OneWorld.net (U.S.)

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (OneWorld) - Green Festival attendees in Washington, D.C. tell OneWorld what global issues matter most to them. Interests range from global warming and human rights to bee colony collapse, but the message that we are one world shines through in each shot.

"I have my doubts that bees will be able to adapt to man-made climate changes," says Italian bee keeper Giuseppe Miranti. "Let's remember what Albert Einstein once said: 'Should the honey bee ever disappear, mankind would only survive a few years beyond it.'"
www.worldwildlife.org/climate/witnesses/item3786.html 

The Group of 20 major economic powers that met this past weekend should focus on a "Global Green Deal that shifts the focus from growth to development, and that is geared less to providing consumerist superfluities than to ensuring that nobody's true needs go unmet," write environmental analysts Gary Gardner and Michael Renner.
www.worldwatch.org/node/5935 

If serious action is not taken to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, the average global temperature will increase by an estimated 12 degrees Fahrenheit (6.4 degrees Celsius) and sea levels could rise approximately 3 feet (1 meter) by the end of the century, reports the Earth Policy Institute.
sustainablog.org/2008/10/13/earth-policy-institute-rising...

Across the planet, committed groups and individuals are demanding their governments recognize and protect all the rights that belong to them as equal members of the human family.
us.oneworld.net/issues/civil-rights

Unprecedented growth in the volume of international trade has failed to relieve extreme poverty, even in countries like India and China, which have been its major beneficiaries. Can the rules of world trade be revised to distribute its benefits more widely?
us.oneworld.net/issues/trade

Americans are increasingly turning toward organic products. Though organic varieties tend to cost of up to 20 to 30 percent more than conventional food, proponents of organics argue that organic food is healthier and that organic farming is more sustainable.
us.oneworld.net/article/eating-america-the-future-organics

Visit OneWorld's people section, where you can find everything relating to YOU and fellow OneWorlders around the globe.
us.oneworld.net/people 

Lives can be transformed and poverty eradicated, but only if people, groups, and governments work together to tackle the challenges of our time.
us.oneworld.net/issues/international-cooperation

Information empowers. Technology experts, educators, and entrepreneurs worldwide are finding new ways to spread ideas and promote learning.
us.oneworld.net/issues/knowledge 

New technologies are offering tremendous opportunities to build a modern future and vibrant economy based on clean energy sources -- like solar, wind, and hydropower.
us.oneworld.net/issues/renewable-energy 

Ensuring that all children around the world get a chance to go to school will not only decrease the growing global gap between rich and poor, it will also increase security, productivity, and health worldwide, writes Lester Brown, founder of an environmental think tank.
earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch07_ss2.htm 

An annual poetry contest organized by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation encourages contestants to "explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit." Read this year's winning entries.
www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/awards-&-contests/b...

Some world leaders are taking action to stem rising global temperatures. Just last month, Indonesian ministers and provincial leaders agreed to protect and restore the remaining ecosystems of Sumatra, a hotspot of biodiversity that has lost nearly 50 percent of its natural forest cover in the last 20 years.
www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=...

Farmers, scientists, and development professionals are striving to grow more food, safely, for a growing global population, while improving livelihoods for the billions who work the land everyday.
us.oneworld.net/issues/agriculture 

People across Africa honored the recent International Day of Peace by partaking in activities such as children's rights workshops for former child soldiers in Sudan, a sex education campaign for Burundian refugees in Tanzania, and performance art about peace and reconciliation in Uganda, writes the refugee agency International Rescue Committee.
www.theirc.org/news/irc-international-day-peace0922.html

OneWorld UK's Mobile4Good project is helping low-income Kenyans find jobs -- 100 per month. The success of the pilot is now expected to spawn similar programs in several nearby countries.
uk.oneworld.net/section/mobile

Wind power has the potential to produce 12 percent of the world's energy needs within 12 years, says a new report from Greenpeace International. This carbon emissions-free source is key to avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.
www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/global-wi... 

"Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world."
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
us.oneworld.net/issues/human-rights 

Worldwide, groups and individuals are using communication, negotiation, and mediation -- instead of belligerence and violence -- to resolve conflicts and build stable, secure societies. Peace is the prerequisite for progress and prosperity everywhere.
us.oneworld.net/issues/peace 

Technological advances have given new voice to millions around the world, but discrimination and political oppression still silence far too many, and counter-terrorism fervor threatens to stifle debate even more.
us.oneworld.net/issues/freedom-expression 

Preserving life and resources on the planet, such as trees, is not only good for individual beings and species, but it strengthens the web of life that supports all of our well-being.
us.oneworld.net/issues/conservation

The amount we consume often indicates a society's prosperity. But too much of a good thing can be very bad indeed, as skyrocketing consumption in wealthier countries is also driving environmental degradation and human rights abuses worldwide.
us.oneworld.net/issues/consumption

Across the globe, societies large and small are still struggling to implement and perfect the mechanisms that ensure all people's voices are heard and respected.
us.oneworld.net/issues/democracy

Worldwide, more children than ever are getting the opportunity to go to school, but many classroom settings remain far from ideal and 70+ million still don't ever see the inside of a schoolhouse.
us.oneworld.net/issues/education

People around the world are turning to bicycles by the millions, as governments rush to create incentives for this low-tech transport alternative to automobiles, writes OneWorld US's Alison Raphael. Some 130 million bikes were produced worldwide in 2007 -- more than double the number of cars (52 million).
us.oneworld.net/article/pedaling-toward-cleaner-cities 

Every person has the fundamental right to "a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care," states the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
us.oneworld.net/issues/health

Young people are volunteering, challenging conventions, getting politically active, and driving innovation and prosperity across the globe.
us.oneworld.net/issues/youth 

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) launched a major worldwide tree planting campaign in 2006. Under the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign, people, communities, businesses, governments, and other organizations are encouraged to enter tree planting pledges online with the objective of planting at least one billion trees worldwide each year.
www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/index.asp 

"Education fundamentally influences who we are, what we know, what we believe, how we think, and what we can do. It determines the prospects of individuals and nations. It is the basis on which all other elements of development are founded," says the Basic Education Coalition, a group of 19 organizations working to improve lives around the world.
www.basiced.org/content/view/10/5/ 

Over the last few decades, poor countries have accumulated billions of dollars in international debt, most of which accumulated because of poor lending decisions, support from Cold War allies, natural disasters, and poor decisions by corrupt dictators," writes the anti-poverty ONE Campaign. Debt relief for the world's most heavily indebted nations is intended to free up funds to be invested in much-needed social services, including provision of clean water and basic health care.
www.one.org/takeaction/the_jubile_act.html 

Nearly half the people in the world live on less than $2 per day, and 1 billion people live on $1 a day -- "at the margins of survival," according to the United Nations. And 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. But countless people and groups are working everyday to help transform lives by improving livelihoods around the world.
us.oneworld.net/issues/poverty 

The science is clear: the climate is changing and human beings are largely responsible. From the smallest villages to the highest levels of government, people are taking action to minimize future harm to societies and the planet, and beginning to adapt to what can't be undone.
us.oneworld.net/issues/climate-change 

The building blocks of modern society -- oil, coal, and nuclear power -- may also be its undoing. As vested powers dispute how, when, and even whether to shift to other forms of energy, wind, solar, and other technologies are advancing apace.
us.oneworld.net/issues/energy

The media must do more to communicate the impact of climate change on regular people, says R.K. Pachauri. Otherwise, the negative repercussions of rising sea levels and shifting weather patterns will continue to worsen, warns the climate change expert and Nobel Prize laureate.
www.worldwatch.org/node/5917

Forests help maintain the delicate composition of our atmosphere that sustains all life. They are also home to countless species of plants and animals. But they are falling prey to the need for land and timber to supply rapidly growing economies and the growing global thirst for biofuels.
us.oneworld.net/issues/forests 

More information is flowing across wider distances than ever before, connecting individuals and organizations, building solidarity and understanding worldwide, and improving efforts to create a better world for all.
us.oneworld.net/issues/communication 

Sustainet - Sustainable Agricultural Information Network, launched a book “Sustainable Agriculture: A Pathway out of Poverty for India’s Rural Poor” in August 2007. It emphasizes that sustainable agriculture can provide a means out of poverty and hunger. The book can be downloaded online.
www.sustainet.org/en/information-office.htm

The world is now losing plant and animal species at a rate between 100 and 1,000 times the natural extinction rate, meaning scientists are rapidly losing the genetic resources they need for medical advances, to ensure a secure food supply, and to protect life-sustaining ecosystems.
us.oneworld.net/issues/biodiversity 

Women and men across the planet are striving to create equal opportunities and combat the entrenched mentalities that breed discrimination. As the primary caregivers of the next generation, women are also the key to ending poverty worldwide and creating a better tomorrow.
us.oneworld.net/issues/gender 

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. "HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all."
www.hrc.org/about_us/index.htm 

"Today we measure the early waves of rising sea refugees in the thousands," writes environmental expert Janet Larsen, "but unless we can quickly check the rise in greenhouse gas emissions, we may one day measure them in the millions." And no place on Earth can accomodate that much displacement, she warns.
www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update76.htm

Today's interconnected world brings diverse cultures into contact with each other more than ever, sometimes sparking misunderstandings, but ultimately weaving a rich global mosaic over all the planet's people.
us.oneworld.net/issues/culture 

"It is barely conceivable that the Millennium Development Goals will be achieved without the efforts, creativity, and solidarity of many millions of ordinary citizens through voluntary action."
-Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
us.oneworld.net/issues/volunteering 

Nuclear power is hailed by some as a "clean" alternative to coal, but no good solution has been found for storing its radioactive byproducts or ensuring against accidents, attack, or weaponization of the technology.
us.oneworld.net/issues/nuclear-issues