In honor of Mother's Day this Sunday, Green for All (GFA), an organization working to promote a clean energy economy, released a video entitled "7 Billion", which honors women's strength and leadership around the world. The video features hip-hop artists (and GFA's Dream Reborn music contest winners) Silent C and Invest, who say the are "inspired by their own mothers to honor the struggle and the courage of women around the world." Learn more about the artists as they talk about what inspired the making of the video.

GFA is also hosting a "Twitter Townhall" today with Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins (GFA CEO and expecting mother), Roberta Shields (Rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges' mother and President of The Ludacris Foundation ), and Ashara Ekundayo (Green For All Fellow, social entrepreneur and mother of DJ CAVEM.

Follow @greenforall and #StrongMoms today, May 10th at 11-11:30am PST, 2-2:30pm EST to take part in the conversation about motherhood, leadership and social change.

Getting some new duds in preparation for spring and summer's upcoming outdoor activities? Socially-conscious and environmentally-aware clothing maker Patagonia has updated its Footprint Chronicles project with an interactive map that allows you to track where and how your new windbreaker was made, and how it made the journey from where it was created to your particular corner of the world.

The Footprint Chronicles is a project the company launched in 2007 to both better inform the public about its supply chain and to help guide Patagonia in making better choices as a company. The newly-updated site now includes an interactive "Suppliers Map", which was inspired by their production team's old-fashioned, pushpin-laden world map. Click on any textile mill pin to read fact sheets about a particular supplier, or click on a factory pin to learn the basics about every place where Patagonia clothes are sewn. You can also view videos and slide shows about their key supply partners.

Patagonia Director of Environmental Strategy Jill Dumain says that when they originally launched the Footprint Chronicles project, the idea of corporate transparency made people nervous (especially the corporation). But now, she says, "Transparency is becoming an expectation." Watch the video as Dumain explains Patagonia's take on the new transparency and how they're empowering their customers to include social and environmental information in making purchasing decisions.   

If you've ever chased fireflies on a warm summer evening or trailed your fingers at night through glowing tropical waters, you've experienced the natural wonder of bioluminescence.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is currently featuring a new show called Creatures of Light: Nature's Bioluminescence, which places these glittering stars center stage instead of twinkling in the shadows where they usually dwell.

The show addresses questions like:

• What is bioluminescence?
• What organisms are bioluminescent, and where are they found?
• How does bioluminescence work?
• How do organisms use bioluminescence to survive in their environment?

See these fantastic creatures as imagined by the talented AMNH design team; LED-lit, lovely and larger than life.

Creatures of Light runs through January 2013.

With an election year looming, people are paying careful attention to what's going on in and around the White House. Past PopTech presenter Van Jones offers a unique perspective in his just-released book Rebuild the Dream.

The book describes Jones' journey from green economy activist to his appointment by President Obama in 2009 as first-ever Special Advisor for Green Jobs, a position he left just a few months later. Why he left and why Jones still believes in the concept of the American Dream are focal points in the book and provide the backbone for his Rebuild the Dream movement.

Jones explores how we can create jobs for millions of Americans—including returning veterans, debt-burdened students, and public employees (such as teachers, policemen, and firefighters) who all are increasingly, adversely affected by America's failing economy. Read his take on how the hope Obama built a presidential campaign around lives on at the grassroots level and in the lives of average Americans.      

The Ocean Conservancy, which organizes an annual International Coastal Clean-Up, has published its results in the 2012 Trash Index. You're not imagining it: as the global population swells, tankers continue to leak oil, and plastic water bottles continue to be our favorite way to drink tap water, the world's beaches are getting dirtier.

Nearly 600,000 volunteers worked in multiple countries to pick up and record the over nine million pounds of trash listed in this report. Check out their trashy findings, download a helpful pocket guide to recycling and if you're inclined, donate to help their efforts. And for the love of all things oceanic, if you smoke, find a better place than the ocean or ground to throw your cigarette butts (the number one piece of trash found on beaches)!

Image: Ocean Conservancy

The folks at Mozilla have come up with a fun, easy way to learn code. Hackasaurus is an "open source, education resource project" that allows you to view the world wide web in a whole new way. 

Using an add-on bookmarklet called "X-Ray Goggles," you can see the HTML elements of a webpage, which are the building blocks for any page on the web. Even better, you can then edit, save and re-publish pages, offering an endlessly tweakable digital playground.

The ability to edit published pages upends the way content has traditionally been served on the web. As Hackasaurus Technical Lead Atul Varma says in a project video, "In the Web 1.0 world, a page is an extremely static thing. You can do very little to change its shape once it's been delivered and shown on a web browser." 

Hackasaurus throws the idea of a passive browser out the window, especially in the hands of curious, empowered teens. In Hack Jams around the world, kids are getting together to do cool things with code. Mozilla even provides a Hacktivity Kit that enables you to run your own jam.  

"Learning to code HTML is a gateway to more serious programming," says software developer (and author's husband) Sean Ransom. "Hackasaurus is great for anyone who's interested in how web pages work."

If the past decade or so is any indication, learning code seems like an invaluable skill to have for the future. Help your kids get their hack on.

Calling all armchair scientists! Petridish.org is a new site that allows you to help fund a science project, then follow along with the project team as it progresses. As with the successful site Kickstarter (which funds arts-related projects), backers reap a multitude of project-related rewards that range from updates and photographs of research in progress, to stones from far-away countries, even the possibility of naming a new species. 

Petridish.org's CEO and founder Matt Salzberg is a former VC who always had a passion for science. When crowdfunding started to became popular, he recognized that it could work equally well for scientists, who often lack the capital to complete or even begin research projects. The model also connects people to science in a very direct way, with a broad range of projects to choose from and ongoing communication with the research teams as they do their work.

"We're trying to make science participatory," says Salzberg. "This is literally research that wouldn't happen without your support." The individual project pages host information about the projects such as biographies of the teams, what specifically your money will help fund, and impassioned testimonials from the scientists themselves about why their research is important.

If you're a scientist looking to get a project funded, let them know. The site is currently in beta and actively looking to add more projects.

Follow on Twitter @petridishorg

Image via Petridish.org

Today is the 40th anniversary of International Women's Day. Intended as a celebration and recognition of women's achievements and advancement, the day boasts special events, discussions and projects related to women's issues from around the globe.

Here are just a few of the events taking place today in honor of International Women's Day (check IWD's site for a more complete list). You can also follow the hashtag on Twitter at #IWD or #Women'sDay:

• Care.org: Care is sponsoring an online screening and discussion about the film "Pray the Devil Back to Hell", which tells the story of Liberian women who took on warlords to win back peace for their country. 
• Iran180: Iran180, which describes itself as "a diverse coalition of people and organizations who have come together as a unified voice to demand a '180' by the Iranian government on its treatment of its citizens and its illicit nuclear program" is hosting a breakfast and panel in NYC in honor of International Women's Day. The panel, moderated by Anne Barnard of the New York Times, focuses on women's issues in Iran. Footage from the discussion will be available on their site post-event.
• Makers: Makers is a video initiative by PBS and AOL that features stories of trailblazing women (a trailer from the video project is at the head of this post.) Past PopTech Social Innovation Fellow Heather Fleming of Catapult Design is featured in one of the videos talking about how she was inspired to design and build products that provide solutions for impoverished communities. Read more...

Earlier this week at its Seattle headquarters, Microsoft debuted a new use of its popular gaming technology. A company called Chaotic Moon demoed a shopping cart that had been outfitted with Microsoft's Kinect sensor for Windows. The carts, which will be tested later this year by Whole Foods, follow shoppers around a store keeping track of grocery lists and tallying items along the way. The tricked-out carts will even let you know if you've selected the wrong item (say, pasta with gluten versus gluten-free), and check out your purchases when your list has been completed.

Microsoft says that over 300 companies are working on commercial applications for the Kinect technology. 

Video via and hat tip to Geekwire

Spring is drawing ever closer and with it comes science fair season, when parents dust off their folding card tables and kids put together their best interpretation of Mount Vesuvius using only Cheese Wiz and mud.

This year, Google is once again getting into the science fair action with their second annual Google Science Fair. The contest, open to students ages 13-18, allows entries from either individuals or teams of up to three people in a variety of categories (see complete rules). Last year's winning projects (all led by girls!) included a study on carcinogens in grilled chicken, improving air quality for asthma patients, and improving treatment results for ovarian cancer patients.  

The theme this year revolves around asking a question. From the site:

Have you asked a question today? What did you do with it?

Did it take you somewhere new? Did it bring you here?

The Google Science Fair is an online science competition seeking curious minds from the four corners of the globe. Anybody and everybody between 13 and 18 can enter. All you need is an idea.

Geniuses are not always A-grade students. We welcome all mavericks, square-pegs and everybody who likes to ask questions. Simply upload your project here to win some life changing prizes.

Everyone has a question. What’s yours?

Prizes include a National Geographic Expedition to the Galapagos Islands, a $50,000 scholarship from Google and a bunch of other amazing, science-related things. You can follow along on all the projects' process on the related Google Plus site or on Twitter @GoogleSciFair. 

If you're a teacher, a student or know a budding scientist who might be interested, please help spread the word about this opportunity. Let's take the science fair to the next level!