International Literacy Day

September 8th has been designated by UNESCO as International Literacy Day. Do you part with an easy start: for every click on the orange box on The Literacy Site, site sponsors make a small donation to support literacy efforts, including First Book in the U.S., and Room to Read in developing countries. All you have to do is click!

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Ask Google Earth to Upload Iran Photos

Student protesters in Iran are getting news out only by the power of the web. Google Earth has tools to show the world the people in the streets — join the petition drive to have Google earth upload current images.

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World Malaria Day: April 25

Got 5 bucks? That’s all it takes to contribute a malaria-fighting bed net for a person in a vulnerable country. April 25 is World Malaria Day — a perfect day to head over to MyBednet.com, give $5, and add yourself to their Honor Roll. Check it out!

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Welcome, Spotlight Radio Listeners!

I was delighted to see that Spotlight Radio replayed its wonderful segment about Daily Mitzvah today. Welcome, Spotlight Radio listeners! (And thank you to Feedjit for providing such excellent visitor stats.) For those who aren't familiar with it, Spotlight Radio online has a Special English program (the BBC used to do this, too) with clear and not-fast English language programs for listeners around the world. (I wish I could find a program like this in Special French so I could improve my own language skills.)

The radio segment is called “Acts of Kindness.” It talks about why I started this blog and also mentions some of my posts.

Listeners: To find the posts that the program mentions, just click here.

This made my day. Thank you, Spotlight Radio!

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Carbon Fast and Kiva Updates

DAY 5 – SUNDAY 1 MARCH:
From our friends at Tearfund: “Today is the last Sunday in Global Poverty Prayer Week. Pray for people living in poverty and affected by climate change. Ask whether you can give a short notice or lead a prayer at church or in your home group.Why not talk about the Carbon Fast when you do so? See www.tearfund.org/prayerweek for more info.”

In keeping with the global poverty theme — and the theme of hope — I thought this might be a good time to post an update on Kiva, the microlending site. One of the (many) nice things about Kiva: once loans are repaid the money cycles back ready to be loaned again! This is especially nice right now when many of us don’t have extra cash.

Three of my $25 loans have already been repaid: Mabel O’s soft drink and soup stand in Nigeria; the women’s clothing sales collective in Bolivia; and Hannah H.’s market stall in Ghana. One of my favorite projects, the Guatemalan women’s weaving group, is 77% repaid on the loan from me and a large group of other lenders. As these loans are paid back the funds are returned to my Kiva account, which means I’ve been able to re-lend the proceeds without contributing any new capital. Joining with other lenders, I’m especially pleased to help fund new loans for Sothy S.’s grocery store in Cambodia (above) and Mutiate M.’s soft drink stand in Nigeria (below).















Today’s mitzvah: I know money us tight. Even if you can’t afford to give, check out Kiva to see what happening with microlending and these wonderful entrepreneurs! Or to help out for free: visit Care 2, where your daily free clicks help raise money to sponsor 14 children each month through Children International.

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Dec. 10: World Day for Human Rights

I’m running out the door to go teach, so I’m letting Amnesty International do the talking. (Roll over the image to light the candle.)

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Stand by Me - Around the World

Bill Moyers ran a terrific piece this weekend on filmmaker Mark Johnson, who went around the world asking musicians to play or sing together as part of a documentary Playing for Change: Peace through Music. He edited these together for powerful performances, including this killer version of “Stand by Me,” from New Orleans, the Netherlands, South Africa, Rio, Moscow, Toulouse, Zuni, New Mexico, the Congo, and more.



Peace out.

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Dancing Friday: Hipsters A Go-Go

Get out your coonskin caps, cuz I’ve been searching the nether regions of YouTube and it’s time to dance. This may be a group called Pizzicato Five. They may be Japanese or Italian (or both). They’re definitely twisting to a song called “Twiggy Twiggy.” Now get off that couch and dance. Daniel Boone coonskin cap, optional.



Happy First Friday in August.


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Going Dutch

Mom Go Green has been running a fun “Green Genius” contest, soliciting and posting tips from readers. While I was reading these I noticed a post about a Dutch practice that is genius itself in its simplicity. Dutch residents simply post stickers Nee or Ja as to whether or not they want to receive promotional (junk) mail, and do the same for the daily paper. These dual sided stickers grace a bank of mailboxes in one of the blog’s photos, underscoring the simple logic of recipient choice. I posted in May about a similar practice in Canada, courtesy of the Year of Living Greener blog.

Why are such simple solutions so difficult to implement here in the U.S.? Beats me, but it seems silly that, try as I might, I can’t get the mail carrier to stop leaving the glut of weekly glossy (and wholly unwanted) fliers, which she said she’s obligated to deliver since the sender has paid for the mailing. Yet another reason to Go Dutch!

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Mango Paper. And Banana, Lemon, and Coffee.

In this week’s Ecobunga! newsletter, I stumbled across a whole world of “tree-free” paper. Made from what I gather are the bi-products from fruit and coffee processing, combined with some post-consumer content recycled paper, Ecopaper.com has a very pretty array made from your choice of mangoes, lemons, bananas, or even coffee. The site says all the paper is laser printer compatible, and the Banana Paper looks like it might be white. The venture started as a way to make use of the waste products from Costa Rican banana and coffee production. It’s an intriguing concept (and summery), so I thought I’d share. And now I want a mango and some coffee . . . who knew paper could make me hungry?

Image © 2008 by Ecopaper.com.

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That Dancing Guy

Nope it’s not Dance Party Friday, but instead Matt the dancing guy who’s all over the internet. Despite the over-exposure I still thought this was sweet, especially the shots with kids.




Have a happy Friday.

P.S. Higher quality version here (some of the location shots are beautiful).

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Yes, We Have No Bananas

I’ve been buying Fair Trade coffee for a few years now, an action made easier by local Fair Trade coffee roasters’ presence in all the grocery stores here in town. (Shameless plug: I especially like Cafe Fair’s Cordilleran blend; and Just Coffee’s Maya Superdark.)

But I also read a lot of blogs from the UK, where I noticed they’re really ahead of the U.S. in expanding Fair Trade with things like Fair Trade Coffee Breaks in churches and businesses, and even entire Fair Trade regions, like the Welsh Fair Trade Valley of Dyfi, pictured at right. I was thinking of this recently when Coop America sent an email about Fair Trade bananas. I’d never stopped to think about how bananas are grown, but it turns out the South American workers are paid just pennies, which keeps prices cheap for us in North America while still providing massive profits to the two multinational corporations that control most of the market.

Coop America has a letter (really more of a petition) they’re creating to send to the major national grocery chains encouraging them to stock Fair Trade bananas. When you sign they ask that you also note which chain(s) you patronize, so the letter will have more impact. They also provide suggestions for individuals on how to work with supermarket mangers in one’s own town.

Today’s mitzvah: Learn more about Fair Trade products. An easy place to start: Coop America’s “What is Fair Trade?” and “What You Can Do.”

Photo © Ecodyfi: A Fair Trade Valley.

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A Visit to WEAVE on the Thai-Burma border

I posted last week about To-Go Ware, sustainable bamboo utensils that you can take-with to avoid disposable plastic cutlery. The utensils come in convenient carry packs, made either from recycled plastic bags by the Conserve nonprofit in Delhi, which I featured in the post; or in pretty cloth wraps made by WEAVE, a group working with Burmese women in refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border. To-Go Ware founder Stephanie Bernstein visited WEAVE last year, in a video I really like. For your viewing pleasure (11 min.):




You can learn more about WEAVE here. To-Go Ware in WEAVE carriers is available at many Whole Foods or online at To-Go Ware.com.

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Memorial Day Guestbook

Today is Memorial Day (observed) in the U.S., the culmination of a three-day weekend when Americans stop to honor their war dead. I was looking at this blog’s stats and noticing how many visitors over the past two weeks came from countries which, at some point in our history, were at war with each other. I thought this might be a nice time to pause and focus not on the wars that divide us, but instead on the shared interests in a better world that unite us. (Plus you know I love the little flags!)

The virtual Daily Mitzvah community welcomed readers over the past two weeks from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Portugal, Scotland, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Togo, the United States, and Vietnam. A big welcome to all — thank you for visiting!

Little flags courtesy of famfamfam.

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