HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Good Times wishes you optimism and more positive news in 2012!

gelukkige nuwejaar / voorspoedige nuwejaar / ilufio ètussé / Gëzuar vitin e ri / e glëckliches nëies / güets nëies johr / عام سعيد (aam saiid) / sana saiida / shnorhavor nor tari / amokitanone / yeni iliniz mubarek / aw ni san'kura / mbuee / urte berri on / З новым годам (Z novym hodam) / subho nababarsho / asgwas amegas / mbembe mbu / bonne année / sretna nova godina / bloavezh mat / bloavez mad / честита нова година (chestita nova godina) / hnit thit ku mingalar pa / sun lin fi lok / kung hé fat tsoi / bon any nou / xin nian kuai le / xin nian hao / pace e salute / sretna nova godina / šťastný nový rok / godt nytår / sale naw tabrik / mbu mwa bwam / gelukkig nieuwjaar / happy new year / feliĉan novan jaron / head uut aastat / eƒé bé dzogbenyui nami / mbembe mbu / gott nýggjár / onnellista uutta vuotta / gelukkig nieuwjaar / lokkich neijier / bon an / feliz aninovo / გილოცავთ ახალ წელს (gilocavt akhal tsels) / ein gutes neues Jahr / prost Neujahr / kali chronia / kali xronia / sal mubarak / nootan varshabhinandan / rogüerohory año nuévo-re / bònn ané / barka da sabuwar shekara / hauoli makahiki hou / שנה טובה (shana tova) / ombura ombe ombua / nav varsh ki subhkamna / nyob zoo xyoo tshiab / boldog új évet / gleðilegt nýtt ár / selamat tahun baru / ath bhliain faoi mhaise / felice anno nuovo / buon anno / sugeng warsa enggal / akemashite omedetô / asseggas ameggaz / hosa varshada shubhaashayagalu / nav reh mubarakh / zhana zhiliniz kutti bolsin / sur sdei chhnam thmei / ngethi cya mwaka mweru / umwaka mwiza / seh heh bok mani bat uh seyo / sala we ya nû pîroz be / sabai di pi mai / felix sit annus novus / laimīgu Jauno gadu / bón ànno nêuvo / bonana / mbula ya sika elamu na tonbeli yo / laimingų Naujųjų Metų / gelükkig nyjaar / e gudd neit Joër / Среќна Нова Година (srekna nova godina) / arahaba tratry ny taona / selamat tahun baru / nava varsha ashamshagal / is-sena t-tajba / kia porotu te ano ou / kia hari te tau hou / navin varshaachya hardik shubbheccha / kaoha nui tenei ehua hou / ose:rase / Шинэ жилийн баярын мэнд хvргэе (shine jiliin bayariin mend hurgeye) / wênd na kô-d yuum-songo / umyaka omucha omuhle / ngeu' shwi pong mbeo paghe / godt nyttår / bon annada / subha nababarsa / naba barsara hardika abhinandan / naya sar Mubarak / felis anja nobo / nawe kaalmo mobarak sha / سال نو مبارک (sâle no mobârak) / szczęśliwego nowego roku / feliz ano novo / ਨਵੇਂ ਸਾਲ ਦੀਆਂ ਵਧਾਈਆਂ (nave saal deeyan vadhaiyaan) / bun di bun onn / baxtalo nevo bersh / un an nou fericit / la mulţi ani / С Новым Годом (S novim godom) / ia manuia le tausaga fou / nzoni fini ngou / bonu annu nou / bliadhna mhath ur / srećna nova godina / Срећна нова година / mwaha mwema / goredzva rakanaka / nain saal joon wadhayoon / shubha aluth awuruddak weiwa / šťastný nový rok / srečno novo leto / dobir leto / sanad wanagsan / feliz año nuevo / wan bun nyun yari / mwaka mzuri / heri ya mwaka mpya / gott nytt år / es guets Nöis / manigong bagong taon / ia orana i te matahiti api / assugas amegaz / iniya puthandu nalVazhthukkal / yaña yıl belän / నూతన సంవత్శర శుభాకాంక్షలు (nuthana samvathsara subhakankshalu) / สวัสดีปีใหม่ (sawatdii pimaï) / tashi delek / losar tashi delek / sanat farah wa khare / tshidimu tshilenga / itumelele ngwaga o mosha / posa varshada shubashaya / yeni yılınız kutlu olsun / gluk in'n tuk / Vyľ Aren / Щасливого Нового Року / З Новим роком (Z novym rokom) / naya saal mubarik / yangi yilingiz qutlug' bo'lsin / Chúc Mừng Nǎm Mới / Cung Chúc Tân Niên / Cung Chúc Tân Xuân / ene boune anéye, ene boune sintéye / blwyddyn newydd dda / bon lanné / dewenati / nyak'omtsha / a gut yohr / unyaka omusha omuhle

MassiveGood

Check out MassiveGood, and fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and improve maternal and child health. How?


It's "the social network generation’s solution to put a stop to the millions of deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and to improve maternal and child health in the developing world. If social media has revolutionized the way in which we interact, why can’t we harness its power to change the way we think about humanitarian aid? Is it possible to use the reputed “network effect” to raise awareness and increase funding for some of the most pressing global health issues in the 21st century? MASSIVEGOOD does both, by creating a worldwide community based on a simple and easy act—the 'micro-contribution'.”

'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

Bicycles for Africa

Got an old bicycle in your garage that you don't know what to do with? Send it to Bern, where it will be restored and shipped to Africa so people living in rural areas can cycle to work. That's what Paolo Richter does. His company, Gump-& Drahtesel hires unemployed individuals to recycle old bicycles for Africa, while helping them get back into the labor force in Switzerland.

Hundreds of jobless people work in Richter's bicycle and wood workshops, where they learn to be mechanics or sales people, and receive professional and personal training to reenter the job market. Over 7,000 repaired bikes are sent to Africa each year. Gump-& Drahtesel also makes lamps, jewellery and decorative items from spare bicycle parts, which are then sold in Bern to support the company's African project, while giving unemployed individuals work experience.

What a great idea: employing people who need work, training them in new skills while providing a product that offers greater mobility to people who need transportation to get to work.

Grocery Audits and Change Clubs

Here's something worth knowing about. Women out there are actually conducting grocery audits, walking down store aisles scrutinizing the ingredients in food products and translating their findings into actions that provide communities with suggestions on how to be healthier.  One idea to help parents in grocery stores identify healthy snacks for children quickly is adding labels next to those items on the shelves.

Groups of women in the United States in "Change Clubs" have been leading campaigns to do such things as analyze the food on shelves, wander through neighborhoods to make out what prevents the locals from walking and exercising more, and discover ways to help people become healthier.

Dr. Miriam Nelson, professor of Nutrition at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, is the one who actually started the Change Clubs. Her idea is to use the power of women working together to increase health in communities. With 8 initial Change Club sites in the US, click here to form a Change Club, helping women support change and healthiness in your area. 

Logistics Emergency Teams

Here's a message from the Geneva-based World Economic Forum:

"In case of a major humanitarian disaster, the primary mechanism for coordinating humanitarian assistance is the Cluster system - unique cooperation involving key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners.


The Logistics Emergency Teams (LET) developed by the World Economic Forum and partner companies are the first example of a successful operational partnership between the private sector and the Cluster system. The Logistics Emergency Teams have deployed in support of emergency relief efforts in Mozambique, Philippines, Pakistan, Haiti, Indonesia, Myanmar, Chile, Japan and the Horn of Africa since 2008.

This week LET and the Forum hosted the global meeting of the Logistics Cluster [at Forum Headquarters] in Cologny - bringing together our partner companies with over 50 humanitarian logistics leads from the World Food Programme, World Health Organization, OXFAM, Save the Children, UN Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNICEF, and many others.

This meeting allowed a global sharing of best practices and lessons learned. It is an excellent example of multistakeholder cooperation to assist those in need. We will continue to support the further development of the Logistics Emergency Teams to improve preparedness for emergency response."

Chaka Chaka

South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka empowers communities in the fight against diseases and poverty.

In addition to being UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador against malaria and an Ambassador for Roll-Back Malaria, a worldwide initiative to fight the disease sponsored by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization, among other institutions, Yvonne ceaselessly endeavors to raise money for the cause. In 2006 she created the Princess of Africa Foundation to further combat malaria and "to carry out community and social charity works."

As she herself says, "We want to raise awareness and take initiative to eradicate this needless disease. People need to know more about malaria because it kills almost one million Africans a year, most of them children."

Yvonne Chaka Chaka holds degrees in adult education and government administration, and has lectured on literacy.  In addition to all that, she promotes the empowerment of African women as they battle disease, poverty and gender discrimination.

So do you suppose that's why she's called the Princess of Africa?

See her in action:

The Whale Song Project

Help marine scientists identify whale "dialects," by listening to them online. Whale songs translate into a complex language that researchers are trying to decipher. You can help marine researchers understand what whales are saying simply by listening to their sounds and deciding which calls match, grouping them into categories.

The Whale Song Project aims to "understand how and why marine mammals respond to various sound stimuli. These studies are badly needed in order to establish regulations and guidelines to mitigate the impact of man-made sound on marine life."

Click here to hear the sounds and have fun helping science.

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

Here's part 4 of the series on water conservation by global expert James Workman, pictured here.

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.

IV. Resolving the 3 Paradoxes of Water Conservation:
Forget virtue, durable conservation must tap human vice

In April 2001, US Vice-President Dick Cheney famously trashed the idea of doing more with less: “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue,” he said, “but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”

It pains my liberal conscience to admit it, but ten years later it seems he’s right. To save water and energy and build deep-seated resilience from the grassroots level up, cities need to start tapping into a far deeper human instinct: avarice.

Yes, yes. I know that sounds rather crass, even for me, but hear me out.

We can agree that climate mitigation demands clean energy; likewise climate adaptation demands efficient water use. Building on that, we all know that water and energy conservation remains by far the fairest, fastest, cheapest and cleanest route to global security. It restores a resilient society, a stable climate, an autonomous foreign policy and a robust economy while avoiding political land mines of regulations, carbon taxes or cap-and-trade treaties.