Healing the City of Angels
As a teenager, Andy Lipkis learned that smog was killing the forests of Southern California. He and his friends began planting and caring for trees, and were dubbed the “tree people.” More than 30 years later, Andy’s pathfinding efforts have proven the feasibility of making large cities sustainable, and have resulted in the planting of two million trees, the education of one million schoolch... posted on Oct 17 2005, 1,012 reads

Stop Genocide
A year ago, a group of Swarthmore students decided to take on an unusual extracurricular activity: stopping genocide. Their Genocide Intervention Fund has raised $250,000, found backing from Mia Farrow and Bill Clinton, and has inspired over 100 colleges to raise money for the fund. ... posted on Oct 12 2005, 900 reads

Desert Rose
San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point is a tough neighborhood; besides its notorious gang violence, the pollution that is spewed by the surrounded freeways, power plant, and Naval shipyard, have resulted in high levels of asthma, cancer, and birth-defects among its residents. 19-year-old La Constance Shahid is working to heal the land by inspiring young residents to raise the native plants that ... posted on Oct 10 2005, 1,058 reads

Turtle Talks
At eleven years old, Zander Srodes started a non-profit in his hometown of Placidia, Florida to save the Loggerhead Sea Turtles from extinction. Zander started speaking to K-6 graders about what they can do to help protect these ancient reptiles. Armed with a wealth of turtle knowledge, and wearing a sea turtle costume, Zander urges the kids to clean up after themselves on the beach so that the tu... posted on Oct 03 2005, 1,101 reads

Power to the People
Stalin K, is a human rights activist that runs a revolutionary radio program to expose corruption in India's western Gujarat province. He trains semi-literate groups of villagers to be “fearless” reporters and take on the issues and stories that affect them directly. The project has given villagers a voice and power in making their public authorities accountable. ... posted on Sep 16 2005, 1,083 reads

Ford's Fortune
Bob Ford didn't let the pine tree that Hurricane Katrina hurled through his roof, narrowly missing him, slow him down. After the storm, the Jackson Mississippi golf-course owner and caterer took the food out of his freezer and drove to the Mississippi Coliseum to feed some 1,200 New Orleans refugees. When provisions ran out, he went on local television to plead for more donations. When the Red Cro... posted on Sep 14 2005, 1,387 reads

Alchemy
Having spent his childhood losing friend after friend to guns in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood, John Ricker has organized a series of events called Gun Bakes. Usually taken place at the site of a gun related death, the community gathers to participate in the melting of donated assault rifles and handguns that are transformed into pieces of public art. ... posted on Aug 24 2005, 1,399 reads

A Mother's Stand
Cindy Sheehan's stand for peace outside of US President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford Texas is part of a long tradition of bereaved mothers all over the world campaigning for peace. From Israel's Four Mothers, a grassroots group which helped shape Israeli public opinion to pull its military out of Lebanon in 2000, to the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, who's decades-long marches on beh... posted on Aug 17 2005, 1,225 reads

Imagination
In an effort to reduce student's fear of failure and encourage them to take musical risks, Music conservatory professor Benjamin Zander, decided to give them, in advance, the grade the wanted most, A's. The one condition is that two weeks into the school year students must write a letter, in the past tense and dated May of next year, to Mr. Zander describing what they have learned, what type of p... posted on Aug 10 2005, 1,223 reads

Fairy Godmother
Shannon Engelbrecht, a.k.a the fairy godmother of real estate, is in the business of helping families purchase homes in San Francisco's high-priced market. After cashing in her stock options at the technology company she worked for, she decided to invest her small fortune in a way that was socially conciouss. By purchasing the buildings herself, and then providing her tenants with a lease-to-own ... posted on Aug 09 2005, 1,730 reads