Topic: Difference Maker

Difference Maker India's feisty – and effective – environmental champion

Sunita Narain has learned that being an environmentalist in India means being an advocate for the poor – and for immediate action.

Difference Maker China's Great Leap Forward: One man's quiet crusade to remember the disaster

Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward campaign aimed to launch China into a Communist utopia. It ended in famine that killed tens of millions – a disaster that Beijing is still reluctant to acknowledge.

Difference Maker From the good life to digging up land mines in Cambodia

While living in Palm Springs, Calif., with retirement looming, Bill Morse chose to move to Cambodia to help activist Aki Ra rid the country of land mines that kill and maim.

Difference Maker Mae Azango exposed a secret ritual in Liberia, putting her life in danger

When journalist Mae Azango wrote about a secret women's circumcision ritual in Liberia, she received death threats.

Difference Maker Jean Enock Joseph teaches self-help to lift Haiti

Pastor Jean Enock Joseph doesn't shy from Haiti's toughest problems. His message: Haitians have the ability to help themselves.

Difference Maker A little book has a big impact on how to run a charity

Mario Morino wrote a little book that's had a big effect – urging nonprofit groups to prove that they're really doing what they say they're doing.

Difference Maker They opened their home – and hearts – to South Africa's abandoned babies

Christo and Lanie de Klerk have founded the Baby Moses sanctuary for abandoned babies in South Africa.

Difference Maker An engineering mom leads effort to save an old-growth Russian forest

Yevgenia Chirikova found out a national forest was quietly being sold off. What she did to try to save it may change Russia forever.

Difference Maker Ma Jun helps Chinese find out who's polluting and shame corporations into cleaning up

2012 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Ma Jun enlists ordinary Chinese to help clean up China's pollution.

Difference Maker Tax day: 1040 reasons you should know Nina Olson

Nina Olson is the National Taxpayer Advocate – the voice of the public at the IRS. She's trying to help you navigate the tax code you love to loathe.

Difference Maker Seventh grader steers bus to safety in Washington (+video)

When his school bus driver collapsed, 13-year-old Jeremy Wuitschick grabbed the steering wheel and pulled the keys from the ignition.

Difference Maker Jon Wilson helps victims talk with perpetrators - and find closure

When victims go behind bars to talk with those who did them harm, they receive something the legal system doesn't provide: a chance to find real closure, maybe even forgiveness.

Difference Maker Eric Maddox breaks bread – and barriers – one virtual dinner at a time

Eric Maddox created the Virtual Dinner Guest Project to bring people from different cultures together over a meal through a video link.

Difference Maker Dina Fesler opens a unique school in Afghanistan

Dina Fesler went to Afghanistan to learn how to teach U.S. students about the country. Now she's opened a school there.

Difference Maker Kathy Eldon overcame tragedy by helping others tackle challenges

After losing her journalist son in Somalia, Kathy Eldon started a foundation that's touched the lives of millions.

Difference Maker Giving London street kids – even teen gang members – a safe (and colorful) home

Camila Batmanghelidjh founded Kids Company to help children – and now helps troubled teens. who often get little sympathy since the London riots.

Difference Maker Deng Fei goes beyond journalism to right wrongs in China

Once a top investigative reporter in China, Deng Fei now writes a popular microblog that moves readers to action.

Difference Maker Tony Boursiquot rushed home to Haiti to become a 'defender of the weakest.'

After the 2010 earthquake, Tony Boursiquot hurried home to help save Haiti's next generation.

Difference Maker Shan Sethna teaches avalanche awareness to make backcountry skiing safer

A growing numbers of skiers in Colorado want to try backcountry skiing, away from the groomed and patrolled trails. Shan Sethna's classes help newcomers learn about avalanche dangers.

Difference Maker Asher Elias uses high-tech training to lift Ethiopian Jews in Israel

In Israel, most Ethiopian Jews are trapped at the bottom of society in dead-end jobs. Asher Elias gives them high-tech training to boost their upward mobility.

Difference Maker Álvaro Cogollo uses popular music to entice Colombians to love nature

Biologist Álvaro Cogollo draws on Colombia's native vallenato music to inspire a love for his country's biodiversity.

Tom Prichard pursues peace, education in South Sudan

'Dr. Liza' heads a free clinic that helps Moscow's homeless and hopeless

Johanna Crawford helps survivors of domestic abuse – and urges them to do the same

Shalini Madaras, who lost a son in Iraq, overcame grief by helping women vets