I meant to post this a while back, but remembered it today and wanted to pass it on.

Abe pointed to a podcast of Majora Carter’s talk at TED. She talks at 100 kms an hour, but packs an hour’s worth of impacting, pertinent and hard hitting commentary into her 30 minute slot.

She links the issues of urban renewal, environmental degredation, poverty and race and shows that there are solutions available if we think more about what we’re doing and how we do things.

I especially like the story she relays about meeting Al Gore.

Anyways, if ya got a few minutes check it out.

Update 20-Oct-2006 The video of the speech is also available on Google Video.

The Global Rich List - puts things in perspective.

Apparently I’m the 213,582,609 richest person in the world - that is in the top 3.55%.

(I used xe.com to work out my annual income in USD)

I know this is late to comment, but better late than never…

Amnesty International: Victory for refugees’ human rights.

I’m so glad this atrocious bill was defeated. I feel guilty for not promoting the various actions that were floating around, but I honestly have been up to my eyeballs the past couple of weeks.

Seems the Supreme Court thankfully sided against President Bush this time round: Amnesty International: Supreme Court Ruling on Military Commissions.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Bush did not have authority to set up the war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and found the “military commissions” illegal under both military justice law and the Geneva conventions.

Zarqawi death good news for Bush - Olmert congratulates Bush for killing of al-Zarqawi - Zarqawi’s demise is a psychological boost.

Zarqawi has a horrid history and deserved strong justice (strong justice does not necessarily equate to death, mind you).

(I’m sure some people will disagree with what I’m about to say, but I feel it necessary.)

We should remember all this crowing and cheering that we’re doing next time we see reports from Al Jazeera or BBC about Arabs cheering in the streets as a result of al Qaeda or other success against “the west”.

Iraq Body Count reports that between 38,254 and 42,646 Iraqi’s have been killed as a result of the attack on and occupation of Iraq. Yes, you read that right, around forty thousand people killed as a result of military action launched by Bush, Blair and Howard. The perception is that this war was launched with our (the citezenship’s) support.

Now, for a thought experiment, flip those headlines around: “Bush death good news for bin Laden”, “Hamad congratulates bin Laden for killing of Bush”, “Bush’s demise a psychological boost”. That is probably how we are being seen by a great many in the Arab world. Even if we don’t agree with Bush’s policies (as many in the Arab world probably didn’t agree with Zarqawi), we’d still think it was an outrage if an event like that was celebrated so openly.

I also note no mention of civilian casualties from the air strikes (don’t kid yourself into thinking there were none - if there’s one thing I learnt from Robert Fisk is that air strikes are never as precise as claimed).

Why are we so eager to celebrate death?

Update: In fact, I was just thinking about one of those articles again - “:Zarqawi death good for Bush”. I’ve heard (through an email group that I’m part of) that six civilians were killed in the attacks. Looked at from another perspective, that headline reads: six people dying is good for Bush - because it helps him “revive sagging public support for the war in Iraq”…

Part of the reason I was in Melbourne yesterday was to attend the launch of the ActNow! website.

The website was created by the Inspire Foundation as a means for young people to express their views and have a say on the issues that are important to them.

WWF-Australia is one of the many, many partner organisations (101 at the time of writing) providing actions and information for the site. So far we only have one action up there, but more are in the works.

Some friends of mine at Massive Interactive had a big part to play in developing the site. It looks great and there’s lots of cool features for both the people acting, and for those of us providing information and support. Worth checking out even if you’re not a youngen’

It was also great to talk to the team behind it. The development of the site has very much been driven by young people volunteering their time. It’s clear that the team at Inspire have learnt a lot, and some of the things we chatted about last night were applicable to anyone encouraging people to act on issues. I’ll hopefully be able to catch up with them soon to learn more.

Update: Leisa, one of the team who worked on the project, has a great write-up on the site and the development process. So does Damian.

Technorati Tags:
wwf, environment, activism, actnow, web2.0, socialnetworking

the perfect t-shirt - “…documenting our journey making a product that’s 100% sustainable and socially beneficial” [via Hippyshopper]

There’s a blog, but alas, no RSS.

Arthur Coulston (on Grist) - Our posterity:

The conservation movement’s evolution into the environmental movement, and now into the climate movement, has generally followed a thread of interest in natural systems rather than humanist principles. Groups organizing around social justice, human rights, poverty, and self-determination bear a more direct moral connection to the fight for our posterity. A movement that acknowledges this fact and engages these groups as leaders will empower the victims of climate change both present and future with a much stronger political voice.

hippyshopper: Let us be Frank. Nice one…

With all this hoopla about the AWB’s actions in Iraq, statements have been made in various places I’ve read to the effect that “if you do business in a country with a corrupt regime, you don’t get far without playing by their corrupt rules”.

Of course, the UN Oil for Food program is currently under the spotlight. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to start thinking about other trading partners where corruption is commonplace, if not the norm. Two countries that immediately come to mind are China (which also has a shocking human rights record: see Tibet for just one example) and Indonesia.

Suffice to say, the spotlight won’t be shone upon our business dealings because it’s not politically expedient to do so (as it is in the US led charge against the Oil for Food program).