Westend Coffee
Here’s the flyer we put together about local coffee shops here in Glasgow’s westend…
[See a larger version of it here.]
Fairtrade Fortnight
We ran a wee stall in the library today to help raise awareness of Fairtrade (this being Fairtrade Fortnight and all). It was pretty fun, just giving out some free samples, letting people taste the goodness and sharing about how easy it is to buy Fairtrade now. Gareth did a great job getting it set up with the SRC, who pretty much provided everything, all we had to do was man it.
It has been cool for me to be researching this some more. We (being the Social Action Team from uni) put together a flyer detailing what our local coffee shops think about Fairtrade. I’ll probably post it up tomorrow.
CU tomorrow should be interesting – Tara from Tearfund is speaking on slavery and people trafficking, it’s modern day equivalent.
For more info on Fairtrade, check out the website.
Climatic Genocide?
“We are angry with the people who are doing this. We have made no contribution, but suffer the highest impact… the global nation states must take action. If not, we’ll be calling it climatic genocide.”
[Dr Atiq Rahman, Bangladesh]
Last night I went to this meeting. Ricardo Navarro from El Salvador gave his perspective on how climate change is affecting poor communities around the world. I liked that it took a development slant more than an environmental slant on it.
We were addressed by a man from the Transport & General workers union, then by Kirstie Shirra who works for WDM, and finally by Ricardo Navarro, before the floor was opened for questions.
Some thoughts:
– It’s not just that climate change is happening, but climate change is killing – in huge numbers too.
– If the glaciers disappear, 1/6 of the worlds population will lose their water supply.
– Reducing poverty can’t be done without addressing climate change.
– CO2 emission is the result of consumption, which is the result of production.
– The solution is relatively simple – reducing emissions reduces climate change. But the CO2 already in the atmosphere has an inertia – it will continue to affect us for 50-100 years, even if we completely stop emissions now.
– Trade means more consumption/production. Governments are pushing for free-trade agreements, but they are pushed by big corporations.
– Trade as such isn’t bad – but it is promoted at the expense of social and environmental concerns.
– Countries are made poor through a process. The process of impoverishment and enrichment are the same side of a coin – for example, you can’t look at the wealth of Shell without looking at the poverty of Nigeria.
– The most effective weapon of mass destruction is poverty – it kills the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb every 2 days.
– We have to be conscious about the problem – that means looking at the whole process.
– We have to be committed – it’s a 24/7 thing.
– We need to convince others – discuss what to do in your local context.
– We have to stop it by acting at every level – economic, social, religious, etc.
Poverty
Argh… back to school. That sucks. Its kinda scary now… I’m actually leaving school THIS YEAR. Going to uni or whatever. Flip. Got an exam next week that I should be revising for now, but clearly, I’m procrastinating.
We got talking in economics class today about Christmas and presents and stuff, heres an , hmm whats the right verb?… interesting, no… worrying… statistic.
In the UK the average amount spent on Christmas presents per person is £250.
Thats roughly $500.
There are more than 2 BILLION people who live on less than $1 a day (i.e. $365 a year).
Do you get that? There are more than 2 billion people (roughly 2000 times the population of Northern Ireland) who have less money to live on in a year, than is spent on us in one Christmas. That really shocked me. How can I live like that? How can I not make sacrifices in the face of such overwhelming poverty? I think I can maybe do without that new camera, or that new phone, or that new computer screen i wanted…
2 billion people… $1 a day
Interesting…
I just remembered something my economics teacher told me last week that I found very interesting, so I thought I would share…
In 2003, every cow in the EU received $1.26 a day in subsidies.
More than 75% of the worlds population live on less than $1 a day.
More than 75% of the worlds population live on less than $1 a day.
What is this madness??
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