American Generosity, Surveyed
A Harris Interactive online survey conducted in April 2006 had over 2500 Americans responding to a series of questions about Americans’ understanding of the sources and importance of generosity. The results? The home is the best teacher of generosity, with a helpful boost from the tax code. Most respondents thought that the family was the most important source of generosity, while nearly three o... posted on Oct 29, 1634 reads

A Photo Gallery Inspiring Adoption
Photographer Jackie Mathey came up with the unique idea of using her skills to try and capture the spirit of foster children in a way that would inspire people towards adoption. Her work led to the formation of Heart Gallery, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about children in need of families. More than 150 of the country's most prestigious photographers volunteered to take portrait... posted on Oct 31, 1222 reads

The Power of Nice
In the ruthlessly competitive world of corporate advertising, two women, Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval have taken their company to the top by following a simple but revolutionary principle: It Pays To Be Nice. Share the credit for an idea. Treat the messenger, the secretary and even strangers with respect. Don't squabble over who gets the biggest piece of pie, bake a bigger one. Find ways to... posted on Nov 1, 2275 reads

A List Of 43 Life Goals
Buy new socks. Get a haircut. Learn to speak Tamil. Become an astronaut. These are four of nearly 600,000 life goals posted on 43things.com, a digital library of the world's ink-smeared to-do lists. The "structured blog" invites users to list as many as 43 goals and chart their progress with brief entries. Participants can browse each others' goals, leaving encouragement and getting ideas about th... posted on Nov 8, 2675 reads

Putting Our World In Perspective
The magnititude of the world can be overwhelming. How massive is the number of impoverished people? What percentage of the overall population lives in urban areas? How vast is the threat of AIDS? It's hard to put things in perspective when the numbers are so large. The Miniature Earth gives a clear vista by reducing the global population to only 100, while keeping statistics the same. The effect e... posted on Nov 3, 2710 reads

Cloud Appreciation Society
As a child, Gavin Pretor-Pinney loved to watch the clouds -- a fascination that lasted well into adulthood. Two years ago, Gavin founded the unexpectedly popular Cloud Appreciation Society, an online community which now has 5,000 members from 39 countries. At one point, it was receiving more than 7 million hits a month! The site houses photographs of beautiful cloud formations from all over the wo... posted on Nov 4, 1953 reads

The Woman Behind The Pink Ribbon
Today, many recognize the pink ribbon as a symbol of the fight against breast cancer. Many will also recognize the last name of the woman behind this symbol. For more than a decade now, Evelyn Lauder (daughter-in-law of cosmetic giant, Estee Lauder) has been dedicated to helping find a cure for breast cancer and raising awareness of the disease. As an executive of the Estee Lauder Companies -- one... posted on Nov 12, 2860 reads

What our Youth Believe
Taking a page from NPR’s “This I Believe� essays, The Global Youth Fund (GYF) -- a youth-driven initiative to create the world's first democratic fund -- is compiling the collective wisdom of youth (ages 15-25). Focused on personal philosophies, core values and beliefs that serve as a day-to-day guide, these essays reflect what young people have to say about our world's most critical challen... posted on Nov 15, 2104 reads

The Green 50
High oil prices, global warming, the sense that chemicals cause real harm and that the earth's resources are indeed finite -- these are not so much charitable causes to embrace as they are problems that entrepreneurs can solve. Wall Street and Silicon Valley certainly understand this: Venture capital firms invested $958 million in renewable energy companies in the first half of 2006 alone. Today'... posted on Nov 21, 1745 reads

Scientific Foray into Consciousness
It wasn't that long ago that the study of consciousness was considered to be too abstract, too subjective or too difficult to study scientifically. But in recent years, it has emerged as one of the hottest new fields in biology, similar to string theory in physics or the search for extraterrestrial life in astronomy. No longer the sole purview of philosophers and mystics, consciousness is now attr... posted on Nov 26, 1757 reads

Leading A Happier Life
As a motivational speaker and executive coach, Caroline Adams Miller knows a few things about using mental exercises to achieve goals. But last year, one exercise she was asked to try took her by surprise. Every night, she was to think of three good things that happened that day and analyze why they occurred. That was supposed to increase her overall happiness. "I thought it was too simple to be e... posted on May 5, 8798 reads

The Vibrancy of Generation Next
The BBC's Generation Next season on World Service radio is a week of special programming dedicated to understanding and exploring the world of the under 18s -- the next generation. From an Antarctican's concerns for the seventh continent, to a Lebanese teenager's campaign to clean up an oil-slicked beach, from Indian pupils' initiative to green the country's most polluted city, to a poll on how un... posted on Dec 10, 1398 reads

Dancing Classrooms
It seeks to use the power of dance to do more than just bring elementary school students together. Dancing Classrooms was started in New York City in 1984 under the direction of ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine. In Dulaine's words, "The children learn ballroom dancing, yes; but the real thing they are learning are the transferable skills of decorum, etiquette, being polite with each other, respect, ... posted on Dec 24, 2424 reads

A Graduate at Age 100
In 1925, Marvin L. "Hub" Northen, with $100 in his pocket, hopped on a train that brought him from his hometown of Holland, Texas, to Baylor University. Eighty-one years later, at age 100, Northen officially became a Baylor graduate, the oldest in the school’s history. When the Great Depression hit in the late 1920s, Northen was forced to leave school because he had to work to help his family ge... posted on Jan 3, 2265 reads

Mountaineer Brings Attention To Depression
Step by step. That's how people defeat depression and it's also how Joe Lawson climbs mountains. Lawson's father committed suicide in 1986 when he was 16. Today, at 36, Joe is funneling his passion for mountaineering into Expedition Hope, a quest to scale the seven summits -- the tallest mountain on each continent -- to focus awareness on depression. Lawson sees strong parallels between depress... posted on Jan 5, 2587 reads

Push for a Low Carbon Diet
Last June, when David Gershon saw Al Gore's global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," he knew that the time was ripe. In 2000, Gershon had created a step-by-step program, a la Weight Watchers, designed to reduce a person's carbon footprint. The idea received positive reviews, but it eventually fell by the wayside for lack of interest. In the last five years, however, attitudes toward gl... posted on Jan 6, 2302 reads

What Are You Optimistic About?
Each year the Edge Foundation poses one thought-provoking question to over one hundred of the world's leading minds. This year's question: "What are you optimistic about?" Edge publisher John Brockman points out that while conventional wisdom warns us that things are sliding from bad to worse, many of our top scientists have a brighter outlook on our future. This stimulating compilation of answers... posted on Jan 12, 3044 reads

Turning Everest's Trash Into Treasure
Thousands of adventurers have been drawn to Mount Everest by the challenge of climbing to the top of the world. Jeff Clapp was drawn by the trash they leave behind. Inspired by a documentary about Everest's rubbish, Clapp traveled to Nepal and brought a load of discarded oxygen bottles back in 2004. He has created a business of transforming those banged-up, aluminum containers into gleaming bells,... posted on Jan 18, 2425 reads

Vital Friends
In the recently published book "Vital Friends", author Tom Rath says people with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their job! His findings are based on a worldwide poll of eight million people by the Gallup Organization as well as information from the market researcher's employment engagement database. Rath says those with close friends at work are more likely to d... posted on Jan 23, 2752 reads

Diversity Makes A Difference
Arguments for equal opportunity are often based on moral reasons; Sociologist Cedric Herring recently decided to take things one step further. Given that discussions about morality are often divisive, he decided to take a more scientific approach. In other words, beyond the question of whether diversity is a good thing, is there evidence that it makes a difference? Herring found that companies tha... posted on Jan 28, 2135 reads

A Hero Twice Over
When Michael Keenan ran into a burning building to save a dog -- a dog that didn't even belong to him in a home where he didn't live -- he ended up saving a life, but also ended up in serious condition with only a 50% chance of survival. Friends and family weren't surprised: he had already proven himself a hero six years earlier when he jumped into San Francisco Bay to save two strangers who had d... posted on Feb 13, 2230 reads

365 Days, 365 Plays
Some writers are congenitally prolific. But even Suzan-Lori Parks sometimes thinks she's taken that tendency a little too far. In 2003, Parks decided to write a play for every day of a year, and went on to craft more than 365 miniscripts that ranged in length from three lines to three pages. And then the dramatist made another decision: Persuade theater communities nationwide to produce all 365 sc... posted on Feb 23, 2089 reads

My Life As A Child
What does life look like through a child’s eyes? "My Life as a Child" is a six-part documentary series with that very premise, providing video cameras to 20 children in a diverse group from around America. The result is an unusual marriage of YouTube sensibility and professional filmmaking, a video collage of 21st century American childhood. The series includes portraits of Tina, a 9-year-old Hu... posted on Feb 27, 2729 reads

Maisie's Six Million Cans
Maisie DeVore, a senior citizen of Eskridge, Kansas, spent 30 years single-handedly raising enough money to build a community swimming pool. Each week, she would drive the back roads and gather aluminum cans and deliver them to a recycling facility. Can by can, year after year, she raised the necessary $100,000. Says Maisie, "If you get involved, you can do more than you thought you could."... posted on Mar 6, 3920 reads

Overcoming the Bystander Tendency
We've all found ourselves in these situations: when we’ve driven past a car stranded by the side of the road, assuming another driver would pull over to help. We witness a problem, consider some kind of positive action, then respond by doing ... nothing. Something holds us back. We remain bystanders. Why don't we help in these situations? Why do we sometimes put our moral instincts in shackles? ... posted on Mar 12, 2854 reads

19-year-old Tackles Global Blindness
Six years ago, 19-year-old college sophomore Jennifer Staple started "Unite for Sight", a nonprofit with a staff of one: herself. It began with the recruitment of a few fellow Yale University students to join her mission against blindness among the homeless of New Haven, Conn., and has since burgeoned into the recruitment of thousands worldwide. From her dorm room on the Stanford campus where sheâ... posted on Mar 13, 2244 reads

Work That Makes You Come Alive
John Chen has bungee-jumped from 120-foot-high bridges, walked over 40 feet of red-hot coals and parachuted from a plane. What was his scariest feat? "Trying to figure out how to leave Microsoft," he says. The software-design program manager finally quit the technology giant in mid-1999. Now, Chen, a self-described experiential educator, leads individuals on life-changing adventures -- such as cli... posted on Mar 16, 3357 reads

Taiwan's Butterfly Freeway
Taiwan will cordon off part of a highway to create a safe passage for a huge seasonal migration of milkweed butterflies in the coming days, a highways official said Saturday. The butterflies -- indigenous to Taiwan -- migrate in late March from the south to the north, where they lay eggs. The young butterflies then fly south in November to a warm mountain valley near Kaohsiung to escape the winter... posted on Mar 27, 3509 reads

Habits For A Fit Brain
The best brain workout has two daily components: learning and aerobics. Scientists have long known about the first part. "The brain is like a computer, a learning machine that comes with hardware," says Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "Education and cognitive stimulation upgrades the software." Education seems to be the m... posted on Mar 28, 3728 reads

Lessons From A Dyslexic CEO
As a student, Paul Orfalea had always had trouble with words, so he focused instead on people. Kinkos, the mega copy centre chain store he started, is testimony to his inspiring ability to turn the disability of dysexia into an asset. Through his tremendous people skills, and really paying attention to the things that matter, Orfalea grew Kinkos into a household brand. He says, "My favorite questi... posted on Apr 21, 2664 reads

Sydney's Earth Hour
Citizens of Sydney, both businesses and individuals, were invited to turn off their lights for just one hour, Earth Hour -- 7.30pm to 8.30pm on March 31st 2007 -- as a sign of their commitment to reduce global warming. Estimates were that more than 2 million Sydney residents joined Earth Hour, causing a 10.2% drop in energy usage across Sydney, according to Energy Australia. Furthermore, more than... posted on Apr 6, 2722 reads

The Story of Johnny the Bagger
Johnny the Bagger -- an unforgettable true story about a young man with Down Syndrome who changes the culture of a grocery store by being creative and giving his customers more than they expect. When Johnny finds a way to put his own personal signature of care on every interaction, his inspired action ripples out in unexpected and inspiring ways. Watch the video here.... posted on Apr 17, 20634 reads

13 Child Jurors & Their Verdict
Last week, new jury members, Hannah Taylor, 11, from Canada, and Rakesh Kumar, 12, from India, took part in their first jury meeting to select the 2007 recipient of the World's Children's Prize. Hannah is a child crusader for the homeless and Rakesh is a former child slave. This year they joined 13 other children from around the world to decide who would receive one of the world's most prestigious... posted on Apr 18, 3499 reads

Smiles Per Hour in Australia
In a bid to create a more harmonious society, Port Phillip, Australia, is putting up road signs indicating a street's smiles per hour! The city has been using volunteers to find out how often people smile at those who pass them in the street. It then put up signs that look like speed limits, but tell pedestrians that they are in, for example, a "10 smiles per hour zone." Mayor Janet Bolitho says t... posted on Apr 24, 2049 reads

A Governor's Food Stamp Challenge
If Gov. Ted Kulongoski seems a little sluggish this week, he's got an excuse: he couldn't afford coffee. He has $21 to buy a week's worth of food -- the same amount that the state's average food stamp recipient spends weekly on groceries. Kulongoski is taking the weeklong challenge to raise awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget. A mother of three who went on foo... posted on Apr 27, 1429 reads

A Story of Healing
Interplast was the first humanitarian organization to provide free reconstructive surgery for children with clefts, disabling burns and hand injuries in developing countries. In 1997, a film crew accompanied an Interplast volunteer surgical team to Vietnam. The filmmakers donated their services to document the team’s experiences and produce “A Story of Healing,� which earned the 1997 Academy... posted on Jul 29, 2381 reads

A College Graduate ... At 95
Nola Ochs is not your everyday student. When she graduates on May 12, at the ripe age of 95, she'll be the world's oldest person to be awarded a college degree. Ochs didn't plan it that way. She just loved to learn, first as a teenager, then as a teacher at a one-room school, and later as a farm wife and mother. At 5-foot-2, her white hair pulled into a bun, she walks purposefully down hallways to... posted on Apr 29, 2161 reads

Free Encyclopaedia Makes Its Mark
One of the extraordinary stories of the Internet age is that of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit. This radical and rapidly growing publication, which includes close to 4 million entries, is now a much-used resource. "One of the biggest problems of the digital divide is the cost of access to information," says Jimmy Wales, 40, the visionary founder of Wikipedia. "We seek ... posted on May 1, 2313 reads

A 13-Year Old's Novel Achievement
Nancy Yi Fan, now an eighth-grader, was too young to know she was breaking every rule in the book when she e-mailed her first manuscript directly to the president and CEO of HarperCollins. "I was being quite bold thinking I had nothing to lose," says Nancy. "I thought, maybe she will give me some advice." Instead, CEO Jane Friedman, gave her a contract, passing Fan's allegorical story about warrin... posted on May 14, 1956 reads

From Illiteracy to News Reporting
Byron Pitts was chatting with students at a Harlem charter school the day before a recent visit by President Bush, when the CBS correspondent had a realization: they viewed him as just another empty suit who couldn't possibly understand their problems. Little did they know. "When I was your age," he told them, "I couldn't read." CBS correspondent Byron Pitts, reporting from the Middle East in 2003... posted on May 10, 1942 reads

Kindergarten Legend Retires
That Rosie Hymerling is not exhausted at the end of her kindergarten teaching day at Tatem Elementary is miraculous. Consider: In a recent span of seven hours, she did a somersault, jumped rope, wore a Cat in the Hat costume, broke into spontaneous song several times, donned a wig, gave dozens of kisses, held children on her lap, brokered peace treaties among fractious 5-year-olds, and listened to... posted on May 18, 2751 reads

A Toddler's Dance On Tibetan Art
Eight Tibetan monks spent two days crosslegged on the floor at Union Station, leaning over to meticulously create an intricate colored sand design as an expression of their Buddhist faith. And then, within seconds, their work was destroyed by a toddler. After the monks had finished their labors for the day on Tuesday, a woman with her small child visited the post office inside Union Station. The c... posted on May 26, 3290 reads

Karma Tycoon: Incubating Compassion
A New York-based nonprofit is hoping to strike a philanthropic spark with Karma Tycoon, a new online game for teenagers and a creation of the non-profit DoSomething.org. The idea was to put a twist on popular video games in which players try to maximize profit in order to amass wealth. "Why not create a game that maximizes karma in order to make the world a better place?" asks Aria Finger of Do So... posted on Jun 3, 2071 reads

A Beautiful Mind
"Done." Andrew Engel has spent nearly 12 years in college, working gradually, steadily for the chance to utter that word. The moment came last week, when the University of Maryland, Baltimore County senior completed his final course requirements for a degree. As Engel walked across the campus of emerald grass and boxy buildings, he allowed the joy of accomplishment to consume him. That way, the mo... posted on Jun 1, 2168 reads

The Value of Outlandish Ideas
"When I founded The Body Shop I just wanted a means to support myself and my two daughters. When I applied for a loan to start a small shop in1976, the man behind the desk looked as if I’d asked him to shave his head. A woman? Running a business? How preposterous, he obviously thought. My company went on to show how business can be done differently worldwide, proving that women can indeed run su... posted on Jun 7, 3044 reads

Shift Happens
"Did you know?" begins this elegant exploration of the exponential rate at which our technology is expanding. "That if MySpace were a country, it would be the 11th largest in the world? That the Top 10 Jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn't exist in 2004? That the number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the population of the planet?" A timely invitation to re-visit many of o... posted on Jun 4, 3424 reads

To The Class Of 2007: Listen To Your Hearts
It's that season again -– time for college seniors to gather for one final lecture. This spring, graduation speakers touched on the need for respect and the joy of collaboration. Here's a sampling of some of the wisdom dispensed to the Class of 2007 from a diverse group of celebrities including politicians, activists and rock musicians across the country.... posted on Jun 12, 2817 reads

History Lessons For A Disinterested Daughter
Erica Williams Connell was an admitted "mediocre student", hating the isolation that came with being the daughter of Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister, Eric Williams. She still isn't sure what prompted her, during one of their frequent father-daughter chats, to make an unusual request: "When you die," a then-14-year-old Erica told her father, "I would like your books and papers." In 1981, after... posted on Jun 15, 3472 reads

Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job
The gang member closest to Father Gregory Boyle hurls himself onto the priest like a bodyguard, and after two long minutes, the barrage of gunshots stops. On these streets of East Los Angeles, California, it's proof that the priest has deep respect from the gangs. Boyle earned that honor by coming up with a practical way to offer hope to residents -- giving them jobs. Fifteen years ago, he created... posted on Jul 2, 2134 reads

What Does It Mean To Have Soul?
Whether it’s soul music or soul food or finding one’s soul mate, the intangible quality commonly referred to as soul moves like a powerful undercurrent in contemporary culture. What does it mean to be a living, breathing manifestation of this ineffable and yet most compelling dimension of human life? What does it mean to have soul? Andrew Cohen, founder of What Is Enlightenment? magazine poses... posted on Jul 12, 4025 reads