The Clear Act (Cap & Dividend)

So I read the Clean Act, also known as Cap and Dividend,  is gaining momentum in the US thanks to Senators Maria Cantwell (Democratic Washington State) and Susan Collins (Republican Maine). Through this plan the government will (a) cap the carbon supply, then (b) auction permits to companies, and out of this (c) Pay back dividends to citizens. Every year there is a reduction in permits so supply declines and prices increase. The idea is that once this begins clean technology will become c...

Emily in the News – Reporting from Haiti

Our fellow UN Citizen Ambassador Emily Troutman has spent the past several weeks in Haiti offering her help, recording her experiences and photographing the destruction and now the recovery of the nation. Recently she has been featured on AOL News (here) describing some of the medical issues now being faced by thousands. The admirable work of hundreds of doctors and nurses working tirelessly in makeshift hospital camps has already been the focus of numerous international headlines due ...

Tricks and Toxic Waste in Ivory Coast

Is this for real? I cannot find any other sources than Wiki leaks. UPDATE: Its real. Also covered (and solicited by Trafigura's lawyers) on UK's Guardian, BBC NewsNight, Huffington Post,and Greenpeace. According to Business Respect, Trafigura has offered 1,000 British Pounds ($1624 USD) as compensation to each of the 30,000 people affected. SOURCE: WIKILEAKS This file contains a deleted BBC news article on the toxic-waste dumping of commodities giant Trafigura. According to a Septe...

West Bank student’s deportation upheld

BBC News - West Bank student Berlanty Azzim's deportation upheld Berlanty has a Gaza ID card. She went to the West Bank under a visitors permit but instead stayed for four years to study Business Management - which she would be finishing this coming month. At the end of October, she was stopped at an Israeli checkpoint, detained for six hours, then blindfolded, handcuffed and told she would be taken to a detention centre in the southern West Bank. When her blindfold was removed hours l...

Looking back on the AIU Symposium

Again, great thanks to Saul Takahashi for taking the time to conference with us last night and for helping shed some light on the real situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Some points from the discussion: UN security agenda has proven itself a tool of most-powerful nations UN's actions have been not to stop Human Rights violations, but to establish accountability following conflict resolutions through Tribunals, the ICC, etc. With Palestine there has been no movement...

Breno’s COP15 submission

The request is to Raise Your Voice and be part of COP15 to contribute to a meaningful discussion about our world’s future. The most popular video submissions are to be aired globally during the COP15 CNN YouTube debate on December 15, and the top two submissions will win a trip to Copenhagen. With only 14 days left and little positive news from world leaders, we have to do our best to not only spread awareness but to encourage all global citizens to raise their voices and tell world l...

For our American friends

Something to think about: “Last year 750,000 Americans filed bankruptcy, over half of those bankruptcies were because of medical expenses. Over half of the people who filed bankruptcy because of medical expenses had health insurance. Don’t we need to do something on health insurance reform? Of course we do.” -Harry Reid

EVENT: AIU Lecture Symposium 2009

For those of you in Japan on December 3, 2009, my International Institutions and Law class will be hosting a lecture and discussion regarding Human Rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Lecture Symposium will run for an hour and a half, and will be an excellent opportunity to learn about a conflict situation that has continued to plague the middle east for over fifty years. We will be joined by Saul Takahashi, Deputy Head of Office of the United Nations Office of t...

Is food aid missing the point?

Reading an article in the Globe and Mail (Canada pushes wealthy nations to keep food aid pledges) I came the following reader's response that (although not backed up by any evidence and rather lacking in tact...) really makes me question how we can improve the way aid is offered to the countries that need it the most. Aside from the usual issues relating to corruption or the costs of bureaucracy absorbing our donations - how much damage are our national agricultural subsidies causing to f...

Kirsty on Vancouver’s Urban Rush

This past Friday Kirsty sat down with the hosts of Vancouver's Urban Rush to talk about her experience in New York and her entry in the UN Citizen Ambassador Project. While there she spoke about global citizens working towards the Millennium Development Goals, adjusting our consumerist and materialist cultures, and putting pressure the Canadian government to follow through on the promise by Lester B. Pearson (and recently other developed nations) to contribute 0.7% GNI to foreign aid. What...