Worldwide Helpersis a non profit search engine created to foster partnerships between volunteers and charitable organisations worldwide. It commits itself to removing the financial barriers of volunteering by providing only low/no cost projects. It raises awareness of organisations and communities worldwide and provides them with the manpower they need to survive. By helping people help the world WWH will develop into a community of volunteers and organisations working together to change lives and transform landscapes.
OBJECTIVES
To develop into an interactive online community for volunteers and organisations by 2010
World Environment Day, 5 June, has been marked around the World by millions of decent folk participating in events demanding action on the worsening climate emergency. Unaddressed, man-made climate change is predicted to kill about 10 billion mostly non-European people or about 100 million people per year this century in what is described as a Climate Genocide. Already about 18 million people die avoidably each year from deprivation in the Developing World (minus China) and this is increasingly being impacted by global warming.
Both Dr James Lovelock FRS (Gaia hypothesis) and Professor Kevin Anderson (Director, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester, UK) have recently estimated that fewer than 1 billion people will survive this century due to unaddressed, man-made global warming – noting that the world population is expected to reach 9.5 billion by 2050, these estimates translate to a climate genocide involving deaths of 10 billion people this century, this including 6 billion under-5 year old infants, 3 billion Muslims in a terminal Muslim Holocaust, 2 billion Indians, 1.3 billion non-Arab Africans, 0.5 billion Bengalis, 0.3 billion Pakistanis and 0.3 billion Bangladeshis (for details Google “Climate Genocide” ).
Science & Equality demand Climate Socialism for Climate Crisis
Science and equality in the face of a worsening Climate Emergency dictate Eco-Socialism, Climate Socialism and Green Socialism to save Humanity and the Biosphere. Unaddressed man-made climate change is set to kill 10 billion people this century. Already the species extinction rate is 100-1000 times greater than normal. Sloppy, non-scientist arguments about the asserted greater economic efficiency of capitalism fall flat in the face of capitalism’s failure to address the acute problem of man-made climate change that is increasingly impacting a global avoidable mortality holocaust in which 18 million people die avoidably each year in the Developing World (excluding China).
The purpose of a "society" is surely the common good, but capitalists justify the increasing proportion of the cake taken by the wealthy since the 1960s by the claim that capitalism is superior to socialism in wealth creation (for a discussion of the increasing proportion of the cake taken by the rich see Gavin Kelly, “Wanted: a new purpose for British capitalism” (New Statesman, 16 February 2011).
However man-made climate change has radically changed the equation even if the politicians, media, voters and Capitalist Establishment of the Western Murdochracies and Lobbyocracies haven't yet got the message due to Mainstream lying by omission, lying by commission and remorseless obfuscation (for details see “Mainstream media censorship” and “Mainstream media lying” websites).
Thus top climate scientists argue for drastic economic decarburization if the world is to avoid a disastrous 2C temperature rise (EU policy). According to Professor Schellnhuber (Potsdam Institute, Germany) the World must achieve zero (0) carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050 and (all men being equal with equal shares in atmospheric pollution) that means that high per capita polluters such as the US and Australia must reach zero by 2020 with India able to increase pollution before finally ceasing by 2050.
World Environment Day (WED) is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. WED activities take place all year round but climax on 5 June every year, involving everyone from everywhere.
WED celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.
Through WED, the UN Environment Programme is able to personalize environmental issues and enable everyone to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development.
WED is also a day for people from all walks of life to come together to ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for themselves and future generations.
Everyone counts in this initiative and WED relies on you to make this happen! We call for action – organize a neighborhood clean-up, stop using plastic bags and get your community to do the same, plant a tree or better yet organize a collective tree planting effort, walk to work, start a recycling drive . . . the possibilities are endless. Check out the WED pack for interesting suggestions on what you could do
Managing natural resources and biodiversity, adapting to sea level rise, monitoring the chemical composition of our atmosphere: all depend on accurate information delivered in time to make a difference.
The European Earth Observation Programme (GMES)provides data useful in a range of issues including climate change and citizen's security. Land, sea and atmosphere – each Earth component is observed through GMES, helping to make our lives safer.
The purpose of GMES is to deliver information which corresponds to user needs. The processing and dissemination of this information is carried out within the "GMES service component".
The thematic areas within the GMES service component comprise:
land, marine and atmosphere information – ensuring systematic monitoring and forecasting the state of the Earth's subsystems at regional and global levels;
climate change information – helping to monitor the effects of climate change, assessing mitigation measures and contributing to the knowledge base for adaptation policies and investments;
emergency and security information – providing support in the event of emergencies and humanitarian aid needs, in particular to civil protection authorities, also to produce accurate information on security related aspects (e.g. maritime surveillance, border control, global stability, etc.)
The idea for this ecosocialist manifestowas jointly launched by Joel Koveland Michael Lowy, at a September, 2001, workshop on ecology and socialism held at Vincennes, near Paris. We all suffer from a chronic case of Gramsci's paradox, of living in a time whose old order is dying (and taking civilization with it) while the new one does not seem able to be born. But at least it can be announced. The deepest shadow that hangs over us is neither terror, environmental collapse, nor global recession. It is the internalized fatalism that holds there is no possible alternative to capital’s world order. And so we wished to set an example of a kind of speech that deliberately negates the current mood of anxious compromise and passive acquiescence.
This manifesto nevertheless lacks the audacity of that of 1848, for ecosocialism is not yet a spectre, nor is it grounded in any concrete party or movement. It is only a line of reasoning, based on a reading of the present crisis and the necessary conditions for overcoming it. We make no claims of omniscience. Far from it, our goal is to invite dialogue, debate, emendation, above all, a sense of how this notion can be further realized. Innumerable points of resistance arise spontaneously across the chaotic ecumene of global capital. Many are immanently ecosocialist in content. How can these be gathered? Can we envision an "ecosocialist international?" Can the spectre be brought into being?
Manifesto
The twenty-first century opens on a catastrophic note, with an unprecedented degree of ecological breakdown and a chaotic world order beset with terror and clusters of low-grade, disintegrative warfare that spread like gangrene across great swathes of the planet--viz., central Africa, the Middle East, Northwestern South America--and reverberate throughout the nations.
In our view, the crises of ecology and those of societal breakdown are profoundly interrelated and should be seen as different manifestations of the same structural forces. The former broadly stems from rampant industrialization that overwhelms the earth's capacity to buffer and contain ecological destabilization. The latter stems from the form of imperialism known as globalization, with its disintegrative effects on societies that stand in its path. Moreover, these underlying forces are essentially different aspects of the same drive, which must be identified as the central dynamic that moves the whole: the expansion of the world capitalist system.
We reject all euphemisms or propagandistic softening of the brutality of this regime: all greenwashing of its ecological costs, all mystification of the human costs under the names of democracy and human rights. We insist instead upon looking at capital from the standpoint of what it has really done.
John Bellamy Foster: `The transition to socialism and the transition to an ecological society are one’
John Bellamy Foster's keynote address to the Climate Change, Social Change conference (organised by Green Left Weekly), Sydney, Australia, April 12, 2008. This talk is the basis of the last chapter of The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet.
Read an exclusive excerpt from Foster's The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet at
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels famously urged the world's workers to unite because they had a world to win, and nothing to lose but their chains. Today, the reality of climate change and worsening environmental breakdowns globally adds a further vital dimension to this vision of human liberation. We still have a world to win -- but we also have a world to lose.
The ecological crisis is not simply the result of poor planning or bad decisions. Nor is it an unforeseeable accident. It's the inevitable outcome of an unjust economic and social system that puts business profits before all else -- even as it undermines the natural basis of life itself.
With his previous books, such as Marx's Ecology and The Vulnerable Planet, and as the editor of the US-based Marxist journal Monthly Review, John Bellamy Foster has established a well-earned reputation as one of the world's most persuasive voices arguing for fundamental social change to tackle the looming ecological catastrophe.
His new book, The Ecological Revolution, could not have been published at a more timely moment. It argues a solution to the ecological crisis "is now either revolutionary or it is false."
Foster draws on the warnings from leading environmentalists such as Bill McKibben, James Hansen, and Lester Brown among others.
McKibben has said we have now entered the "Oh Shit" era of global warming -- it's already too late to stop the harsh impacts of climate change entirely. NASA scientist Hansen has said the rapid pace of climate change amounts to a "planetary emergency."
In his 2008 book Plan B 3.0, Brown said: "We are crossing natural thresholds that we cannot see and violating deadlines that we do not recognize. Nature is the time keeper, but we cannot see the clock. . . . We are in a race between tipping points in the earth's natural systems and those in the world's political systems. Which will tip first?"
The Ecological Revolution is a call for urgent action and an intervention into the debates about the kind of action needed to win this "race."
The dwindling band of climate change deniers aside, general awareness of the extent of environmental decay is more widespread than ever -- even among the world's elites. The upshot is that two distinct visions of ecological revolution have emerged.
The first tries to paint business as usual economics green. The second, following Che Guevara's maxim, holds it must be a genuine eco-social revolution or it's a make-believe revolution.
"The conflict between these two opposing approaches to ecological revolution," writes Foster, "can now be considered the central problem facing environmental social science today."
The Federation of Egalitarian Communities is a network of communal groups spread across North America. We range in size and emphasis from small agricultural homesteads to village-like communities to urban group houses.
Principles of the FEC
Each of the FEC communities:
Holds its land, labor, income and other resources in common.
Assumes responsibility for the needs of its members, receiving the products of their labor and distributing these and all other goods equally, or according to need.
Practices non-violence.
Uses a form of decision making in which members have an equal opportunity to participate, either through consensus, direct vote, or right of appeal or overrule.
Actively works to establish the equality of all people and does not permit discrimination on the basis of race, class, creed, ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Acts to conserve natural resources for present and future generations while striving to continually improve ecological awareness and practice.
Creates processes for group communication and participation and provides an environment which supports people's development.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Turkish ornithologist and conservation ecologist was included in the list of "emerging explorers" of 2011 by National Geographic magazine.
Ornithologist Cagan Hakki Sekercioglu, assistant professor at the University of Utah Department of Biology, was included among 14 newest explorers of 2011 by NG.
NG said, "by the end of this century, 25 percent of all bird species may be extinct. 'That is 2,500 unique species,' Sekercioglu warns. Many pressures that will ultimately affect other animals, and even people, are happening to birds first. They are, quite literally, the canaries in the coal mine."
The magazine said, "Sekercioglu not only documents the trend, but also works to reverse it by integrating his work as a highly cited scientist, director of an award-winning grassroots conservation organization, and accomplished wildlife photographer."
It said, "he charts and analyzes the causes and consequences of vanishing bird populations via projects in biodiversity hot spots such as Costa Rica, Turkey, Ethiopia, Nepal, and Tanzania."
"Sekercioglu's rare ability to combine world-class science with local conservation efforts gives communities new reasons to protect threatened bird habitats," NG said.
Located on an extraordinary 25 acres near Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, O.U.R. ECOVILLAGEbegan operations in 1999 with a vision to create a model demonstration sustainable village community rooted in social, ecological, and economic well being. O.U.R. Ecovillage is the host site for O.U.R Community Association, a registered nonprofit society dedicated to the promotion of sustainable community living. People from all walks of life and all ages are able to benefit from educational programs facilitated within O.U.R developing site. The idea of O.U.R. Ecovillage had its genesis in the early 1990s when a number of people lived in a cooperative household in Victoria. During this time the O.U.R. acronym (One United Resource) was created. Subsequent events can be described in seven different phases.
Phase I (March 1999)
involved the private purchase of 25 acres of land near Shawnigan Lake in order to secure it from future development. The former owner was eventually convinced that the proposed development of a vibrant, environmentally friendly community would be a very positive use of the land, and ended up donating a third of the original asking price. A group of approximately 14 people came together as the Creation Team, taking responsibility for the ongoing design and development process of the community project.
Phase II (2000-2002)
saw the establishment of O.U.R. Community Association, a registered not-for-profit (541542). An overriding principle was established: that the project would be created “by the community, for the community and through the community” so that none of the overall project would be established for anyone’s primary personal gain — all people would be here as stewards. During this time the Cowichan Community Land Trust and the Land Conservancy of British Columbia worked to create a flora and fauna species mapping of the overall site in order to determine the most vulnerable ecological areas. Next, O.U.R. Community Association embarked on a far-reaching visioning process involving hundreds of communitarians from nearby neighbourhoods, various levels of government, people from corporate and educational backgrounds, and international visitors. This enabled O.U.R. Community Vision to be a broad representation of what folks wanted to see happen at O.U.R. Ecovillage.
Phase III (2002-2004)
focused on creating a precedent-setting rezoning for O.U.R. Ecovillage. The “Sustainable Land Management Design” evolved concurrent with several years of permaculture design. The 25 acres were to stay intact and become a multiactivity integrated land use zone with: a) A conservation area consisting of one third of the property under a protective covenant b) Allowance for educational activities c) An organic production farm, and d) An off-grid eco-home cluster of 9 homes (in addition to the existing home currently used as a residence and Bed and Breakfast). This work with regulatory authorities brought in major support and funding from government. Eventually O.U.R. Team began working with engineering and regulatory teams in earthen construction (natural building) using alternative wastewater treatment and other innovative technologies and doing so within approved building codes.
Phase IV (2002-present)
O.U.R. Community Association develops “TOPIA: The Sustainable Learning Community Institute.” TOPIA offers a wide array of on-site sustainable living programs (e.g. natural building, organic food production, bio-fuels, community building, etc.)
The mission of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology is: "to fill in the gaps of history and provide answers to challenging historical questions through the study and examination of the vessels that have traveled the world's waterways for millennia, carrying people and cargo, and making possible the widespread exchange of ideas, innovation and invention."
INA is the ONLY international organization of its kind that can work globally, to locate, document, excavate and preserve significant underwater and nautical archaeological sites. Continuing the work that our founders began over 50 years ago, INA researchers are bringing to light those remnants of our collective past that speak most powerfully to us, about who we are, what we have done, and what we are capable of and doing so while upholding the highest scientific, academic and ethical standards. We spend many hours studying our finds and conserving them in our labs. We work hard to place history in museums where it can be shared. We speak about exciting new findings through the media and at conferences and seminars, publish academic and popular books and articles, our newsletter, the INA Quarterly and our yearly review, the INA Annual and we are reaching ever more people online to ultimately deepen the understanding of human history worldwide.
Today, there is a greater need than ever before to support the work done by INA. An unparalleled assault on the world's submerged history is under way from more than simply the ravages of time or the continued theft of our heritage by treasure hunters and looters who trade in history for financial gain.
Improved technology has allowed us better access to see beneath the waves and it has become clear to all who care to look, that human activity is having a devastating impact on even the most remote and isolated of environments. Deep sea trawling and dredging has been destroying entire ecosystems and along with them the very shipwrecks that INA is dedicated to preserve. The damage done on all fronts is considerable and growing in scale. We are in danger of losing again what was already lost, only this time it will be permanent. There will be no knowledge gained from these endangered sites once the ocean's floor has been scraped clean.
Help INA venture forth to reach out and save history before it is lost forever, as we excavate significant wrecks that have the potential to rewrite history. Support us in this mission and join in the excitement of exploration and discovery. Learn more about how you can help or make a donation online or contact us directly by email or telephone through the INA office in Texas (979) 845 6694.
Vision
The Institute of Nautical Archaeology conducts archaeological research to increase knowledge of the evolution of civilization through the location and excavation of submerged and buried ships, submerged ruins, and their associated artifacts.
Architect Michael Reynolds wants to save the world and believes he can do this through ‘self-heating, self-regulating’ houses. The film is a welcome breath of fresh air in a climate that collocates any discussion about alternative approaches to the environment with pointless schemes such as ‘offsetting’ your carbon footprint or scratchy handwriting that appeals to tweedy, green-wellied middle Englanders.
Garbage Warrior begins with Michael Reynolds digging in the middle of the desert, packing mud into a tyre. This is one of the methods he has come up with for harnessing one of the central concepts in the film: thermal mass. Reynolds believes that by mastering it, he can set himself and others free. He builds houses using beer cans, empty petrol cans, tyres and borrowed trucks. In the middle of the desert, he has created a collection of quirky houses, each an improvement on the last.
There is no reason for Reynolds’ vision to be limited to hippies – which is a recurring concern, when his major point is so pertinent. As I write, the papers are filled with bleak forecasts about the housing shortage, about the property boom coming to an end, about young people not being able to get on to the ladder, about the possibility of people losing their homes. Most of us have nothing to do with the economic forces that determine our livelihoods. It is largely accepted that faceless traders, brokers and other businessmen create – or at least stimulate – the conditions in which the rest of us must survive. The question Garbage Warrior is asking is ‘why should I be tied to this system?’
Worldwide Helpers is a non profit search engine created to foster partnerships between volunteers and charitable organisations worldwide. It commits itself to removing the financial barriers of volunteering by providing only low/no cost projects. It raises awareness of organisations and communities worldwide and provides them with the manpower they need to survive. By helping people help the world WWH will develop into a community of volunteers and organisations working together to change lives and transform landscapes.
Science and equality in the face of a worsening Climate Emergency dictate 
However man-made climate change has radically changed the equation even if the politicians, media, voters and Capitalist Establishment of the Western Murdochracies and Lobbyocracies haven't yet got the message due to Mainstream lying by omission, lying by commission and remorseless obfuscation (for details see “Mainstream media censorship” and “Mainstream media lying” websites).
WED celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.
The twenty-first century opens on a catastrophic note, with an unprecedented degree of ecological breakdown and a chaotic world order beset with terror and clusters of low-grade, disintegrative warfare that spread like gangrene across great swathes of the planet--viz., central Africa, the Middle East, Northwestern South America--and reverberate throughout the nations.
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels famously urged the world's workers to unite because they had a world to win, and nothing to lose but their chains. Today, the reality of climate change and worsening environmental breakdowns globally adds a further vital dimension to this vision of human liberation. We still have a world to win -- but we also have a world to lose.
Ornithologist Cagan Hakki Sekercioglu, assistant professor at the University of Utah Department of Biology, was included among 14 newest explorers of 2011 by NG.
History
INA
