Charities and the E.U.

Our name, European Disaster Volunteers, has drawbacks. The most obvious of these is that our name makes it sound like we only work in Europe, while in reality we work worldwide and accept all volunteers, free of charge, regardless of nationality. We knew that the name was a gamble when we chose it, but we [...]

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Climate change denial…

As an organisation that works in post-disaster contexts we’re faced with the results of climate change constantly. More severe and frequent hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and other weather related disasters are threatening to overwhelm disaster response organisations. The threat is so severe that the UN has focused its Human Development Report on the issue. The evidence [...]

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Dangerous Aid

In 2008, 260 humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks – the highest yearly toll on record…The fatality rate of aid workers from malicious acts alone surpassed that of United Nations peacekeeping soldiers in 2008. In the most violent contexts for aid workers, politically motivated attacks have risen relative to [...]

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Sad.

Now the study is from 2005, which makes it a scientific old lady. But really, second to last in 2005? Here’s to being an “advanced” nation. Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21329204.html

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Some good news for a change….

What with Swine flu, the credit crunch, and my very regrettable current inability to drink coffee, I think it’s time for some good news. Lest the depression start to really sink in. Alastair McCall, editor of the Sunday Times Giving List….  said [that] although the rich had less money than they did a year ago, [...]

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Perspective.

As seen here: Amount spent each year in Europe and the United States on pet food: $17 billion Cost per year to achieve basic health and nutrition for the entire world: $13 billion Amount spent on perfumes each year: $12 billion Clean water for all the world: $9 billion Amount spent on cosmetics in the [...]

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Someone Else Said it Better Than I Ever Could…

A friend of mine recently sent me a disturbing email after she had a very unfriendly debate regrading gay marriage with a lost resident of the bible belt in a bar in New York. What was said in the debate is too shameful to repeat, so I won’t. Originally, I was going to write a [...]

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Better Late Than Never?

There’s (finally) a push to prosecute Bush and all his cohorts for their crimes in office. Now, many of us Americans have been saying for years that if we can prosecute Clinton for lying about getting a blow job and find a new use for a cigar, we ought to be able to punish Bush [...]

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