Month: March 2023

By Sunny Lewis MANILA, Philippines, September 11, 2015 (Maximpact News) – The backbone of Asia’s economies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but these companies need better access to finance to grow and generate new jobs for the region, says a new Asian Development Bank report. The Asia SME Finance Monitor 2014, which assesses 20 countries in developing Asia, finds that SMEs make up a...[Read More]

Fishing nets in Karpathos, Greece. By Miemo Penttinen www.miemo.net, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Guest Contribution, GoGreen August 16, 2017 Since humans began casting their nets out to sea, fishing gear has been abandoned in the world’s oceans, either as forgotten equipment or left as trash. It is also common for gear to get lost or torn away from fishing boats. As a result, a phenomenon...[Read More]

Burmese workers try to protect themselves from the fumes and smoke from the cooking of circuit boards in a primitive site in Thailand receiving e-waste from North America and Europe. May 22, 2018 (Photo courtesy Basel Action Network) Creative Commons license via Flickr SEATTLE, Washington, February 7, 2019 (Maximpact.com News) – The global environmental watchdog organization Basel Action Network (...[Read More]

The Licella Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR™) at Somersby, NEw South Wales, Australia (Photo courtesy Licella) By Sunny Lewis  VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, June 28, 2016 (Maximpact.com News) – Canfor Pulp Products Inc. has formed a joint venture with an Australian energy startup to convert biomass from its kraft pulping processes into biocrude oil that can be blended into petrochem...[Read More]

The partnership’s fuel cell bus emits only water vapor. April 12, 2018 (Screengrab from video courtesy U.S. Hybrid) Posted for media use By Sunny Lewis SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, May 15, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – The inauguration ceremony for President Carlos Alvarado  Quesada, celebrated Tuesday, May 8, was carbon neutral for the first time in Costa Rican history, a harbinger of larger plans for the...[Read More]

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 March 3, 2020 (Photo by Prachatai) By Sunny Lewis for Maximpact GENEVA, Switzerland, March 12, 2020 (Maximpact.com News) – It began just 11 weeks ago. A pneumonia of unknown cause detected in the city of Wuhan, capital of China’s Hubei province, was first reported to the country office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in China on December 31, 2019. Just 11 week...[Read More]

River red gum trees in a dry river bed at Silverton, population 89, New South Wales, Australia, April 19, 2016 (Photo by Nina Matthews Photography) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis SYDNEY, Australia, January 22, 2019 (Maximpact.com News) – It’s a paradox: our water supplies are shrinking at the same time as climate change is generating more intense rain. The large rivers of the w...[Read More]

Oregon State University and University of Michigan researchers discovered that a key combination of sunlight and microbes can convert permafrost organic matter in the Arctic to carbon dioxide. May 28, 2016 (Photo courtesy Rose Cory, University of Michigan) creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis LONDON, UK, January 25, 2018 (Maximpact.com  News) – Global warming will thaw about 20 perce...[Read More]

Sector-based investing, rather than investment in entrepreneurs or businesses, is the way forward for impact investing, according to a recent series of online articles published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. The series of posts, written by Matt Bannick, a managing partner of the Omidyar Network, and Paula Goodman, its director, draw on the organisation’s broad experience in the field t...[Read More]

Wearing a face mask to slow the spread of COVID-19, a teacher participates in an online staff meeting alone in her classroom at Connecticut’s Middletown High School, 2020 (Photo by Allison Shelly courtesy American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action) Creative Commons license WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, January 15, 2021 (Maximpact.com News) – Leave the camera off during your next virt...[Read More]

Climate Displacement in Bangladesh: The Jamuna River has swollen from heavier than usual monsoon rainfall causing severe flooding on the islands. Women on Dakkin Patil Bariare are forced to wade across waterlogged land. August 2011 (Photo by Stuart Matthews) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis WASHINGTON, DC, August 2, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – The world’s six largest multilateral...[Read More]

Right now, there are almost 69 million refugees across the globe. By World Refugee Day last year, the number of forcibly displaced people had reached a record high for a fifth year in a row with a total of 68.5 million people displaced globally. The U.N. refugee agency, estimates that more than 44,000 people are displaced every day due to violence, conflict, natural disaster and persecution. All o...[Read More]