Inspiring Solutions for a Better World

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the most pressing threats to our oceans, devastating marine ecosystems and wildlife while undermining the livelihoods of sustainable fishers. For over two decades, WildAid has partnered with local leaders worldwide to improve marine protection and enforcement. WildAid CEO Meaghan Brosnan and Skylight Head Namrata Kolla explore how cuttin...

CARS works with over 10,000 nonprofits and raises over $60 million a year in fundraising through turn-key vehicle and real estate donation programs. Our speaker is Howard Pearl, the Chief Executive Officer of Charitable Adult Rides & Services (CARS), a national leader in vehicle donation programs for nonprofits. Howard Pearl has over three decades of executive experience and a Harvard Business...

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva, host of the Remarkable People podcast, author of Wiser Guy, Think Remarkable, and sixteen other books, and adjunct professor at UC Santa Cruz. Kawasaki was the chief evangelist of Apple, trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation, and brand ambassador of Mercedes-Benz. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate fr...

Nate Salpeter, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sweet Farm Foundation, shares concepts of interconnections between food, action, and investment. In his presentation, we learn how the team at Sweet Farm is pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a sanctuary and how impact can be made locally and globally through targeted efforts that leverage education, inspiration, and innovation. Passio...

Every day, more than 500 million women and girls live without access to menstrual supplies. This often forces them to use unsafe materials that put their health at risk and cause them to miss school or work. With menstruation lasting about 3,000 days over a lifetime ( more than 8 year s), this challenge is not only a matter of health but also one of equity, dignity, and opportunity. Days for Girls...

Some of the world's most difficult problems – like poor reproductive health and violence against women – are now being addressed through the medium of prime-time serialized dramas also known as soap operas or Telenovelas. Population Media Center (PMC) uses a special type of serialized melodrama for changing behavior on such issues as family planning, elevation of women's status, girls'...

This episode refers to a number of visuals that are in the video version which can be seen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4IDQhRnwnT1iqINDJo6rXc or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Fyc7fM4ThnU We believe the message is an important one, even if you do not watch the video, and hope that you will enjoy this and every episode of our series. The Memory Project is a unique initiative in which US...

Medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Over 40% of Americans are currently dealing with the challenges of medical debt. RIP Medical Debt was founded in 2014 by two former debt collections executives who realized they were uniquely qualified to help those in need. Our one-of-a-kind model turns $1 dollar into, on average, $100 of medical debt relief. Since RIP Medic...

Mount Tamalpais College is an independent liberal arts college located in San Quentin State Prison. Corey McNeil has been a student since 2011 and joined the staff of Mount Tamalpais College as a program clerk in 2017. After being released in 2021, he became the college's Alumni Affairs Associate. Jody Lewen is President of Mount Tamalpais College at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, C...

To view the video and visuals in this podcast, see: https://youtu.be/OlJkOXbR4Ew This presentation examines the unseen micro-enterprises of the South African township economy through a socio-spatial lens. Through case studies, Andrew Charman will illustrate the surprising diversity of these small businesses, provide insights into the spatial patterns in which these micro-enterprises are organised,...

Betsy Fisher is the US Director of the NGO Talent Beyond Boundaries and a lecturer in international refugee law at the University of Michigan Law School. She is an immigration lawyer and advocates for government policy and technology-based platforms that help refugees and stateless people access lasting safety. She also enjoys watching sports and attempting to garden vegetables. The number of disp...

Students play an important role in the management of the school which empowers them to bring social and economic development to their communities, as well as learn leadership, empathy and compassion. In 1974, our speaker, Mechai Viravaidya, launched the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) to combat Thailand's soaring population growth rate. Using unconventional methods and humor...

For $2.50 a woman can be protected against cervical cancer. A quantum leap in technology and affordable vaccines now make it possible to eliminate the often fatal disease of cervical cancer. This episode was originally recorded in November of 2022. The WHO has placed this effort high on their agenda, and Rotary International is taking a lead in the process. Focusing on lower- and middle-income cou...

Imagine walking into a classroom and…you are under a tree. Branches, leaves and the sun bursting through, the feeling of being outside. Forty plus years of empirical science developed at the University of Michigan teaches us, viewing trees or images of trees calms us and helps us focus. Nature In The Classroom is a nonprofit bringing this science to life by installing ceiling murals of trees in cl...

$4 glasses are one of the most affordable healthcare interventions. In this episode, we describe how a breakthrough in adaptive optics makes this possible by providing accurate and inexpensive eye exams. The Quicksee is an accurate handheld auto refractometer bringing eye prescriptions (the bottleneck to refraction corrections) to remote, underserved areas. The SimVis is a head-mounted binocular v...

Starring on the hit YouTube channel, Grandpa Bobby and Grandpa Scott tell the stories of their travels. Travel as Service: Traveling is more than an opportunity to visit important cultural and historic sites, or a chance to sink your toes in the sands of a tropical resort. Travel is an opportunity to create bridges to alternate cultures and traditions. It is an opportunity to learn and to grow fro...

Diane Shader Smith, has had a vibrant career as a writer, speaker, publicist, and fundraiser with an extensive roster of clients during her multi-decade career. When Diane’s daughter Mallory died at the age of 25, she brought Mallory’s memoir to publication as Salt in My Soul (Random House 2019), which led to the documentary of the same name (3Arts Entertainment). Using Mallory’s words, Diane has...

Dateability is the only dating app designed for the disabled and chronically ill communities. People with disabilities and chronic illness often encounter ableism on other dating apps. We understand the unique circumstances that present when dating with a disability, which is why we created a safe and accepting space to create meaningful connections for people with physical, intellectual, and psyc...

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is director of research and programs at 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit promoting the 4-day workweek. Alex will present an overview of the global 4-day week movement, which aims to shorten working hours without cutting salaries or productivity. He will conclude by talking about strategies for making the case for a 4-day week in your own workplace. His books (Work Less, Do More...

Today we'll learn about an organization called Real Ice. Climate change, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, could cause the global temperature to increase by several degrees by the end of the century, precipitating climate tipping points with serious consequences. The solution to this problem is to cease the burning of fossil fuels and to eliminate excess greenhouse gasses from...

Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, presenting "Universal Access to All Knowledge." Current statistics: https://archive.org/about/ ⁠⁠More about the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley⁠⁠     Website: ⁠⁠Rotary.cool⁠ Meetings’ ⁠⁠Video Archive⁠⁠ YouTubeChannel⁠⁠   How to become a member in ⁠⁠this online Rotary eClub⁠⁠ ⁠⁠More about Rotary International:⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠www. Rotary.or...

Leanne Fan is a high schooler from San Diego, CA. In 2022 she was named America's Top Young Scientist by 3M. Fan's invention can both detect and treat mid-ear infections, and at a low cost. Details: By 2050, 1 in 4 people will have hearing loss to some extent. In children, the majority of this hearing loss is caused by mid-ear infections. Loss of hearing that comes from repeated ear infect...

GiveDirectly sends cash directly to people living in extreme poverty, no strings attached. GiveDirectly is the first – and largest – nonprofit that lets donors send money directly to the world’s poorest. They believe people living in poverty deserve the dignity to choose for themselves how best to improve their lives, and cash enables that choice. They have successfully delivered over $700M to app...

The Chicago Eco House and Southside Blooms transforms vacant lots into sustainable urban flower farms, turning blight into economic opportunities for majority-Black inner-city communities. Local youth are trained as florists and farmers through our workforce development program. Why flowers? The floral industry generates $35 billion a year. 80% of flowers sold in the USA come from out of the count...

Rainforest Connection (RFCx) is a science- and technology-driven nonprofit detecting and preventing deforestation and supporting biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring in 119 countries. Founded in 2014, RFCx accomplishes this work by combining the power of acoustics, AI, an international team of field workers, scientists, engineers, and data scientists, and on-the-ground collaborators. By utilizing...