06.07.08
Posted in Environment & Energy, Fair Trade, Health & Education, Human Rights, Social Innovation & Mission Driven Entrepreneurship at 9:33 am by Oliver
At an event of the World Affairs Council in San Francisco last week, I had the chance to meet Wilford Welch and learn about his new book “The Tactics of Hope”.
In a nutshell, The Tactics of Hope is a call to action for individuals who are concerned about global issues such as poverty, human rights, social justice, and environmental sustainability but are not clear what steps they might best take to move from concern to effective action. The Tactics of Hope provides support and inspires by telling 27 stories of social entrepreneurs and their creative, powerful initiatives.
At the event, I also spoke to Priya Haji, one of the featured entrepreneurs in the book. Priya is co-founder and CEO of World of Good, a company that distributes handcrafted products made by artisans in developing countries. Besides the companies fair trade practices, 10% of World of Good’s profits go to its nonprofit foundation, which seeks to improve the standard of living of the artisans. World of Good supports 5,680 artisans who in turn have nearly 23,000 dependents. 75% of them are women. With the eBay partnership I was writing about in a post yesterday, World of Good will be able to leverage eBay’s technology and increase its scale and impact tremendously.
At the event, Tactics of Hope contributing editor David Hopkins presented the beta version of the application he was developing. In line with the book, the goal of this tool is to connect website visitors to organizations and other individuals around the world, who want to discover their own tactics of hope and take action to address the most pressing challenges of our time.
Of course you can buy the book online. To get it signed, however, you’ll need to meet Wilford and his team at one of the book stores listed here.
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06.06.08
Posted in Environment & Energy, Social Innovation & Mission Driven Entrepreneurship, Wired News & Press Releases at 9:08 am by Oliver
Sorting hotel search results by Price, Hotel Name, or Distance from a Landmark are familiar tools to almost any traveler, but RezHub.com, Orlando, FL based travel site is now providing a sort feature with a conscience: Sort by Green Score.
Customers using the RezHub hotel search are now able to view hotels in order of the way they care for the environment.
RezHub and their Green Travel Hub launched in September of last year with a dedication to providing green travel options to everyone and for every trip. Since their launch, the site has continued to provide innovative tools to help travelers learn that going green does not have to mean going to extremes. The Green Score ratings system for hotels was designed to show customers exactly what steps individual hotels are taking to protect the planet. Hotels earn points and Green Score “Branches” by completing tasks ranging from incorporating recycling programs, to using Energy Star Appliances, to landscaping with native plant gardens. RezHub became the first travel site to include a Green Score in every hotel search, and the launch of their “sort by Green Score” feature is the perfect enhancement. The Sort by Green Score feature works just as a “sort by price” would work. When sorted, hotels appear in order of their Green Score starting with the highest at the top and ranging down to the lowest.
RezHub has already Green Scored almost 1000 hotels in the US, 2000 worldwide, and their list grows daily. Customers are encouraged to keep in mind that although some hotels may only have received one Green Score Branch, that they are making positive changes for the planet.
“It’s important to support the green efforts that each hotel is making because it shows the management that they are doing the right thing. Supporting these programs now will help them grow in the future”
says Marketing Director for the website Melissa Evans. RezHub will continue on its mission to bring Green Travel to the mainstream. The Sort by Green Score is one of many more features to come that will take Green Travel searching to the next level.
In addition to providing Green Travel options, information, and bookings, the website donates 20% of its profits from every trip booked to an environmental non-profit group each quarter. Which non-profit group actually “gets the green” is decided by a vote from their customers. Both the RezHub Green Score and Sort by Green features are Patent Pending.
About RezHub.com
RezHub.com™ is the next generation of online travel, providing innovative research and reservation tools to the traveling public. It is our goal to ensure that you feel good about travel, especially when it comes to making the best choice for your trip.
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