By 2020, five billion people will be living in cities. The transition to a global urbanization creates multiple challenges in planning, development, and operation of cities. How can social media play a role? As with any global challenge, social media serves as a fantastic convener of ideas, discussion and debate. We do not have to […]
The world’s oceans – their temperature, chemistry, currents and life – drive global systems that make the Earth habitable for humankind. Our rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe, are all ultimately provided and regulated by the sea. This past week at the […]
1.4 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity and 2.5 billion still rely on collecting fuels like firewood for cooking and heating. Meanwhile, smoke from cooking in the home kills more people than malaria; mostly women and children. In order to help spotlight this issue in lead up to the Rio+20 Summit, the international […]
Almost a billion people live without clean drinking water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause more deaths each year than all forms of violence, including war. But clean water changes everything. Safe drinking water alone can reduce water-related deaths by 21%. Families with enough clean water to drink, bathe, clean and grow their […]
In the morning of March 11, 2011, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake – one of the largest in recorded history — hit the east coast of Japan, triggering a mammoth tsunami that crashed into the country’s coastline. Within just moments, houses, cars and people were quickly swept away. Just as quickly as the sea rose to produce […]
Nearly 100 billion people around the world do not have enough to eat. Across the developing world, nearly 1 in 3 children suffers from malnutrition. At the same time, another 100 billion are obese, many suffering from chronic diseases associated with being overweight. This problem of food security is multifaceted, and reflects a need for […]
This week, world leaders and thousands of participants from all cross-sections of civil society will come together in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to discuss how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want. Rio +20, or the United Nations […]
A flash mob – as defined by our friends at Wikipedia – is “a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, and then quickly disperse.” YouTube and other social media platforms have significantly amplified the power of these not-so-improved improvisations by […]
