This isn’t hard to do. In fact, it’s easier for people who have high self-esteem. Apprently, some new reseach is out that argues that the more confidence an individual has the less likely it is that they will buy material objects for comfort.

“By the time children reach early adolescence, and experience a decline in self-esteem, the stage is set for the use of material possessions as a coping strategy for feelings of low self-worth,” they write in the study, which will appear in the Journal of Consumer Research.

The paradox that findings such as these bring up, is that consumerism is good for the economy but bad for the individual. In the short run, it’s good for the economy when young people believe they need to buy an entirely new wardrobe every year, for example. But the hidden cost is much higher than the dollar amount. There are costs in happiness when people believe that their value is extrinsic. There are also environmental costs associated with widespread materialism.

I guess this can be further backed up by examples that billionaires don’t like spending their money.

In the context that is Harper’s Canada, activists have to be more creative than usual. The conservatives are stifling debate by not inviting the official opposition to attend the United Nations’ major climate change meeting next month in Bali, Indonesia. As a result, Canadian activists are trying to continue what the current Canadian government dislikes: discussions on climate change. So it is good that the Canadian people actively care about the environment.

A coalition of Canada’s top environmental groups is offering a hand to jilted opposition MPs who want to attend key climate-change talks in Bali, Indonesia.

Environment critics from the three opposition parties were told earlier this week that they would no longer be welcome in the official Canadian delegation attending the United Nations meeting next month.

The government has traditionally allowed opposition MPs, and even non-governmental groups and industry representatives, to tag along to such high-profile summits. The critics were invited to the last major UN climate meeting in Kenya a year ago.

Kidney stones. People whose diets are high in animal protein and low in fiber and fluids may be at higher risk for stones. Several studies have shown that increasing dietary calcium and restricting salt, animal protein, and foods rich in oxalate, such as rhubarb, spinach, cocoa, nuts, pepper, and tea, can help prevent calcium oxalate stones from returning.

Indeed, most satires of war don’t lampoon the enemy; rather, the central characters inevitably question their own side. In Catch-22, the Germans — the nominal foe — are barely mentioned; Heller’s true target is the U.S. army apparatus. The point is mordantly demonstrated in the fact that the more missions bomber pilot (and protagonist) John Yossarian flies, the more he has to complete before being allowed to go home. The comic preoccupation of Stanley Kubrick’s classic film Dr. Strangelove (1964) was not the Soviet Union, but the United States’ Cold War paranoia.

How is this site good you ask, well over at Mashable they argue that:

The hope with WorldDevils is to bring awareness to those individuals and entities that are causing harm on a larger level, whether it be socially or politically. The company has indicated that it will be adding a system for curbing the abuse of its system by those out to cause harm on a personal level.

It’s up to you decide if calling people devils increases awareness and will provoke change.

OneWorld US has launched a gift guide for Mother’s Day that let’s you purcahse gifts that can make the world a better place!

If you have any ideas on gifts for Mom that make the world better, leave a comment to let everyone know!

These improvements haven’t been restricted to the United States. It’s a global phenomenon. Worldwide, life expectancy has more than doubled, from 31 years in 1900 to 67 years today. India’s and China’s infant mortalities exceeded 190 per 1,000 births in the early 1950s; today they are 62 and 26, respectively. In the developing world, the proportion of the population suffering from chronic hunger declined from 37 percent to 17 percent between 1970 and 2001 despite a 83 percent increase in population. Globally average annual incomes in real dollars have tripled since 1950. Consequently, the proportion of the planet’s developing-world population living in absolute poverty has halved since 1981, from 40 percent to 20 percent. Child labor in low income countries declined from 30 percent to 18 percent between 1960 and 2003.

(On a personal note I find it ironic that the article teaser says “mankind.” This is saying that only half of the world’s population has improved. Apparently women have been left behind.)

“Drawing on billions of dollars in oil revenues, Chavez has started a long list of social programs, called “missions,” which offer everything from job training to cash assistance for single mothers.”