I’m always inspired by people who turn ambitious dreams into reality. Their story is a reminder for us all that truly, anything is possible. Dreams do not just happen on their own, of course. Nor do they happen as a result of the effort of one person. To make remarkable things happen, we need a community.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area on June 2nd, join a community of supporters for an elegant evening at the Stanford University Club in SF to raise funds for New Scholars, a not-for-profit global development organization that places Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in Africa to help early stage entrepreneurs start, grow and expand locally run businesses.

New Scholars is the dream of Stanford graduate and “Lost Boy” of Sudan Garang Akau, who together with co-founder, Darius Golkar, started the organization with the aim to share the entrepreneurial savvy of Silicon Valley with Garang’s community in Southern Sudan.

Bringing together best-selling authors, world-class athletes, Silicon Valley CEOs, a Nobel Laureate, venture capitalists, and a community of friends, the gala event on June 2nd aims to raise funds for New Scholars and their efforts to rebuild and stabilize Sudan through social enterprise.

To be a part of this magical event to help rebuild the world’s newest economy, register at nsgala.eventbrite.com. If you would like to be a proxy bidder, please send a note to Silvia at silviacb@auctionomics.com.

p.s. Thank you to gala chairs Silvia Console Battilana (Stanford economist and past chair of the Samasource gala), Richard Titus, and Robin Farmanfarmaian (Encore president and past chair of the SF ballet gala) for organizing this fabulous event!

Sundeep Ahuja: Hi everybody. My name is Sundeep, and I’m helping to start a company called blissmo. We promote the best of sustainable and organic. We look for certifications on those products, some sort of authenticity. And we introduce them to you at a discount.

A lot of times people want to buy good, they want to buy sustainable, they want to buy organic. But it’s hard to know what actually is legit, it’s hard to find these products, they’re oftentimes expensive. So we said maybe we can find all these products, bring them to the public, and say hey, these are amazing products, equal or better in quality to what you already spend your money on. And by the way, everytime you buy one of these you are voting people-planet positive: it’s better for you, it’s better for the environment.

envisionGood: What inspired you to start blissmo?

Sundeep Ahuja: I looked at my experience in entrepreneurship and technology and looked at the power that consumers have and said, maybe we can harness that power and build a technology platform and build a movement to shift demand to sustainable and organic consumption.

envisionGood: blissmo’s tagline is “buy good. feel great”. Why?

Sundeep Ahuja: Thankfully, we’re at a point now in history where most products and services have alternatives, be it food, or clothing, or shoes that are brought to you in an way that is not only quality but brought to you in a way that’s sustainable and organic. When you buy products, when you wear products, when you consume products and services that are brought to you in a way that’s in line with these values of people-planet positive, you feel good. So that’s what we’re out to do. It’s to help people to get that feeling of “not only do I feel good about something I’m wearing, but I bought good” and that’s where the discount comes in. You get to feel double good. It’s “hey, I saved money on this really cool thing that’s really quality. And by the way, it’s people-planet neutral or positive.

envisionGood: How does blissmo identify “green” businesses?

Sundeep Ahuja: Those products that we can find a certification mechanism, be it fair trade, or be it here in San Francisco, the Green Business Group under the City of San Francisco that will go in and authenticate businesses. So when we can we rely on a third party. Other times there’s no third part verification but it’s in the DNA of the company and we get that from the story of the company, from the genesis of the company.

Patagonia is a great example. We haven’t had the pleasure of working with them yet, but everything about them – part of the navigation on their website, for example, is dedicated to this idea of people-planet positive and sustainability.

envisionGood: How is blissmo different than other group buying sites?

Sundeep Ahuja: We want to make examples of the businesses we promote. Ultimately, if we can make an example of a smaller brand that has a quality product and an authentic, sustainable, organic story behind it, we want to show them to the world and say, this is the kind of company that is going to succeed in the coming century, decade. And this is the type of brand and product that our generation and the generation behind us and ahead of us are choosing with their dollars.

And so, in order to do that we need to be more business friendly. Which means, for example, that we make less money when we work with these businesses. And that’s fine. We’re trying to cover our costs, and make enough so we can keep growing as an organization to further our mission. But not at all gouge the businesses. Ultimately we want them to succeed and to come back and work with us again.

On the community and people side, it’s delivering an experience that they have a relationship with this product that they thank us for. They thank us for introducing them to these products and services. As long as we can continue to deliver on that promise. Our promise is not to deliver the best price. Our promise is to introduce you to quality products and services that are organic and sustainable — at a price that will hopefully get you to give it a try.

As long as we can do that, and consumers say yes, we like this, we appreciate this, then we don’t have to be profit maximizing. We’ll serve the businesses, and the community, and hopefully the world.

envisionGood: What drives you?

Sundeep Ahuja: Honestly, it’s if I”m so fortunate to make a difference. One of the things I remind myself of is that every day is a gift and there’s something about leaving a legacy and leaving something bigger than yourself behind. And what motivates me is to do that in a very positive way.

envisionGood: What is the long-term vision for blissmo?

Sundeep Ahuja: We find that we are moving the needle. The big product lines start doing things that are even more green – green the supply chain, green the products – and we start noticeably seeing emissions coming down. And we don’t wait for politicians, or companies do it for other reasons, but that we (at blissmo help to) empower consumers to say, “you know what? it’s up to us.”

Sundeep Ahuja | Founder, blissmo

About: Sundeep is founder of blissmo, a web start-up that promotes sustainable consumption by connecting shoppers with quality sustainable & organic products & services from leading businesses through weekly discounts of up to 50%. Website: blissmo.com

This is Part II of a three part series featuring Josh Nesbit, Co-Founder of FrontlineSMS Medic.

Thank you Josh for taking the time to meet for this video interview.

In this interview, Josh talks about the business model that sustains FrontlineSMS: Medic and explains the difference between his organization FrontlineSMS: Media and the umbrella platform developed by Ken Banks, FrontlineSMS. We also learn about another member of the FrontlineSMS family, FrontlineSMS: Credit, which uses mobile phones to support microfinance.

FrontlineSMS: Medic is a mobile phone platform that helps rural community workers in developing countries to access health information via SMS text message. The service has been deployed in ten countries, and saves community health workers’ time, enabling them to treat more patients and save countless lives. In Malawi alone, FrontlineSMS Medic has saved clinics $US 3,000 in fuel, 2,100 hours of travel time, allowing clinicians to identify and treat two times the number of patients infected with TB. Check out the video to learn more about FrontlineSMS Medic, its business model, and impact around the globe.

The Full Transcript

For Part I of this three part interview series, please check out: How Mobile SMS Saves Lives in Africa | Josh Nesbit, Co-Founder FrontlineSMS: Medic

Katrina: So here I am with Josh of FrontlineSMS Medic. [How has your organization evolved since the SMS platform was first rolled out and community health workers began using the platform in rural Malawi, Africa?]

Josh: What’s happened since then is that organizations like Partners in Health, the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative have grabbed hold of particular use cases that they’re most interested in. For example, in Nano, Malawi we work with Partners in Health to implement an SMS program focusing on follow-up for HIV to make sure that people who start treatment, stay in treatment. And that’s something like 40 text messages every couple of days.

So, once you have that laptop in place, the GSM modem set-up, and some local training, the costs are really minimal.

Katrina: Fantastic. And can you share, what is the difference between Frontline SMS: Medic and the umbrella platform, FrontlineSMS, developed by Ken Banks? How do you differ? You have similar names and you’re using the platform, so how are you different?

Josh: Ken and I work very closely together, and I am actually a FrontlineSMS Ambassador. So, I joined Ken on the core FrontlineSMS team and it’s been really exciting to work with people like him. And to work with people like Ben Lyon, who has created a FrontlineSMS: Credit to repurpose the FrontlineSMS platform to be used by microfinance institutions to link in to mobile money transfer systems.

We’re basically seeing a family of tools and a family of teams develop. And we all share the same DNA. So part of what I get to do is to interact with other people in other verticals – to try to help them to feel empowered to start things up and to build new tools.

Katrina: Can you share, how do you sustain FrontlineSMS: Medic, given that you have an open-source platform?

Josh: Right. So, FrontlineSMS: Medic is a full-fledged non-profit. We are a pure non-profit. So, we’ve turned to grant giving foundations, social innovation groups, and the like, for start-up capital to help us get started, get running.

Katrina: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Josh. Best wishes with FrontlineSMS: Medic. And everyone can find you on the web at …

Josh: HopePhones.org, medic.frontlinesms.com. And we’re all over Twitter, you can find me @joshnesbit. You can find us @smsmedic or @hopephones.

Katrina: Wonderful, thank you so much Josh.

Josh Nesbit | Co-Founder, FrontlineSMS Medic / HopePhones

About: FrontlineSMS Medic advances healthcare networks in under-served communities using innovative, appropriate mobile technologies. HopePhones is a campaign of FrontlineSMS Medic that enables people to recycle old mobile phones to support the work of FrontlineSMS Medic.Website: www.medic.frontlinesms.com

Photos in Video via Creative Commons Flickr thanks to: Ken Banks, kiwanja.net, whiteafrican, and a.drian

Related articles by Zemanta

• Where a Cellphone Is Still Cutting Edge (nytimes.com)
• FrontlineSMS Update for Malawi’s Ministry of Health Data Standards Meeting (slideshare.net)
• SMS Turks (ushahidi.com)

At last week’s DiasporaCamp DC in Washington, DC we had a great time chatting with Rad Shakur, co-founder of CasaDiCulture. Check out the video above to learn about Casa di Culture (a mix of Italian and English meaning ‘house of culture’).

The online company was started by three sisters in 2007, as the brand for the modern nomad. Items combine culturally inspired designs paired with flight-friendly and travel-comfy items like t-shirts, wrap skirts and tube scarves. All of the designs are inspired by the sights, smells and sounds of their travels. Each item is thoughtfully designed; most of the t-shirts are 100% organic cotton and are printed with non-toxic inks, and all of the accessories are handmade and/or hand-casted. To join the Casa Di Culture community, you can also visit their online blog and join them on Facebook.

Thanks for your time to chat with us, Rad!

Rad Shakur: At CasaDiCulture we call ourselves the brand for the modern nomad. It was started three years ago by three women, originally from the Washington, DC area, but our experiences took us abroad. We’ve lived, studied, and traveled, and just have friends from many different places. So when we came back here it was hard to find others who were just interested in traveling or just getting to know other people. So that’s why we originally started the company – to promote diversity and then in our products we use organic cotton and non-toxic inks to promote social awareness as well.

So we have a platform on Facebook and you can find us on Twitter. We also like to do blogs and write about current things like international fashion, write about environmental issues, so we try to be holistic in our approach. But our items – we carry t-shirts because we figure that’s kind of the most global thing that young people wear. In our t-shirts we use international and global images that remind us of the places we’ve been – the sights, the sounds, the smells. So, that’s what we do.

We design in-house. Like the skirt I have was designed in-house: this is Batik sourced from Africa. But everything we do, these earrings (for example) – we have a jeweler … so everything we do we try to work either with entrepreneurs but most of the stuff is done in-house. We have a printer and they use non-toxic inks. Everything else – we have button earrings, we have soaps that we make handmade. So we do it ourselves.

We carry t-shirts, we carry skirts, earrings, and also bamboo tea which is very good for blood circulation. So we carry several different products but we’re all online so it’s accessible. We do have some wholesalers like on here in DC and there’s a boutique in Switzerland that carries our stuff and we’re expanding. We’re based online and the url is www.CasaDiCulture.com, and it’s a combination of “casa” “di” “culture”, three languages that we put together.

Thank you so much Rad!

Rad Shakur | Co-Founder, CasaDiCulture

About: Started by three sisters in 2007 as the brand for the modern nomad, CasaDiCulture is an online company featuring items that combine culturally inspired designs with flight-friendly and travel-comfy items like t-shirts, wrap skirts and tube scarves. Website: www.CasaDiCulture.com

We had the very good fortune last week in Washington, DC to meet up with Richard Cambridge, Head of the African Diaspora Program (ADP) at The World Bank.

Richard kindly joined us to talk about the Bank’s development priorities in Africa, as well as its strategy for engaging the African diaspora to help achieve development goals on the African continent. Check out the video above to learn about the African Diaspora Program at the Bank. Have questions or comments? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Thank you, Richard, for your time and for sharing background and insights on how the African diaspora plays a role in the Bank’s development priorities on the continent.

Part I: In Conversation With Richard Cambridge, African Diaspora Program, The World Bank

Richard Cambridge: My name is Richard Cambridge. I’m from Guyana in South America. I’ve been with The World Bank over three decades. I’ve been here for a while and have worked in most regions of the world, but have concentrated my efforts and my passion with Africa. My mother was born in Ghana, previously called The Gold Coast. And, growing up in Guyana, we had a lot of images and ideas about the continent which I then took further in my studies. I did my doctorate at Johns Hopkins University, and subsequently taught at Harvard University and did some post-graduate work at Stanford. And a lot of this had to do with Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, in particular.

When I came to the Bank I worked as a young professional first in the Africa region and then in other parts – Asia, Europe, Middle East. And now I’ve been asked to head a program dealing with the African Diaspora. It’s an honor and a privilege to do that. But the real leadership comes from my immediate supervisor who is the regional vice president for the Africa region at The World Bank. Her name is Obi Ezekwesili. She was the former minister of education in Nigeria. And when she came to the Bank, she was the one who said, “You are missing a large group of Africans who live outside of the continent but can make contributions to the development of the continent.

So along with another colleague who is now the governor of the Central Bank of Tanzania, we were asked to think about how we could put in place a program to engage the Diaspora in the development of the continent.

To do that we started first to work with the Africa Union. The Africa Union has a definition of the diaspora which we adopted. It says that Africa has a fifth region – and that is the diaspora. Any African who lives outside of the continent and is as interested in the development of the continent are defined as the diaspora. We know in North America there are 39, 40 million African Americans, African descended people, there are about 115 million Africans in South America, primarily in Brazil, Colombia, Peru. There are another 5 or 6 million African descended people in the Caribbean. I consider myself from South America but a part of the Caribbean. And so on. In Europe there’s another 4 or 5 million African descended people. These form the part of the diaspora.

What is common is that this group, this fifth region, has the skills, talent, and resources to contribute to the continent. Skills, talent, financial resources. As a bank, we of course initially focused on finance. The estimates are that sub-saharan Africans who live abroad send home between 10 and 40 billion dollars per year back to their families on the continent. And those resources, of course, can be leveraged for development in many different ways.

So as an area for the Bank’s involvement, this whole question of finance and working with the banking sector and looking at the cost of transferring money became a big priority. But we did not stop there. What we said was, “the refrain that you hear consistently about Africa is, “you know, we would like to do something on our continent but there’s just no capacity.” So there’s always this question that Africa does not have the capacity to implement development projects.

I think the evidence says the contrary. There’s not only a lot of talent in those countries that we have to identify and work with that talent, but the development business for many decades has been based on this notion of funding consultants from abroad to come and do the job. I think under the leadership of my vice president and the Bank in general has moved away from that. We know that development does not work unless there is ownership – and certainly, local solutions to local problems become very important.

So in the capacity area we first looked at what is available domestically at home. But we know that the diaspora also contains huge numbers of very skilled people. One of the numbers that i like to use and talk about is the number of Ethiopian doctors who reside in the United States of America, and in Chicago, are larger than all of the doctors in Ethiopia. The same in Mali – a large number of Malian doctors and other professionals are in Paris rather than in the country.

And you can do the same in many, many countries. So the question is, how do you get this talent, this skill to contribute to their home countries? We know that some governments simply do not have in place policies or programs to attract back the diaspora.

I’m a diaspora. I haven’t gone back to my country. I have been educated and I love my country, but I also have a family. I know I can be employed in any part of the world. And so in a global economy, highly skilled people, whether it be African, European – people go where the jobs are. So you find in North America large numbers of Africans working in highly skilled positions. The same is true in Europe, increasingly in the Gulf area. And I’m told, though I have no direct experience, even in Australia and in the Pacific, in those areas, large numbers of Africans are living and working in those parts of the world.

A couple of months ago we had a dialogue with the Chinese because there has been a lot of discussion about Chinese in Africa. And we were told that there is a place called Africa Town in Guangzhou Province where over 100,000 Africans live and do business with the Chinese. They’re not there to work in factories as low paid workers. They are there because they are the intermediaries between China and Chinese businesses that want to sell their goods and services in the African continent – and also from Africans who want to do trade and work with Chinese by selling their goods to China. So it’s a very interesting use of brain power.

There have been a lot of discussions about brain drain – Africans leaving the continent. There’s also a discussion about brain waste – that you get in a taxi in Washington, DC or New York City, and you talk and here’s a young African with a degree but he or she is driving a taxi or working in some service industry. That’s brain waste. But brain gain is when they decide to use those skills to help back home.

The example we like to use is the tertiary education. Higher education at the university level, where professors using the media can, in fact, contribute – they can teach, they can mentor virtually. They can also go back home for short breaks or vacation. But they have careers here, they have families abroad. The notion that everybody will pack up and go back home is unrealistic. They are going to stay. They are international people, they will go where the opportunities are. They are trained to work in certain conditions. Those conditions may not exist immediately at home. But over time it does.

We look at India – India is beginning to attract back some of their diaspora. China has done it. We see in Latin America some of the countries are attracting back home their diaspora. But by and large, once the diaspora leaves, and the second and third generation, the heart is still with the home and you still want to contribute, but they’ve made lives of their own.

My example is perhaps not unique. I came to the United States, met my wife in college. She’s from Minnesota, my children were born in the United States, and we’ve made our life in the United States. We think about the Caribbean, we think about Guyana. My son went back to Guyana for the first time last year and loved it – and said to me, “Dad, I didn’t know really who you were until I visited Guyana.” This is not a unique experience, I think many people have this same experience – we think about our country.

So the bottom line here, I said all this to say: what is The World Bank doing with this diaspora agenda? Three main things: First, we work with governments to ensure that governments have in place policies and programs for an enabling environment that will encourage the diaspora to return home – or encourage them to invest and to think about their countries.

This is very important. We don’t think about it often, but there are little things that make a difference i nhow somebody feels welcome. I use India as an example. They have a ministry that deals with the diaspora, and when you arrive in the airport in New Delhi or other places, as a diaspora you are treated separately. There’s a special line for the diaspora so people feel like they’re welcome. So policy is the first area we work on.

The second areas, as I said, are remittances and financing. And even now, we are thinking about ways and means in which we can collaborate with the diaspora so that they can invest this 30 or 40 billion a year for development of the sub-continent. And there are many ideas out there. The Bank, with our partners in the international finance corporation, we’re looking at how we can do this. So, many minds are working on channeling these resources for development.

And the third and main area is the skills, the brain gain area. How can we find mechanisms, work with the diaspora so that they can contribute knowledge, their skills, their education to the development of their countries?

So that’s the program, that’s where the Bank has been. I know for a long time, in parts of Africa, the view of the Bank has been one that’s been negative. Every time I meet a young African, they say, “but you guys are about structural adjustment”. That’s the term that’s always used. But the Bank has not been in the structural adjustment business in Africa for more than a couple of decades.

There’s been a lot of review, we’ve thought about it, we’ve said “mia culpa”, we’ve made mistakes. And now we’re moving ahead in a much more positive manner because we know, and the world knows, that for development to be effective there has to be ownership. The Bank cannot prescribe anything to a country. It wouldn’t work unless that country owns it and has country ownership.

The second thing that’s equally important is country leadership. Countries have solutions and ideas that they know will work in their circumstance. We can bring our global expertise, and we can share with them that yes, you believe that this solution is the right solution but we’re here to tell you that in some other circumstance in other parts of the world, maybe this solution needs some nuancing and doesn’t quite work that way.

But country ownership, country leadership, mutual respect are very much a part of the development agenda, the Bank embraces that. That’s what we do. And the programs for the diaspora are based on that.

It’s their money, it’s their decisions. They are going to determine what to do. And the Bank is not going to be the one saying “you must do this or you must do that”. And the diaspora are not governments. These are independent people doing what they want to do to support their families. And we support that.

Thank you again Richard for sharing background, thoughts, and insights on The World Bank and on international development in Africa. And thank you, as well, for your time to join us for this conversation.

Stay tuned for Part II of our chat with Richard Cambridge which will be published tomorrow. To learn more about the African Diaspora Program at The World Bank, be sure to check out their site and visit the Africa Region team on Twitter @WorldBankAfrica.

Richard Cambridge, Ph.D. | Head of African Diaspora Program | The World Bank

About: Richard Cambridge completed a PhD in International Economics and Politics at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and is currently the Head of Diaspora Relations, Africa Region, at The World Bank. For additional background, please see Richard’s full bio. The African Diaspora Program (ADP) seeks to further enable and enhance the human and financial capital contributions of African Diasporas to the economic development of their home countries. The program was launched in September 2007 and focuses on strengthening policy, financial, and human capital development in Africa through a portfolio of activities and support in partnership with the African Union (AU), partner countries, partner donors, and African Diaspora Professional Networks and Hometown Associations. Website: www.WorldBank.org

Following up on a successful event last summer, DiasporaCamp DC takes place again this Saturday, July 24, 2010 with the aim to bring together the African Diaspora and people interested in Africa to exchange ideas on entrepreneurship, innovation, and development in Africa.

With over 100 people planning to attend DiasporaCamp DC 2010, the gathering is certain to be an amazing event. We’re happy to announce that the envisionGood team will be in the house to help capture highlights of the event via video interviews. DiasporaCamp DC 2010 takes place at the School of Advanced International Studies – Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.

The theme of DiasporaCamp DC 2010 is “Financial Innovations For African Small & Medium-Scale Enterprises”. Given that access to capital is one of the greatest challenges that ventures face, the event’s focus on investment capital for start-up, small, and medium-sized businesses is certain to be informative. Stay tuned for insights we gain at DiasporaCamp DC 2010!

P.S. For highlights from last year’s DiaporaCamp, check out the video below featuring our globetrotting producer Shara Karasic‘s interview with Ashifi Gogo, CEO at Sproxil.com, PhD Innovation Fellow at Dartmouth College, Co-founder at mPedigree.org, and 2009 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. In this interview, Ashifi talks about BarCamp Diaspora, mPedigree, and the future of scientific research in Ghana.

Nelson Mandela, freedom fighter, international statesman, and former President of South Africa, spent 67 years of his life serving his community and fighting for the rights of humanity. Today, July 18th, is his 92nd birthday.

In celebration of the life’s work of Nelson Mandela, non-profit organizations 46664 and the Nelson Mandela Foundation invite the global community to join them in support of an official Mandela Day. Recognized by the United Nations, Mandela Day is an international day to honor the legacy of Nelson Mandela on his birthday and call people to action around the world to take time out to do something good for others in the community.

To celebrate Mandela Day, here is a list of ideas that come to mind. Since we’re based in San Francisco, many of the ideas below are local SF opportunities. What are your favorite ways of getting involved in your community?

10 Ideas & Resources To Find Volunteer Opportunities To Celebrate Mandela Day:

1. Check out volunteer projects or start your own at Citizen Effect
2. Provide technology mentorship at Community Technology Network in San Francisco
3. Check out volunteer opportunities at One Brick – San Francisco
4. Mentor youth through Glide in San Francisco
5. Become a coach or running buddy at Girls On The Run in San Francisco
6. Help build houses with Habitat For Humanity
7. Volunteer with Streetside Stories, to help youth with writing and video projects in San Francisco
8. Check out volunteer opportunities at Volunteer Match or Idealist.org – or put your professional skills to good use, in a few minutes or less at The Extraordinaries
9. Run For Teachers or join the AIDS Walk in San Francisco today
10. Have more time and want to travel? Hands On Disaster Response has a great program for volunteers who want to help out in Haiti

Suggested Reading:

To learn more about Nelson Mandela, this autobiography is a great read: Long Walk To Freedom: An Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

We all know the impact that a quality education can have on the life of a child. Education helps lift people out of poverty, helps to combat disease, gives people a stronger voice, and creates opportunity. Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa and international statesman, said it best:

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela

If you are in San Francisco this weekend, there’s a fantastic event called Run For Teachers that is taking place this Sunday, July 18th, 2010 to support education in Africa. We highly recommend checking it out.

Founded in 2009 by Steven Lurie, Run For Teachers is a 5K memorial run (or walk) honoring his late sister, Tracey Lurie-Sklar, a teacher, mother, daughter, sister and community leader. Born in Africa on June 13, 1962, Tracey passed away on November 6, 2008. The run is in honor of her work with students both in the US and abroad and her spirit. Proceeds from the event will benefit Teach With Africa.

Teach With Africa is a non-profit organization also based in San Francisco that works to break down the economic and social barriers to education in Africa by sending teams of educators to implement projects in underserved communities through an exchange of teaching and learning.

For highlights from last year’s Run For Teachers event, be sure to watch the video at the top of this post. For background on Teach With Africa, the video below provides a great behind-the-scenes view.

Run For Teachers is sure to be a great event, providing an opportunity to come together for a wonderful cause, while having fun, meeting new people, and getting some exercise at the same time. What could be a better combination!

P.S. Coincidentally, July 18th just so happens to also be Mandela Day, an annual celebration of Nelson Mandela’s life and a global call to action for people to recognize their individual ability to make an imprint and change the world around them. If you are in San Francisco, you can join Run for Teachers to benefit Teach With Africa, and celebrate Mandela Day all at once. : )

When it comes to sustainability, we know that the most sustainable choice we can make is to reuse what we already have or buy “barely used” products. On those occasions when we are looking for a new product, however, the next best choice is to buy sustainably. Launching in July (this month!), a new social enterprise in San Francisco, California called Spheresavers aims to help consumers save money on products and services from sustainable businesses striving to balance people, planet and profit.

What does it mean to “buy sustainable”?

According to Wikipedia, a sustainable business is “any organization that participates in environmentally-friendly or green activities to ensure that all processes, products, and manufacturing activities adequately address current environmental concerns while maintaining a profit.”

How much money can you save?

According to Spheresavers, the amount you can save depends on the business, but it can range from 10% to 50% (or more). Beyond the savings, Spheresavers will introduce consumers to great products and services that are vetted for sustainability.

When does Spheresavers launch?

To be notified of the launch and learn more about this start-up, be sure to check them out at Spheresavers.com.

Can clubbers change the world? Michel Smit, Project Lead for Sustainable Dance Club (SDC), a social business dedicated to showing that having fun and taking responsibility for our environmental impact can go hand in hand, thinks so.

Launched in 2006 through a partnership between Enviu -Innovators in Sustainability and architect studio Döll Lab, Michel explains in this talk given at PICNIC’s Green Challenge that SDC’s challenge is to make as many dance clubs and festivals all over the world sustainable in a cool and hip way. The team aims to inspire more young people to lead a more sustainable life style.

Why focus on clubs? In Holland, Michel explains that over 1.5 million young people go to clubs each week. It’s the place where young people communicate and learn about new products. However the clubbing industry, reports Michel, is one of the businesses that at the moment does not think much about sustainability.

In a study to determine the impact of clubbing on the environment, SDC looked at ten clubs in Holland serving over one thousand people, discovering that clubs on average used 30x the amount of water that an average household of four would use. In addition, the clubs produced 40x more waste and used over 150x more energy. Finally, they discovered that one club alone produces roughly 400,000 kg of CO2 a year. Putting this into perspective, it takes 24,000 trees a year to compensate for this amount of CO2.

The concept for Sustainable Dance Club is amazing: by harnessing the power of movement, Sustainable Dance Club turns clubbers from consumers into sources of energy, triggering thoughts about sustainability in a new way. In an environment where the DJ usually reacts to the energy of the crowd, Sustainable Dance Club has also developed a way to make the energy produced by the clubbers visible on the dance floor. So as you dance, you can see the energy you are producing.

The environmental impact is impressive:

• 30% energy consumption reduced
• 50% water consumption reduced
• 50% refuse generated
• 30% CO2 emissions reduced

If you are in Rotterdam, be sure to check out Club Watt, the world’s first Sustainable Dance Club. Dance on! : )

(Photo thanks to llRed on Flickr.)