Month: June 2010

The Robin Hood Tax

- Adam Clare

In the UK there’s a movement to tax the banks on their transactions at a very tiny amount and using the increased revenue to help the poor and the environment.

You can watch the video below and check out the Robin Hood tax site.

Here’s how it works:

The Robin Hood Tax is a tiny tax on banks, hedge funds and other finance institutions that would raise billions to tackle poverty and climate change, at home and abroad.

It can start as low as 0.005 per cent – and average 0.05 per cent . But when levied on the billions of pounds sloshing round the global finance system every day through transactions such as foreign exchange, derivatives trading and share deals, it can raise hundreds of billions of pounds every year.

And while international agreement is best, it can start right now, right here in the UK.

That can help stop cuts in crucial public services in the UK, and aid the fight against global poverty and climate change.

Thanks to Greg for sending this in!

Green Jobs in Spain Reversed Economic Downturn

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

The Republican party in the USA has been trying to defend the drilling of oil despite an ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, nothing new there. They have also been arguing against progressive economic reforms to make the American economy more efficient and powered by renewable sources.

Thanks to the Republican incompetence I have stumbled across good news from Spain. They tried citing a report that they thought was against green reforms, turns out those reforms have turned a region of Spain from a place of economic misery to a haven of productivity.

Sixty-five percent of the electricity used in Navarra comes from renewable sources — primarily wind — built over the last twenty years. Over those years, the region went from having the highest unemployment rate in Spain to having the lowest rate, today.

“Under President Obama’s leadership,” the report concludes, “the United States’ decisive support of renewable energies…will aid in rapidly overcoming the current economic crisis…”

Read more about Spain’s success

G(irls)20

- Adam Clare

Teh G(irls)20 has started in Toronto, the first of many G20 related events for people by the people. The best news of all? These summits don’t $1 billion in security preparations. We’ve looked at the G(irls)20 before, but here’s more info on it:

The event, organized by the Belinda Stronach Foundation, has brought together young women from the 20 countries represented at the G20, plus one representative from the African Union. Travel and accommodation for the delegates is being covered by sponsors.

Held in downtown Toronto as the city girds itself for the large international G20 summit, the event aims to brainstorm solutions, from a young female perspective, to the world’s problems. Their ideas will then be made public, with hopes of influencing the world leaders before they begin official talks at both the G8 and G20.

Read more at the CBC

RBC Cares About Water

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

The Royal Bank of Canada has launched a series of grants for charities to promote all good things about water. There project is called Blue Water and they want you to promote good water stewardship. It looks like a great project that they have created, it would be really great to see RBC promote good water usage in their wretched tar sands investments.

You can also take a short quiz about your water knowledge.

Here’s a video about the work they did with National Geographic:

A Summit for People About People

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

The G20 are coming to Toronto and it’s costing Canadian’s more than $1 billion in security costs, plus even more in lost productivity and wages. As a contrast to that, there are a series of events happening during the G20 conference that cost a heck of a lot less that brings together leaders of the world.

These leaders are getting together to ensure that at least on some level, people’s concerns are put ahead of corporate concerns.

Take, for example, the Council of Canadians (COC) public Shout-out for Global Justice on June 25.

Relocated to Massey Hall from the University of Toronto because the latter will be shut down for security reasons, it gathers prominent international speakers such as COC chair Maude Barlow, author-activist Naomi Klein and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman who will call for climate, water, economic and social justice.

“These really are world leaders coming together — and we’re doing it for less than a billion dollars,” says Mark Calzavara, COC’s regional organizer for Ontario and Quebec.

Keep reading at the Star.

As a bonus, these alternative summits don’t need fences!

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