Designs on the Future
An important player in the design world, Valerie Casey had been pitching new packaging and product-design strategies to corporate giants with less-than-stellar environmental resumes. Hesitant to even broach the topic of sustainability at the risk of scaring off her potential clients, and anguished at her own cowardice, she began, there on the plane, to write a "Kyoto Treaty" of design, a call to a... posted on Jun 26, 2055 reads

Germany's Very Unusual Traffic Solution
Like countless other communities, this west German town lived for years with a miserable traffic problem. Each day, thousands of cars and big trucks barreled along the two-lane main street, forcing pedestrians and cyclists to scamper for their lives. The usual remedies -- from safety crossings to speed traps -- did no good. So the citizens of Bohmte decided to take a big risk. Since September, the... posted on Jul 3, 3630 reads

Easing Childrens' Hospital Fears
It seems logical and reasonable, now, that in a children's hospital, it should be someone's job to make kids with serious illnesses less fearful and more comfortable as a boon to their treatment and recovery. But 44 years ago, when Myra Fox started working at Boston Children's Hospital, it was something new. "It was a whole different way of looking at the whole child, and not just the medical prob... posted on Jul 11, 2260 reads

A Story of Five Million Steps
In 1996, Terry Hitchcock ran from Minneapolis to Atlanta in 75 consecutive days, covering the equivalent of a marathon or more each day. He ran because he wanted to bring attention to all everyday heroes, because he wanted to make towns and cities and even the whole country aware that 35 million people struggle everyday with the extraordinary challenges of being part of a single-parent family. He ... posted on Jul 16, 2685 reads

The 112 Year-Old Artist
Frank Calloway spends his days turning visions from his youth into lively murals -- and at 112 years old, the images of his childhood are a window to another time. Drawn on sheets of butcher paper and sometimes stretching to more than 30 feet long, his scenes give a glimpse into the early 20th century. Calloway, diagnosed with schizophrenia, lived about half his life in state mental health centers... posted on Jul 29, 2636 reads

Hockey Hero With A Big Heart
"Our son is my newest "Hockey Hero." He plays goalie on his small hometown ice hockey team. One weekend on matchday, we arrived a bit late and quickly found our seats and settled in. As I looked around, I noticed we were sitting with a family who had a mentally and physically handicapped child. We could hear the exciement in his voice when he said, "Mom, look the goalie is going to get the puck... posted on Sep 18, 3348 reads

Why I Blog
"For centuries, writers have experimented with forms that evoke the imperfection of thought, the inconstancy of human affairs, and the chastening passage of time. But as blogging evolves as a literary form, it is generating a new and quintessentially postmodern idiom that's enabling writers to express themselves in ways that have never been seen or understood before. Its truths are provisional, an... posted on Nov 8, 2637 reads

The Balance Needed To Lead Change
One reason leading change is so difficult is the tension it sets up between managing business issues and managing people issues. Most managers are trained to deal with structural and operational issues, and they are evaluated on and rewarded for their ability to innovate and to deliver business results. But the pressures generated by major structural or operational change compel leaders to pay par... posted on Dec 21, 5972 reads

The Psychology of New Year's Resolutions
As we put the holidays behind us and dig out from underneath all of the wrapping paper, many of us turn to the New Year's celebration to engage in a ritual that any visiting alien might be puzzled by -- New Year's resolutions. Why do humans pick a single point in time each year to try and change certain things in their life -- behaviors, attitudes -- make resolutions about them, and then proceed t... posted on Jan 3, 6354 reads

How We Think About Risk
A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? Almost everyone feels the temptation to answer "10 cents" because the sum $1.10 so neatly separates into $1 and 10 cents, and 10 cents seems the right price for a ball relative to a bat. In fact, more than half of a group of students at Princeton and at the University of Michigan gave precisely ... posted on Jan 7, 6097 reads

Life (Mostly) Off the Grid
They live on one-fifth of an acre in Pasadena, Calif., a block away from a multilane highway. On this tiny sliver of land, they manage to be mostly self-sufficient. Jules Dervaes, 60, and three of his adult children harvest 6,000 pounds and more than 350 separate varieties of fruits, vegetables and edible flowers annually. They brew the biodiesel fuel that powers the family car. Solar panels on t... posted on Jan 30, 4958 reads

Sixty-five Roses: A Sister's Memoir
Heather Summerhayes Cariou's sister Pam was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at the age of four and given only a short time to live. "Sixtyfive Roses" is the way Pam pronounced the disease that altered the lives of her siblings and parents, who in turn helped alter the community's response to the disease by founding the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Heather's book "Sixty-five Roses" offers a ... posted on Feb 14, 2820 reads

Creating Knowledge More Consciously
The coauthor of 'Managing Flow: A Process Theory of the Knowledge-Based Firm', Tokyo-based business scholar Ikujiro Nonaka strives to help organizations create knowledge more consciously, drawing on Western and Eastern philosophic traditions. Nonaka summarizes and extends a body of work that could change the prevailing view of knowledge management to that of an enabler of in-depth learning. "Compa... posted on Feb 17, 3267 reads

Trading Guns for Nail Polish
In the most dangerous neighborhood of Guayaquil -- Ecuador's largest and most crime-ridden city -- a dozen youths are busy working in the Paz Urbana Print Shop. By the entrance, a young man designs a T-shirt logo with graffiti paint. In the back, amid the hip-hop music and paint fumes, tattooed young men with baggy pants and baseball caps compile an order of worksheets for schools. The print shop ... posted on Feb 21, 3351 reads

CEO of the People
There's a lot of resentment these days against executive compensation and all the perks taken by corporate heads. Maybe there's something to be learned from the boss of Japan Airlines, Haruka Nishimatsu, who takes the bus to work. Nishimatsu knocked down his office walls so people can walk up and talk to him, and he works from a desk with an old-fashioned wooden in-and-out box. Got an idea? Tell h... posted on Feb 25, 4670 reads

Australian Slumdog Millionaires
Mark and Cathy Delaney don't need to see the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire. The Australian couple experience slum life in India every day. For the last 13 years they have lived in the shanty towns of the Indian capital, New Delhi, raising their children and sharing their lives with the locals. Their two sons, Tom, 12, and Oscar, 7, were born in India and have lived most of their lives in slums. ... posted on Mar 6, 9588 reads

How Thoughts Change our Brains
In the 90's, neuroscientists overthrew the dogma that the adult brain can't change. To the contrary, its structure and activity can morph in response to experience, an ability called neuroplasticity. The discovery has led to promising new treatments for many, including stroke patients. But the brain changes discovered reflected input from the outside world. The Dalai Lama wondered, could it work t... posted on Mar 10, 8077 reads

Why Stress is Not Always Bad
Is stress always bad? It can be, but it can be good for you, too. Certainly, much can be done to unlearn stressful behaviors and gain both perspective and balance. But according to this Newsweek article, people (including scientists) fail to see the full picture. The other view is that the stress response -- the body's hormonal reaction to danger, uncertainty or change -- evolved to help us surviv... posted on Mar 15, 4565 reads

NBA Player turned Farmer-Activist
At 6 feet 7 inches tall and 280 pounds, Will Allen is a former NBA basketball player with the biceps of an NFL lineman. The son of an illiterate laborer, Allen is now a farmer-activist, and founder of Growing Power, a nonprofit farm in the middle of Milwaukee that raises fresh produce for under-served populations with high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Allen has been a leading figu... posted on Mar 22, 2539 reads

Questioning Self-Discipline
If there is one character trait whose benefits are endorsed by traditional and progressive educators alike, it may well be self-discipline. Just about everyone wants students to override their unconstructive impulses, resist temptation, and do what needs to be done. The only question is how best to accomplish this. Author and scholar Alfie Kohn further explores what he sees as the troubling theory... posted on Oct 27, 6309 reads

The Tale of A Lost & Found Camera
Rhonda Surman and her husband were hiking around some Bronze Age ruins in western Scotland when they found an Olympus digital camera, lying on the ground. The couple turned the camera over to the local police but when it was returned to them unclaimed they took matters into their own hands. Ms. Surman posted several of the 600 pictures on the camera on the Internet and, organized a group of amat... posted on May 1, 2692 reads

A Taxi Driver Turns it Around
"A couple weeks ago I was standing out on a cold evening in New York City waiting for a cab to come take me to a nightclub. After about 5 minutes of waiting, I was picked up by a gentleman in his 30's, and he was clearly angry. Swear words left and right about how horrible New Yorkers were. I knew my cab ride would only be about 10 minutes and there was a part of me that wanted to be silent and... posted on May 13, 7691 reads

Advocate of the Unwatched Life
"The practice of painting...I'm very involved in it, and so its natural outcome is this spiritual concern. If you consider it long enough and deeply enough a conversion experience will occur. On the other side of that conversion experience, or transformation, is this understanding of our fragility of being -- that we're just specks. And, really, we're just witnesses. [...] In the simplest way, usi... posted on May 16, 2011 reads

You are Brilliant -- and the Earth is Hiring
An excerpt from Paul Hawken's 2009 commencement address at the University of Portland: "There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn't afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherri... posted on May 20, 21419 reads

How Much Sleep Do We Need?
"An amazing paradox exists in our educational system. We have learned that the consequences of pervasive sleep deprivation and undiagnosed sleep disorders are collectively one of our nation's biggest and most serious problems. Falling asleep at the wheel and in other hazardous situations is a leading cause of death and disability. [...] The paradox is that our society remains a vast reservoir of i... posted on May 21, 8552 reads

Drucker's Advice on Managing Oneself
When it comes to managing careers, the advice isn't surprising: "We must each be our own chief executive officer. Simply put, it's up to you to carve out your place in the work world and know when to change course. And it's up to you to keep yourself engaged and productive during a work life that may span some 50 years. To do all of these things well, you'll need to cultivate a deep understanding... posted on May 23, 4687 reads

Why Fiction Can Be Good For You
"For more than two thousand years people have insisted that reading fiction is good for you. Aristotle claimed that poetry -- he meant the epics of Homer and the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, which we would now call fiction -- is a more serious business than history. History, he argued, tells us only what has happened, whereas fiction tells us what can happen, which can stretch... posted on Jul 6, 4528 reads

From Bush to Bike: A Bamboo Revolution
"We planted this bamboo last year," he says, "and now the stems are taller than me. When it's ready we'll cut it, cure it and then turn it into frames." Mr Banda, is the caretaker for Zambikes, a company set up by two Californians and two Zambians which aimed to build bikes tough enough to handle the local terrain. Co-founder Vaughn Spethmann, 24, recalls how it all started with a game of football... posted on Jul 26, 3665 reads

Polly's Walk Around the World
"The definition of walking around the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is that you have to walk at least 14,000 miles, and you need to start and finish in the same place and walk across at least four continents, and they say that when you get to the end of a continent you can fly," Polly Letofsky explains in the film her brother P.J. made to document her journey around the w... posted on Aug 8, 2483 reads

A Snowballing of Generosity
Imagine this: shopper Jenni Ware gets $207 of groceries at Trader Joe's and realizes only at the checkout line that she has lost her wallet. Carolee Hazard, in line behind the distressed woman, spontaneously covers the tab! Jenni goes home and sends Carolee a check for $300, and suggests that her benefactress treat herself to a massage with the leftover cash. Hazard turned to her online Facebook c... posted on Aug 29, 2660 reads

A Tale With a Storybook Ending
They met on Boston Common -- two men with little in common. One a well-heeled, high-powered attorney, the other a street-schooled, often ignored homeless person. But every morning they would cross paths here in the park and over the course of several months, actually became good friends. How did that happen? You'd think after the weather and box scores they'd run out of things to talk about. And i... posted on Aug 30, 4989 reads

Why We Make Art
Why do you make art? That's the simple question Greater Good posed to seven artists. Their answers are surprising, and very diverse. They mention making art for fun and adventure; building bridges between themselves and the rest of humanity; reuniting and recording fragments of thought, feeling, and memory; and saying things that they can't express in any other way.... posted on Sep 12, 5636 reads

Sylvia's Center: A Living Memorial
Liz Neumark, cofounder of one of New York City's most successful catering companies, started Sylvia's Center on the farm she bought to supply produce for her business. There she hosts inner city schoolchildren so they can not only see how food grows, but participate in the process and taste it fresh. The center is named for her daughter, who died suddenly at the age of six. It combines who Sylvia... posted on Oct 4, 2056 reads

How Mindfulness Can Make for Better Doctors
"Last month, The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study examining the effects of a year-long course for primary care physicians on mindfulness, that ability to be in the zone and present in the moment purposefully and without judgment. Seventy physicians enrolled and participated in the four components of the course -- mindfulness meditation; writing sessions;... posted on Dec 11, 3821 reads

Living Without Money For 13 Years
Twenty-two years ago Heidemarie Schwermer, a middle-aged secondary school teacher just emerging from a difficult marriage, moved with her two children to the city of Dortmund, Germany. Shocked and unsettled by the city's significant homeless population, Schwermer set up what in Germany is called a Tauschring-- a sort of "swap shop"-- a place where people can exchange their skills or possessions fo... posted on Jan 9, 15338 reads

The Stranger Exchange
John Wilson stopped in Chicago during a road trip from Boston. He was walking by Wicker Park when he noticed a totally anonymous and unsupervised local drop box where you could leave or take unwanted books and DVDs. John and his friend Chris tried to replicate this box in their hometown, and have had amazing results so far. Read how these two, and others, try to bring ideas of reciprocation and ... posted on Dec 7, 4101 reads

Ask How Are You and Mean It
When asked about her greatest life lessons, artistic director Judith Jameson responds, "It starts with 'Hello, how are you.' And listening." In this humble interview, she shares gems of wisdom, ranging from humble leadership -- "Let people do things. If they do it better than you, let them do it" -- to staying grounded -- "Keep it human. Keep it alive. Don't turn into a robot... You have to liste... posted on Oct 17, 1585 reads

Practicing the Science of Happiness
The study of happiness is experiencing a boom. Its practitioners include economists who believe that gross domestic product is too limited a tool to measure the success of societies, psychologists and sociologists who feel that their disciplines have focused too much on neuroses and social problems and not enough on determining what kind of activities and policies actually contribute to happier so... posted on Jan 22, 7726 reads

10 Ways To Make a Difference
Concerned about the future? Want to do something about greenhouse gases and climate change? Colin Beavan (founder of the No Impact Project who wrote a book about the year his family reduced their environmental impact to close to zero and found they were healthier, and happier as a result) lists ten actions for you to consider to reduce your carbon footprint. Ideas range from reduce your waste by r... posted on Feb 4, 5715 reads

Solution to Poverty: Women!
Why do microfinance organizations usually focus their assistance on women? And why does everyone benefit when women enter the work force and bring home regular pay checks? While violence against women is one of the greatest and most under-recognized global phenomena, there's a growing recognition among everyone -- from the World Bank to the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organization... posted on Mar 3, 5107 reads

The Humblest People in Washington
Cloaked in simplicity, Sister Christiana and Mother Therese sleep no more than three and a half hours at a time, on straw mats in six-by-eight foot cells. They rise to prayer bells at five a.m., and pray again at six, noon, six, and half past midnight. In a world splattered with high-powered jobs fueled by prestige and assertiveness, humility is often cast aside a sign of weakness. But the convict... posted on Apr 11, 2399 reads

The Sound of One Hand Clapping
Richard Whittaker reflects on art and coffee with a stranger: "One morning I looked up from my cup of tea in a local coffee shop and was surprised to see a man at work on a little painting sitting at a table nearby. I walked over, took a peek, and was surprised again. It was really good. I complimented him on his work. He seemed to welcome the interruption, and I asked him a few questions. He was ... posted on Apr 29, 4779 reads

Meet the Neighbors
In an age of discount air travel, cheap long distance, and the internet, when we can create community anywhere, why is it that we often don't know the people who live next door? From porch parties in Columbus, Ohio, to community gardening projects in Albany, NY, people across the U.S. are finding creative ways to break down our physical and mental barriers of isolation. Dennis Maxwell of Oregon gi... posted on May 4, 2423 reads

Join the Laughter Club
In one of the world's most challenging economies, two women are setting up laughter clubs to help people cope with the strains of daily life. Last year, a unity government halted the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy - which left the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless - by allowing the use of foreign currency. How does one respond to such hardship? "You've got to laugh more," says one man at a recent w... posted on May 8, 2585 reads

The World's Happiest People
"I'm always a happy person," says Nina Nielsen, 24, roaming a bustling street with her mother and friends in Denmark's capital of Copenhagen. In more than one study (including a 2009 report from Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development), residents of Denmark have been designated the happiest people in the world. What's their secret? A well-balanced lifestyle. A positive o... posted on May 20, 6495 reads

A Trash-Free Year
"Any time I throw something away, I think of you." It sounds like an insult, but to Amy and Adam Korst, it's a typical compliment. Since July 2009, the young couple have been on a quest to answer the question: "Is it possible for a couple to live an entire year without placing trash in a landfill, in a country that produces more waste each year than any other country in the world?" According to th... posted on May 26, 3687 reads

A Piece of Cowboy Wisdom
"I had come to Elko for their annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering. A first-timer, I was neither a cowboy nor a student of cowboy poetry, but I'd been enjoying the performances and the friendly atmosphere among the ranchers, cowboys and the friends of cowboy culture. It was the second day of the festival and I'd taken a break to visit Capriola's, a place famous for its western gear. Just outside the sto... posted on May 29, 3044 reads

It Starts with a Seed
The seed of the idea, Satish Vijaykumar recalls, started as something tiny and simple: "One day I was just sitting and thinking about how the average Indian is always worrying about something, but we don't do anything." One thing that sounded doable to the young man of Mumbai, India was to pool together rupees with friends, buy a few saplings, and plant them. "It's the least I could do," he though... posted on Jun 4, 1571 reads

More Wrinkles, More Smiles
Happiness increases with age, surveys say! A recent Gallup poll asked 340,000 people across the United States questions ranging from age and gender, health, personal finances, emotions, and general well-being. They found that negative emotions like worry and sadness drop off after age 50, about the same time happiness sets in. Overall, the trends show that young adults start out feeling pretty goo... posted on Jun 10, 3182 reads

The Magic Flute
A pawnshop flute. That's how Marvin Sanders makes art out of uncertainty. From living on the streets to graduating college with a degree in music, Sanders recalls his incredible journey. And how it all started at a gas station: "I was in Denver, Colorado working at a gas station. Those were the days people would pull up and someone would walk out and pump your gas and wipe the windshield. I was wo... posted on Jun 16, 2923 reads