Fifteen airlines and air cargo carriers have joined forces to purchase hundreds of millions of gallons of alternative fuels. The airlines signed a memorandum of understanding with AltAir Fuels and Rentech (Renewable Energy Technologies), the fuel producers, to purchase about 325 million gallons of alternative fuels per year, with potential to increase this further. Industry […]
It’s hot and dusty; the sun is about to set; the grass that covers the plains is brown, wilting, wishing for rain that rarely falls. When the lions start to roar, you could forgive yourself for thinking you are in the African savanna. But you are not. You are at the western edge of the […]
Providing free school uniforms in Kenya actually decreased girls’ dropout rates by 15%, teen marriage by 12% and childbearing by 10%. The rationale for providing the uniforms was to decrease the cost of education, empower children and increase motivation. By raising the girls’ ability to conceptualize themselves and increasing their self-esteem, while lowering costs, those […]
The GreenTouch association was formed “to find new approaches for energy efficiency and to invent radical new technologies that will be at the heart of sustainable networks in the decades to come.” Concretely, the group “aims to create the technologies needed to make communications networks 1,000 times more energy efficient than they are today.” The […]
Engaged in a number of missions, a group of well-known global leaders called The Elders, comprised of Nelson Mandela, its originator, and Martti Ahtisaari, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Brundtland, Fernando H. Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Graca Machel, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu, has made equality for womankind one of their priorities. They appeal […]
Ada Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron, Lord Byron’s daughter, was the first to suggest a computer program, back in 1842. She was a formidable mathematician and writer. When translating Italian engineer and mathematician Luigi Menabrea’s memoir on Charles Babbage’s proposed general-purpose machine, the Analytical Engine, Lovelace added her own notes, which contain a method for […]
The largest exhibition of mummies to date has opened in Los Angeles, California. The show not only provides a glimpse into the lives of ancient humans; as it is fundamentally a scientific project, it also allows researchers the opportunity to examine the different exhibits to elucidate the history of tuberculosis, by putting the mummies through […]
Friends of India’s mission is to “fight poverty and create opportunities for children and women in Tamil Nadu, India, by supporting basic education for underserved children and investing in vocational training, life-skills development and income generating activities for women.” A non-profit, charitable organization, Friends of India was founded in 2001 by its current President, Pamela […]
One often hears of the demographic doom-and-gloom scenarios. The world’s population is rising at such a rapid rate that by some estimates by 2050 there will be 9 billion people on the planet, up from about 7 billion today. Yet some experts believe in a more optimistic state of affairs for the planet. Fred Pearce […]
