The European Commission is running a five-year pan-European information campaign on combating discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, age, disability and sexual orientation. The campaign 'For Diversity. Against Discrimination.' teamed up with MTV Networks Europe to broadcast a new TV ad that features the three winning photographs, amongst others, of a pan-European photo competition to promote diversity in work and society in general . The campaign aims to provide information about new EU rules against discrimination through a wide range of channels and to communicate a positive message on diversity and equality.
March 21, 2010
March 18, 2010
For diversity against discrimination
Building upon the success of 2009, the ‘For Diversity. Against Discrimination.’ campaign will organise a number of Diversity Days throughout the EU during 2010. To mark each Diversity Day, a high-profile event targeting the general public and media will be hosted to throw the spotlight on issues of equality and diversity, provide information on anti-discrimination law, show what Europe is doing to protect its inhabitants and encourage people to challenge their own attitudes and prejudices. Diversity Days will begin with an event in Budapest, Hungary in late spring. Other events will take place in autumn 2010.
The danger of a single story
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born September 15, 1977) is an acclaimed Nigerian writer. She is a native of Abba, Nigeria, in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra state, Southeast Nigeria. Her family is of Igbo descent.
Born in the town of Enugu but grew up in the university town of Nsukka in south-eastern Nigeria, where the University of Nigeria is situated. While she was growing up, her father was a professor of statistics at the University, and her mother was also employed there as the university registrar. At the age of 19, she left Nigeria and moved to the United States. After studying at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Chimamanda transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University to live closer to her sister; who had a medical practice in Coventry (now in Mansfield, Connecticut), and to continue studying communications and political science. She received a university degree from Eastern, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2001. In 2003, she completed a master's degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 2008, she received a Master of Arts in African studies at Yale University.[ Chimamanda is a 2008 MacArthur Fellow. She was a Visiting Writer at Wesleyan University, in 2008, and participated in Wesleyan's Distinguished Writers Series.
Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, was published in 2003 and won the Best First Book award in the 2005 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, named after the flag of the short-lived Biafran nation, is set before and during the Biafran War. It was published by Knopf/Anchor in 2006 and was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Her third book is a collection of short stories titled The Thing Around Your Neck and was published in April 2009 by Fourth Estate in the UK and Knopf in the US.
Born in the town of Enugu but grew up in the university town of Nsukka in south-eastern Nigeria, where the University of Nigeria is situated. While she was growing up, her father was a professor of statistics at the University, and her mother was also employed there as the university registrar. At the age of 19, she left Nigeria and moved to the United States. After studying at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Chimamanda transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University to live closer to her sister; who had a medical practice in Coventry (now in Mansfield, Connecticut), and to continue studying communications and political science. She received a university degree from Eastern, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2001. In 2003, she completed a master's degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 2008, she received a Master of Arts in African studies at Yale University.[ Chimamanda is a 2008 MacArthur Fellow. She was a Visiting Writer at Wesleyan University, in 2008, and participated in Wesleyan's Distinguished Writers Series.
Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, was published in 2003 and won the Best First Book award in the 2005 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, named after the flag of the short-lived Biafran nation, is set before and during the Biafran War. It was published by Knopf/Anchor in 2006 and was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Her third book is a collection of short stories titled The Thing Around Your Neck and was published in April 2009 by Fourth Estate in the UK and Knopf in the US.
March 15, 2010
For a better world
"At this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not."
Samuel Beckett
The magnititude of the world can be overwhelming. How massive is the number of impoverished people? What percentage of the overall population lives in urban areas? How vast is the threat of AIDS? It's hard to put things in perspective when the numbers are so large. The Miniature Earth gives a clear vista by reducing the global population to only 100, while keeping statistics the same. The effect enables us to see the differences on our planet more clearly, and perhaps consider how our actions can impact humanity. Where do you live in the smaller community? In the project's final words: "Appreciate what you have. And do your best for a better world."
Last call for Planet Earth
The European Architecture Foundation (Euraf.eu / Archiworld.com) introduces a fine selection of leading architects in sustainable building solutions in an educative film project which will give clear and convincing answers on how to reduce global warming with existing building products and innovative architecture today.
March 11, 2010
No man is an island
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
John Donne (1572-1631)
March 09, 2010
March 08, 2010
Ecological actions
Here's a list of various actions you can take in different areas of your life. You'll find easy things that everyone can do in favour of a better environment. We suggest you go at your own pace and don't try to become a model of ecological comportment at once. Very little people do everything described in the following anyway, so don't get discouraged and go little by little.
Changing your habits in those areas will allow you to contribute to the effort necessary from everyone in order to help solve some of the major problems that are over-consumption, global warming and others.
RECYCLING
It is true that we have improved on the way of recycling, but there is still much to do in order to reach the ideal level of trash revaluation. Trash zero, that's the target! Whether garbage are buried or burned, soil and air are getting polluted when we have to get rid of our trash. To recycle is also about slowing down the rate at which we exploit the vegetal (trees for paper) and minerals (silica for glass and other metals) of the planet.
COMPOSTING
Composting is an important natural process that transforms vegetal, organic elements into dirt. Earth, soil is compost from leaves, branches, flowers and fruits from the wild. You can reduce the volume of your domestic trash by keeping your organic leftovers for compost. Peels from fruits and vegetables, egg shells, tea leaves, coffee and its filter, just about everything that comes out of the kitchen can go to compost except meat. Some municipalities collect it, but it's rather easy to make your own.
TRANSPORTATION
Not only the choice of the car as an individual means of transportation is highly pollutant. But the growth of car users brings to construction of roads which monopolises space that seals a soil that we can only use to drive cars and pollute more. And finally the automobile isolates people one from another, limiting human relations and amplifying the individualistic figures of our society.
So here is our hit parade of the best means of transportations and their advantages. Think about all those alternatives before getting in your vehicle alone because each time you will contribute to get more CO 2 in the air. Certain options might take more of your time, but sacrificing a little of your time is a great part of ecological choices. And the more time passes by, the more acting ecologically becomes more a duty than a choice:
So here is our hit parade of the best means of transportations and their advantages. Think about all those alternatives before getting in your vehicle alone because each time you will contribute to get more CO 2 in the air. Certain options might take more of your time, but sacrificing a little of your time is a great part of ecological choices. And the more time passes by, the more acting ecologically becomes more a duty than a choice:
Walking is not only the cheapest way to go around, but most importantly it is the best for your health.
The bicycle allows you to cover a considerable distance in a reasonable time (10 km=30min.), it works with quite an ecological fuel, you can pass by traffic jams and it is rather easy on maintenance. You can carry the baby around and quite some weight in panniers. It is also healthy and it is not limited to city transportation.
Public it says, public it is. Constructed to accommodate a great number of people, public transportation is the price to pay for the kind of society we built. The time has passed where we could at the same time enjoy a good quality of air and enjoy being alone in a vehicle. Subways, tramways and buses are can lead you almost anywhere in big cities. Combine it with some walking or biking and it can become really efficient.
Imagine if half of the drivers on the road would take the other half on board of their vehicle. Fifty percent less pollution, 50% less traffic. Ideal car sharing is when you travel with a co-worker that has the same schedule as you. But it can also be someone that you pick up on the way who works in an office or a plant close to your own work place. Most of the excuses like: “I have the kids to drop at school.” are not valuable, so try it.
ALIMENTATION
Our way to feed ourselves also has a great impact on the environment. As a consumer we have the duty to create a demand for quality products. We don’t have to rely on the over processed and empty products partly proposed by the market.
Transformation: The product has been processed, the more there is an ecological cost; water for washing and cooking, electric energy to have all the machines working. There can also be a great loss in the values of the aliments and the addition of doubtful products that are harmful to your health. By choosing unprocessed you live healthier and you help the environment.
Eat less meat: There are actually 20 billion livestock heads in the world, more than three times the world population. Twenty billions that we have to feed if we want to eat them. How come is it that we can feed those, but that we cannot feed the six billions of human kind? The problems are multiple. Most importantly, economic interests overrule human interests.
Transformation: The product has been processed, the more there is an ecological cost; water for washing and cooking, electric energy to have all the machines working. There can also be a great loss in the values of the aliments and the addition of doubtful products that are harmful to your health. By choosing unprocessed you live healthier and you help the environment.
Eat less meat: There are actually 20 billion livestock heads in the world, more than three times the world population. Twenty billions that we have to feed if we want to eat them. How come is it that we can feed those, but that we cannot feed the six billions of human kind? The problems are multiple. Most importantly, economic interests overrule human interests.
Packaging: Processed generally implies wrapped. For the equivalent product, look the one that has less wrapping. If you want to go further, write to the brand you chose to tell them you bought for their minimal wrapping and another brand to say that you didn’t buy because of the over wrapping.
Organic products: Organic agriculture generally means that the growing and the preservation of the products are done in great respect of the environment for the better health of consumers. That is to say:
- No pesticides, natural fight against pests
- No pesticides, natural fight against pests
- No chemical fertilizer, use of organic fertilizer
- No genetically modified organisms
- No intensive culture, rotation of cultures to avoid soil impoverishment
SOFT WATER
Today, contaminated water kills 5 million people.
It seems sheer non sense to us that we use drinkable water to evacuate our bodily wastes from our houses. Each time we flush the toilet, 10 litres of drinkable water is going down the drain. Closed circuit systems exist to treat the water with bacteria. They are becoming quite popular in Japan for big buildings. Sometimes they serve a whole commercial block. It is clearly an example to follow.
For further information, click here.
"I am sorry" - Greenpeace 2020 Banners
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero Spanish Prime Minister
Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia
Barack Obama, President of the USA
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of German
Dimitry Medvedev, President of Russia
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil
Stephen Harper, Prime minister of Canada
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the UKGreenpeace has created a campaign featuring ten images of world leaders, including Barack Obama and Nicholas Sarkozy saying 'sorry' for failing to prevent climate change. These banners have been placed in Arrivals at Copenhagen airport during Copenhagen summit.
Greenpeace, along other associations, are putting pressure on the leaders, or at least trying to. Since last week, travellers arriving in the Copenhagen's international airport will come across the above banners. These depict different leaders of developed nations apologizing in 2020 (ten years from now) for not taking the right decisions. I'll let you judge by yourself.
March 03, 2010
Momix - Botanica
Moses Pendleton's illusionist dance company Momix has unveiled a dazzling new show at the Joyce theatre in Manhattan. Botanica is billed as a 'herbal remedy for our current universal blues' and features colourful costumes and marvellous moves.
A wildly entertaining multimedia experience, Momix transports audiences into a fantasy world of exceptional inventiveness and beauty through its trademark use of athletic dance, riveting music, outrageous costumes, novel props and pure talent. Set to an eclectic score that ranges from birdsong to Vivaldi, Botanica reveals nature’s changing imagery in Momix’s signature illusionary style.
For more information, visit Momix website:
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