Look To The Stars News: Earth Institute

Shakira Reveals Global Charity Plans

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:00:00 -0000

Colombian pop star Shakira’s charity is to go global by the end of the year.

The 31-year-old established Pies Descalzos to improve education, nutrition, and the lives of the thousands of displaced children living in perilous conditions because of the violent internal conflict in Colombia. Speaking at an Earth Institute meeting with South American leaders at America’s Columbia University on Wednesday, she said, “For less than $2 a day, we can provide a kid with top quality education and the nutrition that they need to be able to function and be able to learn, because a kid with an empty stomach cannot learn… This model that has been so successful in my country, I now want to bring it to other countries in my small way.”

She also urged Latin American presidents to include the development of children during the next Ibero-American summit to be held in El Salvador.

Wednesday’s meeting – which was also attended by the presidents of Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, El Salvador and Panama – raised interest in the singer’s philanthropic endeavors, and she was more than happy with the response she got: “They seem very committed and that’s what we need. We need all the leaders of Latin America to have a definite commitment toward our children [because] the children of Latin America are waiting for opportunities. Where I come from, every child who is born poor will die poor and we have to change this – and this is the moment to do it. We are at the threshold of a new wave of awareness and sensibility toward our children’s issues. But early childhood development should be at the top of our priorities and at the top of every president’s agenda.”

The Latin American leaders who attended the debate expressed their commitment to bring up the topic during the El Salvador summit in November.

Musicians Start The Year With Generosity

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:45:39 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

2008 has only just begun, but already celebrities are straining at the leash to spread generosity among those who need it. And a host of musicians have kicked off the year with donations and events to raise money and awareness for a number of good causes.

Pop group OK Go are set to release a charity EP on iTunes on February 5, with all proceeds going to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The 5-song release, “You’re Not Alone”, will coincide with Mardi Gras 2008, and will benefit New Orleans-based musicians displaced by the 2005 disaster.

“New Orleans is one of the last places in America where music is truly a fundamental part of everyday life,” said OK Go singer Damian Kulash, whose hits include “A Million Ways” and “Here It Goes Again”. “People get together on the weekends and parade through the streets just playing songs; 12-year-old-kids learn funk on the tuba; everyone dances. Life elsewhere in the world simply isn’t as celebratory. If we allow the culture of New Orleans to die by leaving its musicians marooned around the country, America will have lost one of its great treasures.”

iTunes has agreed to waive all proceeds from EP sales, and digital distribution powerhouse IODA will promote it free of charge. In addition, free freight shipping is to be provided by EFM Worldwide/Horizon Cargo, and Music Travel Management has contributed free airfare for the band to play two benefit shows – January 11 at Tipianas, New Orleans, and February 2 at The 9:30 Club in Washington DC.

Rockers Switchfoot have also been on the charity trail recently, and have raised over $100,000 for Habitat For Humanity. The band donated $1 from every ticket sold during their Appetite For Construction tour to the organization, and also spent time working alongside volunteers for the charity during some of their stopovers.

Country singer and Grammy nominee Taylor Swift is another celebrity to show her generous side recently, when she donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang.

“[The organization] has camps all over the country for children who are sick,” said the 18-year-old singer. “For one week they can forget they’re sick and just have a blast and hang out with other people they can relate to. They look forward to it, and I love that cause.”

The Victory Junction Gang will use the truck to pick up children from the airport and give them a fun ride to the camp.

Swift will also perform at Nashville’s Sound and Speed event, the NASCAR and country music celebration to be held on January 11 and 12 to benefit the Victory Junction Gang. She will officially hand the keys of the truck over to NASCAR driver and organization founder Kyle Petty during the event. More information can be found at www.victoryjunction.org.

Singer and founder of the Show Me Campaign, John Legend, will join Earth Institute director Jeffrey Sachs for an evening of information, discussion, and music at Columbia University on January 28, as part of the Show Me Poverty Action Tour. The evening hopes to stimulate people to actively work to overcome global poverty, and more information can be found at the University website.

Pop group the Barenaked Ladies are to play at the North American Auto Show’s annual black-tie charity gala at Cobo Arena, Detroit, on January 18. The $400 ticket price will benefit a host of local children’s charities, including Barat Child and Family Services, the Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan, Boys Hope-Girls Hope of Detroit, The Children’s Center, and the Detroit Institute for Children. Proceeds will go towards goods, clothing, and health and support services for needy children. Tickets and information can be found at www.naias.com.

And finally, February 25 will see a charity concert commemorating the 5th anniversary of the Station Nightclub tragedy in Rhode Island, the fourth largest nightclub fire in US history.

The concert will be held at the Dunkin Donut Center in Providence, Rhode Island, and will feature Twisted Sister, Tesla, Stryper, as well as members of Staind, Boston, and Chicago.

The show has been organized by the Wake Up To Love Foundation, founded by Tesla drummer Troy Luccketta, and proceeds will go to the Station Family Fund, an organization set up by the community to assist victims of the fire. 100 people were killed in the blaze, with another 200 seriously injured, and 65 children lost either one or both parents. Survivors still struggle for compensation and support, and many are unable to meet their monthly needs.

Tickets for the show are available at www.ticketmaster.com.

Sachs Appeal - Who is Jeffrey Sachs?

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:48:18 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Brad Pitt sang his praises at the ONE X ONE fundraiser, and George Soros donated $50 million to the program which he directs, the UN Millennium Project. Bono and Madonna are also big supporters, and Angelina Jolie has filmed an MTV special promoting his work.

So who is this man that so many stars are looking up to? Jeffrey Sachs is considered the leading economic advisor of his generation; he has been called “the most important economist in the world” by The New York Times Magazine. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan regarding the Millennium Development Goals; has worked as an economic advisor to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Africa; and has advised organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme. He is the Director of The Earth Institute, and President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty.

But what really has people talking is the Millennium Villages he is helping to create as part of the UN Millennium Project. In 2004 the project implemented a plan to greatly reduce poverty by using practical, affordable means and empowering the people most affected by the condition.

The most impoverished know what help they require, making the key principle for each Village community empowerment, participation and leadership. Together they aim to create an African Green Revolution working with the environment to increase food production to a secure level, so that the people can then focus on non-agricultural endeavors.

There are currently 12 Millennium Villages, with the hope of creating 66 more in the next year. The first Millennium Village began in Sauri,Kenya, with a village consisting of little more than 5,200 people with the strong desire to improve their own lives. The funding for the project came mostly from the Kenyan government and the village, with under half of the funds coming from international aid.

At the start of the project most of Sauri’s farmers were harvesting less than a ton of maize per hectare – not enough to feed a household from one season to the next – so two maize hybrids were introduced to the village by the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force. The villagers received fertilizer, were taught fallow farming techniques and shown how to use leguminous crops to help enrich the soil. This new knowledge combined with a season of good rains to create a bumper crop of four tons per hectare, four times what they had previously grown.

Producing food is just one step that the project has taken. It provides for improved food storage facilities, bed-nets to stop malaria-carrying mosquitoes, free clinics with AIDS antiretroviral therapies and vaccinations to fight diseases, agro-forestry education, sinking of wells for safe drinking water, and bringing in generators for village electricity. The cost per person is $110 per year.

All of this is hard to imagine, but a video of Angelina Jolie at the Sauri village available on YouTube clearly illustrates what is happening. In fact, Jolie is so impressed with what she has seen that she and Brad Pitt plan to build a Millennium Village in Cambodia.

Look To The Stars News: Earth Institute

Shakira Reveals Global Charity Plans

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Musicians Start The Year With Generosity

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