Courtesy by: indianexpress.com

The Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), Ahmedabad, has become the only centre in the western region to determine legal abortions if tests confirm that the expectant mother carries the dominant genetic strain of thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anaemia in her baby.

Thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia is present in certain communities only in Gujarat.

IRCS has started Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to detect thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA). From these tests, early diagnosis of expectant mothers can determine if the embryo is carrying the thalassemia or SCA genetic trait. If the embryo is found carrying these traits, the parents can approach their district civil hospital and with the consent of the civil surgeon, can opt for legal abortion.

“At present, nearly 10,000 people have thalassemia in Gujarat. One thousand thalassemia patients are expected to add up every year. IRCS along with the Gujarat Health Department had started SCA and Thalassemia screening five years ago, but there are certain cases where married couples carrying these traits have come to know about their genetic disorder only after the delivery of the first child. Early diagnosis will help these couple, if they are planning for a second child,” said IRCS Executive Director Prakash Parmar.

He added: “After we started the PCR test this year, 25 thalassemia minor married couples were tested, of them one had to undergo legal abortion, while the rest have delivered healthy children.”

Parmar said in case of SCA, five married couples were tested. Two had miscarriage, while three went for the tests. One case each was reported from Jambughoda Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Panchmahals, Sagbara PHC in Narmada and Devgadh Baria PHC in Dahod districts.

“Of these, only the cases from Devgadh Baria showed genetic traits of SCA and had to undergo abortion,” he added.

Parmar cited a case at Sabarkantha district where a thalassemia minor couple opted to take the advice of the village ‘panch’ after their first child died. The village panch guided them to carry out tests at IRCS.

He added: “IRCS has approached the state Health Department to carry out early tests for expectant mothers at Ahmedabad in case either of the parents is carrying the SCA or Thalassemia genetic trait. We have sent a proposal to the Health Department asking them to do early tests for expectant mothers at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital,

V S Hospital, L G Hospital, Shardaben Hospital, ESIC Hospital and the Sola Civil Hospital.”

Training Demonstration for Nursing Assistant Training Program

On December 1 the American Red Cross- East Central Wisconsin became the most recent Wisconsin chapter to offer the Nursing Assistant Training Program. The state-approved program will give attendees the appropriate knowledge and skills to pass the state certification test and become a Certified Nursing Assistant.

The Lakeland Chapter has offered the training program in Green Bay, WI for 17 years and until recently was the only program in Wisconsin that did. The program has been provided By the Western WI Chapter in Altoona for over a year and now is in Waupaca. Other chapters are also considering the program.

Dawn Krull, Director of Health and Safety Services, says that the experience of the Lakeland Chapter’s program can help others with everything from forms to best practices. “Working as a region we can pool our resources together.”

The skills and knowledge gained from this course enable nurse assistants to provide quality care for residents in nursing homes, as well as supplemental information and skills to enable them to provide quality health care for clients at home and patients in hospitals.

According to the Department of Labor, 21 percent of all health care industry jobs are in nursing and residential care facilities and the health care industry makes up 11 percent of the employment industry in the Fox Valley according to a 2006 report.

The Red Cross has a long tradition of volunteer service in health care including Jane Delano who organized supplies and 8,000 nurses to be made available during World War I and Clara Barton who brought supplies and food to wounded soldiers during the Civil War.

The next session of the Green Bay program begins on January 11 and runs through February 19. The program is designed with input from educators, caregivers, and long-term industry representatives from across the United States.  The American Red Cross Nurse Assistant Training course is approved by the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services and provides students with job skills needed to become a qualified CNA.

The cost of the course is $750 and $115 for the state test to complete certification.  There are still spots available in Green Bay, so registration is still open. For copies of the training program registration packet, please call the Health and Safety Services Department at 920-227-4290 or 1-800-733-9909 or pick up a registration packet from the department at 2131 Deckner Ave., Monday-Friday, 8 AM – 4:30 PM.

Courtesy by: indianexpress.com

In a bid to make blood transfusion readily available for patients of sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia, the Red Cross Society and Kashiben Gordhandas Patel (KGP) Hospital will now be providing the facility free of cost. The move follows a finding that many patients forego treatment of sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia due to the high cost of blood transfusion.

“We are presently conducting over 75 blood transfusions every month and every patient has to undergo it twice a month. As most of the patients are from the tribal belts and are economically backward, they usually forego the treatment as it is difficult for them to fork out the amount,” said Dr Jagdish Patel, Honorary Secretary, KGP Hospital.

One sitting for blood transfusion costs between Rs 700 and Rs 800. “The patients will not have to pay for the hospital stay, medical fee or laboratory charges either,” Patel added. While there are ongoing programmes of screening and awareness drives for sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia, there are several obstacles in the continuous treatment of the patients.

1.      Prepare your vehicle for traveling to grandmother’s house. Make an emergency kit and include items such as blankets or sleeping bags, jumper cables, fire extinguisher (5 lb., A-B-C type), compass and road maps, shovel, tire repair kit and pump, extra clothing, flares, tow rope.

2.      Drive your sleigh and reindeer safely. Avoid driving in a storm, but if you must, keep your gas tank full for emergency use and to keep the fuel line from freezing.

3.      Help prevent the spread of the flu. Wash hands with soap and water as often as possible, or use hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.

4.      Prevent hypothermia by following Santa’s lead. Dress in several layers of lightweight clothing, which will keep you warmer than a single heavy coat. Wear a hat, preferably one that covers your ears.  
5.      Use a Red Cross-trained babysitter when attending holiday festivities. Red Cross-certified babysitters learn to administer basic first aid; properly hold and feed a child; take emergency action when needed; monitor safe play and actively engage your child; and some may be certified in Infant and Child CPR.

 Click here to see the rest of the list!

For your viewing enjoyment ~ John Denver and the Muppets sing the classic:

Stay safe this holiday season! Best wishes from all of us at the American Red Cross!

Did you know that just one blood donation can save up to three lives?

Celebrate the spirit of giving this holiday season by donating blood.

Please join us for a Red Cross Blood Drive

When:  December 24th – 10 am to 3 pm

Where: Lahey Clinic Medical Center

41 Mall Road, Burlington

Who:     Open to the public. Walk-ins welcome

All donors will receive a stainless steel travel mug, a $5.00 off coupon to Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, and be entered in a raffle to win a flat screen TV and more from BestBuy.

Because schools and many businesses will be closed over the holiday weeks, the blood supply may be severely impacted until after New Year’s. Please help by donating blood during this very important blood drive.

We need you. Please donate.

ROCHESTER, MN – As usual for a human rights journalist, my email inbox this morning is stuffed with radically, sadly, urgently un-Christmasy tidings.

So many people in this world are suffering.

I could describe one or two of these insistent, important messages. But with fresh snow flakes falling and warm family gatherings planned for the days just ahead, another kind of story –- with a more uplifting holiday message — comes to mind.

One evening last week, I was at the Rochester International Airport with a small group to greet a family of Iraqis who were soon to arrive from Jordan, where they’ve been living as Iraq War refugees for the past two years.

As we waited, I chatted with an Iraqi refugee, a man in his 30’s who has lived in the U.S. for only three months. He was forced to flee his Baghdad home because he worked for the Red Cross in Iraq, which made him a target for assassination by local militias. He said he had a wife and three young children.

“Were you able to bring your family?” I asked.

“Oh yes,” he answered. “I would rather have died than leave my family.”

Christmas Gift

It’s not every day that you hear life, death and the family so matter-of-factly assumed – and acted upon — as equivalents. My Iraqi friend spoke with the authority of one who very recently made this calculation every morning as he got up, made his breakfast, sent his kids to school and went off to his dangerous work.

Do I think of my own family in the same way? Do I touch base with them enough, both literally and in the sense of remembering and being grateful for them? Or do I just possibly take them for granted more than I should?

In any case, I’m thinking of my family much differently today than I did yesterday, thanks to my Iraqi friend, and I’m grateful.

I received his fresh perspective as a beautiful Christmas gift.

In its essence, I’ve always felt, working with immigrants and refugees is deeply spiritual work. Because it brings me face to face not just with others, but through others to myself at the ground-floor level of values, morals and ideals – to what really counts. Immigrants always, always show me high ideals to live up to.

Our Souls

Often a spiritually-rich confrontation comes via citizens who’ve lived longer in the U.S. – although not always that much longer – than newly-arrived refugees.

“We already have so many problems in this country,” the question goes. “Why don’t we fix those before we bring in more people with more problems?”

It’s wonderful when that question is asked, I think, because it offers us a chance to mull it over. Especially, to ask that question of ourselves not just with our  intellects but within the space of our hearts, our souls and communities.

Can the newcomer, the stranger, perhaps help us to fix the problems we’re not doing so well at solving ourselves?

What gifts and wisdom does the stranger bring?

It’s the essence of spiritual work – and community work – to find that out.

And it is an absolute ton of wearying work. Every immigrant’s story is a cross-cultural epic and refugees, who often suffer the effects of war and psychological trauma, have that extra challenge. Always, there are tears and exhaustion.

Only Love

But there is also always a flip side, which happens when the tears and exhaustion suddenly resolve into a knowing with absolute certainty that no kind of work matters more in this world, than the work of welcoming strangers.

At this point there is a kind of lifting up, a second wind, a stiffening of the spine and a resolve to take up any burden against all of the injustice, ignorance, and hurt.

Only now it doesn’t feel like a burden any longer.

It simply feels like life’s right and proper work.

“It’s like a paradox,” another refugee social worker told me recently. “You can always give something. You give until it hurts a little bit. You give until it hurts and then you find there’s no hurt left, only love.”

When we help refugees resettle in this country, we help to give them a new life.

This Christmas, what I remember is that they also give us a new life in return.

Copyright @ 2009 The McGill Report

The days always seem to peel off the calendar at warp speed in December and all of a sudden we realize, “Holy smokes! Christmas is in THREE DAYS!” It happens every year and every year I personally find it shocking to look at the little mouse in my Advent calendar from my grandma and realize he is tucked into the last row of pockets.

Photo courtesy of giverlogs.com

Some of us (not you, I know) have even put off our Christmas shopping and are starting to break out into a panicked sweat at the thought of having no choice but to go to Rite Aid or a gas station for Christmas gifts. (It’s lottery tickets and beef jerky from Santa again this year, kids!) Well, we simply wouldn’t let that happen.

Here is a snazzy list of things you can buy from right where you’re sitting, with just a few clicks of the mouse (not the one in the Advent calendar) and give the gift that saves the day not just for you but for others around the world.

1. Provide a bicycle for a Red Cross volunteer in a remote part of the world so that they can bring peace and hope to people caught in isolation.

2. Give a phone card to a military service member so that they can call home and tell their mom, “Merry Christmas. I’m safe. I love you.”

3. Wrap blankets around children who escaped their burning house in nothing but a nightgown and socks.

Photo courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Not quite what you were thinking? Want something your family or friends can really get their hands on? I suggest a training course! Register online right now for classes such as (but not limited to):

1. A Babysitter Training course — perfect for your preteens who are looking to make some extra cash!

2. A CPR and First Aid training course — the epitome of the gift that keeps on giving.

3. A Pet First Aid class — for the dog or cat lover in your family…we all have one.

We here at our Red Cross chapter are signing off till after the holidays. Have a wonderful holiday season, love those around you well, and may you be filled with joy and peace!

The Christensen Family

Our Red Cross is the featured charity on Columbus Parent’s website today as part of its 12 Days of Giving Campaign. Take a look and read the story of the Christensens, a local family of six who received Red Cross assistance after their home caught fire. The Christensen’s have been very helpful this year, letting us tell their story. It’s hard to believe that so many local families, nearly 500 last year alone, experience home fires. Thanks to your support local families can rest assured they will have a warm place to sleep, food and clothing immediately after these disasters.  Thank you for your support of Red Cross disaster relief efforts this year!

Below are notes from a speech I gave at a recent Red Cross Conference on the role of media in disasters.  This is fairly unpolished but gives you a sense of what is on my mind and where I think the movements will be in aid agency comms. There are lots of shifts happening with traditional media shrinking and digital giving people the chance to speak for themselves. At the same time mobiles are now in the palms of millions and there is huge shift as people moving from rural to urban settings and cash and advocacy interventions are increasingly considered within the mix of programmes.  Everything is up for grabs and the relationship between the media & the INGO sector will shift. The reliance on it being a critical conduit role between organisations and their audiences is no longer omnipotent. If urban is the new rural, cash the new goat, can aid agencies become the new media?

Giving is important. At Oxfam we receive £150 million from the public every year. We need the financial support to get boots, buckets and bladder tanks on the ground but advocacy and influence is a growing tool that we deploy in response to crises, many of which can be predicted. We know the storms come into the Caribbean and the Mekong gets hit with wind in the autumn, the Bay of Bengal floods in the summer and East Africa has two lean dry seasons which leaves millions of people hungry.

While countries with support from aid agencies and donors may be able to help communities prepare for crises and reduce the death toll (eg compare Myanmar to Bangladesh), they cannot prevent disasters from happening.

However for political crises such as Darfur a blend of INGOs sharing information (due to a lack of access) and celebrity journalism led to a significant shift.  The surge in international attention led to a peace keeping force and increased international aid. However following an ICC arrest warrant, a whole swathe of humanitarian actors were thrown out.  This shut-down and a turning news cycle has led to Darfur has dropped out of the news as access to information reduces.  The same is now happening today in Yemen and Sri Lanka was a complete shutdown.

While the media may have morals and is interested in stories and issues, it isn’t driven by the same values as humanitarian agencies and has no responsibility to “highlight critical issues” before they happen.

That said, the media can help in the following ways:

1)    Increasing the likelihood of people giving in response to a crisis

Oxfam’s history shows that it was Biafra, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tsunami that saw the big numbers coming into support our humanitarian work.  Media coverage of crises points out the problem and creates an environment where people are more likely to respond.  For example, in Oxfam, media can increase the success of an appeal by as much as twenty per cent.  However, an appeal we ran with no media to our supporter raised some £1 mn on its own, good materials, well timed out of a media bubble can work.

2)    Increase the visibility of a crisis for political decision makers

Last year, Kouchner and Miliband would not have gone to Congo had it not been for the media circus around it.  ECHO often talk about visibility of crises and the importance of it in relation to their response. Media coverage doesn’t shift policy per se but increases the disposition of decision makers to think differently.  There is a new era of activism now out there with Avaaz and their 3 million activists, too often the drive for cash has not gone hand in hand with agitating activists to pressure for change, this is about to change…

What does this means for both the media and INGOs as journalism shrinks back from the corners of the world and the appetite for such stories changes?

1)    This is a challenge of creativity

The story is often the same, it’s the framing and narration that needs to shift.  The era of celebrities looking concerned on GMTV couches is over as are the days of Oxfam hiring 747s and stuffing them with journalists and flying round Africa to show them what is happening, as we did in 1991.

1. Photographers: Don McCullen and Oxfam – taking snappers out – famous ones and either reframing on going crisis or breaking new stories and setting up new environments for the public engage (eg photo exhibitions) works in early 2010 we will be repeating this with Rankin and Congo.

1. Framing: Turning the horror on its head. In Afghanistan we are supporting the Women’s Boxing Team and working with them to be spokespeople on the issues facing people in the country.  This is helping us to connect people who would flip over the page thinking “this is not for me” to connect with people, not issues, jargon and highly moral causes. This is important but sits back as context rather than up front and in your face.

2) Digital opportunities

Crises are breaking and dying down faster than they ever have before, cycle has shifted from 48 hours to 18 hours and East Asia rose and fell from the media agenda quicker than any other I can remember. This means that INGOs have got to be far better prepared to utilise their access and describe what they can see.  This means:

• Preparedness: There are 20 countries in the world where the majority of all crises hit, supporting staff to become communicators, working with the communities to prepare to tell their stories is the new era we are in.  We did do this in Bangladesh this year with the BBC identifying a village called Char Atra so they could show what happens before (building embankments), during (children swimming to school with books on a raft) and after (reconstruction).  However our weather forecast was slightly awry as for the first time in fifteen years, this community didn’t flood.
• Media as development tool: Communities are less reliant on INGOs to get their story out themselves and the media may be getting less interested in our role as conduits.  Organisations like Ushahidi and SMS give people the opportunities to do it themselves.  Should we reshape ourselves as enablers and facilitators for people to receive funding direct from others, will fundraising still be a core approach of charities in 20 years time?

3)    Transparency is the new objectivity and Connectivity is the new accountability

If you are not open, you will not be trusted and if you are not interactive you will not be engaged with. How do INGOs need to change within this new over opening media landscape is a big challenge. Smaller more agile digital NGOs are moving in and the media are moving out of their hubs with many of them asking for money to travel.  How many INGOs have paid for media to visit their programme, I am steadfastly against this as we shouldn’t be underwriting a shrinking commercial business but I do know that because some do this, it undermines the principles of others.  Moving on, if we want to retain our role of trust with our audiences and the media we need to think about what is our role and purpose in this realm, should we now be thinking of ourselves as media organisations in and of our own rights and have our own policies and codes of conduct?

I believe that there are huge opportunities out their for organisations to make far more of their relationships with the communities they support and press offices with a vision can help shift media from being a marketing and advocacy to being a development tool in and of its own right.

Thank you.

You know… the world is full of surprises.  We’ve had more than a few here at our chapter in the last couple months.

But here we are, on the other side of uncertainty… ready to provide you with an endless supply of random but useful preparedness information.  And sometimes, just cute pictures of cats.

Oh, how I’ve missed the cute pictures of cats.

We just might have a few happy surprises coming down the road as well.  Stay tuned, friends.

The Plymouth Arts Council is sponsoring a Red Cross Blood Drive

Date:  December 23, 2009.

Time: 1pm-7pm.

Place:  774 N. Sheldon Rd Plymouth MI 48170. 734-416-4278

You can walk in and donate or go to www.givelife.org and enter sponsor code: PCCS2 and schedule your appointment today.

All it took was a bite of steak.

During a lunch meeting at a local location of Brann’s Steakhouse and Grille, our Instructor Trainer, Karen, had finished her salad and began cutting into her steak. As she took a bite and swallowed, she felt the steak lodge in her airway and realized, after many years of teaching CPR and other emergency breathing techniques as a Red Cross instructor, that she was choking.

This is Karen. Photo courtesy of the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids.

She motioned to a nearby waitress named Jennie and put her hands on her throat, showing the universal sign that she was choking. Brann’s trains all of its staff through our Red Cross chapter and so Jennie was prepared to know what to do. Asking permission to help Karen and letting her know that she was trained, she proceeded to provide three abdominal thrusts and managed to dislodge the piece of steak on the third try.

“After so many years of teaching other people CPR and other emergency breathing techniques, I was hoping that I would find myself in the hands of someone who knows what she’s doing,” said Arndt. “It was a really scary moment, but she was wonderful.”

Like many local businesses, Brann’s trains all its staff in Red Cross lifesaving techniques through our Workplace Training program. The waitress that saved Arndt’s life mentioned that this was the fourth time that she helped customers who were choking (usually on steak, too — perhaps red meat IS as dangerous as people tell us!). Because of the preparedness of Brann’s and thousands of people in our community, lives are saved each day.

For more information on our workplace training program, please visit us online at www.redcrossggr.org or call (616) 456-8661.

Science News in Brief

The discovery of a 4.4 million year old fossil skeleton that may have belonged to an early human ancestor was discovered in October.  Now, this discovery is hailed by the journal Science, as the greatest scientific breakthrough of the year.

Poll:

The Copenhagen Climate Summit has come to a close and here are some of the stipulations the loose agreement includes:

1. recognition to limit temperature rises to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
2. promises to deliver 30 billion dollars of aid for developing nations over the next three years, and 100 billion by 2020.
3. includes a method for verifying industrialised nations’ reduction of emissions.

Turd Polishing: Making something crappy look better than it actually is.  That is how I define the above agreement.  It doesn’t look as if it will help much at all.  We are willing to admit there is a problem (the first step), but not willing to change.

Members of the European Space Agency have given final approval to plans to explore Mars.  The mission is to depart in 2018.

Mars Attacks: There have been 15 rovers sent to Mars.  There have been 6 manned missions to the moon.  One seems to interest scientists more than the other.

Cool Creature

The Northern blue-tongued skink, or Tiliqua scincoides intermedia, grows to 24 inches long, making it the largest of the blue tongued lizards.  These azure tongued beasties live in forests, woodlands, and grasslands of Northern Australia.  It is diurnal, and hunts for insects, snails, fruits, berries and wildflowers during the day.  At night, they are much less active and can be found resting in the hollows of logs.

Don't stick your tongue out at me.

Feature Story

Sorry I have once again neglected to post for a week, but exams take precedence.

Anyway, I have decided to post about the Copenhagen Climate Summit: formerly known as Hopenhagen, now seen as Nopenhagen.

I will now admit that I don’t really think that I should blog about this.  So much has already been said about Copenhagen that I will probably just wind up repeating what you have heard.  So, I just want to share with you what I consider an excellent assessment of the Summit.

By Amy Goodman

Denmark is the home of renowned children’s author Hans Christian Andersen. Copenhagen is dotted with historical spots where Andersen lived and wrote. “The Little Mermaid” was one of his most famous tales, published in 1837, along with “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

As the United Nations’ climate summit, called “COP 15,” enters its final week, with more than 100 world leaders arriving amid growing protests, the notion that a binding agreement will come from this conference looks more and more like a fairy tale.

The reality is harsher. Negotiations have repeatedly broken down, with divisions between the global North, or industrialized countries, and the global South. Leading the North is the United States, the world’s greatest polluter, historically, and a leader in per capita carbon emissions. Among the Southern nations are several groupings, including the least-developed countries, or LDCs; African nations; and nations from AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island States. These are places where millions live on the edge, directly impacted by climate change, dealing with the effects, from cyclones and droughts to erosion and floods. Tuvalu, near Fiji, and other island nations, for example, are concerned that rising sea levels will wipe their countries off the map.

New conceptions of the crisis are emerging at COP 15. People are speaking of climate justice, climate debt and climate refugees. Indian scientist and activist Vandana Shiva was among those who addressed a climate justice rally of 100,000 Saturday in Copenhagen. Afterward, I asked her to respond to U.S. climate negotiator Jonathan Pershing, who said the Obama administration is willing to pay its fair share, but added that donors “don’t have unlimited largesse to disburse.” Shiva responded, “I think it’s time for the U.S. to stop seeing itself as a donor and recognize itself as a polluter, a polluter who must pay. … This is not about charity. This is about justice.”

Shiva went on: “A climate refugee is someone who has been uprooted from their home, from their livelihoods, because of climate instability. It could be people who’ve had to leave their agriculture because of extended drought. It could be communities in the Himalayas who are having to leave their villages, either because flash floods are washing out their villages or because streams are disappearing.”

Both inside and outside the summit there is a diverse cross section of nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, from indigenous-peoples delegations to environmental and youth groups. Their separate but connected efforts have been coalescing into a new movement, a movement for climate justice. Broad consensus exists among the NGOs and the global South that any agreement coming out of the U.N. process must be fair, ambitious and binding, or as they put it, “FAB.”

The Bella Center itself, where the summit is being held, is said by the U.N. to be at capacity. Thousands of people line up daily in the cold, vainly hoping to get in to the Bella of the Beast. Thousands more, from the NGOs, are having their access stripped, ostensibly to make room for visiting heads of state, their entourages and security.

Outside, Copenhagen is seeing an unprecedented police crackdown, with the largest and most expensive security operation in Denmark’s history. More than 1,200 people were detained over the weekend, and as this column goes to press, targeted arrests of protest organizers and police raids of public protest convergence spaces are being reported. Heavy-handed police tactics give another meaning to “COP 15.”

After South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke at a candlelight vigil for children, I asked whether he thought President Barack Obama was following through on climate change. He responded: “We hope he will, yes. He has given the world a great deal of hope. I have said he’s now a Nobel laureate—become what you are.”

Last week, as a polar bear ice statue melted downtown, revealing the dinosaur skeleton hidden within, a small ice replica of Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid statue sat outside the Bella Center, melting. She is now gone. Obama is making his second attempt to win a prize in Copenhagen, after the Chicago Olympics embarrassment. Unless he uses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new determination that carbon dioxide is a public health hazard and nails down a fair, ambitious and binding agreement, we may see Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes” played out on the global stage.

The Cosmic Perspective

When will we ever learn?  I will be the first to admit that we cannot “prove” that global warming is occurring.  But, there are two problems with doing nothing.  First, we have very strong evidence to support that assessment.  The so-called “Climategate,” has been largely debunked as overblown sensationalism and nitpicking on the part of climate change deniers.  At this point, countless studies have been done and the most of the ones not backed by large corporations indicate that the climate is most definitely warming:

Second, we don’t have time to wait and see.  We need to act now if we wish to avert the worst that could occur.  I like to use the precautionary principle.  The precautionary principle states that if an action or policy has suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action.  If I see a mushroom in the forest, I will not eat it if I am not sure that it is safe.  Likewise, we should not continue on our track of aggressively using up fossil fuels to power our excess.

The entire Copenhagen summit was a debate between developed and undeveloped nations.  Developed nations decry developing nations for using dirty energy to advance their states, while developing nations yell back that developed nations use much more fossil fuels per capita and are already developed, so who are they to say others should not.  After much back and forth nothing much has been done. The developed accord is toothless, and not even binding at that!  It looks unlikely to contain temperature rises to within the 2 degree Celsius  climate change threshold that UN scientists say is needed to avert serious climate change.  Nor will it bring back the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere to 350 parts per billion, the level that scientists believe is the maximum to avert the aforementioned 2 degree change.  Unfortunately, since we are insulated by the bubble of wealth, we do not yet feel the effects of this oncoming storm.  But eventually, every bubble pops.  Will we be ready to deal with it?  Perhaps the one silver lining that I can draw from this meeting is that globally, we have recognized that there is a problem.  Now, we must act and make actual attempts to fix it.

For all of you not up to date, I suggest you check out Democracy Now! for unbiased news and real journalism:

http://www.democracynow.org/

Disaster Alert

Florida – Heavy rainfall and gusty winds caused flooding that affected Broward County residents on Friday. The ARC of Greater Miami and the Keys and Broward County chapter deployed a Disaster Action Team (DAT), opened a shelter, and provided Mass Care to shelter residents.

The Millennial Generation (roughly those born between 1980-2000) tends to get a bad reputation with many people in local church communities. Members of these churches tend to say they are too open-minded in regards to society’s controversial issues or that they are too willing to do away with the established modern church traditions. But it is the issue of financial giving (tithing) or “the lack there of” which has become associated with Millennials by many in the older generations.

This stigma has many contributing factors, which is caused by a misunderstanding about Millennials. I have heard it said that this generation would be the first in many to not make as much money as its predecessor. The cause for this is believed to be the result of Millennials feeling as though there is nothing left to achieve financially or materialistically and as a result they wish to give back. This is why many Millennials (for better or worse) have an ingrained idealistic view of the world. We honestly believe we can some how make the world a better place by our actions. As a result we give in different ways. My generation is not going to give to a church because “that is what you are supposed to do.” Instead we are willing to give in smaller amounts to different organizations we feel are positively serving the world. This could mean we give a little bit of our income to the local church as well as to Compassion International, Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, CBF’s Offering for Global Missions, etc.

We also look for ways to give other than through financial means. Volunteerism is quite common among Millennials and it is rare to find people in this generation who have not volunteered for a significant amount of time at some point in their short lives. We may wish to give back to our churches by donating our talents as a way of helping other members of our local church and community. This asset based ministry approach is appealing to Millennials because it can help to bring about a more authentic church.

Furthermore, Millennials are constantly seeking authenticity. This generation can tell when people are not being truthful or if they are pretending to be someone they are not. This is why Millennials who would identify themselves as religious (and those who would not), have issue with many “religious” figures. This in part is because many of us experienced the scandals of the televangelists in the 1980s and early 1990s. We are still skeptical of preachers as a result of seeing these religious leaders’ lies devastate millions of people. The truth is Millennials are huge supporters of a cause, or a person, they find authentic. We will give of our time and finances if we believe an organization or an individual is truly helping people achieve better lives.

Finally, the Internet has changed the way we give. Its serves as an integral part of our lives. We use it to give financially and to build relationships. We are not afraid of technology; instead, we see it as a way to better society.

So the next time an empty offering plate gets passed by a Millennial, lets consider that he or she might be tithing in new and creative ways we haven’t imagined.

We love CPR LOLcats, LOLdogs, and LOLsquirrels here at headquarters. Have you seen any we’ve missed?

We do offer Pet and Human CPR Classes. Check em out! 

This post courtesy of Our National Headquaters Social Media Team.

When you’ve got an idea this great, it deserves an encore.  After the tremendous success of LB/Lisbon’s Store+ effort for the Portuguese Red Cross, the first Spanish Red Cross Store opened last night in Madrid Xanadú, an upscale shopping center near the city’s center.  The opening ceremony was a star-studded affair – those in attendance included Real Madrid footballers Álvaro Arbeloa and Ruben de la Red, recording artist Raúl, journalist and televison personality Paqui Peña and several others.

If you’re unfamiliar, the Hope Store first opened its doors in Lisbon for the Christmas season last year.  While it looked like any ordinary retail shop, the store sold nothing you could wear, touch, hear or see – only feel.  That’s because the “merchandise” included only cards that enabled visitors to make donations to the charity.  While customers left with empty bags, their hearts were full.

At the Madrid opening, the shelves were filled with books that had covers each associated with a particular cause that the Red Cross supports.  Each was blank inside, but held a bookmark letting customers know that by making a donation, the story would end a happy one.

Welcome to a special edition of the Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you.

This week the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark is coming to a close. World leaders are gathered to discuss climate change, and the Red Cross has representatives in attendance. So this week’s Wrap-Up will focus on how we’ve contributed to the conference as well as ways Red Cross and Red Crescent societies are adapting to climate change worldwide…

[The place names link to maps so that you can get a quick idea of the region.]

MALAWI: Ducks float. Chickens don’t. After their chickens began drowning in floods, Malawi farmers switched to raising ducks. Then – with the help of a former journalist – they made a video to teach their fellow farmers about this, and other ways to adapt to climate change and avoid food shortages.

KENYA: The drought, which used to come every decade, now comes every year. Carcasses of livestock, dead from dehydration, litter the landscape. Outbreaks of cholera and other diseases arise when people have no choice but to use unclean water. The Kenya Red Cross is distributing food and water, and also working with communities on long-term adaptation strategies.

COPENHAGEN:

- Planting trees to prevent landslides is just one of the ways that preparedness can help mitigate natural disasters. Madeleen Helmer, head of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center, gives an interview on NPR’s Marketplace about adapting to climate change with preparedness.

- Tuesday was Humanitarian Day at COP15, and in honor of the women and girls around the world who have to walk miles every day to find clean water, these young women walked six kilometers to the conference carrying water jugs on their heads.

- In May 2008 forecasters predicted above normal rainfall over West Africa. This enabled the Red Cross to pre-position extra supplies and volunteers in advance of floods. This video – being shown at COP15 – explains more about how the Red Cross is using weather forecasts to improve humanitarian decision making.

[Original post by Robin Parker]

Editorial from the Dec. 13 edition

Street Roots has been around the block a time or two when it comes to cold weather in the Portland region. We’ve had vendors die in the cold and have stayed open around the clock for days, sometimes weeks at a time once the weather turns for the worse.

Five years ago, during one of the worst winter storms of the past decade, Portland’s homeless community and providers were thrown into chaos, after more than a week of freezing ice and snow that shut the city down. Nonprofits, churches and businesses throughout the city opened their doors 24-7, including Street Roots, to provide a safe and warm place for people sleeping out during the nightmare scenario.

Five years on, Portland has created one of the better emergency preparedness systems around. The former Bureau of Housing and Community Development, now known as the Portland Housing Bureau, and the Portland Office of Emergency Management, developed standard operating procedures and an incident command structure that works with nonprofits, city bureaus, businesses and volunteers. Much of this has come under the leadership of Nick Fish and his drive to make the system better.

In cold-weather situations, organizations and systems shift gears. Homeless providers and people sleeping out work double time to make sure response is adequate and that people on the streets have access to cold-weather gear and shelter. The group also works to educate the general community to know exactly what is available and how to help, ranging from donations all the way to volunteering at a warming center during cold spells.

On the front lines is the Red Cross, 211 info, and a range of outreach workers and homeless providers who are out and about engaging folks. The Red Cross runs a cold-weather center for adults and families, and 211 works long hours on the phones and coordinating information to connect people with essential services. A range of other organizations, including the faith-based community and individual efforts also play a role in the response. Everyone involved should be commended.

Saying that, more than 1,600 individuals sleep on our streets every night and thousands more experience homelessness during the course of the year. It’s a sad reality.

While it’s easy to feel good about the efforts of city officials when cold weather hits, it by no means lets them or larger government institutions off the hook. We need solutions, such as alternatives to criminalization and revenue streams dedicated to affordable housing.

Without these harm-reduction and long-term solutions, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Instead of solving homelessness over the course of 10 years or more, we’ll be left patting ourselves on the back because we respond to homelessness only when the weather turns cold. It’s a remarkable effort, but it’s still not good enough. We have a long way to go before we reach the mountaintop.

More than 30,000 people have fled their homes ahead of an expected eruption of the Mayon volcano in the central Philippines.

From CNN:

Philippine authorities have said a large-scale eruption of the 2,464-meter (8,077-foot) peak is imminent, and have begun trying to evacuate about 50,000 people living around the nation’s most active volcano.

Gwendolyn Pang, the secretary-general of the Philippine Red Cross, said the ground around the mountain shook several times Wednesday. Emergency workers have so far evacuated 30,751 people, with 21 centers set up to take in the evacuees, she said.

People in surrounding Albay province have flocked to town centers to catch a glimpse of glowing lava cascading down the slopes of Mayon since the mountain began oozing fiery lava and belching clouds of ash this week.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised its alert level for the Mayon volcano Monday night, warning that a full-scale eruption could occur “within weeks to days.” The volcano, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the Philippine capital Manila, has gone off 49 times since the first documented eruption in 1616.

In 2010, as greater Grand Rapids gears up for the biggest 25k road race in the country, the Red Cross will be at the starting line.

Photo courtesy of mlive.com

That’s right, this year, the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids has been selected as one of 10 Charity Partners for the Fifth Third River Bank Run! This means a whole lot of wonderful opportunities to educate our community about our mission but it also means that you, our fit and active supporters, can RUN FOR RED CROSS! You can select to run for the Red Cross and raise money through pledges from family and friends. Whether you run or walk the 5k or are stretching your limbs for the 25k, you can raise funds that will help turn lives in crisis into lives of hope right here in our neighborhoods.

Keep an eye out in the new year for more information — we’ll be posting all sorts of information for you, along with resources you can use as a runner for the Red Cross.

(Maybe you should start stretching now…May 8th is a lot closer than you think.)

For the first time, the Taliban has allowed Red Cross workers to check the conditions of its detainees in Afghanistan.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced today that its team recently visited three Afghan security forces being held by the Taliban in the northwestern province of Badghis. A small Red Cross team visited the detained Afghan security forces twice in late November, the agency said.

…..

Click on the link to read the article

via Taliban allows Red Cross to visit detainees for 1st time – Afghanistan Crossroads – CNN.com Blogs.