At the offices of the World Bank, 19 young people from 14 countries were honored at the “Connect4Climate: Right Here, Right Now” event for their photographs, videos, and podcasts about climate change. Chosen from more than 1000 entries from 116 countries, these 19 winners of the global Voices4Climate awards were celebrated in an event hosted by Connect4Climate centered on how youth fight climate change utilizing the power of creativity.
Coming in first place was Stephon Gabriel from Trinidad with his music video, “A Changing World.” Connect4Climate had also worked with Artists Project Earth (APE), a UK environmental and arts organization, to organize a charity album consisting of music by Eminem, Beyonce, Coldplay, Bruno Mars and other artists in support of climate change projects. Live performances were given by two of the album’s artists, award-winning Malian musician Rokia Traore and Kenyan rappers TSI, during the event organized by Connect4Climate in collaboration with MTV and TerrAfrica.
Speaking at the event was World Bank President Jim Yong Kim who encouraged young people to help fight climate change emphasizing the need to listen to and engage the youth. Also in attendance were Nobel Peace Prize laureate Betty Williams, co-founder of Community of Peace People in 1976, and Italian Minister for the Environment, Corrado Clini. Clini supported Connect4Climate’s mission of providing the youth a platform to tell their stories about climate change and bring their voices to the global conversation about climate change. Clini commented that Italy was proud to be a supporter of the project and that effective change is only possible when the voices of the youth are heard.
CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility, Dr. Naoko Ishii, spoke of the efficacy of youth to change the “business-as-usual approach” that has contributed to climate change. “Young people will inherit our environment, and Connect4Climate seeks to give them a voice,” said Dr. Ishii.
Working with leading media networks and academic institutions, Connect4Climate and TVN Media group have launched their next competition, i°Change, to find the best original video message addressing climate change issues and action. Winners will receive a scholarship, recognition at the Grand Prix of Advertising in Milan, and exposure at film festivals in Cannes, New York, and Beijing.
Founded by the World Bank, Italian Ministry of Environment, and Global Environment Facility in 2011, Connect4Climate is a global partnership dedicated to climate change communication and action. Connect4Climate is made up of a coalition of more than 150 partners and an online community of nearly half a million followers. Through social media and the web, C4C works to amplify the voices of local stakeholders who have stories to tell about climate change.
– Rafael Panlilio
Source: World Bank
George Clooney’s Tequila Aid for Sudan
Well known philanthropist, humanitarian, and actor George Clooney has recently launched a line of high quality tequila whose profits will be entirely donated as aid for Sudan.
The tequila, know as Cosamigos, is unique in regards to the long distillation process and copper pot fermentation process that helps set it apart from many of the other premium brands. Cosamigos – aged in refurbished whiskey barrels – has garnered rave reviews thus far, which along with George Clooney’s celebrity status, has helped boost sales and will no doubt help to generate some much needed aid for Sudan.
For the past several years, George Clooney has been personally funding a satellite imagery project over South Sudan to serve as a pair of eyes watching over the current President Omar Al- Bashir and hopefully preventing any further ethnic violence. Recently, Clooney made headlines with a testimony he gave to the US Senate outlining the severity of the humanitarian crisis he himself witnessed in a trip he made back in 2012, further highlighting the immediate need of aid for Sudan.
Unlike many other high priced spirits, the value of Cosamigos goes well beyond smooth taste – available as both Blanco and Reposado – but instead in the intended humanitarian mission as a source for greater aid for Sudan. In regards to his charitable donations, Clooney remarked, “I have a satellite over South Sudan that I’m trying to keep some people alive with. It costs me a lot of money every year so now I’m getting it paid for.”
– Brian Turner
Source: Snuff
Photo: USA Today
Hilary Swank Spotted in Ethiopia
Hilary Swank’s recent trip to Ethiopia was marked by revelation and promotion. UNICEF flew Swank to visit various schools and education centers that received donations directly from the organization. The funding for this project will come directly from a new campaign launched in partnership with UNICEF and legendary watch and jewelry maker Montblanc.
The campaign encompasses Montblanc’s ‘Signature for Good’ collection which premiered earlier this month. The collection includes leather products, jewelry, and pens ranging from $220 to $810. For every product sold from the collection between now and March 2014, Montblanc will donate part of the proceeds to UNICEF’s education programs, funding schools that Swank visited.
According to Hilary Swank, the chance to visit Ethiopia and see first hand the benefits of the money being donated renewed her appreciation for organizations such as UNICEF and their efforts. She commented that seeing the books and learning material that the schools were able to accumulate due to these donations was “pretty extraordinary.”
For celebrities, it seems almost too easy to make their way over to a developing country, whether its because they’re already there on set or making a charity trip. Since their every move is already accounted for by the paparazzi who wait for them at gas stations and fast-food restaurants, a trip of such a scale would most definitely create a bigger buzz in the media. For causes big and small, piggy-backing off of a celebrity’s Google search carries no shame. It gives an opportunity for the world to find out more about these corners of the world even if that wasn’t their initial intention when searching for “Hilary Swank’s teeth”.
– Deena Dulgerian
Source:Star Pulse
Youth Fight Climate Change With Music
At the offices of the World Bank, 19 young people from 14 countries were honored at the “Connect4Climate: Right Here, Right Now” event for their photographs, videos, and podcasts about climate change. Chosen from more than 1000 entries from 116 countries, these 19 winners of the global Voices4Climate awards were celebrated in an event hosted by Connect4Climate centered on how youth fight climate change utilizing the power of creativity.
Coming in first place was Stephon Gabriel from Trinidad with his music video, “A Changing World.” Connect4Climate had also worked with Artists Project Earth (APE), a UK environmental and arts organization, to organize a charity album consisting of music by Eminem, Beyonce, Coldplay, Bruno Mars and other artists in support of climate change projects. Live performances were given by two of the album’s artists, award-winning Malian musician Rokia Traore and Kenyan rappers TSI, during the event organized by Connect4Climate in collaboration with MTV and TerrAfrica.
Speaking at the event was World Bank President Jim Yong Kim who encouraged young people to help fight climate change emphasizing the need to listen to and engage the youth. Also in attendance were Nobel Peace Prize laureate Betty Williams, co-founder of Community of Peace People in 1976, and Italian Minister for the Environment, Corrado Clini. Clini supported Connect4Climate’s mission of providing the youth a platform to tell their stories about climate change and bring their voices to the global conversation about climate change. Clini commented that Italy was proud to be a supporter of the project and that effective change is only possible when the voices of the youth are heard.
CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility, Dr. Naoko Ishii, spoke of the efficacy of youth to change the “business-as-usual approach” that has contributed to climate change. “Young people will inherit our environment, and Connect4Climate seeks to give them a voice,” said Dr. Ishii.
Working with leading media networks and academic institutions, Connect4Climate and TVN Media group have launched their next competition, i°Change, to find the best original video message addressing climate change issues and action. Winners will receive a scholarship, recognition at the Grand Prix of Advertising in Milan, and exposure at film festivals in Cannes, New York, and Beijing.
Founded by the World Bank, Italian Ministry of Environment, and Global Environment Facility in 2011, Connect4Climate is a global partnership dedicated to climate change communication and action. Connect4Climate is made up of a coalition of more than 150 partners and an online community of nearly half a million followers. Through social media and the web, C4C works to amplify the voices of local stakeholders who have stories to tell about climate change.
– Rafael Panlilio
Source: World Bank
Death of Hugo Chavez Impacts US Aid
The first time that Chavez met President Obama, he gave him a copy Eduardo Galeano’s book “Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina”, a history of colonial rule over the Americas that focuses on how the United States became the colonizing power of modern age in Latin America, especially in Central America where American corporations and military interventions created the infamously titled “banana republics.” That first meeting is the perfect anecdote to represent the relationship between the two countries over the last five years. Chavez had always been extraordinarily outspoken against the United States and, because of that tense relationship, the U.S. has given very little to Venezuela with the exception of small amounts of disaster relief assistance. It is important to note that Venezuela, the founding member of OPEC, is one of the wealthiest countries in the Americas, yet nearly 32% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line.
In order to begin building a more amicable relationship, the U.S. may begin giving more to causes that aren’t related to politics and focus more on job creation and training. Providing this type of aid would not only benefit Venezuela, but it may also help build a much less tense relationship with a resource-rich country that has significant pull in international oil markets and price control. A well-executed increase in aid could end up being very beneficial for both parties as Venezuela changes leadership.
– Kevin Sullivan
Sources: The New York Times, CIA World Factbook
Photo: Biography
US Baby Cured Of HIV
Last Sunday at the 2013 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta, doctors reported that an infant in Mississippi has been cured of HIV. The baby’s mother was HIV positive, and in hopes of controlling the virus, the baby was treated with high doses of three antiretroviral drugs within 30 hours of birth. Treatment was ongoing for 18 months. Two years later, there is no trace of HIV in the child’s blood. Early intervention with antiretroviral drugs seems to be the key to this “miracle cure.”
In the world of medicine, this is groundbreaking as this child is the first to be “functionally cured” of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Emphasis is being placed on the timing of intervention rather than the particular drug or number of drugs used. Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi who treated the infant and mother, stated that the current hypothesis is that through “early aggressive therapy” they were able to prevent reservoirs or “hiding places” from being seeded with the virus. Doctors will continue to follow the unidentified baby girl’s progress but as of now, she is off of treatments and assessed by doctors as “perfectly healthy.”
In the US, 100 to 200 babies are born infected with HIV every year. Around the world, nearly one thousand babies are born infected with HIV or more than 300,000 a year. As of last Sunday, one has been cured. This is just the start of a lot of work and research that has to be done but without a doubt these findings give great hope in the possibility of a cure for HIV.
– Rafael Panlilio
Source: CNN, Reuters, You Tube
USAID Fighting Terrorism With Wool
To help with this dilemma, USAID has funded an agricultural project in which Australian shepherds, who are among the world’s finest, instruct a best-practices workshop which teaches Mastung farmers current techniques and educate the farmers on how to use current technologies. These new techniques have been combined with direct marketing practices and, with the two disciplines combined, the result is an 80% growth of income for farmers in the communities where these practices have been implemented.
While this type of growth does help border communities in Pakistan, the strengthening of these communities has an unforeseen effect on U.S. national security and global security as a whole. It is no secret that extremist groups target poor communities by offering financial assistance and other forms of aid. In a region that has been plagued with extremist groups such as the Taliban, contributing to the economic growth of communities and helping them remain stable prevents the spread of terrorism and extremist ideology. For the Mastung, fighting terrorism with wool production is a win-win situation.
Not only do these contributions help create a better life for those in the border communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they also help these communities as a means to furthering global security as a whole.
– Pete Grapentien
Source: TheNews.com
Photo: Pakistan Today
How Desalination Can Prevent a World Water Crisis
A study from NASA and the University of California – Irvine shows that the Middle East is losing its fresh water reserves. From 2003 to 2009, around 144 cubic kilometers of water have been lost from the Middle East. The study utilized observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to evaluate trends of freshwater storage in the Middle East. The “lost water” comes from water resources below the Earth’s surface that are drilled for and relied on in times of drought. This recent news reminds us that water, like oil, is a finite resource. However, Qatar seems to have found a way to manage through this water crisis.
In a TED talk earlier this year in Doha, Qatar, Fahad Al-Attiya, Chairman of Qatar’s National Food Security Programme, delivered a talk on his job, maintaining food security in a country that has no water and imports 90% of its food. Qatar is a country that is rich in oil, boasts strong economic growth, and has a rapidly expanding population. And with a rapidly expanding population comes rising levels of water consumption. The population of Qatar has grown to 1.7 million in less than 60 years. Water consumption levels are at 430 liters a day, the highest in the world. Qatar has gone from having no water to consuming water to the highest degree. Regardless, the country has maintained consistent growth of 15% every year for the past five years without water. This, Al-Attiya says, is “historic.”
The answer to the question of how this was possible is desalination. The process of desalination consists of removing salt from seawater, allowing for Qatar to compensate for depleting water levels in the aquifers. This is a revolutionary change, leaving Qatar in a state of “structurally-induced water abundance.” Utilizing reverse osmosis and solar desalination technologies, desalination presents a very sustainable solution to a country that receives less than 74 millimeters of rain a year. Through desalination, Qatar is able to produce 3.5 million cubic meters of water. This water will go to farmers that will be able to supply the country with food. Al-Attiya calls it “the best technology that this region could ever have.” For the next year, this will be Al-Attiya’s work. His goal is for Qatar to become a millennium city.
March 22 marks World Water Day and the International Year of Water Cooperation. Around the world, many will participate in World Walks for Water and Sanitation, a global event aimed at addressing the world’s water crisis. More than 780 million lack access to clean water. More than 3 million die every year due to the scarcity of this resource. Qatar, along with the UAW and Saudi Arabia, are working on large-scale desalination projects. In India, farmers are looking into System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to reap record breaking harvests of rice. Through investing in projects and innovations like desalination and SRI, we can more efficiently and more effectively manage the world’s most important resource.
– Rafael Panlilio
Sources: CNN, TED, Water.org
Dupont Invents Life Saving Packaging
DuPont, in collaboration with Simonalbag, recently launched “MixPack,” the first flexible package in Mexico capable of combining high-and-low resistance seals. This new technology is proving to be a life saving solution to malnutrition in rural communities.
Between 1,000 and 3,000 Tarahumaras indigenous people live in the remote caves of Chihuahua, Mexico. They are isolated and poor, when droughts come they have no access to drinkable water, and no water for farming – thus unable to feed themselves.
The MixPack product is a bag with two compartments, which are separated by an internal seal made of DuPont Surlyn®. This solution prevents the mixing of the milk powder with the purified water that is contained within the same packaging unit. Then, when needed, by squeezing the package, the inner seal breaks mixing the ingredients – resulting in a nutritious and healthy drink for children.
Dupont has started a program that provides milk for children living in these areas. CEO Alvaro Navarro states that MixPack was the result of a dream to help people nourish their children but have no way to refrigerate baby milk or do not have a source of drinking water. He projects MixPack will revolutionize flexible packaging around the world.
“I have a dream and a mission to alleviate hunger through science and innovation,” said Navarro
– Mary Purcell
Source:Youtube
Will Capping Charity Deductions Hurt?
Despite Congress’ efforts in January to increase the tax savings for charitable donations, Obama’s newest proposal will lower it from the current 39.6% to 28%. A cap on itemized deductions basically means that when someone makes a charitable donation, the amount that they can claim on their itemized tax deduction is now about 10.8% less than before. For example, say a person who earns about $450,000 a year makes a donation of $1000 to UNICEF. Originally, they would be able to write off $396 but with the change in charity deductions, can only write off $280.
This change, however, will only affect those in the top 35% tax bracket (those who make more than $335,000). For Obama, this is a major source of money that he would use to help pay for the $447 billion job plan he introduced a few years ago. It is also a way to make sure that the rich are paying a higher share of taxes and eliminating the loophole of writing-off thousands and thousands of dollars.
But what does this mean for nonprofits? And aside from them, what does the fact that this is even an issue mean about society and giving in general? To tackle the first question, Philanthropy.com referred to a study by economists John Bakija and Bradley Heim that concludes that for every 1% decrease in savings (in this case, about 10.8%), there is an equal 1% decrease in the amount given. They do, however, mention that there are many other factors that affect how much donors give and that this change will affect each charity in a different way.
The second question seems to be the elephant in the room. It is not naive to assume that people choose to give from the heart. Yes, we live in a country that allows those who donate to receive some sort of benefit for doing so, but at a time where our passions for a cause should be the driving cause of our actions and charity, why would receiving only 11% less on a donation make the wealthy hesitate when giving to a cause?
Perhaps the charted out reductions in total donations is frightening to some charities. They should still remain hopeful that there are those in the 35% tax bracket who will continue to donate at the rates they have previously, regardless of this new change in policy. Obama’s intent to bridge the income gap and require the wealthy to pay more taxes is understandable; but so is the fear of many nonprofit organizations.
– Deena Dulgerian
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Photo: Times Union
The ‘Harlem Shake’ as a Form of Protest
The ‘Harlem Shake’ has become a viral video craze in the last few weeks. A typical ‘Harlem Shake’ video consists of a single person dancing crazily in a space while many other people are acting normal and seem oblivious to the dancing person. Then, all of a sudden the video cuts to the entire group of people dancing crazily in extravagant, yet often silly, costumes. Looking on youtube, you can find videos of swimwear models dancing in speedos, the entire Miami Heat basketball team dancing in their locker room, Norwegian army officers dancing in camouflage, and various college students dancing in college libraries, college houses, and classrooms.
You can also find videos of protestors partaking in the ‘Harlem Shake’ video craze. Yet, their videos are not just for fun but have become a new form of Middle East protest. Outside of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, a large group of protestors danced. In a Tunisian town plagued with uprisings in the Arab world, students utilized the ‘Harlem Shake’ video craze to clash with Salafists, super conservative Islamists.
The videos were streamed live, recorded by activists and later appeared on Egyptian news channels. They’ve made their way into other social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, spreading awareness and bringing attention to governmental clashes occurring in Tunisia and Egypt, leading to the arrest of at least 4 students in Egypt.
For many, the ‘Harlem Shake’ craze may seem like nonsensical fun but in the Middle East, the dance has become politicized as police and Islamist groups try to prevent these videos from happening and students and protestors stand up for their right to free expression and defy officials.
-Angela Hooks
Source: The Lede- NY Times, The Verge
Photo: The Lede- NY Times