Sunday, April 3, 2011 Free Music Lessons Build A Priceless Community  Every day, 120 students from the inner city, the suburbs and the rolling hills come to Scrollworks for free music lessons. Many travel over an hour to get there. With her entire retirement savings, Jeane Goforth launched this organization as a fun place for kids from all different socieconomic levels and backgrounds to make friends, and to change their thinking. The ripples are tremendous. "She was not just providing lessons. She really sees it as a unifying agent, as a means to bring communities together, people together," shares on mother, whose son Matthew is now at the prestigious Alabama School for the Performing Arts. Read More >>
back to top  Saturday, April 2, 2011 Solar Power Keeps Animals Comfy  The streetlights blink on. A warm glow wafts through the kitchen windows, infusing the friendly night air. It's evening at the Prince of Wales Zoological Garden, the first solar-powered zoo in India. Inspired by the 'sky's the limit' philosophy of Zoo Director Renu Singh, the entire zoo infrastructure--from electricity to water systems to even zoo vehicles and wheelchairs--is run completely on eco-friendly fuel. On top of providing a clean environment for visitors and animals, the initiative saves the zoo significantly on electricity costs and offers a supportive and healthy space for humans and animals. Read More >>
back to top Friday, April 1, 2011 8 Things That Are Better Than Free  These days, digital technology gives us easy access to almost anything. So why would we ever pay for anything that we could get for free? Kevin Kelly asks: When anyone buys a version of something they could get for free, what are they purchasing? In a real sense, there are eight things that are better than free. Eight uncopyable values. Kelly calls them "generatives." Things like authenticity, embodiment, immediacy, and accessibility. Qualities that cannot be copied, cloned, faked, or replicated. Rather, they have to be grown, cultivated, and nurtured. And, in doing so, are generated uniquely, in place, over time. Read More >>
back to top Thursday, March 31, 2011 Quiet Justice: Teaching Mindfulness to Lawyers  "When I tell people that I teach a class in law and meditation at UC Berkeley's law school, I often hear snorts of disbelief," Charles Halpern laughs. But the class is no joke. It's part of a groundbreaking movement that has quietly been taking hold in the legal profession over the past two decades: a movement to bring mindfulness into the practice of law and legal education. To a career that tops all American professions in instances of depression, substance abuse, and suicide, Halpern explains in this Greater Good essay why mindfulness is such a necessary and effective tool. Read More >>
back to top Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Japan's Unlikely Hero  They can be seen all over Japan. Springing up in shelters and cities. Molded in the hands of dedicated volunteers. Nourishing tired faces, the recipients both young and old biting into them with smiles on their face. One of the quiet heroes to emerge in this time of grave crisis in Japan is the humble little white ball of rice called onigiri or omusubi. Portable, substantial, and lasting surprising well without spoiling, these humble rice balls are like little spheres of sun, nourishing comfort and goodwill across Japan. Read More >>
back to top Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Students Debut Life-Saving Infant Warmer  A baby's small hands and dainty fingers have turned blue. Her body is shaking and she lets out a barely audible cry. Moved by stories like this, Jane Chen and her MBA classmates designed an innovative, low-cost baby wrap to prevent infant deaths caused by hypothermia, a common occurrence in developing countries. With the potential to reach millions of infants across the globe, Chen describes, "When we took the device and showed it to one mother, Sajatha, she started crying and said, 'Maybe if I had this, I could have a baby,' Hearing something like that, that we have the power to help people save lives, is incredible." Read More >>
back to top Monday, March 28, 2011 Thank You for Doing the Most Important Job  While sitting on the bus one day, I took a book out and was about to read. But I was distracted by a young woman behind me who was speaking on her cell phone. She was talking to her brother. She wanted to know where he was, why he wasn't where he was supposed to be, why he had lied to their mother again and did he know that their mum had broken down in tears that morning because of him. I never looked around. I just stared at the book in my hand - and the ten pound note I'd been using as a bookmark. When she left the bus, I got off behind her. "Excuse me," I said. "Do me a favour, would you? Take this money and buy your mum a box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers. And tell her a strange man said that being a mother is the hardest but most important job in the world." Read More >>
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