Can Your Web Searching Save the World?

Our friends at Worldchanging just turned me on to Ripple, a search engine site that’s fighting global poverty, one click at a time. It’s yet another example of a web 2.0 concept tweaking an everyday action into a force for good, and the brilliant simplicity of the idea has held a smile on my face all afternoon.

Working with their own slate of partners for change including Oxfam, WaterAid, Oak Tree and the Grameen Foundation, Ripple has created two innovative ways of turning clicks into aid for the world’s poor. The first harnesses the pay-per-click economy of affiliate search programs. Ripple’s Google-powered search site allows users to conduct ordinary searches, but with a twist: Ripple donates their portion of Google’s paid search revenue to effect social and humanitarian change. In the second, users who click one of four “Give Panels” on the Ripple home page—dedicated to clean water, food, education and micro-finance—are shown an advertisement. Ripple then donates the revenue they earn from advertisers to address these needs.

Though Ripple earns only a small amount of money per click, it’s clear that the potential impact of such a program is vast. As Worldchanging points out, Americans pose more that 4 billion queries per month. Capturing even a small percentage of that market ads up to a lot, particularly on issues where even a few dollars can make an impact. It’s a provocative example of how the simplest things we do can be used as powerful tools for positive change.

Via Worldchanging.

Are Sharks That Bad?

Any person who spends time in the ocean knows that “sharky” feeling. Maybe you’ve stealthily paddled away from the crowd to explore a peak that’s showing potential, or you’re surfing near a rivermouth when the salmon are running. Usually it’s during a lull between sets that you look down at your feet dangling in the water and feel like you may not be alone. Cue Jaws soundtrack. In Oregon, we’ve had four shark attacks in the last couple years, one of which made national news when a surfer at Seaside Point got munched by a Great White on Christmas Eve, 2005. Talk about dangerous locals… It’s enough to make you slap a “No Sharks” sticker on your ride and denounce the whole species.

But I read an article in the paper on Memorial Day that put the whole sharks vs. man thing in perspective. It reported that although the number of shark attacks has increased over the last century as more people flock to the ocean, the average yearly number of actual shark-related fatalities worldwide is surprisingly low: four.

In contrast, human beings take out a staggering number of sharks per year, averaging somewhere between 26 to 73 million kills. Sharks are often butchered for their fins, which, when added to soup, is a delicacy in Asian countries. Now certain species are at risk of extinction. Were it not for the high prices fetched for the dorsal fins of these animals, fishermen from Mexico to Indonesia wouldn’t even bother catching them. But they do, and a common practice known as “finning”—when fishermen slice the big fins off live sharks and throw them back into the sea to bleed and drown—is finally being outlawed in countries like Mexico.

Though I was surprised at the low number of human deaths attributed to sharks per year, the statistics don’t make me feel any less like a part of the food chain when I dress like a seal and splash around outside the waves. But they do make me wonder if sharks shouldn’t be the ones sporting bumper stickers with “No Men” symbols on their tails.

A Sojourn to Sojourn Theatre

The other day I received an unusual invitation. Michael Rohd, the Creative Director of Sojourn Theater, asked me to participate in a public conversation with him. The stated topic was, “What is the morality of gain in a world where some have more and some have less,” or put another way, “What would you do for a million dollars?”

I accepted, but when it came time to join him and the assembled audience on Saturday afternoon I was regretting my decision. It had been a long week and to work it off I wanted to be on my skis rather than doing something that I saw as being work related. My conscience got the better of me. I went, and am I ever glad I did.

The creative process works in many ways, but if Sojourn’s critical acclaim is any evidence their methodology and passion seems to yield pretty exceptional results. As part of their exploratory process they engage in public conversations with people whose lives may shed some light on the play they’re currently developing. In this case, the play they’re working on is called “Good.” Apparently it’s about a very good woman who doesn’t have a lot of money. As a result of her goodness the angels have taken quite a liking to her. So, like any good angels, they decide to give her the Wentworth Subaru dealership on East Burnside in Portland. They give her the gift because they think she deserves it, but they also want to conduct an experiment: Will she retain her goodness in the face of her newfound business success?

Great question. Does one’s character inevitably change in the face of material acquisition or under the pressure and demands of a business enterprise? Do power, privilege and success begin to define us in ways that leave our goodness in the dust??

Oh yeah, the play will open on June 10th in Portland. The angels have worked their magic and found the perfect venue. It will be performed at the Wentworth Subaru dealership on East Burnside.