We’ve got the best of the Web today, including World Humanitarian Day, a photographer capturing the horror and beauty of pollution and a YouTube campaign that encourages educators to use their teacher voice.
World Humanitarian Day
Today is a celebration of people who spend and risk their lives to help others. Every day, dedicated aid workers help millions of people around the world. This day also promotes public awareness about the humanitarian community, what the workers do and to pay respect for those who’ve died. Find out how you can take action and be a solution to many of the global issues. In the video, a Haiti aid worker tells his story as part of the World Humanitarian Day Project. (via @UNOCHA)
“Industrial Scars” Captures Pollution’s Dangerous Beauty in Photographs
Photographer J Henry Fair makes pollution pretty in his book, The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis. He captures the horror of oil spills and coal mining, which result in pollution runoff, in the right moment to create beauty out of the earth’s pain. He uses the book to illustrate that we have the power to change our future into a cleaner one. Check out the slideshow. (via @treehugger)
Starbucks Fans Compete to Bring Pumpkin Spice Lattes to Their Cities First
Pumpkin Spice Latte lovers will soon compete to get first sips on the coffee giant’s seasonal drink. To ring in the fall holiday season, Starbucks will release a Pumpkin Spice Latte challenge on its Facebook page Monday. The game will ask its Facebook fans to compete to bring the popular beverage to their cities a week before the latte’s official release date. The Facebook application will feature three different points-based activities. Fans can earn points for city shout-outs, solving a daily challenge or making a daily creation. The challenges could range from watching a video and answering trivia questions to creating a postcard for his or her city. The city with the most points will get to sip on their Pumpkin Spice Latte a week early. The Facebook contest will run from Aug. 22 to 26. (via @mashable)
A YouTube Campaign Aims to Empower Teachers
A Chicago public school teacher is asking America’s educators to use their teacher voice to stand up against teacher-bashing and reclaim their place in the education reform arena. Adam Heenan launched the YouTube campaign called “Use Your Teacher Voice” with his own video on Monday, which went viral. “Teachers are terrible at self-advocating, and that eats away at our internal dignity,” said Heenan. Students need confident, self-aware teachers standing at the head of the class. Therefore, the Chi-town teacher is inviting the nation’s 3.6 million educators to make a 30-second video using their “teacher voice” – the voice they use when they need their students’ attention – and upload it to YouTube. Teachers can make a video on any topic. He just wants them to speak up and be heard. Watch Heenan’s own video. (via @GOOD)
