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Sankalpa is a holistic centre that works with people who are seeking support to detox off methadone.
Recent Entries
SIPTU calls on FAS to withdraw directive on Community Employment grants
January 1st, 2012
Suicide warning over some anti-depressants
December 24th, 2011
Letter to community employment participants
December 22nd, 2011
Revealed: the senior ministers in teacher pensions outrage
December 22nd, 2011
Fears for Northside CE schemes
December 20th, 2011
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Archive for the ‘Global Calendar’ Category
International Day Opposing Violence Against Women
Saturday, November 26th, 2011
World Population Day 11th July 10: Be counted – Say what you need.
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
World Population Day was started after 1987 when the 11th of July was the Day of 5 Billion – the number of people in the world at that time. It is meant to remind us about who is in the world and how we are connected to each other.
This year, the theme of World Population Day is ‘Be counted – Say what you need’. The idea is that by taking part in your local or national census, you will give the governments and the UN a better idea of who you are and what your needs are. Knowing what kind of people are in the world and what they need is really important for development – helping poorer communities to rise out of poverty and have safer, healthier lives.
Be counted, say what you need is a very simple and universal message though. As well as being about numbers, it could be about us as individuals. What do you need? Who can give it to you? What do you really want?
Maybe you are under too much pressure at work. Maybe your partner or family don’t understand you and don’t give you support. Maybe someone is taking you for granted. Maybe you are not listening to yourself?
This population day, think about what it means to say what you need. It’s scary! To tell someone, ‘I need you to give me a hug’, ‘I’m not really tired, just sad’ or, ‘I need more help with this work’, or ‘I need to be heard’ – it’s not easy! And maybe the most difficult of all is acknowledging to ourselves what it is we need.
What do you need? Be counted – say it.
http://www.unfpa.org/public/site/global/lang/en/world-population-day
International Day Against Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking
Monday, June 21st, 2010
These days we hear a lot about fair trade – how it’s better for the environment and better for farmers. Fair trade helps producers in poorer countries to make a fair wage for their work, which is why many of us are happy to pay a little bit extra for products with the fair trade mark.
Fair trade usually means coffee, chocolate, bananas, sugar – all those things produced in tropical countries that we can’t grow in Ireland. It is not usually a phrase that springs to mind when we think of drug trafficking, but if we are concerned enough about coffee farmers to buy fair trade coffee, we should think about coca and poppy farmers in the same way.
In parts of South America, where most cocaine is produced, farmers have been forced by criminal drugs gangs to farm coca instead of food crops. Like the mafia idea of ‘protection’, they are expected to produce a certain amount of coca or face the destruction and murder of their property and families. Children as young as four are involved in the production and transport of coca and cocaine. Families are trapped in cycles of drug production and debt.
Many people in Ireland use cocaine casually – at weekends it’s just part of a night out. I wonder if they give as much thought to what their drug use does to the people who produce the cocaine as they do to the farmers who produce their daily cup of coffee.
The drugs market exists on supply and demand – what part do you play in sustaining it?
Earth Day
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Did you know that the single most important thing you could do to reduce your carbon footprint is to cut down on your consumption of meat? The meat industry is very harmful to the environment. One third of all farm land in the world is used to grow crops to feed livestock. If these crops were used to feed human beings directly, we could produce ten times as much from the same land. Cattle cause the most environmental damage of any species (apart from humans), contributing to soil erosion and desertification. Of the rainforest lost each year, 70% is turned into pasture for beef cattle.
According to the UN, the livestock industry is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions – more than all the planes, trains and cars on the planet put together. Farm animals produce 37% of global emissions of methane, which is 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide in terms of global warming.
The meat industry is very inefficient in its use of water. It takes 16,000 litres of water to produce a single kilo of beef. Agriculture is a major source of water pollution too, with agricultural pesticides, fertilisers and manure leaking into groundwater and eventually into the sea.
Some people worry that becoming vegetarian will mean they don’t get enough protein. The truth is, all vegetables contain protein, and in Ireland we already consume twice the amount of protein recommended by the World Health Organisation. Lentils, beans, grains like quinoa, brown rice and wheat, as well as nuts, peas, chickpeas, spinach and broccoli contain plenty of protein.
Just love meat? Why not join Paul McCartney and go for Meat Free Mondays?
Go meat-free one day a week and you could:
- Save 378,000 litres of water
- Save 245 pounds of grain
- Save 7,700 square feet of rainforest
- Save 70 litres of oil
- Reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
What have you got to lose?
World Health Day
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010Instead of the usual advice to exercise more, eat more fruit and vegetables, stop smoking, start meditating, this World Health Day, I thought I’d look at global health – how health trends relate to equality.
Poorer people have more health problems and die younger. Less money equals less access to health care – or does it? In the UK, the NHS provides universal healthcare, and the same differences exist – in fact, they are worse than in many other countries.
New research shows that while increasing income improves health and life expectancy up to a point, once an adequate income is reached, equality of income is the best predictor of how healthy people will be.
These health and social problems affect everyone in unequal societies, rich and poor alike – so increasing equality will benefit everyone’s health, and everyone’s happiness. A healthier world means a healthier you.
For more information, check out ‘The Spirit Level’ by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson and visit; http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/slides
International Women’s Day
Friday, March 5th, 2010
International Women’s Day was originally a day to highlight inequality in our world. There are still inequalities in workload, power, pay and health, although the feminist movement has made some headway in addressing the balance. At times it seems as though the fight for equality has led to a kind of homogenisation – to succeed, a woman must think like a man – but equal does not have to mean the same. Rather than emphasising the areas we still need to change, this Women’s Day, let’s celebrate the women who are already making changes.
Every year, Triodos Bank holds the Women in Ethical Business Awards. These awards recognise women who work in ways that are profitable AND socially responsible. Last year’s nominees included Heather Gardener-Masoud, who along with Cathi Pawson set up Zaytoun to export fairly traded produce from Palestine, creating 1 million income for Palestine, with a turnover of £444,288, and with 3 employees.
Also nominated was Anne McCaig, CEO of Café Direct, which has a positive impact on 1.4million people worldwide. More than half the company’s profits are invested back into the growers, creating sustainability, profitability, and opportunity that benefits everyone.
Carry Somers gave up her PhD to set up Pachacuti, a fashion line that employs 6 people in Britain and creates income for over 300 people in Peru; supporting co-operatives, community groups, and mothers’ groups.
Women supporting – celebrating – women; that’s what International Women’s Day should be about.
International Day for Social Justice 20th February 2010
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
There is a certain amount of risk in life. Most of us want to have as little risk, and as much control in our lives as possible. We get secure jobs. We don’t want taxes to change. We want the value of our houses to stay the same and we don’t want our rents to increase. Some theorists suggest that there is a finite amount of risk in society, and that we all try to minimise our share of it, but that power makes the balance unequal. By not allowing social housing in our neighbourhood, we reduce the risk of anti-social behaviour for us, but we increase it for those we have stopped from getting close to us. Refusing to allow taxes to be increased gives us more control over our incomes, but increases the risk of poverty for those who don’t have power over their incomes. The thing about justice is that you can’t just want it for yourself; you have to want it for everyone.
The recent changes in the wealth of our country have highlighted more than ever the differences between the well off and the struggling. Now is the time for change. People are beginning to realise that what they want is not more stuff, but more connections with others. Connectedness is inherently risky. If my well-being depends on the well-being of others, I am more vulnerable than if I depend only on myself, right? On the other hand, if one person in a network, in a community, takes a hit, the shock can be absorbed by the whole group, lessening the impact overall. It is time to think about what each of us might lose in a more just society, but it is also time to consider what we have to gain. Are we willing to take the risk?
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