Go get one, get your neighbors to get one or family and start sharing what you grow. Instructions are so easy, anyone can follow even elementary students! I planted a starter tomato plant (2) less than a month ago and look at them now! I don't work for them or get a kick back, just love the product. This was initially designed to send (everything but the starter plant and water is included) to people in all types of ecological parts of the world. I didn't have to go out an buy anything but the starter plant and add water!

www.earthbox.com   Read more...

You’ve heard it over and over from your Chinese Medicine doctor: “don’t eat or drink anything cold. Especially with ice!” What’s the rationale behind this? First, we’ll start with Chinese Medical theory and then conclude with Western Medical theory on why you shouldn’t consume cold food and drinks. And we’ll also see how the two medicines see eye-to-eye on this issue.

In Chinese Medical physiology, the stomach is the first organ to receive food and drink and has been compared to a cauldron in which foods are “cooked” by the stomach fire. Because foods are “cooked” by the stomach fire, anything cold hinders this process. After it has been cooked, it then becomes “the pit where rotting and ripening occurs”. I know, it sounds pretty gruesome. We’ll see later how this process has a western explanation.   Read more...

Dear EarthTalk: The 2008 Summer Olympics in China are drawing a lot of attention right now for political reasons. I’ve heard, though, that one ray of light is China’s effort to make the event as green as possible. What’s going on in that regard? -- Josh Rogers, Concord, NH

It’s true that China is using the upcoming Beijing Olympics as a sustainability showcase, going so far as to dub the event the “Green Olympics.” Through a partnership with the U.S. government and the Maryland-based International Center for Sustainable Development, China is giving Beijing a green makeover to make the city a model for net zero pollution, green building and sustainable community development.   Read more...

I remember my times at the NCC (National Cadet Corp.) at school, when we girls used to be full of pride wearing that prestigious uniform. When doing ‘One Good Deed a Day’ was the essential way of life for us, and we used to leave our beds every morning, full of an extraordinary verve and courage to meet the daily target of Selfless Service.

The cadets at NCC are trained to acquire qualities of character, discipline, comradeship, secular outlook and apart from sportsmanship and spirit of adventure, the NCC also focused on Community service, Selflessness and Concern for fellow beings.   Read more...

Sometimes life can take strange ways. One year you are living on the streets and earning a living singing songs for people who walk by and the next year you win an international photography competition!

This is exactly what happened to FairMail teenager Juan Carlos Cabellos last week when he heard that he had won an international photography competition organized by the BID Challenge. In total there where 177 photos submitted for this competition with as theme ¨entrepreneurs that work on sustainable economical development in developing countries¨. Juan Carlos´ picture of a Peruvia market salesman selling fish on the market of Celendin was the best according to the jury who gave him the first prize of 200 euros.   Read more...

But who knows what happens behind these determined illusions of life? Slowly and quite unknowingly we are carving our path that takes us to that elusive valley where our dreams shine fulfilled. Gently wandering in the ethers are our thoughts about to become. Hidden around the corner of a little time is that quietly meandering river and our rendezvous with destiny. The skies are wide open with our hopes of a sunny day, waiting for only a smile of acknowledgement, a trustful surrender to some playful wind. An abandonment, to allow our miracles to take place.

“We have come a long, long way. It has been an arduous journey. And suddenly we have come to have a glimpse of the dawn, heard the songs of the birds, and smelled the fragrance of the flowers. First we cannot believe it can be true

Social Edge (www.socialedge.org) is a site "by social entrepreneurs, for social entrepreneurs." The site is a venue and platform where social entrepreneurs and other practitioners of the social benefit sector connect to network, learn, inspire and share resources. Active social entrepreneurs blog for the site, sharing the wonder and woe of what they're doing. Alyson Zureick, for example, blogs on her experiences in Sierra Leone; Mathias Craig blogs on bringing clean energy to Nicaragua. The site also sports interviews with everyone from Jimmy Carter to Muhammad Yunus. It's all sponsored by the Skoll Foundation. [www.skollfoundation.org) Check it out if you want to find out how hard, and inspirational, it can be to be a social entrepreneur.   Read more...

I admit that on days when I am coping with jagged nerves, bad hair day, premenstrual symptoms and mood swings, I hate being a woman. And when I think of harassment, leering and molestation perpetrated by a man, I hate him being a man.

But on most of my good days I love being a woman, and I don’t hate men in general too. However sometime ago I happened to bump into a group of few radically opinionated women in Calcutta, who hated men vehemently and apart from their monthly periods perhaps, have nothing about them that reminds you of a woman.   Read more...

Harrison Ford waxes his chest for a PSA about deforestation, the Th!nk electric car is coming back to America, scientists found the oldest living tree, and we look at some Green Gadgets from the cool folks at ShinyShiny.   Read more...

Basil "Mulla" Sumner, an elder and leader in the Ngarrindjeri community in South Australia, tells us that oneness starts from the individual. By starting from the self and spreading from there, individuals can consciously shape what kind of oneness they inhabit.   Read more...

• Would you like to be free of old restraints that make you unhappy?

• Would you like to align your beliefs with the goals you want to accomplish?   Read more...

What initiatives are taking place on college campuses to reduce the footprints of these large users of energy and other resources? -- Shawna Smith, Hamilton, NY

Microcosms of the world at large, college campuses are great test beds for environmental change, and many students are working hard to get their administrations to take positive action. The initiatives that are emerging are models for the larger society, and the students pushing for them will be taking these lessons with them, too, as they enter the work force after graduation.   Read more...

We would like to share our not for profit business. We have started a dating site for people who care about the world and its people. The site is called Humanitarian Dating. You can find us at: http//:www.humanitariandating.com

The site is a community of people concerned about our planet. We have many members working as humanitarian and international development practioners as well as people making a difference in their own communities from all around the world. We have blogs and resources on international aidwork and the site is in English, Spanish and French.   Read more...

Before You Buy Thought-Action Stimulus Questions By Charles Bernard Maclean, PhD

“You can never have enough of what you don’t need to make you happy.” - Eric Hoffer   Read more...

An idea for 2009: hold off on nonessential auto purchases, and buy a bike instead! (http://williamaveryhudson.blogsome.com)   Read more...

A warm smile. An unexpected compliment. Moonlit nights. A bear hug.

The smell of burning logs on a cold wintry night, the soft rhythmic sound of wind chimes in my balcony, the rain soaked breeze entering my bedroom window. Seeing a long awaited mail in my inbox, smell of freshly sharpened pencils.   Read more...

Does mention of books excite you? Do you love to scan the list of new arrivals in various journals and do you often pass your day thinking about a new book that is lying at your bedside table, which you can’t wait to lose yourself into at the end of the day?

Join the gang, you are my kind of gal!   Read more...

Searching for a way to give back, a Seattle leadership consultant took a leap of faith. I was reading the book, "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, said Lucy Garrick, organization and leadership consultant. I had been looking for a way to do something around the concept of peace and raising the status of women. I was floating in the pool in July with no consulting work in sight, so I petitioned the universe for consulting projects in exchange for a life devoted to world peace. Ten minutes later, my phone rang and when I answered, I heard someone say, ‘Hello Lucy, this is Riane Eiser.’ I was stunned speechless.”   Read more...

Several months ago, I had traveled to Oxford to visit an artist, Donald Pass, and hear his remarkable story. A native of England, he has had a dramatic career as a fine artist for sixty years. Educated at the Royal Academy Schools in London, he was a successful painter of portraits and religious works, but was best known for his landscapes, especially for the lyrical abstracts of his native countryside. Yet, in 1969 that all changed. While we sat in his living room, Donald recounted the vision he had forty years ago, which has since been his sole subject as an artist. In 1969, he had gone to sketch at a churchyard in Cuckfield, a small town in Sussex. There he saw what he calls now the Vision of the Resurrection. He explains that he calls it a "vision" for the lack of a better word. "It was really like a veil had been lifted. I was so aware of it going on and yet it was as if I wasn’t there, as if I was watching a film."   Read more...

Ode Magazine gives us a roundup of eco friendly fast food, Nalgene water bottles get banned, and we show you some of the worst transportation ideas we’ve seen.   Read more...

Hello Everyone, I am Ramesh Haridas Sampat, Founder of Partners in Karma.

I have been thinking about a very simple thing. What do we do with our clothes and shoes when they get worn out and we don’t want to wear them any more? Well, we throw them away, don’t we? Everyone has clothes, shoes and many other personal items that at some point we don’t want to use any more. What do people do with those things? Yes, they are just sitting there collecting dust and some day they all go to trash.   Read more...

Leafpond leafpond.com is a unique media space dedicated to the philosophy that artistic living and aesthetics are essential to a rich life experience. We provide an avenue for people of like mind to nourish their creative spirit. In May for our one-year anniversary, Leafpond introduces its new video series, "Conversations With...".   Read more...

Filmmaker Nic Askew treats his audience with beautiful short films & stories about Life & the Human Spirt. Soulbiographies, he calls them. One of the movies that touched me deeply was an interview with old men and women in Guatemala. Nic wanted to capture the soul of Guatemala but during the interiew he couldn't understand the local language that the old people spoke. He tried hard to listen to their words. And then he gave up. He started to listen to their voice, he looked in their eyes and face and watched their gestures. He immediately understood what they were saying. He discovered that his attempts to understand their words kept him away from being open with his heart directly to theirs.   Read more...

Ships in Gothenburg Sweden pull into port and plug in. The system was pioneered over 8 years ago. Zeebrugge, Belgium, along with Long Beach and Los Angeles, are trying similar technology, which costs about $70,000 to $109,000 for each outlet. But shore-side electricity hasn’t yet replaced diesel oil or heavy bunker fuel. Only a few ships have plugs, not all use the same electrical frequencies,and bunker fuel is cheaper. And much dirtier.

Carbon dioxide emissions from shipping are about twice as high as from airlines.   Read more...

Blind people have introduced a bill that will require hybrids to make a noise while in electric mode, Patagonia embraces transparency in manufacturing, and we look at some Damn Good Designs, ZapRoot, helping you go green.   Read more...

Hello fellow Ode readers,

I am part of a training program, Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders. Five of us are working together on a conservation campaign. You may know that this has been designated Year of the Frog to bring attention to amphibians - 1/3 to 1/2 are in danger of extinction in part due to an infectious disease that has devastated frogs around the world.   Read more...

The five year old who drew whimsical figures with charcoal on the walls of her modest home in the southern village of Gintota, Galle, in Sri Lanka, today is an internationally celebrated children's book writer and illustrator. For over five decades now, Sybil Wettasinghe has been amusing, entertaining and winning the hearts of millions of kids across the globe through her engaging stories and colourful illustrations.   Read more...

Aerogel is the lightest solid substance on earth and the best insulator: it withstands extreme cold and the heat from a flamethrower. With an insulation factor 37 times better than that of fiberglass, you’d think it would be ubiquitous. It’s also expensive: $1300 per pound (albeit that’s a lot of aerogel) in large part because it’s made of pure silica. Now a Malaysian researcher has found a way to make that silica from discarded rice husks and cut the cost of aerogel to $125 a pound.

Because aerogel is transparent, if the new economics prove out, it could be used in double-paned windows, appliances, and even walls. It could drastically cut heating and air conditioning costs, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions through lowered demand for electricity and heating fuels.   Read more...

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.   Read more...

LEAF, short for Lake Eden Arts Festival, is a non-profit organization established to build community and enrich lives through the Arts