Miscellaneous
India creates 300,000 new jobs with planting 2 billion trees
Most governments embark on public infrastructure projects during a recession to create jobs. India is now taking that approach to a new inspirational level. Indian youth unemployment is above 10% and deforestation is a major challenge in the country with the world’s second largest population, the Read More...
Apartment design that encourages relationship building
One day I encountered my upstairs neighbor in the hallway of my apartment building. We both had been living there already for a couple of years, but never met her before. It turned out we had a lot in common and we became good friends, and we always wondered why we didn’t meet earlier, living Read More...
Unexplained symptoms? It could be past trauma
Most people relate trauma to soldiers who have fought in war zones or to victims of abuse. Trauma is also thought to be a permanent condition without a real solution. Enter psychologist Peter Levine who developed a breakthrough treatment for trauma called Somatic Experiencing. Levine has found that Read More...
Churches go green
Churches are hardly known as leaders of change, but even that perspective may become outdated. The World Council of Churches (WCC)—the governing body that represents 345 member churches in over 100 countries—added fossil fuels to the list of morally objectionable industries it no longer Read More...
‘Doing nothing can mean a lot’
Gerhard Hormann thinks we should spend more time doing nothing. In The New Doing Nothing (Het Nieuwe Nietsdoen) available only in Dutch for now, the journalist writes of a growing need for more free time. His ideal life consists of a simple house, on a lake, with a record player and a vegetable Read More...
Exposing slavery becomes easier, bringing elimination closer
A lot of stuff we use on a daily basis is still far too often made under highly questionable labor circumstances. But the Internet can help to create more transparency and that will bring about the elimination of forced labor. Made in a Free World, a group of anti–slavery advocates, has Read More...
Friends Have More DNA in Common Than Strangers
People choose friends that they share more DNA with. Researchers at Yale University conducted a study that looked at 2,000 individuals and found that friends have more gene variations in common than strangers. The study concluded that friends have the same number of gene variations as a 4th cousin, Read More...
New buses provide showers to homeless people in San Francisco
In San Francisco there are only 7 places for the city’s homeless population of 3,500 to clean themselves. Based on the idea of mobile food trucks, the San Francisco initiative Lava Mae, takes the same idea and applies it to showers. Lava Mae uses San Francisco’s donated old buses then retrofits Read More...
Stress is good for your health
While we frantically try to avoid and suppress stress, researchers are showing more and more that stress can also be good for us. It ensures better performance, keeps us sharp and is also good for our health. In the summer issue of The Optimist we go deeply into the subject of stress. Stress being Read More...
New soccer stadiums can become housing projects, silence World Cup protests in Brazil
The World Cup is over. Brazil spent about 12 billion US dollar on building 12 new stadiums as well as host the championship. And the soccer-crazy country didn’t become world champions. This outcome fuels the already strong protest forces that argue that Brazil should have spent all that money on Read More...