Amex is Making a Difference

Now in its second year, Members Project is your chance to join a community that's passionate about making a positive change in the world. You can submit your own ideas for projects that make the world a better place, then vote on which winning projects get $2.5 million in American Express funding. We love to see large corporations leveraging their size and reach with innovative initiatives that get people thinking, talking, and most importantly, DREAMING about what's possible. There are 6 days left to submit your project and vote on this year's entries, and if you need a little inspiration, check out the winner and finalists from last year.

Gas Prices Getting You Down?

Here's an innovative way to deal with the towering price of gas.  A new online service is selling ad space on YOUR CAR.   If you drive at least 1,000 miles a month, FreeGasHelp.com will give you a monthly gas card reward of $30 just for slapping an ad on  your hub cap or a magnet on your car door.  Or go for the full car wrap and earn $200 a month!  You can earn additional incentives if your car is bright yellow, newer than the year 2000, is a hybrid or a pizza delivery vehicle, or if you're active military.  The program won't help the planet or lower the price of gas, but it may ease your pocketbook until you're able to afford that new hybrid or start riding your bike to work.

Urban Adventure

Fans of the Amazing Race and Fear Factor will love this new urban adventure charity event, CityChase 2008. CityChase requires participants to exhibit teamwork, resourcefulness, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as they search for challenges scattered in unknown locations throughout different competing cities: Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City. Like TV's Amazing Race, the challenges are designed to test mind, body and spirit. To conquer this urban event, two-person teams will run, walk and use public transit to navigate their way throughout the city, while calling family and friends for help, accessing the Internet and even employing assistance of total strangers. CityChase is now in 15 countries across the globe, and winners from around the world will ultimately compete in the World Championship in Morocco.

World Changing Event

On May 10, People from all over the world tuned in to watch a live broadcast from Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro. It was called Pangea Day, a 4-hour program of short films, live music, and visionary speakers, broadcast in 7 languages to millions of people via the internet, television, and mobile phones. The event taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting million of people to build a better future. In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that -- to help people see themselves in others -- through the power of film. Movies alone can't change the world, but the people who watch them can. So Pangea Day organizers are now facilitating community-building activities around the world by connecting inspired viewers with numerous organizations that are already doing groundbreaking work. Don't miss the incredible 1-hour highlights film on the Pangea website, and get ready to experience the entire range of human emotion. You can also watch the entire 4-hour event online. We are excited to bring this visionary global event to CThings readers and invite you to help spread the word.

The Future of Radio

To get a look at the the future of web radio, check out the innovative new Musicovery. Just tell your Musicovery page what "mood" of music you'd like to listen to, click on as many genres as you want, and your personal radio begins. You can see the songs that are playing, add them to your favorites, buy them online, and visually explore similar music, all commercial-free.

National Volunteer Week

April 27 - May 3 is National Volunteer Week 2008, and there's no better place to start than VolunteerMatch. Nonprofits can post volunteer opportunities there, and volunteers simply enter their ZIP code to receive up-to-date listings of local volunteer activities in their neighborhood. You can filter opportunities based on your areas of interest (arts, culture, the environment, sports, etc.), and there are even opportunities to volunteer "virtually" by working from home. Here are some examples:

• Be a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Albuquerque, NM.
• Pick up some groceries for a senior or disabled neighbor in St. Paul, Minn.
• Bike through the rolling hills of Kentucky for MS in Louisville, KY
• Restore indigenous oyster habitats in Charleston, SC
• Help with marketing initiatives for the visually impaired in New York City, NY
• Deepen your appreciation for life as an ecospiritual intern in Madison, Wis.
• Experience the process of mural/public art development in San Antonio, Texas.
• Become a Camp Yosemite Ranger in Indianapolis, Ind.
  

Special thanks to our friends at VolunteerMatch for giving us the heads up on this important week.

Happy Earth Day!

Each year, the April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Here are some things you can do today to make a difference:

1. Keep America Beautiful finds solutions in communities across the country for preventing litter, reducing waste, and beautifying communities.
2. Green Dimes has a new FREE service to help eliminate up to 90% of postal junk mail and catalogs.
3. Join the Arbor Day Foundation for $10 and you'll get 10 free trees sent to you (or a friend) that are ready for planting. They're also guaranteed to grow or be replaced free of charge.
4. Whole Foods Market has a cool Whole Earth Generation site on YouTube. It's a user-generated collection of videos by kids under 18 talking about what they're doing for the environment.
5. A 2006 report by the University of Chicago found that adopting a vegan diet does more to reduce global warming than switching to a hybrid car. If you're not ready to go 100% vegan, how about giving up meat one day a week?
   
6. Here's a quick tip with a huge impact: start using your own re-usable bottle of water when you're working out - plastic bottles take 1,000 years to decompose! (Update: Sanjiv from GreenDimes says check out Sigg eco-friendly water bottles)
   
7. Pay your bills online. It saves paper, helps prevent deforestation, lowers administrative costs for businesses you work with, and there will be one less car driving to the post office.
8. Talk to your kids about Earth Day, and do something together to help them contribute.