Tag Archives: Natural disaster

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: THE NIGHTMARE IS WELL ON THE WAY.

24 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by in Sustaniability, The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations.

≈ Comments Off on THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: THE NIGHTMARE IS WELL ON THE WAY.

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

 

( A one minute obligatory read if you are interested in the planet you live on) .

It is not amazing that the contemporary world is marked by a growing number of problems that are genuinely Global in scope.Afficher l'image d'origine

Yet instead of addressing them we spend our time discussing ISIS, North Korea, Mr Putin, Worthless Trump, Air Brain Palin, The price of Oil, Stem cells, New Planets billion of light years away, the list is endless rubbish.

In the mean time we have the spread of Zika virus, a blizzard to beat all blizzards, thousands of Refugees, billions being spend of Presidential Campaigns while Inequality spreads like a cancer.

So forgive me for thinking we must be one of the most selfish, stupid, technology driven like button idiots that ever existed on this planet.

Based on the Best current science we are looking down the barrel of a gun with the bullet fired.

There could be no more extreme than current weather patterns, melting glaciers, sea level rising, megadroughts, desertification, deforestation, food supply disruption, famines, infectious disease, mass migration, social upheaval, economic distress, political instability.

All conflict multipliers that will turn Earth into an unlivable cauldron of I am alright Jack.

It seems that few realise how dire this situation has become or is becoming.

All down to human activity that continues to prune the evolutionary tree of life with gay adabondament.

And if that is not enough evidence that we are heading full speed to oblivion. The last Global Biodiversity Report presented some hard facts that the population of vertebrates that include mammals, birds, reptiles, sharks, rays, and amphibians – living within the tropics declined by 59% from 1970- 2006.

Just in case that has not sunk in what they are saying is that more than half of the vertebrate population between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer has disappeared in the last 36 years.

They also found that birds in Europe declined by 50% since 1980. Birds in North America declined by 40%.

Just one more hard fact that it is time to open our eyes. All plants species the foundation of the food chain upon which we depend – are currently ” threatened with extinction.

Yet humans around the world are either unaware of the situation or have their heads buried in the sand, when we should be taking immediate action.

Our consumerist economy that promotes the endless acquisition of products over the conservation of nature would need 1.5 Earths to meet the demands we currently make on Nature.

You might not still appreciate just how bad things are. By 2048 there will be virtually no more wild caught seafood. Our oceans are dying from Lake Erie to the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Mexico the coastal water of Australia New Zealand, dead zones are growing. The Baltic is already Dead.  60% of all coral reef have being turned in to white ghost towns.

I have being lucky in my life to have traveled both by sea and land extensively.

Experiencing nature first hand let me tell you that there is a critical threshold that once crossed will result in a sudden and irreversible change. A tipping point that will arrive overnight.  There is no technology that can restore it to its original state.

I might sound overblowing and alarmist but look around you. We have little real knowledge of how the ecosystem works but just because we can’t see the catastrophe doesn’t mean it not real.

After all 99.9% OF MATTER is empty space, yet no amount of squinting will reveal this fact to the naked eye.

What does matter is that our fears accurately track the totality of the evidence presented.

This is why solving the problem ought to be on the top of the list of all superpowers in the world.

The likelihood of this happening is the same as asking is the Pope a Catholic.

Even if it does happen, nobody, no Government, no World Organisation, no Country, no Economy, no joe soap has the will or money to rectify a world that is bent on self-destruction.

This is why we must create a World Aid Fund. ( see previous posts)

It is the only solution that is non Political, spreading the cost across all beliefs all colours evenly.

Go on press the like button if you are one of the Googlefied that think you are living on the Planet. If on the other hand you are truly alive get involved and leave your thoughts. Afficher l'image d'origine

Afficher l'image d'origine

 

Go back

Your message has been sent

THE BEADY EYE WRITES AN OTHER OPEN LETTER TO THE PARIS SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE.

31 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by in Climate Change., Environment, European Union., Humanity., Natural World Disasters, Politics., Sustaniability, The Future, Where's the Global Outrage.

≈ Comments Off on THE BEADY EYE WRITES AN OTHER OPEN LETTER TO THE PARIS SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE.

Tags

, , , , , , ,

31st August 2015.

Dear Delegate,

When policies on emissions reductions collide with policies focused on economic growth, economic growth will win out every time.

There is no point in spending a lovely week in Paris talking about what should be done about Climate change and coming up with an agreement to cut emissions by placing A Price Tag on carbon.

The true financial costs of climate change is away beyond any price tag or unenforceable agreement.

What value do we place on the ocean’s coral reefs and the myriad animals they support, and how do we weigh their loss against other values? What price tag do you put on a species of bird or fish or mammal which, once gone, will never return?

How does humanity weigh moral accountability if our own carbon emissions contributed to that destruction?

Isn’t it about a sustainable planet? A sustainable and biologically diverse planet?

Most likely our descendants will be left to adapt to a warmer world where greater climatic uncertainties, depleted resources and human migrations, amongst other, will be the norm.

If climate change affects not only a country’s economic output but also its growth, then that has a permanent effect that accumulates over time, leading to a much higher social cost of carbon than any price tag agreed.

The economic damage caused by a ton of carbon dioxide emissions – often referred to as the “social cost” of carbon – will actually be far higher than any of us can imagine.

There is no solution to an event that is all ready taking place.

There can only be a change to the event or a confinement to the end result.

If there is no solution to how the world is going to finance this change your and you fellow delegates might as well go home and bask in the sunshine of an agreement that is as porous as the paper it is written on.

In his fascinating book “Catastrophe: Risk and Response”, published in 2004, Richard Posner argues that we do not do enough to hedge against catastrophic risks such as climate change, asteroid impacts or bioterrorism.

In light of the “competition” of existential risks, how much should humanity invest in the mitigation of climate change?

The answer is:  Human extinction is a risk we all share—and it would be an unprecedented event that can happen only once.

Growth at all costs is the mantra of the technological world we live. Climate policies that require public sacrifice and limiting economic growth are doomed to failure.

Believe in the current pledge-and-review mechanism is a farce.

From current projections we know that climate change will pose a serious challenge by 2040 for many organisations. Putting a true economic cost on these risks can act as a catalyst to taking action today in order to help organisations better prepare for the future.

There is only one way to achieve this and that is the creation of a World Aid Commission or tax on profit   for profit sake.

Would you rather have a one percent tax increase on everyone in the country or kill one percent of the population?  This will not work as the cost of collection and administration, or culling, would out weigh any benefits.

The solution is a Universal 0.05% commission on all High Frequency Trading, on all Foreign Exchange Transactions (over $20,000) on all Sovereign Wealth Funds Acquisitions and on all Drilling Wells.  

This will create a perpetual Fund to tackle the world problems.  

 

The expected loss to society because of catastrophic climate change is so large that it cannot be reliably estimated.

Climate policies should flow with the current of public opinion rather than against it, and efforts to sell the public on policies that will create short-term economic discomfort. People are willing to bear costs to reduce emissions, but they are only willing to go so far.

The Dangerous Underestimation of Climate

Change’s Cost and the

financing of any agreement is self-evident.

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

 

The clock is ticking for: A new world DISASTER AID REACTION Organisation.

03 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in Natural World Disasters, WORLD POVERTY WHERE'S THE GLOBAL OUTRAGE

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, affecting more than 3 million people — one of every three. The quake killed 222,570 people and injured more than 300,000. More than 1 million people were left homeless and vulnerable.

On August, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico and various Southern regions of the United States. A 100,000 people were displaced. 10,000 originally feared dead — revised down by government.

On March 11, 2011, a tsunami some 40 meters (133 feet) high hit northeast coast of Japan.15,000 people were killed, 300,000 were evacuated, and 3,100 people are still unaccounted for. A nuclear emergency was triggered in the Fukushima area.

On April 25,2015 a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the south-central Asian country of Nepal. 8 million people have been affected by the quake. To date the death toll is above 6,000.

Extreme disasters catch the public eye, often resulting in massive infusions of aid that affect not just individual well-being but the fabric of societies.

What I want to address here is  (with the predicted effects of Climate Change we are going to witness a massive increase in natural disaster world-wide) how if any of our various UN organizations are in a position to meet the challenges that lie ahead: (World Food Program, World Health Organisation, Relief Web, UNICEF, Oxfam International, International Federation of Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies, International Rescue Committee, Medicins Sans Frontiers, Doctors Without Boards) to mention just a few.

And the question I want an answered to is:  How do we evaluate their efficacy.

Understanding and analyzing the organization of aid delivery is essential to evaluating aid efficacy. Disaster relief projects involve multiple parties in different organizational configurations delivering in-kind aid, where each party has distinct objectives.

The behavior of an aid agency that operates on the ground is a composite outcome of the organizational structure of the donating and implementing arms.

Depending on how that organization is set up, the quality of hard aid and the delivery of social agendas may vary considerably within the same disaster area. Donors face potential trade-offs between higher quality aid, pursuit of certain social agendas, and paying the cost to do their own implementation.

In a nutshell, industry and private donations are feel-good, short-term interventions and no substitute for the vastly larger, and essentially political, task of bringing aid to poor people in need.

It is the long-term Recovery phase of disaster which places the most severe financial strain on local or state.

The needs of the poor don’t get met because the poor have little money or political power with which to make their needs known and they cannot hold anyone accountable to meet those needs. They are stuck with Planners. The … tragedy [of failed foreign aid] continues.

A big part of the problem originates with the rich-country governments who set the mandates of the aid agencies. ( See previous post: Roughly half of global aid – is phantom aid or The Clock is ticking for a New World Aid Organisation)

I hardly think your/our measly donations to charity are worth talking about;

Media coverage of natural disasters seems to vary a lot depending on the disaster. Is it selective?

An Example is the Present Nepal Disaster lasted three days on the top of the BBC news.

It was replaced by a Royal princess presented to world. One new life against thousands lost.

If you compare what the new born Royal can expect from life to the 360,000 other children all born on the same day elsewhere in the world.

〈 While the Duke of Cambridge does not receive money directly from the Sovereign Grant ( that’s £35.7m the taxpayer gives to the Royal Family each year), he does receive from the Queens Grant-in-Aid fund and the Duchy of Cornwall (the tax-exempt estate valued at £763m in 2013 with an annual income of £19m, bestowed on the family in 1337) , the surplus of which traditionally goes to the eldest son ( i.e. Prince William). If you break that £19m down into a a weekly rate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge can expect a share of £365,384.61, compared to the £34.40 ( combined Child Benefit for two babies) for the average family in the UK. 〉 

There is certainly no need for any Aid.

It does not take long in this days media world for Disasters to become Forgotten

 “Forgotten” disasters are often chronic and diffuse, changing little day by day. Unlikely to qualify as news, such crises may feature as current affairs stories – especially on the websites of news organizations.

It is more than obvious that if we are to manage the pending Disasters ( And there will be many).

We need one Organisation under one roof to handle all aspects.

Examine the whole process/system/operation of providing relief supplies in a disaster scenario. Think of total packaging re-use of all materials and containers from the shipping/air container onwards.

This can be achieved by all the world aid organisations assembling at a World Response Aid conference to form a One World Response/Reaction Team.

This conference should present the UNITED NATIONS WITH A RESOLUTION TO PLACE: a 0.05% AID COMMISSION ON ALL HIGH FREQUENCY STOCK EXCHANGE TRANSACTIONS ON ALL FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRANSACTIONS (OVER $20,000) AND ON ALL SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS ACQUISITIONS)

This resolution could be adopted by a its veto members without lost of power.

Instead of holding aid agencies individually responsible for what they own program achieve, we would have Instead of letting different agencies specialize in different areas we would have Capitalism for once WOULD contributing to the world by creating a perpetual fund, giving the reaction team total independence.

IT WOULD ONLY TAKE A COMPUTER PROGRAM TO COLLECT THE FUNDS.

We would have global goals. Instead of letting different agencies specialize in different areas we would have coordination.

Instead of wasting aid and relief to victims of natural disasters there would be a professional action PLAN IN PLACE THAT COULD BE ACTIVATED NOT TO SET UP BY A BEGGING BOWL.

  ‘How did the rich countries really become rich?’

The short answer to this question is that the developed countries did not get to where they are now through the policies and the institutions that they recommend to developing countries today.

  • In 1970, rich countries of the OECD agreed at the United Nations (Resolution 2626) to give 0.7% of their GNP (now GNI) as aid to the developing countries.
  • Known as ODA, this aid would be for long-term development.
  • Over 40 years on, most of the 20 or so rich OECD countries have never reached that figure, or come close.

Annually, the global foreign aid shortfall is high.

Although rich countries have given an enormous $3.62 trillion dollars in aid since 1970, the accumulated total shortfall in their aid since 1970 (when the target of 0.7% was set) amounts to $4.98 trillion (at 2012 prices).

Don’t tell me that it is not time for change INORDER to save lives when the next natural disaster strikes.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Life goes on.

01 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Environment

≈ Comments Off on Life goes on.

Tags

, , , , , ,

While the scary numbers pile up.

The state of the Planet hit several remarkable records.Earth From Moon Wallpaper Hd Earth from moon hd crescent

The amount of carbon dioxide gas hits the highest level in at least the last 800,000 years.

The Arctic Ice since satellite records is at it lowest. 13.3% per decade.

We dump 19.4 billion pounds of plastic into our oceans every year.

An estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year.

We will be facing a 40% shortfall in water supply by 2030.

Climate change-related extreme events, plus population growth, could increase hunger by up to 20% by 2050.

What are we doing about it. Not much that will make a difference. Curbing emissions which is a joke wont be enough to halt a looming climate catastrophe.

When you take something out of the Earth, you need to put something back in.

The Selfish wasteful ways of Capitalism combined with modern humans is destroying the very planet we all have to live on.

Thoughtless mindless use of its limited resources for short-term profit, and the use of pesticides and there like is destroying life forms that took million of years to appear on our planet.

We all know the interconnectedness of all life. The we’re here, we’re powerful with nuclear weapons , we’ve got the technology, we therefore are entitled to every dame thing on this planet, is at the root of much of our problems.

Perhaps our current ecological crisis is telling us that something is wrong with our relationship with ourselves, with others, and earth.

The Dangers are clear.

We all want to live.

Without a reverence for all life that lives in the midst of other life we the brainy ones will be going no further than the moon, space station or not. 

If you are interested there are plenty of previous post covering a verity of subjects interconnected to this post.

Go back

Your message has been sent

It seems to happen at a disturbingly frequent rate.

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Uncategorized, WORLD POVERTY WHERE'S THE GLOBAL OUTRAGE

≈ Comments Off on It seems to happen at a disturbingly frequent rate.

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the south-central Asian country of Nepal last Saturday, causing an estimated 5,000 deaths and widespread devastation.

More than 90 percent of natural disaster-related deaths occur in developing countries, where poverty and lack of resources exacerbate the suffering.

The biggest obstacles for charities working in Disaster areas is : Roads and other infrastructure are often destroyed, so charities can’t get supplies to those in need, even with your donations.

This is why you should not trash your old Mobile phone. Send them to ( See Below)

The power of mobile devices to coordinate is paramount.

fulfillment.http://go.ted.com/bFYJ

The media show heart-wrenching images of disaster beyond anything most people have seen or could even begin to imagine. People want to help; it is human nature to want to help. And many aid agencies offer just that opportunity as they fundraising for relief efforts. But if we give to them, does it actually make a difference?

The answer is yes, but disaster relief is notably less effective than many other forms of aid. ( See previous posts)

https://youtu.be/cHETjX5VkNU

Are you not ashamed to see the head of the U.N. Disaster Relief Organization appealed for food, medical supplies every time there is a natural disaster.

Why not establish Swat life boat centers around the world. Fully equipped fully funded. Recent Disasters have shown the need for an international system to coordinate major rescue and relief efforts.

Whenever a disaster strikes, it seems that the job of relief and reconstruction goes to some agency run by someone well-connected politically and staffed by well-meaning people with little formal knowledge in the field of disaster relief.

Universities should have a discipline known as disaster relief and reconstruction.

Experts would teach courses in evacuation, emergency healthcare, debris removable, providing temporary shelter and other phases of disaster relief.

The emotional and sensationalized climate of disaster response has prevented the adoption of a cost-effectiveness approach in decision-making. It requires putting the needs of others ahead of your own emotional needs.

When catastrophe strikes, people rush to donate to help the victims. But disaster relief is rarely cost-effective.

What would be cost-effective is a 0.05% Aid Commission on all High Frequency Trading, on all Foreign Exchange Transactions (over $20,000) and on all Sovereign Wealth Funds Acquisitions.

This would create a perpetual fund of billions.

It would be Capitalism biggest glorious moment in its history:  To assist man kind and the planet we all live on. ( See Previous Posts)

Displaced people raise their hands as they wait for food distribution in central Africa.

International Offices

WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE OFFICE

1 Roundwood Avenue Stockley Park Uxbridge, Middlesex UB11 1FG, UK

WORLD VISION BRUSSELS AND EUROPEAN UNION REPRESENTATION IVZW

18, Square de Meeûs 1st floor, Box 2 B-1050, Brussels Belgium EULO-info@wvi.org

WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL GENEVA AND UNITED NATIONS LIAISON OFFICE

Chemin de Balexert 7-9 Case Postale 545 CH-1219 Châtelaine Switzerland geneva@wvi.org

WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK AND UNITED NATIONS LIAISON OFFICE

919 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10017  USA wvun_offices@wvi.org

If you DON’T have a phone a laptop or i pad will do.

Thanks.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Roughly half of global aid—is “phantom aid”

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by in WORLD POVERTY WHERE'S THE GLOBAL OUTRAGE

≈ Comments Off on Roughly half of global aid—is “phantom aid”

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Many in the first world imagine the amount of money spent on aid to developing countries is massive.

In fact, it amounts to only 0.3% of GNP of the industrialized nations.

Most wealthy nations spend far more on military than development.  Northern countries exhibiting mercantilist, or monopoly capitalist principles, rather than free market capitalism, even though that is what is preached to the rest of the world.

Aid Amounts are dwarfed By Effects Of First World Subsidies, Third World Debt, Unequal Trade, Etc.  Aid does not aid the recipient, it aids the donor.

There are numerous forms of aid, from humanitarian emergency assistance, to food aid, military assistance, etc. Development aid has long been recognized as crucial to help poor developing nations grow out of poverty. In 1970, the world’s rich countries agreed to give 0.7% of their GNI (Gross National Income) as official international development aid, annually.

This year it is estimated that $37 billion—roughly half of global aid—is “phantom aid”  

Year after year almost all rich nations have constantly failed to reach their agreed obligations of the 0.7% target.  Instead of 0.7%, the amount of aid has been around 0.2 to 0.4%, some $150 billion short each year.

Considering the typical aid amount at around 0.25 to 0.4% of GNI for over 40 years, the total shortfall is a substantial and staggering amount: just under $5 trillion aid shortfall at 2012 prices:

And you wonder why we have problems in the world. 

Rich nations have rarely met their actual promised targets. Recent increases [in foreign aid] do not tell the whole truth about rich countries’ generosity, or the lack of it. Moreover, development assistance is often of dubious quality.

For example, the US is often the largest donor in dollar terms, but ranks amongst the lowest in terms of meeting the stated 0.7% target.

Most aid does not actually go to the poorest who would need it the most.

For example,

  • The US recently increased its military budget by some $100 billion dollars alone
  • Europe subsidizes its agriculture to the tune of some $35-40 billion per year, even while it demands other nations to liberalize their markets to foreign competition.
  • The US also introduced a $190 billion dollar subsidy to its farms through the US Farm Bill, also criticized as a protectionist measure.
  • While aid amounts to around $70 to 100 billion per year, the poor countries pay some $200 billion to the rich each year.

Some of the largest benefactors of European agricultural subsidies include the Queen of England and other royalties in Europe. 

Furthermore, aid has often come with a price of its own for the developing nations:

Sub-Saharan Africa is a massive $272 billion worse off because of ” free” trade policies forced on them as a condition of receiving aid and debt relief.

Aid amounts are also dwarfed by rich country protectionism that denies market access for poor country products, while rich nations use aid as a lever to open poor country markets to their products.

Aid systems based on the interests of donors instead of the needs of recipients’ make development assistance inefficient.

  • In effect then, there is more aid to the rich than to the poor.
  • The US, Europe and Japan spend $350 billion each year on agricultural subsidies (seven times as much as global aid to poor countries)
  • These subsidies are crippling Africa’s chance to export its way out of poverty.

Rich countries might be going through some tough times but that doesn’t change the fact that they owe the rest of the world. Rich countries need to switch from traditional forms of aid-giving to supporting global goods in new ways.

The UK gave not £10, not £1, but 56p ($0.91) in overseas aid for every £100 ($163) we earned as a country. On average, since 1990, we have given even less, 35p ($0.57).

Being truly generous requires rich countries to undergo fairly profound changes in the way they have lived for the last few decades.

We are creating is hugely unequal societies that will in the long run bite our hands off.

To suggest that we should seek to help the poorest at home by withdrawing support from people abroad who are much poorer, while the rich make off with their millions, is surely morally indefensible in any philosophy. It will take a long time to carry out the radical reform needed to bring aid to something verging on sanity and fairness.

Rich countries need to be more generous not less and, they should be proud when they stand in solidarity with the worse off. For the OECD countries to meet their obligations for aid to the poorer countries is not an economic problem.

It is a political one.

Just look at the most recent EU plans to allow only 5,000 refugees for resettlement by asylum seekers in response to the Mediterranean refugee crisis.

Wow I can’t say but I am impressed.

If they offered 5,000 places to persons qualifying for protection. That would be one 30th of the number of immigrants who reached Europe in 2014. This year more than 36,000 of them have arrived in countries like Italy, Malta and Greece.

https://soundcloud.com/rttv/worse-boat-capsizing

They need to make a commitment to resettle all the refugees who get over to Europe immediately as a basic humanitarian gesture, and then they need to get onto the problem of providing the resources and the funds to countries that have been decimated by Western foreign policy over the last 10-15 years. That would cost again a fraction of the amount of money that was spent on occupying Afghanistan, bombing Iraq; the amount of money that is pumped into Israel to ensure that they clamp down and repress the Palestinian people.

Western powers need to end their war policy in the Middle East, recognize the responsibility for the catastrophe in the region, and pump billions of pounds of emergency aid into the destroyed countries.

With the recent Earth Quakes in Nepal the eyes of the world will once again focus for a few weeks on the disaster and Aid. There will be the usual outpouring of support and offers of aid.

Every country’s foreign aid is a tool of foreign policy.

For example you would wonder why when Hurricane Katrina hit the richest country in the world.

  • Bangladesh offered $1 million and a disaster management team. The monetary aid was accepted, but the disaster management team was ultimately turned down on September 14, 2005.
  • “Pakistan offered doctors and paramedics, and $1 million to the American Red Cross, tents, sheets and pillows. The monetary aid was accepted, but the material aid was turned down on September 14, 2005.
  • “Honduras offered experts on flooding, sanitation and rescue personnel. This aid was turned down on October 6, 2005.
  • The government of Kuwait made the largest offer, with $100 million in cash and $400 million in oil. Because of the delay in accepting this aid, Kuwait eventually gave its monetary support to two private groups in order to support relief indirectly.

Not forgetting the most embarrassing diplomatic snafu during Hurricane Katrina involved the donation of nearly 400,000 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) from the United Kingdom, which the U.S. government gladly accepted in September of 2005. That acceptance, however, had to be rescinded shortly thereafter when it was learned that the British MREs contained beef, which the U.S. still banned at that time due to the outbreak of mad-cow disease in the UK in the mid-1990s.

Furthermore, while $854 million was pledged, not all of this money reached the U.S.

My point here is-  if the USA could not handle the assistance on offer so what hope had the Philippines and now Nepal.

It begs the question as to why in this age of technology there is no software package to coordinator and track the Aid on offer.

It appears that the sheer number of donations from foreign countries only help complicate matters.

Take the Philippines currently suffering from Typhoon Hagupit. The country was donated by the US more than $37 million worth of food and relief goods to those who were affected by the typhoon. Whether it was ever delivered no one knows.

Too little aid reaches countries that most desperately need it;  All too often, aid is wasted on overpriced goods and services from donor countries.

'Total aid from all development assistance committee countries at a Glance, 2011-2012' from the OECD

Some aid money that is pledged often involves double accounting of sorts. Sometimes offers have even been reneged or just not delivered.

Aid tied with conditions cut the value of aid to recipient countries by some 25-40 percent, because it obliges them to purchase uncompetitive priced imports from the richer nations.

European and American farm subsidies “are crippling Africa’s chance to export its way out of poverty. It kicks away the ladder by which Africa could eventually climbed out of poverty. It purpose is to deprive others of the means of climbing up the ladder.

And to top it all we are now looking at the privatization of water and water services where the poor often can no longer access clear drinking water.

I suppose we have to grateful for the aid that does reach where it is needed whether it is privately donated or otherwise. As we all know when in need you get to know your friends.

Go back

Your message has been sent

The universe can only be observed through a brain.

15 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

 

Have you got one ?

You would be right to say that we are all endow with one, but fuck me, just look around the World at the moment and you would be lead to believe that we are all using some prototypes.

It is a no Brainer when it comes to understanding what the future will holds if we don’t cop on to ourselves soon.

Worldwide, some 827.6 million people live in urban slums.

By 2020, it is estimated the world slum population will reach almost 1 billion.

About 50 percent of the world’s population now live in urban areas. Every day millions of people world-wide call our streets their home.

Lack of clean water and sanitation claim the lives of more than 1.8 million young children every year.

In the United States, 48.5 million people are living in poverty. One third of Londoners using Food banks.

A child dies of poverty in the world every minute.

Now while I appreciate that with seven billion human beings in the world, it generate’s diverse problems in different social areas and that the entirety of the human populous does not express the same comprehension of morals. It is beyond me that we are all in the process of building a world worse than hell.

We might be perplexed and disoriented by the Higgs boson

and a life in the shadows of science and technology.

But let’s face the facts. If asked, 99.9% of us could not give a dogs bollix whether the Higgs boson matters or not.  An Inconvenient Truth.

At the current rate of births in fifty years ( most of you will be still living) there will be around 12 billion people. Hopefully Five billion more with brains asking where was our common sense and compassion when it was needed.

You think, humans are capable of heart-breaking compassion and, on rare occasion, will sacrifice their own sense of self to reach out to another in a time of need..selfish genes, tried to eliminate the “soul” from our professional vocabularies.

The mundaneness of our daily lives cause us take our existence for granted — but every once in a while we’re cajoled out of that complacency and enter into a profound state of existential awareness.

The media influences the public by broadcasting starving children, misrepresenting poverty showing us only the worst cases of poverty that have led to the formation of the “haves” and “have-nots”. “Those poor people! I need to call and donate.” Reluctantly, you never pick up the phone to pledge your money.

Instead we have come to accept that we are entering a world where all truth is relative. Where power struggles are assassins with an insatiable appetite for destruction, where beggar thy neighbor banking, misery merchants ruin lives for the sake of profit, where inequalities are creating terrorist groups such as ISIS, NATO, where greed is king, where making sense of humanity is a measure of madness.

So how do we find meaning? through experiential values, that is, by experiencing something – or someone – we value. To choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Just look at Kashmir if you don’t believe what I am saying. 76000 people displaced by recent  flooding, 13 year after 9/11, 50 years after partition, thousands disappeared, mass graves, a scar on the conscious of Humanity.

Are we all insane?

Our world right now is being shaped by water not by the like of ISIS, not by ethnic or religious differences, not be the Higgs Boson, or anything else.

Game, set match is coming.

By not tackling Climate change, Inequality, and unadulterated greed, which those with brains are crying out to do so the coming Tragedy is our home Earth not the observable universe.( see previous postings)

http://youtu.be/XpSdPP9b0pc

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

 

 

 

 

THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE TO DRINKING WATER.

12 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Water is complicated.

Unlike coal or petroleum water cannot be replaced.  It is intertwined with every sector of society.  Energy production, Agriculture, Industry.

It won’t be long before we will have move people to water.

The problem is that we humans are searching for it on Mars when we need be searching for ways to produce more water on earth.

97% of the water we have is Saltwater, with 2% is trapped in ice that leaves 1%. To put it another way : If all the water on earth was represented by an 11 litre jug, the fresh water would fill a singles cup, and we can only access the last drop.

Now if we keep growing in world population only by 2030 the demand for water will out strip supply by 40%.

We have had two waves of resource-driven imperialism in the modern era. Gold and Oil.

The third wave is currently being fought over the most valuable natural resource  WATER – Iraq, Libya, Syria.

Why bother with missiles,bullets and the like just turn the tap off and the wars will end.

At the moment France’s global mega water companies: Suez, Ondeo, and Saur, control almost half of the world’s $400 billion water market.

Syria controls 40% of Israel’s water.

Water is the commodity that determines the wealth and stability of nations and will in the not so distant future spell the difference between greatness and decline.

Now I can hear you saying what can I do about it.  All one can see is Conflicts, Poverty, Modern Day Slavery, Climate Change, Corruption, Greed.

Here is what you can do.

To stop Sovereign Wealth Funds Privatizing what is left of Fresh water you can read my previous blogs and get involved  to lobby the United Nations to introduce a World Aid Commission of 0.05%  on all Foreign Exchange Transaction over $20,000.

The funds raised by this commission can be used to protect what is of value to us all.

 

 

 

 

Go back

Your message has been sent

0.05% WORLD AID COMMISSION- WORKINGS part two.

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on 0.05% WORLD AID COMMISSION- WORKINGS part two.

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

 

Go back

Your message has been sent

It is beyond my comprehension with 7/24 news that we continue to destroy the planet that we all own and live on for the sake of short-term Profits.

Greed has no boundaries, no limitations, no moral obligations, no self – esteem, no conscious, it is concave.

It must be harnessed – re focused to contribute to the survival of us all without creating more greed.

In the first part of this blog I out lined how easy it would be to adopt a World Aid Commission. To apply it to all World Foreign Exchange transactions under $20,000. Creating a Fund with a source of perpetual Aid in billions.

So who, how, and where would we invest these funds?

I suggested that the funds revenue could be allocated as follows.

50% – Rapid Aid – fully equipped Response Centers.

25% – Climate Change  Defenses.

25% – International Development Fund.

The Rapid Aid Response Centers (  would get rid of the pathetic need to beg for aid every time there is a disaster) is self-evident.

Four or Five centers fully operational positioned around the globe like lifeboat stations would not only save lives but create employment and pool expertise.

Combined with a Rapid Peacekeeping force that represents all member states.

Climate Change Defenses.

Also self-evident. If we don’t start to build defences and educate the world to the consequences we are all facing  there will be no need for any fund.

International Development Fund.  

This must be Non payback Grants with no strings attached.  Totally transparent based on viable projects submitted to a new United Nations Governing body made up of experts in all fields from all member Nations of the United Nations.

Each project on approval would be allocated an approval number which would then qualify that project for entry into an Annually Televised  Draw for Funds ( this would stop lobbying and corruption etc.)  So many winner at x amount, at y amount, and so on.  The Television program would also show the progress on the previous year Projects winners.

If we are to achieve a fair and just world full of the values that are essential to all of us irrelevant of religious, political, and other aspirations, we must use Greed ( which is common to all of us.)

There is no point living in a virtual reality world full of technology if we have ongoing conflict, inequality, mass economic migration, depletion of finite resources, flooding, poverty, to name just a few of our ailments.

The Primary responsibility is ours not the Futuristic World of the unborn.

If you have any interest your contributions will be much appreciated.

In the mean time kindly support my Petition to the United Nations and the G8.  Found on http:// www change.Org /Robert Dillon.

PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS. THANK YOU ON BEHALF OF THE EARTH AND THE GENERATIONS TO COME.

A 0.05% WORLD AID COMMISSION – WORKINGS

22 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on A 0.05% WORLD AID COMMISSION – WORKINGS

Tags

, , , , , ,

 

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

As I have said I am not the first to advocate what I like to call a commission ( FTC- Financial Transaction Commission) not a Robin Hood Tax or any other kind of tax.  The very word Tax these day sends quivers in all the wrong directions. However perhaps I am the first to broaden the application World Wide.

It would have little or no effect on world economies with very little cost to collect as present collection of taxes is done electronically.

Even if it was applied universally only to currency transactions over $20,000 it would produce billions with the potential to make a huge difference to the well-being of millions of people. 

The foreign exchange (FOREX) market is the largest market in the world, with enormous sums being traded everyday. The size of the market is so huge that it is quite difficult to comprehend the amounts involved. More than $1,200 billion (or $1.2 trillion) worth of currency is traded each day, more than three (3) hundred (00) thousand (000) billion (000,000,000) dollars ($300,000,000,000,000) each year.

Lots of taxes are hard to collect, but this doesn’t seem like one of them.

Sales taxes have decent compliance, and they are often collected by small businesses conducting commerce in cash.

Trading, on the other hand, is conducted by large businesses on computers. This commission would be collected by the exchanges. If there’s no exchange involved, the buyer owes it. It would be paid on any trade carried out in the world or by any world entity or individual (a corporation’s offshore subsidiaries can’t get around it).

It can also be imposed on unfilled orders, derivatives, repos, currency trades and any financial transaction but this is already on the cards within the European Union  and the USA and other countries 

A financial transaction commission (FTC)—a commission on the trading of financial assets—has multiple appeals.

It is a progressive commission that would affect primarily wealthy individuals and large corporate institutions, with benefits potentially flowing to many. Further, while an FTC is not a substitute for effective regulation of finance, it would act to dampen some financial activity, helping to reshape a political economy in which finance has become overly dominant. Finally, the political logic of an FTC—the dynamic of Wall Street vs. Main Street—should give it wide appeal.

The first question is who would manage the fund ?

To create a totally new Organisation would be too cumbersome/ and too expensive to set up.

But a consolidation of existence United Nations organisations/ agencies would save money and resources.

Such a consolidation could combine THE FOLLOWING : OCHA, UNICEF, UNDP,UNEP,UN-HABITAT, UNODC, UNFPA,WFP –  INTO  (ONE ORGANISATION CALLED  –  UN CONCERN – OR WORLD AID COMMISSION- OR UN REACTION WORLD CONCERN.

The funds revenue could be allocated as follows.

50% – Rapid Aid – fully equipped Response -Centers.

25% – Climate Change  Defenses.

25% – International Development Fund.

This concentration of aid over the next 10–12 years would constitute an unparalleled investment in development with benefits that will accrue over time as infrastructure is put into place in the poorest countries.

As always I end this blog fully admitting that I am no expert and all contributions are welcome. The next blog I will attempt to outline how the fund will be transparent and avoid outside political or other pressures in its allocation of funding.

If you are Interested I would be more than pleased if you would give your support to My Petition to lobby the United Nations and the G*8. (  link – https//www.change.org)  – search Robert Dillon.