The Benefit of Tree-Lined Streets
Children who live in tree-lined streets have lower rates of asthma, a New York-based study suggests. Columbia University researchers found that asthma rates among children aged four and five fell by 25% for every extra 343 trees per square kilometer. They believe more trees may aid air quality or simply encourage children to play outside. This article from the BBC shares more.... posted on Sep 14, 2256 reads

A Daughter's First Words
A little girl who cannot walk or talk has used a machine to tell her mother for the first time: "I love you." Six-year-old Elke Wisbey, who was born brain-damaged, has been able to communicate with her family by using a high-tech gadget which tracks her eye movements. Readers of a local newspaper raised money to buy the specially-adapted machine for the family. The MyTobii Smartbox machine from Sw... posted on Nov 2, 1791 reads

A Daughter's First Words
A little girl who cannot walk or talk has used a machine to tell her mother for the first time: "I love you." Six-year-old Elke Wisbey, who was born brain-damaged, has been able to communicate with her family by using a high-tech gadget which tracks her eye movements. Readers of a local newspaper raised money to buy the specially-adapted machine for the family. The MyTobii Smartbox machine from Sw... posted on Nov 6, 4201 reads

37 Ways To Join The Gift Economy
"You don't have to participate in a local currency or service exchange to be part of the cooperative gift economy. Any time you do a favor for a family member, neighbor, colleague, or stranger you're part of it. Here are some ways you can spend time in the gift economy, where you'll find fun, freedom, and connection." So begins this inspiring list of starting places from Yes! magazine.... posted on Nov 21, 3459 reads

What Happy People Don't Do
Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers -- but they don't spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds. That's what unhappy people do. Although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching television, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said John Robinson, a professor of sociolo... posted on Nov 23, 4901 reads

40,000 at a Farm in Colorado
As a thank you to customers, after being informed of raids in local churches where food was being stolen, two farm owners in Platteville, Colorado sent out an open invite to their community to help themselves to any of the harvest off their 600-acre farm! Joe and Chris Miller, the farm owners, were stunned when more than 40,000 people showed up. "'Overwhelmed' is putting it mildly," they said of... posted on Nov 26, 3142 reads

The Art of Creativity
Has this ever happened to you? You're out for a jog, completely relaxed, your mind a pleasant blank. Then all of a sudden the solution to a problem you've been mulling over for weeks pops into your head. You can't help but wonder why you didn't think of it before. In such moments you've made contact with the creative spirit, that elusive muse of good -- and sometimes great -- ideas. Yet it is more... posted on Dec 9, 5446 reads

The Biggest Neighborhood News Blog
A woman in Philadelphia hypes an upcoming public knitting day. A man in Karachi, Pakistan, laments power outages that have become the norm for the frustrated residents there. And a concerned citizen in Bangalore, India, critiques racy advertising that recently went up in the city. These posts-aggregated at Metblogs, the largest city-specific blog network in the world-provide little glimpses of lif... posted on Dec 17, 3848 reads

Kjerstin Erickson's Dream
She didn't have a business plan. She didn't have a revenue model. She didn't have connections. And she didn't have a penny. But as a 20 year-old, Kjerstin Erickson began dreaming the "audacious" idea of creating the largest library for a refugee camp in the world. Kjerstin now works among three refugee camps in Zambia, helping 60,000 refugees to build better lives. This is her story.... posted on Dec 19, 3464 reads

Disabled Guitarist Finds A New Sound
Imagine that your hands shook so badly that you couldn't lift a glass of water. That's what life is like for millions of Americans who suffer from essential tremor disorder. The condition is rarely fatal, but it can be devastating if you're a musician. Guitarist Richard Crandell found that out the hard way. Crandell was diagnosed six years ago with essential tremor disorder. An estimated 10 millio... posted on Jan 4, 3611 reads

What Will Change Everything?
Every year, John Brockman -- who runs the nonprofit Edge Foundation in New York -- asks a gaggle of forward-thinking people a provocative question. This is the Edge Annual Question for 2009: "What will change everything?" Writer David Bodanis suggests that some kind of massive technological failure would be game-changing. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, says that reinventing indu... posted on Jan 6, 4673 reads

The Artist Who Paints Disappearing Rain Forests
There are lots of books out there that illustrate the irrevocable damage that we are doing to the rainforests - but this is one with a twist. The images in Rainforest: Light and Spirit are not photographs, but paintings by artist Harry Holcroft, who has travelled the world's rainforests for the past four years. This poignant photo series presents some of his work.... posted on Jan 10, 6606 reads

Dr. King's Definition of Service
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his famous 1968 speech "The Drum Major Instinct, shared a stirringly powerful and timeless definition of service. Listen to his delivery of it in this two minute piece.... posted on Jan 19, 5634 reads

Six Ways to Manage Leadership Stress
Effective leaders know that stress can be a good thing. It keeps you focused. It makes you competitive. It prompts action. But stress, as many of us know, can also turn toxic. John R. Ryan, the president of the Center for Creative Leadership, maintains that managing leadership stress comes down to a handful of critical elements: maintaining perspective, exercising, opening up, welcoming feedback, ... posted on Jan 25, 7705 reads

The Healing Toddler
"A month ago, I stepped through the revolving door into my physician's office, feeling both afraid of being there because of what I could find out about my health, but also knowing that I would feel afraid if I didn't come there precisely to find out. So, I felt stuck. As I scurried over to a wooden chair with a plush cushion and a Home & Garden magazine lying on top of it, I noticed there were ... posted on Feb 1, 4635 reads

How Dialling 1298 Can Save A Life
Americans take 911 for granted, but in many developing nations a centralized emergency telephone number is unheard of. In Mumbai, four friends came togeter to start a private ambulance company that has stepped up to fill the void in emergency medical service. In a city where "ambulance" used to be synonymous with "hearse," Mumbai residents can now dial 1298 and receive emergency medical care price... posted on Feb 6, 3022 reads

A Rare Act of Sportsmanship
"The coach never considered any other option. No matter that his high school basketball team had ridden a bus two and a half hours to get to Milwaukee, then waited another hour past game time to play. Didn't matter that the game was close, or that this was a chance to beat a big city team. Something else was on Dave Rohlman's mind when he asked for a volunteer to shoot two free throws awarded his ... posted on Feb 27, 5774 reads

A Call To Practical Wisdom
In this inspiring TED Talk, Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for "practical wisdom" as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.... posted on Mar 1, 4982 reads

Are you Socially Intelligent?
It is not enough to be intelligent, or even emotionally intelligent. The rules of the game have changed: we also have to be socially intelligent. So concludes Dr. Daniel Goleman, the bestselling author who first coaxed the idea of emotional intelligence into public consciousness. In his recent book, "Social Intelligence," Goleman presents a manifesto for a more compassionate, more socially interco... posted on Mar 9, 5098 reads

An Empire of Women-Run Cooperatives
Thirty-five years ago in this once thriving textile town, Ela Bhatt fought for higher wages for women who ferried bolts of cloth on their heads. Today, at 76, she is still keen to see the poorest of Indian workers get a stake in the country's swelling and swiftly globalizing economy. She has built a formidable empire of women-run, Gandhian-style cooperatives -- 100 at last count -- some providing... posted on Mar 17, 2367 reads

Giving Up Texting For Lent
During Lent, the churches typically ask their constituents to refrain from eating meat on Fridays and to pray more regularly. In Italy, though, the church has apparently gotten hip to the hold that technology has on its brethren. The diocese of Modena-Nonantola in Italy in particular is calling for text-messaging-free Fridays as a way for the faithful to at least temporarily rid themselves of rem... posted on Mar 14, 3586 reads

A Billion Go Dark On Saturday?
Starting in New Zealand's remote Chatham Islands, thousands of cities, towns, and landmarks around the world will start to go dark for Earth Hour on Saturday evening. Up to a billion people worldwide are expected to participate in this global voluntary blackout by switching off their lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time. The movement, sponsored by the conservation nonprofit WWF, is design... posted on Mar 27, 2866 reads

How We Decide
"Over time, our rationality came to define us. It was, simply put, what made us human. There's only one problem with this assumption of human rationality: it's wrong." With this opening salvo, Jonah Lehrer dives into ever-expanding evidence underscoring the limits of reason. In his recent book, "How We Decide," Lehrer presents an excellent synthesis of how many leading mind scientists view decisio... posted on Mar 30, 3447 reads

A Dynamic Duo Makes People's Day
For 31 days these two women have been paying-it-forward hiding money at a car wash, leaving behind free umbrellas throughout Grand Rapids on a rainy day, and on this particular morning treating someone in this drive-thru to a free cup of Java. This CNN news video chronicles the month-long adventures in generosity of two friends out simply to make people's day.... posted on Apr 8, 5015 reads

Hey World (Don't Give Up)
What happens when a rocker turns peace activist? You get Michael Franti. "Hey World" is a call to roll up your sleeves, to shake off apathy: "I didn't come here to chill, I came here to rock ... You got to let go of the remote control." Watch an inspiring music video about civic participation, set to the backdrop of Jamaican reggae rhythms of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.... posted on Apr 13, 3298 reads

Getting Important Things Done
"Busy people have two options when they decide how their workdays will go: they can choose to be reactive to urgent demands on their time, or proactive about focusing on what they decide is important. The only way to actually get things done is to mitigate the urgent to work on the important. Let's differentiate between what I call urgent and important. [...] More often than not "the urgent" is pu... posted on Apr 16, 8189 reads

The Happy Minimalist
"At 44, Peter Lawrence walked away last year from a well-paying job as a manager at Hewlett-Packard. These days he does not work. He doesn't have to. Peter has retired. His mornings are unhurried. He sits in front of a picture window to a view of nearby redwoods. Retirement is within anyone's reach, he says, if we all consume less. He lives without furniture or a bed, keeps one pot, one pan in th... posted on Apr 17, 0 reads

A New Approach to Social Problems
People who wanted to solve a social problem -- like lack of access to clean water or inadequate housing for the poor -- used to create a charity. Today, many start a company instead. Experts concede that not all social problems respond well to the for-profit model. "If you set it up as a business, you might be able to raise money more quickly and grow more quickly," says David Bornstein, the autho... posted on Apr 18, 2359 reads

Banker to the Poor Now In NY
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, known as the "banker to the poor" for making small loans in impoverished countries, is now doing business in the center of capitalism -- New York City. In the past year the first U.S. branch of his Grameen Bank has lent $1.5 million, ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, to nearly 600 women with small business plans in the city's bor... posted on Apr 26, 2898 reads

Cleaning A Country ... In 5 Hours
Half of Estonia's territory is forest. Yet, these forests are plagued with a traditional acceptance of being the country's dump sites. Watch how a group created a grassroots initiative to rid Estonia of 10,000 tons of trash littering its forests and natural environment. In one day, over 50,000 volunteers - or 4% of Estonia's population - cleaned their country in 5 hours.... posted on May 2, 4619 reads

Sound of Music Train Station
"Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden Sun. Me, a name I call myself." That's not quite what you'd expect hear at a train station in Belgium, but that's what happened when 200 people took over Antwerpen's Centraal Station to do a carefully choreographed dance to the song from Sound of Music. As one observer put it, "It showed me that good things are still out there and there are good p... posted on May 4, 7790 reads

What About Me?
Mipham records albums, runs marathons and just happens to be a Tibetan Buddhist monk. In this amazing music video, he creatively questions the idea of a self-centered world view. "When you're happy, I'm happy," he raps. "That's the formula. First you, then me. That's all happiness is. It's just the heart being free."... posted on May 11, 6360 reads

Paulo Coelho on Trials & Loss
"When life makes us face difficult situations -- such as a personal loss -- we have to understand that eternity is taking one more step. I personally hate the dilemma of loss, but at times there is no solution and it just has to be faced." So begins this Ode magazine article that shares three fables from the beloved, best-selling author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho.... posted on Jun 27, 4189 reads

Guardian Angel of Yangtse Bridge
A burly Chinese man with binoculars slowly scans the centre span of the massive Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, looking intently at people standing along the walkway, searching for the telltale signs he has seen so many times. The self-appointed guardian angel of the bridge, Chen Si has over the past five years coaxed -- and sometimes physically wrestled -- down no less than 153 people intent on lea... posted on Jun 2, 4050 reads

Alive in the World
There is something compelling about any act of genuine courage, perhaps especially on behalf of the voice of conscience. No such act is really a small act. Works & Conversations magazine interviews Audrey Lin, a college student who decided to take a three-day, 50-mile walk, as her way of experimenting with experiential education: "If I'm not living according to my values, if I'm not fully, to the ... posted on Jun 5, 3087 reads

Why I'm Giving Away $1 Billion
"In 2007 the company I cofounded, the Blackstone Group, held a most successful public offering. I found myself, at 81, an instant billionaire. I wish I could've called my father, a Greek immigrant who had spent most of his life running a 24-hour diner in Kearney, Neb. The news might have pleased him as much as my being the first Greek cabinet officer, which he never hesitated to tell perfect stran... posted on Jul 2, 5448 reads

100 People, 100 Dollars, 100 Days
At Project 100, we believe that the act of giving changes everything. That's why we're giving 100 people, 100 dollars over 100 days. There are no requirements and no strings attached. All we ask is that each recipient gives back in any way they can, to make the community a better place. ... posted on Jul 11, 3774 reads

Kind Acts on Sticky Notes
When she read aloud the small story about a garbage collector's kindness, Katherine Cornthwaite's Grade 10 class went silent."It was an 'Aha!' moment. Everyone's attention was on the story," says Cornthwaite, an English and family studies teacher at Clarke High School, near Newcastle. "I had tried all these different things but they wouldn't settle down," she recounts. "I thought, 'Fine! I'll read... posted on Jul 19, 4823 reads

Asking One Tough Question
Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior and author of, "What Got You Here Won't Get You There". In this article he answers the question, "What prevents us from making the changes we know will make us more effective leaders?"... posted on Jul 25, 6971 reads

Walking the Path of Kindness
"The great nineteenth-century Jewish mystic Levi Yitzchok, the Rabbi of Berditchev, was known throughout Europe as the Master of the 'Good Eye'. It was said that he could see nothing of people's sins, only their virtues." So begins an in-depth excerpt from "The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness," by Mark Barasch. In his inquiry into the workings of the 'Good Eye', Barasch finds guid... posted on Jul 29, 3781 reads

You Don't Ask, You Just Give
In many parts of the world, people are searching for alternatives to the cash economy. In Mali, one of the most cash poor nations in the world, "Dama" or the "Gift Economy" has been thriving for thousands of years. This system of exchange is not based on exchange or equivalence between the giver and the receiver, rather the receiver passes the gift on to someone else. The gift economy celebrates t... posted on Jul 24, 4044 reads

A Child's View of the Global Recession
There's no end of talk about the recession. But is it only adults who talk about stimulus packages, quantitative easing, and falling interest rates? BBC World Service asked children from all around the world how the global financial crisis was affecting them.... posted on Aug 17, 4682 reads

Homeless Man Leaves $4 Million to Charity
Every day on NPR, listeners hear funding credits -- or, in other words, very short, simple commercials. A few weeks ago, a new one made it to air: "Support for NPR comes from the estate of Richard Leroy Walters, whose life was enriched by NPR, and whose bequest seeks to encourage others to discover public radio." NPR's Robert Siegel wondered who Walters was. So Siegel Googled him. An article in th... posted on Jul 31, 5570 reads

A Collection of Mothers' Best Advice
"Give and take in that order." "Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. They'll wash clean." "Say "I love you, frequently but not casually." "No matter how a body ages, the spirit stays forever young." "Always have a love for learning." "Never say no to someone who asked for food." These are just some of the favorite sayings thousands of readers shared when asked about the best advice given to t... posted on Aug 1, 5585 reads

9 Tips to Be a Better Communicator
"Want to have a better day -- fast? Listen up. One of the best ways to replenish yourself in the midst of a stressful situation is through communication and connection. You can go from feeling funky to fabulous by actively engaging in listening. Paying attention to what you are hearing is a magnificent way to be a better communicator. Why? Because it demonstrates that you value the person with who... posted on Aug 4, 7404 reads

Five-Year-Old Phoebe's Food Bank
After seeing a person holding a cardboard sign begging for food, Phoebe wondered, "Why does that man look so sad, and why is he holding a sign in the street?" That question to her parents, during her daily ride to daycare, sparked an idea that has helped feed nearly 18,000 hungry San Franciscans. ... posted on Aug 13, 3724 reads

The Pay-As-You-Wish Taxi Driver
Essex, Vermont is home to only around 18,000 people -- but thanks to newly-minted cabbie Eric Hagen, they now have an inspiring and affordable way to get around the town.... posted on Aug 16, 3605 reads

Giving Anonymously
Anyone who enjoys putting cash under a friends door or in their mailbox will often times not know if their friend actually got the gift and they cannot hear what it meant to them. So, Lionel Thompson came up with an idea to have a messaging line where recipients could call after receiving their gift. This video shares more.... posted on Sep 1, 3838 reads

Andre Agassi's Second Act
"Life's blessings are not handed out evenly," tennis star Andre Agassi told the crowd a couple of days ago, still settling back in its seats after a spontaneous standing ovation. "Caring means doing." He was being honored for his work on behalf of the Andre Agassi Foundation, which has raised $75 million to date and used it to start a charter high school in a poor part of Las Vegas. This year, eve... posted on Sep 4, 3370 reads

Nightshift At The Marriott
Picture this: It's almost 11pm on a hot August day. You're exhausted, having just driven over 600 miles, and you arrive at the newly opened Marriott, your last hope for a place to lay your tired body down for the night. You are third in line at the front desk, where there is a single young woman on duty, doing everything she can to keep things under control. When you finally arrive at room 309, y... posted on Oct 22, 6884 reads