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The Climate Reality Project, the organization Al Gore founded, released its latest Internet activism tool Thursday, Reality Drop. The new site is a gamified experience that rewards users for “dropping” facts about climate change into different online forums and comment fields on hot articles.

Gore introduced Reality Drop during a TED Talk Thursday morning in Long Beach, Calif.

“No matter how much is occurring in the world with extreme weather, the industry keeps feeding denial. Though not all denial occurs online, we want to give people the tools to respond quickly and sharply to that denial,” Maggie Fox, CEO of Climate Reality, told _Mashable_. “It’s time for us to go on the offense in…
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Documentary filmmaker Evan Carpenter hopes his latest project, _Gracie Learns to Dance_, will inspire promising young students around the world to stay in school and pursue their passions.

The film follows Gracie, the 15-year-old president of the Rising Star Dance Troupe. The students learned to dance through classes offered by NGO Rising Star, which works with people with leprosy, including the children raised in one of India’s 700 leprosy colonies.

Carpenter got involved with the project when he went to India in June to shoot a promotional video for Rising Star. When he met Gracie, he was taken aback by her promise and wanted to share her story with other young girls who could follow…
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On the one-year anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin, people gathered in New York City to protest national gun laws and racial profiling. Among the demonstrators were Martin’s parents and actor Jamie Foxx, who sang to the crowd on a megaphone.

“We want to let you know that we love you and we’re not going to leave you,” the actor said, before breaking into song.

Video courtesy of NowThisNews

On Feb. 26, 2012, 17-year-old Martin was shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the Orlando, Fla., suburb of Stanford. Zimmerman initially was not prosecuted because he claimed self-defense.

Martin was unarmed, wearing a hoodie and carrying a pack of Skittles candi…
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#SuryaRay #Surya 1. TreeHugger

_TreeHugger_ is a website devoted to highlighting eco-friendly design, tech, science and green lifestyle. Its Tumblr usually features content from the main site, but you’ll also find related content curated from around the web. _Screenshot courtesy of TreeHugger_

Click here to view this gallery.

With our sights set on Mars as a potential second home (and the astounding progress we’re making toward colonization), it’s easy to forget about Earth. But think about pollution, poaching and climate change — they all show how much is at stake if we don’t drive change now.

SEE ALSO: Here’s a Depressing Look at Man’s Impact on Earth

We found nine Tumblr blogs that will prove useful for any environmentalist, activist or advocate. You’ll discover original photography, digestible content and green lifestyle information from non-profits, publications and individuals — and it’s all worthy of a reblog.

Are there other environmental Tumblrs you’d suggest? List them in the comments below.…
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An online fundraiser has accumulated more than $100,000 for a Kansas City homeless man after he returned an engagement ring to its owner.

More About: giveforward, online fundraising, Social Good http://dlvr.it/306xSD @suryaray

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Steve Gleason was once part of one of the most poignant plays in NFL history. Today he’s an inspiration to thousands and he uses technology to battle ALS.

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Donna Karan kicked off an innovative e-commerce campaign Wednesday during New York Fashion Week, selling a bracelet benefiting Haiti exclusively on Twitter. The irony is the fashion designer is largely unfamiliar with the platform.

“I left it up to Amex; it’s not my strength,” she told _Mashable_ following her launch event at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. “I let other people figure that out for me. It’s like how I can design but I need my pattern makers to do the pattern. I mean I try to do [Twitter], but I failed typing, let’s put it that way.”

The bracelet is one of the first products available using Amex Sync, which lets you hook up your Twitter account with your credit card for social…
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What do a Massachusetts ice cream parlor, Senegalese street kids, juggling, the Paris Marathon and the crowdfunding site GoFundMe have in common?

More About: crowdfunding, Social Good, Sports http://dlvr.it/2w7jQv @suryaray

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It’s been a very cold winter — especially for the homeless.

In a new campaign called “Days of Hope,” people who are homeless stand in place of TV weathermen to bring awareness to the harsh impact of the cold winter in Europe, _Osocio_ reports. Real men and women are invited from the streets to read the weather. When they’re done presenting, they can ask the audience to make donations to local charities.

The above news cast is from Romania, a similar weather program is running in Russia, and more will soon roll out in Germany, Poland and Switzerland.

SEE ALSO: Homeless Man Uses Flip Cam, YouTube to Spread Awareness

Though these stand-in weathermen don’t give particularly exci…
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A bulldog who’s owner claimed was “gay” was set to be executed — until a Facebook campaign found it a new owner.

More About: Facebook, gay rights, Social Good, social media campaign http://dlvr.it/2tXbKV @suryaray

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Swedish academic and Gapminder Foundation co-founder Hans Rosling says data doesn’t always back up our conceptions about the world. In the video above, Rosling explains that our ideas about developed and developing countries largely reflect the reality of fifty years ago, rather than today.

The video, _The River of Myth_, was released to coincide with Bill Gates’ annual letter, and shares its emphasis on the power of measuring to achieve progress.

Rosling begins by examining the huge gap between child mortality rates in developed and developing countries fifty years ago, in 1963. By 1990, many countries had made progress, while others, such as Ethiopia, had hardly moved. In the las…
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MTV’s college station, mtvU, launched a digital experience Wednesday, created to teach students about the harsh realities of human trafficking.

“The Backstory,” the video experience, is the latest component of mtvU’s Against Our Will campaign, which unites students in the growing movement to end modern-day slavery. The interactive site was inspired by four James Madison University students who won mtvU’s annual Against Our Will Challenge, which calls for students to innovate with digital tools to spread awareness for modern slavery. The Backstory puts you in the position of a victim of sex trafficking or labor trafficking victim. After completing the experience, you’ll learn ways to get…
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Eight months ago, Jason Nicosia found himself at a charity event in New Orleans that was raising money for the Louisiana Technology Council by auctioning lunch meetings. At the time, Nicosia was working as a sales representative for a billing software company and recognized purchasing some facetime with high-power execs presented a great opportunity.

“These guys were my ideal clients and this was a lot easier than getting a meeting otherwise,” Nicosia told _Mashable_. “So I took the company credit card and spent a couple thousand dollars.”

Nicosia says his bidding paid off, and he was able to close several business deals through his meetings. He then thought about taking this very concep…
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More About: career, Jobs, networking, Social Good, startup http://dlvr.it/2sg51x @suryaray

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In November 2011, Tony Loftis’s 13-year-old daughter Allie ran away from their suburban hometown of Wayland, Mass. Allie was last seen boarding a Peter Pan bus to New York from downtown Boston, and Loftis assumed she’d headed to Brooklyn where Allie had frequently visited family.

Not a stranger to social media, Loftis took it upon himself to spread word that he was looking for his daughter on email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“We tweeted the heck out of it,” Loftis told _Mashable_.

After a few days, Allie’s story was picked up by _The Huffington Post_, the _New York Daily News_, the _Boston Herald_ and four TV stations. On day 12, following a live TV appearance, Loftis received word…
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On the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s historic decision about a women’s right to chose, the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws is kicking off a social-focused campaign targeting millennials. NARAL released the short film _40_ on Tuesday to launch its new Choice Out Loud campaign.

”_40_ is the beginning of a dialogue with a younger generation,” Jeff Martin, _40_’s creative director told _Mashable_. “We’re going to have millennials be the core of the voting population in the next 15 years, and the dialogue about women’s reproductive rights is a different dialogue than it’s been in the past.”

_40_ is a stop-motion portrait of choice, incorporating the work of 40 phot…
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More About: abortion, reproductive rights, Social Good http://dlvr.it/2qs5rZ @suryaray