A couple of good news

First good news is that the New Economics Foundation (NEF) has published the new Happy Planet index (HPI). This is not a happy index itself; this index measures the green eficiency that could provide long and happy lifes for every citizen.

The HPI suggests that the path we have been following is, without exception, unable to deliver all three goals: high life satisfaction, high life expectancy and 'one-planet living'," says Saamah Abdallah, NEF researcher and the report's lead author. "Instead we need a new development model that delivers good lives that don't cost the Earth for all."

Latin American nation tops index ranking countries by ecological footprint and happiness of their citizens.

This news by The Guardian.

The second one is that a leading arm of the United Nations working to spread the benefits of information technology today announced the launch of the first ever tuition-free online university.

Since opening enrollment in April, the People has attracted more than 750 applicants spanning 97 countries.

In recognition of this initiative, the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID) hosted a briefing at the United Nations Headquarters to announce our world-renowned Advisory Committee and Chair of the Business Administration Department.

This news by the University of the People website.

This news by the UNESCO website.

A link to nice and thinking pictures.

I consider Shahidulnews something special.

This link is full of different pictures: you could go over them fast or slow, whatever you do they will tell you something.

http://www.shahidulnews.com/tag/photography/

Asking the IMF to help the poorest countries.

Dear friend, ONE is writing us this:

In this time of crisis when resources are scarce, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is sitting on a pot of gold, a small fraction of which could help the world’s poorest countries stay afloat.

Please take action right now and ask the managing director of IMF to sell some gold reserves to help the poorest countries weather the downturn.
Click here to sign our petition to the IMF and send an email directly to Dominique Strauss-Khan, Managing Director of the IMF:
http://www.one.org/international/gold/o.pl?id=906-4038914-cRBLMqx&t=3

Thankful to you and to ONE Internatinal,

oscgim

No Hunger. Campaign to help end childhood malnutrition.

Dear friend,

Last week I came across a surprising an interesting campaign to help end child malnutrition.

You can see a short video about this at http://www.askalgoretomakethismovie.org (1´35") and decide whether you would like to help in achieving this objective.
This link is not working from 16/04/2009; you can check at the Spanish one at: http://www.pideseloaalgore.org

Some 19 million children under the age of 5 suffer from acute malnutrition. And this serious, life-threatening form of hunger kills more than 5 million children each year.

It is estimated that 3 billion Euro´s could save their lives.

If you are interested in helping and/or you have any doubts please visit: http://www.askalgoretomakethismovie.org/index_en.php#/desnutricion

Thanks for your interest,

sincerely,
oscgim

Good news! an efford in providing cheap drugs in the developing world.

GSK, the world's second biggest pharmaceutical company is to radically shift its attitude to providing cheap drugs to millions of people in the developing world. Read this news at The Guardian

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline should be congratulated for breaking industry ranks and taking a major step toward helping poor people in developing countries to get better access to medicines, says international agency Oxfam. Read this at Oxfam International

Is this the begining of a change?

Will other pharmaceutical companies join them?

One.org petition and good news (Food crisis)

The financial crisis threatens to push 90 million more people into extreme poverty according to a report this month from UK Department for International Development.
For a crisis of this scale, we need a comprehensive global solution.

www.one.org
Last G20 Summit looks as though it made some real progress for the world’s poorest. Integrated into the leader’s agreement is recognition of the need to address extreme poverty as part of the global recovery. Instinct tells me that some of the vague language will take hard work to clarify, but this morning, as I re-read statements and news from yesterday, I have a sense of hope and cautious optimism.

Highlights include:

Resources: The G20 announced US $50 billion for low-income countries—although we are concerned this includes existing funding—and a further US $100 billion in lending for development banks.

Reform: Developing countries will have some greater representation in the international financial institutions, and election to World Bank/IMF leadership will be based on merit.

Regulation: The G20 announced they would take action to regulate of illicit tax havens.
On top of that, all G20 countries re-affirmed their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals and commitments made at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit.

Coming out of this summit, we need to work to ensure that money going to developing countries is given as grants, not loans that trigger another debt crisis. Also, much more needs to be done on the green agenda in the interests of developing countries at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year.

But before we do, I want to thank you for your part in helping make this happen. Together, in the last few months, we’ve succeeded in encouraging Gordon Brown to invite the African Union to the G20, which sources say made a big difference in the final discussions. We also helped encourage President Obama to show global leadership on poverty. He remarked yesterday: “We are protecting those who don’t always have a voice at the G-20, but who have suffered greatly in this crisis. The United States is ready to lead in this endeavor.”

These are important achievements. I hope you are feeling the same sense of progress as I am, and are encouraged to continue this fight.

I can’t thank you enough,

Roxane Philson, ONE.org

P.S. To share your thoughts on the G20, get more detail on what they are doing for developing countries, and coverage from inside the G20, visit the ONE Blog:http://www.one.org/blog/g20-the-london-summit/?id=894-4038914-k.jhXhx&t=2

P.S.2 I remember that the F.A.O already warned us last year about this alimentary crisis to come. They stimate that 12billion $ should be given to minimize the impact. (only 2 have been given).
A related article: http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article511

Kindness is the key to happiness

Last weekend I came across these lines that made me smile.

These lines where well explained on The Guardian weekly review. The authors of this reflexion are Adam Phillips (psychoanalyst) and Barbara Taylor (historian, specifically a historian of ideas).
They make the case for putting altruism above individualism.

I could find a shorter review at
The Guardian/ The Observer on line paper.


Between them ( Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor) they explore the concept of "kindness", its status among human attributes and the value that has been ascribed to it over the years. "Kindness" is a rough equivalent of the Christian non-erotic love, or charity, though it was embraced as a virtue and a source of pleasure by Cicero, for one, and by the Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius, before it was extolled famously by St Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians. Charity, except in the limited context of organisations such as Oxfam or Mind, is not an attribute much favoured today, being thought inimical to equality and the recognition of rights.

The Guardian/ The Observer on line paper.


Nice link to another reflexion on this:
Love is the Answer - Love is the Answer - Love is the Answer
http://heraldoflight.wordpress.com/pensees/