Energy In Common: It’s Like an Environmentally-Conscious Kiva
I just invested $25 in a set of solar panels in Tanzania with Edna Mganga, a restauranteur with spotty power who is raising $1,085 to buy the panels for her business. Electricity isn’t always available in her neighborhood, and her panels will allow her to ride out outages and save money on her power bill.…
If everything goes according to plan, my $25 will be repaid by Edna in a year’s time.
If you’ve heard of Kiva, the micro-lending agency made especially famous with a Bill Clinton endorsement, my investment might sound familiar. Whereas Kiva lets you lend money to developing world entrepreneurs to invest in their businesses (typically by purchasing merchandise, expanding and upgrading their space, or making large equipment purchases), the newly launched Energy In Common site channels your investment specifically toward buying renewable energy systems like solar panels.
One of the cooler things that Energy In Common does is estimate the emissions reduction created by each investment. In my case, Edna’s solar panel will reduce emissions by one metric ton of CO2 each year—the equivalent to driving a 20 mpg car 2,275 miles (stats provided by Energy in Common). My $25 investment gives me dibs on about 50 pounds of CO2 out of that total; considering that my $25 will be paid back to me in time, it’s a great deal.
Most people won’t invest their money in Energy in Common because they’re trying to boost the numbers on their offset portfolio, they’ll do it because it’s a great thing to do. Those of us lucky enough to be raised to take energy for granted owe something to those in the developing world who are working to catch up. A lot of people don’t have regular access to energy, and when they do it’s often dirty and expensive.
Energy in Common touches on this issue on a page talking about energy poverty — billions of people around the world live in a grim reality in which they don’t have easy access to clean, reliable and affordable energy. I flip on a switch and expect it to turn on my lights. I’m able to open my laptop at any time and know that 99.99 percent of the time, I’ll have power to recharge the batteries. Most of the world’s population would give a lot to be so lucky.
The developing world should be developing with greener technology. Energy in Common is a great way for the average person to play a direct part in that.
The site is newly launched and has just a handful of loans to choose from, but I don’t think that will last long. From the sounds of an interview on the Huffington Post, Energy in Common CEO and co-founder Hugh Whalan is pretty fired up, and I expect the company’s portfolio to expand greatly over the coming months and years.
Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.
“A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”
His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.
Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.
So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”
The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.
Any chance your wife is pregnant?
ZZBC | Reddit
The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!
“The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”
Redditors responded with similar experiences.
Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.
realityisworse | Reddit
So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?
Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”
The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.
Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.
While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.
When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.
