Join the Carnival for Change - Booth 6.

Welcome to the Carnival for Change where we explore the web for interesting items relating to social justice, health, education, and opportunity. Happy Juneteenth!

* The World Resources Institute recently released The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid. The publication, which is available for print purchase or free download, is useful for those developing for-profit businesses that focus on the 4 billion poorest people. Those folks may not have a lot of money, but they make up the majority of the world's population and they need goods and services too. This is the approach that has made Mohammad Yunus' Grameen Bank so successful.

* The Greater Good blog highlights a great way to contribute to academic knowledge about heroism and altruism. People are needed to participate in a scientific study by the Heroism Research Group. It takes about 20 minutes to answer the survey-type questions, and, who knows, you might learn something about yourself. I did.

* Riches for Good has a great post listing social entrepreneurship fellowships and training programs. Check it out, and use the comments to add others to the list. These are a great way to jump start your socially-responsible business or business idea. I'm forwarding this info to Jules Walter of Bagazo in case they're interested in these opportunities.

* If social entrepreneurship isn't your thing, how about social marketing? Social Butterfly lists numerous social marketing events, conferences, and opportunities. This is a growing field and there are lots of ways to get involved in it.

* Like the idea behind So What Can I Do? Check out similar blogs (along with SWCID) at good.alltop.com. Thanks Neenz! Want to listen instead of read? Check out Julie Zauzmer's weekly podcast 52 Ways to Change the World. It's also available on iTunes. Thanks Julie! Also, So What Can I Do was also recently featured in Social Butterfly's Blogger Neighborhood. Thanks Alex!


* I go through phases where I just read nonfiction, or just fiction. My favorite writer of either class is Octavia Butler. Her writing helps me recognize that we are all always already invincible. Three of my favorites are Wild Seed, Bloodchild, and Kindred.


Thanks for visiting the Carnival for Change! If you'd like space at the next booth, send your items to me with "Carnival for Change" in the subject. See you next time!

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

Celebrate fatherhood.

Today is Father's Day in the US. Both boys and girls need a father or father figure in their lives, but not all children have one. On this Father's Day, you can choose to make a positive difference in a child's life. Here are just a few ways to get started:

* Become a virtual mentor through the Orphan Foundation of America. Mentors are needed for current and former foster children. You can make a big difference even online.

* Volunteer with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. "Volunteering just 4 hours a month can change a young person's life" and you can share many of your current activities with your 'Little'.

* Become a foster parent. It's hard for many of us to imagine not having our parents. Foster parents fill the gap and provide a caring family and home for those whose parents are unable to care for them.

* Expand your family by adopting a child. Call 1-800-TO-ADOPT or 1-888-200-4005 or write info@adoptuskids.org for more information.

Think about all the people who made a positive impact on your life. Thank them, and consider how you can contribute to a child's life. I expect you'll receive much more that you give.

Happy Father's Day to all, and especially to my two favorite fathers: my dad, Olly Neal, and my husband, Kwadjo Boaitey. I love you both!

"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." - Naguib Mahfouz

Trickle up.

Regular readers know I'm a big fan of microloans. But if you're at the base of the pyramid, living on $1-2 per day, a loan just won't cut it. That's where Trickle Up comes in.

Trickle Up supports microenterprise through business training and seed capital grants in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Loans are usually about $100, and recipients must participate in classes on business planning and development, finance and more. "The typical Trickle Up entrepreneur is a woman under 40 years of age who is responsible for raising children and paying for their schooling." They helped launched 11,141 businesses in 1007 and improved tens of thousands of lives in the process. You can meet some of the Trickle Up entrepreneurs.

Trickle Up has been around for almost 30 years and look at their results:

* 9 of 10 Trickle Up businesses continue after the first year.
* 7 of 10 microentrepreneurs increase their family's food intake.
* 5 of 10 are able to send more children to school.
* 5 of 10 are able to buy better clothing for their families.
* Women lead 85% of Trickle Up businesses.
* People with disabilites account for about 10% of the people Trickle Up serves.

Because the total loan amounts are so small, you'll know your donation will have a huge impact on a family. Ready to donate? You'll narrow the base of the pyramid when you do!

"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." - Naguib Mahfouz

Offset your site.

I've written before about carbon offsets, but the services I described all cost money. Now, here's a fast way to offset a few pounds of carbon. If you are a blogger, you can join Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge. Just put their snazzy badge on your site (check out the sidebar for mine), let them know who you are and they will "offset 350 pounds of carbon in your name! 350 pounds! That's like flicking off 100 lightbulbs for a day. Or going two full weeks without your car!" They're goal is 350 bloggers and they already have over 300, so hurry!

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Pull together for change.

The New York Times had a great story yesterday about Katherine Commale. She's the seven-year-old girl who with her mother and little brother's help raised $43,000 for the Nothing But Nets campaign against malaria. She's a great example of someone who saw a need and found a way to contribute to the solution.

The nice thing is that most everyone can find a way to motivate their family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, classmates, and others to contribute to a good cause. Here are two more examples:

* Eric's 25 for Angel's Place - Eric Gamble has pledged to lose 25 pounds in support of the New Orleans charity Angel's Place which "provides a loving and caring environment for children diagnosed with life-threatening illness." Sponsors are asked to pledge $1 per pound in support of his efforts.

* The 2wheels4water is a project by Alison and Tim Lowry. They are riding a Vespa moped through North and South Carolina to raise money for clean water projects around the world. Sponsors are asked to pledge per mile. "Every mile driven on a moped costs just 3.5 cents. Every mile in a typical car costs about 17.5 cents. We’re asking you to pledge the difference: 14 cents for every mile we cover."

These are just three examples of how everyday people, people just like you and me, are making a difference by motivating those they know to pull together for change. What will you do to support the causes you care about?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do." - Mark Twain

Improve your vocabulary, take 2.

Fans of the popular FreeRice.com now have even more ways to learn words and make donations. In March, aidtochildren.com was launched to "bring aid to children in need through learning." When you visit aidtochildren.com, you'll be presented with a word a four possible definitions. Choose the right one and .25 cents will be donated to World Vision, the "relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice." Another fun and educational way to make a difference in someone's life.

Thanks for the heads up, BlueSky!

Envy not the oppressor and choose none of his ways. - Proverbs 3:31

Eat less meat, or none at all.

In my last post I promised to share a small change my family has made to improve our health - we limit our meat consumption. Although meat can be part of a healthy diet, there are many reasons to eat less meat. Here are just a few:

* Health - This was the primary reason I stopped eating mammals since I have a family history of colon cancer. Heavy meat diets are correlated in increased incidence of cancer, stroke, heart disease, and other ailments. On the other hand, plant-based diets are protective and help prevent many of these same ailments. And when you eat lower on the food chain, you're less likely to accumulate environmental toxins in your body.

* Cost - Meat can be expensive, especially when compared to plant-based protein sources like beans. And often meat isn't even necessary - try a loaded vegetarian pizza and you won't even miss the meat. And when you really want to have meat, don't make it the main attraction. Instead incorporate it into soups, stir-frys or casseroles. It's a great way to stretch your meat purchase and save some money.

* Environment - Did you know that livestock are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions? That's more than cars, trucks, planes, and other forms of transportation combined. And consider the resources it takes to get meat to your table. For example, it takes 2,400 gallons of water and 7 pounds of grain to produces 1 pound of feedlot beef. The average American consumes 97 pounds of beef per year (273 pounds of meat overall per year), so that's a big impact. The numbers are similar for other kinds of meat. And we haven't yet considered the pollution caused by animal waste, processing and transporting meat, etc.

* Animals - I must say, I'd be likely to eat more meat if it were raised in a healthy and sustainable way. Industrial farming practices leave a lot to be desired not only for the people who consume the animal but for the animals themselves. And we have to wonder why most of us wouldn't dream of eating some animals (cats, dogs, parrots, etc.) but are happy to eat others (cows, pigs, chickens). What's the difference? Also, a move from industrial farming which uses loads of antibiotics may help reduce antibiotic resistance.

Now I'm the first to admit that I still eat meat, but it's a lot less than I used to eat. I also recognize that because of supermarket redlining not everyone has access to healthy, fresh foods. That said, one of the easiest things to do is just reduce your meat intake. Instead of two servings of meat, just have one (or none) and an extra helping of veggies, beans, or other non meat items. Increase your the amount of fiber you eat for a full feeling and better digestion. Whole grains are a great way to do that. You may want to check out some of the many vegetarian recipes that are out there. Many of them are so good, you won't miss the meat at all.

Here's to healthy living, for us, for the animals, and for the planet!

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." - Frederick Douglass (1817? - 1895)

Donate a meal.

For many reasons, food prices are increasing - all over the world. That can make preparing a meal challenging - whether you're an elderly woman on a fixed income, a child who won't get school lunch now that school is out, or a family who has to make choices between buying food, paying a mortgage, or getting medical care. Thankfully there are many ways we can work to eliminate hunger and malnutrition. I generally prefer sustainable solutions, but there's plenty of need for stop-gap measures too. There are incredibly easy, fast, and free ways to make sure someone eats tonight. Regular readers already know about click-to-donate sites and freerice.com. Now here's another way to make a free donation: www.YourFamilyTable.com.

"Country Crock is teaming up with 5-time Grammy Award-winning singer Amy Grant and America’s Second Harvest for the second year in a row, and invites people to share the little things they do to improve their family’s health. With each small change shared, Country Crock Omega Plus will donate a meal to a family in need through America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network." So surf over to www.YourFamilyTable.com, and enter your story. Stick around to read others' stories. It's a great way to make a difference in someone's life. I'll share one of my small changes in a later post.

"It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men." - Frederick Douglass

Join the Carnival for Change - Booth 5.

Welcome to the Carnival for Change where we explore the web for interesting items relating to social justice, health, education, and opportunity.

* CNN's Impact Your World has a great listing of organizations that are doing the much needed relief work related to the cyclone in Myanmar, the earthquake in China, and the tornados in the US. Donate what you can.

* The 2008 Net Squared N2Y3 will be May 27-28 in San Jose, California. Net Squared is "remixing the web for social change." This year's theme is Mashup Challenge and the conference "will bring together a unique mix of people from the public and private sectors to develop and release Mashups designed to provide deeper insight into the social issues affecting communities around the globe."

* Interested in open access publishing? Make a short video promoting OA for the 2008 SPARKY Awards and you may win $1000. Deadline is November 30, 2008.

* Biology major or recent grad? Consider competing for the Pearson Benjamin Cummings Biology Prize. Applicants must write a letter to their elected officials expressing their "opinion about a biology-related issue" and four will win a $1000 scholarship. Deadline is November 4, 2008.

* So What Can I Do children's book/social justice analogy - Beatrice:Heifer::Kojo:Kiva


Thanks for visiting the Carnival for Change! If you'd like space at the next booth, send your items to me with "Carnival for Change" in the subject. See you next time!

"Resistance is the secret of joy." Alice Walker in her book Possessing the Secret of Joy

Publish in open access journals.

I spend a good deal of my life reading and writing academic papers. In the olden days (which weren't so long ago), that meant going to the university library, sometimes to the basement or archives to search for particular volumes among shelves and shelves of books and journals. But school libraries can't carry all scholarly journals. Interlibrary loan eased the problem in the past, but the internet offers an opportunity to really solve the problem. Enter open access journals.

Open access journals are scholarly academic journals that are freely and openly available on the internet. The reader is able to access these journals without restrictions, though some some journals charge authors a fee to publish. These journals are developing the same levels of quality, prestige, and copyright protection as more traditional journals, and there is evidence to suggest that publishing in open access journals can increase impact and citation rates. Great news for any academic!

I recognize that not everyone has access to university libraries, and that not all libraries have the financial resources to grant access to expensive and numerous scholarly journals. For those reasons, I have decided to prioritize publication in open access journals. I like to think that my writing is of value to many kinds of people, not just those who have easy access to wealthy academic libraries. It really makes sense when you consider that taxpayers fund so much research. I'm not the only one who thinks so. In 2002, George Soros' Open Society Institute launched the Budapest Open Access Initiative to promote open access journals and publication.

With thousands of peer reviewed open access journals available around the world, there is bound to be a journal in your field and language. And if you see a need for a new open journal, here's a guide to starting your own open access journal.

So are you all jazzed about open access journals? Ready to publish? Check out these resources to find the publication and information you need:

* Directory of Open Access Journals aims to "increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals thereby promoting their increased usage and impact. The Directory aims to be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content." They cover 3353 journals in all languages all over the world. Journals must use peer or editorial review.

* Open J-Gate is "an electronic gateway to global journal literature in open access domain." The database indexes "4375 open access journals, with links to full text at Publisher sites." They include both peer-reviewed journals and industry and professional journals in English.

* Open Access Directory is "a compendium of simple factual lists about open access (OA) to science and scholarship, maintained by the OA community at large." It's a wiki so everyone can contribute.

So you can see, there are lots of ways to promote open access. Here's my first OA paper. I look forward to reading yours!


"Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them." - Suzanne Necker

Join the Carnival for Change - Booth 4.

Welcome to the Carnival for Change where we explore the web for interesting items relating to social justice, health, education, and opportunity.

* The 2008 Echoing Green Finalists have been announced. Read and be inspired! Echoing Green conducted a social entrepreneurship survey of the 2008 Semifinalists. You can download the PDF here. "To accelerate social change, Echoing Green invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions."

* Want to know more about social enterprise? You may want to attend the Social Entrepreneurship Intensive "Bootcamp". Hurry! The bootcamp is May 12 - 14, 2008 so get your registration in now.

* Nedra Kline Weinreich at Spare Change has a post announcing the upcoming Social Marketing University June 2-4, 2008. Social marketing applies "marketing principles to promoting health and social issues and bringing about positive behavior change."

* The goal of Alltop.com is to organizes all the top sites on the web. Check out nonprofit.alltop.com for previews of the recent posts of nonprofit and service related sites. I'm pleased to report that So What Can I Do is among the number. You can also follow So What Can I Do on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sowhatcanido and on Squidoo at http://www.squidoo.com/sowhatcanido. Also there's a nice article on So What Can I Do here. Enjoy!

* David Bach and Hillary Rosner have a new book out called Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying


Thanks for visiting the Carnival for Change! If you'd like space at the next booth, send your items to me with "Carnival for Change" in the subject. See you next time!

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood." - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Support US microloans and microlending.

Regular readers know that I am a big supporter of mircoloans. There are many benefits of mircolending and though much of the press is about microloans availability outside of the United States, microloans are also available in the US. Here are just a few organizations to consider:

* Grameen America "is a microcredit lender whose mission is to help entrepreneurial individuals, especially women, build credit and defeat poverty." This is a subsidiary of Nobel Larueate Mohammed Yunus' Grameen Bank which really popularized microlending. They are "Bankers for the Unbanked."

* Accion USA makes loans to small business people of up to $25,000 and provides financial literacy education.

* Prosper is a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending agency where almost anyone can request a loan that almost anyone can fund.

* LendingClub is also a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending agency. Again, almost anyone can lend or borrow.

* Virginmoneyus.com is another P2P agency that facilitates lending between family and friends. The loans can be for business, real estate, or personal purposes.

Note that only Grameen and Accion are dedicated to reducing poverty and are purposefully designed to raise standards of living. If you are a borrower, compare your options to see which plan will work best for you. If you are lender, consider your needs: Do you want to make a donation or would you prefer to be paid back? Would you like to earn interest? Do you want to choose who you lend to? Consider the options, then choose the organization that works best for you.

With all these options and ethical goals, maybe Shakespeare's Lord Polonius was wrong when he said "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway

Donate Blood (An FAQ).

When people find out that I am a regular blood donor, they often have lots of questions. I see of these same questions online, so in an effort to clarify the blood donation process, here are my answers to some questions I am frequently asked:

* How much money do you get to donate blood? None. You won't get monetary payment but they always offer cookies and juice, though. And maybe a T-shirt or raffle ticket. Small tokens of appreciation.

* How long does it take to donate blood? It usually take me a little less than an hour. Not too long to save up to three lives.

* Does donating blood hurt? There's a sting at first when the needle is inserted, but it's not bad and it doesn't last. I notice it less and less nowadays.

* How can I find a blood drive? Visit givelife.org or call 1-800-GIVE LIFE. You can also visit americasblood.org or call 1-888-USBLOOD.

* Do you feel weak after donating blood? I don't. But I make sure to follow the donation center's instructions - no heavy lifting, double water intake, etc.

* Do you do anything special before you donate blood I make sure I've eaten well before I go and drink more water the day before. Nothing big.

* How often do you donate blood? Roughly every two months. Most folks can donate every 56 days.

Got more questions? Check out the Red Cross FAQs on blood, blood needs, and blood donation.

"Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage." - Benjamin Disraeli

Build a website.

Everyday, more and more people get online. Not just to use email or read an online newspaper, but often to establish an online presence. For example Kwadjo and I both have websites as do many of our relatives and friends. Building a site doesn't have to be hard, but services like Squidoo make it much easier. As they say, "Everyone’s an expert on something!" And here's the kicker, a portion of the money your website makes will be donated to charity.

Squidoo makes money from ads and affiliate links. We give 5% of what we earn, right off the top, to charity. We keep 45% to cover our overhead and stuff. That leaves 50%. That goes to charity or to the people who build the pages. And we leave it up to you to choose one or the other.

You can donate your revenue to any of over 70 nonprofits. If you run a nonprofit consider registering your organization so Squidoo webmaster can donate money to your organization. You may even want to build a page for your organization. What a great way to develop an online presence and make money for your favorite cause! What will you write about? There are sites for selling items, political activism, social activism, and much much more. No wonder over 40,000 people are building sites at Squidoo. See you online!

"Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Double your microloans.

You may already know that you can make a microloan through Kiva. The nice thing about Kiva is that when the loan is repaid you get your money back. Donations to other mircroloan agencies (focusing on the US and other countries) may be be tax-deductible.

Now, Kiva and Advanta have joined forces to create Kiva B4B. When you become a Kiva B4B cardmember, every dollar you donate using your card will be matched by Advanta up to $200 per month. That means your efforts will have twice the impact. You'll also get 5% statement credit for donations to Kiva and other nonprofits, and purchases.

So visit kivab4b.org to learn more. (It's a great webpage!) Read the fine print and see if this credit card is right for you. If you is, you'll double your microloans, double the difference.



"We should try to be the parents of our future rather than the offspring of our past." -Miguel de Unamuno, writer and philosopher (1864-1936)