Direct Action

‘Carbon Neutral’ Initiatives Gaining Popularity

- Vanessa King 1 Comment

Several major companies and organizations, such as HSBC and the FIFA World Cup are now taking initiatives to counteract the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere they are contributing to through their businesses. For example, HSBC has become the world’s first carbon neutral bank by investing in clean energy projects such as a wind farm in New Zealand to offset emissions from its core operations.

FIFA is planning to offset 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide linked to travel by World Cup spectators. Under one project, it and the German tournament organisers will invest in replacing coal-fired boilers at a South African factory with boilers run on sawdust.
Myclimate.org is an organization out of Germany that is supporting and promoting such carbon offset projects.

Speak Up

- Adam Clare

Have you always wanted a way to make awesome advocacy happen? CitizenSpeak is all about making it easy for grassroots organizations to get their word out on the street, or at least the e-street.

“CitizenSpeak is a free email advocacy service for grassroots organizations. Inspired by MoveOn email campaigns, CitizenSpeak provides the same e-advocacy capability at the community level in English and Spanish.”

Build a Wind Turbine

- Adam Clare

Ever wanted to make your own wind turbine? Well if you have, here is a set of instructions with pictures of how to build your own wind turbine.

100 watts of pure awesome!

Buy Your Thoughts

- Adam Clare

The Flow Market is a store where you buy what you believe in. Some highlights from the 2006 collection include:

-identity finders $5
-exploitation free produce $12
-100% GMO $8

So what is the Flow, well it’s “a brand and template that meets the rising demand for sustainable innovation.
Throughout the 20th century the pursuit for technological and economic progress has given the industrialized world great new possibilities but has also resulted in a wide range of imbalances and challenges.”

There are currently three locations of this consumption art in Copenhagen, Zurich, and New York.

Peace Education In Schools

- Vanessa King

The National Council of Education Research and Training in India has started up a program to provide life skills for peace to its students. 35 teachers from across the country will take part in a 6 week training program which aims to educate teachers in conflict resolution, suppression of aggression and coping with stress. Lessons will be taught by example and through respectful guidelines and values taught in class. This will in turn pass on such values from teacher to class and the goal is to positively influence the students and help to shape a healthy and more harmonious society.

Many of the teachers are excited by this prospect and look forward to helping curb violent behaviours in their schools through the program. “The programme aims to arm teachers with skills to promote a sense of harmony in oneself and social environment among students for avoiding conflict with law,” NCERT Director Prof Krishna Kumar said.

NCERT also does a great deal of work in helping to promote gender equality in schools and empowerment and self reliance for girls.

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