All Change Agent
Alice Walker: 'Go to the places that scare you'The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Color Purple' says a life worth living must be fought for. 'You have to go wherever you need to go ... and place yourself there against the forces that would distort you and destroy you.'
Ex-NASA engineer designs an app to chart water qualityJohn Feighery created mWater – a cell phone app that instantly records and maps the results of water-quality tests, making monitoring of water quality in developing countries quicker and easier.
'Parent power' film stirs hopes among education reform activistsReviewers called it trite and dull, but education reformers on both the left and right have hailed 'Won't Back Down' as a potential game-changer for public education.
One solution to Palestine's economic problems? Export bits and bytesThe technology sector, which simply requires an Internet connection, is free of the border restraints that most other Palestinian industries experience.
Five cities and the groups that are making them greenAround the world cities are promoting urban agriculture to help feed their growing populations.
Southeast Asian scientists look to reinvent the flush toiletThe 200-year-old flush toilet requires a substantial amount of infrastructure, which is expensive to build and run. Innovative toilets could be a source of energy while dramatically improving sanitation.
This '1 percent' helps nonprofits solve architectural problems'The 1 percent' a program of public architecture based in San Francisco, connects nonprofit groups in need of design assistance with free help from architecture or design firms.
Battling back: US veterans help each otherIn Florida, Veterans Helping Veterans assigns former military service men and women to mentor other veterans who have ended up on the wrong side of the law.
How a mobile phone vendor became Zimbabwe's fastest-growing bankEcoCash, a mobile money-transfer service, now has a million subscribers. 'There is a lot of money to be made by investing in the poor,' says Zimbabwe's Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
Beyond big dams: turning to grass-roots solutions on waterMega-dams and massive government-run irrigation projects are not the key to meeting world’s water needs, a growing number of experts say. For developing nations, the answer may lie in small-scale measures such as inexpensive water pumps.
'Mama Hawa' helps rape victims in Somalia, wins UN awardHawa Aden Mohamed, a former Somali refugee, returned from safety in Canada to her war-torn country to shelter and train Somalis who have fled war, famine, and violence.
Protecting mangroves is cheaper than building coastal protection, expert saysPreserving mangrove forests helps regulate rainfall, reduce the risk of disasters from extreme weather and sea-level rise, provide breeding grounds for fish, and capture carbon dioxide to slow climate change.
Another way to help your favorite charity: Lend it moneySupporters of the Nature Conservancy can invest funds for a term of one, three, or five years, earn up to 2 percent in interest, and get all their money back.
Mobile tech helps farmers save time, water, electricityAn innovation from an India-based company may transform the way farmers manage their irrigation systems by giving them the ability to turn pumps on and off remotely with their cell phones.
Activists urge nations to strengthen global cluster bomb treatyA meeting in Oslo, Norway, seeks to strengthen an international agreement to ban cluster bombs. There’s 'no good reason' for any country 'not to come on board and to sign up to the convention,' says the Cluster Munition Coalition, a disarmament group.
Nigeria's Okonjo-Iweala seeks reform without the 'godfathers'Western nations and international agencies admire the reform efforts of Nigeria's new finance minister. But Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala faces daunting challenges in cleaning up embedded corruption.
Cash rewards spur poor communities to pay for sanitation projectsThe East Meets West Foundation tries cash awards to encourage families and communities in Vietnam and Cambodia to build latrines and hand-washing devices.
A lab uses remote sensors to measure how well aid projects workSWEETLab places sensors on latrines, cook stoves, and water filters in the developing world to better understand how they are being used.
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Looking for new ideas? Get yourself to the developing worldFrom jeans to medical devices, products from India and China are disrupting markets in the West.
Tropical Storm Isaac triggers microinsurance payment to Haiti's budding entrepreneursIn Haiti, an inexpensive insurance plan helps ensure that female entrepreneurs won't be wiped out by a tropical storm.
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