The Optimism of Youth

Welcome to our blog. Here we will document the work we are doing on compiling our book "The Optimism of Youth" based on Millennium Development Goal No 2 - Universal Primary Education by 2015. We are being supported in this project by Self Help Africa

Do you have a reflection on your primary school days, a poem to share, perhaps a photograph from those days? Our aim is to highlight the importance of primary education and why MDG No 2 is such a vital goal.

All contributions are welcome and can be sent to towards2015@gmail.com

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Blog Action Day - Water

Here are some facts from the Self Help Africa booklet on Water.

The Bigger Picture:
The amount of water in the world has not changed but due to pollution the quantity available has reduced by 30% since 1970.

In the meantime the numbers using the worlds water has increased dramatically. In the year 2000 the figure passed 6 billion – by the year 2050 the projected figure is 9 billion.

Today, more than 10 conflicts in the world are linked to water in Turkey, India, Egypt, Israel and other countries.

In the Antarctic an ice shelf (the size of Luxembourg) called the Larsen B came adrift from the mainland. It had been there for the last 12,000 years and it disintergrated over a period of 35 days.

If ice caps continue to melt at their present rate then within 10 years 17% of the land of Bangladesh will be under water, displacing 27 million people and the area of land available to produce food to feed a growing population will be further under threat.

In the developed industrialised countries of the world 60-80% of the water is used in industry.
In developing countries only 10% is used in industry.

1,000 litres of water are used in the making of 1 car.
9 litres
of water are used in the making of 1 bar of chocolate.

Within 10 years 1 billion people could be given access to clean, safe water for less than the world now spends on weapons in 90 hours.

So these facts may have given you something to think about.....
How important is water to us?
How well do we use it?
How can we protect it?

Blog Action Day 15th October 2010

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Monday, October 11, 2010

Blog Action Day 2010

Here's a blogging challenge....

On Friday 15th October, take part in Blog Action Day by blogging a post on the topic wATER. Watch teh video below or check out the Blog Action Day 2010 site for more information.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Friday, October 1, 2010

The necessity of educating women

Sep 23rd 2010, 0:12 by The Economist online

The former president of Ireland on why the Millennium Development Goals are not being met, and why they are still worth pursuing.

Watch the interview here.