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

With the help of Microsoft, a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia recently opened  it's doors to a new type of school known as the "School of the Future". This highly anticipated project was originally put together in 2003; it houses classrooms that look like board rooms, advanced technology lockers, but most importantly, an approach to teaching that embraces and encompasses the next generation of technologies (even blogging).

Read more about the program and order the documentary at Microsoft's website. Also check out the NPR's report on the school.

PlayPumps International announces that Eric Hopkins of Maine is the winner of PlayPumps International's PSA Video Contest. Not only did he receive a new MacBook Pro laptop computer, but also is awarded the thrill of seeing his PSA featured on the PlayPumps International Web site, helping raise awareness and motivate action.

Watch his PSA and learn how your financial contribution can provide clean water for children and communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

View other PlayPumps International videos on their website.

From reader : "Central Dallas Ministries is using videos -- posted on its site as well as YouTube and Google Video -- to help increase awareness of homelessness in North Texas and to challenge the community's understanding of our homeless neighbors. They recently gathered over 1,000 people for a mayoral forum, during which they asked the leading seven candidates for mayor of Dallas to present their plans for addresing homelessness in the community. This video was played at the event, and has since been watched on YouTube and Google Video by over 1,000 people." Happy to pass this one along, it's very well-executed (love the Rolling Stones musical bed):

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