Seeds for Self-Reliance

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August 13, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be. - Marcus Aurelius - Seeds for Self-Reliance The practice of saving seeds has been a cornerstone of farming traditions and has allowed agriculture to become a way of life. But the introduction of high yielding seed varieties and pervasive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has eroded the diversity of indigenous seeds. The GREEN foundation in India recognized that women are crucial to seed conservation efforts there. By setting up community-managed seed banks, they have been working with small and marginalized women farmers to promote conservation of indigenous seeds, agro-biodiversity and ecological farming practices. And the seed, a symbol of fertility, perpetuity, and sustenance in India, is now also becoming a symbol of self reliance. { read more } Be The Change The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is home to nearly half a million specimens from around the world and the most well-known example of a practice called "seed banking." { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News Six Keys to Excellence How to Deliver the Speech of Your Life Shhh! Quiet People at Work Importance of Kindgergarten DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 108,001 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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The Pay-It-Forward Little Libraries

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August 12, 2011 a project of CharityFocus A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert. - Andrew Carnegie - The Pay-It-Forward Little Libraries Bigger than a breadbox, homier than a newspaper box and more surprising than a bookmobile, the Little Library is popping up all over town. On bike paths. Outside coffee shops. In the front yards of private homes. Stocked with books ranging from academic texts to children's classics, music instruction and gardening magazines, each two-by-two-foot Little Library bears the same simple message: "Take a book. Leave a book." The brainchild of Rick Brooks of Madison and Todd Bol of Hudson, the Little Library has found a home in more than 20 spots in Wisconsin since last summer and is spreading to communities in states from Minnesota to New York. In an era of laptop screens and eBooks, happening upon a Little Library can have its own special magic. { read more } Be The Change Check out the "Build a Library" section of the Little Libraries website. { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News Nursery Rhymes Bring Down the House The Third Side of a Conflict See Yourself in Six Billion Others Bill Clinton Starts a Vegan Revolution! DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 107,929 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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7 Ways to Have More by Owning Less

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August 11, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you. - Andre Gide - 7 Ways to Have More by Owning Less Stuff. We invariably accumulate it and often times develop a certain emotional attachment to it. To some extent, it's the effect of increased marketing, but it is also our own conditioning. Fortunately, new digital platforms and cloud-based tools are making it increasingly easy to have many of the things we want without actually owning them. Because, as Wired founder and notable futurist Kevin Kelly once put it, "access is better than ownership." Here are seven services that help shrink our carbon footprint, lighten our economic load and generally free us from the shackles of stuff -- all through the power of sharing. { read more } Be The Change Start a virtuous sharing cycle among friends, offering some things or services you have access to. COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News 5 Powerful Tools for Reflection A Professor's Lesson 30 Years Ago Rappin' to Be the Change The 'Before I Die' Project DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 107,878 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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Secrets to Longevity

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August 10, 2011 a project of CharityFocus And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln - Secrets to Longevity They say that the key to a long life is eating well, exercising regularly and reducing stress. Now an eight-decade study indicates that this is only part of the equation. The Longevity Project tracked the lives of 1,500 boys and girls to explain how factors such as social connections, personality and marriage affect long-term health. The results flipped traditional logic on it's head. "Take disposition, for example. Cheerful and optimistic children are actually less likely to live long lives, they found." According to this NPR article, the findings clearly revealed that the best childhood personality predictor of longevity was conscientiousness. { read more } Be The Change Take the longevity self-assessment at the bottom of the article. { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News Four Ways to Respond in an Argument How We Can Change Our Minds The Mathematics of Being Nice A Change of Heart Changes Everything DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 107,818 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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The 3 Stages of Generosity

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August 9, 2011 a project of CharityFocus When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless. - Pema Chodron - The 3 Stages of Generosity How do you think about generosity? In this recent TEDx Talk, Nipun Mehta shares his experiences with generosity, broken down into three stages: Give, Receive, and Dance! When you give, you find that the compassion felt around you is contagious and it, in turn, creates a community. When you receive, you discover abundance, you realize generosity exists in so many different ways. And finally, when you dance, you give and receive with a natural rhythm, helping to create communities where generosity becomes the organizing principle. Then, giving becomes contagious. { read more } Be The Change Give, Receive, Dance! COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News 10 Worst Listening Habits -- and Their Cure Kids on Love 29 Lessons From Travelling the World A School for the Homeless In Las Vegas DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 107,736 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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