The New Organizing Institute

Check out this seminar I am attending on Monday (July 28th). I think it might be a step towards my forthcoming education blog.  I love Catchin Feelings, but I want to focus attention to issues important to society, especially education. The New Organizing Institute (NOI) is a great example of civic engagement in action.

Their blog will also be added to my blogroll: neworganizing.com/blog (haha I am lovin this lingo)

Their advisory board – Check out the various org’s on a search engine and let me know if there is anything interesting

NOI on Facebook and Myspace (as a 28 year old female?!)

Why isn't the 'Buckeye State' in their logo?

Why are Poverty and Racism Still in America?

The idealistic, liberal 22 year-old that I am is curious as to why the richest and most powerful country in the world has such issues adjusting to the 21st century. Maybe not all people are made to fit into our capitalist system, or some people have hate constantly flowing through their veins regardless of who its directed at, but when the media and government still show blatant signs of backwardness, its quite perplexing. So much so, that our entire value system has to be called into question.

Yesterday, the Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg spoke out against the federal standard that measures poverty in the U.S. It was brought to my attention some years ago in an introductory sociology class, that the federal method used an outdated formula from the 1960’s, the Orshansky Formula, to determine if a family or individual is below the “poverty line”. This model has undoubtedly been underestimating the number of impoverished people in the U.S. for quite some time due to the raised comparative standards of living, increasing transportation and childcare costs and a broken health care system. Bloomberg outlined a new formula that New York City will use to more accurately assess the scope of the problem. It is my hope, the the federal government will also change its archaic policy for one that better reflects the bare essentials of life in America.

C'mon are you serious?

Perhaps more troubling this week, is the cover of the New Yorker Magazine, depicting Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, as a pair of unpatriotic, radical Muslims. While the magazine claimed it was trying to depict the satirical side of the right-wing attempts at undermining the Democratic presidential candidate, it is clearly a racist depiction. Both campaigns, the newspapers around the country and most Americans will agree that the cover is tasteless and offensive. The truth is that we have a black man with a very good shot and becoming the next president, and many people are secretly terrified, shocked and outraged. People look at him as a black man first, and everything else second, masking the severity of the real issues our country is facing. Until we can drop the past and accept the fact that all people are the same biological species, then we are doomed for failure.

America has came a long way, from the times of forcefully removing Natives from their ancestral lands and the slave society, to today, where CEO’s receive hugely disproportionate incomes and moms drive kids around town in their 12 mpg SUV’s. We still have quite a ways to go if we want to remain on top of the world’s power structure and it should start with a critical self-examination as soon as possible.  If we want to keep the American Dream alive, we should value all Americans equally and make this land a becon of freedom for all.

What the G8 Summit Means for Climate Change

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt about global warming

This Monday kicks off the final summit President George W. Bush will attend as the U.S. representative in the economic cooperative, the G8. Expected to be at the top of the agenda is a global emissions reduction policy to slow the effects of climate change. Many believe that the G8 nations need to agree on a set of goals to curb GHG (greenhouse gas) pollution before a major treaty can be drafted, such as Kyoto in 1997. Still, there are those who believe that unless the major developing nations are at the table that no such agreement can take place. While the G8 includes large emitters such as the U.S., the real problem with slowing anthropogenic effects on our ecosystem in the future is nations like China and India, where booming growth is expected to drive pollution. The G8 created an outreach group to address the problems in the developing world, inviting China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa to the table, but more needs to be done to create a global solution.  Compromise must be at the heart of any agreement and sacrifices must be made on all sides.

When GHG’s are released into the air, they do not hover above from which they came, rather they blend into the ozone layer, lessening the capacity for heat to escape. This means that increasing carbon concentrations effects us all equally and it truly is a problem of global proportions. The U.S. has a lot of catching up to do internally, and recently the World Wildlife Fund labeled the U.S. the worst emitter among all G8 nations. While many experts continue to debate the effects that climate change will have on human populations, the general consensus is that further emissions will not be good for future generations (this summary from the IPCC is the bible on the scientific consensus for climate change). There is no doubt that this issue will cement itself as one of the primary issues of our time.