By now, many of you know that for one in eight people in the world, finding water is a daily struggle that often keeps children out of school, puts women in danger, and fuels the spread of diseases like cholera.
Many of you have also heard about the incredible work that charity: water is doing to help make that statistic history.
For four years, they’ve been working to bring clean, safe water to those without it by implementing sustainable water solutions in some of the poorest and hardest to reach areas of the world. Now, thanks to charity: water and all who support them, there are one million fewer people in this situation than there were just four years ago.
In honor of their fourth birthday, they’re drilling a well today at 4:30 ET, and broadcasting the whole thing live, so you can be a part of it. Join them as they bring clean, safe water to the Bayaka community in C.A.R., by visiting Facebook.com/charitywater and clicking on the Ustream tab.
Have a birthday coming up and want to do something to change the world? Check out their September campaign at charitywater.org/September.
You can earn donations to help charity: water continue their incredible work by completing simple activities at socialvibe.com/charitywater.
Organizations like Invisible Children have been working for years to rescue child soldiers and call attention to this international humanitarian crisis. Progress continues to be made and yesterday brought some inspiring news.
Image by Jesse Feldman
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army announced that they will release the remaining child soldiers from their forces.
While they are just one of many groups in the region to use kidnapped children as soldiers, the UN children’s agency said that the SPLA once had more than 200,000 children among their ranks. The civil war ended in 2005 and that number has fallen to about 900, but will soon dwindle to zero.
In a remarkable turn of events, the SPLA chief of staff has said that they want to make sure the remaining, soon to be released child soldiers are educated, saying “our future lies with the children.”
Invisible Children posted the following on their blog:
“By the end of this year, no more children will serve in the SPLA. This reminds us that when enough international pressure and attention is directed towards an issue, it is possible for corruption to change its direction.”
You can earn donations to help Invisible Children as they work to help educate rescued child soldiers by supporting them on SocialVibe.
truth's philosophy isn't anti-smoker or pro-smoker. They're anti-Big Tobacco.
Their only mission is to save lives by showing teens the facts - like the fact that every 6.5 seconds worldwide someone dies from a tobacco-related disease. So pretty much in the time it takes you to read this sentence, someone died.
How do they get their facts? They read lots and lots of documents. That's right, they're secretly huge dorks... or your BFFs, if you don't feel like spending hours looking up facts and reports from the CDC. I guess it all depends on how you look at it.
Like, they looked up this little tidbit: Tobacco companies spend around $34 million a day on marketing. Hmmm, why would you spend so much on marketing? I guess when you sell a product that kills more people than murder, AIDS, drug addiction, killer bee attacks, car wrecks and a bunch of other stuff, it helps to sugar coat.
So why would a legal product kill around 1200 people a day? Simple: nicotine ain’t the only thing hanging out in cigarettes. They actually contain hundreds of other chemicals like arsenic, cyanide, and benzene. Yeah, they're all poisons and they're also all found in cigarette smoke.
Cigarettes also share ingredients with antifreeze, nail polish remover, gasoline, pee (yup), and cow farts. Find out all the other wonderful things you can find in cigarettes here.
Don’t believe us? That's cool. All the facts are all at thetruth.com, so you can check for yourself.
From 2000 to 2004, approximately 450,000 fewer young adults have started smoking as a result of truth, the newest cause on SocialVibe. They would love to continue helping teens but need your support. To help them earn free donations, so they can continue to spread the truth, visit socialvibe.com/truth.
One in two sexually active young people will have an STD by age 25, and most won’t know they’re infected. MTV wants to change that. Their Get Yourself Tested campaign asks teens to “check in” using Foursquare after getting tested for STDs. Foursquare even has a new badge for this effort: the GYT badge.
Would you check in at an STD testing clinic? According to Salon, Planned Parenthood has made several lists of “top mayorships you don’t want.”
“Also topping these lists? Pawn shops, massage parlors, methadone clinics, rehab and jail. That's right, according to the Internet, routinely visiting a reproductive health clinic is comparable to being a regular at the local jail.”
While MTV has been working long and hard to remove the stigmas associated with STD testing, they may have found a way around them in the mean time. Just in case the badge isn’t enough of an incentive to announce your trip to the clinic to the world at large, everyone who unlocks the badge is automatically entered to win a trip for two to New York City with airfare, accommodations and backstage passes to MTV's '10 on Top.'
The trip also gives teens a great cover if they have particularly nosy and tech-savvy parents. Should a parent ask, teens can simply say they were just trying to win the free trip.
After years of heated debate and extensive preliminary research, scientists will finally have the chance to test stem cells on human subjects.
The initial trial will involve two groups. The first will be comprised of people afflicted with a progressive form of blindness; the second, those partially paralyzed by spinal chord injuries. In hundreds of tests on partially paralyzed rats, those injected with stem cells were able to walk.
The FDA has required exhaustive tests to get to this point and scientists say that the results have proven that the cells are safe for humans and have incredible potential to treat cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal chord injuries, blindness and myriad other conditions, most of which are currently untreatable.
Last week a judge blocked the federal government from funding any research involving human embryonic stem cells, a move that scientists say will have devastating results:
"Every day we lose is another day lost for patients waiting for cures."
Bioethicists stress that even research that achieves great things can’t be justified if it requires violating human rights.
The question then becomes whether embryos are human beings. Many who object to stem call research insist that those cells amount to a baby. Most bioethicists disagree, saying that if using embryonic stem cells to treat cancer is immoral, then so is creating embryos to treat infertility. Most fertilized eggs created for IVF are disposed of or indefinitely frozen; only a small number are actually implanted and even fewer are donated for research.
Despite last week’s injunction, it looks as though the human trial will still happen but the pressure’s on, say scientists. Many worry that if the results of this initial test, for whatever reason, are not positive, opponents will claim that the entire field is illegitimate.
Helium balloons might become a thing of the past but not because something new and better has come along, simply because we’re running out of helium. Despite the fact that it’s sold cheaply, which experts say is “ridiculous,” it’s a non-renewable resource and cannot be manufactured artificially.
It has more uses than just making parties more festive and making you sound like one of the chipmunks; it’s needed for MRI scanners, airships, rockets, deep-sea diving, and document preservation.
In 1925, the US government started building up an enormous reserve of the gas in Texas - the largest in the world. Then, in 1996, the reserve was $1.4 billion in debt and, to recover some of the money, Congress passed an act saying that it should be sold by 2015, regardless of how cheaply.
Physics professor and Nobel laureate, Robert Richardson, says that helium is worth 20-50 times what it’s sold for, making a helium-filled balloon worth around $100.
"As a result of that Act, helium is far too cheap and is not treated as a precious resource. It's being squandered."
It’s possible to recycle helium in some cases but, because it’s so inexpensive, recycling it is not cost effective and not even NASA does it.
Would you still buy balloons if they cost $100 each? What about $10?
In the midst of job-hunting but reluctant to remove those less than professional images you have on Facebook?
You might want to consider taking your career to Germany, where a new law on data privacy prevents employers from screening potential candidates on social networks.
As of last year, nearly half of all employers used sites like Facebook to check out candidates and around 35% had rejected hopefuls based on what they saw online.
Offenses include inappropriate photos, comments about previous employers, and posts about drug use.
They’ll still be able to use any site that’s meant for job-seeking, like LinkedIn. They can also still Google you, although they may not be able to use certain info if it’s either out of your control or too old.
Some argue that it's only fair that employers get a glimpse into the life of someone they'll be hiring. Others argue that it leaves too much room for candidates to be judged based on things like political or religious views.
Where do you stand? Should Facebook be fair game or is it none of their business if you do your job well and keep the partying limited to Saturday nights?
Jail time for plastic bag use, a 9-day, 62-mile traffic jam, and cannabis cars. Here are a few tiny slices of what’s happening around the world.
Mexico City Says Peace Out to Plastic Bags
Mexico City is the latest place to ban the use of plastic bags. Stores will be required to charge customers who want them, but they can only sell biodegradable varieties.
While major cities around the world are implementing laws like this, some take it further than others. In Mexico City, failure to comply will get you fined up to $90,000 and tossed in the slammer for 36 hours. Believe it or not, that’s mild compared to the consequences in Delhi, where you can be jailed for up to 5 years for the offence!
(Via BBC)
China’s 62-Mile, Month-Long Traffic Jam
Think rush hour traffic is bad in your city? A traffic jam spanning more than 60 miles has had drivers in gridlock since construction began on August 13. Drivers say they’d rather wait it out than try alternate routes because the cost of tolls and gas would be too high. Instead, they’re getting out of their cars to play cards and buy overpriced instant noodles from street vendors who’ve decided to make a profit off of the situation. The tolls might start looking pretty appealing very soon; the traffic is not expected to clear until construction is completed…. halfway through September. Beat that, New York.
Extremists Take Advantage of Flooding in Pakistan
Millions in Pakistan are still without basic necessities. The flooding that began nearly one month ago has left millions living in unsanitary conditions, while their homes and livelihoods remain underwater. Aside from concerns about the outbreak of diseases like cholera, Pakistan's president cautions that Islamic militants are using the situation gain support from those affected. International aid has been slow to reach victims and some Islamist charities with ties to terrorism have been using the opportunity to provide aid to victims while promoting their agendas.
You can earn donations to help provide basic necessities to flood victims by supporting Music for Relief on SocialVibe.
Cannabis Cars for Canada
A Canadian car company has announced that it will begin testing biocomposite electric cars made from cannabis. Pothead jokes aside, if they succeed this could be a great way for auto companies to become more environmentally friendly. Hemp is not only very strong, it’s also a renewable resource.
The idea isn’t new; Henry Ford created one in the 1930s (above). Maybe it’ll catch on this time. Would you buy one?
If you think white kids perform better in school simply because they are white I beg to differ. There is an entire social system at work here. When a...
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