All People Making a Difference
- Few women are carpenters: Meet the master builder who wants to change that
Maria Klemperer-Johnson is getting women ready for the growing and high-paying field of carpentry by teaching them to build tiny eco-friendly homes.
- In a town in Peru money does grow on trees
How a long-range forestry project transformed a small farm town in Peru.
- 'Ghost Fishing' divers remove old nets that kill fish
Ghost Fishing, a global network of highly skilled volunteer divers, is cleaning up the underwater mess in oceans caused by abandoned fishing nets.
- Goldie Hawn: What's she doing in Brazil?
Goldie Hawn and supermodel Linda Evangelista were among the celebrities that showed up for an AIDS research and prevention fund-raising gala in Rio de Janeiro. Goldie Hawn was among 300 people who attended the $2,500-a-plate black tie gala.
- The Sunshine Nut Company provides tasty employment in Africa
Former food company executive Don Larson founded The Sunshine Nut Company to create good jobs and bring other benefits to Africans.
- Difference MakerA rabbi and a Palestinian farmer are neighbors, partners – and friends
Israeli Shaul David Judelman and Palestinian Ziad Abed Sabateen plan to open an organic farm together that will sell vegetables and support families in need.
- Stand Down events help vets, including women, in need
At events known as Stand Downs, which take place in more than 200 cities and towns across the United States, military veterans from all walks of life gather to support one another.
- Comet, a cuddly canine pal, cheers nursing home residents
Visits from so-called therapy dogs like Comet, a golden retriever, help those in nursing homes stay engaged, active, and communicative.
- The mass shooting that didn't happen: What we can learn from Antoinette Tuff
What can we do to help men who seek to commit violence find another way to deal with their problems? The story of Antoinette Tuff suggests that kindness is part of the answer.
- What happens when a social enterprise and an oil giant join forces?
Social enterprise d.light has teamed up with French oil and gas company Total to sell solar lights to low-income rural households in Africa and India.
- Difference MakerGinger Passarelli is a good Samaritan with a soup ladle
Rushing to the scene of emergencies and disasters, Passarelli and her Soup Ladies nourish the helpers.
- 'Alternative Nobels' awarded to Congolese surgeon, Swiss pest control pioneer, and two others
This year's four Right Livelihood Awards winners will share $312,000 in prize money. The winners are an American anti-chemical weapons advocate, a Palestinian human rights campaigner, a Congolese surgeon who helps wartime rape victims, and a Swiss pioneer of pest control for sustainable agriculture.
- For Sandy Martin The Little Nature Museum is a lifelong passion
Started in Sandy Martin's bedroom when she was 13, The Little Nature Museum has received thousands of visitors who experience the results of her intimate knowledge of and love for nature.
- Angelique Namaika finds strength in God to help the displaced in the Congo
Sister Angelique Namaika – a nun working in the Congo – has helped transform the lives of more than 2,000 women and girls forced from their homes and abused by the Lord's Resistance Army.
- SunFunder uses crowdsourcing to finance solar projects in Africa, India
More than a billion people lack access to electricity. Solar power could be a big part of the answer, says SunFunder founder Ryan Levinson.
- Scott Harrison found meaning in life by starting charity: water
By building freshwater wells, rainwater catchments, or providing sand filters, charity: water finds simple solutions to help solve the world’s water crisis: Roughly 1 in 9 people around the globe lack access to clean water.
- Rachel Faller launches socially conscious fashions in Cambodia
KeoK’jay, an innovative fashion label in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, combines social and environmental responsibility with contemporary designs.
- Difference MakerStephen Wade uncovers 'The Beautiful Music All Around Us'
He's a folk music detective, revealing the lost artists who helped create American folk music.
- Honesty earns Boston homeless man $104,000 – and counting
Glen James found more than $40,000 in a backpack and turned it in to police. After reading media accounts of James' honesty, Ethan Whittington, started a fund for James on the crowdfunding site, gofundme.com.
- Books to Prisoners answers pleas of inmates
Books to Prisoners, a nonprofit group that sends free reading material to prisoners across the United States, operates on a shoestring but with dogged determination.