We're in Beta! Help us test our site by sending any bugs or feedback to us by clicking the Give Feedback button. Thanks!

The signs of change are everywhere: not just in the economy, but also in the enormous wave of new ventures that are using cutting-edge technology, sustainable objectives and social consciousness to create a new paradigm of private enterprise for the common good.  Umair Haque, the Harvard economist, eloquently describes the collapse of the “Zombieconomy” and what he calls Capitalism 1.0 evolving into Capitalism 2.0, or constructive capitalism.  He also talks about old business models that produced good incomes and bad outcomes giving way to an “institutional revolution,” coming up from the grass-roots of society and changing the world as we know it.

In fact, once you start looking, the amount of organisations and companies trying to do the right thing for people, nature and the planet is simply overwhelming and far more than I could ever fit into one blog post.  So I’ve divided them into three categories: digital, physical and consumable.

Today I’m listing my top 10 in the digital category: ways in which with simply a click you can change the world for the better. (with thanks to Mashable)

Digital Actions for good:

1. Change your iGoogle theme to help the hungry

2. Every time you use Windows Live™ Messenger or Windows Live Hotmail®, our free webmail service, they’ll share a portion of their advertising revenue with the cause you choose from among their partner social cause organizations

3. Teach your Granny to Text: The big book of small actions to change the world is out now.
Written by children, for children it’s a technicolour ‘how to’ for doing things.  And changing things. How can you change the world?  We Are What We Do is a new kind of movement inspiring people to change the world one small action at a time.  Their philosophy is simple: small actions x lots of people = big change.  They have the 130 small things that you can do to change really big things. Pick an action, track it here, and see how it all adds up.

4. Seventy-one ways to give without opening your wallet: mostly tweeted ideas, very brief and some very good

5.  Good is - the magazine.  Subscribe and 100% of the fee supports a social action project

6. Changing the Present -  Like Bothar but even more gift ideas: roof tiles, tutoring for deaf children, books, tetanus injections, and more.

7. The Case Foundation - another giving website, but this has suggestions of things you can do as well as donations or gifts that benefit those in need.

8. World Concern - More giving again, but they also do HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa, water wells, orphans, education and help prevent child trafficking.

9. Good.ly For all you eco-bloggers, a url shortener that donates to charity for every address you shorten.  Most Irish charities aren’t signed up yet, but using it creates the potential demand so try it out.

10. Blackle is a black version of Google that consumes less wattage. Apparently, it takes 74 watts to power a white screen, but only 59 watts for a dark screen. The site aims to “save energy, one search at a time.” You can also follow it on Twitter for more simple energy-saving ideas.

Next time, I’ll list my favourite sites for consumable actions for good - or, to put it another way - Shopping!!!  And please let me know of your favourites too so we can spread the word!

At first glance, the idea of everyone in Ireland driving electric cars sounds great.  But when looking at Minister Eamon Ryan’s announcement of his ambition to have 10% of the cars in Ireland electric by 2010, one has to notice his collaborators: ESB, Nissan and Renault.  None of these parties can or should be expected to serve anything other than their own interests.  The minister provides very little detail on how this new demand for electricity is to be met.  If this announcement were linked to new wind or sea-power farms, or animal methane, or the dairy by-products and cooking oils that are already fuelling cars around the world, that might be something to get excited about.  But hoping that electric cars will be the magic bullet for our climate change problems, and that an electricity company and car manufacturers are going to be the saviours, sounds at best naïve.  The roads are already overcrowded and making the shift from oil to electricity is like a heroin addict switching to smoking instead of shooting: the greater problem remains.  Is the minister going to require all civil servants to carpool by 2010?  Or offer free tolls, discounted insurance and/or motor tax to carpoolers? That would make a big difference to the energy usage and carbon footprint of this country, but no profits for ESB, Nissan and Renault.  Who’s running this government, anyway?

Around now, what with Christmas looming, many people are thinking about going home for some relaxing or traumatic family fun - but if you happen to be relying on public transportation you could be in for a hellish time even before you get near Uncle Billy and his perennial story about the goat.  If you’re lucky, and you’re trying to get to somewhere that’s serviced by public transport, you can expect long queues, crushing crowds and endless delays, while if you’re anywhere off the beaten track - that is, outside the major cities - you’d better be very creative to get anywhere near home.  I’m sure everyone has heard the old adage about once upon a time in Ireland you were never more than 7 miles from a train station, but those days are long gone. And now, if you’re trying to get to Donegal, West Cork, Connemara or even Laois, I’d say you’re better off carpooling.

Rideshares are the 21st century version of hitch-hiking, but without the terror.  As someone who spent my teens hitch-hiking through Spain and France I don’t miss standing for hours on the side of the road because I was foolish enough to bring a boy along (or worse yet, hiding the boy and when a car stopped watching it screech away in a cloud of dust when the driver realised that there was more than a single girl looking for a lift).  Or the way you could wait for ages and it was only the moment you lit your last precious cigarette that a car stopped?  Or the countless pervs who thought sticking out your thumb was the equivalent to lifting up your skirt?  It was hairy out there.  But nowadays (and here’s some shameless self-promotion but with a grain of truth!) thanks to Tripmi.ie you can pre-arrange when your carpool is leaving and from where (no more getting booted off the motorway by cops), you can decide whether you want to talk or not (no more feigning interest for hours in the driver’s exhaustive lighter collection) and even whether you want to listen to music or your own headphones - all before you even put on your coat.  So if you’re driving home for the holidays, spare a thought for those who need a lift (and can share the petrol costs) and if you don’t have a car, jump in a carpool, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.  (So to speak…)