Projects

A powerful new global collaboration has formed to put the UN Sustainable Development Goals at the heart of the worlds universities and colleges. The purpose of the SDG Accord is twofold: First, it is to inspire, celebrate and advance the critical role that education has in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the value it brings to governments, business, and wider society. Secondly, the...

Help reduce the barriers to a green and sustainable economy. Work on policy and civic engagement, skill building for workers and business owners, educating consumers and investors and more! You can work on the Detroit solutions or help export what we have learned to other communities. Overview of the Project Opportunity You will work closely with the Convener of the Green Skills Alliance. Your skills...

Work with the founder and director of this network on your choice of projects from a list or possibilities to make education for sustainable development a norm within higher education. Examples of projects include: working with textbook editors, authors and faculty to integrate sustainable development concepts into curricula; disseminating sustainability-related action projects via our listservs to our 45+ academic societies; writing articles and announcements about...

Outstanding Internship Opportunity Undergraduates, Grad Students, and Graduates (including OPT) are Welcome   The New York Times called ChangingThePresent.org an “amazon.com of the nonprofit world.” We help channel to nonprofits some of the $450 billion Americans spend each year buying birthday, wedding, and holiday presents. We do this by making the experience of a donation, given in a friend’s name, feel like a rewarding gift...

Help promote sustainability by raising awareness of this website, which connects students and volunteers with researchers and practitioners.  Please read more below . . . Overview of the Project Opportunity Be part of this global initiative to advance sustainability. The Problem this Project Addresses Opportunity for Sustainability PractitionersThis free, nonprofit website from the Higher Education Associations’ Sustainability Consortium will help practitioners within higher education, government,...

Outstanding Internship Opportunity Undergraduates, Grad Students, and Graduates (including OPT) are Welcome   The New York Times called ChangingThePresent.org an “amazon.com of the nonprofit world.” We help channel to schools and nonprofits some of the $450 billion Americans spend each year buying birthday, wedding, and holiday presents. We do this by making the experience of a donation, given in a friend’s name, feel like a...

Help environmental (and other) nonprofits capture additional funding they need to do their important work Overview of the Project Opportunity The New York Times called ChangingThePresent.org an “amazon.com of the nonprofit world.” We help channel to nonprofits some of the $450 billion Americans spend each year buying birthday, wedding, and holiday presents. We do this by making the experience of a donation, given in a...

Solar Village a project built from a concept of powering a concentrated and comprehensive support to supply entire off grid village. Please read more below . . . The Problem this Project Addresses Energy Poverty Education Health care Economic well being Region or Country Benefited by this Project Uganda Where Will the Student or Volunteer Work? Eastern Region of Uganda focusing more in Field (Community)...

Imagine a design competition like the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathalon, which works with multiple universities to develop designs for particular kinds of buildings in addition to houses. For example, a few types of buildings are large energy users, for example data centers, commercial greenhouses, and large indoor sports facilities (e.g. for hockey and ice skating sports; for tennis; for golf; for football/socker). Since...

Volunteers will help develop a complete business model for a home security company that works with neighbors to monitor security, at low cost and while keeping dollars circulating in the most local economy. Traditional home security companies require substantial monthly monitoring fees, but they are effectively sweeping those dollars out of the local economy while providing little value added to the neighborhoods they serve. An...

Advances in solar+batteries and human-powered generators are making it practical for hundreds of tools and appliances to operate without traditional electric grids. In the developing world, there are already millions of these stand-alone energy systems and projections call for over 200 million more remote mini- or micro-grids to serve as many as a billion people. Plus, in the parts of the world that already have...

Crowd-investing is now legal, both at the U.S. federal level and in at least 30 states. That means non-accredited investors can pool their funds to support local and state-wide clean energy projects. My personal focus is on Michigan first, because that is where I live, but the exact same principles apply to almost every state that has already passed laws that provide for intrastate exemptions...

The "Conservation Economy" is a pattern language intended to describe fundamental principles and practices to guide people towards understanding all of the major factors needed to ensure community sustainability: See http [colon slash slash] www [dot] conservationeconomy [dot] net [slash] pattern_map [slash] noflash [slash]. The initial set of concepts was developed for the EcoTrust in the Pacific Northwest, so case studies and examples are focused...

At the Sustainable Politician Project, we research and vet congressional (and presidential) candidates for the platforms on sustainability, with an emphasis on regional environmental issues. This position gives volunteers the opportunity to put their research skills to use as we gather information to be written into concise articles about congressional candidates. Please read more below . . . The Problem this Project Addresses Sustainable Politician...

Wherever there are local governments inclined to make progress towards sustainability, best-practices can be expedited by providing necessary information about how to get started. Lacking comprehensive information about start-up results in tremendous amounts of wasted time and effort as hundreds of local governments all try to reinvent the same basic ideas. Please read more below . . . The Problem this Project Addresses The cost...