Today is Blog Action Day, I am proud to be participating in this for the third year in a row. For those of you just joining us now, Blog Action Day is when thousands of bloggers around the world dedicate a post to one specific topic or threat (2007 was the Environment then 2008 was Poverty) this year it’s Climate Change. The 10,403 blogs participating this year include but are not limited too: whitehouse.gov, The Google Blog, Mashable and Greenpeace USA (no surprise there).

I don’t really consider this blog a forum for serious topics such as climate change or global poverty, mostly I like to talk about films I’ve seen and occasionally dabble in some new technology or website that intrigues me. However I try and post every year on blog action day because these issues are quite important to me, and this years theme effects everybody in one way or another.

Back in 2007 I dedicated my blog post to climate change and I was thinking of being lazy and just reposting that. However instead I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the state of things purely opinion.

The good news is that in the past five years we’ve seen a major trend in the direction of more climate friendly products from cars to washing machines consumers are telling corporations that they want environmentally friendly products. Hybrids and fuel efficient cars rule the roads and many products boast a high environmental rating on the tag. Good news certainly however it’s not enough and there is still a lot to be done, there are tons of things you can do to decrease carbon emissions you know them inflating tires, washing in cold water; all that fun stuff. One of the best things you can do is shop smart, climate change or not there is one thing that every corporation responds to: money. Buy environmentally friendly products boycott the polluters, personally you’ll be emitting less and saving money but you’ll also be sending a powerfully message. Lets hope that this trend of green capitalism not only continues but increases exponentially over the next five years and into the future, but it’s really up to consumers to make the decision weather we’ll be living in a greener world or not.

In closing I thought I’d share a neat blog from everybody’s favorite search engine talking about what they do to make the world a little greener: Google Blog.

That is all for now, back to my usual trivial nonsense next week.

written by Travis \\ tags: 2009, Blog Action Day, Carbon, Climate change, consuemers, Emissions, Global Warming, Products

Today is Blog Action Day. For those of you who don’t know Blog Action Day occurs every October 15th each year with a new global cause for bloggers to discuss and hopefully raise awareness about. This is something that I support because I think it helps to raise awareness in a way that would be impossible otherwise. With thousands of blogs the message can be spread to groups who may not usually focus on that particular issue, or even know much about it.

This is the second this year and as you may have guessed the theme this year is Poverty. I don’t pretend to be an expert on poverty or the issues associated with it however I have made it a point to educate myself on this topic as best as I can over the years. So while I speak with no real authority on this subject my opinions are carefully constructed by what I’ve seen, read and been involved with. So please read my opinions then do your own research find out what experts are saying.

There are two things I wish to focus on more then anything else, Water and Education. (Both these fit in with the first two points on Millennium Promise’s list for global goals to achieve by 2015.)

Firstly water, it is essential that we get clean drinking water to those who do not have it. It is a fact that dirty water kills over 4,000 children a day*, yes you read that right. So it is vital that clean drinking water is made available for everybody. How much would this cost? I’ve read estimates as low as 9 billion dollars to estimates as high as 11.3 billion. Both figures may sound like a lot to some however when I first read this a few months ago I was astounded at how inexpensive it really is. For example lets take the current population of the United States (source) if single person in the United States, and only the United States donated $37 there would be enough money to eradicate the water shortage. With more wells being drilled, more clean water flowing to those who do not have it; there will be less disease, more water to grow food with, more water (of a lesser quality) for sanitation and more time for kids to spend in school instead of walking an hour or two hours each way for the day’s water.

Education, is what makes us tick. I once heard a representative of “One Laptop Per Child” say something like “education is the difference between developed and undeveloped”. I believe that to be true. The more we learn and higher the quality of our education the more likely we are to become members of a thriving society. With proper education, those who live in the shadow of poverty can create better lives for themselves. As well educated farmers growing food to feed themselves and for other or as valuable employes in growing cities. The best thing for a developing nation (assuming it already has the basic needs of food and water taken care of) is education.

I provided a simple solution to the complex problem of a water shortage, I know that. But think about it, think how little it would cost to fix something with such a great price. Both the water shortage and education are complex and multi sided there is no easy fix but there is one and enough great minds with enough funding is a powerful combination. I am not an expert but I can raise awareness, research issues, research charities and donate to the ones I wish to support.

Thanks for reading,
Travis Fantina.

Some more facts on water and education from a 2006 UNICEF report: http://www.unicef.org/wes/files/Progress_for_Children_No._5_-_English.pdf

* http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34927 this is the most recent article I found.
** http://www.religioustolerance.org/childeath.htm

written by Travis \\ tags: Blog Action Day, education, food shortage, Millennium Promise, Poverty, UNICEF, water shortage