Stephan B. Tanda

For those of you who have been patiently awaiting a commercially viable alternative to our economic dependence on oil, natural gas and coal, the past year has seen some very encouraging technology and business breakthroughs in the growth and development of a modern bio-based economy. These breakthroughs are so material...

Your capacity to see this evening's sunset, appreciate a smile on the face of your children, partner or friends, even read this blog is something that, like me, I am sure you often take for granted. Today there are 286 million people on our planet that don't enjoy this ability,...

Worldwide they take the lives of over 36 million people annually, roughly equal to the populations of California. They cripple the economic potential of countries around the world. They silently and slowly erode the overall health and quality of life of hundreds of millions of people every day...

Large-scale use of coal, and later other fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, began in the mid 18th century and has been credited for powering the industrial revolution. Unleashing the power of these fossil fuels has brought prosperity to many, a general increase in the standard of living,...

On March 8, women celebrated 100 years of advances that have changed their lives irreversibly and in the process have made a monumental impact on our world -- from the first woman in space, to the growing list of female Nobel Prize recipients and the steadily increasing number of female...

In the space of less than five years, street demonstrations and violent outbursts -- one leading to the toppling of a government -- have erupted around the world due to huge spikes in food prices. Ten years ago the West typically saw food as merely a development issue. Fortunately, this...

For those of you that have been following my blog, you know that I have written several times on the importance of nutrition in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since my first post ("A Better ROI for the World's Poor at Davos"), which featured nutrition's return on...

While world coffers grew from a mere $1.35 trillion dollars in 1960 to over $60 trillion today, the number of empty stomach reached record levels. Today nearly one billion people around the world do not have enough food to eat and another billion are not getting the right food.

Ten years ago the world made an inspiring commitment to dramatically improve the lives of the world's poor by meeting eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.

On September 20th, world leaders...

Haiti has rarely been a country that makes the news for the right reasons. But six months ago the whole world's attention was focused on this small Caribbean state as never before. We watched in horror the devastating aftermath of the earthquake that violently shook an already fragile society. Few...

Who could forget Sarah Palin's famous line during the 2008 presidential campaign: "Drill, baby, drill!" With the current environmental and economic disaster in the Gulf, dwindling supplies of crude oil, and the looming threat of climate change we are compelled to revisit this mantra and ask, is this really the...

This month, the world's attention will be firmly fixed on Africa. South Africa, the region's strongest economy, is hosting FIFA's Football World Cup Finals -- the first an African country has ever had the honor to host. The monthlong festival of sport will showcase to billions of viewers just how...

Over the past 200 years human civilization has experienced the most remarkable period in its history, an era of unprecedented economic, technological, scientific and societal advances, all powered by our deep-rooted addiction to oil and other fossil fuels.

But resource scarcity, climate change, population growth and increased consumption is...

The two biggest domestic political issues that dominated our national discourse over 2009 and 2010 were healthcare reform and the economic crisis. However, these two issues were rarely discussed in conjunction, especially in many of the boardrooms of major US corporations. This is a common mistake as there is a...

This week's gathering in San Francisco of the 9th Annual Global Philanthropy Forum Conference will bring together the leading voices from the NGO community, international aid organizations, and government and business. The conference is focused on access to health, food and water, and seems an opportune moment to take a...

The theme for this year's International Women's Day: "Equal rights, equal opportunities: progress for all," recognizes the importance women play in their communities from being the essential caretaker in almost every society in the world to leading the growth of small businesses in areas such as Africa. At the same...

The political, financial and intellectual power present at Davos provides the potential for so much good to be accomplished. The challenge is to make sure that Davos does not become a major disappointment but instead makes real progress towards using these resources to make a positive impact on the world,...