Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
poverty
TED Talk Thursday: How To Set Goals…For The World
Jamie Drummond co-founded the advocacy organization ONE (Bono is another co-founder), which is focused on ending extreme poverty and the AIDS epidemic. In this inspiring June 2012 TED Talk, Mr. Drummond discusses the UN Millennium Development Goals:
In 2000, the UN laid out 8 goals to make the world better by reducing poverty and disease — with a deadline of 2015. As that deadline approaches, Jamie Drummond of ONE.org runs down the surprising successes of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, and suggests a crowdsourced reboot for the next 15 years.
Why not aim high? What have we got to lose?
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TED Talk Thursday: Poverty, Crime, And Greenhouse Gas Emissions
From TEDx Manitoba is Shaun Loney, founder and Executive Director at BUILD Inc. and Warm Up Winnipeg where he leads an innovative approach to promote social enterprise as a no-cost way to cut poverty rates. In this talk, Mr. Loney makes surprising connections to poverty, crime and greenhouse gas emissions, and in doing so offers a humane and do-able response to climate change:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x4shcdZ8QI]
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Shaun Loney is also the co-chair of the Winnipeg Citizens’ Coalition where he authored “Growing Green”, an economic blueprint for the city of Winnipeg. He also sits on the board of directors of Manitoba Green Retrofit. From 2002 to 2008 Shaun was the Director of Energy Policy for the Government of Manitoba. During this time Manitoba went from being last place in Canada in energy efficiency to first, holding this place for three years running. Shaun holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Manitoba.
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Climate Change & Hunger
Today is World Food Day. In my home office hangs a poster from Oxfam Canada. It reads:
Climate change is more than an environmental issue. It is about poverty and human rights. More than this, it is about the rights of women. At Oxfam, we work passionately to end global poverty and advance gender equality. But climate change is blocking the way. We have to stop climate change in its tracks and we have to start right now.
The U.N. World Food Program states:
Climate change is already increasing the risk of exposure to hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity among the poorest and most vulnerable people. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and intense, land and water are becoming more scarce and difficult to access, and increases in agricultural productivity are becoming more difficult to achieve.
In honour of World Food Day, check out this video on the Beltran Eco-home and Farm. Juan Beltran, left a quadriplegic after a tour of Iraq, says “sustainability is not being dependent on anyone else”.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SesihrO8doc&feature=player_embedded]
And then go to “1 Billion Hungry.org” to sign a petition calling on our leaders to work to end hunger. And once you’ve done that, how about talking to at least one person today about the link between human-caused climate change and world hunger?
More links:
Juan Beltran: Quadriplegic Iraq Veteran Builds Sustainable Eco-Friendly Farm Home