Viva Mandela! He lives forever in our hearts!
Friday, December 6, 2013
Viva Mandela! He lives forever in our hearts!
When Jerry & I visited Madiba at his Soweto home soon after his release from prison. We were privileged to work with Oliver & Adelaide Tambo, Albertina Sisulu, Albie Sachs and other leaders of ANC Executive Committee while Mandela was in prison. Please write tributes to Mandela in comments below!
Viva Mandela! He lives forever in our hearts!
Viva Mandela! He lives forever in our hearts!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
The Future of Meat is Vegan, Says Bill Gates
The Future of Meat is Vegan, Says Bill Gates
Ever since retiring from Microsoft, Billionaire Bill Gates has been philanthropically involved with various humanitarian causes. Feeding the world is one of them. His heart is in the right place, although some of the directions taken are controversial.
Recently, Gates published a thoughtful multimedia essay on his website, entitled The Future of Food – How food scientists are reinventing meat – and how it can benefit everyone. The underlying thesis: world demand for meat is doubling every few decades…the earth cannot sustain this growth…we need a solution…the solution is tech to transform plant proteins into meat equivalents…the end result should be satisfactory to the most nuanced chefs.
Global Demand for Meat
Take, for example, their vegan “Grilled Chicken-Free Strips” product. The protein base is soy and peas. As you can see from the ingredients, a lot of work is required to recreate the mouth feel, texture, and taste of chicken.
Ingredients: Water,
soy protein isolate*, pea protein isolate, amaranth, chicken flavor
[vegan] (maltodextrin, yeast extract, natural flavoring),
expeller-pressed canola oil*, soy fiber*, carrot fiber, contains 0.5% or
less of: white vinegar, salt, molasses, garlic, hickory smoke powder,
onion, lemon juice concentrate, black pepper, sugar, mustard powder,
paprika, sodium alginate, dipotassium phosphate, titanium dioxide
(color), calcium sulfate, red and green bell pepper powder, parsley,
cayenne pepper.
*non-GMO identity preserved
Have you eaten these or similar products? Can you imagine yourself mostly eating this instead of real chicken?—-
A few parting thoughts on the future of meat:
For entire populations that have never eaten meat, is it really that critical to create fake steaks? Why not improve the availability of the types plant based foods they are culturally eating today?
Will our grandchildren, or theirs, look back upon our generation and consider our meat eating as cruel and savage, much as we look upon cannibalism or slave ownership? Will the societal norms and ethics of the 22nd century dictate a human race that is vegan?
Get Fooducated
Meat consumption worldwide has doubled in the last 20 years, and it is expected to double again by 2050.
This is happening in large part because economies are growing and
people can afford more meat. That's all good news. But raising meat
takes a great deal of land and water and has a substantial environmental
impact. Put simply, there’s no way to produce enough meat for 9
billion people. Yet we can't ask everyone to become vegetarians. We
need more options for producing meat without depleting our resources.
Over the past few years I've come across a few companies that are doing pioneering work on innovations that give a glimpse into possible solutions. To be sure, it's still very early, but the work these companies are doing makes me optimistic. I wanted to share with you a look at their work on creating alternatives to meat and eggs that are just as healthful, are produced more sustainably, and taste great.
Read on to learn how their work can benefit everyone.
Over the past few years I've come across a few companies that are doing pioneering work on innovations that give a glimpse into possible solutions. To be sure, it's still very early, but the work these companies are doing makes me optimistic. I wanted to share with you a look at their work on creating alternatives to meat and eggs that are just as healthful, are produced more sustainably, and taste great.
Read on to learn how their work can benefit everyone.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Can Silicon Valley Make Fake Meat and Eggs That Don't Suck? | Mother Jones
Can Silicon Valley Make Fake Meat and Eggs That Don't Suck? | Mother Jones
Is Bill Gates right ? IS THE FUTURE OF MEAT VEGAN?
It is much more sustainable and in the case of the Vegetarian Butcher from Holland the quality did fool the best CHEF in the world! Who thought he was easting finest Chicken not Soja meat!
We stood in an airy San Francisco warehouse, staring at two plastic cups of gleaming mayonnaise. A golden retriever snored lightly in a patch of sunlight on the floor as Josh Tetrick, the 33-year-old founder of Hampton Creek Foods, waited for me to scoop up the fluffy, effulgent goop with a chunk of bread. Tetrick's team of food scientists had tried making mayonnaise without eggs no less than 1,432 times. This formula was the 1,433rd.
"The egg is this unbelievable miracle of nature that has really been perverted by an unsustainable system," Tetrick, a former West Virginia University linebacker and Fulbright Scholar, had explained to me earlier on our tour of the Hampton Creek Foods facility, a well-lit, cavernous space with rows of metal lab tables, bright red couches, and chalkboards.
I let the eggless mayo dissolve in my mouth like a fine chocolate truffle. It tasted exactly like the real mayo that I've slathered on sandwiches countless times before. If I hadn't known that it was fake, I never would have guessed.
Over the next five years, Hampton Creek Foods, backed by $3 million from Sun Microsystems cofounder Vinod Khosla's venture capital firm, will first hawk its product to manufacturers of prepared foods like pasta, cookies, and dressings—the processed products that use about a third of all the eggs in the United States. Then it will aim directly for your omelet with an Egg Beaters-like packaged product. The goal, Tetrick explains, is to replace all factory-farmed eggs in the US market—more than 80 billion eggs, valued at $213.7 billion.
Beyond Eggs isn't the only fake-food startup in Silicon Valley. In the last couple of years, venture capitalists, including Bill Gates and the cofounders of Twitter, have been pouring serious cash into ersatz animal products. Their goal is to transform the food system the same way Apple changed how we use phones, or how Google changed the way we find information.
These new products are not the Boca Burgers of the '90s, thinly concealed soy loaves designed to make vegetarians feel less ostracized at a barbecue. Rather, these entrepreneurs are determined to realign plant proteins into tasting and feeling exactly like meat. The goal is not a slightly improved Tofurky—it's a product that could trick even the most discerning of steak eaters.
Sound a little grandiose? Well, yeah—but welcome to Silicon Valley, where you'd be laughed out of your pitch meeting if your startup didn't promise to change the world. And food industry experts think that Tetrick and his ilk might actually have a shot. According to the market research firm Mintel, some 28 percent of Americans are trying to consume fewer meat products. Patty Johnson, a Mintel analyst, believes that this group, many of them following doctors' orders to cut cholesterol, will be game to try meat substitutes that don't require them to change their recipes. "Products that can mimic chicken the best will do well with that group—the reluctant vegetarians," she says. "I think that they have a potential to carve out some share there in the mainstream consumer market."
If there's a ted Talk gene, Tetrick has it. A former sustainability associate for Citigroup, investment law adviser for Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and White House intern under President Clinton, he has bright eyes, tanned arms, and wiry hands that constantly pantomime his words. When Tetrick pitches Beyond Eggs, he begins with a story about how most of the United States' eggs are produced by birds pumped full of corn, soy, and antibiotics in giant rows of cages. "Female birds are packed body to body in tiny cages so small they can't flap their wings," he says, enunciating every syllable in a slight twang that hints at his Alabama childhood. "They never see the sunlight. They never touch the soil."
Tetrick is a vegan, but "as a company, we're not about starting a conversation about whether you shouldn't eat animals or you should eat animals," he explains. Regular people should be able to eat what they want without guilt, he says: "Does my mom, when she eats a muffin, really have to subconsciously contribute to that type of unsustainable system? Can my little brother have a cookie? My God, can my dad have a Twinkie?"
To that end, Tetrick's two engineers, six biochemists, and 11 food scientists are on a single-minded quest to hack the egg and its 22 functional properties—foaming, emulsifying, coagulating, and so on. Their workshop is more laboratory than kitchen; among its host of moisture and texture analyzers is a piston that measures the springiness of a muffin.
That's not exactly true. Over the past two years, Tetrick estimates that his team has looked at the molecular weight of nearly a thousand plant proteins. His biochemists will buy pea protein isolate, for example, and run it through gel electrophoresis, a method also used in DNA analysis, to find out whether that protein can mimic the way an egg white foams up. The next step is processing—essentially putting the isolates through a mill with very particular specs for heat, speed, and pressure. He can't tell me too much past that without getting into patented secrets, but he says that the more gentle the processing, the better. "It's branched-chain amino acids, and if we mess with it too much, that protein will unfold," he says. If that happens, the whole experiment collapses, and the scientists can no longer make the substance behave like an egg.
Tetrick's product has already fooled some key testers. Eight months before my tour, at a high-profile Khosla Ventures investment conference, Beyond Eggs staged a blind tasting of its blueberry muffin and a real-egg version. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair reported that he couldn't tell the difference. Neither could Bill Gates—who was so impressed he became an investor in the company. This past March, Gates featured Beyond Eggs, along with a fake-meat company called Beyond Meat (no relation) and salt-substitute maker Nu-Tek Salt, in an online presentation called "The Future of Food." In it, he enthused: "We're just at the beginning of enormous innovation in this space. For a world full of people who would benefit from getting a nutritious, protein-rich diet, this makes me very optimistic."
Like Beyond Eggs, Beyond Meat is trying to fully replicate the experience of eating animal products: It currently makes impostor chicken strips and soon plans to move on to artificial ground beef and pork. Backed by Obvious Corp., the investing team launched by Twitter's cofounders, as well as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (one of the first venture capital firms to invest in Amazon and Google), Beyond Meat sees itself as part of the transition to a future in which "meat" can mean hyper-realistic plant substitutes. Beyond Meat's Chicken-Free Strips are sold at Whole Foods and are set to hit conventional supermarkets by early 2014.
"We call it 'transformative agriculture,'" explains Amol Deshpande, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins. Beyond Meat is the first food company Kleiner Perkins has funded, but Deshpande says the firm is expanding: "There are going to be 9 billion people on the planet to feed. We have to think more broadly." Indeed, Beyond Meat calculates that its process is 55 times more efficient than beef farming when it comes to land use, and 18 times more efficient than raising poultry.
If making impostor eggs for use in mayo and muffins is a challenge, creating fake meat that actually feels and tastes like muscle is a much harder one, as anyone who has eaten a seitan sandwich can attest. Herbert Stone, former president of the Institute of Food Technologists and a member of the first Apollo space mission's food science team, remembers encountering this dilemma around 1963, when the price of beef was skyrocketing and he began helping companies develop soy-based extenders. Since then, Stone says that he has consulted for three or four fake-meat companies and has seen 15 or 20 (he won't say which ones) whose products have failed over the years. Current clients looking to perfect fake meat include several Chinese manufacturers.
Is Bill Gates right ? IS THE FUTURE OF MEAT VEGAN?
It is much more sustainable and in the case of the Vegetarian Butcher from Holland the quality did fool the best CHEF in the world! Who thought he was easting finest Chicken not Soja meat!
Can Silicon Valley Make Fake Meat and Eggs That Don't Suck?
These food hackers think their new faux animal products will win over even the most devoted carnivores.
| Mon Dec. 2, 2013 2:55 AM GMT
"The egg is this unbelievable miracle of nature that has really been perverted by an unsustainable system," Tetrick, a former West Virginia University linebacker and Fulbright Scholar, had explained to me earlier on our tour of the Hampton Creek Foods facility, a well-lit, cavernous space with rows of metal lab tables, bright red couches, and chalkboards.
The goal, Tetrick explains, is to replace all factory-farmed eggs in the US market.
Mod warehouse, hip startup, vegan eggs—it all struck me as a little too precious for the big time. But Tetrick is adamant that his product has a market beyond this rarefied universe. "We're not just about selling and preaching to the converted," he says. "This isn't just going to happen in San Francisco, in a world of vegans. This is going to happen in Birmingham, Alabama. This is going to happen in Missouri, in Philadelphia."I let the eggless mayo dissolve in my mouth like a fine chocolate truffle. It tasted exactly like the real mayo that I've slathered on sandwiches countless times before. If I hadn't known that it was fake, I never would have guessed.
Over the next five years, Hampton Creek Foods, backed by $3 million from Sun Microsystems cofounder Vinod Khosla's venture capital firm, will first hawk its product to manufacturers of prepared foods like pasta, cookies, and dressings—the processed products that use about a third of all the eggs in the United States. Then it will aim directly for your omelet with an Egg Beaters-like packaged product. The goal, Tetrick explains, is to replace all factory-farmed eggs in the US market—more than 80 billion eggs, valued at $213.7 billion.
Beyond Eggs isn't the only fake-food startup in Silicon Valley. In the last couple of years, venture capitalists, including Bill Gates and the cofounders of Twitter, have been pouring serious cash into ersatz animal products. Their goal is to transform the food system the same way Apple changed how we use phones, or how Google changed the way we find information.
Josh Tetrick Photo by Matthew Reamer
Sound a little grandiose? Well, yeah—but welcome to Silicon Valley, where you'd be laughed out of your pitch meeting if your startup didn't promise to change the world. And food industry experts think that Tetrick and his ilk might actually have a shot. According to the market research firm Mintel, some 28 percent of Americans are trying to consume fewer meat products. Patty Johnson, a Mintel analyst, believes that this group, many of them following doctors' orders to cut cholesterol, will be game to try meat substitutes that don't require them to change their recipes. "Products that can mimic chicken the best will do well with that group—the reluctant vegetarians," she says. "I think that they have a potential to carve out some share there in the mainstream consumer market."
If there's a ted Talk gene, Tetrick has it. A former sustainability associate for Citigroup, investment law adviser for Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and White House intern under President Clinton, he has bright eyes, tanned arms, and wiry hands that constantly pantomime his words. When Tetrick pitches Beyond Eggs, he begins with a story about how most of the United States' eggs are produced by birds pumped full of corn, soy, and antibiotics in giant rows of cages. "Female birds are packed body to body in tiny cages so small they can't flap their wings," he says, enunciating every syllable in a slight twang that hints at his Alabama childhood. "They never see the sunlight. They never touch the soil."
Tetrick is a vegan, but "as a company, we're not about starting a conversation about whether you shouldn't eat animals or you should eat animals," he explains. Regular people should be able to eat what they want without guilt, he says: "Does my mom, when she eats a muffin, really have to subconsciously contribute to that type of unsustainable system? Can my little brother have a cookie? My God, can my dad have a Twinkie?"
To that end, Tetrick's two engineers, six biochemists, and 11 food scientists are on a single-minded quest to hack the egg and its 22 functional properties—foaming, emulsifying, coagulating, and so on. Their workshop is more laboratory than kitchen; among its host of moisture and texture analyzers is a piston that measures the springiness of a muffin.
The team has looked at the molecular weight of nearly a thousand plant proteins.
It all begins, says Megan Clements, Tetrick's former director of "emulsion innovation," with powdered protein isolate, also commonly used in veggie burgers and energy bars. "Our processing isn't any more intensive than chickpea flour that you might buy from your local organic grocery store," Tetrick says.That's not exactly true. Over the past two years, Tetrick estimates that his team has looked at the molecular weight of nearly a thousand plant proteins. His biochemists will buy pea protein isolate, for example, and run it through gel electrophoresis, a method also used in DNA analysis, to find out whether that protein can mimic the way an egg white foams up. The next step is processing—essentially putting the isolates through a mill with very particular specs for heat, speed, and pressure. He can't tell me too much past that without getting into patented secrets, but he says that the more gentle the processing, the better. "It's branched-chain amino acids, and if we mess with it too much, that protein will unfold," he says. If that happens, the whole experiment collapses, and the scientists can no longer make the substance behave like an egg.
Tetrick's product has already fooled some key testers. Eight months before my tour, at a high-profile Khosla Ventures investment conference, Beyond Eggs staged a blind tasting of its blueberry muffin and a real-egg version. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair reported that he couldn't tell the difference. Neither could Bill Gates—who was so impressed he became an investor in the company. This past March, Gates featured Beyond Eggs, along with a fake-meat company called Beyond Meat (no relation) and salt-substitute maker Nu-Tek Salt, in an online presentation called "The Future of Food." In it, he enthused: "We're just at the beginning of enormous innovation in this space. For a world full of people who would benefit from getting a nutritious, protein-rich diet, this makes me very optimistic."
Like Beyond Eggs, Beyond Meat is trying to fully replicate the experience of eating animal products: It currently makes impostor chicken strips and soon plans to move on to artificial ground beef and pork. Backed by Obvious Corp., the investing team launched by Twitter's cofounders, as well as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (one of the first venture capital firms to invest in Amazon and Google), Beyond Meat sees itself as part of the transition to a future in which "meat" can mean hyper-realistic plant substitutes. Beyond Meat's Chicken-Free Strips are sold at Whole Foods and are set to hit conventional supermarkets by early 2014.
"We call it 'transformative agriculture,'" explains Amol Deshpande, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins. Beyond Meat is the first food company Kleiner Perkins has funded, but Deshpande says the firm is expanding: "There are going to be 9 billion people on the planet to feed. We have to think more broadly." Indeed, Beyond Meat calculates that its process is 55 times more efficient than beef farming when it comes to land use, and 18 times more efficient than raising poultry.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Pope Slams Rampant Inequality, 'Economy That Kills'
Pope Slams Rampant Inequality, 'Economy That Kills' | Common Dreams
"Today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills," Pope Francis wrote in a new document. (Photo: © European Union 2013 - European Parliament)Issued on Tuesday, his 224-page document, called an apostolic exhortation, is titled The Joy of the Gospel, and follows previous remarks the pontiff has made against inequality.
From the document:
"Until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples is reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence," he wrote.
Security is impossible in a state with rampant inequality, and cannot be provided through the surveillance state or militarism, he continued:
Pope Slams Rampant Inequality, 'Economy That Kills'
'The socioeconomic system is unjust at its root'
Pope Francis has issued a new document in which he rails against growing inequality, trickle-down economics and the current socioeconomic system that "is unjust at its root.""Today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills," Pope Francis wrote in a new document. (Photo: © European Union 2013 - European Parliament)Issued on Tuesday, his 224-page document, called an apostolic exhortation, is titled The Joy of the Gospel, and follows previous remarks the pontiff has made against inequality.From the document:
Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.Further, the Pope writes, "the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root," and thus spawns violence.
"Until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples is reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence," he wrote.
Security is impossible in a state with rampant inequality, and cannot be provided through the surveillance state or militarism, he continued:
When a society – whether local, national or global – is willing to leave a part of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility. This is not the case simply because inequality provokes a violent reaction from those excluded from the system, but because the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root.As for adherents to so-called trickle-down economics and austerity policies, he says:
Inequality eventually engenders a violence which recourse to arms cannot and never will be able to resolve. This serves only to offer false hopes to those clamouring for heightened security, even though nowadays we know that weapons and violence, rather than providing solutions, create new and more serious conflicts.
... some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.While some have welcomed Pope Francis' comments against inequality and war, he has been the target of criticism as well, including accusations of ties to Argentina's rightwing junta during the country's military dictatorship.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Small. The new big. Follow your Heart!
Watch this video by Dutch Triodos Bank the most sustainable bank in the world!
If you search for Triodos in my One Person Can Make A Difference Blog you will find out that i have been posting about Triodos the most sustainable bank in the world before! WHY? Because they are the most inspring Bank in the world and i am proud to announce that ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE and Triodos Bank will create a Partnership to take Impact Investing to the next Level! Kudos to the awesome people at Triodos who are a role model for the financial world.. Banking should be about making A Difference! Not just about making money!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
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Sunday, November 10, 2013
Sir Ken Robinson: How To Discover Your True Talents - Forbes
Sir Ken Robinson: How To Discover Your True Talents - Forbes
I spoke to Sir Ken Robinson about how professionals can discover their inner talents and passions. Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources in education and in business. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been viewed more than 25 million times and seen by an estimated 250 million people in over 150 countries. He is the author of The Element, Out of Our Minds and his latest called Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life.
In this interview, he talks about how to identify your unique talents and passions, what to do if you’re passionate isn’t something you’re good at, why not everyone can make a living doing what they love and more.
How do people identify their unique talents and passions? Does it happen by chance?
Whether or not you discover your talents and passions is partly a matter of opportunity. If you’ve never been sailing, or picked up an instrument, or tried to teach or to write fiction, how would you know if you had a talent for these things? Human resources are like the earth’s natural resources: they’re often buried beneath the surface and you have to make an effort to discover them. Finding Your Element offers advice, guidance and practical exercises to help you do this deliberately and systematically.
What if your passion isn’t something you’re good at?
The Element is where natural talents meet personal passions. To be in your Element, it’s not enough to be doing something you’re good at. Many people are good at things they don’t enjoy. To be in your Element you have to love it: if you do, you’ll never “work” again. Passion is the driver of achievement in all fields. Some people love doing things they don’t feel they’re good at. That may be because they underestimate their talents or haven’t yet put the work in to develop them. Either way, a strong passion allied with even a moderate talent, will generally get you further than a strong talent with little enthusiasm.
Do you think it’s realistic that everyone can turn their passion into a job and get fulfillment in their life? Why or why not?
Some people can make a living from being in their Element. Some can’t and others don’t want to. Finding your Element is not only about how your make money: it’s about the sort of life you make and whether, overall, you find it fulfilling and purposeful. Whether or not you can, or want to, make your living from being in your Element, you owe it to yourself to ensure that there’s some part of your day or week when you’re doing what comes most naturally to you and make you feel at your most centered and authentic.
In this bad economy, how do you gain the confidence to pursue your dreams?
As I say, being in your Element may be an avocation rather than an occupation. That depends on you and your circumstances. We’re all unique and every life is different. No one else has your resume. Human beings have tremendous powers of imagination and creativity. You create your life and you can recreate it too. In times of economic downturn and uncertainty it’s more important than ever to look deep inside yourself to fathom the sort of life you really want to lead and the talents and passions that can make that possible.
What are your top three career advice tips?
First, life is not linear. What you’re doing now, or have done in the past, need not determine what you can do next and in the future. Finding Your Element is full of stories and examples of people who’ve made often dramatic and surprising changes in the direction of their lives in order to be in their Element.
Second, money is no guarantee of happiness. We all need enough to live and take care of those who depend on us. But research and experience all confirm that there is no direct relationship between wealth and well-being. Happiness, if that’s what you want, is a spiritual state, not a material one. It comes from being fulfilled, having a sense of purpose and feeling authentic.
Third, the greatest obstacles to finding your Element may lie inside you. You may fear other people’s opinions or that you will fail and look foolish. Finding your Element may take courage, but all worthwhile accomplishments do.
Dan Schawbel is the author of the upcoming book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success (St. Martin’s Press, Sept 3rd).
Sir Ken Robinson: How To Discover Your True Talents
Sir Ken Robinson
In this interview, he talks about how to identify your unique talents and passions, what to do if you’re passionate isn’t something you’re good at, why not everyone can make a living doing what they love and more.
How do people identify their unique talents and passions? Does it happen by chance?
Whether or not you discover your talents and passions is partly a matter of opportunity. If you’ve never been sailing, or picked up an instrument, or tried to teach or to write fiction, how would you know if you had a talent for these things? Human resources are like the earth’s natural resources: they’re often buried beneath the surface and you have to make an effort to discover them. Finding Your Element offers advice, guidance and practical exercises to help you do this deliberately and systematically.
What if your passion isn’t something you’re good at?
The Element is where natural talents meet personal passions. To be in your Element, it’s not enough to be doing something you’re good at. Many people are good at things they don’t enjoy. To be in your Element you have to love it: if you do, you’ll never “work” again. Passion is the driver of achievement in all fields. Some people love doing things they don’t feel they’re good at. That may be because they underestimate their talents or haven’t yet put the work in to develop them. Either way, a strong passion allied with even a moderate talent, will generally get you further than a strong talent with little enthusiasm.
Do you think it’s realistic that everyone can turn their passion into a job and get fulfillment in their life? Why or why not?
Some people can make a living from being in their Element. Some can’t and others don’t want to. Finding your Element is not only about how your make money: it’s about the sort of life you make and whether, overall, you find it fulfilling and purposeful. Whether or not you can, or want to, make your living from being in your Element, you owe it to yourself to ensure that there’s some part of your day or week when you’re doing what comes most naturally to you and make you feel at your most centered and authentic.
In this bad economy, how do you gain the confidence to pursue your dreams?
As I say, being in your Element may be an avocation rather than an occupation. That depends on you and your circumstances. We’re all unique and every life is different. No one else has your resume. Human beings have tremendous powers of imagination and creativity. You create your life and you can recreate it too. In times of economic downturn and uncertainty it’s more important than ever to look deep inside yourself to fathom the sort of life you really want to lead and the talents and passions that can make that possible.
What are your top three career advice tips?
First, life is not linear. What you’re doing now, or have done in the past, need not determine what you can do next and in the future. Finding Your Element is full of stories and examples of people who’ve made often dramatic and surprising changes in the direction of their lives in order to be in their Element.
Second, money is no guarantee of happiness. We all need enough to live and take care of those who depend on us. But research and experience all confirm that there is no direct relationship between wealth and well-being. Happiness, if that’s what you want, is a spiritual state, not a material one. It comes from being fulfilled, having a sense of purpose and feeling authentic.
Third, the greatest obstacles to finding your Element may lie inside you. You may fear other people’s opinions or that you will fail and look foolish. Finding your Element may take courage, but all worthwhile accomplishments do.
Dan Schawbel is the author of the upcoming book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success (St. Martin’s Press, Sept 3rd).
Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley | Video on TED.com
Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley | Video on TED.com
This is very important! VERY IMPORTANT!
If you want to build a sustainable future!
This is very important! VERY IMPORTANT!
If you want to build a sustainable future!
Saturday, November 9, 2013
David Suzuki's Fukushima Warning Is Dire And Scary (VIDEO)
David Suzuki's Fukushima Warning Is Dire And Scary (VIDEO)
david suzuki fukushima
David Suzuki has issued a scary warning about Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, saying that if it falls in a future earthquake, it's "bye bye Japan" and the entire west coast of North America should be evacuated.
The "Nature of Things" host made the comments in a talk posted to YouTube after he joined Dr. David Schindler for "Letting in the Light," a symposium on water ecology held at the University of Alberta on Oct. 30 and 31.
An excerpt of the talk shows Suzuki outlining a frightening scenario that would result from the destruction of the nuclear plant.
"Fukushima is the most terrifying situation I can imagine," he said.
"Three out of the four plants were destroyed in the earthquake and in the tsunami. The fourth one has been so badly damaged that the fear is, if there's another earthquake of a seven or above that, that building will go and then all hell breaks loose.
"And the probability of a seven or above earthquake in the next three years is over 95 per cent."
Suzuki said that an international team of experts needs to go into the Fukushima plant and help fix the problem, but said the Japanese government has "too much pride to admit that."
"I have seen a paper which says that if in fact the fourth plant goes under in an earthquake and those rods are exposed, it's bye bye Japan and everybody on the west coast of North America should evacuate," he said.
"If that isn't terrifying, I don't know what is."
Suzuki's warning came as radiation from the Fukushima plant has been detected in northern Alaska and along the west coast, CBC News reported.
Radiation in Alaskan waters could reach Cold War levels, said Douglas Dasher, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, although John Kelley, a professor emeritus at the same university, doesn't seem as certain that it will reach dangerous levels for humans.
"The data they will need is not only past data but current data, and if no one is sampling anything then we won't really know it, will we," he told the network.
david suzuki fukushima
David Suzuki has issued a scary warning about Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, saying that if it falls in a future earthquake, it's "bye bye Japan" and the entire west coast of North America should be evacuated.
The "Nature of Things" host made the comments in a talk posted to YouTube after he joined Dr. David Schindler for "Letting in the Light," a symposium on water ecology held at the University of Alberta on Oct. 30 and 31.
An excerpt of the talk shows Suzuki outlining a frightening scenario that would result from the destruction of the nuclear plant.
"Fukushima is the most terrifying situation I can imagine," he said.
"Three out of the four plants were destroyed in the earthquake and in the tsunami. The fourth one has been so badly damaged that the fear is, if there's another earthquake of a seven or above that, that building will go and then all hell breaks loose.
"And the probability of a seven or above earthquake in the next three years is over 95 per cent."
Suzuki said that an international team of experts needs to go into the Fukushima plant and help fix the problem, but said the Japanese government has "too much pride to admit that."
"I have seen a paper which says that if in fact the fourth plant goes under in an earthquake and those rods are exposed, it's bye bye Japan and everybody on the west coast of North America should evacuate," he said.
"If that isn't terrifying, I don't know what is."
Suzuki's warning came as radiation from the Fukushima plant has been detected in northern Alaska and along the west coast, CBC News reported.
Radiation in Alaskan waters could reach Cold War levels, said Douglas Dasher, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, although John Kelley, a professor emeritus at the same university, doesn't seem as certain that it will reach dangerous levels for humans.
"The data they will need is not only past data but current data, and if no one is sampling anything then we won't really know it, will we," he told the network.
Friday, November 8, 2013
On the Road: Middle school football players execute life-changing play
http://www.youtube.com/v/0Ejh_hb15Fc?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&feature=share&autoplay=1&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=wSYEzl9fJECxIWeDnCutwQ
Devin D. Thorpe @devindthorpe
Please, seriously, take 3 minutes and watch this vid: it will change your day! http://buff.ly/1atYt6L #letsdosomegood
Devin D. Thorpe @devindthorpe
Please, seriously, take 3 minutes and watch this vid: it will change your day! http://buff.ly/1atYt6L #letsdosomegood
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Life is about being more..not about having more.....
Life is about being more..not about having more.....
More and more people see that current system is SICK we don't have a environmental crisis, a world hunger crisis, a debt crisis a political crisis... we have a system Crisis... we must CHANGE the SYSTEM..only PEOPLE POWER can do that. Read our Agenda 2022 and you will find out that it would be a better world for EVERYONE.. thank you for making a Difference for a BETTER WORLD!
Together we will build a brighter future! http://onepersoncanmad.blogspot.co.at/2011/07/planetary-emergency.html
More and more people see that current system is SICK we don't have a environmental crisis, a world hunger crisis, a debt crisis a political crisis... we have a system Crisis... we must CHANGE the SYSTEM..only PEOPLE POWER can do that. Read our Agenda 2022 and you will find out that it would be a better world for EVERYONE.. thank you for making a Difference for a BETTER WORLD!
Together we will build a brighter future! http://onepersoncanmad.blogspot.co.at/2011/07/planetary-emergency.html
Leonardo DiCaprio is a hero for the environment
Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation
Since 1998, the Foundation has been working on pressing environmental and humanitarian issues through grant making, campaigning and media projects. Areas of focus include; wildlife and habitat preservation, healthy oceans, water access, climate change and disaster relief. The Foundation’s strategic approach to philanthropy for a better planet relies upon active collaboration with effective organizations as well as with other funders who share our goals and can magnify our impact.
Philanthropy Providing grants to innovative, results-driven conservation projects, collaborative initiatives, and trusted nonprofits.
Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation:
Dedicated to protecting Earth’s last wild places and fostering a harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world.Since 1998, the Foundation has been working on pressing environmental and humanitarian issues through grant making, campaigning and media projects. Areas of focus include; wildlife and habitat preservation, healthy oceans, water access, climate change and disaster relief. The Foundation’s strategic approach to philanthropy for a better planet relies upon active collaboration with effective organizations as well as with other funders who share our goals and can magnify our impact.
Philanthropy Providing grants to innovative, results-driven conservation projects, collaborative initiatives, and trusted nonprofits.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
BMW i's Uwe Dreher on the comprehensive innovations behind BMW i [SB '13...
http://www.youtube.com/v/vtkKn9VKsHE?version=3&autohide=1&showinfo=1&autohide=1&autoplay=1&feature=share&attribution_tag=k49BlvChGkJzbsmBIGu9yg
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Twitter for Good Diaz-Ortiz 1118061934
http://www.youtube.com/v/nP9FyY9BFM8?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&showinfo=1&feature=share&autoplay=1&attribution_tag=CEe_vXHe3NJCmXdwzAEjuQ
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Great Food for thought....
Nobel-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman – author of the indispensable Thinking, Fast and Slow, one of the best psychology books of 2012 – who examines "the marvels and the flaws of intuitive thinking." http://www.brainpickings.org/
Thursday, October 31, 2013
The Molina Center - sustainability education and internships for at-risk youth
The
Molina Center is building a place which equalizes opportunity for young
people, breaking at-risk youth out of chronic poverty, homelessness and
unemployment and tuning them into the reality that solving global challenges locally has a neat side-effect: employment, education and a brighter future for all.
We
will engage at-risk youth with paid internships in sustainability - a
long-term transitional residential program running every aspect of our
social enterprise businesses. Working as a team in an
entrepreneurial environment where everyone is encouraged and supported
to consider their reach and capacity to make a lasting difference. Within a real eco-village community that gives full support for our interns to run every aspect of our business and community life.
Yes, real paid internships for at-risk youth.
With all the wholistic structure and support needed to ensure lasting success.
If you are an intern coming to live and work at The Molina Center:
-
we will meet you where you are - now, and move with you to the future you want
-
we will create mentoring partnerships with key experts in the local community
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we will recognize that you are a complex being, and work with you to address the root causes of emotional distress and under-achievement
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you are a valued member of our team, and have great insight and energy to give
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we will ensure that you are secure financially, comfortably housed, eat good food and are part of a dynamic and inspirational community
What We Have Now:
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the land: 42 beautiful acres in western Colorado held free and clear by our 501(c)(3) non-profit
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the facility: two main buildings (one brand new!), plus a number of smaller ones, all the infrastructure in place
-
the people: a well-credentialed board hailing from around the
USA, an Executive Director from Australia, a qualified chef to make that
good food, community and industry partners and a diverse network of
volunteers and supporters
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the programs: two thoroughly researched and innovative programs - Food Foresters (Permaculture and Urban Gardening) and Natural Builders (sustainable building pre-vocational program)
-
the youth: we already have enough potential interns to book us out several times over
We Need Your Help With:
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operational funding: startup money to pay our new staff, interns, insurance, materials (once we are established we should be self-sustaining)
-
credibility: we have already spoken to a number of grant-making foundations - the common thread has been "show us that you have broad, grassroots support and get back to us" - they are enthusiastic and keen to help, but no-one wants to be the first in to support a new approach
Hence this crowdfunding campaign. After several years of planning,
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of private financial and in-kind
donations and support, we are coming out of "stealth mode" and asking for your - the general public's - support.
As soon as we reach $30,000 on this campaign, we can start our programs.
However - we need to raise $300,000 to be
sure that we can continue operations in the long term - we will be
working intensely to push our campaign to this goal! Raising up to or beyond $300,000 will ensure that we have enough to fund operations well into 2015 and
convince grant-making foundations that we are a safe investment, so
that we can continue to inspire many more at-risk youth into the future.
If you can't afford a donation, then share this with your friends.
Even just talking about us - saying "check out The Molina Center, they
are doing cool stuff" to everyone you know - will make a real difference
to our collective future. Check out our Referral Prizes shown at the
end of this page to see how we will thank you for your support.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Redirect with Timothy Wilson We could solve a lot of problems if we could get people to redirect their interpretations in healthier directions.”
We could solve a lot of problems if we could get people to redirect their interpretations in healthier directions.”
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