The European Union has decided to ban pesticides that have been linked to bee deaths, although not all 27 countries are in agreement. Perhaps you’ve… read more
This is a guest post from Abigail Collazo, a Care2 member who started a petition to Save Beatriz. It was originally published at Fem 2.0. Last year,… read more
Mary is the only wage-earner in her household. She supports her two children and her elderly mother with her hourly job. Sometimes she has to work… read more
One mega-company is gradually taking over our food supply — putting the planet’s food future in serious danger. But we can turn the tide on Monsanto and other companies that push through policies that prioritise their profits over the public good. Pledge now to help stop this dangerous domination of our politics and our food:
One mega-company is gradually taking over our global food supply, poisoning our politics and putting the planet’s food future in serious danger. To stop it we need to expose and break up Monsanto’s worldwide grip.
Monsanto, the chemical giant that gave us poisons like Agent Orange and DDT, has a super-profitable racket. Step 1: Develop pesticides and genetically modified (GM) seeds designed to resist them, patent the seeds, prohibit farmers from replanting their seeds year to year, then send undercover agents out to investigate and sue farmers who don’t comply. Step 2: Spend millions lobbying government officials and contributing to political campaigns, get former Monsanto bigwigs into top government jobs, and then work with them to weaken regulations and push Monsanto goods into markets across the world.
As long as US law allows corporations to spend unlimited sums to influence policy, they can often buy the laws they want. Last year, Monsanto and biotech giants spent a whopping $45m to kill a ballot initiative that would have labelled GMO products just in California, despite 82 percent of Americans wanting to know if they are buying GM. And just this month, the company helped ram through the “Monsanto Protection Act,” that blocks courts from stopping the sale of a product even if they’ve been wrongly approved by the government.
Monsanto’s power in the US gives them a launch pad to dominate across the world. But brave farmers and activists from the EU, to Brazil, to India and Canada are resisting and starting to win.
We’re at a global tipping point. Pledge now to join forces to break Monsanto’s grip on our politics and our food and help stop the corporate capture of our governments. Avaaz will only process the pledges if we get enough to make a real difference:
Monsanto is driving an industrial farming takeover — trampling small farmers and small businesses as vast ‘monoculture’ farms of single crops leech the land of nutrients, diminish genetic diversity, and create dependency on fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals. The irony is, it’s not clear that the decimation of natural, sustainable farming has brought any boom in crop yields. Just more profit for the corporations. Our governments should step in, but Monsanto’s lobbying obstructs them.
Monsanto’s near monopoly is breath-taking, with patent rights over 96% of the GM seeds planted in the US. And despite concerns about health and safety, the same patents allow Monsanto to prevent any farmer or scientist from testing their seeds! Still, a few countries have banned or restricted Monsanto products.
They claim their products cost less, but often farmers are lured into multi-year contracts, then seed prices rise, and they have buy new seed each season and use more herbicides to keep out ‘superweeds’. In India, the situation is so dire that one cotton area has been called ‘the suicide belt’, as tens of thousands of the poorest farmers have taken their lives to escape crippling debt.
But farmers and scientists are also fighting back — and winning. One group in India has helped win three patent battles against the corporations, and in Brazil five million farmers sued Monsanto for unfair collection of royalties, and won a $2 billion payout! Scientists are campaigning for sustainable agriculture models, and just last week 1.5 million of us joined the fight against conventional patents in the EU.
Only a massive, global, united force can stand up to Monsanto and the corporate capture of our governments. Let’s expose this dominance of our democracies, help farmers speak out, challenge unjust laws and patents, and go head to head with the corporate lobbies. Pledge to support action now:
We are running out of time. As we confront massive environmental, climate and food crises, we need sustainable agriculture and innovation, but that is best done by multiple farmers and scientists who know what works best in different ecosystems, rather than one monolith driven by their own profit, taking control our food future.
This corporate Goliath is increasing in power across our world. But if our 21 million strong community stands together, we have a chance. Avaaz members have repeatedly stood up against the world’s biggest bullies, and won. Now it is time for us to go big to save our policies from special interests, protect our food supply, and get justice for poor farmers.
With hope and determination,
Alice, Oli, Joseph, Ricken, Pascal, Chris, Michelle, Emily, and the whole Avaaz team
A diverse workforce is critical in helping us build products that can help people change the world. That includes diversity of all life experiences, including gender.Women were some of the first programmers and continue to make a major impact on the programming world today. We think it’s important to highlight the great work women are doing in computer science, to help provide role models for young women thinking about careers in computing.
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and as one of our contributions to the celebration, we’re proud to support Voices Global Conference, presented by Global Tech Women. As part of this 24-hour live streamed event, Google will provide more than a dozen hours of free talks featuring women working in computer science, beginning today. To access the full schedule and our ongoing broadcasts, see our section on the Voices website, which will be updated throughout the day.
The Voices Global Conference is the brainchild of Global Tech Women’s founder Deanna Kosaraju, who also started India’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in 2010 with grant support from Google. The India conferences, which provide a forum for women to share their professional and research work in computing, have grown rapidly, with more than 800 attendees in 2012. So when Deanna proposed this global, 24-hour streamed conference, we knew it was a great opportunity to help women and other audiences around the world learn more and get inspired about the contributions women are making to technology and computer science.
Our sessions will feature a range of material, from new episodes of the Women Techmakers series and interviews with women leaders like the head of Lexity India Mani Abrol, to discussions focusing on technologies like Google Compute Engine. For a sneak peek of the type of content we’ll be providing, check out Pavni’s story below, produced in conjunction with PBS’ MAKERS series. I’ve provided advice to many young people in India interested in studying computer science and pursuing their own dreams—so Pavni’s tenacity, coupled with the encouragement and support she received from her father, resonated with me. We’re excited to share her story and others like it alongside technical conversations and discussions on women in technology as part of this conference.
I hope you’ll join us for our sessions—and in the meantime, you can learn more about our efforts to support women at Google and beyond.
Posted by Beryl Nelson, Software Engineering Manager
Last year, we started a program to partner with advertisers and agencies to re-imagine how brands tell stories in a connected world. Project Re: Brief set out to recreate some of the advertising industry’s most iconic, classic campaigns using the latest technology tools. This year we’re expanding that program to work with some of today’s most iconic brands and innovative marketers, in our new project: Art, Copy & Code.Art, Copy & Code is a series of projects and experiments to show how creativity and technology can work hand in hand. Some of these will include familiar brands like Volkswagen, Burberry and adidas—projects developed in partnership with their creative teams and agencies. Others will be creative experiments with innovative filmmakers, creative directors and technologists to explore how brands can connect with consumers through a whole range of digital tools—including ads, mobile apps and social experiences. Our first partner project is a new social driving experience—Volkswagen Smileage.
Building off their 2012 campaign, “It’s not the miles, it’s how you live them,” Volkswagen Smileage is a mobile app and web service that aims to add a little bit of fun to every drive, from your daily commutes to holiday road trips. The app measures the fun factor of each trip using a metric called “smileage,” based on signals like weather, traffic, location, time and social interactions (e.g., a long drive on a sunny Saturday afternoon might accumulate more smileage than a morning commute in the snow). You can use it with any car, not just Volkswagens.
Powered by the new Google+ sign-in, you can choose to share Smileage experience with friends and family. For example, during a road trip, photos and videos taken by you and your co-passengers can be automatically added to a live interactive map. The inspiration for the service came from a recent study showing that every day, 144 million Americans on average spend 52 minutes in a car—76 percent of them alone. We wanted to make that time a more shareable experience. Volkswagen Smileage will be available soon in beta—you can sign up on this webpage for early access.
We’ll have many more experiments to share in the Art, Copy & Code project soon—subscribe for updates at ArtCopyCode.com. We’re committed to investing in technology and tools over the long term to help brands and their agencies succeed not just today, but in a digital future that will look very different.
If you’re planning on attending SXSW, stop by the Google Playground on March 9 to see demos of these experiments, or attend our talk on March 10.
Posted by Aman Govil, Art, Copy & Code Project Lead
With nearly 5,000 earthquakes a year, it’s important for people in Japan to have crisis preparedness and response information available at their fingertips. And from our own research, we know that when a disaster strikes, people turn to the Internet for more information about what is happening.With this in mind, we’re launching Google Public Alerts today in Japan—the first international expansion of a service we debuted last year in the United States. Google Public Alerts is a platform designed to provide accurate and relevant emergency alerts when and where you’re searching for them online.
Relevant earthquake and tsunami warnings for Japan will now appear on Google Search, Google Maps and Google Now when you search online during a time of crisis. If a major earthquake alert is issued in Kanagawa Prefecture, for example, the alert information will appear on your desktop and mobile screens when you search for relevant information on Google Search and Google Maps.
Example of a Google Search result on a tablet showing a tsunami warning
Example of a tsunami warning on Google Maps
If you click “詳細” (“More info”) right under the alert, you’ll see more details about the announcement, including the full description from the Japan Meteorological Agency, a link to their site, and other useful information like observed arrival times and wave heights for tsunamis.
Example of how a tsunami alert would work in Fukushima
And when you open Google Now on your Android device, recommended actions and information will be tailored to where you are. For example, if you happen to be in Tokyo at a time when a tsunami alert is issued, Google Now will show you a card containing information about the tsunami alert, as well as any available evacuation instructions:
Example of a tsunami warning card on Google Now
We’re able to provide Public Alerts in Japan thanks to the Japan Meteorological Agency, whose publication of data enables Google and others to make critical and life-saving information more widely available.
We hope our technology, including Public Alerts, will help people better prepare for future crises and create more far-reaching support for crisis recovery. This is why in Japan, Google has newly partnered with 14 Japanese prefectures and cities, including seven from the Tōhoku region, to make their government data available online and more easily accessible to users, both during a time of crisis and after. The devastating Tōhoku Earthquake struck Japan only two years ago, and the region is still slowly recovering from the tragedy.
We look forward to expanding Google Public Alerts to more countries and working with more warning providers soon. We also encourage potential partners to read our FAQ and to consider putting data in an open format, such as the Common Alerting Protocol. To learn more about Public Alerts, visit our Public Alerts homepage.
Dear Amazing Avaazers,
Wow, our people-powered community has just hit 15 million strong — the largest online political movement ever and anywhere! We’re in 194 countries, with hundreds of thousands of us in India, Brazil, France, Mexico and much, much more. (You can click here to see a map of our community.)
Size matters, but spirit matters more, and ours is on fire. Together we’re running more campaigns, taking more actions, winning more and winning bigger than ever before.
Just a few days ago, 2.8 million of us played a central role in getting Europe to stop ACTA, the global treaty that would have let corporations censor our Internet worldwide! This was a classic story of a terrible idea drafted in the shadows and pushed through by giant corporations, but like so many bad laws and leaders these days, it was no match for smart people power.
In just the last 6 months, we’ve fought and helped win key battles to save the Internet, create the world’s largest marine reserve network, protect the Brazilian rainforest, keep pressure high on Rupert Murdoch’s media mafia, support the Syrian democracy movement and much, much more. These victories matched the legitimacy of a massive citizen outcry with phone calls, messages and citizen lobbying, strong work with partners and champions, and a powerful delivery of our voices to media and key decision-makers — scroll down to see some favourite photos of past petition deliveries!
The world is facing greater crises everyday, and these challenges can divide us like never before, or bring us together like never before. By choosing to come together, we are proving, over and over again, the awesome power of cooperation — making our 15 million-strong Avaaz community a rising global force for hope and change.
From me and the whole team — huge gratitude for every amazing person in this community — happy 15 everybody!!
This is the same guy that goes around the campaign trail talking a huge game about being able to protect American jobs by standing up to foreign countries like China. But now we know that Romney and his partners made millions while sending American jobs overseas.
This is a critical point, and we need to make sure everyone knows it. Check out this video I recorded today, and share it far and wide:
Romney’s support of outsourcing didn’t just happen in the private sector. As governor of Massachusetts, he vetoed legislation that would have banned companies from shipping state jobs overseas — and he actually outsourced state jobs to a call center in India.
In contrast, President Obama has a jobs plan that could put up to a million people back to work — including teachers, cops, firefighters, construction workers, and veterans — help small businesses create jobs right now, and help to put an end to American jobs being shipped overseas. He’s also fighting for tax breaks for companies that bring jobs back to America.
Mitt Romney is fighting for tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas — the type of companies he ran in the private sector.
This isn’t just a policy position for Romney, it’s his economic philosophy — and it’s his record.
Read the article, watch the video, and share them both far and wide — doesn’t get a lot more important than this one:
Thanks,
Stephanie
P.S. — Chip in $5 or more today, and help make sure we have the resources to spread the truth about Romney’s record.
Fan Favorite: Nielsen Data Visualization Contest Winner
The Nielsen Data Visualization Contest featured many great submissions and terrific fan turnout. Congratulations to Ashish Naidu – the winner of the Fan Favorite award. As the winner, Ashish will receive $2,000 in American Express Rewards cards and other prizes, and joins Judge’s Choice winner Dustin Poh. (full story)
Promax BDA, The Conference June 12 – 14, 2012
Nielsen is the official Insights Sponsor, providing media insights that will help creatives, marketers, strategists, designers, and thought leaders grow their businesses. (Click here for Full agenda and session descriptions)Nielsen Thought Leaders participating in the conference include:
Cannes Lions Cannes Lions, the premier international advertising festival, takes place from June 17-23, 2012 in Cannes, France. Each year, more than 9000 members of the global advertiser, creative, agency, media and communications industries come together to be inspired and educated at the festival. This year, Cannes Lions has selected Nielsen to participate in a first-ever all-day forum devoted to Consumer Insights.On Thursday, June 21st, James Russo, SVP of Consumer Insights, Nielsen, will present at the forum on Maximum Impact: The Alignment of Consumer Behavior and Advertising Effectiveness from 5:00pm – 6:00pm in room Audi A . He will be joined by Bob Garfield, Journalist, Author, Commentator, who will serve as the Daily Forum Moderator.
Courting Today’s Mobile Consumers July 18, 2012, 2 p.m. EDT
More than half of all US mobile consumers have smartphones now. And approximately 84 million of them have media and app-ready Android and iOS smartphones. But how are these consumers actually using their smartphones? How does mobile media – - including mobile apps — fit into their overall media diet? How receptive are they to mobile advertising? How can marketers best reach these mobile consumers? Nielsen has been metering consumer smartphone usage on both the Android and iOS platforms since January 2011. Join our July 18 webinar and learn about trends in consumer mobile usage and how savvy marketers, publishers and developers are reaching today’s mobile consumers. (Click here to register)
2012 is off to a great start for Earth Day Network. With your support and participation, we have been able to mobilize people around the world and around the corner to take action to protect the environment on Earth Day and beyond.
But to take it over the finish line, we need more help.
We’re working with thousands of event organizers to Mobilize the Earth™ on April 22. In particular, the overwhelmingly positive response we’re seeing in the Middle East and India is absolutely incredible. From community clean-ups and tree plantings to rallies and educational events, Earth Day Network and its partners are making a real difference in the daily lives of people all over the world.
In the U.S. this year, Earth Day Network was instrumental in creating the Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools program, the first comprehensive federal green schools program. Every day, we’re closer to our goal of greening America’s schools within a generation and making sure every child is not only environmentally literate but has a healthy learning environment and a fresh, nutritious lunch.
We’re also making sure that politicians and government officials will be in attendance at 1,000 local Earth Day events in all 50 U.S. states – to guarantee that our voices are heard. And we’re putting on Earth Day 2012’s massive flagship event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where hundreds of thousands of people will call for environmental issues to become a top priority.
Your donations make all of this possible.
This is a critical time for Earth Day Network. We need your help today to truly Mobilize the Earth for Earth Day 2012 and to continue our work safeguarding the air and water in our communities, ensuring every child has the opportunity to attend a healthy school, protecting biodiversity and building environmental democracy around the globe.
Act now to support these vital campaigns.
Together, we’ll Mobilize the Earth and ensure a sustainable future for our children.
Seeing is believing. And shared experiences help build community.
That’s what’s happening around the globe as concerned people like you lead and join local expeditions to see firsthand the impacts of climate change near their homes. Thanks to the curiosity and passion of engaged people around the world, friends and neighbors are coming together to witness our shared climate reality.
Last month, near Kathmandu, Nepal, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development took a group to visit a river basin. The basin is shared by India, Nepal and Tibet and here, people live under the shadow of shrinking glaciers that signal existing and future water supply loss for millions of people downstream. This was one of many local expeditions taking place in partnership with The Climate Reality Project.
Not sure where to start? Try contacting your local, state or even federal agency — like the Forest Service, a national park, a university’s environmental science department or a local community group. They may have creative suggestions or even a free guide for your group. We’ve created a toolkit with more tips on how to get started.
I spent years taking part in outdoor expeditions myself — and I can tell you from my own experience that expeditions take you to places and connect you to people you will never forget. I encourage you to get out there. Lead and join expeditions to see and to share the reality of climate change happening near you.
The Mumbai Wall Project began with a blank white compound wall, with an intense burning of “something has to be done to it” It starting with a few enthusiastic people, it has grown to be a bigger and bigger project seemingly taking a life of its own.
It was an initiative to add visual elements of colour, form and texture to a space, to make the area more alive and generate a feeling among people who pass by it daily. Not knowing how people would react, the first onlookers came out slowly and curious to see what was happening and then slowly people and even young kids came out to help and play their part.
Dhanya Pilo, Art Director and Founder of The Wall Project, notes: “Wall art has always existed in India on temple walls, village houses or old Bollywood art, creating a personality unique to each township.” Since public art has always existed, a creative platform of this kind was the logical next step.
The Wall Project have painted in many many nooks and corners of Mumbai. Bandra is the best location – as the best way to see all the wall art you need to cycle/walk around and you will find art work all over Bandra. More recently the wall project, got permission from the city to beautify the North –South roads in Mumbai as a canvas with everything being an inspiration, art, music, nature, love, the abstract, real life and the city itself. (This road is a huge landmark) Everything is acceptable apart from adverts, religious views, political slogans, and foul language. The premise that a work of art can make a colorful difference in the lives of individuals, communities, and cities, The Founders believe that grey, ugly spaces deserve beautification.
Everybody is welcome, not just artists, and they are always looking for permission and interesting locations to paint.
They have worked with a lot of people, shop owners, hospitals, NGO’s and the Alliance Francaise, Kaos Pilot, and are being invited by more people to showcase their ideas/skills. In January ‘08 they collaborated with Fine Art students of Rachana Sansad, Mumbai and painted shops as well as some other walls.
Over the years a lot of talented Graffiti artist from all over the world have come to paint, from Swedish writer Finsta to French writers Dezer, Keflione, Migwel, Rock, Posh, Seth, Boogie & Kid etc have all come and left their designs/marks/stories in the streets of Mumbai giving locals something to smile about.
Regarding, “The Great Wall of Mumbai” – on the Tulsi Pipe Road – They had been eyeing that wall for so so long. They had painted on walls of private homes, shops, schools, etc and they wanted to paint on major public spaces but thought that the process of getting permission would be too daunting and bureaucratic. They were completely surprised when R A Rajeev, Additional Municipal Commissioner, BMC approached them. He gave them complete creative control, it was a dream come true. Around four hundred people of all ages came to help. Some were not artists, some were not. It was about being inclusive and including the local population and the turnout was great.
The Mumbai Wall Projectis bringing the streets to life, in a positive and colourful way with more than 300+ pieces all over Mumbai.
If you want to keep in loop join The Wall Project Facebook Group, they posting most information there, and you can let them know if there are any specific ways you want to be part of the group. They say even dormant members will eventually get colourful, and out of their cocoon.
“This process allows one to be more observant about the spaces we use and move within and how we can use various art forms in the public sphere to generate an interest in the minds of our daily human lives. The wall project in its own way tries to start a conversation, with no political or religious attachments.” – Dhanya Pilo & Nitya Amarnath
As you may or may not be aware, I don’t feel that Carbon Dioxide is the the villain at the centre of the world’s problems . I personally believe that is a convenience for Governments to generate revenue amongst other things, a distraction from other more important matters. What I do believe, is that we are extremely wasteful of dwindling resources and are polluting our planet at an alarming rate… More kids are suffering with asthma that ever before. More people have respiratory illnesses than ever before. We are killing ourselves and the planet with pollution and waste in a thousand different ways.
• The levels of toxic diesel fumes inside school buses are 4 times higher compared with outside the buses.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 2 million premature deaths are caused each year due to air pollution in cities across the world
• A Scottish study has shown that jogging with traffic around results in reduced blood flow to the heart. This is particularly dangerous for people with stable heart disease, because it can trigger off cardiac arrhythmia or even a heart attack
• Every year 335,000 Americans die of lung cancer, which is a direct result of air pollution
And we are not talking CO2 pollution here, just all the other nasties that get pumped into our atmosphere for us to breath.
The Fuel Film… Educational, Informative and surprisingly entertaining
The Big question from sceptics is: … That crops for bio-fuel takes away the ability of the world to feed it’s growing population, this is answered in a couple of ways in the film.
One solution of several is in using marginal land, another is algae
For those that don’t know: Marginal land is land that is difficult to cultivate and is not being used for food crops. This land could be used to grow biomass crops to be used for bio-fuels. California has apparently 1 million acres of marginal land that could generate 5 billion gallons of bio-fuels per year.
Now, while not 100% convinced that it is possible to ‘grow’ all our fuel requirements, it nice to know that there are alternative possibilities and people willing to fight to get them heard.
All it needs now is the desire from Government and vested interests to make it happen… Having said all that what is happening in the Gulf is a wake-up call for the world….
But is anybody listening? Because as sure as death and taxes we are not going to give up our love affair with the car easily
Kenaf, should be the fibre crop of the 21st century, and hopefully explode into the market place for industrial products made from sustainable natural materials. Several multinational companies already use kenaf fibre in small, but growing quantities, in newly-marketed green products such as the Toyota Lexus and NEC mobile phones to replace environmentally-damaging materials.
Crucially, the green tag attached to kenaf is gaining more importance as people, companies and governments realize that the kenaf crop removes substantial amounts of CO2 and NO2 from the atmosphere and three to five times faster than forests with its deep roots improving the soil. Trees take many years to reach a harvestable size, however kenaf grown as an annual crop will reach a mature size in just 120 to 150 days after the seeds are sown, producing the largest biomass of any agricultural crop – far more than trees.
It can clean the environment efficiently and in some Japanese cities, kenaf is planted by the Government to improve the air quality. Kenaf will also greatly reduce our reliance on wood pulp and petroleum-based products. From construction board and concrete to plastic composites for mobile phones, from paper and light-weight, high-strength surfaces in aircraft to non woven industrial fabrics, from newspaper to absorbents for the oil industry. Commerce is waiting for the sustainable kenaf fibre in large quantities.
The kenaf plant is composed of multiple useful components (e.g. stalks, leaves, and seeds) and within each of these plant components there are various usable portions (e.g. fibres and fibre strands, proteins, oils, and allelopathic chemicals). What can’t be harvested can be used as Biomass fuel and fertilizer
Exciting New Technologies
In the past kenaf fibre production has been limited by the manual processing required to extract the fibres once the kenaf crop has been grown and harvested and the non-sustainable method of retting the fibres in rivers. New methods are now becoming available to process kenaf in volume providing a distinct advantage over existing processes, taking them to a new economical viability.
Green Planets and our partners intention is not to compete with other existing kenaf producers or processors, but to enlarge the industry and provide new opportunities for kenaf fibres. In most of the countries chosen, there are existing kenaf customers, we aim to enhance those relationships and the export routes for kenaf to developed nations. While at the same time create locally-owned hubs of agricultural excellence, kenaf business and community social support for the growers.
To find out more and how you can assist us, please contact us at www.kenaf@greenplanet.com
Kenaf is a crop of importance – to a world in need of it
Dear Avaazers,
