Make Social Change A Reality

*This post was written in collaboration with over 7,500 other blogs from 140 countries for Blog Action Day 2009 . The Pew Center for Global Climate Change is an invaluable resource for information on how society has effected the environment and how changes in the environment are affecting society. Their purpose is to “ … bring [sic] together business leaders, policy makers, scientists, and other experts to bring a new approach to a complex and often controversial issue. Our approach is based on sound science, straight talk, and a belief that we can work together to protect the climate while sustaining economic growth. ” The website is organized to educate and empower both professionals and private citizens. My favorite feature is Tips on Curbing Your Personal Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions . Here are some ways you can shrink your carbon footprint, and do your part to protect the environment, without increasing your expenses … At Home: • Lower your thermostat 2° in winter and raise ...

This post was written by Rizwan Tayabali, a management consultant who works with different non-profits, social enterprises and individuals helping them create financial sustainability. He has started an initiative called the Urban Survival Project which is aimed at helping vulnerable young people survive education, jobs, small business and life. ----------------------------------------- Nothing about poverty is cool. It is tough, brutal, painful and cyclical. But it doesn't affect most of the people who can afford the technologies to be reading this, so for many of us it's always been easy to ignore. A hidden evil lurking in 'third world' countries. The saddest development is that even the little attention poverty had when it was simply the most pervasive of the global problems that didn't affect us directly, is being washed away in the tide of interest surrounding the Green movement. Green has gone from cheap and homemade to cool and chic. From 'tree-huggers...

This post was written by Chanelle Carver, founder of Literacy 'n' Poverty Project , activist, volunteer and consultant for socially conscious organizations. I virtually volunteer writing articles for a website called Collective Lens that " promotes social change with your photos. Upload a photo and help bring awareness to important issues around the world. You can inspire others to become involved ." They're also participating in Blog Action Day 2008 and posted a short blog with some GREAT photos on behalf of those who can't help themselves. I encourage you to go check it out. The Many Faces of Poverty

This post was written by guest blogger Maureen Lee, a wife, mother, author for Just Show Up and Board member of Ideal-Way.ca (a nonprofit organization for special needs individuals. “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.” Nelson Mandela Every now and again, I pull out my clay jar. I've been working on it for most of my life, and I suspect it'll never be done. I started it when I was a child. Since then, my jar has undergone many changes. Thanks to many hours of painstaking, backbreaking work, my clay jar has morphed from a tiny lumpen mass of brown goop to a breathtaking vision of loveliness. I've shaped, molded, and finally perfected my jar. Or at least, my vision of it is clear and unobstructed. Now, as I stand back and survey my creation, my fingers get itchy again. Scratching the surface isn't good enough. I need to get into the corners and scour deep within i...

This post was written by Chanelle Carver, founder of Literacy 'n' Poverty Project , activist, volunteer and consultant for socially conscious organizations. It's Blog Action Day! A day the blogosphere unites to discuss the same issue. Not two or three, just ONE. One issue that affects over a billion people throughout the world. One issue that has caused pain and heartache for millions of families, children, men and women alike. That issue is POVERTY . No matter how you define it, the truth is poverty exists. There are families living below and above the poverty line who face great challenges that many may never have to endure. When was the last time you had to decide which of your family members gets a new winter coat? Have you ever skipped a meal just to have enough food for your children? Thankfully, I have yet to bear the burden of deciding which of my kids will eat and hopefully, I won't have to. But like the saying goes... Never Say Never . For two months straight...

October 15, 2008 is the annual Blog Action Day and this year's theme is, guess what...POVERTY! So fitting a subject for Making Social Change a Reality and we definitely will participate. So what exactly is Blog Action Day? "An annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion." Why do we care? Poverty impacts our global society and our blog is all about discussing the issues, sharing ideas and experiences to create social change on a global scale. It would be a crime not to get involved. What's in store for this year? "In 2008, the Blog Action Day theme is Poverty. Bloggers are free to interpret this as they see fit. We invite bloggers to examine poverty from their own blog topics and perspectives, to look at it from the macro and micro, as a global condition and a local issue, and to bring their own ideas, vie...