Katerva picks the top of the top social entrepreneur and NGO projects for 2011. The grand prize winner will be courted by top business and marketing advisers to help its impact reach the stratosphere.
In an ambitious effort to screen the best of the best sustainability projects that can radically change our world, quickly, our friends at Katerva have announced its competing finalists, a list of 8. “We are pleased to confirm the Katerva Award Category Winners have been identified following rigorous review by our expert panelists,” announces the organization set up to radically change the deteriorating course of planet earth: ” These winners were chosen from a field of very strong candidates after undergoing a year-long nomination and review process involving roughly 500 experts, researchers, business and thought leaders across 50 countries.
A number of the 8 have been featured on Green Prophet as vehicles for change in the Middle East. Who are Katerva’s Top 8? Read on.
Behavioural Change:
350.org (read our interview with founder Bill McKibben) is creating a global movement to stop the climate crisis through online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions that are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.
Food Security:
The China Study is the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted. This exhaustive presentation of the findings from the China Study conclusively demonstrates the link between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Economy:
Worldofgood.com: EBay’s WorldofGood.com is the world’s largest multi-seller marketplace for socially and environmentally responsible shopping, which features thousands of products from around the world and combines trust and transparency with the online shopping experience.
Materials and Resources:
Sanergy, which was founded by MIT alumni, provides low-cost, sustainable, franchised sanitation centers throughout Kenya to address one of the biggest problems in developing economies today—poor and inefficient access to clean and safe sanitation.
Human Development:
The Solarclave is a low-cost, solar-powered device used to safely and reliably sterilize surgical instruments in developing country clinics that lack the necessary infrastructure and tools to perform much-needed surgical procedures.
Energy and Power:
Barefoot Power: More than $10 billion is spent each year on kerosene for lighting the homes of the poor in developing countries. Barefoot Power helps poor families stop spending their scarce cash by providing a safer and cheaper option. Read our interview with a woman in Jordan who has brought solar power to her village.
Transportation:
Nissan Leaf: The Nissan LEAF is zero-emission, all-electric vehicle with an ambitious mission. The LEAF acronym promises a vehicle that is a leading, environmentally-friendly, affordable, family car. Read about the Nissan Leaf in the Middle East.
Urban Design:
Freshkills Park: A former marshland and landfill, New York City’s Freshkills Park (FKP) is being transformed into a productive and beautiful landscape, exemplifying the ability to restore our natural environment. Read our coverage on Freshkills. The story links to an interview with the design duo based in the United Arab Emirates.
The grand prize winner of the Katerva Awards will be announced at a press event in the Lincoln Center of New York City on December 7, 2011.
::Katerva
Google Play is a digital content service from Google which includes an online store for music, movies, books, and Android apps and games, as well as a cloud media player. The service is accessible from the web, mobile app Play Store on Android, and Google TV. Purchased content is available across all of these platforms/devices. Google Play was introduced in March 2012 when Google rebranded its predecessor Android Market and Google Music services.
Google’s Director of Digital Content, Jamie Rosenberg, stated on Google’s Official Blog 3/06/12, “Entertainment is supposed to be fun. But the reality of it is; getting everything to work can be the exact opposite–moving files between your computers, endless syncing across your devices, and wires–lots of wires. Today we’re eliminating all that hassle.”
Google Play boasts 450,000 Android apps and games for download along with as many as 20,000 songs. The cloud based storage creates an Android cloud storage system capable of the same functionality as iTunes and opens up a whole new media system for Android users. Apple’s App Store has more than 550,000 downloadable apps putting Google Play right behind the mobile app giant. Google and Apple will definitely be competing for the mobile-device market share since this transformation has been completed; making Google a force to be reckoned with.
Although Google Play will be marketed towards Android users, any Google user can get the benefits of the cloud-based storage. Google Music has the capability of storing 20,000 songs per user. Any previous songs you had already purchased or uploaded will not be affected by the change. As far as movies go, with Google Movies you are currently not allowed to upload personal movies to the cloud. The movie app is simple rentals only. Another thing to keep in mind with Google Play is that Google loves integration. Expect Google+ to appear prominently throughout Google Play and its apps to “connect users.”
Considering the Apple App Store has had over 25 billion downloads and is rapidly increasing to an estimated rate of 15 billion app downloads per year, Google Play has its work cut out indeed! Google’s move closes a “niche” that needed filling and by all accounts will give iTunes some clear competition. It’s all about having everything in one convenient location and Google finally took the plunge and stepped into the big leagues. They have done it again with Google Play, so I say, “Watch out iTunes, you finally have legitimate competition in the mobile-app world!”