Save the oceans a huge win! The UK announced its plan to double the total global area of protected ocean with a massive new conservation zone bigger than Germany and Italy combined. In the public comment period before the decision, Avaaz members contributed more than 85% of the responses, urging a ban on commercial fishing and support for the island peoples' rights.1 It's a huge victory, and the Foreign Ministry cited the "over 221,000 responses co-ordinated by Avaaz... from 223 countries" in its announcement.
Elephants - with elephants at risk, 500,000 of us worldwide empowered the African Elephant Coalition with our support -- and, after a nail-biting close vote and final push with partners on the ground, won protection for elephants at a UN Endangered Species session. The head of the Species Survival Network said “the petition, no doubt, made a difference and helped achieve the right result for elephants everywhere."
Standing with Haiti - thousands of us contributed more than US$1.3 million for relief and recovery from the Haitian earthquake, helping outstanding local organizations provide life-saving food, shelter, and medical care for thousands of people, and powered a global push that secured $1 billion in debt relief for Haiti. (Watch the amazing video about our impact in the "Sources" section below).
Uganda - in an unprecedented show of public opposition to the proposed law that would sentence gay Ugandans to death, Avaaz worked with church leaders and human rights activists to deliver a 450,000-strong petition to the Speaker of Uganda's parliament in an hour-long meeting and a press conference that made headlines around the country and the world.
Parliament had been expected to begin debate in February -- but in the face of local and global pressure, Parliament still hasn't begun formal discussion. Some say the bill may be left to die in committee, potentially a quiet but extraordinary victory for human rights. Avaaz continues to work closely with allies to monitor the bill -- and stands ready to take action once more if it regains momentum.
Brazil anti-corruption - took a giant leap against political corruption in Brazil, adding Avaaz members' voices to a national push that will bring to a vote landmark legislation banning individuals convicted of serious crimes from standing for public office.
And much more!
launched a drive for a million-signature Citizen's Initiative in the EU to ensure genetically modified crop regulation
raised almost $700,000 for an intensive, long-term campaign to fight the "rape trade"--the sexual enslavement of women and girls around the world
pressed Chevron's CEO to clean up his company's toxic legacy in the Amazon
defended human rights and judicial independence in Spain in the face of three controversial lawsuits against judge Baltasar Garzón and a fierce political campaign to destroy his career
mobilized support for a just two-state solution in the Middle East and against settlement construction in East Jerusalem
stood for civility and genuine debate in Israeli media -- and in U.S. media coverage of Israel and Palestine
... the list goes on!
Through these campaigns, members of the Avaaz network--each of us--have made headlines, shifted policy, and changed lives. But in each of these campaigns, and on many other issues, the work continues.
Help shape our next steps. Since January, more than 50,000 people have answered an Avaaz survey on where to go next -- click here to add your views:
http://www.avaaz.org/april_2010_poll
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Digby Variety Show
Digby
Auxiliary
Variety
Show
Date: Friday, May 7th
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Digby Community Theatre
(at Digby Regional High School)
Featuring...
And Much More!
Auxiliary
Variety
Show
Date: Friday, May 7th
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Digby Community Theatre
(at Digby Regional High School)
Featuring...
And Much More!
Labels:
Digby Variety Show
NSCC gets money for more students
NS: NSCC gets $2M to target programs and skills in high demand
By Philip Croucher, Metro Halifax
Source: Metro Halifax, April 14, 2010
[HALIFAX, NS] — Joan McArthur-Blair refers to it as a beginning step.
The president of the Nova Scotia Community College was on hand at the school’s Institute of Technology campus in north-end Halifax yesterday as Premier Darrell Dexter announced his government was adding 250 spaces for students at NSCC campuses across the province at a cost of $2 million.
“We have about 2,500 Nova Scotians currently on our wait list — and so this is incremental,” McArthur-Blair said after the noontime announcement. “It’s a beginning to look at the ways in which we dissolve that wait list and how we understand about getting more and more Nova Scotians into the college.”
No definitive decision has been made on where the new spaces for students will go, but McArthur-Blair said it would be for “high-demand areas” of employment.
She said those fields include the health sector, human-service areas, and trades and technology.
To help bring this point home, yesterday’s announcement attended by Dexter and Education Minister Marilyn More took place inside an IT classroom for the electronic engineer technicians program.
“It’s really targeted programming at those high-demand areas where this is both the student demand and the employer demand,” McArthur-Blair said.”
By Philip Croucher, Metro Halifax
Source: Metro Halifax, April 14, 2010
[HALIFAX, NS] — Joan McArthur-Blair refers to it as a beginning step.
The president of the Nova Scotia Community College was on hand at the school’s Institute of Technology campus in north-end Halifax yesterday as Premier Darrell Dexter announced his government was adding 250 spaces for students at NSCC campuses across the province at a cost of $2 million.
“We have about 2,500 Nova Scotians currently on our wait list — and so this is incremental,” McArthur-Blair said after the noontime announcement. “It’s a beginning to look at the ways in which we dissolve that wait list and how we understand about getting more and more Nova Scotians into the college.”
No definitive decision has been made on where the new spaces for students will go, but McArthur-Blair said it would be for “high-demand areas” of employment.
She said those fields include the health sector, human-service areas, and trades and technology.
To help bring this point home, yesterday’s announcement attended by Dexter and Education Minister Marilyn More took place inside an IT classroom for the electronic engineer technicians program.
“It’s really targeted programming at those high-demand areas where this is both the student demand and the employer demand,” McArthur-Blair said.”
Labels:
NSCC
Family Files Complaint with PSC
Family files wind farm complaint
Story Discussion Font Size: Default font size Larger font size By Megan Sheridan, Capital Newspapers | Posted: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 11:42 pm | (0) Comments
capital newspapers The Wirtzes’ home on Highway YY in the Town of LeRoy stands vacant after the family filed for bankruptcy and moved out in September 2009 due to health and financial hardship claimed to be caused by the nearby wind farm. The turbine behind the home stands 1,250 feet away.
OAKFIELD - A former Town of LeRoy family has filed a formal complaint April 1 with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission against Invenergy, a Chicago based energy company that owns the Forward Wind Energy Center located in Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties.
Jason and Ann Wirtz and their four children used to reside in a home on Highway YY in the town of LeRoy that was situated within the FWEC. According to the complaint, the Wirtzes suffered both physical and financial hardships from living near the wind turbines.
"The Wirtzes were forced out of their home by the noise and vibration of the wind turbines," said Edward Marion, the family's lawyer. "So, they lost all the money in their house, and they lost the value of their livestock, which is a herd of alpacas."
The Wirtzes bought their home in 1997, before the wind farm was built, and began renovations and started breeding alpacas. According to the complaint, once the turbines began running, the family began developing health problems ranging from headaches and fatigue to intestinal and anxiety issues.
The nearest turbine was located 1,250 feet from the home and was even closer to the pole shed in which the alpacas were housed. None of the turbines was on the Wirtzes' property.
"The noise echoed through the shed like the sound of jet engines," the complaint states. "Baby alpacas had always come full term. After the FWEC began operating, two baby alpacas aborted, and one was stillborn," Ann said.
The family attempted to sell their home in 2006, but most real estate agents did not want to list it. Because they could no longer stand living there and could not afford owning two homes, the Wirtzes filed for bankruptcy in September 2009 and moved to Oakfield.
"What they're trying to do now is to recover, from the company that runs the wind power plant, the money that they lost for their property and also the damage to their health while they lived there," Marion said. "We haven't asked for a specific amount of money."
Invenergy is aware of the complaint but was not able to comment on the specifics. But the company said there is no correlation between the turbines and any impact on health.
"There's been a lot of research and analysis of health effects with wind turbines. Most of the studies are pretty clear there is no connection," said Will Borders, deputy general counsel for Invenergy.
For the FWEC, the allowed decibel range is 50 during the day and 45 at night. According to the Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects Expert Panel Review, 50 decibels is about the same noise that someone would hear from light auto traffic 50 feet away.
A study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health connects adverse health effects to wind turbine operations.
According to the WPSC's administration code, Invenergy has 20 days to respond to the complaint and the commission has 60 days to decide what to do with the complaint.
Story Discussion Font Size: Default font size Larger font size By Megan Sheridan, Capital Newspapers | Posted: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 11:42 pm | (0) Comments
capital newspapers The Wirtzes’ home on Highway YY in the Town of LeRoy stands vacant after the family filed for bankruptcy and moved out in September 2009 due to health and financial hardship claimed to be caused by the nearby wind farm. The turbine behind the home stands 1,250 feet away.
OAKFIELD - A former Town of LeRoy family has filed a formal complaint April 1 with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission against Invenergy, a Chicago based energy company that owns the Forward Wind Energy Center located in Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties.
Jason and Ann Wirtz and their four children used to reside in a home on Highway YY in the town of LeRoy that was situated within the FWEC. According to the complaint, the Wirtzes suffered both physical and financial hardships from living near the wind turbines.
"The Wirtzes were forced out of their home by the noise and vibration of the wind turbines," said Edward Marion, the family's lawyer. "So, they lost all the money in their house, and they lost the value of their livestock, which is a herd of alpacas."
The Wirtzes bought their home in 1997, before the wind farm was built, and began renovations and started breeding alpacas. According to the complaint, once the turbines began running, the family began developing health problems ranging from headaches and fatigue to intestinal and anxiety issues.
The nearest turbine was located 1,250 feet from the home and was even closer to the pole shed in which the alpacas were housed. None of the turbines was on the Wirtzes' property.
"The noise echoed through the shed like the sound of jet engines," the complaint states. "Baby alpacas had always come full term. After the FWEC began operating, two baby alpacas aborted, and one was stillborn," Ann said.
The family attempted to sell their home in 2006, but most real estate agents did not want to list it. Because they could no longer stand living there and could not afford owning two homes, the Wirtzes filed for bankruptcy in September 2009 and moved to Oakfield.
"What they're trying to do now is to recover, from the company that runs the wind power plant, the money that they lost for their property and also the damage to their health while they lived there," Marion said. "We haven't asked for a specific amount of money."
Invenergy is aware of the complaint but was not able to comment on the specifics. But the company said there is no correlation between the turbines and any impact on health.
"There's been a lot of research and analysis of health effects with wind turbines. Most of the studies are pretty clear there is no connection," said Will Borders, deputy general counsel for Invenergy.
For the FWEC, the allowed decibel range is 50 during the day and 45 at night. According to the Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects Expert Panel Review, 50 decibels is about the same noise that someone would hear from light auto traffic 50 feet away.
A study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health connects adverse health effects to wind turbine operations.
According to the WPSC's administration code, Invenergy has 20 days to respond to the complaint and the commission has 60 days to decide what to do with the complaint.
Labels:
wind turbines complaints
Bear River to Have Farmer's/Artists Market
Bear River Market - call for vendors
bearriverarts | April 15, 2010 at 10:39 am | Categories: Bear River, artists | URL: http://wp.me/pfgTD-6z
We are looking for vendors who are interested in participating in Bear River’s Sunday Farmers and Artists Market
Location: Bear River Waterfront
Time: 1pm – 4pm every Sunday
Date: Beginning June 13th, 2010
If interested please contact
Ken F. – 467-0469
Or email: bearrivermarket@gmail.com
bearriverarts | April 15, 2010 at 10:39 am | Categories: Bear River, artists | URL: http://wp.me/pfgTD-6z
We are looking for vendors who are interested in participating in Bear River’s Sunday Farmers and Artists Market
Location: Bear River Waterfront
Time: 1pm – 4pm every Sunday
Date: Beginning June 13th, 2010
If interested please contact
Ken F. – 467-0469
Or email: bearrivermarket@gmail.com
Labels:
Bear River Nova Scotia
Landscapes Matter in Many Ways
Posted: 12:00 AM
'Treasured landscape' or site for wind turbines?
Morning Sentinel Staff
I am a sporting camp owner in the town of Highland Plantation. Our town is the site of a proposed industrial wind power facility.
I am concerned about the future of the wildlands of Maine, as well as our town, since the number and scale of wind power proposals likely will affect all the mountains of Maine, leaving not a single place free of a view of 400-foot turbines.
Alec Giffen heads the group Gov. John Baldacci appointed to accomplish the goal, to produce energy without greenhouse gases associated with fossil fuel generation.
Since fossil fuel generators need to be kept running as backup when the wind stops, I fail to see where the reduction in greenhouse gases comes from.
Add permanent deforestation for roads and infrastructure blasted into the most remote and sensitive forest landscape, and I believe we have increased our "carbon footprint."
Taxpayers are supplying much of the financing for this, and we don't even get a break on the cost of electricity. It gets better. Giffen also is proposing that we buy development rights from large landowners in the same wild land, using $250 million in federal money to prevent development of the only undeveloped forest left in the eastern United States. He said there is no other forest like it anywhere.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar describes such land as a "treasured landscape." What is going on?
Greg Drummond
Highland Plantation
'Treasured landscape' or site for wind turbines?
Morning Sentinel Staff
I am a sporting camp owner in the town of Highland Plantation. Our town is the site of a proposed industrial wind power facility.
I am concerned about the future of the wildlands of Maine, as well as our town, since the number and scale of wind power proposals likely will affect all the mountains of Maine, leaving not a single place free of a view of 400-foot turbines.
Alec Giffen heads the group Gov. John Baldacci appointed to accomplish the goal, to produce energy without greenhouse gases associated with fossil fuel generation.
Since fossil fuel generators need to be kept running as backup when the wind stops, I fail to see where the reduction in greenhouse gases comes from.
Add permanent deforestation for roads and infrastructure blasted into the most remote and sensitive forest landscape, and I believe we have increased our "carbon footprint."
Taxpayers are supplying much of the financing for this, and we don't even get a break on the cost of electricity. It gets better. Giffen also is proposing that we buy development rights from large landowners in the same wild land, using $250 million in federal money to prevent development of the only undeveloped forest left in the eastern United States. He said there is no other forest like it anywhere.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar describes such land as a "treasured landscape." What is going on?
Greg Drummond
Highland Plantation
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