Water for Life! -world youth leaders shout

trees for life-- participants offsetting the local carbon footprint emitted

the green world youth day participants after the planning day

main resource person showing off the New Laos Stove

Green World Youth Day Launch

The Green World Youth Day program was launched by no less than the CEO of the City West Water in the person of Ms Anne Barker. Ms Barker spoke about the water shortage that Australia faces and how the people and the City West Water tries hard to overcome the situation.

Testimonies and welcome speeches filled the night as the participants caught a glimpse on how the week's program would be.

The launch was held at Victoria University, Flinder's Campus on July 5, 2008.

Green World Youth Day Registration Day

To date, 57 delegates registered for the Green World Youth Day program. We welcome all the participants and hope to welcome more in the days to come...

YPD Japan on the move!

Although there are a few members of YPD Japan, we are motivated enough to work together! we bought handicrafts directly from villages of Thailand, some are made by YPD Chiangmai Team. We sold them in Japan to support YPD Chiangmai and YPD Karen. Jean-Joseph(YPD France) living in Japan came help YPD Japan. Everytime we do something, we meet young people to help us. This is the YPD work!
-Mako Higasayama, YPD International Team

Green WYD dialogues with Western MPs

Vince, Kins and Charles went to the Victoria Parliament Building to dialogue with the Western Members of the Parliament as a way of profiling the Green World Youth Day program. Water for Life as the theme of the program was received with much enthusiasm by the MPs and encouraged the holding of this international program at the Western Region.

The said meeting was facilitated by Mr. Thelmo Languillier, MP for Derrimut District. Mr. Languillier was once a student leader in his time at the Victoria University.

The Concert

We did not draw millions of crowds, there were no screaming fans nor hyped up paparazzis. It was a tame concert to the standards of many. It was a parish concert attended by the locals and the performers were from all over Melbourne.

EARTH POWER CONCERT

LET'S HAVE FUN TONIGHT!

CALLING ALL INTERESTED AND COOL PEOPLE IN MELBOURNE! THIS IS OUR LAST CALL TO REMIND YOU OF OUR CONCERT TONIGHT. DOORS OPEN AT 7 PM AND TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE GATE AT $10.

SHARE YOUR FRIDAY NIGHT FUN WITH THE GREEN WORLD YOUTH DAY ORGANISERS BY SUPPORTING THEIR FUNDRAISER.

VENUE: HOLY EUCHARIST PARISH HALL, 1 A OLEANDER DRIVE, ST ALBANS

SEE YOU THERE!

THE EVENT IS CARBON NEUTRALISED BY AN ANGEL.
THANKS MARIA!

YPD parties for the earth

The Young People for Development believes in sustainable growth wherein the environment is taken into consideration. Days before the Earthday in April, YPD hosted a party in honor of MOTHER EARTH. Volunteers and friends for the YPD came. The event was carbon neutral thanks to the support of some friends.

Food was simple and candles were used in some areas to minimize the carbon impact.

More importantly, there was fun and bonding for all those who were there.

More evidence of one metre sea rise this century

New Scientist quotes Svetlana Jevrejeva of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, UK, who says a new, more accurate reconstruction of sea levels over the past 2000 years suggests that the prediction of a an 18-59 centimetre rise by 2100 made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is wildly inaccurate.

New predictions of sea level rises that for the first time takes into account ice dynamics predict that seas will be from 0.8-1.5 metres higher by next century.

At a European Geosciences Union conference in Vienna, Austria, this week, researchers including Jevrejeva said in a statement that the pace at which sea levels are rising is accelerating.

"For the past 2,000 years, the sea level was very stable," Jevrejeva said, explaining that they rose just 2 cm in the 18th century, 6 cm in the 19th century and a greater 19 cm last century.

"It seems that rapid rise in the 20th century is from melting ice sheets," she adds.

"If [the sea level] rises by one metre, 72 million Chinese people will be displaced, and 10 percent of the Vietnamese population," she concluded.

And climate change expert Nicholas Stern says he under-estimated the threat from global warming in a major report 18 months ago when he compared the economic risk to the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to The Age.

Latest climate science showed global emissions of planet-heating gases were rising faster and upsetting the climate more than previously thought, Stern said in a Reuters interview.

For example, evidence was growing that the planet's oceans - an important "sink" - were increasingly saturated and couldn't absorb as much as previously of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2), Stern told reporters.

China gets greener

The BBC reports that there are now over 2000 environmental NGOs, according to official Chinese figures.

But another unofficial study says there are up to two million informal groups of students, farmers or other activists.

Several campaigns have received positive coverage in the state-controlled media, the BBC says.

However, green groups are still closely watched by the government.

An activist told the BBC that intelligence agents sometimes pose as green volunteers to keep an eye on what's going on.

Zhang Jingjing and her boss, Wang Canfa successfully assisted residents of a village in Fujian Province successfully sue a factory for compensation.

The factory was poisoning local crops with chromium.

But Ms Zhang sees limits to China's "green political space" because of the clout polluters have with local governments and judges.

"We have no independent judiciary, that is our problem," she says.

Because local officials and judges often side with polluters, the greens see central government as their ally. It's an internal power struggle in China that outsiders rarely see.

Others blame the West because much of the pollution is actually caused by factories which make products for export. The waste generated by "Made in China" products is left for Chinese people to deal with.

YPD's Earthday Party

The Young People for Development in Australia will organise an Earthday party on April 18, 2008 at the YPD house in Cairnlea, located in the Western suburb of Melbourne. It hopes to bring young people interested in the environment and development.

The YPD Earthday Party is a carbon neutral event courtesy of the Eco-Asia initiative of the Young People for Development.

To register into the Earthday event, click here.

Carry on cutting emissions, British scientists say

The BBC reports that British scientists have produced further compelling evidence showing that modern-day climate change is not caused by changes in the Sun's activity.

The research contradicts a favoured theory of climate "sceptics", that changes in cosmic rays coming to Earth determine cloudiness and temperature.

Presenting their findings in the Institute of Physics journal, Environmental Research Letters, the UK team explain that they used three different ways to search for a correlation, and found virtually none.

This is the latest piece of evidence which raises doubts about the cosmic ray theory, developed by Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark at the Danish National Space Center (DNSC).

"We started on this game because of Svensmark's work," Terry Sloan from Lancaster University told the BBC.

"If he is right, then we are going down the wrong path of taking all these expensive measures to cut carbon emissions; if he is right, we could carry on with carbon emissions as normal."

"We tried to corroborate Svensmark's hypothesis, but we could not; as far as we can see, he has no reason to challenge the IPCC - the IPCC has got it right.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its vast assessment of climate science last year, concluded that since temperatures began rising rapidly in the 1970s, the contribution of humankind's greenhouse gas emissions has outweighed that of the Sun by a factor of about 13 to one.

According to Terry Sloan, the message coming from his research is simple.

"So we had better carry on trying to cut carbon emissions."

Green WYD backs earth hour

The Holy Eucharist, the host for the Green World Youth Day Program joins Earth Hour tomorrow at 8-9PM. YPD Australia also enlisted as part of the campaign.

We enjoin everybody to switch off their lights for an hour tomorrow.

The World Water Crisis

Added information from the World Water Day Website:

The world water crisis is one of the largest public health issues of our time. Nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20% of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water1. The lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day2. In fact, out of the 2.2 million unsafe drinking water deaths in 2004, 90% were children under the age of five3. Water is essential to the treatment of diseases, something especially critical for children.
This problem isn’t confined to a particular region of the world. A third of the Earth’s population lives in “water stressed” countries and that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next two decades4. The crisis is worst in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The world water crisis is created by a confluence of factors including climate and geography, lack of water systems and infrastructure, and inadequate sanitation, something that 2.6 billion people (40% of the world’s population) lack access to5. Some of these countries have additional problems, including high levels of arsenic and fluoride in drinking water6.

Many women and young girls in rural areas in Sub-Saharan African and other parts of the world must trek as much as six miles everyday to retrieve water for their families7. Due to this manual labor, such women and children are prevented from pursuing an education, maintaining their households or earning additional income8.

Thus, the lack of clean water, coupled with the lack of basic sanitation and a dearth of hygiene education, is one of the largest obstacles to progress and development in these regions and across the world. The UN has prioritized water access among its Millennium Development Goals because it contributes to such widespread suffering, including increased poverty, high child mortality rates, depressed education levels, and political instability. Without question, the world water crisis condemns billions of people to a perpetual struggle to survive at the subsistence level,9 thus inspiring millions to engage and alleviate this problem. Join us. Get involved today.


Sources: [1] WaterAid, 2005 [2] UNICEF/WHO Water for Life, Making it Happen, 2005 [3] UNICEF/WHO Water for Life, Making it Happen, 2005 [4] BBC News October 19, 2004 [5] UNICEF/WHO Water for Life, Making it Happen, 2005 [6] Department of International Development, Water Action Plan, March 2004 [7] UNESCO/ International Year of Fresh Water 2003 [8] UNESCO/ International Year of Fresh Water 2003 [9] UNICEF/WHO Water for Life, Making it Happen, 2005

World Water Day-March 22

A crystal clear answer for reducing child mortality: clean water World Water Day – 22 March 2008 Water is vital for life -- but access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation in the developing world is often scarce. Globally, more than one billion people lack access to adequate clean water and over two billion need safe sanitation facilities. An inadequate water supply and poor sanitation can significantly contribute to the spread of water-borne diseases and under-five mortality, particularly in countries such as Vietnam, where the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that half of child deaths and disease can be attributed to drinking contaminated water as well as poor sanitation and hygiene. On World Water Day, ChildFund Australia is reminding Australians that while many of us are concerned about the impact of climate change locally, and how this affects our own water supply, life threatening water shortages continue to be an immediate and on-going threat in developing countries.

CBCP President opposes coal-fired power plant

NO WITH A SMILE. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of Jaro smiles as he holds up a placard opposing the proposed building of a coal-fired power plant in Iloilo City. Lagdameo led thousands of Ilonggos at an interfaith rally Wednesday (March 5, 2008) calling on local and national government officials to reject coal as a power source because of threats to the environment. GREENPEACE/LUIS LIWANAG (www.inquirer.net)

Victoria University supports Green World Youth Day

After a series of meetings and consultations, Ms. Selvi Kannan, Events Management Lecturer of Victoria University (VU) committed to take up the Green World Youth Day (GWYD) Program as a project of her students. Seeing potential and importance in talking about water and the need for international solidarity, she encouraged the Green World Youth Day management team to articulate the daily events of the program.

Last Wednesday, February 27, 2008 the Green World Youth Day International Volunteers met Selvi's class and did a general presentation at VU-Sunbury Campus. Afterward, they also met with the marketing team of the same university. After the team's presentation, they commented that the activity is very relevant because it is Green, youthful and international. These are the reasons why VU would very much like to be a part of it.

Climate Challenge Prayer

God, Creator and Sustainer,
free us from ignorance about your gift of Earth.
Inspire us to act together in respect for your gift and change our ways as we
relate to Earth's rhythms with humility.
May we welcome the truth when scientists speak of climate change, and
reject false pathways designed to confuse.
At this point in history, help us to urge our politicians to take moral decisions and urgent action in negotiating sustainable living.
Ground all our thoughts in your revealing Scriptures and the wisdom of holy women and men who have gone before us to help build the
new creation as followers of your Cosmic Son.
Give us a discerning spirit to work with the ecological and the human,
the social and the economic realities of this world, and instill in us a spirit of respect and compassion able to imagine pathways of harmony.
Amen.


Prepared by Fr Charles Rue
Coordinator Columban JPIC Australia

Aussie mining companies again

Oxfam Australia CEO Andrew Hewett has another article today lambasting Australian mining companies for their lack of conscience in their overseas developments.

"There are, unfortunately, too many examples of Australian mining companies being associated with environmental damage, complicity in human rights abuse and allegations of corruption," Hewett writes.

"A pattern emerges: communities in Papua New Guinea continue to live with the devastating practice of disposing of mine waste into valuable waterways still used at Ok Tedi and by Emperor Mines at Tolukuma; Congolese community members are considering legal action against Anvil after deadly military suppression; and an independent investigation by The Age recently confirmed that 'irregular offers' were made by Climax Mining (now OceanaGold) when it was seeking local government approvals in the Philippines.

"In each case, the activities of Australian companies have been brought into question," Hewett says.

He proposes that Australia should set up acomplaints mechanism for overseas communities harmed by the activities of some Australian-owned mine operators would be an initiative to help generate greater accountability.

Green WYD- a dream made possible

January 26, 2008, St. Albans. The Holy Eucharist Green World Youth Day Team came together to share dreams and plans for the World Youth Day program in July this year. Bro. Gerard Brady, a Christian Brother patiently accompanied the group in their day of reflection and planning.

Sr. Catherine Tay, a Chaplain of Victoria University generously welcomed the group to her community house. She told everyone to have a good time and help themselves to the food she prepared.

Most of those who came expressed the need to reflect and meditate upon the spiritual impact of the preparations. They also acknowledged the importance of offering a space for young people to take a closer look on the environment during the World Youth Day. With enthusiasm, they promised to do their best to make the stay of the Green World Youth Day participants possible.

The youngest of the groups urged everyone to become more pro-active in inviting parishioners to join the activity or to host young people to their houses.

After the day, everyone left with more work to do. They were quite tired but happy looking forward to what they will do.