The Day I Decided to Change the World

Today is the day I realize: this world needs help and I can help it.  – A guest-post by Nutsmar Yuvasopee.

I’m one of those with a simple life: I wake up, I go to work. I party, I shop. That’s how life is here in Bangkok. It’s fast and it’s colourful. I do read the news, mostly online. But somehow I have never felt it’s my business – other people do things and other people who will solve the problems they talk about. The truth is: everything is very far away if you don’t let it in.

The Young Are Still Waiting

20 years ago, this girl moved the whole world with her speech.

At the time, she was representing “a group of 12 and 13 year olds trying to make a difference” and I guess she did. She rememberably said: “I have no hidden agenda, I’m fighting for my future.” What happend to that girl?

What do You Want from Rio?

It’s now exactly one week until the Rio+20 conference – and 19 hours for you to make your voice heard.

I have been writing extensively on the upcoming Rio+20 conference and the likeliness that it won’t bring the solutions we want. (Read: The Sword of Damocles for an overview).

The Sword of Damocles

Why Rio+20 will not solve the environmental challenges the international community is facing and why the Green Economy is not the solution.

“We are currently living in a civilization that, as far as we can determine future risk, looks unsustainable” (Giddens 2010, p. 10). A look at the news confirms this: islands are disappearing, monsoon patterns are changing and deserts are growing. Pandora’s box has been opened. Solutions to this energy-environment conundrum exist. But hydropower-dams, biofuels and nuclear energy bring, according to my view, more harm than good. What we need are political solutions which accept and act upon the following:

A Tale Of Two Rios

Some are hopeful for Rio +20, others don’t think it will bring change and a third group puts up their own agenda.

This summer (June 20th – 22nd) the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will take place in Rio, exactly twenty years after the famous Earth Summit in the same location.

How is Your Waste Doing?

What is your relationship with waste? Do you think you do not have any? Well, think again and then read on.

The United Nations Environment Programme UNEP has published a report on waste. It is a visual reminder of how much we produce.

The report nicely points out “the word ‘waste’ is related to the way we behave in the context of the

Progress All Around

Things are getting better for the community of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender, Queer and Intersex – and now we also know why this usually goes as lgbtqi.

President Obama is showing himself from a very pro-lgbtqi angle by publishing his agenda for lgbt rights. As Care2 points out, he has done many outstanding commitments to the community like hosting the “first ever LGBT Pride reception at the White House” or repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – policy.

Birth of a Country

The rise of a new nation is an outstanding event. It can lead to peace and stability in a region. Is this – finally – going to happen in Palestine?

The public opinion collector Avaaz is supporting Palestine in its fight to become a country. It is today that “the UN Security Council will meet, and the world has an opportunity to embrace a new proposal that could