Brought to us by Google and Specialized Bicycle Components, the Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine Contest was a contest designed to inspire innovation and environmental change by highlighting the benefits of cycling.

The Challenge: Invent and put together machines that transform zero-emission human energy into new and useful purposes.

The Result: Success- hundred folds. Entries from all around presented their own ideas, the winner however, took a Playpumps-esque idea and made it mobile. The Aquaduct:  Mobile Filtration Vehicle, a bicycle that not only provides an environmentally friendly transportation, but also provides a means to create and move clean filtered water long-distances. It was designed to target problems in areas where clean water is not readily available, and as a result, leads to millions of deaths every year.

I present to you the winner the Innovate or Die contest, The Aquaduct:  Mobile Filtration Vehicle...

Be sure to also check out the other entries on their YouTube page here.

Sources:

• Google Blog
• Innovate or Die Contest Page

ONE, the huge (2.4 million members) non-profit humanitarian organization that is best known for fighting hunger has recently developed their "On the Record" campaign. The sub-portal on the ONE website, One the Record, interviews presidential candidates from Republican and Democratic parties, and briefs visitors on the candidates stance and approach to ending hunger if elected president. It also allows visitors to select and compare the responses of up to 3 candidates on questions about reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, improving child and maternal health, universal primary education, and some others.

Visit the On the Record website

Learn more about ONE

Today, the Clinton Global Initiative begins, be sure to watch it live at www.clintonglobalintiative.org.

From the Clinton Global Initiative website: President Bill Clinton launched the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2005 as a non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

As a non-profit, 501(c)(3) endeavor of the William J. Clinton Foundation, CGI draws strength from a highly diverse membership base that represents the full spectrum of political, ideological, religious, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds. Members include current and former heads of state, top business executives, preeminent scholars, and representatives of key non-governmental organizations working together for a common cause.

The defining characteristics of the Clinton Global Initiative are its action-oriented nature and its track record of converting pioneering ideas into viable solutions with tangible results. CGI members develop ‘commitments to action’, focusing on practical, effective problem-solving measures that can be taken now. Member commitments are comprehensive, formal plans of action with timetables for evaluating progress. They are developed within one or more CGI areas of focus, which change annually to address the most imperative global issues requiring attention. We have designated education, energy & climate change, global health, and poverty alleviation as the areas of focus for 2007.

In this era of remarkable global interdependence, ensuring more equitable access to existing and future resources is a moral and practical imperative for us all.

At the Wealth & Giving Forum's gathering at the Greenbrier last weekend - which I've blogged over on Buzz - a young entrepreneur, former New York nightclub promoter Scott Harrison, told participants how he ditched the glitz and early morning hours of Gotham's velvet-roped precincts for a lowly staff photographer's gig on a Mercy ship bringing medicine and services up and down the west coast of Africa. The experience stirred his interest in clean water, which led to the creation of charity: water - which charges $20 a bottle for spring water with 100% of the price going to dig wells for clean water in Africa. He showed this video, created at Sundance, before his talk the Greenbrier - thought you'd enjoy it:

charity: water @ Sundance - Current TV pod

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Here is the video the speech Bill Gates gave last week at Harvard's commencement. As one of the world's leading philathropists, Gates attempts to set a tone of service for the graduates.

Actor John Goodman stars in this pointed PSA from Levees.Org, a non-profit that collects and distributes for information about levees and flood protection in New Orleans and nationwide.

Here's a moving podcast from Channel G (an interesting non-profit project with some A-list funders) about conditions on the streets of Cusco, Peru. It's the story one woman's work to create a dream for orphans in Peru by building and maintaining an orphanage called "The House of Miracles." According to the site:

Over 3,500 children live on the streets of Cusco many abandoned by families that could not feed them. Malnutrition, infrequent bathing, and inadequate care cause widespread health problems including skin infections, bronchitis, tuberculosis, rickets, and chronic intestinal infections. But the loneliness and fear experienced by these children forced to live on the street alone are the most painful afflictions of all.

An eight year-old Peruvian boy spends afternoons in the parks of Cusco with other children playing soccer and shining the shoes of tourists. Laughing and running, he appears happy just like any other boy. But at night the boy is often found in the street gutter. With blue lips, body shivering and eyes blank, he does not respond to his name. Thousands of children just like Sergio exist in a world of poverty and misery foreign to many of us. But fortunately there is a way we can help.              

Casa de Milagros provides shelter, food, clothing, basic medical care, and education and arts programs that promote self-confidence and self-worth for children in need. This is done in a truly unique environment in which progressive programs are used to foster a healthy and positive consciousness. Based on the philosophy that we must start at the root of the problem, healing and educating children so that they can give back to their community, The Chandler Sky Foundation aims to provide positive long-term benefits to the region's social and environmental problems.

Quite a moving story - and quite frankly,the idea is to move listeners to the podcast to make donations to Casa de Milagros.

• Listen to podcast            
  

Thanks to The Moderate Voice, here are two videos from a panel sponsored by The Euston Manifesto of leading UK Ministers, MPs, and thinkers met in the Houses of Parliament in London to discuss the future of humanitarian intervention, after the conflict in Iraq.