“It all started with some pictures of children that drowned on a beach. We thought: if we dedicate ourselves to this and we do it on our beaches, why are they dying there and why is nobody helping them?“ That’s Proactiva Open Arms. It’s a Spanish non-governmental, non-profit organization whose mission is to rescue refugees who arrive in Europe […]

Have you heard of plants capable of extracting minerals from the ground while stopping erosion and decontaminating the soil? That’s what plants called hyperaccumulators do. A hyperaccumulator is a plant that can grow in places containing very high levels of metals, absorbing them through their roots. They concentrate extremely high levels of metals in their tissues. […]

TreeSisters: planting trees

TreeSisters is a non-profit charity that cares about tropical reforestation. Its mission is to “help reforest the Tropics and increase Earth’s green cover through the combined leadership of women around the world who seek to bring ecological balance back to the planet.” Its objectives are: “(1) Increasing Green Cover – to promote for the benefit of the […]

A large seabird is causing quite a flutter of excitement. She is around 65 years old and just gave birth to her 40th chick. That feat has scientists calling this bird “an iconic symbol of inspiration and hope”; most Laysan Albatrosses live a maximum of 40 years and are thought to be infertile later in life. So this […]

AeroFarms is revolutionizing agriculture. It’s on a mission to “combat our global food crisis by leveraging our patented technology and farming locally”.  How? Since 2004, AeroFarms has been operating vertical indoor farms. So what is a vertical farm? As The Good Times reported back in June 2012, “It’s indoor farming, like the concept of greenhouses, but on […]

How can farmers become teachers and villages become classrooms? Quite easily and naturally in Nepal. Because they know the land and environment intimately, local farmers and villagers in eastern Nepal are helping to identify and preserve the country’s immense variety of flora and fauna. Using the local knowledge of the people living there, the non-profit KTK-BELT Project […]

Those of you who know a bit about sailing will appreciate how difficult the Vendée Globe yacht race is. It’s a non-stop race around the world, sailed solo, without assistance, and it takes place every four years. This year’s race began on Sunday 6 November. Over the years, 138 sailors have taken part in the seven […]

“Out of adversity comes empathy”. Out of empathy came the idea and implementation in Japan of an initiative to assist young people who survived the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami that struck the country in March of 2011. That initiative is BEYOND Tomorrow. Begun in June 2011 just after the disaster, this scholarship and leadership programme is […]

Why is it that most high schools don’t teach financial literacy? Most young people who go to school take classes in math or economics, but many don’t know the first thing about how money works in the world, how to earn or make money, or how to manage it. Having recognized this shortcoming, one foundation is promoting financial […]

Mark Pollock is blind and paralysed and testing robotic legs as part of his mission to find a cure for paralysis. He is using his personal experience of a devastating spinal cord injury to spur change around the world. What is Mark’s story? At the age of 22 he became blind. Yet this did not deter him from competing in endurance […]