The Value of Volunteering

Globalteer is an "organisation independent of government, politics and religion with the objective to help projects and communities around the world." It is a non-profit charity that aims to help those in need.
According to Globalteer's website, the organization's mission includes: 

• Support - To provide support to communities and projects in need.
• Awareness - To raise awareness in developed countries of the plight faced by poverty stricken countries.
• Education - Educate locals and volunteers about environmental issues and the need to protect wildlife.

Currently the charity has projects to help children in Cusco, Peru; Medellin, Colombia; and Siem Reap, Cambodia, as well as wildlife and conservation ventures in Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.

Globalteer says: "We send volunteers to schools to provide free education to children who are unable to pay fees to go to local schools. We work closely with centres that care for children providing support and funding to allow a safe and comfortable environment in the most important and vulnerable time in their lives. In developing countries the poorest people are often overlooked as there is little governmental funding available to provide support. We work with projects that help the most vulnerable children and communities. By providing an education and vocational training to children we give them an opportunity to break the relentless cycle of poverty and support their own families by becoming a useful and productive member of their society."

Want to help? Make a donation or volunteer!

The Three Paradoxes that Obstruct Water Conservation, and How We Can Resolve Them through H2Ownership

Here's part 3 of the series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured here.

Last installment: next Friday!

James Workman is author of Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought. He is a visiting professor at Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment and co-founder of SmartMarkets LLC, an online utility-based platform that unlocks equitable water and energy markets for cities using the system that has sustained the Kalahari’s indigenous people for 30,000 years.

III. The Third Paradox of Water Conservation: Monopoly
Why must solvent utilities encourage and reward waste?

Let me introduce you to my friend – a professional schizophrenic – who manages conservation programs at a local urban water utility in the US.

She’s hardly alone in her mental instability or the predicament that caused it. Using her name would jeopardize her career. But based on 53,000 American water utilities, I estimate at least 100,000 people like her suffer from split personality in the US alone. Her symptoms remain mild – a nervous twitch, sweaty palms and rolling eyes – but worsen as water scarcity puts competing stresses on her utility’s ageing system.

The roots of her disorder are simple. Nearly a decade ago she was hired, given a small staff, budget and discretionary funds to promote ambitious conservation programs and rebates throughout the service area of her water utility. It was the ideal job to match her ideals, a rare opportunity that pays you to do what you love. But there was, alas, a deep and hidden problem, which gave rise to psychological complications.

Impressions from India

India Gate, Mumbai

Having just returned from a trip to India, visiting Mumbai and Kolkata, the good news to report is that India seems to be on the rise, with more and more people climbing out of abject poverty. There's been a huge increase in the size of the middle class. Sure there are still very young mothers in the streets dodging traffic while holding very young children in their arms as they beg for food, but there seem to be fewer than 5 years ago when I was last there. The colors are still fabulous, from the infinite shades and patterns of the sarees down to the multiple sparkling, multihued bracelets on the vagabonds' wrists as they ask for alms.

The animals are gone too. The holy cows, the monkeys, the goats, camels and horses that used to roam the streets are rare now. Only the dogs are still around, the others having been carted off to reserves outside of town.

The optimism is palpable. Mumbai seems less poor. The cars that clog the streets include more affluent Japanese and European brands than before. Indians, not just tourists, make up the clientele of the large, luxurious hotels. India's booming economy is on the way to achieving its milestone of 9% GDP. The current economic growth rates are projected at around 7.5%-8% for the financial year 2011-2012. And India's economy is the ninth largest in the world by nominal GDP.

Let's celebrate India's achievements. Before long the country's economic growth is predicted by Goldman Sachs to make it the third largest economy in the world by 2035,  just after the US and China.

The Three Paradoxes that Obstruct Water Conservation, and How We Can Resolve Them through H2Ownership

Here's part 2 of the series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured on the right.

Next installment: next Friday!

James Workman is author of Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought. He is a visiting
professor at Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment and co-founder of SmartMarkets LLC, an online utility-based platform that unlocks equitable water and energy markets for cities using the system that has sustained the Kalahari’s indigenous people for 30,000 years.

II. The Second Paradox of Water Conservation: Efficiency
Why does your water-saving device increase our collective thirst?

The ghost of the late British economist William Stanley Jevons is disrupting our best efforts to tackle climate change.

Jevons’ specter first haunted hybrid vehicle owners. To get their extra mileage’s worth and display clean and fuel-efficient credentials, they began to drive faster, farther, more frequently than before. Jevons then haunted homes that installed compact fluorescent bulbs and “green” appliances, making people switch on more lights and gadgets, more often, and leave them on longer or even continuously.

In short, Jevons makes us frugal misers burn more of the energy we set out to save. And even if I’m disciplined enough to resist Jevons and still stamp down demand, my haunted neighbors offset my savings by using up my spare fuel and electricity.

Saving the Florida Panther

The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) had almost disappeared. Of this subspecies of puma – also known as cougar or mountain lion – only 20 were still alive at the end of the 20th century. Today 120 to 160 Florida panthers roam their habitat in the south-west of Florida.

In 1967 the Florida panther was added to the list of endangered species. But in 1989 natural park land was put aside for the animals, and in 1995 the US Fish and Wildlife Service established a plan to "genetically restore" the species. Eight Texas puma females (Puma concolor stanleyana), the closest subspecies to the panther, were brought to the park. Seven years later, when the conservationists deemed sufficient time had passed for the Florida panther population to be revived, they discovered three of the females had died but captured the other five to return them to Texas.

By 2003, the number of Florida panthers had tripled. Today the population is estimated at 120 to 160 panthers. What's more, in the 24 September 2010 issue of Science magazine in an article entitled, "Genetic Restoration of the Florida Panther", the authors note that the specific morphological characteristics of the species have been maintained, despite the introduction of new genes. A success story all around!

The Three Paradoxes that Obstruct Water Conservation, and How We Can Resolve Them through H2Ownership

Here's the first of a four-part series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured here.

Look for the next installments of this important story on Fridays.

James Workman is author of  Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought.  He is a visiting
professor at Wesleyan University’s College of the
Environment and co-founder of SmartMarkets LLC,
an online utility-based platform that unlocks equitable water and energy markets for cities using the system that has sustained the Kalahari’s indigenous people for 30,000 years.

I. The First Paradox of Water Conservation: Value
Why is water so "priceless" in use, yet so worthless in exchange?

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe chairs Nestlé, the world’s 44th largest company, which last year earned US$ 9.6 billion profits on US$ 100 billion in revenues. He is the consummate international businessman, bargaining hard, overseeing 280,000 employees, outflanking competitors, and at ease with heads of state. Yet he remains incapable of negotiating one simple and irreplaceable ingredient without which his company ceases to exist: water.

He hardly seems the quintessentially gloomy Malthusian, yet Brabeck foresees “limits to growth” because our global fresh water supply is both finite and being rapidly, stupidly, depleted. The world can sustainably use 4,200 cubic kilometers of water he notes, but it consumes 4,500 even as aquifers plummet and rivers run dry.

Another Inconvenient Truth
A few years back he called water scarcity “the other inconvenient truth,” one riskier than climate change, and predicted that the cost of staple cereals would rise as the world exhausted its water. Time proved him right. Grain prices spiked 90%, triggering widespread urban food riots like those from Tunisia and Yemen to Egypt and Libya.

A Commitment to Safeguard Children

Who is building a world in which every child:

• Is loved and respected regardless of race, religion or caste
• Is fed and clothed and housed within a caring family environment
• Has free access to quality education and training in line with his or her abilities
• Has free access to quality health care
• Has free access to recreation and leisure
• Has a voice and can speak out without fear of the consequences
• Is free from exploitation and abuse
• Is free from the direct and indirect effects of armed conflict and communal violence?

Butterflies is.  "Butterflies addresses the challenge of making the Convention on the Rights of the Child a reality, particularly of those children who are most vulnerable, neglected, abused and exploited. Butterflies is committed, within its mandate, to work towards solidarity among NGOs, Government and all Civil Society organizations for addressing the concerns of all children."

According to its website, "Butterflies is a registered voluntary organization working with street and working children in Delhi since 1989.  We believe in the right of every child to have a full-fledged childhood where she/he has the right to protection, respect, opportunities and participation in his/her growth and development. Rights of street and working children are no exception.  Butterflies is committed to a non-institutional approach, follows principle of democracy and promotes children's participation in decision making as part of its programme planning, monitoring and evaluation."

Its aim is "to empower street and working children with skills and knowledge to protect their rights and to develop them as respected and productive citizens. We use the Constitution of India, Laws related to Children and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as a major tool for ensuring government and public accountability for all."

Help Butterflies and make a difference in the life of a child who needs care and protection. 

The End of Polio Is Near

"We are within grasp of declaring the end of polio worldwide," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said end October, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth. During that meeting, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Nigeria and Pakistan, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pledged over $100 million in new funds to stamp out the last 1% of the disease that has not been eradicated yet.

Help put an end to this disease and save children's lives by contributing to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Also check out The End of Polio website: sign the petition!

We're Back!

The Good Times is back. After a short absence, during which time it seemed there was no good news to report (the Euro crisis, the lack of world leadership, human rights abuses worldwide, crazy weather across the globe, just to mention a few), The Good Times has surfaced much that's good to profile. So stay tuned!