Global Good News

"'March Across America,' I hope, will give voice to the millions of kids that do not have one. If it only helps one child, it will be completely worth it." Philanthropy became the primary focus of his life when he was six-years-old. After a hurricane hit his hometown of Tampa, he felt compelled to deliver water and supplies to his neighbors in a little red wagon. In 2005, he founded the nonprofit Little Red Wagon Foundation to help underprivileged children and to build awareness among neighborhoods.

A German designer, Samuel Treindi discovered a way that people can transform waste heat from incandescent light bulbs into something less wasteful. A pulley system creates space to hang clothing, where the heat from the light can dry them. It's simple and affordable for anyone who wants to save energy. By using light to see AND dry clothes, the new light bulbs will be a great multi-purpose solution.

Who knew that by collecting cans throughout a city, one man could become a millionaire? Curt Degerman, a Swedish resident, rode around Sweden collecting bottles and cans to be recycled. Although many people viewed him as a homeless man who never completed school, never got married, or had his own family, he was far more than that. In 2008, he passed away at the age of 60, and left behind a fortune.

According to BBC Brasil, when it came time to sort through Curt's estate, it was discovered that he had amassed a fortune totaling nearly $ 1.4 million, leaving it all to a cousin who was kind enough to visit him occasionally in the years before his death. But that's not all. He also owned 124 bars of pure gold.

What many people were unaware of, was that he spent much of his time researching financing in newspapers at a local library. He invested the money that he earned from collecting cans, and built a fortune. He left all $1.4 million to a cousin who was the only person to visit him while he was ill. It goes to show that you can't always judge a book by his cover, can you?

General Electric introduced a light bulb that not only converts less energy to heat (you won't burn your pretty fingers when changing bulbs), but lasts 25,000 hours! It has not been officially released yet, but will go on sale in the late 2010 or early 2011. The cost is yet to be decided, but will range from $40-50. You throw down $40-50, save more energy, and won't have to buy a lightbulb for 17 years! Who's in?

Twestival (Twitter Festival) is the largest global grassroots social media fundraising initiative to date, raising over $1.2 million within 14 months for 137 nonprofits. All of the events are organized by volunteers and 100% of the donations go directly to projects.

This year's earnings were over $450,000 for Concern Worldwide, which is an international NGO that helps fund educational projects all over the world. Founder Amanda Rose said that technology "offers a way for us to work efficiently, openly and encourage ownership of fundraising activities by allocating widgets which people can share and promote on other social media sites. You cannot fundraise on Twitter alone; you need a strong infrastructure behind the scenes which people trust in order to secure donations."

It's inspiring to see how technology can truly benefit the world in a positive way, in today's generation. Tweet on, Tweeters!

In its fourth year, Earth Hour achieved massive results in saving energy throughout the World. Dubai, in particular, was involved greatly. Dubai had a record 126 countries and territories, 4,000 cities, towns and municipalities, as well as millions of people around the World who joined in Earth Hour.
"By switching off the lights and other electrical appliances, we saved nearly 170 megawatt-hours, equivalent to 170,000 kilowatt-hours [kWh] and reduced the ratio of carbon dioxide by 102,000kg, Dubai has, through its participation in Earth Hour over the past two years, saved 246,000kWh and reduced 148,000kg of carbon dioxide emissions. " said Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dewa.

Created by MIT, the desalination chip may be a solution for the future
of thirst issues in the future. It desalts undrinkable water by using
very little energy, which makes it capable of pumping four gallons of
drinkable water per hour. It removes 99% of inhabiting harmful
contaminants. The Pepper Zoo supports digital inventions that are not
only intriguing, but beneficial to the world!