' I had organized with a friend in 2001.   Read more...

The other day I was listening to The Beatles

In 2007-2008, Co-Op America and Global Exchange are sponsoring four green festivals at cities across the United States. I have been to the Washington, DC festival for each of the past three years and it was one of my favorite events. There are speakers on many topics related to peace, conflict, corporate social responsibility, workshops on advocacy and other themes, and a chance to learn and connect with others.   Read more...

Her photo came across my desk a few months ago. I just stared at it - it was hard to believe that a child who was 14 months old could weigh 6 pounds. People say someone is skin and bones but she literally was - you could see her bones right below her skin. She was sitting in her grandma's lap. Her grandma looked depressed like there wasn't much hope left. That was the doctor's assessment, they didn't think she would survive. It was obvious that a simple thing like diarrhea would have killed her. She had lesions over her body and the doctors as this medical clinic in Haiti tried multiple treatments on her, gave her grandmother a two month supply of nutritional support (rice and beans) and a year's supply of children's multiple vitamins and said there was nothing else they could do. This was in January, 2006.   Read more...

We would like to share our idea for our not for profit business. We have just started a dating site for humanitarians. The idea of the site is to create a community for humanitarian and development workers to meet. The site is for people working for international/local aid or development organizations as well as people who are interested in making the world a better place.   Read more...