K. Nicole Kindred – Sustainability Consultant

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to attend World Pulse LIVE at the Paley Center for Media in New York City.

World Pulse is an organization that strives to bring a voice to women around the globe using new technology and media. One example of this was in the My Camera and Me against a Regime video – a video that was uploaded from a mobile phone by a women who was arrested during a Sudanese protest. World Pulse allows for an online area where women can come together to find and share their success stories.

For World Pulse LIVE, Martha Llano from Colombia, Beatrice Achieng from Uganda, and Sarvina Kang from Cambodia were selected to come to the US to discuss how they are using new media and technology to facilitate them as grassroots leaders.

The women told powerful stories of how they found their voices. In Martha’s talk she spoke about the dangers of living in the Columbia cloud forest and how she had learned to overcome the dangers. When people told her she should carry a gun, she refused, saying “I will not take a gun to speak for me, because I have my own voice and words”. She emphasized the importance of thinking globally and acting locally.

Sarvina told her story of being the only literate individual in a family of 35. She was the only girl in her family and her village to go to college and now has her Master’s in NGO leadership. She emphasized the importance of education for women in creating change and preventing social problems like sex trafficking.

Beatrice told her story of growing up in Uganda and her emphasis on HIV prevention and education. She emphasized how if you give hope to one girl, a grassroots leader will emerge. She told the story of how when her last brother died of AIDS, her mother lost all hope because only men can own land in Uganda; however, after she told her story on the World Pulse platform, the World Pulse members emphasized that they were behind her and she stood up to her village for the land and was able to keep it.

When asked what the women thought would be most beneficial to their communities in spreading their voice, all three women emphasized that their was a lack of technology in their communities, and solar panels would be an easy remedy.

World Pulse LIVE is also available launching an online tour for individuals who are not able to attend the event in person.

The Great Power Race is a clean energy competition between students in China, India, and the United States. The aim is to kick-start hundreds of new climate solutions projects on campuses and in communities in all three countries and to demonstrate to governments and businesses our generation’s leadership in transforming our world towards a green economy.

The Great Power Race is a joint project of 350.org, the Chinese Youth Climate Action Network, the Indian Youth Climate Netwok, and the Energy Action Coaltion.

The Great Power Race begins now. This spring, we will see which country can sign up the most campus teams to take part:

Students, click here to register a team on your campus today: www.greatpowerrace.org.

Not a student? Please encourage any students you know in China, India or the US to sign up.

Ultimately, this is a race for all of humanity — a race to solve the greatest challenge of our time and to realize the greatest opportunity for a prosperous future.

Each of the creators works as a coordinator for youth climate movement campaigns in their respective countries, and are excited to be working on this international campaign together.

Our parents raced for the Moon. Our generation will race for the Earth. Ready, set, GO!

There are a lot of college students on Facebook and Twitter. You can start to rally your friends to sign up for the Great Power Race with just a few clicks:
For Facebook, click here: http://j.mp/facebook_race 
For Twitter, click here: http://j.mp/twitter_race

Even if you are you not in China, India, or the US you can still be a part of the Race: visit http://j.mp/greatpowerrace-faq and please do forward this email to students you know in those three countries.

There will also be opportunities to link the Great Power Race with 10/10/10–the “Global Work Party.” 10/10/10 will be a day to launch or showcase our climate solution projects for students and non-students all over the world.  www.greatpowerrace.org/oct10

People are spending money to fill up their gas tanks all the time, but where is that money going?

The video above, “Follow the Money” exposes the secret that oil, gas and mining companies don’t want consumers to know: That while mining and oil drilling are multibillion-dollar industries in some of the world’s least developed countries, the people of these countries are only losing more.

A bipartisan bill now in Congress would help empower people by making oil, gas and mining companies open their books. This simple act of public disclosure would be an incredibly powerful tool for communities to demand accountability from their leaders — but some industry lobbyists are working to stop it.

I just wrote my members of Congress to urge them to open the books on mining and oil drilling — but my letter alone isn’t enough.

So I’m asking everybody: Will you join me in demanding justice for these people and communities?

Please, click here to write your representatives in Washington — it should just take a moment, and it could make a real difference to people and communities around the world.

This picture of Ola from Babylon, Iraq was shared by Will Bates of 350.org.  She had worked for weeks to try and convince her friends to join her, but in Iraq, taking action on climate change is a risk that few are willing to take. Ola’s was one the smallest actions that day, but one of the most powerful.

And she didn’t stop there. Determined to make a difference, Ola overcame even more challenges to go to Copenhagen for the UN climate negotiations in December and call for action on behalf of millions of people in Iraq and around the world.

Unfortunately, politicians in Copenhagen didn’t share Ola’s bravery and failed to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding international climate treaty steering us towards safety below 350ppm.

However, the fight to create an international climate treaty is not over and next Global Day of Action is being planned for 10/10/10.  Meet-ups around the world are taking place now to start planning. Find a meet-up near you at http://www.350.org/meetup-map.

Coast 2 Coast: Pedal for the Planet, started in Victoria and passed through Vancouver with an event held on July 4th at the Vancouver Art Gallery. David Suzuki was on hand to comment about the Canadian government’s failure to take action on climate change and urged people to demand a commitment from the government. He also noted that those in developing countries are the least responsible for climate change yet face the greatest burden because of it.

Global T.V. was at the launch of the Vancouver leg, and you can watch the interview online at http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html?releasePID=wjbVA_zxm7FJ0Ohp5ouJPkhP02p_ls3z.

Feel free to join C2C as they make their way to Ottawa or follow the progress on the blog: http://kyotoplus.ca/pedal/?cat=5