Kate
| MY EXCHANGE ENTRIES: |
Red-green colorblindness could soon be a thing of the past for humans. In a study at the University of Washington is Seattle, recently published in Nature, scientists injected naturally red-green colorblind squirrel monkeys with a gene for a human photoreceptor, according to the MIT Review.
The monkeys were given a test before and after the gene therapy similar to tests given to humans to test color-blindness. Two years after the gene therapy the two monkeys involved in the study have much-improved color vision with no negative side effects. Because human color-blindness is nearly the same as color-blindness in squirrel monkeys, researchers are hopeful that the gene therapy can be used on humans in the future. Read more...
Don't like the look of solar panels? There is a new option on the market for people who want to save money on their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint through the use of solar panels. SRS Energy of Philadelphia has developed a solar panel in the shape of popular clay roof tiles, allowing a portion of a roof to be tiled with the solar panels while the rest is covered in regular clay tiles.
The solar tiles are dark blue, recyclable and are scheduled to be available on the west coast this fall, and nationwide in the spring of 2010. While many enjoy the look of sunlight-converting traditional solar panels, if you prefer the tiled look the Sole Power Tile has several more colors and styles planned. Read more...
Inventor and water-treatment expert Michael Pritchard watched the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami and hurricane Katrina in 2005 leave many without clean drinking water in the wake of horrific natural disasters, leading him to develop the Lifesaver bottle. Read more...
A new renewable energy resource for the home has been developed by UK-based The Power Collective called RidgeBlade, a rooftop wind turbine. The home wind power system is designed to be visually unobtrusive and is designed to maximize energy potential even when there is little wind available, according to Springwise.
The RidgeBlade sits on the ridge line on the top of buildings where wind is forced over the surface, pushing air through the turbine to generate electricity. Read more...
Over 20 percent of methane gas, a greenhouse gas, is emitted by cows. There are about a billion cows in the world, and their methane emissions total more than the methane gas produced by all the cars, planes, ships and trucks in the world combined, according to Springwise.
UK company Mootral thinks they have found a solution to reduce methane gas emissions by cows by a minimum of 25 percent with a natural garlic-based extract that would be added to their food. Mootral is working with Welsh Neem Biotech to produce the additive, with plans to have a sample ready for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen this December. Read more...
Project Masiluleke is an effort designed by PopTech, a global network whose goal is to "accelerate the positive impact of world changing people, projects and ideas" to address HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis in South Africa through the power of mobile technology. Read more...
New York City has unveiled a new ad campaign encouraging people to put down sodas, sugary juices and sports drinks, store-made coffee drinks, and other beverages laden with sugar and high fructose corn syrup in an effort to educate New Yorkers on calorie consumption.
The campaign, which features a graphic image of human fat being poured from a plastic soda bottle, follows a previous a NYC campaign which aimed to reduce obesity in the city by requiring restaurants by law to post the calorie counts of it's food. Posters displayed in New York subway cars informed New Yorkers that "2,000 calories a day is all most adults should eat." Read more...
SolarCity and Rabobank announced today that they will partner together to build the world's first electric car charging corridor, which will allow electric vehicles to travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to a press release.
The corridor will be the first of its kind, enabling people with electric vehicles to travel a substantial distance with four fast, reliable, solar power-enhanced charging stations along the way in Salinas, Atascadero, Santa Maria and Goleta. The corridor, built in cooperation with Tesla Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturer in the Bay Area, plans to cut charging time to one third the time of other charging stations. Read more...
Design4Kids is a volunteer-based community of creative professionals who share their area of design expertise with teens in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. Volunteers come from a variety of professional design backgrounds, including graphic design, photography, marketing, fine art, web development, writing, animation and illustration.
Volunteers for Design4Kids provides week-long workshops where teens learn how to establish a successful design business. The organization works with a non-profit called Fotokids, which is working to end the cycle of poverty for some of Central America's poorest children. Fotokids is an after school program that teaches art techniques to participating students. Read more...
Hoping to raise awareness of the importance of marriage equality, Ben & Jerry's ice cream has partnered with Freedom to Marry, a leader in the movement to gain nationwide marriage equality, to celebrate gay and lesbian couple's freedom to marry in the state of Vermont, as well as all other states practicing marriage equality. For the month of September the popular Chubby Hubby flavor of ice cream will be renamed Hubby Hubby, and the ice cream makers will be publicly supporting the first gay and lesbian marriages to take place in Vermont. Read more...
José Gómez-Márquez, the MIT Technology Review's Humanitarian of the Year, is making innovative medical devices for use in poor countries. Márquez's inspired creativity in the field of medicinal invention is producing tools that medical workers in poor countries can count on. Based on the notion that medical devices are often complicated and expensive to fix, find or replace, he makes simple new creations that are easier to fix than the standard version. Some are designed to be difficult to break in the first place and require no power. Read more...
For Paul Romer, Stanford economist and one of TIME magazine's 25 most influential people in America in 1997, global progress and growth could begin with cities. His project, charter cities, is based on the idea that struggling countries can break the cycle of poverty by implementing a new set of rules.
He proposes that the scale of the city is the proper venue for the implementation of new administrative zones, which would allow people to potentially leave areas with bad rules that stifle growth and progress and enter into a charter city with better rules that allow the community to thrive. Read more...
Peaceful Schools International is a non-profit, charitable organization providing support to schools that have declared a commitment to creating and maintaining a culture of peace, according to peacefulschoolsinternational.org. Students are taught peace education and learn to value each other without aggressive behavior, violence or bullying.
Over 300 schools from around the world are members of the organization, founded by Hetty van Gurp in 2001. Peaceful Schools International's member schools promote a community where the teachers, students and community members collaborate in an environment of safety and respect. Read more...
Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros announced that he will donate $35 million to the state of New York to provide money for school supplies and clothing for low-income youth. The gift leverages federal stimulus money bringing the total amount to about $175 million going toward the program. To access the federal money the state must provide 20 percent of the funds, but due to recession-related budget cuts New York couldn't put up the money, so George Soros stepped in. The program will give $200 to about 850,000 low-income families in New York state to help pay for back-to-school supplies and clothing.
"Even in the toughest of economic times, starting the school year right is key to a child's success," said Mr. Soros in a press release announcing his gift. Read more...
Greenwashing. A particularly evil practice used by companies to fool you into thinking you are buying an environmentally-friendly product or service. Here are three ways to out-smart cunning companies with deep pockets.
1. "Natural" isn't a regulated term, and products labeled as such are often quite the opposite. Because no laws govern the use of terms such as "derived from natural ingredients" or "all-natural", these phrases are frequently abused. Arsenic and formaldehyde are both naturally-derived, but that doesn't mean we want them in our products. Read more...
Meatless Mondays, a non-profit initiative started by The Monday Campaigns in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, encourages people to refrain from eating meat one day a week (Monday). The campaign has received global support, endorsed by Paul McCartney and his daughters who started a Meatless Monday campaign in the U.K. as well as Michael Pollan - author of In Defense of Food
Their goal is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet by reducing our carbon footprint. The campaign offers avid omnivores an opportunity to help reduce the massive waste created by the meat industry while still maintaining their usual diet the rest of the week. Read more...
Newsweek's Daniel Stone encourages you and President Obama to have a laugh with Ode's special laughter issue in the magazine's political blog The Gaggle. Read more...
Often our weekend plans include or necessitate the purchase or addition of something new in our lives. Maybe you need an outfit for a wedding, a new refrigerator or something smaller like cleaning products or shampoo. Whether it be toys or gadgets for your kids, a gift, or necessities like toilet paper and food, how environmentally sound and healthy of a purchase we are making is often the last thing on our minds during hectic weekend errands. We go to the store, pick up what we need and then move on to the fun stuff we wait for all week. A few minutes of thoughtful consideration before running errands can add up to big changes toward reducing our consumption.
Reducing our carbon footprint is a big task. Where to start? What makes the most difference? Tackling one thing at a time can be a manageable way to get to a greener place, so here is a challenge for all of us: Find something we have already or that you need/want that isn't green and replace it with a greener version, or better yet, get rid of it all together (in an environmentally-friendly way of course). Read more...
Energy technology company Jetstream Wind recently announced plans that it will develop the world's first sustainable zero-emissions power plant. The plant will use power from renewable resources such as wind and solar power, which will then be converted into hydrogen and transferred back to the grid as available power, according to the New Mexico-based company.
The process is completely sustainable, doesn't create any greenhouse gasses and produces distilled water as a byproduct, a promising prospect for parts of the world without access to freshwater. Read more...
KEEN Inc., a leader in hybrid outdoor performance products, including footwear, socks and bags - is running an exciting contest with the chance to win a week-long volunteer vacation at an animal rescue society near Cape Town, South Africa. Entries are being accepted until August 21, 2009, at keenfootwear.com/southafrica.
The trip is organized by i-to-i, a U.K.-based volunteer travel company which has sent more than 20,000 people to volunteer in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America since 1996. Read more...
With the vast amount of "green" information out there it's easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to knowing what you should be doing. Just remember that every little bit counts, and making a few small choices this weekend can make a big difference. Making green choices helps us create a healthy environment for our planet and our bodies, something we can all get on board for. Here are a few tips to help you have a green weekend and save you some cash at the same time. Read more...
Nine shark attack survivors gathered in Washington D.C. this week to lobby Congress to pass a Senate bill outlawing shark "finning" in U.S. waters. Shark finning, the practice of slicing off a shark's fins and throwing the body back into the ocean to die, is mainly practiced in other parts of the world where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy. The bill, which already passed in the House of Representatives last March and is supported by federal fisheries, will make existing shark-protection laws easier to enforce and help close loopholes in the existing U.S. shark-finning ban. A firmer stance by the U.S. will bring global awareness to shark conservation and help to influence policy on a global scale. Read more...
Double your philanthropic power at LavishGiving.com, an online shop where you can purchase a gift for a loved one and receive 20% back on purchases of $100 or more to donate to your charity of choice. The site features products from top designers, including home and kitchen items, clothing, accessories and jewelry as well as gifts for children and pets.
LavishGiving.com, started by a Cincinatti boutique owner who was inspired to create a retail experience that gives back after losing her brother and a dear friend to cancer, gives online shoppers an opportunity to purchase gifts and products they would buy anyway and make a substantial donation to a cause that is meaningful to them. Read more...
Save Your Logo, a creative new French non-profit committed to biodiversity and the preservation of plant and animal species, is asking companies who use a plant or animal's likeness in their logo to make a commitment to preserve and protect the species they profit from.
The first companies to step up and commit to joining preservation efforts of their logos are international clothing brand Lacoste, committing to the preservation of crocodiles and alligators, and the French insurance company MAAF, whose efforts will go toward saving their companies animal representation, the dolphin. Lacoste says, "The brand will actively support projects selected by the GEF to safeguard or protect the endangered crocodile, alligator, caiman or gavial species, whose loss would jeopardize the biological balance of their natural habitats." Read more...
World Bicycle Relief, founded in 2005 in response to the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean by SRAM Corporation and Trek Bicycle, empowers people in area of extreme poverty and those suffering in the wake of natural disasters with the gift of transportation.
According to worldbicyclerelief.org, "Simple, sustainable transportation is an essential element in disaster assistance and poverty relief. Bicycles fulfill basic needs by providing access to healthcare, education and economic development. Bicycles empower individuals, their families, and their communities." Read more...
TakePart.com wants you to get involved in the causes you care about and have the tools to make a difference. Covering issues from climate change to the industrialization of the food chain and how clean our drinking water is, the site allows you to explore issues that concern you or that you want to learn more about. You can share your ideas with others sharing your concerns and learn about ways to participate in your cause and take action to change something you don't think is right. Read more...
Architecture for Humanity spans the globe working as a benevolent tour de force with a network of over 40,000 professionals who lend their time and services such as design, construction and development skills to those who would otherwise not be able to afford their services in places where people are critically in need. With 80 chapters in 25 countries, Architecture for Humanity is a nonprofit design services firm and a network for people who care about sustainable development.
Legendary architect Frank Gehry is a former advisory board member, and David de Rothschild, British adventurer and environmentalist and actress Cameron Diaz have both served as former competition jurors and project reviewers. Read more...
Whole Foods Market has joined the Non-GMO Project, committing to the third-party system that verifies food does not contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The store's private label brands, 365 Every Day Value and Whole Foods Market, will carry the "Non-GMO Project Verified" seal beginning this fall.
GMOs are plants whose DNA have been altered to create an organism that did not previously exist in nature. According to WholeFoodsMarket.com, the GMO crops currently approved and marketed in the United States do one of two things: make their own pesticides or resist herbicides, so that farmers can spray an entire field with a strong chemical herbicide and kill everything but the GMO crop. Read more...
Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of microcredit said, "If you want to solve poverty, you have to put people in a position to build their own life."
Allowing two families to build their own lives in new homes is the goal of ING's Huis voor een huis (Home for a home) program, which offers Dutch borrowers taking out a mortgage an option to donate 300 Euros (about 424 U.S. dollars) which will then be matched by the bank and used as microloans for families in Bangladesh and India to use toward building their own homes. Read more...
Finding a clean and safe swimming spot in Europe this summer is at your fingertips with the Eye on Earth World Watch map, a user-friendly resource resulting from a partnership between Microsoft and the European Environment Agency (EEA). Beaches, rivers and lakes are marked by icons which are color coded (greens are safe, reds warn against swimming areas where the water is unhealthy and swimming is prohibited) and many are marked by a thumbs up or thumbs down, indicating other map-users rated a particular area as good, bad or average. Read more...
The International Ecotourism Society unites conservation, communities and sustainable travel while promoting responsible travel to natural areas while conserving the environment and improving the well-being of local people.
According to ecotourism.org, TIES works by creating an international network of individuals, institutions and the tourism industry, educating tourists and tourism professionals and influencing the tourism industry. Public institutions and donors integrate the principles of ecotourism into their operations and policies. As the world's oldest and largest international ecotourism association, TIES seeks to be the global source of knowledge and advocacy uniting communities, conservation, and sustainable travel. Read more...
InFocus, a web site created by Andrew Kilbourn and Faith Model, is an online, not-for-profit resource featuring "short documentary films that bring a thoughtful and thorough awareness to the positive forces of change in regions hammered by conflict, poverty, oppression or distaste", according to InFocusworld.org.
Their web site states their goal as "to tell stories of hope and inspire change. All too often, we are faced with images of certain parts of the world that are shocking; deplorable living conditions, war torn villages; starving children. But what we don’t always hear about are the everyday extraordinary people whom, in the midst of these struggles, are effecting real change in their homes and in their communities." Read more...
Ode's co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Jurriaan Kamp was fortunate enough to moderate a panel on Fortune 500 companies embracing sustainability at the annual LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) Forum happening this week in Boulder, Colorado. The panel had representatives from Walmart, Coca Cola and the Mohawk group answering questions about the steps their companies are taking in the transition toward sustainability.
“We haven’t been sustainable for a long time, but we have a vision to be zero-waste. It’s a lofty vision, but it’s there.” said Candace Taylor, Walmart’s Director of Strategy and Sustainability. Read more...
Finding an eco-friendly way to manage your summer lawn mowing doesn’t have to involve a manual push mower or even an expensive electric version. For some innovative yet old-school organizations, this year's hottest new green tool is the goat. From Google to the state of Maryland, goats are eating away at overgrown lawns across the country.
At the Mountain View, California Google headquarters about 200 goats spent a week clearing a nearby field, helping to reduce the area fire-hazard and clear out brush and weeds. More information can be found about the Google goats on the official Google blog. Read more...
