Dare to Care

Sometimes in life we're lucky enough to come across truly amazing people.

Helen Downie, is one of those people.

She's an executive member of STAND (Students Taking A Stand for Darfur)
and Amnesty Concordia,
but she's also a bright and spirited young woman,
who wears her heart on her sleeve.
And worse of all,
She makes it seem so easy.

I was fortunate enough to be able to interview her.
And am thanking her again for the opportunity.

If your feeling like you need a little motivation to make the world a better place,
this video should set you straight.

Enjoy!
Download the interview

Or for a sneakpeak,
Helen's pitch for STAND Canada's:

If you could get one person off the street, would you?

"Devil Plays Hardball is an experimental, interventionist documentary that has the potential to change lives. In this social experiment, four mentors – all accomplished and compassionate individuals - are challenged to help realize the hopes and dreams of four homeless individuals. The process is not without its pitfalls, however, as the mentors learn that people who live on the streets end up there for a complex variety of reasons, and that being homeless means more than just not having a place to live." -Paperny Films

Devil Plays Hardball is directed by Nijole Kujmickas,
produced by Audrey Mehler of Paperny Films
in association with CBC Newsworld.

One for You & Two for Me!

There was an excellent cover story in La Presse this morning, by Stéphanie Bérubé on World Famine.

The rapidly escalating global food crisis has reached emergency proportions.
It is threatening to draw back at least seven years of progress in the fight against poverty. According to the U.N. World Food Program, 30 countries are presently experiencing accute food shortages, 18 of which are situated on the African Continent.

The price of wheat, milk and meat have doubled within the last year. And rice, coffee and soya are at a ten year high.

If we look at the figures, meat consumption requires at least 6 kilos of cereals for one kilo of meat. That's costly. At this point we are consuming more than we are able to produce. According to Paul Roberts, we could reduce 20-30% of our meat consumption without affecting our protein intake.

Meanwhile a billion human beings live on a dollar a day. And on that income, when prices explode, disaster can be expected. The U.N. will need to amass half a million in funds before the end of the month, without which some aid missions will have to be abandonned and the hungry, left to their own devices...

Protests erupted last week in Haiti over rising prices.
In Pakistan, police now have to escort shipments of food to commercial venues.
In Somalia, inflation has raised to 100 000% this past year and 80% of the population lives under the poverty index, the state of famine is on it's fifth year.

We'll all have to make some changes. Because eating the way we do today will no longer be possible.

In Canada if you eat less and exercise more.
Cances are you'll live longer.
Longer than some, at least.



For further reading:"Who will Feed China?" by Lester Brown

Five Days for the homeless

Students from Concordia raised over $37,000 last week,
students and friends spent five days and nights outside
for the Homeless charity campaign.

If you would like to know more about the students’ experience:
Go check out the team's blog!
Or make some newspapers trails by reading "Concordia students take fund-raising to the street" in the Montreal Gazette.

©Tobyotter





Night 1


Night 2

Humanitarian Intervention

I can gladly say that I get a fair share of my information from the radio.
I like leaving it on scan and randomly picking up whatever strikes my fancy.
Call me a sucker for diversity.
It's true.

Yesterday morning I fell upon an interview on CBC Radio 1
with Dr. W. Andy Knight, who is a professor of Political Science
and International Relations at the University of Alberta.
Check out his website!

Unfortunately, the interview isn't as of yet available on CBC's webpage,
I'm waiting on them for a link.

What was important about Mr. Knight's message is that he addressed the United Nations' "Responsibility to Protect" Mandate. Explaining in some detail that it would give the UN the right to intervene in circumstances where national governments fail to provide sufficient security to their civil populations.

This is what was missing in 1994 when Rwanda was on the brink of disaster.
Support for this legislation would enable the UN to pressure the Bashir government in Sudan to give further support to the suffering regions in Darfur.

In the mean time,
here is an article by Kurt Jonassohn on Covering Conflict in the 21st Century. It addresses some of the concerns contemporary media has in keeping an independent line during coverage and how editorial lines are increasingly submitted to corporate interests before making the cut.

Dear Readers,

Please forgive the preachy tone and
My slightly alarmist stance.

But the past 5 years have been quite the overview in humanity's
tendency to tear itself apart instead of banding together.
And it scares the living daylights out of me.



These kids are living proof that you can take a camera to the streets
and make a point. It drove home the fact that regardless of all the technology involved in news coverage these days, people are still unaware of major issues.
This is why working to raise awareness is still relevant.

While we have the world at our fingertips, the overwhelming amount of information to contend with, might mean that instead of surfing we are drowning in a sea of change.

It Starts on the Battle Ground

You're thinking: "All this talk of change is great. But what can I do?"

And that's what I wanted my blog to be about.
I'll be looking over volunteer projects over the next few months.

I'm hoping to foster inspiration.
To Push a 'Can Do' attitude.

Focus will be on key organizations, people who make thing happen, and the projects that they hold dear.

I'm planning to look at anything from local food drives to fundraising initiatives through artistic performances.

I'll also be adding some links to volunteer organizations
offering opportunities to get involve in the sections
"Writings on the Wall" and "Broadening your horizons",
as well as Human Rights' News Feeds
to provide an overview of ongoing world events.