the drop » Ethical Values & Responsibility

The (RED) ALERT for AIDS. Keep the Promise.

More than twenty-five million human beings have died of AIDS since the first case of HIV was reported in 1981: on average, over a million people a year every year for the past two and a half decades. So far in 2006, according to UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, 2.9 million people died of AIDS and 4.3 million more were infected with HIV. As of today, December 1, 2006 — the nineteenth annual WORLD AIDS DAY — there are 39.5 million men, women and children in the world living with HIV, of whom 63% (around 25 million) live in Africa south of the Sahara.
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The Most Polluted Places on Planet Earth

The international non-profit environmental action group, the Blacksmith Institute, last week released its rankings of the world’s most polluted places. Out of over 300 sites nominated by NGOs and local communities, 35 were identified by an advisory board of international environment and health experts as meriting special emphasis. Of these, ten locations were singled out for tragic infamy, ranked together as the Top 10 worst polluted places on the planet:

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Nobel Peace Prize and Microfinance

2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus © Nobel Foundation

There’s been a lot of talk about the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. Celebrated as a microfinance pioneer, the economist started the bank in Bangladesh to offer loans and financial services to rural poor communities. Responses have ranged from critiquing recent Nobel Peace Prize selections to reviewing how the media characterizes microfinance. I started at Pienso…, a blog on development, economics and international business, and followed a wealth of links to differing opinions on microfinance.
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WORLD WAR NO: Apocalypse Impending?

'The Middle East Theatre of War' (GlobalResearch.ca)

When a former Middle East bureau chief of The New York Times is writing that “War with Iran — a war that would unleash an apocalyptic scenario in the Middle East — is probable by the end of the Bush administration,” we should awaken to the possibility. When he continues, “It could begin in as little as three weeks,” concerned citizens everywhere should resolve to work together to prevent it.

Writing on Alternet on Tuesday, Chris Hedges warned of an American naval armada barreling towards the Strait of Hormuz: the 50 kilometer-wide, 21 kilometer-narrow waterway adjoining the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea…

“The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month. It may be a bluff. It may be a feint. It may be a simple show of American power. But I doubt it.“

Three weeks ago, a Time magazine cover-story broke the news of a “‘Prepare to Deploy’ order sent through [U.S.] naval communications channels to a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two mine hunters” alongside “a second request, from the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)” asking “for fresh eyes on long-standing U.S. plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports on the Persian Gulf.” A follow-up post in The Nation reported the public affairs office of the Navy Department at the Pentagon confirming that “the Eisenhower Strike Group, bristling with Tomahawk cruise missiles… is scheduled to arrive off the coast of Iran on or around October 21“ — next Saturday — just over two weeks before mid-term elections in the US.
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Abortion Ban Debate

The Fall issue of Ms. features the cover story â��We Had Abortions.

On November 7th, South Dakotans will vote on whether to ban abortion or not. The choice is whether to approve a sweeping ban on all abortions or not, an intentional provocation meant to set up a direct legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. The law makes it a felony to perform any abortion except in a case of a pregnant woman’s life being in jeopardy.
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One Laptop per Child: Is Criticism Welcome?

Untouchable? OLPC, the Church, and the Red Cross

News of a tentative agreement between Libya and One Laptop per Child made headlines earlier this week. The 2B1 Children’s Machine is designed to be a low-cost, low-power laptop, targeted at developing nations. While agreements with Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria and Thailand have also been reached, India rejected participation in July. Economist Atanu Dey writes about his skepticism of OLPC and the Indian government’s reasoning in his blog.
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Third Annual Ethical Fashion Show in Paris

The third edition of The Ethical Fashion Show takes place in Paris this weekend. The fair presents fashion that respects people and the environment. Over 20 nationalities and cultures will be represented. Organizers say that the fair seeks to be a unifying event where the fashion industries’ various players meet.
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EU REACH Legislation on Hazardous Chemicals

NGOs and chemical companies battle over European REACH legislation. (Photo: Photocase)

An article in the International Herald Tribune announced that the European Parliament environmental committee approved proposed REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) legislation. The draft rules, which are being contested by major chemical companies, still need to pass voting by the EU Parliament and member governments.

At the Chemical Policy Institute website, there’s a comprehensive rundown on the stakeholders in the fight to pass REACH. The outline analyzes the key issues of the dispute, the costs and benefits of the legislation, and the major players.
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The Shock Effect and Public Awareness

Parody of an AIDS campaign

Finding new ways to keep media attention on pressing yet unchanging topics is not an easy task. As more public awareness campaigns seek to be controversial, more critique is dished out. In recent news, critics have decried the tastelessness in the blackface cover of The Independent and the I am an African ads.

The controversy used to elbow for the public’s attention can obscure the original intent. One LA Times journalist confused a Doctors Without Borders campaign in Paris, which distributed tents to homeless people, with tourists camping out.

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Ban on Child Labour in India Comes Into Force Today

Thousands of children work in roadside food stalls (bbc)

A new law that bans the employment of children under 14 in residences and the hospitality sectors comes into force today in India. It also prevents children from working in teashops, restaurants, spas, hotels, resorts and other recreational centres. Officials say the ban on employing children in homes and roadside food stalls will affect 255,000 children. But activists say these numbers could be as high as 20 million and point out that the most widespread forms of child labour in India continue to be allowed.
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Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Switzerland received the best ranking on the BPI 2006

Transparency International released the Bribe Payers Index yesterday, an analysis of the custom of bribing by companies from the top exporting countries. The index sheds light on a problem that is often characterized as rooted solely in the developing world. Switzerland ranked the highest on the list. Germany came in at number seven; The United States was ranked number nine.

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Sour Apples

Greenpeace is calling all Apple fans to join the campaign for demanding the company to create greener products. Apple fans love the sleek design and the meticulous attention to detail. But why do the products still contain hazardous substances that other companies have already abandoned? Greenpeace argues that a cutting edge company shouldn’t be cutting lives short by exposing children in China and India to dangerous chemicals, but should rather be setting a green standard in the market.
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A Look Behind the Prison Walls

Award-winning photojournalist Jane Evelyn Atwood ’s work reflects a deep involvement with her subjects over long periods of time. Atwood penetrates worlds that most of us do not know, or choose to ignore. Her project Too Much Time documents the lives of incarcerated women in the US, France, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Switzerland, India and Israel. Initially spurred by curiosity, the project went on to inspire the outrage that kept Atwood going with the subject for nine years.
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Ban on Underweight Models

30 percent of models participated last year were disqualified (Getty Images)

Madrid shocked the fashion world last week, not because of the clothes seen on the catwalks during Fashion Week, but because organizers put world’s first ban on overly thin models. The ban has caused outrage among modelling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other venues. Madrid’s regional government imposed weight restrictions in line with World Health Organization guidelines for healthy height-to-weight ratios used to calculate a person’s body mass index (BMI), which estimates the portion of fat in the body. “This is a great call to global action,” says Lynn Grefe, chief executive officer of the Seattle-based National Eating Disorders Association.
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Regulating What We Eat

NYC Board of Health proposes regulating trans fats in restaurants

As obesity and diabetes statistics are climbing steadily in the U.S., health experts are caught in between public policy makers and the food industry. The numbers have been debated and revised without any viable public health strategies developing. Yesterday, the New York City Board of Health voted to propose regulating the maximum amount of trans fats used in NYC restaurants. Stepping out of the obesity debate, the regulation is focused on reducing heart disease.

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Olympic Development and Social Costs

Is gentrification part and parcel of the Olympics?

Many cities look forward to Olympic bids as a chance to provide a burst of development into ailing downtowns. Local residents are often less enthusiastic, watching neighborhoods turn into Potemkin villages as low-income housing and homeless people are relocated. With the Summer Games in 2008 slowly approaching, Human Rights Watch announced the closing of many Beijing schools for migrant workers’ children in China.
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“Are brands more powerful than governments?”

A post on the ‘Think Progress’ website shows a segment from a recent BBC report that revealed a “direct link between the tobacco companies and the claim that climate change isn’t happening.” In 1993 Philip Morris set up a grass roots coalition to “cast doubt on studies showing that second-hand tobacco smoke is dangerous for health.” In order not to raise suspicion that the company was involved, Philip Morris decided to “‘link the tobacco issue with other more politically correct products’ and campaign on issues like global warming.” The result was The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), which was the first and most important of the corporate-funded organisations denying that climate change is taking place. It has done more damage to the campaign to halt it than any other body.

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A Look at Art and Gender

The Negro Woman Series, Elizabeth Catlett © Howard Museum Collection

In this week’s Village Voice, Jerry Saltz wrote a critique, Women of Babylon, on the lack of women’s representation in New York’s museums and galleries.

When I went to browse the Living Library for Table of Free Voices questions related to gender for this post, I found it interesting that only two out of 100 questions dealt with women’s issues.

Saltz calls the dilemma a “pernicious double bind,” providing a list of the percentages of women participants at recent MOMA and Guggenheim shows.
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“Is there an ecological limit to economic growth?”

California is the largest car market in the US

An article published in ‘The Independent’ today reports that the State of California, already at the forefront of the fight against global warming, filed an unprecedented lawsuit against six leading car manufacturers yesterday, arguing that exhaust fumes caused untold millions of dollars in damage to the state’s weather, economy and public health. The state attorney is seeking unspecified damages from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and Nissan because they “either knew or should have known the severe impact their vehicles would have on the health of the planet”.
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Migrant Crisis Continues in Spain

Spain signed a repatriation agreement with Senegal, Photo: BBC News
You had promised me that I would never be hungry
You had promised me of true activities and a future
Really up to here I still see nothing
That’s why I decided to flee

The lyrics are from DJ Awadi, a Senegalese rapper and producer, who is promoting awareness of the migrant crisis with his song Sunugaal and an online slideshow.
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Branding for a Good Cause

Co-branding football and children's rights © UNICEF/HQ06-1220/Markisz

According to mediafamily.org, children are able to recognize brand logos as young as three years old, while brand loyalty influence can start at age two. Branding is effective and ubiquitous, especially at sporting events, where it’s difficult to find a square inch of non-sponsored space. Breaking the spell of sponsoring trends, FC-Barcelona recently decided to donate 1.9 million USD over the next five years to UNICEF, displaying the NGO’s logo on its 2006-7 jersey.
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BILL JOY on our Innovation Acceleration

100 answers from Free Voices like Bill Joy now avaiable

Among the 100 questions that Bill Joy answered at the Table of Free Voices were 13 questions about “Innovation Acceleration: Science, Technology and the Future.” Read what the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Green Technology investor, and the man Fortune magazine calls the “Edison of the Internet” has to say about the social impact of new media, local food, and why companies should insure against genetic catastrophes. Here are some (exclusive) transcribed excerpts of Joy’s answers from the “Innovation Acceleration” question session from the Table of Free Voices. Like all content from the Table, Joy’s answers are Copyleft.
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“Is Corporate Social Responsibility Possible?”

Waste was unloaded from the ship in the middle of the night

Last week, a Holland-based multinational firm unloaded about 600 tons of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan that poisoned over 10,000 people and killed 7. Environmental pressure group Greenpeace said the dumped sludge was made up of oil refining waste, rich in organic matter and poisonous elements. These include hydrogen sulphide and organochloride, which cause nausea, rashes, fainting, diarrhea and headaches. When I read about this disaster, a question from the Table came to mind: “Is corporate social responsibility possible?”
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ASK YOURSELF: “Does faith need to be supported by good deeds?”

Today’s question was donated to our website by George Ballantine, 53, of Corrales, NM, USA. Faith may provide us with moras and values - morals and values that are shown through deeds.
What do you think about the subject?
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Purge of Liberal Academics in Iran and… USA?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeks to revive Islamic radicalism

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just called for the expulsion of all professors from Iranian universities who do not submit to the fundamentalist doctrines that underlay the Iranian revolution of 1979. In what some analysts interpreted as the start of a clampdown, Ahmadinejad derided secular lecturers as a fifth column of Western colonialism which he said was seeking to expand into Iran.
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features

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Upgrading International Development

Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Recycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla

A Look Behind the Prison Walls

The Homeless World Cup 2006

Reach Out and Finance Someone

Arundhati Roy asks herself: What form of resistance is effective and acceptable?

Iranian Bloggers Joined by President Ahmadinejad

Creating A New Universe

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Ethical Values & Responsibility

The (RED) ALERT for AIDS. Keep the Promise.

The Most Polluted Places on Planet Earth

Nobel Peace Prize and Microfinance

WORLD WAR NO: Apocalypse Impending?

Abortion Ban Debate

One Laptop per Child: Is Criticism Welcome?

Third Annual Ethical Fashion Show in Paris

EU REACH Legislation on Hazardous Chemicals

The Shock Effect and Public Awareness

Ban on Child Labour in India Comes Into Force Today

Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Sour Apples

A Look Behind the Prison Walls

Ban on Underweight Models

Regulating What We Eat

Olympic Development and Social Costs

“Are brands more powerful than governments?”

A Look at Art and Gender

“Is there an ecological limit to economic growth?”

Migrant Crisis Continues in Spain

Branding for a Good Cause

BILL JOY on our Innovation Acceleration

“Is Corporate Social Responsibility Possible?”

ASK YOURSELF: “Does faith need to be supported by good deeds?”

Purge of Liberal Academics in Iran and… USA?