Category: Direct Action

Mobiles Without Borders

M4Drinks_torontoInternational Institute of Mobile Technologies and Engineers Without Borders Toronto have joined forces to create Mobiles without Borders to encourage the use of mobiles in development.

To start things off there’s a networking event happening in Toronto tomorrow Thursday July 7th:

With over 5 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, mobile technology is becoming more than a form of communication. In North America, Sparked is using mobiles to allow people to microvolunteer and in Kenya, M-PESA is using mobiles to provide financial services to locals. Mobiles are being used in both developed and developing countries for banking, healthcare, marketing campaigns, fundraising and so much more.

Whether you’re a local non-profit looking to build a mobile app to increase awareness about your organization, an international development practitioner looking to build a mobile platform, or a young professional, technologist or marketing professional, join us for a drink and the opportunity to meet others and discuss all things mobile.

Date: July 7, 2011, and every first Thursday of each month
Time: 6:00pm until late
Location: Fionn MacCool’s, 70 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON M5E1R2 (map)

Full disclosure I’m working with the International Institute of Mobile Technologies.

Small Change Fund for Big Change

Small Change Fund is a Canadian organization that is trying to get people to help small efforts to make big differences. In Canada less than 1% of donations go to grassroots organizations and Small Change Fund wants to get more funding for the little guys. They seem similar in concept to sites like Kickstarter.

Small Change Fund empowers you to make big change with small change. We provide a place for you to discover, share, connect with, and support amazing grassroots projects in communities across the country – projects that need just a small amount of money to make a real and significant impact in the world.

We make giving simple.
Call it bottom-up investment, grassroots grant-making, place-based funding, micro-philanthropy. Whatever its name, it’s a new way of giving. We use the power of the Internet to engage everyone at their own level to share with others. We open up the giving process so you can have a hand in solving the problems you care about most. You read, you choose, you give. You can give money, you can give time, you can give support. It’s that simple

Go ahead and fund a project right now!

Help Save the Redwoods with Modern Tech

Organizations that care about protecting the environment are always looking for ways to get more people helping them out and in some cases consumer technologies are the solution. Save the Redwoods is an organization in California that is asking people to use their iPhones to identify where every redwood tree is in the state. The information will then be mapped out on Google Earth – a great way of showing people the current state of the redwood forests.

Find a redwood tree in a park, in your own backyard, or in a botanical garden anywhere in the world. Then use the free Redwood Watch iPhone application powered by iNaturalist or your own camera to take a photo of the tree and submit it online.

“Citizen-science efforts like iNaturalist are rapidly emerging as rich sources of biogeographic information for alerting scientists where plants and animals are disappearing and where they persist,” said Scott R. Loarie, co-director of iNaturalist.org and a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Science. “These technologies are a real win-win for conservation because, in addition to generating urgently needed data, they get people outdoors and help them become more aware of the natural world.”

In collaboration with Google Earth Outreach, Redwood Watch also will include a tour and new 3D online model of the ancient forest to help people better understand, appreciate and connect with the wonder of the redwoods. A 2½-minute video, Finding the Redwood Forests of Tomorrow, tells the story of an ancient forest. The video was narrated by Peter Coyote, actor and author of Sleeping Where I Fall. Save the Redwoods League partnered with Google Earth Outreach to produce the new 3D Trees model ofJedediah Smith Redwoods State Park on Google Earth. Jedediah Smith Redwoods was selected for this project because it is one of the most pristine old-growth coast redwood forests in California. The 3D model allows Google Earth users to virtually walk and fly through an ancient redwood forest anytime anywhere.

Find out more at the Save the Redwoods website

Extreme Minimalism

In Western culture owning stuff i prized in and of itself, but there are still people out there who don’t see ownership of things as a way to define themselves. Andrew Hyde is one of those people and he has a good rundown of what it’s like.

Minimalism is equally easy as it is boring to do. What shirt today? The one I didn’t wear yesterday. “How tough is it for you?” You mean, to pick the shirt I didn’t wear yesterday? Once you get used to simplicity, the complex normality others have becomes the audacious thing.
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The first question someone asks me when I tell them about the project is “How do you define something you own?” Great question, but that is a lie. The first question is always “Do you do laundry? How many pairs of underwear?” I’ll never get a stranger’s obsession with my knickers, but that is *always* question #1. Question #2 is the “What do you own?” countdown, which is both fun and annoying to answer.

Read more here about living minimal lifestyle.

Canada: Go Vote!

For those of you who aren’t in Canada here’s some other good news (about solar panels).

If you live in Canada and can vote (see here for information on voting) then today is your day to shine. Now is your chance to tell the future leaders of Canada that you want a healthy country in every way possible from environmental to economical to physical health.

Previously on THings Are Good I mentioned Project Democracy and I encourage you again to check them out. Today is your day to get the worst Prime Minister (accompanied by his cronies) this nation has ever seen out of office!

Let’s all get out there so we can read about good news in Canadian politics again tomorrow!