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News articles on indigenous people
Mongabay.com news articles on indigenous people in blog format. Updated regularly.
NGOs, activists fret new role for Indonesia's spy agency
(06/29/2015) A mysterious new partnership between Indonesia's spy agency and Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) to boost foreign investment has civil society wary of deepening agrarian conflict in the post-authoritarian country. While little is known about the specifics of the new arrangement, activists point to Indonesia's long history of repression by state security forces to warn that intelligence reports on local sentiment could be manipulated to stymie community opposition to development projects.
New reserve in Peru will protect nearly a million acres of pristine forest
(06/26/2015) A tract of Peruvian rainforest bigger than California's Yosemite National Park is officially more protected, with formal declaration of the Maijuna-Kichwa Regional Conservation Area (RCA) made last week in Lima. Those involved with the reserve's formation hope it will safeguard the area's biodiversity as well as the ancestral homeland and way of life of local indigenous communities.
Amazon tribe creates 500-page traditional medicine encyclopedia
(06/24/2015) In one of the great tragedies of our age, indigenous traditions, stories, cultures and knowledge are winking out across the world. Whole languages and mythologies are vanishing, and in some cases even entire indigenous groups are falling into extinction. This is what makes the news that a tribe in the Amazon have created a 500-page encyclopedia of their traditional medicine all the more remarkable.
Indigenous Indonesians file land claim against IndoMet coal project
(06/24/2015) A few months before BHP Billiton's Haju mine is set to begin operations in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, residents of nearby Maruwei village have filed a claim for 1,000 hectares of land in the area under a new land rights scheme for indigenous peoples. The scheme, called Dayak Misik and introduced by the provincial government last year, allocates 10 hectares to each village for communal use and five hectares to each household.
Rainforest parks cut malaria transmission
(06/16/2015) Strictly protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon are associated with lower rates of malaria transmission than extractive reserves, mining zones, and areas with roads, reports a paper published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings add to a growing body of data suggesting that conservation efforts contribute to human welfare.
Satellite images provide new view of uncontacted Amazonian communities
(06/10/2015) A laundry list of dangers threaten Amazonia's few remaining uncontacted indigenous communities. Colonists and industry workers often grab tribal land for mining, logging, drug trafficking, or hydrocarbon extraction, which damage the groups' environment and bring them into conflict with armed settlers. Careless encroachment by outsiders can also bring diseases to which uncontacted groups have no immunity.
'Green' hydropower dam fuels charges of gross human rights violations
(05/27/2015) A hydropower project planned on Guatemala's Icbolay River has resulted in major human rights abuses, advocacy groups are charging. The 24-megawatt Santa Rita dam is backed by the World Bank and several European banks, as well as the Guatemalan government. In spite of the alleged abuses, the dam's owner has been granted approval to earn carbon offset credits for the electricity the dam would generate that could be traded under the European Union's Emission Trading System.
Mining and Energy Contracts under Investigation as Corruption Scandals Rock Guatemala
(05/22/2015) The Guatemalan cabinet ministers for the environment, the interior, and energy and mines stepped down May 21 amid corruption scandals and massive protests. Investigations into alleged irregularities in mining, energy, and other environmental project contracts and permits have been thrust back into the spotlight. Mining and energy projects in the country have faced intense community resistance, which has often become the target of crackdowns by state and corporate security forces.
Red tape or repression? NGOs fight for a place in the new Bolivia they helped Evo Morales create
(05/22/2015) For much of Bolivian history, environmental and human rights NGOs joined indigenous communities and the poor in an uphill battle against the entrenched old guard. Under the country's first indigenous president, these organizations face unexpected challenges.
Nickel Mine, Lead Bullets: Maya Q'eqchi' seek justice in Guatemala and Canada
(05/19/2015) This week, indigenous victims of violence related to Guatemala's Fenix mine travel to Canada to speak outside the shareholder meeting of the mine's former owner, HudBay. Legal proceedings related to the violence are moving forward in Guatemala and Canada.
Woman defeats mine, saves wilderness, wins $175,000
(04/20/2015) When a huge open-pit mine threatened a pristine lake and surrounding forest in British Columbia, Canada, Marilyn Baptiste jumped into action, spearheading efforts to collect environmental impact data and even physically turning away construction crews. Today, Baptiste was honored for her work when she was presented the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize at a ceremony in San Francisco.
Killings of environmental activists jumped by 20 percent last year
(04/20/2015) The assassination, murder, and extrajudicial killing of environmental activists rose by 20 percent last year, according to a new grim report by Global Witness. The organization documented 116 killings in 2014 across 17 countries with the highest number in Brazil, which saw 29 environmental and land defenders killed.
Featured video: 'A river in dispute' documentary explores how a planned dam in the Amazon is affecting traditional communities
(04/15/2015) Under the threat of losing their lands to a hydroelectric power plant project strategic to the Brazilian government, communities along the Tapajós River, one of the most pristine in Brazil, prepare to defend what is theirs. A video documentary tells their story.
Study finds abandoned pasture is 'a huge resource that is not being harnessed'
(04/09/2015) As tropical forests around the world are cleared for human development, scientists and conservationists are trying to find ways to both stem their loss and reclaim areas already deforested. In a recent study, researchers investigated restoration of abandoned agricultural land in Ecuador, finding that planting trees and even re-establishing pasture may help limit conversion of more forest to farmland.
Palm oil companies, NGOs endorse new deforestation-limiting toolkit
(04/06/2015) Forests not only house many of the world's species, but also much of its carbon. Now, a toolkit has been developed by a group of companies and organizations with the aim of helping other companies and NGOs identify High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests. The toolkit was endorsed last week by major NGOs and plantation companies in Singapore.
Kaiduan dam in Borneo meets fierce opposition
(04/06/2015) Activists are calling on the government of Sabah, Malaysia, to reconsider the proposed Kaiduan dam, saying it has not considered other solutions to Sabah's looming water crisis and has failed to consult with the indigenous people who will be displaced if the project proceeds.
9 months after Amazonian oil pipeline spill, effects and fears linger
(03/30/2015) When Peru's state-run oil company pulled out of this small Kukama Indian village in mid-December after cleaning up an oil pipeline spill, residents thought life could slowly return to normal. But more than three months later, wisps of oil floating down the Cuninico River—along with a larger spill in the neighboring community of San Pedro—are a reminder that the problems are not over.
Indonesia's small islands being rapidly damaged by industrial activities
(03/18/2015) Intense exploitation of Indonesia's natural resources is taking a special toll on the country's small islands, with many subject to an outpouring of mining concessions that cover huge swaths of their tiny areas, often to the chagrin of local populations.
Discovery of 'Lost City' spurs conservation pledge
(03/18/2015) Earlier this month, National Geographic made big news: the discovery of what it called a 'lost city' below the thick jungles of Honduras. While the coverage has led to scientists crying sensationalism, it also resulted this week in a commitment of protection by the Honduras President, Juan Orlando Hernández, for a long-neglected portion of the country.
Indonesia's indigenous people still suffer human rights violations, says report
(03/18/2015) Indonesia's indigenous population has suffered a long history of human rights violations says a report to be released by the country's National Commission on Human Rights in May.
Indigenous leaders present plan to gov't for Suriname's largest official protected area
(03/13/2015) Indigenous leaders from southern Suriname took the first steps toward creating the South American country's largest recognized protected area with a declaration to parliament on March 5.
Bushmeat's dual role: threatened species face off against nutrition and culture
(03/05/2015) Deforestation, habitat destruction, climate change, and other man-made forces are threatening species around the world. But, often overlooked, overhunting is a rising peril to many animals. On the other hand, bushmeat hunting also helps provide vital protein in rural tropical regions and is an important cultural rite for many indigenous tribes. Thus, there is a dual challenge of maintaining food security for forest-dependent populations and ensuring wildlife conservation.
Colombia proposes protected corridor across South America
(03/03/2015) Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has announced plans to create the world's largest protected area, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes Mountains. Santos plans to propose the protected environmental corridor during the UN climate talks in Paris later this year as a means to combat global warming.
Cambodia deports activist leader...then suspends controversial dam
(02/25/2015) On Monday, Cambodia deported well-known environmental activist, Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, back to his native Spain. Co-founder of the Cambodian NGO, Mother Nature, Gonzalez-Davidson played a vital role in blocking efforts to build the Cheay Areng Dam. But a day after deporting the activist, Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, said the country would postpone the dam until 2018.
Partnering for conservation benefits Tacana people, Bolivian park
(02/25/2015) Kneeling in a small clearing amid tropical trees, Baldemar Mazaro skillfully arranges a circle of sticks and a noose of cord in the community of San Miguel de Bala. He hands a branch to a tourist and asks her to prod the sticks as if the branch were the nose of an animal snuffling around, looking for food.
Locals lead scientists to new population of near-extinct reptile
(02/24/2015) By the early Twentieth Century, the world had pretty much given up on the Arakan forest turtle, named after the hills where it was found in 1875 in western Myanmar. Now, this Lazarus reptile —which has been dubbed one of the 25 most threatened turtles on the planet —has more good news: researchers have documented an entirely new population where no one
Study finds local technicians effective at forest monitoring
(02/20/2015) An important part of REDD is accurate measurement of carbon stocks. In Guyana, members of native Amerindian communities have been recruited for data collection by Project Fauna, a joint initiative by researchers from different institutions and local indigenous leaders.
Dams or indigenous land: the battle over the Munduruku frontier
(02/20/2015) The Munduruku indigenous tribe have begun to mark out the limits of their land, in an action that could halt the giant São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric dam, the apple of the Brazilian government's eye. Although sacred, this land will be flooded if the dam goes ahead. 'We are not leaving,' says the village chief.
Exclusive: Funai confirms that land threatened by dam projects belongs to indigenous tribe
(02/19/2015) The Brazilian government opposes granting traditional land to the Munduruku people since it would jeopardize seven proposed hydroelectric dams on the Tapajós River. For this reason, a year-old report by Funai that supports the Munduruku claim has not been officially published, but a copy of this report was obtained by the Brazilian publication Publica.
Brazilian indigenous populations grow quickly after first contact devastation
(02/18/2015) Indigenous communities in South America have long experienced devastating impacts from contact with Western society. In the Sixteenth Century, European colonists brought slavery, war, and violence, but disease proved the most devastating. In all, European contact destroyed over 95 percent of the native population.
Indigenous communities in Paraguay threatened by deforestation despite having land rights
(02/17/2015) According to a report by Survival International, the existence of the isolated Ayoreo Totobiegosode people is critically threatened by cattle ranching firms that are destroying their last forest refuge. The report asserts Paraguayan law gives native people the rights to their traditional land. Yet, most of the land in Paraguay is privatized, making these laws in reality difficult to achieve.
Arctic upheaval: new book outlines challenges at the top of the world
(02/16/2015) For most of us, the Arctic is not at the front of our minds. We view it as cold, stark, and, most importantly, distant. Yet, even in an age of vast ecological upheaval, one could argue that no biome in the world is changing so rapidly or so irrevocably. Two hundred plus years of burning fossil fuels has warmed up the top of our planet more quickly than anywhere else.
How do parks affect the poor? Jury's still out, some experts say
(02/13/2015) In Peru's vast northeastern region, where roads are scarce and forests abundant, crackdowns on the illegal plundering of timber, fish, and wildlife are sporadic and expensive. To fill the gap, the Peruvian National Park Service and non-profit conservation organizations encourage community groups to patrol their lakes and forests and control fishing and hunting.
Innovating Brazil nuts: a business with roots in the rainforest
(02/11/2015) Scientist and entrepreneur turn to Brazil nuts to protect Peru's threatened forests. Sofía Rubio was eight years old when she decided she wanted to be a biologist. 'I would skip school to go to the woods with my father or mother,' who did research in what is now the Tambopata National Reserve in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon, she says.
Video: innovative tourism helps protect forests in Amazonian Peru
(02/05/2015) A new short documentary highlights the innovative, locally-grown tourist ventures sprouting up in the buffer zone around Peru's Tambopata National Reserve. Not only do these tourist adventures--some specializing in rehabilitating wildlife, others in finding out how locals live, and some even in jungle yoga--help provide jobs and income in a region dominated by extractive industries, but they are also help to keep forests standing.
World Bank's forest carbon program falls short on indigenous peoples' rights, argues report
(02/05/2015) Countries poised to receive World Bank funds for achieving reductions in deforestation have insufficient safeguards for ensuring that local communities don't lose out in the rush to score money from the forest carbon market, argues a new report published by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI).
Mapping local communities' efforts to protect forests in Indonesia
(02/05/2015) Local and indigenous communities play an important role managing and protecting forests. Research published in 2014 by World Resources Institute and the Rights and Resources Initiative concluded that community-managed forests experienced an average deforestation rate that is eleven times lower than land outside their borders.
Communities create timber company to protect Sumatran forest
(02/04/2015) To reduce logging pressures on the surrounding forest, several villages in the Lampung province of Sumatra have been conducting an experiment in community managed timber plantations on public lands. For the last 10 years, instead of logging the forest, members of the local timber cooperative have planted thousands of seedlings such as white teak and acacia in and among the surrounding villages.
The Amazon's oil boom: concessions cover a Chile-sized bloc of rainforest
(02/04/2015) Hungry for oil revenue, governments and fossil fuel companies are moving even further into one of the world's last great wildernesses, according to a new study in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The total area set aside for oil and gas in the Western Amazon has grown by 150,000 square kilometers since 2008, now totaling more than 730,000 square kilometers—an area the size of Chile.
Sulawesi communities build big, unique houses by sustainably managing forests
(02/03/2015) Layuk Sarungallo sits in front of a large Tongkonan, the traditional house of the Toraja people characterized by sweeping roofs that resemble a boat or a buffalo horn arching toward the sky. The locals still use traditional construction methods, maintaining their houses with wood, bamboo and reeds.
Rapid development threatening traditional farms, forests in West Papua
(02/03/2015) Through a system of community protected areas and family agricultural rotation, the indigenous people of Demaisi in West Papua have maintained their way of life and the health of the forest for as long as anyone can remember. But now this system is under threat as government-fostered development moves into the region.
Mercury fish: gold mining puts downstream communities at risk in Peru
(02/02/2015) Artisanal, often illegal gold-mining, has swept across portions of the Peruvian Amazon over last decade, driven in part by a rising price in gold. The unregulated industry has resulted in widespread deforestation leading to an environmental disaster. Now a new study finds that mercury pollution has moved rapidly downstream and could be impacting communities at least 560 kilometers away.
After 10 years vying for protection, Kalimantan community granted legal rights to community forest
(01/30/2015) Perseverance, respect for their ancestors, and a knowledge that the clearing of the forest will result in environmental disaster for them have all helped the community remain solidified in their resistance. Instead of selling out, they created a Tana' Ulen, or community forest.
Sumatran community takes charge to protect its forest, attracts REDD+ attention
(01/29/2015) Television inspired Syafrizal to act. As he watched report after report of land conflicts exploding in Sumatra and Kalimantan, he realized nobody was safe, and his village might be next.
Community tourism fills niche around Tambopata National Reserve
(01/29/2015) When Víctor Zambrano retired from the military and returned to his family's old homestead outside the fast-growing jungle town of Puerto Maldonado in Peru, he got an unpleasant surprise. Strangers had moved in and cleared the trees to raise cattle. As Zambrano tells it, he ran up the Peruvian flag, chased the invaders off, and set to work planting 19,000 native tree seedlings.
Video: camera trap catches jaguar hunting peccaries
(01/26/2015) Catching a jaguar on a remote camera trap in the Amazon is a rare, happy sight. But catching a jaguar attempting to ambush a herd of peccaries is quite simply astonishing.
Sumatran community grows crops, aids conservation through 'village forests'
(01/23/2015) The rolling green hills covered in rice paddies and coffee plantations give Semende in the Muara Enim regency of South Sumatra a welcome and hospitable feeling. However, behind the peaceful pastoral veil, is a history of rampant forest encroachment and land conflict in the Barisan mountains.
Indigenous territories play dual role as homelands and protected areas
(01/22/2015) Indigenous communities claim—and scientific evidence increasingly shows—that indigenous forested territories are as well protected as, or better protected than, government-designated parks. In areas under pressure from roads or development projects, deforestation rates are sometimes even lower in indigenous territories than in official protected areas.
Sumatran village protects environment through agroforestry
(01/21/2015) The forest behind Indudur village clings to the steep hillside. The topography itself is enough to protect it from most common threats of development. However, the area is under attack by a more pernicious force: a lack of interest by the younger generation in earning their living here. The difficulty of life compels many to migrate out, leaving the village dominated by older people.
Environmental wisdom: keeping indigenous stories alive
(01/21/2015) Enchanted lakes and magic hills: how traditional stories support conservation and abundance. 'Long ago, when animals were gente...' Those words, uttered countless times by indigenous Amazonian storytellers, blur the boundary between humans and other creatures in the forests and rivers, revealing a different view of the way human and non-human worlds intertwine.
A model forest? Regional park balances local needs and conservation
(01/21/2015) Regional conservation area safeguards subsistence and spirituality in the Peruvian Amazon. For Alfredo Rojas, the history of the remote villages along the Ampiyacu River is one of enslavement. Growing up here, Rojas listened to his parents tell stories of the rubber barons who beat and killed the Indians who failed to meet their latex quota.
Sulawesi village seeks protection for sacred forest threatened by development
(01/16/2015) Home to some 400 fishermen, Manurung village appears unremarkable at first glance: quiet houses along a winding river lined with boats. However, behind the village lies something remarkable: a tract of old-growth forest nearly untouched by human exploitation. Pensimoni Hill stands as a rare outpost of towering trees rising above freshwater springs that provide clean water and life for the villages below.
Amazon tribe attacks oilfield in Ecuador
(01/15/2015) Indigenous leaders are calling for the release of six tribesmen implicated in a raid on an oilfield in Eastern Ecuador that left six soldiers injured, reports Andina and El Comercio.
Farmers help restore degraded forests in Sulawesi
(01/15/2015) Irda tends to his two-hectare timber plantation in Pamulukkang Forest at the base of Tanete Kindo Mountain in West Sulawesi. Unlike some other farmers in Indonesia, he does so without fear of harassment by forest rangers or police. Since 2008, he has been involved in the Community Plantation Forest (HTR) program—an initiative by the Indonesian government to restore degraded lands by encouraging locals to plant and manage commercially sustainable forests.
Forest management by Sulawesi community attracts international attention
(01/13/2015) The Ngata Toro community in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi worked with the government to remap their lands and negotiate access to the forest. In the year 2000, officials from the national park signed an agreement with Ngata Toro recognizing the existence of indigenous forests, and granting them permission to maintain the forest as they had previously.
Sulawesi community regains access to forest on which it depends
(01/09/2015) Recognizing the ecological sensitivity of an area in Central Sulawesi, the Indonesian government established two expansive protected areas in the region. Although these protective measures may be forward-thinking in terms of environmental protection, they had the unfortunate side effect of corralling the residents of the village of Namo on a tiny patch of land, forbidding them from the utilizing the forest resources that once sustained them.
Kalimantan community maps forest to thwart timber companies
(01/08/2015) The small village of Tumbang Bahanei is inhabited by 139 indigenous families that tend to 2,859 hectares of customary forest, 132 hectares of rice fields, 5,841 hectares of rubber forest, and 43 hectares of forest designated for indigenous tourism. In total, this amounts to just over 8,880 hectares. The residents know these numbers precisely, because they have been diligently mapping every corner of their territory in a desperate attempt to prevent it from being snatched up by timber companies.
Sulawesi community vies to maintain rights to forest
(01/07/2015) Around 3,000 people from 833 households live in Tompo Bulu's seven sub-villages. Traditional culture and ritual run thick in this area. The residents of Karampuang believe the area is where the cultures from eastern and western Indonesia first met. Local myth holds that the first leader of the area descended from the sky with a mandate that the locals must maintain their traditional way of life.
Palm oil threatens community forest in Central Kalimantan
(01/07/2015) Delang district is different than many parts of Central Kalimantan. Namely, on the drive in from Nangabulik, you won't see large-scale oil palm plantations, and the forest appears to be well maintained. This is because the locals are keenly aware of the importance of their land at the headwaters of the Lamandau River.
Traditional farming technique preserves soil, forest in Kalimantan
(01/06/2015) The road winds five kilometers through a thick canopy of trees before ending abruptly at a stream and a small, stout wooden cabin in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Amid, the cabin's owner, proudly explains that he constructed it from local hardwoods—high value trees still readily available in the surrounding hills.
Coffee farmers help protect Flores forest
(01/06/2015) Located on the slopes of Inerie Mountain on the island of Flores in Indonesia, farmers in Bajawa and Golewa districts have practiced sustainable agroforestry for generations, producing coffee for export to the U.S. and Europe known as Arabica Flores Bajawa (AFB). Although not as well-known as other specialty coffees in Indonesia, its popularity is increasing, and Ngada regency now produces more than 300 tons of AFB per harvest.
Conservation conflicting with local ways of life in Mexican reserve
(12/23/2014) Although conservation has good intentions, it can give rise to conflicts when the interests of conservationists put local peoples' livelihoods at stake. A recent study has uncovered an unhappy symbiosis between Mayan subsistence hunters and authorities in Yucatán, Mexico. A lack of understanding and communication about hunting regulations are forcing Mayan hunter societies to alter their traditional ways of living.
Conservation and the rights of indigenous communities
(12/12/2014) Many conservationists have long supported local communities and indigenous peoples seeking recognition of their rights to land and natural resources. In addition to being the right thing to do, supporting these local initiatives in land and seascapes across the globe helps strengthen the constituency for conserving healthy wildlife populations, habitats, and natural ecosystems.
Indigenous communities 'among the very few best protectors' of Peruvian Amazon
(12/12/2014) A new report examines the effects of timber harvesting, gold mining, agriculture, and oil and natural gas drilling that have been on the rise recently in the Peruvian Amazon, and states that ensuring indigenous land rights is a key tool in the fight to protect it.
New film highlights local resistance to Nicaragua's canal
(12/11/2014) This fall, filmmakers Tom Miller and Nuin-Tara Key with Pretty Good Productions found themselves in Nicaragua where they heard about a stunning project: the Gran Canal. Approved last year, the canal is meant to compete with the Panama Canal to the south. Built by a Chinese company, it will cut through 278 kilometers, destroying forests and driving through the largest freshwater body in Central America.
Deforestation puts cultural survival of forest-dependent peoples at risk
(12/10/2014) Forest-dependent peoples face grave threats from deforestation and other depredations, warns a new report that urges greater recognition of traditional land use and support of community-led initiatives to fight forest loss. The report, published Monday during climate talks in Lima, is based on research by dozens of indigenous and forest communities from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Indigenous leader murdered before he could attend Climate Summit
(12/08/2014) Days before José Isidro Tendetza Antún was supposed to travel to the UN Climate Summit in Lima to publicly file a complaint against a massive mining operation, he went missing. Now, the Guardian reports that the body of the Shuar indigenous leader has been found, bound and buried in an unmarked grave on the banks of the Zamora River.
How an indigenous community in Ecuador stood up to big oil - and won
(12/05/2014) The Sarayaku, a Kichwa indigenous people numbering 1,200 from the Ecuadorian Amazon, won a historic court case in 2012. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the government of Ecuador must publicly apologize, consult with, and recompense the Sarayaku for allowing oil exploration by Argentine Compañia General de Combustibles on their territory without prior consultation
Giant stone face unveiled in the Amazon rainforest (video)
(12/04/2014) A new short film documents the journey of an indigenous tribe hiking deep into their territory in the Peruvian Amazon to encounter a mysterious stone countenance that was allegedly carved by ancient peoples. According to Handcrafted Films, which produced the documentary entitled The Reunion, this was the first time the Rostro Harakbut has been filmed.
Is the Gran Canal really a 'big Christmas present' for Nicaraguans?
(12/04/2014) "A big Christmas present"—that is how Paul Oquist, an advisor to Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, described the country's plan to build a mega-canal across the nation. Preliminary construction on the canal is set to begin December 24th, despite major concerns over environmental destruction, forced removal of thousands of people, and a lack of transparency.
What we can learn from uncontacted rainforest tribes
(11/26/2014) If you have ever wondered about the connection between hallucinogenic frogs, uncontacted peoples, conservation, and climate change — and who hasn't? — check out this TED talk from ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin. An ethnobotanist by training, Plotkin serves as President of the Amazon Conservation Team. Plotkin took a few minutes from his busy schedule to answer a few questions from Mongabay.
Developing land without approval of local people 'a human rights issue of grave concern,' says new report
(11/20/2014) Throughout the tropics, staggering amounts of land have been designated for natural resource extraction—as much as 40 percent of Peru, 30 percent of Indonesia and 35 percent of Liberia. However, much of this land is already in use; it is being inhabited by local communities and indigenous peoples. And while it is possible to live on and extract resources from the same land, when local communities are not consulted in this exchange, conflict may erupt.
A tale of 2 Perus: Climate Summit host, 57 murdered environmentalists
(11/18/2014) On September 1st, indigenous activist, Edwin Chota, and three other indigenous leaders were gunned down and their bodies thrown into rivers. Chota, an internationally-known leader of the Asháninka in Peru, had warned several times that his life was on the line for his vocal stance against the destruction of his peoples' forests, yet the Peruvian government did nothing to protect him—or others.
Disappearing oasis: northeastern India losing forests as people move in
(11/18/2014) Northeastern India is part of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, one of the megadiverse areas of the world. The region boasts more than 60 percent forest cover, compared to the 15 percent for India as a whole. However, not all is pristine when one visits areas designated as forest on the map.
An end to unjust conservation? (commentary)
(11/16/2014) In September 2014, events took place in three different parts of the world, which together highlight the multifaceted relationship between human rights and conservation. First, in New York, the UN General Assembly adopted the Outcome Document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous uprising earned tribe territories, but greatest challenges lie ahead
(11/06/2014) In 1925, Nele Kantule led a revolution that would make Guna Yala an independent and sovereign indigenous territory within Panama. Since then, the Guna have maintained a way of life that has allowed them to preserve their natural resources and mainland forest to an exceptional degree. But today, like many indigenous groups around the world, the Guna face some of their greatest challenges yet: the impacts of climate change, encroaching outside influences, and a younger generation that many elders feel is drifting from its roots.
Brazilian tribes demarcate territory in bid to block dams
(11/06/2014) Indigenous communities in Brazil have taken the unusual step of demarcating their own land — without the approval of the Brazilian government — in a bid to block two dams they say threaten their territory and traditional livelihoods, report International Rivers and Amazon Watch, advocacy groups that are fighting the projects. Last week the Munduruku people annexed the 178,000-hectare Sawré Muybu territory after authorities failed to recognize their claims.
Between the Forest and the Sea: The Yarsuisuit Collective - Part II
(10/31/2014) In this multimedia piece by SRI fellow Bear Guerra, we follow Andrés de León and the Yarsuisuit collective, a group of men who grow and harvest food sustainably in the Guna mainland forest. They also run a store on the island of Ustupu that helps support their families, serving as a model for the wider community.
Local communities rise to the forefront of global conservation practice (commentary)
(10/29/2014) A few weeks ago, a remote aboriginal community in western Australia made headlines when it completed the establishment of an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) containing over 4.2 million hectares of desert and grassland. The Kiwirrkurra IPA, as the area is known, is billed as the largest protected expanse of arid land on Earth.
Between the forest and the sea: life and climate change in Guna Yala - Part I
(10/27/2014) The island-dwelling Guna people of Panama are one of the most sovereign indigenous communities in the world, but now severe weather and sea level rise are causing regular flooding on many of the islands, and will likely force the Guna to have to abandon their island homes for the mainland. This multimedia piece offers an introduction to everyday life and customs in Guna Yala and touches upon the uncertain future the Guna are now facing thanks to the impacts of climate change.
Scientific association calls on Nicaragua to scrap its Gran Canal
(10/27/2014) ATBC—the world's largest association of tropical biologists and conservationists—has advised Nicaragua to halt its ambitious plan to build a massive canal across the country. The ATBC warns that the Chinese-backed canal, also known as the Gran Canal, will have devastating impacts on Nicaragua's water security, its forests and wildlife, and local people.
Top scientists raise concerns over commercial logging on Woodlark Island
(10/21/2014) A number of the world's top conservation scientists have raised concerns about plans for commercial logging on Woodlark Island, a hugely biodiverse rainforest island off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The scientists, with the Alliance of Leading Environmental Scientists and Thinkers (ALERT), warn that commercial logging on the island could imperil the island's stunning local species and its indigenous people.
An impossible balancing act? Forests benefit from isolation, but at cost to local communities
(10/07/2014) The indigenous people of the Amazon live in areas that house many of the Amazon's diverse species. The Rupununi region of Guyana is one such area, with approximately 20,000 Makushi and Wapishana people living in isolation. According to a recent study published in Environmental Modelling & Software, a simulation model revealed a link between growing indigenous populations and gradual local resource depletion.
Turning point for Peru's forests? Norway and Germany put muscle and money behind ambitious agreement
(09/24/2014) From the Andes to the Amazon, Peru houses some of the world's most spectacular forests. Proud and culturally-diverse indigenous tribes inhabit the interiors of the Peruvian Amazon, including some that have chosen little contact with the outside world. And even as scientists have identified tens-of-thousands of species that make their homes from the leaf litter to the canopy.
Extinction island? Plans to log half an island could endanger over 40 species
(09/22/2014) Woodlark Island is a rare place on the planet today. This small island off the coast Papua New Guinea is still covered in rich tropical forest, an ecosystem shared for thousands of years between tribal peoples and a plethora of species, including at least 42 found no-where else. Yet, like many such wildernesses, Woodlark Island is now facing major changes: not the least of them is a plan to log half of the island.
Brazil cancels Tapajos dam auction due to indigenous concerns
(09/19/2014) Brazilian authorities have suspended the auction of the centerpiece of the massive Tapajos hydroelectric complex, reports Agencia Brasil.
Legislation protecting Indonesia's indigenous communities is not good enough, says advocacy group
(09/18/2014) Approaching final legalization, an advocacy group for Indonesia's indigenous communities has asked to postpone passing a bill granting protections to indigenous people, stating some demands still need to be addressed.
The cheap option on climate change: recognize indigenous rights to forests
(09/18/2014) Since 2008, governments have invested $1.64 billion in funds to kick-start REDD+, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, the global effort to conserve the world's forests in order to better mitigate climate change. However, a new report by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) finds that same amount of money could have secured the legal rights of indigenous and local people to 450 million hectares of forest, an area 40 percent larger than India.
'The green Amazon is red with indigenous blood': authorities pull bodies from river that may have belonged to slain leaders
(09/17/2014) Peruvian authorities have pulled more human remains from a remote river in the Amazon, which may belong to one of the four murdered Ashaninka natives killed on September 1st. It is believed the four Ashaninka men, including renowned leader Edwin Chota Valera, were assassinated for speaking up against illegal logging on their traditional lands.
4 Ashaninka tribesmen killed by loggers in Peru
(09/08/2014) One of those killed was Edwin Chota, the leader of the Alto Tamaya-Saweto indigenous community who won fame for fighting illegal loggers. As such, Chota was a top target for assassination, according to a conservationist familiar with the situation.
REDD+ versus indigenous people? Why a tribe in Panama rejected pay for their carbon-rich forests
(09/04/2014) There isn't a word or phrase in the Kuna language for "carbon trading," and much less for something as complex as REDD+. Standing for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, REDD+ is the worldwide UN-backed climate change mitigation scheme that relies on carbon trading within forest landscapes to fund forest conservation programs. And yet, since 2008, the Kuna people have been hearing lots about it and referring to it often in their private conversations.
The Gran Canal: will Nicaragua's big bet create prosperity or environmental ruin?
(08/27/2014) A hundred years ago, the Panama Canal reshaped global geography. Now a new project, spearheaded by a media-shy Chinese millionaire, wants to build a 278-kilometer canal through Nicaragua. While the government argues the mega-project will change the country's dire economic outlook overnight, critics contend it will cause undue environmental damage, upend numerous communities, and do little to help local people.
How do we save the world's vanishing old-growth forests?
(08/26/2014) There's nothing in the world like a primary forest, which has never been industrially logged or cleared by humans. They are often described as cathedral-like, due to pillar-like trees and carpet-like undergrowth. Yet, the world's primary forests—also known as old-growth forests—are falling every year, and policy-makers are not doing enough to stop it.
Indonesia to hear indigenous peoples' grievances on land disputes
(08/22/2014) Public hearings into alleged violations of indigenous peoples' land rights will open next week in Palu on the island of Sulawesi. This is the beginning of a series of hearings by the Commission on Human Rights to explore conflicts affecting indigenous people in forest areas. The Commission will travel throughout Indonesia, providing concerned parties an opportunity to meet and discuss land disputes, before submitting the results of their findings to the next president.
An untapped resource: new study finds local people may trump scientists at biodiversity surveys
(08/12/2014) Figuring out what species live in a given area is important to the determination of its conservation importance. Traditionally, these biodiversity assessments have been done directly by scientists via surveys, which can be very time-intensive and expensive. However, a new study found that interviewing people in local communities who are familiar with the species of their regions could be just as effective – and much cheaper.
Indonesia's children see ravaged environment in their future
(08/11/2014) A generation ago, Borneo was one of the wildest places on the planet. But decades of logging and oil palm plantations has changed the landscape of Borneo forever: in fact a recent study found that the island has lost 30 percent of its total forest cover since 1973. In the face of this large-scale environmental destruction, a new study finds that Indonesian Borneo's children have a pessimistic view of their future.
Brazil releases video showing first contact with rainforest tribe
(07/31/2014) The Brazilian government has released footage showing 'first contact' with an isolated group of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest.
Peru slashes environmental protections to attract more mining and fossil fuel investment
(07/23/2014) In an effort to kickstart investment in mining and fossil fuels, Peru has passed a controversial law that overturns many of its environmental protections and essentially defangs its Ministry of Environment. The new law has environmentalists not only concerned about its impact on the country but also that the measures will undermine progress at the up-coming UN Climate Summit in December.
A fine line: new program predicts when human impact becomes too much
(07/03/2014) Scientists at Stanford University recently unveiled a new modeling program that can predict the response of the environment to the land-use changes of human communities. Using their model, they found that natural resources can support humanity – up to a certain point.
Using Google Earth to protect uncontacted tribes in the Amazon rainforest
(06/19/2014) In 2008, images of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil created ripples. With bodies painted in bright colors, members of the tribe aimed their arrows at a Brazilian government plane flying overhead, occupants of which were attempting to photograph the tribe to prove their existence. Now, a new study has found another way to survey such tribes safely and remotely—using satellite images.
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text:
Hostelworld "meet the world" by Lucky Generals
Rating: 5.0
By Staff, brandrepublic.com, Monday, 28 March 2011 08:30AM
The week long event, 120 Hours (of Digital Display), runs from 4 to 8 April and is sponsored by DoubleClick Rich Media. Brand Republic is the media partner.
For the duration of the event, the IAB is turning its Covent Garden office into a gallery that will showcase the best digital advertising work from the past year, as well as art works created to the specifications of digital display ad formats.
The best work will receive an Artvertising Award – one will go to a professional entry and another to a student. The awards will be presented at an evening event on 6 April at the IAB where guests will also be able to view the submitted work.
Gallery opening will be extended to IAB members to view the works on the subsequent days.
Guy Philipson, IAB chief executive, said: "With so many exciting formats – like premium display, video, mobile and even augmented reality – advertisers have never had such a broad canvas at their creative disposal. Opportunities online are almost limitless nowadays – so I wonder if 120 hours is long enough?"
Brandon Paine, head of emerging media platform at DoubleClick Rich Media, said the Google-owned company supports "innovation in all formats".
He said: "We look forward to sharing innovation and creative excellence in display with the industry."
Alongside the IAB's 120 Hours, the industry has been invited to run its own affiliated events, including workshops and networking evenings.
Yahoo is running the Creativity in Display event at its London offices on Wednesday afternoon, and a session for tracking ROI in display on Thursday afternoon.
DoubleClick Rich Media has an HTML 5 workshop running on Thursday morning at the IAB.
Outside the capital, MediaVest is hosting In a Nutshell "thought leadership programme" on Tuesday morning at its Manchester office.
More details, including getting your name down to attend the events or organising your own, can be found at the 120 Hours website.
This article was first published on brandrepublic.com
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Rating: 5.0
Agency: Grey London
Rating: 5.0

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Banks wield buyback mops
23 January 2013
Capital returns aren't always clear-cut. Shareholders are eagerly awaiting word this spring on how much capital big banks will be able to return to them this year.
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text:
social media
10 Great Social Innovation Reads: January 2015
January was a busy month. From more trends and predictions for the new year, to new ways of thinking about scale, to nonprofit performance measures and whether donors really care about them, to a return to farming, and a new giving app, there was lots to read in the world of social change.
Below are my picks for the 10 best reads in January. But please add to the list in the comments. And if you want a longer list, follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or Facebook.
You can see past months' 10 Great Social Innovation Reads lists here.
- Since it was the first month of a new year, there were several prediction posts for the nonprofit sector. Rich Cohen's predictions are very thoughtful, including declining slacktivism, an IRS crisis, continuing financial collapse of local governments and much more. The National Council of Nonprofits pulled together their list of 2015 trends facing the sector. And Kivi Leroux Miller created this nice infographic summarizing her 2015 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report.
- Because a "social capital chasm" exists in the nonprofit sector it may not be possible for nonprofits to truly achieve organizational scale says Alice Gugelev and Andrew Stern writing in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. They urge social change leaders to look at scaling impact instead of organization. As they put it, "It's time for nonprofit leaders to ask a more fundamental question than 'How do you scale up?' Instead, we urge them to consider…'What's your endgame?'"
- Writing on the Center for Effective Philanthropy blog, Phil Buchanan reminds us that it is not enough to move beyond overhead as a way to evaluate nonprofits: "What we need to focus on, of course, is not just de-emphasizing overhead ratios as a performance metric. We also need improvements in approaches to performance measurement. The reality is that donors often gravitate to overhead ratios when they can't get their hands around anything else."
- But nonprofit evaluation wonk Caroline Fiennes might disagree. She takes a look at recent studies on how information about a nonprofit's performance affects donor giving behavior. She rather depressingly finds that performance data doesn't improve donations. In her review of three recent studies, Caroline finds "Donors appeared to use evidence of effectiveness as they would a hygiene factor: they seemed to expect all charities to have four-star ratings, and reduced donations when they were disappointed – but never increased them because they were never positively surprised."
- With elections behind him, President Obama's January State of the Union address laid out his plans for his last two years in office. But he didn't once mention the nonprofit sector even though the sector is key to the success of those plans, as Rick Cohen points out.
- The new app, Charity Match that was developed by Intuit and the Gates Foundation, prompts people to make charitable donations based on their spending habits while they do their online banking.
- While the family farm was once a thing of the past some Millennials are returning to farming, wanting "to find a way to live high-quality, sustainable lives, and help others do the same."
- The Nonprofit Tech for Good blog offers 15 Must-Know Fundraising and Social Media Stats.
- As is their tradition, every year Bill and Melinda Gates release an annual letter about their philanthropy. And every year social change thinkers tear it apart. This year Chris Blattman from The Monkey Cage takes issue with the Gates' assumption "that a few new technologies can make unprecedented and fundamental changes in poverty in 15 years."
- And finally, Michel Bachmann and Roshan Paul caution social changemakers to slow down and go deep in order to avoid burning out altogether. "The social entrepreneurship sector in many parts of the world is rife with accelerators…These organizations play an important role—there are good reasons for their existence. However, in this era where everything is accelerating, we'd like to put our hands up for the importance of deceleration. As the poet Tess Gallagher said: 'You can't go deep until you slow down.'" Amen!
Photo Credit: Jonathan Cohen
10 Great Social Innovation Reads: November 2014
Wow, November was a great month for writing about social change. I had a harder than normal time narrowing my list down to 10. From the election, to philanthropy's role in Ferguson, to saving Detroit, to giving to the fight against Ebola, to speculation about Giving Tuesday (which is today, by the way), it was a busy month.
Below is my pick of the 10 best reads in social innovation in November. As always, add what I missed to the comments. And if you want a longer list, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn.
You can read past months' 10 Great Social Innovation Reads lists here.
- November saw elections across the country, and social media perhaps helped to get out the vote. But a chilling Princeton study found that America is no longer an actual democracy, we have become an oligarchy ruled by wealthy elites.
- But there is hope, some political reform is happening at the state level, like the amazing success of state-by-state legalization of gay marriage. I think we will be analyzing this movement as a social change case study for years to come. In fact they have been so successful that marriage equality nonprofits and donors must now figure out what's next.
- Writing in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof offers a thought-provoking 5-part series about racism in America, touched off by the situation in Ferguson. He argues for a national conversation akin to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission to "examine race in America."
- Detroit has finally exited bankruptcy, but Rick Cohen sees many hurdles still facing the city. And Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill worries that the philanthropists who helped get Detroit out of bankruptcy don't really have a vision for a revitalized city.
- The philanthropic response to the Ebola crisis has been much slower than is usual for disaster response philanthropy. Vicky Hausman and Sylvia Warren suggest some reasons for this. And Google works to remedy the situation with their first foray into converting visitors into philanthropists. It will be fascinating to watch what else Google does in this philanthropy realm.
- Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms take a fascinating look at what they see as a fundamental shift in power. "Old Power" is "closed, inaccessible and leader-driven," but "New Power" is "open, participatory, and peer-driven." As they see it, New Power is fundamentally changing how people and institutions interact, but it isn't necessarily all positive: "New power offers real opportunities to enfranchise and empower, but there's a fine line between democratizing participation and a mob mentality. This is especially the case for self-organized networks that lack formal protections."
- Today is Giving Tuesday, the annual day of philanthropy launched in 2012. Many have questioned the efficacy of the movement to get more Americans giving, including Tom Watson, who now sees some promise.
- The Pew Research Center's Social Networking Fact Sheet offers a great glimpse into how social media use is evolving.
- October saw a stinging two-part ProPublica/NPR series about the American Red Cross' handing of Hurricane Sandy disaster relief. It turns out that the story was helped by crowdsourced information. And David Henderson, Full Contact Philanthropy blogger, sees the tension in the Red Cross story that every nonprofit faces between running programs and fundraising for them: "The market realities of running a nonprofit create adverse incentives, driving organizations to raise funds at the expense of what their stated core missions are."
- Always there to inspire creative entrepreneurs, Steven Pressfield writes about the importance of aspiration, "As artists and entrepreneurs…the content of our personal culture starts with us. We set the level of aspiration. The crew—meaning ourselves—follows us." Amen!
Photo Credit: Karoly Czifra
A Monster List of Social Change Books
It's Halloween again and that means it's time for my annual Monster List of Resources (you can see past lists here, here, and here).
Today I'm focusing on social change books. I know, books are so over. We have become a society that is about fewer and fewer words, or really, fewer and fewer characters. But there is something to be said for spending 200+ pages really diving into a topic, exploring it and letting it change your point of view. Below are my favorite books in the social change realm.
I have reviewed some of these books on the blog, some I have not. Some are really old, others are brand new. And some are not about social change at all, yet I included them because I think they hold value for social changemakers.
Each of these books has helped me see my work and the work of social change in new ways, even if that was far from what the author intended. Perhaps you will think so too.
Here are my favorite social change books:
- The War of Art (my review is here)
- Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity (my review is here)
- Working Hard & Working Well (my review is here)
- Lean In (my review is here)
- Social Media for Social Good (my review is here)
- How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas
- Beyond Fundraising: New Strategies for Nonprofit Innovation and Investment
- Work on Purpose (my review is here)
- Real Change Leaders
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (my review is here)
- The Mesh: Why The Future of Business is Sharing
- The Big Enough Company (my review is here)
- The Networked Nonprofit
- Measuring the Networked Nonprofit
- Social Change Anytime Everywhere
- Good to Great and the Social Sectors
- Making Good (my review is here)
What are your favorite social change books? Please add to the list in the comments below.
Photo Credit: CBS Television
What Social Change Requires
It is obvious to most in this country that our political system is quite broken. A gridlocked Congress, a shilling mainstream media, a checked-out electorate, and the list goes on. But last week I saw some hope.
I participated in a really interesting gathering in Baltimore hosted by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. As part of their Madison Initiative (a $50 million project to "support and improve the health of representative democracy in the United States") Hewlett brought together 90 nonprofit and government leaders, consultants, journalists, heads of think tanks, and other foundation leaders to connect and analyze.
It was a fascinating few days. Through conversations and design-thinking sessions we were encouraged to stretch our thinking about solutions to the often depressing state of American government. I met some inspiring people who are creating solutions to our broken political system. (A few have agreed to be interviewed on the blog, so stay tuned.)
I am only tangential to this world of political reform, so for me it was interesting to see how conversations happening here can inform social change more broadly.
A few things occurred to me over the course of the three days about what effective social change requires:
Networks AND Institutions
Networks, loose connections of people and groups, exist outside of our 200+ year-old political institutions, but social change happens when networks organize themselves enough to pressure outdated institutions to adapt. This happened in the civil rights movement, recent global democracy movements, and the state-by-state legalization of gay marriage. But when networks and institutions don't connect, social change doesn't happen (like in the Occupy movement). So networks must organize enough to influence institutions, and institutions must open themselves enough to let networks in. Social change requires that the two work in tandem.
Millennials AND Boomers
Echoing Robert Egger's guest post this past summer on this blog, both Millennial and Boomer generations have a deep commitment to social change and the critical mass necessary to make it happen. But they would be even more effective at creating social change if they worked together, instead of against each other. Millennials need to recognize that Boomers fought for system change in their day (civil rights, women's rights) and Boomers need to recognize that Millennials are creating similar kinds of system change, just with new tools and technologies. The two must find connections and collaborate more often. And I think Gen Xers (of which I am one) can play a critical role in translating between the two generations.
East/West/Rural/Urban Geographies
This is a huge country and sometimes that reality gets in the way of change. Red vs. blue, rural vs. urban, Eastern time zone vs. Western time zone, coastal vs. flyover states, there are many ways to slice our country. It amazes me how often people focus on geographic differences instead of common values and goals. But true change comes when we break down those walls and have a conversation based on shared values rather than opposing frames of reference. The only way we move beyond impasse is for each side to listen with a completely open mind (free of assumptions and stereotypes) to the other side. And occasionally leave our comfort zone and meet others where they are.
At the end of the day, political reform is no different than any other social change we seek. To create positive change we must move beyond the dichotomies. We have to think much bigger. Perhaps the answer to our political woes is the same as the answer to our other social challenges, as E.M. Forster put it, "Only connect!…Live in fragments no longer."
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
10 Great Social Innovation Reads: August 2014
Between my own time away from social media in August, the general end of summer quiet, and of course, the glut of posts about the Ice Bucket challenge (of which I have already said my piece), my list of great reads in August is admittedly slim.
But there was some interesting debate, most notably about "strategic philanthropy" and about ratings agency Philanthropedia. Also, calls for more nonprofit leadership development and for nonprofit leaders to get out of their own way by taking the Overhead Pledge. Throw in a little Mark Twain, some sharing economy, and a dash of Millennial analysis and you have a pretty good month in the world of social change.
So below is my pick of the 10 best reads in the world of social innovation in August. For an expanded list you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+. And you can see past months' 10 Great Reads lists here.
- Leadership development is a woefully underfunded need in the nonprofit sector. Indeed from 1992-2011 only $3.5 billion of the nearly $287 billion dollars granted by foundations went to support leadership. In order to get more foundations investing in leadership development, Rusty Stahl offers case studies of 9 foundations who already do.
- In the summer issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review, the lead article "Strategic Philanthropy for a Complex World" caused quite a stir in the philanthropy world with many arguing that there is not much new there. In August, Alliance Magazine ran a series of editorials by philanthropy leaders as counterpoints. Most interesting among them was Avila Kilmurray's, former director of the Community Foundation of Northern Ireland, response, in which she said "Can we not just recognize that when any funder sets her/himself the task of addressing complex issues…there needs to be provision for continuous consultation, practice, reflection and change?"
- An interesting article in the New York Times paints the Millennial generation as a very communal-minded one, where "the highest value isn't self-promotion, but its opposite, empathy — an open-minded and -hearted connection to others." From working, to eating, to shopping it seems Millennials bake social into everything they do. How will the world be different if that holds true as they age?
- Writing in Forbes, Tom Watson asks whether nonprofits should participate in GivingTuesday. As he puts it, "Is #GivingTuesday a well-meaning marketing promotion – or is it a real, organic movement for change?…[Does it] seek to increase U.S. giving from 2% of GDP (where it's been stuck for two generations) to some higher point?" Amen to that!
- Rating nonprofit effectiveness is such a tricky challenge. Philanthropedia, one rating system that is driven by crowdsourced feedback from experts, comes under fire from the clean water space for being just "a popularity contest." But others claim it's an improvement over previous evaluations.
- Writing in the Chronicle of Philanthropy Nicole Wallace shows the value of sharing data by profiling Crisis Text Line, which gives other nonprofits, researchers and government agencies access to their data of 60,000 counseling sessions with teens in crisis to use in their own programs. It begs the question whether other social change data could be shared and how we make that easier to do.
- Sue Dorsey from Water for People was among a group of nonprofit leaders at the InsideNGO conference who took the Overhead Pledge in August, vowing to fully disclose the true costs of their nonprofits. And she encourages other nonprofit leaders to follow suit. This is exciting because it is not enough for funders to get over the overhead myth, nonprofit leaders must as well.
- I am always a sucker for connecting literature and/or history to social change, and even better both, so David Bonbright's post about how Mark Twain would have viewed recent trends in business is fascinating. Bonbright argues that Twain wanted American business to fully integrate profit and community. And we are beginning to witness this trend again where companies are "embracing the full implications of what they are – what they mean for the environment, for communities, for the most marginalized people affected by their supply chains…[because] this is best way to remain competitive and successful over time." Let's hope!
- The new "sharing" economy is not all good, but not all bad either, as Daniel Ben-Horin argues that "there are enormous opportunities for the social sector to engage with the values-driven segment of the sharing economy."
- Finally, some guidance on making your nonprofit email marketing more mobile friendly and your website better able to connect people to your cause. It's all about responsive, engaging design.
Photo Credit: Seth Anderson
10 Great Social Innovation Reads: July 2014
Despite being the height of summer, July was far from the month to put our brains at rest. The blogosphere created some really great pieces.
A couple of fascinating debates – one about the role of philanthropy in democracy, and one about the value of nonprofit evaluation – were fascinating reads. And I always love a good controversy, so July gladly provided at least two. The much heralded "sharing economy" came under fire and the hype around social impact bonds was called out.
Below are my 10 favorite reads from last month. If you want to see a longer list of great reads, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+. And you can see past months' 10 Great Reads lists here.
- There was a really interesting debate on the Markets for Good blog (always a place for thoughtful conversation) between Andrew Means and Patrick Germain about the value of program evaluation and performance measurement in the nonprofit world. Andrew Means kicked it off here and here and Patrick responded here.
- I absolutely love it when someone makes you think about something that you took for granted in a whole new way. Conventional wisdom is that the sharing economy is a democratizing development. But Max Holleran, writing on the OpenDemocracy blog, argues that perhaps it is the complete opposite. As he says, "Our concept of what sharing means has gone from The Gift to the paid-for lift…How we assess public goods has also changed dramatically: urban commons have been ceded to private-public management initiatives."
- The Hewlett foundation announced a new $50 million initiative to "strengthen representative democracy in the U.S." And that announcement inspired a thought-provoking back and forth about the role of philanthropy in democracy among Daniel Stid and Larry Kramer (both from Hewlett) and Maribel Morey (assistant professor of history at Clemson University), via a Stanford Social Innovation Review blog post and the subsequent comments to the post. No matter your politics or your views on philanthropy, it is refreshing to see such an open discussion about a foundation's efforts.
- On a somewhat related note, Amy Schiller argues that we cannot allow philanthropy to be a "workaround" to the "friction of democracy, " which is necessary for truly solving social problems.
- To get more funders to invest in nonprofit organization building we need more data and case studies on the return on investment. Building the case for funder investment in nonprofit technology capacities, Berta Colón, Cynthia Gibson, Michele Lord, and Geraldine Mannion examine recent data on building nonprofits' digital reach, and the Knight Foundation provides a case study on how National Public Radio (NPR) built their digital skills.
- I love New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman for his fabulous recipes and views on food, but recently he's become somewhat of a food activist, and his article on the the true (social) costs of a burger is eye-opening.
- Is there hope for the famously dysfunctional nonprofit board? A new report from Urban Institute suggests we need to raise our expectations of nonprofit boards. Let's hope!
- I know I've been including Steven Pressfield in my round ups lately, but this man really knows how to inspire people to fight the demons that face them in order to create whatever they were put on this earth to create. His recent blog series entitled "Why" does just that. I think social changemakers, more than anyone, need this kind of inspiration.
- Curt Klotz from the Nonprofits Assistance Fund argues that nonprofits must price their services according to value because "there is no virtue in self-imposed austerity that leads to mediocrity in our programs, and constant turmoil in our finances." Amen to that!
- Writing on the PhilanTopic blog, Laura Callanan pulls back the curtain on some of the hype around social impact bonds and social innovation in general. Instead of falling victim to shiny object syndrom she asks that "we all bring our critical minds – as well as our open hearts – to the job of social change. Let's celebrate the potential in the new approaches but also integrate them with prior experience and test them with our constituents…Let's remember that a tool is just a tool."
What thought-provoking or controversy-inspiring read caught your eye last month?
Photo Credit: Josue Goge
12 Social Change Blogs I Love
I get a little tired of the social media noise sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love social media for finding new information and making connections. But sometimes it replaces thoughtful conversation with increasingly shortened sound bites (more on that later). And when I hear people claim that 140 characters are better than long-form articles and blog posts, I get depressed.
Call me old fashioned, but I love to spend the necessary time processing thought-provoking, controversy-encouraging written words. Social change is incredibly complex work, so we desperately need people and spaces where we can have difficult, thoughtful, and game-changing conversations. And I think great blogs are one of those spaces.
So I offer here my current list of favorite blogs. These are spaces where I think really valuable points of view are being expressed. That's not to say that I don't read or enjoy blogs beyond this list. These are just the top of the heap for me right now:
- White Courtesy Telephone
- Balancing the Mission Checkbook
- Nonprofit Finance Fund Social Currency
- Work in Progress: The Hewlett Foundation Blog
- The Center for Effective Philanthropy Blog
- Steven Pressfield Online
- Full Contact Philanthropy
- Markets for Good
- Stanford Social Innovation Review Blog
- PhilanTopic
- Beth's Blog
- Philanthropy 2173
But I LOVE to find new writers and spaces, so what are the places you have found for a good, thought-provoking read?
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Social Technology for Social Change: An Interview with Amy Sample Ward
In today's Social Velocity interview, I'm talking with Amy Sample Ward, CEO of Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes. Amy leads a team dedicated to connecting individuals, organizations and campaigns in order to transition the nonprofit technology sector into a movement-based force for positive change.
Previously serving as the Membership Director at NTEN, Amy is also a blogger, facilitator and trainer having worked with groups and spoken at events in the US, UK and around the world. In 2013, she co-authored Social Change Anytime Everywhere with Allyson Kapin.
You can read other interviews in the Social Velocity Interview Series here.
Nell: For many nonprofit leaders, social media is still viewed as a sideline, rather than an integral, aspect of the work. How do you convince nonprofit leaders that social media can actually be a means of furthering their social change missions?
Amy: Social media really encompasses so many different tools and platforms. The probability that your community isn't using ANY kind of social technology is pretty low. Every organization doesn't have to use every tool out there. Quite the opposite! I encourage every nonprofit not to think of social media as time suck and "one more thing to add to the list", but, instead, as a way to connect directly with community members on a much more regular basis than your other outreach in email or events. Select which platform or platforms you use by asking your community and listening first – this helps ensure that any time you do invest in social media is spent in the platforms where your community is active and you have the highest chance of success.
Nell: Because the nonprofit sector is so resource constrained, nonprofits have traditionally been somewhat insular and risk averse. How do nonprofits reconcile that approach to a growing need to be more open, collaborative, transparent and risk embracing?
Amy: If there's fear about change, taking risks, or transparency, my suggestion is to take inspiration from and share responsibility with your community. As a nonprofit organization, you cannot fully achieve your mission on your own – you need your community to help you create lasting change in the world, so why not invite the community to help you create change in your work!
When you invite your community in, you start to embrace transparency. You also lessen the stigma of risks because you now have community members championing new ideas and helping you test and iterate to find the best approaches. You don't have to fear changing when you are working closely with your community because doing so means working with people, and we all change every day.
Nell: On the flip side of that, is there a risk of becoming too consumed by social media and new technologies? Can nonprofits – and all of us really – become too enamored of every new shiny object at the expense of actually creating social change?
Amy: At the end of the day, we all have lots of work to do and don't want to get distracted or bogged down by any one thing, whether that's Facebook, Twitter, email, or meetings! I think the real risk is in letting your tools guide your strategic decisions. Social media tools are launching every day, sometimes with a lot of press coverage. It's understandable that you could read a post or see another organization trying a new platform and think you should do it, too. Or, to let the functionality of a certain platform dictate how you decide to create and run a campaign. It's critical that all staff have the resources and training to think and plan strategically about their work, identifying the tools last that align with their goals, community and audience, and your mission.
Nell: Technology is often considered "overhead" in the nonprofit world. How can nonprofit leaders convince funders and board members that investing in technology can have a significant return on investment?
Amy: The best thing organizations can do to prove this is by actually proving it: track and evaluate your own return on investment, share information about your budgeting and planning, and include clear information and analysis of the necessary technologies to do your work in every grant proposal and report. You can't expect funders to invest in something if you aren't able to convince them from the beginning.
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Is there still snow on the ground where you are?
Well it snowed all over my cupcake today!
don't forget to confirm email sent and enjoy every recipe
It is beautiful! I love how it has simplicity and complexity all bundled up in one.
mmm looks yummy! thanks for popping over to PBD!
haha! finally the snow is gone (washed away by the insane amount of rain that we have been getting) ~ hopefully not to be seem until NEXT winter, but March is an unpredictable month in NJ!
Hi. I would like to pass an award to you. Kindly collect it from my blog.
Wow, your photos are amazing!!!
How cute! Not much snow left here ~ I'll be glad when it is all gone and the green grass is back.
Whew, now that kind of snow, I can handle all year!
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So maybe it's not much, but just a couple days ago I made an organizer thing out of an old cereal box and some pretty duct tape lol I got the idea after looking at the one I bought for DS sitting on top of the fridge with all our cereal boxes. ;)
All I did was cut part of one of the narrow ends out so you can see what's in it--then put colored duct tape of choice all over it--extra reinforcement and prettier to look at than an old box.
I've only done one so far but I have enough left on that roll of duct tape to do at least 2 more. The roll of tape is about the same price as one store-bought plastic "magazine file" I think they called it. (it's a thing that holds DS's religion book, some school folders, that kind of thing.) The one I made is holding our computer paper. :)
I bought tie-dye duct tape for the one that will hold my wallet, keys and other stuff I'm constantly losing.
I really love this idea and plan to make tons of them LOL i think the best though was 4 yr old DD "Mommy, I want to cover the ugly box!"
lovin DH since 1/04, best mom for my 3 boys 10/04, 11/08, 11/10 one girlie (1/07), one 13 wk (10/13) and 5/15 just your average multigenerational living family!!
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Photos of Yellow Sunshine
"Vegan Tiramisu is definitely the last thing to try!! We bought it back home!"
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Big Sky Dowser's Convention
Date posted: August 17, 2014
131 Calhoun Lane
Billings, MT 59101
BILLINGS— The Big Sky Dowser will meet at its 37th annual convention from Aug. 23-24 at the Moose Lodge in Billings, Mont.
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil and many other objects and materials without the use of scientific apparatus.
Come to the convention and learn about dowsing and see it demonstrated and learn the technique. The special presenter will be Big Sky Dowser Charter Member Vern Bandy who will demonstrate dowsing rods he personally designed.
For further information call Edris at 406-255-0928, Lois at 406-252-4215, or Gary at 406-670-0821.
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- Now accepting returns!
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Estimated ArrivalArrives by 12/23
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Cream-colored leather and dark birch come together in this bench, which artfully combines classic tufting, nail-head trim, and graceful curved legs. Use it as a chic seating option or, topped with a tray, a casually elegant table.


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Kodak Company has led the way with an abundance of new products and processes to make photography simpler, more useful and more enjoyable. In fact, today's Kodak is known not only for photography, but also for images used in a variety of leisure, commercial, entertainment and scientific applications.'
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Ignited Iraq
Anger resurfaced when we went inside the former library, where the students were eating lunch. Izzi and I were surrounded by students who pushed toward us with complaints. Civil servants haven't been paid; some of their professors have been months without salary; how dare Paul Bremer, the American administrator, not come to see us; we don't want the Baathists back but right now nothing's working; if Bremer won't listen to us he's the second Saddam; I demand to see Bremer, this is my right; Bremer is the new thief of Baghdad; since Americans have the most power and money in the world, they can at least buy us some books. Bringing up the rear, two women students were more soft-spoken but determined to be heard. "It's so unsafe for a woman or a girl to go about now," said one. "Before, we couldn't talk freely but we could walk," said the other, "and now we can talk freely but we can't walk."
By the time Izzi and I were back outside, a crowd of students were shouting at us. "Americans are here for oil, nothing else!" "The oil ministry is secure for the Americans, fuck the rest of the country!" "I hate Americans because they're free and I'm not!" "My friend brought his pregnant wife to the hospital, but before they got there they were stopped at an American checkpoint where the soldiers shot him. Who will be the father of his baby?" "Basra is secure under the British, why not Baghdad under the Americans?" "Bush is a liar!" "He promises and does nothing!" "Go tell the American people what happens here so they can hate Bush the way we hate Bush and we hate Saddam!"
I was beginning to think about Randa's friend Jeff who was shot on the other campus. Izzi himself looked concerned, and though he is a rapid translator he couldn't keep up with the epithets and oaths being thrown at us. "Can't you stupid Americans understand what you've done here!" a student yelled, and we left quickly.
"That's the thing," Izzi told me as we drove off. "You don't know when you're in danger and when you're safe." This had also been true for Izzi himself under Saddam Hussein, when one of his jobs had been to translate movies for Saddam and his son Uday. Saddam's favorite movie was Braveheart, and he claimed that if he had an enemy like the Mel Gibson character he would never kill that man but would keep him around for his valor. Uday's own favorite film was Gladiator. The brutal prince loved to see arms and legs and heads go flying, and essentially used the movie as an instructional video for his assassins and torturers. When one movie Izzi translated had a ten-second audio dropout, Uday sent his men to the film office where Izzi worked; Izzi's boss said the translator was out, which wasn't true, and took the beating himself on behalf of Izzi. What worried Izzi now, in addition to the safety of journalists he translated for, was that armed insurgents were beginning to pick off Iraqis just for working with Americans.
One evening, when our confinement in the hotel was beginning to seem as unnecessary as it was claustrophobic, Alicia and I asked Izzi and our driver, a former Iraqi Air Force jet pilot named Abu Mustafa, to drop us at an Internet cafe. We told them to go on home, and we'd take a taxi after we used the Internet. Abu Mustafa, whose antennae were particularly sensitive, said he didn't think it was a wonderful idea. Izzi thought it would be all right, as there were a lot of cabs going up and down the wide street we were on in what he said was a relatively placid neighborhood.
The proprietor of the Internet cafe was the sort of man who runs the candy store in one of those movies they release around Halloween; you don't know if he wants to help you or turn you over to Stephen King. We were unable to send or receive messages on his computers, and we left quickly while it was not yet fully dark. The street was reassuringly busy; Baghdad at night is both lively and deadly. Getting a taxi was easy, although the taxi itself had a desperately sick engine. The driver spoke a little English and said he knew where our hotel was. He didn't, and he had a swimming eyeball. As his taxi lurched forward around an altogether unfamiliar neighborhood, taking turns we knew were wrong, the cabbie asked if we were Europeans. No, Alicia said. Canadians, I said. We were getting nervous but we couldn't clutch one another's hands because we'd been told it was unacceptable for men and women to touch in public. The driver, groping around for our hotel on streets we didn't recognize, asked if we had children. Alicia said we had a 15-year-old. Boy or girl? the cabbie asked. Alicia said boy at the same instant I said girl. That was the only night we disobeyed the rules.
Americans working for the government, despite inconveniences and delays, seemed upbeat. "The state of human rights here is improving every day," said Sandra Hodgkinson, a lawyer in the office of human rights and transitional justice. "For over twenty years people couldn't express a view. Now they can speak, write, march, demonstrate." Her husband, David, also a lawyer, is a senior adviser on transitional rights, and the couple are involved variously with torture victims, helping Iraqis recover property, and reintegrating former political prisoners into society. Sandra became a member of Amnesty International while she was still in high school, and David is an idealist about their work. "What we do," he said, "is so much more interesting and exciting than the big money on tax issues or corporate mergers." The couple, in their early 30s, are the kind of optimists and loyalists who can't wait to get to work in the morning. When I asked them to compare Jay Garner, the first postwar administrator, with his successor, Paul Bremer, Sandra fairly bounced. "Garner got us working together in Kuwait," she said, "and Bremer got us all up and running in the governing phase after we arrived here. All I've seen is two great bosses." A team needs team players. This is the kind of enthusiasm that moved mountains in postwar Europe and Japan.


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In This Section
Journal Forum
Clean Audio for TV broadcast: An Object-Based Approach for Hearing-Impaired Viewers - April 2015
1 comment
Audibility of a CD-Standard A/DA/A Loop Inserted into High-Resolution Audio Playback - September 2007
13 comments
Sound Board: Food for Thought, Aesthetics in Orchestra Recording - April 2015
2 comments
AES Journal Forum
Virtualized Listening Tests for Loudspeakers
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When comparing loudspeakers and trying to eliminate the influence of their location, problems arise due to listeners' short auditory memory. But if a virtual loudspeaker in a virtual room using headphones was equivalent to the real environment, comparison testing would avoid the problem of memory. Switching could be done instantaneously. Subjective tests showed that the quality of virtual loudspeakers depended highly on the test signal and upon the difficulty of creating accurate room- and head-related transfer functions at high frequencies. Nevertheless, virtualized loudspeakers can be imperceptible from reality in many cases.
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Comments on this report
Herbert Rutgers
Comment posted May 27, 2009 @ 16:27:44 UTC (Comment permalink)
Listening to headphones gives me a total different sound-image as from well placed loudspeakers in an adequate room. With loudspeakers the sound seems to stem from the space between the speakers, the wall behind them, the flour and the ceiling. The ability of 'filling' this space with sound, is one of the quality aspects of loudspeakers.
Alexander Lindau
Comment posted June 18, 2009 @ 16:36:50 UTC (Comment permalink)
The loudspeakers interaction with the room should theoretically be captured perfectly within a properly acquired binaural room impulse response (including all wall & ceiling reflections, and also create proper phantom source perception). The Localizations errors you described will vanish, when using an interactive, i.e. head-tracked auralization of tested loudspeakers (see Sean Olive & the BRS system, and our own works for instance).
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Wisconsin product Chris Chelios makes Hockey Hall of Fame
Wisconsin product and former NHL star defenseman Chris Chelios was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, it was announced Tuesday afternoon. Chelios spent two seasons with the Badgers, including the program's 1983 NCAA championship campaign, totaling 22 goals and 75 assists.
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