Banking with the Poor Network - BWTP Paula Baptista Paula Baptista Paula is a Brazilian Architect and Urbanist specialized in sustainable building: performance and design. Her work is inspired by the idea of employing a holistic approach to architectural and urban design by following ecological energy efficiency principles. She is currently working at adapting green technologies to the Brazilian construction method via passive and active design strategies along with an award winning team of architects and engineers at Tecverde Engineering. We caught up with Paula to find out how she’s helping to build a greener future. E2H: Of all the places you’ve either visited or lived, which do you feel embraces the most sustainable way of life? Paula: My personal idea of a sustainable way of life is one that offers a healthy, live and dynamic balance between the various interconnected systems that make up a city: the social, cultural, ecological, economic, and so on. The city of Curitiba - image licensed under Creative Commons
Feminist Majority Microfinance and Microcredit Investment | Microcapital.org Mission | Lucy and the New Dawn Traders “…an adventure under sail: trading, sharing, feasting and daring our way to a sustainable future!” The New Dawn Traders The New Dawn Traders is a project born from a passion for life and living within the planets means. Our voyages are symbolic, trading goods under sail, following the trade winds and connecting with people along the way. Our first voyage, for six months from February – July 2012, was aboard the worthy ship Irene, normally berthed in Bristol. After many reincarnations she had been relaunched as a trading and training vessel. The journey was long and full of uncertainty. We departed from Plymouth on Valentines day with a cargo of organic beer from Exeter brewery destined for Brest in Brittany. We, the New Dawn Traders, invite you to join us along the way by following our story. Our purpose… Actively campaign for sail trade, the slow cargo movement and to reconnect people with the seas. Our strategy… Please get in touch: email: lucy@newdawntraders.com or info@newdawntraders.com
MIX - Microfinance Information Exchange Shabnam Anvar | everyday stories - urban european sustainable living Shabnam is half French, half Iranian and born in the USA, where she spent the first years of her life. So it is perhaps no wonder, her openness to the diversity of all things and her ability to look at things from many angles. Growing up in a family involved in human rights, Shabnam took her own stance, and at a very early age became a defender of the planet. Shabnam is a bit like an environmental Macgyver, with great perception of situations and her mind jumps directly to work on developing solutions. “I hear my friends complain about putting together their IKEA kitchens, but doing my kitchen was fun” Waste is Shabnam’s speciality. “People think composting is a lot of hassle, but they also find it a hassle taking down their garbage everyday. Visit Shabnams blog Ripe Green Ideas here Or look at her other projects keywords: collaboration, consumption, furniture, outreach, sharing, upcycling, zero waste
Microfinance Focus Matternet Founder Paola Santana Wants To Replace The Postal System With Drones Imagine a world where drones fly the skies -- but the drones aren't for warfare. Instead they're delivering packages, leapfrogging traditional infrastructure to create a world connected by tiny, nonviolent drones. In the U.S., such drones could replace the aging postal system; in developing countries, the drones could connect rural communities to markets, alleviating poverty and delivering badly needed supplies and medicines. Imagine that world -- and imagine the woman trying to make it a reality. That's Paola Santana, a former lawyer from the Dominican Republic, who founded the startup Matternet in 2011 with four other immigrant entrepreneurs. "I’m talking to you about 2010, two years ago, 1.5 years ago, I didn’t know this word entrepreneur, either in English or Spanish," she recently recalled. Santana is now back in the Dominican Republic, working to launch the drones in her home country. Matternet’s drones are small, electric quadcopters that use batteries to function.
The Women of Social Media: Digital Influencer Study [Infographic] According to recent data from Pew Research Center, online women use social networking sites in greater proportions than men do: 75% vs. 63%. What are those women doing on their social networks? What are they discussing? How much influence do they wield? The answers to those questions can be found in the following infographic by global communications firm Weber Shandwick. The firm partnered with KRC Research to conduct an online survey of 2,000 North American women. So, what did the study discover? Some 86% of North American online women have a social media account/profile, with 2.2 accounts on average each. And how much time are online women spending on social media? Women of social media enjoy their online networks nearly as much as they enjoy live social activities, and they even enjoy it slightly more than dating or spending time with their significant other. Moreover, 62% of women of social media like that social media lets them control who talks to them and who they talk to.