globalbriefs
News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all.
Call to Action Freedoms Foster World Peace
Human Rights Day on December 10 honors local and global activities working to initiate, strengthen and sustain the civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights and freedoms enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Hu- man Rights of 1948. Such principles are considered the bed- rock of peaceful and just societies. President Jimmy Carter sums up the need: “We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes—and we must.” The United Nations Human Rights Council, created in 2006, comprises 47 member states responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world. The protection of fundamental human rights was a cornerstone in the es- tablishment of the United States and remains a central goal of U.S. foreign policy. This country understands that the existence of human rights helps to secure peace, deter aggression, promote rule of law, combat crime and corruption, strengthen democracies and prevent humanitarian crises. In 2048: Humanity’s Agreement to Live Together, author Kirk Boyd maintains
that “Peace and prosperity can be attained through the realization of five basic fundamental freedoms for all people: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, freedom for the environment and freedom from fear.” These establish a framework within which other necessary rights can flourish. “That struggle,” declared Robert F. Kennedy, “…will be won by action, by those who commit their every resource of mind and body to the education and improvement and help of their fellow person.”
Take action at
RFKCenter.org,
SpeakTruth.org and
CarterCenter.org.
Extraterrestrial Explorers Searching for a New Earth
“By 2020, or even a little before that, we’ll know if there are other Earths out there,” states Laur- ance Doyle, Ph.D. The astrophysicist is part of the NASA Kepler spacecraft science team monitor- ing 170,000 of the brightest stars in our galactic neighborhood based on the recent discovery of numerous planets around stars other than the Sun. Launched in 2009, they’re watching for a pattern of three small, annual reductions in brightness that would indicate an Earth-sized planet orbiting another star.
“If we don’t find any Earths… then we can say, ‘Wow, Earth is really rare. We need to take care of it,’” says Doyle, who is also a principal investigator at the SETI Institute and president of the nonprofit Planet Quest. If the scientists do find another Earth-like planet, the next step would be to search for signs of biological life by checking to see if free oxygen is present in the atmosphere.
Sources: Principia Purpose and
NASA.gov 24 Collier/Lee Counties
swfl.naturalawakeningsmag.com
Following three public hearings, a period for public comment on the pro- posed document that ended December 10 and 35 months of development, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will publish a much anticipated update to its original Green Guides. First pub- lished in 1992, the last update ap- peared in 1998.
The guides comprise a common sense set of rules defining required sub- stantiation and disclaimers for the ex- plosion of evolving green claims made by marketers. Like its predecessors, the new edition will represent a helpful, if low, bar, intended to eliminate outright misrepresentations and fabrications. “The new guidelines [still] don’t really keep up with the world of sus- tainable business practices,” comments Joel Makower, executive editor of
GreenBiz.com. Rather, they address a fraction of what companies are doing— the behind-the-scenes innovations that reduce use of water, energy and materi- als. While a step in the right direction, they have yet to provide, for example, guidance on reduced packaging or use of the words “sustainable” and “green.” Plus, they don’t yet address the potent eco-claims of cradle-to-cradle, biomim- icry and green chemistry. Makower observes that, instead of
“greenwashing,” [making false claims or leveraging words like “natural” to intentionally mislead consumers], most companies today are engaging in ran- dom acts of greenness—tweaks to their products, facilities, policies or practices, rather than undergoing systemic change. While some are seriously changing their ways, for most companies and consum- ers, “going green,” notes Makower, means making a series of incremental changes that over time reduce their worst environmental impacts, while perhaps also garnering some PR points.
Green Guides United States Updates Rules
for Green Marketing
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