-
The Pay It Forward Movement is the real-life reaction to the release of my novel in early 2000, followed by the creation of the Pay It Forward Foundation, followed by the Warner Brothers movie. I didn't write the novel expecting a social movement, but it's certainly been exciting to watch it grow. The purpose of the Pay It Forward Movement website is to bring together, in one place, as many real stories as we can. This serves several purposes. It helps the cynics see that Pay It Forward really is working, not just around the United States but around the world. It brings much-deserved recognition to those doing the work, and puts the results of their efforts out in the open so others can be inspired. It's also a source of some good news for a change, a way to renew your faith in human nature. Bear in mind that I only know the Pay It Forward stories that someone took the time to report. I'm guessing that's somewhere in the neighborhood of one in a hundred spontaneous acts of kindness. What you see on this site is barely the tip of an iceberg
-
It's time to publicly and systematically promote an educational philosophy that honors diversity in the classroom. It's time to give students the opportunity to reach their full potential and aspire to higher education. It's time to remind them that they can deeply impact their communities and the world. The Freedom Writers Foundation believes the time has come. And by empowering students and teachers alike through outreach, curriculum, and scholarships, the time is now.
-
Home is a 2009 documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet.
The documentary chronicles the present day state of the Earth, its climate and how we as the dominant species have long-term repercussions on its future. A theme expressed throughout the documentary is that of linkage—how all organisms and the Earth are linked in a "delicate but crucial" natural balance with each other, and how no organism can be self-sufficient.
The first 15 minutes include footage of the beginning of the natural world, starting with single-celled algae developing at the edges of volcanic springs. By showing algae's essential role in the evolution of photosynthesis, it also explores the innumerable species of plants which all have their origins in this one-celled life form.
In the rest of the first hour of the film, the documentary takes on a more human-oriented focus, showing the agricultural revolution and its impacts, before moving on to talk about the harnessing of oil, leading to fire, industry, cities and inequality gaps like never before. It portrays the current predicament regarding cattle ranches, deforestation, food and water shortages, the use of non-renewable "fossil water", the over-quarrying crisis and the shortage of energy, namely electricity
-
Diverse, Inclusive, Awareness, Case for Change, Neighbourhood, Planet, Self Direction, Self Reliance, Small Scale, Values, VisionThe Story of Stuff Project’s mission is to build a strong, diverse, decentralized, cross-sector movement to transform systems of production and consumption to serve ecological sustainability and social wellbeing. Our goals are to amplify public discourse on a diverse set of sustainability issues and to facilitate the growing Story of Stuff community’s involvement in strategic efforts to build a more sustainable and just world.
The Story of Stuff Project was founded in June 2008 by Annie Leonard to leverage the remarkable success of The Story of Stuff, a 20-minute web-film that explores the often hidden environmental and social consequences of America’s love affair with its stuff. Less than two years after its release, the film had been viewed over 8.5 million times on-line and in thousands of schools, houses of worship, community centers and businesses around the world.
Our Project’s focus is on systems of production and consumption—in particular the harmful environmental and social impacts of current modes of producing, consuming and disposing of material goods. Our Project is systems-focused, solutions-oriented and change-driven. -
Waardebepaling achteraf is een manier van samenwerken en zakendoen die gaat over het toevoegen van waarde voor iedereen die bij de samenwerking betrokken is. Feitelijk laat je uurtarieven en vaste prijsafspraken vooraf los en spreek je af met je samenwerkingspartner (die jij misschien klant of opdrachtgever noemt) dat hij achteraf bepaalt wat jij voor hem waard bent geweest. In welke vorm, hoeveel en wanneer hij iets teruggeeft bepaalt hij ook achteraf en is afhankelijk van de door jou toegevoegde waarde.
Waardebepaling achteraf is vragen om moeilijkheden, maar van dit soort moeilijkheden leer je het snelst. En snel leren is cruciaal in onze netwerk- en informatiesamenleving! Daardoor kan het voorkomen dat je samenwerkingspartner hetgeen jij hebt toegevoegd niks waard vond, of dat hij liever iets teruggeeft aan iemand anders uit je netwerk voor wie hij weer van waarde kan zijn. Het kan ook zijn dat je binnen 5 minuten voor je klant zo veel waarde toevoegt dat je de rest van de week niet meer hoeft te werken.
Waardebepaling achteraf is een verschuiving in ons denken over werk, geld verdienen en samenwerken die past binnen de ontwikkelingen in de huidige netwerk- en informatiesamenleving. Hiërarchieën, samenwerkingsverbanden, onze behoeftes en het soort werk wat we doen is sterk aan het veranderen. Hoe we gewaardeerd worden, en in welke vorm we beloning krijgen voor ons werk past hier ook bij. Werken met waardebepaling achteraf is een manier om op een andere manier aan te sluiten bij de (nieuwe) mogelijkheden die de huidige samenleving ons biedt.
-
-
-
Awareness, Case for Change, Concept, Connections, Empathie, Motivation, Openness, Purpose, Trust, Values, Vision, Wisdom, KindnessThe concept of gross national happiness (GNH) was developed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms than gross domestic product (GDP). As a chief economic indicator, GDP has numerous flaws long known to economists. GDP measures the amount of commerce in a country, but counts remedial and defensive expenditures (such as the costs of security, police, pollution clean up, etc.) as positive contributions to commerce.[1] A better measure of economic well-being would deduct such costs, and add in other non-market benefits (such as volunteer work, unpaid domestic work, and unpriced ecosystem services) in arriving at an indicator of well-being. As economic development on the planet approaches or surpasses the limits of ecosystems to provide resources and absorb human effluents, calling into question the ability of the planet to continue to support civilization (per the arguments of Jared Diamond, among others), many people have called for getting "Beyond GDP" (the title of a recent EU conference) in order to measure progress not as the mere increase in commercial transations, nor as an increase in specifically economic well-being, but as an increase in general well-being as people themselves subjectively report it. GNH is a strong contributor to this movement to discard measurements of commercial transactions as a key indicator and to instead directly assess changes in the social and psychological well-being of populations.
- from wikipedia -
-
In a groundbreaking book based on vast new data, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and our democratic structures-- and how we may reconnect. Putnam warns that our stock of social capital - the very fabric of our connections with each other, has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and communities. Putnam draws on evidence including nearly 500,000 interviews over the last quarter century to show that we sign fewer petitions, belong to fewer organizations that meet, know our neighbors less, meet with friends less frequently, and even socialize with our families less often. We're even bowling alone. More Americans are bowling than ever before, but they are not bowling in leagues. Putnam shows how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women's roles and other factors have contributed to this decline.
