Consumers can purchase fair trade items and learn about the impact of their buying decisions, wholesalers can find products for their stores, and the nonprofit arm of World of Good funds community projects that assist artisans in such countries as Vietnam, India, South Africa, Guatemala, Indonesia and Kenya.

At the consumer level, a partnership with Ebay called WorldofGood.com provides readers the resources needed to make good choices and connect with others who want to understand how their buying choices impact people and the planet. Articles, blogs and discussions focus on ethical sourcing, shopping responsibly, social innovators and many other related topics.

Handcrafted fair trade gifts, accessories and housewares from about 150 producer groups in 34 countries can be purchased the Original Good website.

The World of Good Development Organization is a registered nonprofit that works to improve the lives of thousands of artisans and their families by strengthening wage standards and funding community development projects that improve living conditions.

Some of the development projects include:

Kenya - Two freshwater wells have been built to help artisans in a soapstone carving community, who previously had to walk 3 hours each day to access clean water.

India - Artisans in a sewing community attend a free medical clinic supported by World of Good, including a new blood analyzer. Educational toys and equipment are provided for a preschool in an artisan community where mothers embroider pouches, totes and slings. Another artisan group provides medical care for its group.

Guatemala - Children of artisans who weave baskets and sew bags have been provided building materials and a computer lab for a new school.  A grant has been provided to improve the community water system that was ravaged by Hurricane Stan.

South Africa - A computer lab has been provided wich provides artisans with information, resources and connections to the world.

Vietnam - Jewelry artisans received a grant to buy furniture for a preschool.

Indonesia - Artisans received funding to refurbish a kindergarten, and purchase learning materials, playground equipment, bookshelves and art supplies.

Information on learning more about fair trade commerce, buying retail products, wholesaling opportunities, and donation opportunities can be found on their website.

“American culture – the blend of media, government, family expectations, community values, and behavioral norms – send our children a steady stream of “signals” as to what we as adults value in life. Those signals are decidedly NOT academic or intellectual achievement. When it comes to school, America is a sports and extracurricular culture and our kids get that message … the Indian and Chinese cultures are quite different and better suited for the economic competition the 21st century“.

The study concludes the “fault lies not in our (American) schools but in ourselves.”

“While parents (in China and India) may not come to a single soccer match, they wouldn’t miss a math, science, debate, elocution or chess team tournament …  academics are the priority, with sports played for exercise and team building. Parents invest in tutors to accelerate their child’s learning, not just for remedial work.”

Can you pass the 11th grade qualifying exam for high school students in India? A free online exam (see detailed information below) on the Two Million Minutes website gives you that opportunity to measure up to Indian standards.

The documentary film examines the lives of 6 students in China, India and the USA and shows different global views on education and gives American families and schools some new insights on making the most of those two million minutes of high school. The film examines the students priorities and time spent in class, at home studying, playing sports, sleeping, socializing, or just having fun.

How do family, friends and society influence a student’s choices for time allocation?
Is the push for education in some countries too all-consuming?
Is creativity, participating in more activities, having fun, and learning how to relate to others in social group just as important as formal education?

Mt. Compton states, “A surprisingly large segment of the American population believes India and China’s K-12 education systems are inferior to that of the United States … the conclusion is often the same - America is number one in education and always will be. This of course is not true. American students’ academic achievement has been declining vis-a-vis other developed countries for more than 20 years. What is now surprising and worrisome is US students are even lagging the developing world.”

“China now produces eight times more scientists and engineers, while India puts out up to three times as many as the U.S. Additionally, given the affordability of their wages, China and India are now preferred destinations for increasing numbers of multinational high-tech corporations.”

To test this challenge, The Two Million Minutes website has a Third World Challenge Exam which can be taken for free online. “Think your son or daughter has the education to pass the test required to enter the 11th grade, even in rural India?” The test is a sampling of the questions on the SAT-type exam that each 10th grader in India has to pass before moving on to the 11th grade.

More information on the documentary film and the Third World Challenge Exam can be found on their website.

Echoing Green has invested $27 million in seed grants to over 450 social entrepreneurs, who have sparked social change in 40 countries on 5 continents. Visionaries (fellowship candidates) are identified, funded with grants, provided with technical assistance, and connected to a global network of social entrepreneurs.

Through a 2-year fellowship program, social entrepreneurs are given assistance to solve deeply-rooted social, environmental, economic and political inequities around the world.

These new organizations, unconstrained by tradition, are often best able to bring true social change.

Some of the 2008 Echoing Green social entrepreneurs that were funded are:

* Zacatecas, Mexico - Gabriela Enrigue (UC Berkeley) and Leticia Jauregui (UC Davis), both attended college in Mexico, developed CREA as an integrated method for channeling migrant remittances to income generating projects of women entrepreneurs in high-migration communities in Mexico. CREA helps women entrepreneurs acquire new skills, build self-esteem, build closer partnerships with migrants, and generate local income and employment.

* China - Carol Chyau and Marie So (classmates at Harvard Kennedy School) launched Ventures in Development to identify, incubate and implement sustainable business enterprises in remote areas of the Tibetan plateau of China that will yield direct social benefits. Two of the initial enterprises focus on Shokay (materials made from Yak fur) and Mei Xiang Yak Cheese.

* Israel - Saman Salaime-Ebariya’s The Seven Women Center will help women fight the phenomenon of honor killings in the Arab community in Israel.

* Developing Countries - Yasmine McCarty and Nandini Narula’s project would bring low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries the power of online marketing technologies, which would enable them to grow their businesses.

* Developing Countries - Jane Chen and Rahul Panicker are working to develop and distribute a low cost infant incubator for use in developing countries.

Information on donating, interning, applying for a fellowship grant, and other activities can be found on Echoing Green’s website.

More than 11,000 students, young adults and teachers participate in AFS activities each year. More than 2,800 international high school students and teachers were hosted in the USA last year.

AFS first started as The American Field Service, the volunteer ambulance service, in 1914. AFS, headquartered in New York, currently has more than 350,000 alumni and has had experience with international exchange since 1919.

High school students and adults can choose from a variety of international student exchange programs.

For Americans 18+ years of age the University Study Program offers programs in Argentina and Panama, or Community Service Programs in Belgium, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Egypt, Ghana and South Africa.

For American high school students, various programs are offered in more than 40 countries, including Japan, Hong Kong, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Russia and many more. Programs include summer homestay, summer language study, semester programs, or summer community service missions.

Programs are primarily available in Asia, Europe and the Americas with a few opportunities in Africa.

AFS seeks to affirm faith in the dignity and worth of every human being and of all nations and cultures.

Information on donating, volunteering, becoming a host family, participating in a program, and other details can be found on their website.

With all the advances in American medical technology, 29 countries rank ahead of the USA in average life expectancy according to 2006 data by the World Health Organization (WHO). Japan tops the list with an average life expectancy of 83 years of age. Most every western European country tops the USA in life expectancy for a child born in 2006.

The USA has a life expectancy of 78 years of age. The USA life expectancy is at its highest rate ever, but why is the USA life expectancy not higher?

The top countries in terms of life expectancy in years, including both women and men:

83 - Japan

82 - Australia, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland

81 - Canada, France, Iceland, Israel, Spain, Sweden

80 - Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore

79 - Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Malta, Portugal, U.K., Rep. of Korea

78 - USA, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Kuwait, Qatar, Slovenia

The countries below are the lowest in the rankings … having average life expectancies of about half of Japan’s life expectancy.

Sierra Leone has the lowest life expectancy of 40 years … all the other countries below have life expectancies of 41 to 44 years.

Angola (41), Lesotho (42), Liberia (44), Niger (42), Sierra Leone (40), Swaziland (42), Zambia (43), Zimbabwe (43) and Afghanistan (42).

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Some other notable life expectancies:

Russian Federation - 66
China - 73
India - 63
Mexico - 74
Iran - 71
Iraq - 56
Saudi Arabia - 70

ITI has performed over 352,000 sight-saving surgeries and has administered over 77-million Antibiotic treatments.

ITI was founded in 1998 by founding partners, Pfizer Inc. and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, in response to the World Health Organization’s call to eliminate blinding trachoma by the year 2020.

With the support of ITI, Morocco is now working towards WHO (World Health Organization) certification to signify that blinding trachoma has been eliminated as a public health problem in Morocco. The Gambia, Ghana, Mauritania and Vietnamare on track to eliminate trachoma by the year 2010.

Other countries being assisted include Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Guinea-Bissau.
 
ITI works with local, national, and international governments and organizations to implement their SAFE strategy of:

* Surgery
* Antibiotics (Pfizer donated Zithromax)
* Facial cleanliness
* Environmental improvement

Trachoma is an infectious disease of the eye caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis that can eventually lead to irreversible blindness. The bacterium that causes trachoma can be spread easily by contact with the infected person’s hands or clothing, or may be carried by flies that have come into contact with discharge from the eyes or nose of an infected person.

The mission is to inspire, influence and enable educators in underserved communities to engage in youth in science and technology by building learning communities and environments in which students, educators and volunteers collaborate on projects in their local languages.

SEED School projects have been conducted in 39 countries, including Angola, Ecuador, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam … some projects in collaboration with American schools.

Over 2,600 volunteers, from more than 75 countries, have participated in SEED activities.

Topics of special projects include water testing and supply, traffic pollution, waste disposal, irrigation, tsunami alarm systems, eco-cars, food and nutrition, waste water, designing energy efficient buildings, and many more.

The Online Science Center provides resources for learners and educators in 7 languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Schlumberger experts can also answer questions about projects and activities.

SEED learning materials include ready-to-go experiments, activities and articles.

The School Network Program provides qualified underserved schools with 2-year grants that provide computer hardware and software, internet connectivity and educational resources and guidance … including efforts to ensure the continued life of the program after the 2-year grant period.

Schlumberger (Houston, Texas) is a leading oilfield services provider and provides global customers with a wide variety of energy related services and products. Schlumberger’s volunteers provide many services to SEED, and also serve the higher purpose of building understanding among the world’s diverse individuals and communities.

The story of CFF began in 2004 in Northern Peru with the first gathering of Women Coffee Producers came up with the idea to improve their living conditions by marketing their products separately from other coffee. Many of these coffee producing women in Peru, and throughout developing nations, have no rights, have been abandoned and are abused. In urban areas of Peru, the abuse rate, physically and emotionally, is estimated at 41%.

With limited resources, any family finances available for education are usually provided for the sons, while the daughters do chores and watch over the farm … fertilize, harvest, de-pulp, ferment, dry the coffee, etc. It is rare for women to participate in the selling of coffee or to make any decisions on how the money received is used.

The Cafe Femenino Foundation works within the socio-economic structure to support women coffee growers in countries such as Peru and Guatemala. The importer of Cafe Femenino coffee products agrees to sell the coffee as ‘Fair Trade‘ or ‘organic‘ coffee, and pays an additional premium per pound, which goes directly to the women coffee producers.

The increased income has resulted in improvements to the diet, improved sanitation, new wet-processing mills, many miles of new roads, educational improvements, and other improvements in living conditions.

Consumers can also donate to CFF, which provides grants to projects that enhance the lives of coffee communities.

Past grants include leadership training, kitchen remodeling projects, seed programs, breeding program, tsunami relief, Hurricane Stan relief, and other worthy projects.

The 2008 goal is to raise $100,000 for grant assistance.

Information on their “Coffee Can” donation program or other activities can be found on their website.

Looking at the filtering and censorship of political, social, conflict/security and internet tools, the OpenNet Initiative determined that the people of Iran, China, and Burma (Myanmar) have very little open access to internet websites. The governments in those countries filter out websites on all 4 criteria measured.

Tunisia and Saudi Arabia are not far behind Iran, China and Burma. No data was available on Cuba and North Korea, whose governments are also well known for restricting what can be viewed on the internet.

The OpenNet Initiative is partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, the Advanced Network Research Group at the Cambridge Security Programme, University of Cambridge, and the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University. The organization’s mission is to investigate, expose and analyze Internet filtering and surveillance practices in a credible and non-partisan fashion.

Another organization that studies press freedom worldwide, Reporters Without Borders, has come up with their list of the 15 countries that most restrict what its citizens can view on the internet.

That list includes Cuba, North Korea, Belarus, Burma (Myanmar), Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

Additional detailed information on internet freedoms and censorship issues can be found on the websites of the OpenNet Initiative and Reporters Without Borders.

The USA holds the top 5 supercomputers on the list. Germany holds the top system outside the USA. India and France also have systems in the Top 10.

The USA holds 257 of the 500 systems. Europe holds 184 systems and Asia holds 48 systems. Some of the leading countries on the list include the United Kingdom (53 systems), Germany (46 systems), Japan (22 systems), China (12 systems), India (6 systems).

The TOP500 list is compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim, Germany; Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The Top 20 listings are below:
1. USA - Dept. of Energy / NNSA / LANL
2. USA - Dept. of Energy / NNSA / LLNL
3. USA - Argonne National Laboratory
4. USA - Texas Advanced Computing Center/University of Texas
5. USA - Dept. of Energy / Oak Ridge National Laboratory
6. Germany - Forschungszentrum Juelich
7. USA - New Mexico Computing Applications Center
8. India - Computational Research Laboratories, TATA SONS
9. France - IDRIS
10. France - Total Exploration Production
11. Sweden - Government Agency
12. USA - NNSA / Sandia National Laboratories
13. France - EDF R&D
14. USA - IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
15. USA - NERSC/LBNL
16. Japan - Information Technology Center, The University of Tokyo
17. USA - StonyBrook/BNL, New York Center for Computational Sciences
18. United Kingdom - ECMWF
19. Germany - RZG / Max-Planck-Gesellschaft MPI/IPP
20. Japan - Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Other notable American listings are:
21. DOE/NNSA/LLNL
22. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations.
23. NCSA
25. NASA / Ames Research Center / NAS
28. ERDC MSRC
30. NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research)
31. NNSA / Sandia National Laboratories
33. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base / DOD ASC
35. IBM / ECMWF
37. IBM - Rochester
38. Texas Advanced Computing Center / University of Texas
41. Maui High-Performance Computing Center
43. US Army Research Laboratory
44. R-Systems
48. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
50. ERDC MSRC
54. Louisiana Optical Network Initiative
57. National Institute for Computational Sciences / Univ. of Tennessee
58. NASA / Ames Research Center / NAS
60. Harvard University - FAS Research Computing
62. Clemson University
63. University of Southern California