GOOD December

Multi-task this year by holiday shopping while doing good. If you're in the Manhattan area, check out GOOD December, a collaborative pop-up community center and gallery store. This temporary pop up show is at Openhouse Gallery at 201 Mulberry St. and open from 11am-6pm December 6th through 23rd. The center is organized around the themes of Media, Environment, Technology, Design, Education, Culture, Business & Money, and Health. For more information, visit GoodDecember.org

Redbean Custom Cards

What do you do when Christmas is fast approaching and you want some custom, eco-modern holiday cards? San Francisco based Redbean Design studio just might be the answer. They just introduced a fresh new collection of modern greeting cards for winter. We received a sample pack of these lovely stationary items in the mail the other day and they are truly yummy to the eye and surprisingly tactile. Check out Redbean's website here.

One Percent For the Planet Auction

The first ever fundraising Auction for 1% For The Planet has begun! You can bid on anything from home products to gifts to adventures, all donated by merchant members of 1% for the Planet, an organization that raises awareness in giving back to environmental causes. All auction proceeds go to support the operation of this non-profit.

Some auction highlights include an autographed guitar by Jack Johnson, a 5-night stay at a Montana green home (complete with use of an electric car), and eco-friendly home furnishings from Re:modern, Q Collection, and InModern. Finish off your holiday shopping, furnish your green home, or plan that next vacation, all while supporting a good cause. This 1% FTP Auction ends December 5th so bid now!

Micro-lending through Kiva.org

If you haven't heard of the non-profit Kiva, you must visit Kiva's website because what they are doing is truly innovative. The concept of microlending (loaning small amounts of money to the working poor) is certainly not new, and even gained a lot of widespread exposure when the Grameen Bank was awarded the Nobel Prize a couple of years back. What Kiva.org does, is use the power of the internet to connect lenders with global entrepreneurs. The loan amounts are small (currently capped at $25) and repayment is fast (typically a few months), but make a huge difference in empowering entrepreneurs to lift themselves out of poverty. Lenders can choose who to lend to based on entrepreneurs' stories. We just loaned to Francisca of Mozambique to help her build her used clothing business.

Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize

The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to former VP Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work on raising awareness of climate change issues. Gore is giving his half of the $1.5 million prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection, an non-partisan organization whose aim is to generate awareness and find solutions to the climate crisis.

Now if this Nobel Prize (plus Gore's 2 Academy Awards for An Inconvenient Truth) doesn't finally convince doubters of global warming, that there IS a climate crisis going on, I don't know what will. Congratulations, Al!