On Stickk.com, you draw up an official commitment contract that binds you to achieving a personal goal, be it big or small. By agreeing to this contract, you publicly state your goal and commit to achieving it – and so stake your reputation on success.
To make you accountable as you work towards your goal, you file weekly reports on your progress. You are also asked to appoint someone you know as a “referee” to verify the accuracy of your reporting, and you also enlist as many supporters as you like to encourage you. And if you want to up the ante, you can even gamble on your success. If you accomplish your goal, you get your money back. If you don’t, your money goes to charity or to someone you’ve designated in advance.
To make things really interesting, Stikk encourages you to make some fascinating wagers. Yes, you can choose to give your money to a charity selected by Stikk – but you can also choose an anti-charity gift, selecting a cause that you DONT believe in. For example if you believe in gun control, your losing bet would go to the National Rifle Association Foundation. The less you believe in the cause, the harder you will want to work to ensure that the organization does NOT get the money.
“We are trying to motivate people to accomplish personal goals by having users literally put something on the line,” writes Dean Karlan, co-founder of Stikk and Professor of Economics at Yale. “We’re not simply a motivational site. We’re actually giving them the necessary tools for success.”
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• There are geo-political problems. Countries are jockeying for position and attempting to gain influence on deciding Antarctica’s future. The Antarctic Treaty which governs what can and can’t be done will come up for renewal; and a lot of countries are looking greedily at the potential for mining minerals and searching for oil (which are both currently prohibited)
• Tourism is having a growing impact, despite the voluntary self- regulation through the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, which specifies that nothing can be taken in and nothing taken out — you are not allowed to remove a single sea shell – or even have a pee.
There is still pristine snow and ice in the areas that tourists visit. But you can now occasionally see beer cans, toilet paper and used condoms washed up on to the shore. Many of the research stations now treat and remove their sewage (after pressure from Greenpeace). But the US South Pole base buries its sewage underground — so that the South Pole itself now rests on a sea of frozen American shit.
Tourism is growing. This year over 30,000 people will visit and over 20,000 will land. And tour operators are starting to offer packages which involve staying overnight on land. Both these are bound to create further problems.
• There is still a vast array of wildlife. But whales have been hunted to near extinction, with only 3-4% of original stocks now remaining, Krill is beginning to be caught, currently only in quite small quantities; but this could become the next marine species to be overexploited, which would seriously affect the wide variety of creatures (including penguins) that depend on krill for their food.
• Climate change. Just seeing the vastness of the polar icecap helped me understand the massive impact that its melting would have on sea levels. The problem is aggravated by visiting tourists flying thousands of miles to get to the Antarctic, and visiting ships burning several tonnes of fuel each day.
All these problems need solutions. It is up to each and every one of us who have enjoyed and been inspired by the Antarctic to be part of the solution — whether we have visited the continent or just dreamed about doing so. But there are two barriers which have to be overcome first:
Getting involved is a three-stage process:
1. You start by doing little things in your everyday life that make a difference.
2. First get interested in an issue and then do something more substantial about it. Do this with friends, Get a sense of achievement. Let one thing lead to another, go on to do bigger and better things. Try to have fun doing something for a better world.
3. Finally, use your brain to come up with a creative solution which makes a significant impact on the problem.
So here are some little things to get started:
1. Become an ambassador for Antarctica. Find out as much as you can about it. Tell people about this wonderful wilderness of a continent and its importance to the future of the planet. Encourage people to speak up for its preservation. Put pressure on your politicians so that they promote and support policies which are “Antarctica-friendly”.
2. Eat sustainable fish. Much of the world’s fish has become over-fished and is facing extinction. The fish you can eat with a clear consciousness come from sustainable catcheries. The Marine Stewardship Council and Greenpeace with its Oceans campaign both have information on sustainable fishing. For a list of fish that you can’t eat, click this link.
Greenpeace is particularly concerned about the devastating impact of factory fishing on the ocean. It has just launched a new seafood research project to collect data on what fish is available at food stores. You can just sign up to be part of this campaign. Once registered, you will get instructions and a survey form to fill out when you visit your local supermarket or food store. This research shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to complete. You then report the results back to Greenpeace, who assemble the survey data.
3. Give up plastic bags. It is just a small step in reducing the energy you use or cause to be used, but it will also save animals and fish, who often ingest used plastic bags which makes life difficult for them. When you go to the supermarket make sure you take a reusable bag. It may not do much in itself for reducing carbon consumption, but it is a first step. Then, contact people who are promoting similar or contrary messages in the media, and try to get them to see the perspective from your point of view.
4. Do something for World Ocean Day, which is June 8th. Check out their website, and see how you can help — perhaps by doing a beach clean up for them. The International Coastal Cleanup takes place in September each year. On a single day, 300,000 volunteers in 90 countries — from Argentina to Vietnam — help clean up over 11,000 miles of shoreline. Cleanup Day is also about pollution prevention. Volunteers record the different types of marine debris, and analyzing this leads to a better understanding of the causes. Join in at www.coastalcleanup.org
5. Do something simple to address global warming. Take a first step to becoming more conscious about the issues and as a starting point doing something that will have real impact. Here are two things you might like to do:
• Search on Blackle: www.blackle.com. This saves energy by having white writing on a black screen, and it uses the Google search engine. They tell you how many kilowatts of energy have been saved as a result of people using this, It is a small step, but seeing the black screen will remind you continuously of the importance of the issue of global warming.
• Do the Green Thing. Subscribe to the website and do the simple action each month. You will find their website a lot of fun: www.dothegreenthing.com
6. Click and donate. The money from click and donate sites comes from the site’s sponsors who pay for each click. Check out the different options, which include The Rainforest Site to preserve rainforest in central and south America and The Hunger Site to feed the hungry – you can find a full list of such initiatives here.
7. Save your spare change each night. Before you go to bed, tip your change into a jar, When it is full then turn it into proper cash and find something to donate it to a non-profit, possibly some Antarctic conservation trust. Check out the opportunities. Also look at the idea of helping a poor person out of poverty at www.kiva.org
8. Give up bottled water. Ask for tap with ice and a slice of lemon, instead. Bottled water is an environmentally insane project causing pollution and congestion to get the water to you and creating an environmental hazard through the empty bottles people end disposing of. Indeed if we spent the money we as a world are spending on bottled water, we could solve many of the world’s problems, including the preservation of Antarctica, with the money saved.
9. Plant one tree. This will breathe out more than the amount of oxygen that you will need to live. It also absorbs carbon dioxide which will do a little to address global warming. Check out the UN’s Billion Trees Campaign: www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign. Plant your own in your yard or garden, or just somewhere where you think a tree is needed (this is called “guerrilla gardening”).
10. Have a Whale of a Time. Enjoy changing the world. Have fun. Make new friends. If you want to find out more about whales, go to: www.whaleofatime.org
Each of us can do something. Pledge to do as many of these ten things as you can. Get started; it’s never too early. And remember the old Quaker proverb: It’s better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.
For more information on how to change the world, read Michael Norton’s two books: 365 Ways to Change the World, published in Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, the UK and the USA, and The Everyday Activist, published in the UK. You can also visit his blog, or sign up to the 365 newsletter.
]]>1. Aviation is the fastest growing cause of climate change
Despite myths propagated by the airline industry, aviation already accounts for 13% of the UK’s contribution to climate change.
2. Aviation creates massive noise pollution
Living under the flight path is like living on a motorway. Over 1 million people live under the flight paths to the Heathrow and many have to endure a plane flying over every 45 seconds.
3. Aviation is mostly unnecessary
45% of air journeys in Europe are less than 500km — about the distance from London to the Scottish border.These journeys are to destinations easily reachable by train and bus, which are both around ten times less polluting.
4. Airport expansion will destroy important heritage sites
Across the country over one hundred historical buildings are at risk from airport expansion. Philip Venning, the secretary of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), established by William Morris in 1877, said of airport expansion: “This is potentially the biggest single number of destructions of historic buildings in living memory.”
5. Aviation expansion will destroy ancient forests and woodland
Hundreds of acres of ancient oak woodland would have to be destroyed to make way for the government’s expansion plans.
6. Airports cause illegal levels of nitrous oxide pollution
Heathrow airport is already breaching UK and EU legal limits for the high levels of nitrogen dioxide and therefore the present growth in the number of flights is probably unlawful. The government’s own figures show that if a third runway is built 35,000 people would be exposed to this poisonous gas.
7. Aviation’s contribution to the economy is massively overstated
The aviation industry is only the 26th biggest industry in Britain. It’s half the size of the computer industry, and just a tenth the size of banking and finance.
8. Aviation diverts money away from public services
The airlines receive over £10 billion in tax breaks each year because of tax-free fuel and VAT-free tickets and planes. That’s enough to buy over 30 new hospitals, build 2,000 new schools, put at least 450,000 new police on the beat, and pay the tuition fees of over 3 million students!
9. Aviation expansion is wiping established communities off the map
At its seven airports across the UK BAA is proposing the biggest single programme of airport expansion that the UK has ever seen. The industry is looking for new runways at Stansted, Heathrow, Edinburgh and possibly Glasgow, with significant increases in flights at Gatwick, Aberdeen and Southampton.
10. ‘Cheap’ flights are for the privileged
It’s the rich who are really benefiting from the artificially low prices of air travel. The average income of people using Stansted Airport is £47,000 per year — and it’s supposed to be a budget airport!
Apart from supporting groups like Plane Stupid, what can you do to solve the problem?
Perhaps the best place to start would be making a pledge to stop flying at the LowFlyZone There you can look for inspiration from people who are finding ways to holiday – and participate in international business meetings – without flying; and you can contribute your own experiences. You can even post pictures of places you have travelled to, without flying, on the LowFlyZone map…
]]>They are usually manufactured in China, and require around 25 million trees to be chopped down. Because of the environmental impact of this and the rapid disappearance of forests, it has been reported in Japan that China intends to limit or ban the export of disposable chopsticks.
If the imports can’t be obtained from another country there’ll need to be a shift in thinking. And there is one obvious answer: reusable chopsticks made of plastic rather than disposable chopsticks made of wood.
To highlight the issue, lingerie designers Triumph International, have launched a ‘Chopsticks Bra’. The cups are made of two bowls — one for rice and the other for miso soup – and a set of reusable chopsticks is stored in the cleavage. More from ITN:
That’s just the beginning – plenty of activists are doing equally up-front things with clothing. How about panties with a socket to store a mobile phone – or perhaps more usefully, with space for condoms?
If you like the idea of making a difference with something as simple as your underwear there’s no shortage of options, and here are a few places to start:
Pants to Poverty takes forward the ideas of the Make Poverty History campaign by selling fairly traded and organic underwear branded with anti-poverty messages – and uses slice of the income to make the world a better place.
Green Knickers
Green Knickers are made from ethical fabrics (kind silk, organic cotton, hemp-cotton mixes) and boast save the world messages and delightful designs.
Young designer Blake Mycoskie has created a range of espadrilles hoes based on a traditional Argentinian design, and for each pair you buy, he donates a pair to a shoeless Argentinian. The two pairs (but only one for you) cost $48. There is a new range for children (Tiny Toms) and shoes which you can decorate yourself — along with instructions for organising shoe decoration parties.
]]>Now the Chinese have come up with an alternative. The e-cigarette is an electronic device that allows people to smoke wherever they want – without breaking the law. This new gizmo is battery-powered and creates “puffs” of nicotine vapour that smokers inhale to get their nicotine fix. This is produced by an atomiser, and is pure nicotine: There is no tar, no cancer causing chemicals, no carbon monoxide – no cigarette butts.
The ‘cigarette’ even lights up red at the tip, and it comes in a range of strengths from 16 milligrams of nicotine down to nothing. It costs a mite more than a pack of ten – $175 including a charger and batteries, and will last for around 350 drags (about thirty smokes) until it needs a refill. But it does have a five year guarantee!
For the more discerning e-smoker, e-cigars and e-pipes are also available.
This e-cigarette is produced in China by Ruyan. If this all seems a little too wacky – but you do want to deal with the butts problem – you could do a lot worse than get a pocket ashtray from Butts Out. Use it yourself – or give it to your smoker friends…
]]>FreeRice.com is a vocabulary quiz. For every word you get right, the site donates 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger. When you get a definition right, the next word is harder; when you get it wrong, the next definition is easier. Continue playing, and with a wide vocabulary or a bit of luck you will be able to donate thousands of grains.
The site started on 7th October 2007 when 830 grains of rice were donated. By the end of the month, the daily donation was nearly 60 million grains and rising rapidly. That’s a phenomenal growth rate; especially for a site presumably spreading by word of mouth alone.
Try these two examples for size:
Desiccant means: consultant, drying agent, beginning, level?
Vestigial means: humid, trustworthy, shocked, rudimentary?
After the first few words, the vocabulary level starts to rise when you get a correct definition, and it will get a bit easier if you guess wrong. The next words to come up were:
Corsair: superiority, limb, devilry, pirate
Dreck: junk, newsperson, lyre, burden
Gemsbok: lodging, trophy, devoutness, oryx
Think you get them all right? If so, that’s 50 grains donated. And in case you were wondering – here’s a gemsbok…
It goes on and on. Beware – you may find the site addictive. But you’ll be giving away an awful lot of rice!
]]>There are lots of things that all of us do which we know we shouldn’t be doing. And despite every attempt to tell us it’s wrong, we will continue doing them. So perhaps, up to a point, we should legitimise the idea of “being a hypocrite”.
Perhaps we should be allowing people to own up to everything that they are doing which they know they shouldn’t be doing. This at least will put everything out into the open… and could be a starting point for real, lasting behaviour change.
So in this spirit…
One prominent member of the book world has much to say on the matter. Jeanette Winterson, acclaimed author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Lighthousekeeping and most recently of The Stone Gods was in conversation with Fi Glover on Radio 4’s Saturday Live on 6th October 2007, where she talked about changing the world – and being a hypocrite.
Asked if she was concerned about climate change:
I’m an optimistic person anyway. I always think that we get another chance. And I’m also convinced that nature produces a miracle when we least expect it.
We’ve already seen so many problems averted. I don’t think we need to go down the Doom and Gloom route. But we do need to be, each of us, very conscious of what we are doing in the world and our own choices on the planet. So it’s not about pessimism, it is about challenge now.
What I really worry about are my godchildren. They’re only kids, and they worry about the planet every day. They always coming home and asking “Will there be a planet for us to live on?” But when you hear it from the kids, you must really do something about [global warming]. And it can’t just be politics. It has to be personal commitment from everybody.
At home I have a geothermal heating system and a rainwater collecting system. So I do what I can. But I’m not that squeaky clean…I do have a Porsche. Not an electric Porsche. Sadly they haven’t made them yet. I limit the mileage.
But the point is that there’s always going to be some part of us that says “Hey, let’s party!”. That’s what we have got to balance against responsibility. If it becomes too penitential nobody’s going to do anything. But there are things that all of us can do.
Listen to the full broadcast here; Jeanette’s on first.
]]>The crisis in Zimbabwe is getting worse by the day. Every day that passes, more and more people will suffer and die unnecessarily…No one individual, party or organization can solve the Zimbabwean crisis alone. We call on all concerned world leaders, individuals and organizations to work together in tackling the Zimbabwean crisis now, before it is to late.
The crisis in Zimbabwe ranks among the world’s worst government-created humanitarian disasters.
Zimbabwe now has:
* lowest life expectancy in the world – 37 years
* Only one doctor per ten thousand people
* over 85% of the population living in poverty
* worst inflation in the world: over 7000% and rising
* 2 million people vulnerable to starvation
* innocent men, woman and children brutalized and tortured by the police on a daily basis
Robert Mugabe, the great freedom fighter who brought Zimbabwe independance, would like you to believe that the problems are a result of colonialism and the policies of the West (which are mainly sanctions on travel by senior ZANU-PF officials and the attempt to get food aid distributed for humanitarian rather than political purposes).
But despite the fragmentation of the opposition and the fierce bullying of its leaders, Zimbabweans are speaking out about the abuse of human rights taking place.
In September 2007, The Times reported on a new movement aiming to end police brutality by naming and shaming the most violent offenders – and taking them to court. Campaign group Restoration of Human Rights has encouraged unprecedented public action, and it’s the brainchild of two Zimbabweans who were living in Britain:
Until a few months ago Justin Shaw-Gray, 33, was in Godalming working in IT sales; Stendrick Zvorwadza, 38, was a business studies teacher at a college in Bradford. But the two men were so shocked at the repression in their homeland that they decided to give up their jobs and do something.
“We’re saying enough is enough of police brutality,” said Shaw-Gray. “We felt you might not be able to get rid of Mugabe, but we could make people aware of their rights and how to act. It seemed to us there were plenty of human rights organisations documenting abuses, but none actually doing anything about it.”
Follow this link for the full story, and to read about some of their amazing successes in calling ordinary people to action.
The pair have been arrested several times. Questioned about the risks on World Service radio, Shaw-Gray explained: “Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world, and people are starving. We’re explaining to people that if you don’t stand up you’ll be dead anyway in six months, twelve months, maybe eighteen months, because the economic situation is so bad. You must stand up or you’ll die.”
Two things you can do:
1. Support the campaign for the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe. Use this website to send a message of support to Justin, Stendrick and their colleagues in Zimbabwe who are putting their lives at risk to defend human rights in Zimbabwe. They are standing up in the face of extreme adversity; do what you can to help and encourage them.
2. Join The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London. This takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe.
]]>Ahmed Khatib, a 12-year old boy was mistakenly shot by Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the Jenin refugee camp in November 2005. He had gone to buy himself a tie on the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr (marking the end of Ramadan) and was playing with a toy gun. Israeli troops involved in a raid to arrest suspected terrorists came under fire. They mistook Ahmed for a militant and shot him. He was taken to a Haifa Hospital with his parents, where he later died.
The Israeli military immediately apologised for their mistake. The Khatibs agreed to donate their son’s organs to be transplanted to any Israeli awaiting an organ donation. They did not mind whether the patient was Jewish, Muslim or Christian. Ahmed Khatib’s heart now beats in the chest of a 12-year old Druze girl from northern Israel, who had waited 5 years for a transplant. His lungs were transplanted to a 14-year old. His kidneys benefited a 4-year old boy and a 5-year old girl. Sections of his liver helped save the lives of a 7-month old baby girl and a 58-year old woman.
We should applaud the Khatibs for their humanitarian gesture which has enabled their son in death to sustain the lives of others, whereas another family might have pledged another of their offspring to become a martyr as a suicide bomber.
The second story is of a 19-year old Scottish Jew studying in Israel called Yoni Jesner who was killed in a suicide bombing on a bus in Tel Aviv in September 2002.
Yoni was an A-grade student on his way to study medicine at University College London. He was also active in community work in the Glasgow Jewish community. He was the driving force behind the rejuvenation and expansion of Glasgow Bnei Akiva, his local youth group. He organised and ran cross-communal events as well as inter-youth movement activities. Yoni sent a Jewish Youth delegation to the Scottish Parliament. He was a Jewish Studies teacher and was in charge of running the children and youth services at his local synagogue. He was also the youngest volunteer at the Glasgow Jewish burial society.
Yoni’s family instructed doctors to donate their son’s kidney, and this was given to Yasmin Rimila, a 7-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl from Ramallah, who had suffered kidney failure. She had been waiting two years for a suitable donor so that doctors could treat the rare genetic disorder that had led to her kidney failure
Yoni’s eldest brother, Ari Jesner, said:
The family is very proud that Yoni was able to give life to others. The most important principle was that life was given to another human being. It’s unimportant what religion; what nationality. We are glad their daughter was able to be saved. Life here is a bit of a lottery.
The Yoni Jesner Foundation was been set up in memory of Yoni. Through its projects the Foundation perpetuates Yoni’s memory and continues the work that Yoni was involved with during his too-short life: www.yonijesner.org
Why not become an organ donor yourself? Type “Organ Donor” into Google, or in the UK click here.
]]>Just the next five years of carbon dioxide released from the burning of the rainforests (which contributes 20% of global Greenhouse Gas emissions) will be greater than all the emissions from air travel since the Wright brothers until at least 2025.
Conserving the planet’s forests needs to be given much higher priority in the effort to reduce global carbon emissions for the following reasons:
• The importance of this source to total emissions.
• Because carbon capture and nuclear technology will make no major impact on reducing emissions before 2030.
We can tackle deforestation now, without the need for inventing new and expensive technologies or creating a new energy infrastructure. Apart for storing carbon, these forests are also giant utilities generating rainfall and air-conditioning the atmosphere on a global scale. They maintain the planet for all the world’s people. This is something the world community must start to pay for and in doing so it will not only help the effort to conserve the forests but it will also help alleviate poverty among 1.2 billion of the world’s poor who depend on these forests for their livelihoods. Developing countries cannot do this on their own. The global warming problem is not of their making. Yet this course of action offers the cheapest and most efficient immediate action for addressing climate change.
Who contributes what to Greenhouse Gas emissions?
Power 24%
Deforestation 18%
Transport 14%
Industry 14%
Agriculture 14%
Buildings 8%
Other 5%
Waste 3%
The importance of forests to carbon capture:
• Forest trees and soils contain twice as much carbon as in the whole of the earth’s atmosphere. Tropical forests store between 120 and 400 tonnes of carbon per hectare.
• Forest burning is contributing 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year in Brazil and 350 million tones per year in Indonesia.
• Peatlands cover just 3% of the earth’s land surface, but are the largest terrestrial store of biomass carbon. In South East Asia, with 7.6% of the world’s peatlands, 42 billion tones of carbon is stored.
• When peatland is drained, cleared or burned for agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions come from peat oxidization as well as from fire.
The Global Canopy Trust:
The GCT is an international network of 29 scientific institutions from 19 countries involved in forest canopy research. Find out more from www.globalcanopy.org.
GCT organises forest canopy experience days in the UK in partnership with Go Ape www.goape.co.uk.
It also organises more sophisticated forest experiences for the intrepid explorer who wants to learn more about the importance of forests in South East Asia and South America.
Facts about forest canopies:
• Forest canopies are the richest known yet least explored terrestrial habitat on earth.
• The canopy is the functional interface between 90% of the globe’s biomass and the atmosphere.
• 40% of all species on earth may exist in the canopy; 30% of them are likely to be canopy specialists.
• The value of this biodiversity to medicine, agriculture and humankind is unknown.
• New research shows rising CO2 is altering canopy function and could have a significant influence on disease patterns, hydrology (forest canopies intercept up to 25% of precipitation) and wood quality of over 45 million ha of land.
• We do not accurately know the canopy’s role in maintaining the earth’s carbon balance or climate.15-37% of global species most at risk could become extinct due to predicted climate change impacts in 50-100 years. Most of these will be in forest canopies.
• The forest canopy is the prime location for future risk prediction under global change and in which to interrogate ecosystem models.
• Multidisciplinary research in the canopy has challenged concepts of global species richness, plant physiology and the provision of ecosystem services.
• Closed forest canopies are fragmenting and disappearing faster than any other habitat.
Three things to do if you care about forests:
1. Find out about the UN billion trees campaign: the target was to plant 1,000,000,000 trees. So far pledges have been made to plant 1,063,845,640 trees and 37,131,175 have actually been planted. You can join the campaign and pledge to plant some trees (even just one tree) in your garden, as a school project, to brighten up the streets in your neighbourhood or to create a community orchard or forest. Make a pledge today. www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign
2. Help TreeAid plant trees in rural Africa. This creates employment, alleviates poverty, helps counter desertification as well as capturing carbon. www.treeaid.org.uk
3. Click on the Rainforest Site every day and save one square metre of rainforest a day. Get your friends to do this. Start a clickers group. It is a cost-free way of doing a little bit to save the rainforest. Make the Rainforest Site your homepage. It works! www.therainforestsite.com
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