All People Making a Difference
- Indian farmer harvests a climate-smart crop – sunshine
A pilot project offers farmers in India the opportunity to sell the excess energy generated by the solar panels that drive their water pumps.
- Warren Buffett donates $2.8 billion to five charities
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was once more the biggest recipient of Warren Buffett's $2.8 billion in charity this year.
- Maja Mataric looks for female students who want to be 'The Next MacGyver'
The engineering professor is seeking to lure more young women into STEM fields. The Next MacGyver competition is one way.
- Difference MakerIan Tilling went to Romania to help children in need – and never left
Today the retired British policeman's nonprofit Casa Ioana is a place where women and children can go to feel safe and learn how to rebuild their lives.
- Music success story started under the stairs
The nonprofit KEYS program in Bridgeport, Conn., schools now enriches the lives of hundreds of students who otherwise wouldn't receive music instruction.
- Difference MakerMark Hecker pairs pupils and student tutors – with dramatic gains for both
At Reach Incorporated the tutors are only about six to eight years older – high school students who themselves have been struggling academically or socially.
- New website helps people donate directly to human trafficking survivors
The first-of-its-kind website 6degree.org allows people to aid individual survivors of human trafficking through online donations.
- The Theatre Lab helps people tell their own stories
Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro conduct a tuition-free Life Stories program that gives opportunities for self-expression to hundreds of individuals not typically reached by the arts.
- How Australians survived a 13-year drought by going low-tech
Residents of Melbourne, Australia, cut water consumption in half by capturing rainwater and using efficient toilets and washing machines.
- Why Newtown's path to healing goes through Oklahoma and Colorado
Newtown, Conn., teens traveled to Oklahoma and Colorado to do service projects. The trips are designed to give the teenagers perspective and to empower them.
- New app helps farmers in Kenya find climate-smart seeds
The free MbeguChoice mobile phone app, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, helps farmers chose the right seed for their local conditions.
- Difference MakerJavier Stauring learned that troubled youths 'weren't so different' from him
Now he spends his time helping youths in the court system, meeting with them in prison, and counseling their families.
- An ambitious Write a House plot: bring artists and new housing to Detroit
The nonprofit wants to draw writers to the city while rehabbing derelict houses and reducing the number of abandoned properties.
- How one public library paid $1 to install solar panels
In West Virginia, Solar Holler helps nonprofits install solar panels for less than the price of a cup of coffee through an innovativev rebate program.
- A father and daughter save young women in India from sex slavery
Ray Umashankar could have retired, but he wanted to build a better future for his own daughter and all the daughters of India.
- One-of-a-kind school gives homeless students a PLACE to learn
The Progressive Learning Alternative for Children’s Education (PLACE) in San Diego provides homeless children with classes – along with clothing, health care, counseling, and more.
- Civilians with smartphones combat war crimes – with an app
The 'EyeWitness to Atrocities' app records the user's location, date, time, and nearby Wi-Fi networks to verify that the footage has not been edited or manipulated.
- Difference MakerAli Abu Awwad chose nonviolence over revenge
He already had been jailed and shot when an Israeli soldier killed his brother.
- Using lasers to level farm land saves water and energy
A flat surface means irrigation water reaches every part of the field evenly with minimal waste. It's just one climate-smart farming practice that will be needed as climate change poses new challenges to agriculture.
- School in Bolivia cleans up using pedal-powered soap
The Cochabamba Pedal Project (#PedalingForward) uses a pedal-powered soap mixer to produce high-quality soap – and help teach children about personal hygiene.