You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July, 2007.
“The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Darfur on Tuesday to try to help end four years of fighting that has killed more than 200,000 people in the vast Sudanese region.
The force — the first joint peacekeeping mission by the African Union and the United Nations — will replace the beleaguered 7,000-strong AU force now in Darfur no later than Dec. 31.”
On July 20th, ENERGY STAR’s new specifications for computers went into effect. They are expected to save consumers and businesses more than $1.8 billion in energy costs over the next 5 years and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to the annual emissions of 2.7 million vehicles.
The new specifications include:
* Use of energy efficient power supply. Desktops must use power supplies that are 80% efficient
* Operate efficiently in Standby/Off, Sleep, and Idle modes. Desktops must use less than 2 W in standby mode
* Include and enable power management features of the system and provide user education about these feature
Only about 125 desktops and laptops currently meet the new stringent requirements.
That was a cheesy title I know, I’m sorry.
“Hold a bake sale to end childhood hunger in America.
Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is a national campaign where participants host their own bake sale anywhere in the U.S. from May 19 - August 31 and send their proceeds to Share Our Strength to help organizations in their community end childhood hunger.
Funds raised are granted to local organizations that work to increase participation by low-income children in summer and after-school feeding programs and to support nutrition education programs for low-income families. Since 2003, the campaign has raised over $3 million and engaged more than 1 million people in baking, selling or buying goods. Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is supported by Food Network, the campaign’s national television partner.”
I found this the other day and thought it was worth mentioning. Take a look and if it’s up your alley, get involved.
Like music reviews and recommendations?
Check out a new site “The Album Project” @ www.albumproject.wordpress.com
“…While it was much in the way of aesthetic inspiration, the African journey proved far more profound as the band felt moved to play a role in AIDS awareness for a country plagued by the disease. To that end, Hanson chose today’s release in preparation for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. “The leadership hasn’t been there from the artists that are from the Midwest and we felt like after we got this final push, that there was something we could do,” Taylor says. “We decided we were going to learn and get our hands dirty.”
All proceeds will be donated to PHRU in Soweto, a hospital that helps reduce the transmission of pre-natal HIV/AIDS.”
Click here to read the short article
Purchase song through Itunes here
Note: I know this is several months old but Hanson’s newest cd came out last tuesday and deserves some awareness
“A growing list of states and universities across the country are pulling their investments from foreign companies that deal with Sudan, Iran and other nations accused of government-supported genocide or terrorism.”
“Michigan is among the states that soon could join the effort. The state Legislature on Tuesday was to hold hearings on bills that would restrict the state’s pension fund investments.”
“The European Union took the first step on Monday towards sending forces to Chad and the Central African Republican to help the United Nations protect refugees trapped in the violent region bordering Darfur.”
ChangingThePresent.org lets you change the world, in exactly the way you want. For just a few dollars, you can provide a child with her first book; fund an hour of cancer research; protect an acre of the rainforest; or restore a blind person’s sight with cataract surgery. ChangingThePresent.org offers thousands of inspiring donation opportunities from hundreds of leading nonprofits, so you’re sure to find something that moves you, no matter what cause you most care about.
Every single day, young women all over the world are struggling with life-controlling issues such as anorexia, bulimia, self-harm, depression, addictions, abuse, and unplanned pregnancy.
She could be your sister…
She could be your friend….
She could be YOU.
Hope may seem lost. But it is not. The truth is that there IS hope for a magnificent future.
Mercy Ministries exists to give young women, ages 13-28, the opportunity to experience unconditional love, healing, and hope for their future. This is carried out through a strategic, six-month program emphasizing intensive counseling, holistic health, emotional stability, education and life skills at absolutely no charge.” - Virb.com/mercyministriesglobal
www.myspace.com/mercyministriesglobal
AMERICA: www.mercyministries.com
AUSTRALIA: www.mercyministries.com.au
UNITED KINGDOM: www.mercyministries.co.uk
CANADA: www.mercyministries.ca
NEW ZEALAND: www.mercyministries.org.nz
“Living Water International now has a presence at Change.org, the social network that brings causes and activists together. Recruit friends, raise awareness, and make donations at www.change.org/lwi“
P is for panda has a brand spankin new website up. Head over there and check them out and help contribute to the critters.
“For now, we are a clothing company. It may not necessarily seem revolutionary, but we believe that it takes small steps to incite change. Our clothing will be completely based on artist submissions. If we choose to use an artist’s design, the artist is then allowed to choose the item price, the size of the clothing run, and a charity to donate a portion of the proceeds to. World Wildlife Fund is the charity we will suggest to them, but again - it is the artist’s choice.”
Anyone reading this have any charities, links, or anything else that’s interesting that we should know about? Leave us a comment with it.
“The PlayPump systems are innovative, sustainable, patented water pumps powered by children at play. Installed near schools, the PlayPump system doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for children.”
“PlayPumps International is a nonprofit organization that enables individuals, governments, foundations, and companies to donate PlayPump™ water systems to rural African communities and schools. Donors to PlayPumps International help improve the lives of children and their families by providing easy access to clean drinking water, enhancing public health, and offering play equipment to millions across Africa.“
I love this idea and can’t really say anything more than they already have on their site about it, please check them out and find out how to get involved and contribute to what they are doing.
The Dalit Freedom Network
“The Dalit Freedom Network partners with the Dalits in their quest for religious freedom, social justice, and human rights by mobilizing human, informational, and financial resources.”
Here’s a link you may have over looked on the “Make A Difference” page. I encourage you to look again because this is a heart breaking thing to have a group of people so oppressed in the year 2007.
An incredible thing happened today halfway across the world. On this day in Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia, our friend Eric Hires delivered a brand new custom-made fishing boat to Made.
This is a follow up to a previous post
Click “read more” to read the full blog posting taken from the myspace bulletin
“Global Voices aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore”
Click here to find out more about the site.
“The One Laptop Per Child Project and Intel have put their differences aside, at least for now, as Intel agrees to take a seat on the OLPC Board of Directors. The new “peace” between Intel and OLPC will also involve the project receiving some funding from Intel, and according to a statement, “Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content.”
We posted the video about the one laptop per child awhile back so you can find that but I would also encourage you to find out more about it right here.
Article Link
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
o 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
o 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
o 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
Source: State of the World’s Children, 2005, UNICEF
I don’t know what to think and am torn when I see sites like this, are the companies really out to help people? I hope so and would like to think so but when the the first thing on the top of the site is “Buy…” I get kind of skeptical. What do you think though?
“To the war-weary people of Darfur , nothing seems to symbolize the international community’s inability to end the four-year-old conflict more than the 7,000 A.U. peacekeepers stationed here.
Tasked with monitoring a cease-fire that the Sudanese government and rebel groups have never taken seriously, the peacekeepers find themselves the targets of growing hostility from civilians— and, more worryingly, the armed factions.”
It seems that even having the peacekeepers there in Sudan seems to be doing little or nothing. Would having better equipped soldiers make a difference?
Article Link
“A Japanese medical team has found that a form of antibiotic could prevent cancer patients from losing hair during chemotherapy, a doctor involved in the research said Monday.
Toshiyuki Sakai said his team had found “alopestatin” reduced hair loss by 70 percent when used on rats also given etoposide anti-cancer drugs.”
When I first came across and read the story, it didn’t seem like such a big deal, but after actually thinking about it, I think it is a huge deal. “…still important for patients’ quality of life” sums up why this is a really good thing. It’s a shame it took this long to develop something like this.
Article Link
There’s been some talk recently about how it’s becoming very popular to be eco-friendly (Green). What do you think about that? Is it true and would you be more likely to buy a green product because of the trendieness?
Have you checked out Need Magazine’s Flickr page?
We (and by “We”, I mean myself) put pieces of articles and other stuff on the site to go along with the posts. For example when posting a news article I tend to post the first part of a relevant part of the article and then a link to the rest. Sometimes I feel its hard to tell right away which is copied & pasted and which is my comments on the story. I think I’ll be trying out the use of colors to make it easy to read.
Let me know what you think.
“The homeless often live their lives invisible to those rushing by on busy sidewalks or sitting idly in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Photographer Jeremy Cowart sought to capture the homelessness of Nashville while letting them share their story. Here, Cowart answers questions about what he was thinking behind the lens, how poverty is often forgotten in the United States and what he has learned about reaching out to the homeless he encounters.”
Relevant Magazine has an online interview with Jeremy Cowart that you can check out right here.
If you haven’t joined Virb.com then here’s a good reason to. Sign up an join this group “Catalysts For Change“.
“This group is dedicated to living as catalysts for cultural change as it relates to the injustices of the world. Each month, we will highlight a non-profit that is making a significant difference in the world to bring relief and development for people who experience injustice. Our hope is that these highlights would bring awareness, create conversations, strengthen networks, and mobilize us into action. We invite you to add your comments about and experiences with the various organizations highlighted each month.”
Also check out www.virb.com/mitm (which stands for More Important Than Music)
“Child malnutrition rates are at crisis levels in refugee camps in Kenya, where desperate parents are selling food supplies to get firewood and soap, three United Nations agencies said on Tuesday.
In a joint appeal, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF asked donors for $32 million to help improve care for children at the Dadaab and Kakuma camps, which house 237,000 refugees, mainly from Somalia and Sudan.”
If anyone would like to find out more you can do so here.
If anyone would like to help you can do so here.
Alertnet has a listing of all different types of emergencies from around the globe.
Check those out
Clue 1: It will be free
Music Saves Lives has launched a new website “Lifesavingevents.com“. The site is a community for all the blood drives they do. Check it out, get involved
