The global program will focus on supporting the 25 million people worldwide living with cancer, dispelling the misconceptions surrounding the disease, and urging world leaders to make cancer a greater priority.

Eight million people will die because of cancer this year. Deaths due to cancer outnumber those caused by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, founded in 1997, has raised more than $260 million to fight cancer and supports projects for cancer prevention, access to cancer screening and care, cancer research, and quality of life for cancer survivors.

Millions of people worldwide are victims not only of cancer, but of social stigma and misinformation. Many are isolated from friends and family. Because of shame or fear they often refuse early detection services or treatment. About a third of cancers could be cured if detected early and treated.

LAF will work with world leaders and other international partners for cancer advocacy, research and data collection. The LAF will kick off this effort at the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit in Paris at the end of the 2009 Tour de France.

Additional information on donating, signing the World Cancer Declaration, and other details of the Foundation’s work can be found on their website.

DRI is committed to science that improves people’s lives around the world, protects the Earth’s resources and helps to sustain our environment. Studies are conducted on every continent of the world.

One unique project was the research of indoor air pollutants of the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Shanxi Province, China. Emperor Qin’s 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, chariots and weapons are the focus of the largest on-site museum in China with 1.5 million visitors annually.

Since the opening of the museum 25 years ago, the raised temperatures and humidity in the mausoleum and pollution from tourists has had a negative effect on the artifacts. The joint project with the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Earth Environment and other institutions researches the causes and remedies for the deterioration.

Research divisions of DRI include:

* Hydrologic Sciences
* Atmospheric Sciences
* Earth and Ecosystem Sciences
* Watersheds & Environmental Sustainability
* Arid Lands Environmental Management
* Environmental Remediation and Monitoring 
* Advanced Visualization, Computation and Modeling

DRI’s Renewable Energy Program researched such topics as tall wind tower development, climate change impacts, hydrogen fuel for transportation, hydrogen based renewable power systems, biomass/biofuels, small scale wind and solar systems, and pollutant emissions study for biodiesel.

DRI’s two main campuses are in Reno and Las Vegas, and other research facilities are located in Boulder City, Nevada and Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Additional information on donation opportunities or program details can be found on their website.

More than 2 billion people live without electricity. PLP allows these people to create and own energy harvesting bags, blankets and clothing, using local materials and traditional weaving and sewing techniques in an open source model.

Some of the many benefits include:

* Families without electricity can have lighting at night to read, provide medical care, and do simple tasks that others with electricity take for granted.

* Incomes can be sustained by local businesses sewing and marketing these items.

* Lighting is based on ‘clean’ solar nano-technology.

A luminous PLP Reading Mat integrates high brightness solid state lighting and flexible photovoltaic solar cell technology that can produce up to 12 volts of DC electrical power and 160 lumens of light in 5 hours of charge time. By day, the Reading Mat gathers electrical energy from the sun. At night, the Reading Mat can provide about 4 hours of white, digital light.

Cell phones and other small electrical devices can be powered by the textiles. Linked units of textiles can also work together to provide greater power for larger community tasks.

PLP have been working in the Mexican Sierra Madre since 2005.

Other projects are underway in Nicaragua, and for the Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazonias, and South Africa.

More information on donation opportunities, product and program details can be found on their website.

RAN has helped to protect millions of acres of forests in Canada, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile and other countries.

Protecting habitat for plants and animals, reducing global warming, protecting human rights of those living in or near ecosystems, energy conservation and green energy, and sustainable businesses using green practices are focus issues for RAN.

Specific campaigns target:
* America’s oil addiction.
* Reducing America’s reliance on coal.
* Global finance campaign to challenge large banks to stop funding the world’s most destructive industries and start funding renewable energy.
* Companies and industries that engage in outdated, destructive logging.
* Challenging industrial agriculture that threatens tropical rainforests.

The growing demand for biofuels has caused many businesses to establish soy and palm oil operations in tropical forests around the world. Palm oil plantations alone are expanding at a rate of 2.5 million acres per year in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Soy production has become a major contributor to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

RAN shares information and works with environmental and human rights groups in 60 countries.

Marketing campaigns are conducted to align the policies of multinational businesses with widespread public support for environmental protection. “We believe that logging ancient forests for copy paper or destroying an endangered ecosystem for a week’s worth of oil is not just destructive, but outdated and unnecessary.”

RAN has helped convince corporations such as Home Depot, Citigroup, Boise Cascade, and Goldman Sachs to change their practices, and has congratulated those that have taken positive steps in preserving the rain forests.

RAN convened the first international rainforest conference that was attended by activists from 35 organizations. Additional international conferences have helped unite the growing worldwide rainforest movement.

Additional information on donating, learning about the issues, or participating in programs can be found on their website.

In the past 18 months, CW has raised over $3-million and funded over 600 water projects such as freshwater wells, rainwater catchments, spring protections, and sand filters. These projects have served over 250,000 people in Africa and Asia.

Charity: Water proves every well built using photos, videos and GPS coordinates plotted in Google Earth.

Local partners are chosen in each country based on expertise and the ability to impact real change in their communities. Local community members are also engaged in the well building or other projects to reduce labor costs and to build a sense of community ownership. Drilling a well can cost from $4,000 to $12,000, which is often too much for a small village to afford.

Water projects include:

Kenya - 6 projects
Liberia - 72 projects
Central African Republic - 113 projects
Uganda - 34 projects
Tanzania - 18 projects
Ethiopia - 75 projects
Malawi - 66 projects
Rwanda - 11 projects
Bangladesh - 200 projects
Democratic Republic of Congo - 21 projects
India - 13 projects

Information on donating, volunteering, and other program details can be found on their website.

The program operates around the Washington DC area, including Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware and other areas in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2007, BFTW became the largest bicycle re-use program in the USA … donating more than 7,900 bicycles.

The mission of BFTW is assist poor people overseas by providing bicycles for transport to work, school and health services and to provide community service opportunities for Americans to assist others overseas. The programs also reduce waste by recycling used goods.

In addition to bicycles, other bike-related items (parts), used portable sewing machines (provides income opportunities), and used cell phones are collected by BFTW.

BFTW tries to establish self-sustaining bicycle repair operations in overseas countries. Ideally, those repair businesses can later earn enough money to purchase subsequent shipments of bicycles.

Overseas partnerships over the last few years include:

* The Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia
* Sri Lanka Association of Greater Washington
* Servicios Ecumenicos de Formacion de Centro America
* Fundacion Integral Campesina de Costa Rica
* Women Prisoners Support Organization
* Village Bike Project (West Africa)
* Pinelands Creative Workshop
* Christian Action for International Development
* Art for Humanity (Honduras)

Additional information on donating goods or funds, organizing collections, and other program details can be found on their website.

Since 1979, thirteen HTC chapters across the USA have provided services to over 146,000 patients in countries such as Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Croatia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and many other countries, including many countries in South America and Caribbean.

HTC also helps American children who have no access to medical care.

One of the programs of HTC involves bringing children who need specialized medical care to the USA for the services of volunteer doctors and medical professionals. HTC arranges for medical screenings, immigration documentation, transportation, host family support, donated medical care, and return of the child to his or her native country.

Volunteer medical and surgical professionals also travel overseas on HTC medical trips, which typically last 8 to 10 days. Patients are treated in their home country or screened for treatment in the USA, and local health professionals cooperate and learn from the American volunteers. Other volunteers assist with unpacking, preparing equipment, providing transportation, organizing patients, documenting the activities and other services.

Medical specialties include plastic and maxillofacial surgery, dental services, ear, nose and throat services, ophthalmologic, neurosurgical, urological, general surgical and orthopedic services.

More information on volunteering, donating, joining a chapter, and other program details can be found on their website.

The Alpine Fund serves youth from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan who are orphans, lack family support or no longer attend school. Orphanages, residential facilities, hot lunch programs and other local child protection organizations refer children and young adults to the Alpine Fund programs.

About 37% of the Kyrgyzstans’s population is under 15 years of age, and face difficult times in becoming self-sufficient in a country where 44% of the residents live below the poverty line. Youth in state run orphanages leave at the age of 16, and many have no way to finish their high school education and little opportunity to find a good job.

What is being done by the Alpine Fund?

‘Clouds at Their Feet’ is a wilderness-education program that provides weekly hiking, trekking, climbing or camping programs. The participants learn new skills, environmental lessons, and new perspectives on their abilities to conquer challenges in their life.

The Alpine Fund programs teaches English and computer skills to local children. Two computers are available for the children.

Alpine Interns gives young adults who have participated in other of the organization’s programs a chance to instruct and lead younger students. Interns gain confidence and leadership skills, which also increases the chances for employment in the tourism field.

The Alpine Learning Center is a cabin that serves as the staging area for outdoor expeditions. The cabin provides a safe shelter from the weather and also provides an area to learn living skills, such as cooking and maintaining good hygiene.

Another Alpine Fund operation in Tajikistan was opened in 2004 by Garth Willis, but was put in hibernation after the civil rest following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The equipment and some local staff are on standby to renew the operations when new funding can be arranged.

More information on donation opportunites and other program details can be found on their website.

Too much … according to the Happy Planet Index study measuring how effectively the world’s finite resources are being consumed in comparison to their happiness in 178 countries around the world. The study was conducted by London-based New Economics Foundation.

How effectively do countries convert their environmental resources into happiness? The basic formula computes life satisfaction (happiness) and life expectancy (how many years you live) and divides this total figure by the ecological footprint. The answer is your Happy Planet Index.

No country scored near the top in all 3 categories - happiness, life expectancy and ecological footprint.

On a scale of 0 to 100, the highest score was 68.2 by the Pacific island of Vanuatu. Vanuatu’s lowest factor was a moderate level of life expectancy at 69 years.

The lowest score was Zimbabwe in Africa with 16.6

The USA ranked 150 out of 178, and the countries most similar to the USA were Moldova, Burkina Faso, Lithuania, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

The USA ranked very high in life expectancy and happiness, but was among the highest in the world in terms of consumption of environmental resources, or ecological footprint. The United Arab Emirates was the only country that ranked statistically higher than the USA in the ecological footprint category (Kuwait and Qatar matched the USA).

Germany and the USA were very similar in life expectancy and life satisfaction, but Germany’s ecological footprint was about half of the USA. So Germany was ranked 81, compared to the USA at 150. You might conclude Germany was twice as efficient with natural resources in generating the same amount of happiness.

Island nations generally scored well all over the world … perhaps being more aware of their environmental limits. The top 5 ratings in Africa were all island nations. Malta was the highest rated in the Western world.

You can also compute your own Happy Planet Index on their website.

Below are some of the ratings for the 178 countries in the survey (ranking from best to worst).

1. Vanuatu 68.2
2. Colombia 67.2
3. Costa Rica 66.0
4. Dominica 64.5
5. Panama 63.5
6. Cuba 61.9

31. China 56.0
38. Mexico 54.4

62. India 48.7
66. Italy 48.3
67. Iran 47.2

81. Germany 43.8
89. Saudi Arabia 42.7
95. Japan 41.7

108. United Kingdom 40.3
111. Canada 39.8
129. France 36.4
139. Australia 34.1

147. Moldova 31.1
148. Burkina Faso 30.1
149. Lithuania 29.3
150. U.S.A. 28.8
151. Cote d’Ivoire 28.8
152. Rwanda 28.3
153. Sierra Leone 28.2

172. Russian Federation 22.8
173. Estonia 22.7
174. Ukraine 22.2
175. Democratic Republic of the Congo 20.7
176. Burundi 19.0
177. Swaziland 18.4
178. Zimbabwe 16.6

The New Economics Foundation, which conducts this survey, makes recommendations on each component of the Happy Planet

Index and promotes solutions to governments, individuals, organizations, businesses and academia around the world.

The AID network includes more than 20,000 students on over 1,000 university campuses, along with several thousand other young professionals. Many students have formed AID chapters on their campus.

Environmental issues focus on such areas as carbon emissions, green campuses, and urban environmental concerns.

Global developmental issues include potable water, maternal and child health, fair trade and HIV/AIDs.

Health issues include malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, health care worker shortages, access to medicine, and disease education.

Global peace initiatives focus on issues such as cross-cultural understanding, nuclear proliferation, democracy development, peacekeeping, and human security.

To increase awareness on global issues, AID sponsors conferences, workshops, film screenings, video conferences and op-eds.

For advocacy efforts, AID provides toolkits and training to empower young people to talk to their peers and policy makers.

To take action on issues, AID supports local and national campaigns that have positive impact.

More information on donating, hosting a film screening, launching an event, joining the AID network and other program details can be found on their website.