Fashion meets ethics as major retailers flaunt their Fairtrade cotton labels

2008: The Inflexion Year with Positive Outcomes!

Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007

Wired News rundown of the year's 10 most important scientific breakthroughs. 2007 was an amazing year for science. Unlike recent years, there were no high-profile cases of scientific fraud -- none that went uncovered, anyway. Journal publishers took extra care, requiring scientists to duplicate results in an effort to avoid scientific, not to mention public relations, fiascoes. And while those are entertaining, we'll take solid science over Sturm und Drang any day. Here we count down the top 10 scientific discoveries that rocked our Wired world the hardest this year.

Housing finds its new-age nirvana

Chain stores are few and far between on Fore Street, the steep hill that is the main shopping and social focus in the south Devon town of Totnes.
Instead, organic greengrocers vie for attention with vegetarian restaurants, while a disposable coffin adorns the window of a 'green' funeral parlour. And how many high streets can boast more than one reiki spiritual healing centre?
Totnes has just 8,500 residents, but a big reputation for chic Bohemianism and alternative lifestyles that draws in people from across the world: an Indian entrepreneur is starting a tuk-tuk (motorised rickshaw) taxi firm using bio-fuel cabs, and some Americans run an organic clothing shop selling jumpers made from the fleeces of local sheep

Microcredit seen growing despite credit crunch

Microfinance becoming part of a bigger world picture

Microfinance is seeing such keen interest from investors that the sector will likely soar tenfold in the coming years, a new research paper by Deutsche Bank predicts.
The study, the first on such investing ever published by a big financial institution, forecasts retail and institutional investments will hit $20-billion (U.S.) by 2015 from $2-billion currently

The final frontier for solar energy

Scientists are assessing the possibility of embarking on a space engineering project that would eclipse the effort to construct the International Space Station.

The commons, the state and transformative politics

Hilary Wainwright examines how new technology and new forms of organisation are coming together to transform the left and labour movements, political representation and democracy

University is on track with own record label

A YORKSHIRE university is giving its student musicians the chance to be creative about the way their songs are made and sold with the launch of its own record label.
Hull University wants students to be able to exploit new opportunities available on the internet through downloads and the creation of websites where fans can access their favourite songs.Rowan Oliver, the former drummer of dance group Goldfrapp, teaches creative music technology at the university and is helping to launch the record label at its Scarborough campus.Mr Oliver said: "We are encouraging our students to be innovative and to challenge the established practices of the music industry."

Hi-tech tools divide social sites

Social network sites are moving to make it much easier for software developers to write add-ons for the hugely popular web destinations.
Bebo, Facebook, Meebo and Friendster have unveiled plans to help them become more than places to keep in touch.
The add-ons will allow users to add extras, such as video and music clips, to the personal profiles they maintain. ...

Community Relations & Social Media

Care2.com Launches Political Network for Its 8 Million Members

REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwire - December 11, 2007) - Care2.com, the largest online community of socially conscious-consumers, has launched "Care2 Election08" Channel (http://www.care2.com/politics) for its 8 million members to access extensive information about the issues that matter to them and to provide a forum for Care2's 350 non-profit partners to feature their expertise and policy prescriptions about the challenges America faces. Care2 is the first and only organization to aggregate information on candidates and issues from non-profits and provide editorial through the Care2008 blog.

Wind 'could power all UK homes'

All UK homes could be powered by offshore wind farms by 2020 as part of the fight against climate change, under plans unveiled by John Hutton

Universal Sets Music Free On Imeem

The beleaguered music industry is beginning to show more enthusiasm for free, advertising-supported business models. The latest sign: Universal Music Group has agreed to provide its songs to online social network imeem.

New Fuel Cell Cleans Up Pollution And Produces Electricity

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2007) — Scientists in Pennsylvania are reporting development of a fuel cell that uses pollution from coal and metal mines to generate electricity, solving a serious environmental problem while providing a new source of energy. They describe successful tests of a laboratory-scale version of the device in a new study.

Glimpsing Nigeria's digital lifeline

Experiences from the first school in Africa to use the '$100 laptop'

China and the EU could lead the low-carbon economy

An environmental approach to technology- Tang Hai

Introduction- chinadialogue

chinadialogue.net is an independent, non-profit organisation based in London and Beijing. It is owned by the Open Trust, a London based educational charity. It was launched on July 3, 2006. It is an initiative supported by a range of educational charities as well as the UK-China Sustainable Development Dialogue led by Defra (Britain's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). All articles published on their site appear in both English & Chinese. A few of their most recent reports linked to after this post