Tags
I’ve been meaning to pull together a post to highlight a few sites out there that I think do a nice job informing, inspiring, questioning reality, pushing the envelope, and calling for a brighter, better, more sustainable future. Hope they’re useful for you too, and please share your list with me!
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“GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. Since 2006 we’ve been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.”
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2. Worldchanging (@Worldchanging)
“Worldchanging.com is a nonprofit media organization headquartered in Seattle, WA, that comprises a global network of independent journalists, designers and thinkers. We cover the world’s most innovative solutions to the planet’s problems, and inspire readers around the world with stories of new tools, models and ideas for building a bright green future.”
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3. Shareable: Design for a Shareable World (@ShareableDesign)
“Shareable is a nonprofit online magazine that tells the story of sharing. We cover the people, places, and projects that are bringing a shareable world to life. And we share tools and tips to help you make a shareable world real in your life.”
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4. Space Collective (@spacecollective)
“Where forward thinking terrestrials exchange ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction today.”
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5. Open Culture (@openculture)
“The best free cultural & educational media on the web”
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6. Inhabitat (@inhabitat)
“Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.”
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7. Adbusters: Journal of the Mental Environment (@adbusters)
“We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.”
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8. YES! (@yesmagazine)
“YES! Magazine is an award-winning, ad-free, nonprofit publication that supports people’s active engagement in building a just and sustainable world.”
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9. Orion (@Orion_Magazine)
“Exists at the intersection where real change can occur, delving into the connections between nature, science, justice, art, and politics.”
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“Science is changing our world. It is behind the transformations—social, economic, artistic, intellectual, and political—that are defining the 21st century. Through this lens, and with the newest tools of media and journalism, we aim to tell the fundamental story of our world today and to provide information and knowledge to help you prepare for the story tomorrow.”
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11. h+ (@hplusmagazine)
“h+ covers technological, scientific, and cultural trends that are changing — and will change — human beings in fundamental ways. We will be following developments in areas like NBIC (nano-bio-info-cog), longevity, performance enhancement and self-modification, Virtual Reality, “The Singularity,” and other areas that both promise and threaten to radically alter our lives and our view of the world and ourselves. More than that, h+ aims to reflect this newest edge culture by featuring creative expressions of humanity on a razor’s edge where daily life and science fiction seem to be merging.”
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12. The 99 Percent (@the99percent)
“99% is the research arm of Behance, a company dedicated to organizing the creative world to make ideas happen. To get to the crux of the forces behind idea execution, 99% regularly interviews prominent and emerging creative professionals known for their high level of productivity. Based on our interviews, we publish a regular series of articles, tips, and videos on our website, which offer insight into how especially productive teams and people make their ideas happen, time and time again.”
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13. Ode: The online community for Intelligent Optimists (@odemagazine)
“Ode is a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better.”
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14. TreeHugger (@TreeHugger)
“TreeHugger is the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. Partial to a modern aesthetic, we strive to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. We publish an up to the minute blog, weekly and daily newsletters, weekly radio interviews, and regularly updated Twitter and Facebook pages.”
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Also check out my blogroll for awesome individuals and their big ideas. 🙂
emergent by design 
Venessa — what a great list of sites. Glad you included YES! Magazine — these sites do indeed reveal the world emerging on so many fronts. Fran
I had not heard of so many of these sites… and I’ve spent ALL DAY browsing them. Thanks for the leads, Venessa! 🙂
BTW, back in NYC for TWTRCON and Corp Media Summit in June. We gotta do drinkies!
Du4
and look for ways to be awesome?
how’s the Inspirator role goin? 😉
Actually, I’ve been thinking a lot on that since you dropped it on me. I’m actually considering moving into motivational speaking. I just submitted my first proposal in that role to the Modern Man Media Summit, so we’ll see how that goes! 🙂
Thanks again for the push!
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Hi Venessa,
Gosh, these all look like such great resources! And I love the idea of building for a better future. I’m familiar with Ode, and the rest are all new – woo-hoo!! Thanks so much for sharing these resources!
Thanks for including us on your “top 14 list,” Vanessa. It looks like you’ve got some wonderful ideas here on your blog. I just subscribed to your email list to keep up to date–looking forward to hearing more.
Jessica Lind-Diamond
YES! Magazine
P.S. We’d love to have you link to http://www.yesmagazine.org under “Intelligent News & Brain Food” if that sounds like a good idea to you!
… or, even better, pulling us towards *multiple* possible better futures…
http://crisiscommons.org/
From the Crisis Commons site About page-
“Founded in March 2009 through an impromptu Tweetup at Government 2.0 Camp, a small band of idealists and innovators gathered to discuss the idea of a creating a common community through a mash-up of citizen volunteers, crisis response organizations, international humanitarian relief agencies, non-profits and the private sector. Within minutes, the CrisisCommons communitywas born and CrisisCamp events were created to unite communities, seek common ground and cultivate innovation in the use of technology for mobility and efficiency during crisis.”
Currently the community is working on a mobile app to map events/responses to the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill.
I just noticed on second pass through these sites that there’s another common theme running through them all: CITIES. Some sites even have whole sections devoted to cities, producing content that could benefit folks at a hyperlocal level. Soooooooo cool. 🙂
Thanks Vanessa for putting us in such good company. Most of these have had some influence on Shareable, though two are new to me. I hadn’t heard of h+ or The 99%.
Great collection! I’m too busy (or lazy) to do the research, but I wonder how many of those have existed for more than 5 years… it feels like inspiring, high-quality sites have been really cropping up at a fast pace recently… next phase is perhaps the emergence of hyperlocal versions.
The first thing that struck me here was that, with the exception of Treehugger, they all look like they were designed by the same person.
yeah, maybe the web needs a little more creativity. i like the idea of a “blogazine” – http://www.smashingmagazine.com/the-death-of-the-blog-post/