By Amanda Ponzar

Picking just one topic today was tough as there’s so much going on in the world (like always).

Here are a few recent reads that really got me jazzed: 

• Interesting Health & Science article “Women’s Work. How biological factors impact job performance” (Time magazine, July 25 issue) that argues women’s biological qualities give them an advantage. Apparently, women suffer more pain because they don’t have “endogenous opioids” (neurochemical anesthetics) like men, but other than that, women are much less likely to be involved in fatal car crashes because they take fewer risks on the road, less likely to be addicted to video/computer games, less likely to use undue force as a police officer and less likely to ride a high-risk market (so do better as investors). What do you know!
• Read in Cone’s July 8 blog about the “new wave of environmental packaging” that includes Puma’s “clever little bag” -- a shopping bag that dissolves in hot water and breaks down in a home composter!! The win-win in this corporate social responsibility move (often referred to as creating shared value when it’s a win for the company & the community/environment) is that “sustainable packaging can mean a 30 percent reduction in transportation cost and a 30 percent savings in material and labor.”
• Got an email from Sojourners asking me to lend my voice to the “Circle of Protection” to protect programs for the poor which some suspect may be the first on the chopping block for government budget cuts.
• Read a Forbes blog  that said Bloomberg’s annual analysis of Standard & Poors’ 500 companies showed that more than 90% of the firms have female directors. However not a single company, including Discovery Communications, co-owner of Oprah Winfrey’s OWN cable channel, has a board where the majority of directors are female.
• This week, UPS donated a bunch of great auction items (Live Nation concert tickets, 2012 Olympics stuff, NASCAR opportunities, etc.) that are now live on eBay’s MissionFish site with proceeds benefitting United Way.

So, all in all, a fascinating week, other than the sweltering heat (100-degrees or more here).