Learn more at our website
twitter.com/PDTglobal:
Colouring the horns of rhinos on the ten rand bill in Africa - an initiative started by concerned members of the South African community to raise awareness on how close rhinos are to extinction. Members of the public are encouraged to colour the horn on their bill red and continue to use the money until every single ten rand note has the mark.
These words accompany online photographs of the marked bills:
“Can you imagine every single rhino horn made RED on every single Ten Rand Note ?
Can you imagine that every single South African will see this, talk about it and become outraged at the real possibility of our rhino becoming extinct?
Can you imagine every single visitor to South Africa this Festive Season seeing these notes, asking questions and creating awareness back home.
Can you imagine our government NOT sitting up and taking heed of our outraged voices, having to recall, reprint and possibly even do away with the Ten Rand Note ?
Can you imagine our Africa with no rhino ?”
This is a really interesting public outreach campaign - I’m interested to see its effects. I have no doubt it will impact the public consciousness, but I can only hope that will be turned into effective action.
(via teacherlp)
An increasing number of land deals are displacing farmers and leaving poor communities homeless, campaigning charity Oxfam has warned.
It says up to 227m hectares (560m acres) have been sold or leased worldwide since 2001.
Half of all deals that have been verified are in Africa, amounting to an area the size of Germany - 35m hectares, Oxfam says.
Vulnerable communities in Uganda and South Sudan have been affected.
The report also focuses on Honduras, Guatemala and Indonesia.
‘Frenetic competition’
The organisation’s Chief Executive, Barbara Stocking, said the “blinkered scramble” for land by investors was ignoring the needs of those who live on the land and depend upon it for their survival.
“Many of the world’s poorest people are being left worse off by the unprecedented pace of land deals and the frenetic competition for land.”
Oxfam says that among the worst affected by these so-called land grabs are women, who despite producing up to 80% of food in some poor countries, are often more vulnerable as they have weaker land rights.
“Investors, no matter how noble they pertain to be, cannot sweep aside the needs and rights of poor communities who depend on the land they profit from,” she said.
The organisation said that land grabs had accelerated especially since 2008, when soaring prices highlighted the issue of food security.
It said an increasing demand for food, combined with climate change and the increase of agricultural land being used to grow biofuels, meant that the number of such deals would be likely to only rise in the future.
It called on the EU to scrap its target of obtaining 10% transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020 - which has fuelled the planting of crops for biofuels - and asked investors and governments to implement policies to ensure land deals are fair and those affected are properly consulted.
This is important.
Underground river discovered beneath the Amazon
Subterranean river is nearly as long as the Amazon River and is twice as broad.
Super cool.
(via windandgold)
The Taliban may receive greater notoriety, but air pollution is Kabul’s biggest threat and killer. On any given day in Kabul, a pall of dust and smog coats the city and obliterates the view of nearby snow-capped mountains, causing a myriad of health problems – and death – for residents of the city.
The Ministry of Health estimates that 3,000 people die from pollution-induced illnesses in Kabul each year, making it the biggest cause of natural death in the city. They further estimate that the number of Afghans suffering from respiratory problems has reached 480,000. According to the National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA), nearly 80 percent of Kabul’s hospital patients suffer from diseases caused by polluted air and water. Those most affected include children, the elderly, and those who already suffer from diabetes, heart disease, or respiratory problems. Unborn children are also threatened by the extreme pollution. Carbon monoxide is proven to increase ventricular septal birth defects – a condition already high in Afghanistan. Underpinning the problem is Kabul’s rapid population expansion as people flee to the capital in search of relative stability amid fighting in the rural areas. Originally designed for less than a million people, Kabul is now home to approximately five million and growing, a figure which Kabul Municipality says has doubled in just six years. Many of the new arrivals live in illegally built slums. During the winter they must burn anything they can get ahold of including highly toxic tyres, plastic, and dung. A trash collector Kabul’s many powerless nights further spark the usage of diesel generators. NEPA estimates that there are over 200,000 such generators working on any given night, infusing the air with more pollutants. Further assaults to the air come from the approximate 900,000 old and poorly-maintained vehicles that clog the Kabul’s streets. They are imported illegally from different countries, and spew forth fumes which are the byproduct of low quality fuel. Afghanistan imports low quality fuel, or ‘dirty fuel’, and the exhaust from these fuels pile pollutants into the air, including lead. According to NEPA, a random sample of 200 people found that 80 percent had high lead fuels in their blood. Furthering contributing to the pollution is the fact that all of these cars travel over mostly unpaved roads, kicking up large amounts of dust which hovers for days, posing an immense hazard to pedestrians. Finally, in a city that lacks a sewage system, garbage collection and waste management are serious issues. Kabul has the capacity to deal with 400 tones of solid waste per day, but produces nearly 2,000 tonnes; the balance is left in the streets. Clearly, something needs to be done. The scale of the problem is so great that President Karzai recently formed a task force to tackle Kabul’s pollution problems. NEPA is leading a group of ministries in an attempt to address the causes of pollution, starting with the dirty fuel that is being imported. New government regulations are in the cards to prevent traders from importing substandard fuel. The government is also setting up monitoring stations on borders to inspect all inbound vehicles, and other emission monitoring policies are being formulated. A resolution has been put in place banning the further importation of old cars, and last year, Thursdays were made a weekend holiday in addition to Friday in a move to reduce air pollution. Kabul Municipality is initiating a number of environmental cleanup actions. They are working together with USAID and launching several projects aimed at collecting rubbish from Kabul’s streets, and estimate that this effort will create an additional 3,000 jobs. USAID will spend USD 60 million between now and 2012 on waste management, drainage channels and roadside ditches, the rehabilitation of city parks and sports fields, and other greenery programmes in Kabul. Environmental awareness is also reaching down to the student level. A recent Environment Week was proclaimed, and NEPA launched a number of rubbish collecting projects that involved schools and universities. But this is not enough. Municipality officials say a more permanent solution is needed. The fundamental solution is the launch of a comprehensive urban planning programme for the city. Kabul remains a sprawl of open sewers, illegal slums, squatters, and standstill traffic on most streets throughout the day. The city has not had a comprehensive plan to assimilate the millions of new residents. Without one, tackling air pollution will remain an uphill struggle. The immediate outcome remains bleak. Until environmentally friendly urban planning and development schemes are in place, we can do little but hold our breath.
-Mare Elston
From GOOD, this billboard in the Philippines actually reduces air pollution.
Coca-Cola teamed up with the World Wide Fund for Nature (the local name for the WWF) to build this 60-by-60 foot plant billboard in Makati city. According to a release from WWF-Philippines, the 3,600 potted Fukien tea plants can absorb as much as 46,800 pounds of carbon dioxide over the course of a year.
The ad is also made out of recycled materials. Each of the plants is potted in discarded bottles from Coca-Cola company products. They are specially modified to allow the plants to grow sideways with an efficient drip irrigation watering system.
I especially like the mobile banking ad next to it. Naice!
Neat! And good spotting on the mobile banking ad ;)
