Hundreds of children attend the schools of the Muni Seva Ashram in the Western Indian state of Gujarat everyday. Their school meals used to be prepared over wood fires. Now a new project harnesses the power of the sun for the school canteen. In our first gallery on our blog we are taking you back to one of our first reports for GLOBAL IDEAS. We hope that you enjoy these pictures.

Al Gore hasn’t been in the spotlight much since a few years ago, when he was the most recognizable crusader for fighting climate change. But now he’s making a new push for a cleaner, more environmentally-friendly world. He’s launching a new global campaign called The Climate Reality Project. It’s a project that sets out to “reveal the complete truth about the climate crisis.”

Al Gore undertook this project because he says big oil and coal companies have deliberately misled the world about the reality of climate change. The effort is centered around a “24 Hours of Reality” which will take place September 14th – September 15th. During those 24 hours, Gore will give 24 multimedia presentations with pictures, information and slides revealing the effects of climate change on the planet. Then a panel of climate scientists will take over and discuss ways to solve the climate crisis.

Will you be watching 24 Hours of Reality?

After winning independence over the weekend, The Republic of South Sudan is the world’s newest country. Even though the nation is just starting out, it’s rich in natural resources and has huge potential to grow and prosper – especially when it comes to clean energy.

One of the World Bank’s chief technicians, Daniel Kammen, took a video of South Sudan’s Fula Rapids while he was on site recently. The force and power of the White Nile River’s rapids make them the perfect source for hydropower. Some experts believe the Fula Rapids alone could produce 60 megawatts of electricity – and that in a country that generates less than 200 megawatts total right now.

Because South Sudan is largely undeveloped, officials there have the chance to start from the very beginning with renewable energy generation and green-friendly development practices. But one big question remains: will renewable energy projects benefit the country’s poor, too? Or will its new-found natural wealth end up in the hands of the few?

Today we launched the official GLOBAL IDEAS flickr-channel! To celebrate the start we give away our great usb-flash drives to the first ten of you, who send us a GLOBAL IDEAS-like picture. This could be a photo of the landscape or animals you see, climate saving projects, nice and green stuff that matches the idea behind GLOBAL IDEAS.  Email to ideasforacoolerworld@gmail.com and we will get in touch with you.

stay tuned for more GLOBAL IDEAS on:
http://www.ideasforacoolerworl​d.org/
http://www.twitter.com/dw_glob​alideas
http://blogs.dw.com/globa​lideas

We conducted this interview a few days ago with C. B. Bhattacharya. He is responsible for the ESMT Sustainable Business Roundtable (SBRT) in Berlin. C. B. Bhattacharya talks about the progress of green industries, the phenomenon of greenwashing and the important role of social media in the process.