National Research Council Estimates Impact of Human-Caused Global Warming

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The NRC issued a report on July 16, 2010, entitled, "Near-Term Emissions Choices Could Lock in Climate Changes for Centuries to Millenia: Report Estimates Impacts from Various Levels of Warming." These data will inform policy decision-makers. Here are some of the main points, quoted directly:

Increased Confidence About Future Impacts

Although some important future effects of climate change are difficult to quantify, there is now increased confidence in how global warming of various levels would relate to several key impacts, says the report. It lists some of these impacts per degree Celsius (or per 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming, for example (these apply for 1 C to 4 C of warming):

· 5 percent to 10 percent less total rain in southwest North America, the Mediterranean, and southern Africa per degree Celsius of warming.
· 5 percent to 10 percent less streamflow in some river basins, including the Arkansas and Rio Grande, per degree Celsius of warming.
· 5 percent to 15 percent lower yields of some crops, including U.S. and African corn and Indian wheat, per degree Celsius of warming.

What then must we do?

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Martin Fisher (KickStart) Fighting Poverty in Kenya by Selling Water Pumps to Poor Farmers

PBS's Spencer Michels reports on the story of how a California social entrepreneur sees the chance to increase access to clean water in Kenya through the use of foot-pumps. In this segment, there are many lessons for us on how to achieve our goals in the field. I recommend you watch this report:

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• I always wondered why we were poor (osocio.org)
• Samuel Otieno Ang'assa : Kenya (socialactions.net)

Jazz for Peace benefit for AIDSfreeAFRICA - be there or be square!

This is from Erika Power. Even if you can't go yourself, you can always send a check or click the Jazz for Peace picture and donate in support. Please remember to promote this event to others whom you know, encouraging them to promote it to others whom they know, etc., etc., etc. The Power is in the Network!

I am part of a non-profit based in Ossining, NY, called AIDSfreeAFRICA and we are benefiting from a Jazz for Peace concert with The Swim Strong Foundation on June 25th at Iguana Restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. Because of our work in African countries aiding pharmaceutical production, our executive director, Dr. Rolande Hodel, just won the Astellas USA Foundation Award that is administered by the American Chemical Society (ACS). This $30,000 prize is awarded for Dr. Hodel's pioneering work to help establish facilities for the production of pharmaceuticals, in particular, generic drugs for the African continent. I believe that this event is a great way for anyone who believes in social justice and equality to hear wonderful jazz music, eat good food (at Iguana), and sponsor worthwhile causes. Here is the event information:

Event Date: June 25th, 2009
Meeting Time: 6 pm- 10 pm
Event Title: Jazz for Peace Concert
Event Location: Iguana New York, 240 West 54th Street (bet. Broadway and 8th Ave. ), New York, NY 10019
Event Description: Jazz for Peace concert series (www.jazzforpeace.org) is benefiting AIDSfreeAFRICA and Swim Strong Foundation by hosting a special night with Rick DellaRatta, renowned jazz pianist and vocalist. The event is to be held at Iguana New York and tickets can be purchased through the The Swim Strong Foundation website (www.theswimstrongfoundation.org) for $35.00. Rick DellaRatta and Jazz for Peace play a fusion of Israeli, Middle Eastern, Asian, European, and American jazz music. The concert series chooses organizations that strive to obtain goals that are different from the norm which is perfect for AIDSfreeAFRICA (www.AIDSfreeAFRICA.org) because it is an organization that supports the production of pharmaceuticals in African countries. Most Africans die from the diseases that result from AIDS and not necessarily from the actual disease thus making the treatment of tuberculosis and the flu more attainable than curing AIDS. Through this support, AIDSfreeAFRICA has helped African companies produce necessary medications at reduced prices making the entire process cost-effective. The Swim Strong Foundation (www.theswimstrongfoundation.org) is a non-profit that inspires youth to swim competitively by creating swimming programs and summer camps.

Contact Name: Dr. Rolande Hodel, 125 South Highland Ave. #3-B1 Ossining, NY 10562
Contact Email: rrhodel@aol.com
Contact Phone: 914-923-2073
Web site URLs: www.AIDSfreeAFRICA.org or www.theswimstrongfoundation.org

If you have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to email me or Dr. Rolande Hodel (at rrhodel@aol.com). I hope to see you at the Iguana Restaurant on June 25th for the concert. Thank you very much for your time. Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Erika Power

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Congratulations to AIDSfreeAFRICA

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AIDSfreeAFRICA celebrated its third birthday on April 19, 2009. AIDSfreeAFRICA was founded by Dr. Rolande Hodel and is developing pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities in Africa, to be owned and operated by local people. See Rolande's amazing story here.


This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

Liberian President Details Her Path to Power

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Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf details her rise to power and her personal experiences with domestic abuse in her book "This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life." Johnson-Sirleaf talks about her life and country with Margaret Warner.

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Annan Discusses Food Aid and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa | June 11, 2008 | PBS

"Annan: World Must Help African Nations Tackle Food Crisis

"Fuel costs and supply shortages have caused a spike in food prices across Africa -- prompting calls for an agricultural revolution on the continent. Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan discusses efforts to address the crisis." Please watch the video here.

Tapping the Sun: Africa

Earth at night: Compare Africa with the industrialized and industrializing nations. No lights except in a few spots. No electricity. See also Energy key to Africa's prosperity.

Then see the cover story in C&EN, August 27, 2007, Volume 85, Number 35, pp. 16-22, "Tapping The Sun: Basic chemistry drives development of new low-cost solar cells". One thing Africa has is plenty of sunshine.

• What are the opportunities for implementing solar technologies in Africa?
  
• What would it take to have solar technologies manufactured in Africa instead of imported, so the profits go to Africa?

We are increasingly dependent upon electricity. Even paper towel dispensers in many public toilets in the US have infra-red sensors and are electrically powered (none of that manual stuff for us). How can Africa become a serious participant and competitor in the world marketplace without electricity? In the meantime, profits from Africa's resources go mostly to others.

Chemists Without Borders Conference Call, 6-28-2007

Last week's conference call was very exciting. Rolande Hodel (www.AIDSfreeAFRICA.org, New York, NY) and Terry Wright (www.Cytoluminator.com, Darwin, Australia) had an extended discussion of their respective projects. Cytoluminator employs photodynamic therapy (PDT), which has been succesfully used to cure various intractable diseases. Terry said that they have been able to kill HIV in models and are preparing to do human clinical testing. Rolande may have candidates for that. Moreover, Terry said he has a prospective investor with very deep pockets (>$1billion) who may even become interested in financing Rolande's pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Cameroon, Africa. All in all, a very stimulating discussion. This is just the beginning.

Water issues worldwide

Water: International and Regional Issues: United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Australia, Africa and the Developing World

AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?

This editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News last week.

    Posted on Thu, Sep. 14, 2006   

AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?

By Ruthann Richter

In all the bluster of the recent International AIDS Conference in Toronto, where did the children go? It was stunning how little attention was paid to them, with hardly a mention of children in all the talk about how to contain the epidemic and treat those in need.

The epidemic is 25 years old, yet we are still at a stage where children are largely ignored in the policy arena and receive minimal funding to meet their needs, both physical and psychological. That is the case despite that 2.3 million of the world's children -- most of them in sub-Saharan Africa -- are now living and dying with HIV. And an additional 15 million are growing up without the nurturing hand of a mother or father because AIDS has taken them away.

``It is impossible to understand how, in the year 2006, we continue to fail to implement policies to address the torrent, the deluge, of orphan children,'' Stephen Lewis, the U.N. envoy for AIDS in Africa, said in closing the mammoth conference Aug. 18. ``I appeal to everyone to recognize that we're walking on the knife's edge of an unsolvable human catastrophe.''

While the number of orphans is escalating, only 3 to 5 percent of them receive any help from government programs, a figure Lewis called ``chilling.'' And though young children are particularly susceptible to the ravages of HIV, with 60 to 70 percent dying by their fifth birthday, fewer than 5 percent of those infected benefit from treatment.

The Clinton Foundation certainly must be credited for advancing the cause of children, helping bring down the cost of pediatric antiretrovirals to less than $200 a year and making these lifesaving drugs available to more than 10,000 children. But as Clinton himself acknowledged at the conference, it's a small fraction of the more than 500,000 youngsters with advanced disease who desperately need treatment to live.

Children continue to be discriminated against on many fronts. Kenyan pediatrician Ruth Nduati, the only plenary conference speaker who focused on children's issues, observed that while adults get free testing for HIV in Kenya, children have to pay a fee -- hardly an option for youngsters often living on the edge of starvation. And while there are 280 sites in the East African country that now hand out anti-AIDS drugs, only 76 of them offer them to children.

During my travels in Kenya, I visited a number of projects to help youngsters -- small, grass-roots programs run by local activists who have rushed in to fill the gap. These programs operate on shoestring budgets, without the benefit of aid from governments or global organizations, which have been woefully absent from the movement to care for orphans and vulnerable children.

Some programs, like the Mji Wa Neema (House of Hope) orphanage in Naivasha, are run by faith-based organizations, in this case the local Catholic Church. The parish priest, Father Daniel Kiriti, has been recast in the role of HIV activist, for he sees the orphans literally collecting at his doorstep. One child, only hours old, arrived early one Sunday morning -- a small package in a paper bag borne by a parishioner who had rescued her from the parish fence. Tolea, as she is called, is now thriving at the orphanage despite infection with HIV.

At another project in Gilgil, a retired nurse and a local cafe owner have cobbled together a home of last resort for children who have no other place to go. One resident, 2-year-old Mary Maishon, was within weeks of starving to death when they rescued her last year. Both her parents had died of AIDS, and her grandfather had virtually abandoned her. She had been living under a piece of cardboard and plastic with her 4-year-old sister and 3-year-old cousin. Mary had been crippled by malnutrition, unable to walk, and too traumatized to talk. She is alive today only because of the efforts of a few community activists working with scarce, donated funds.

It's unforgivable that the world continues to turn its back on children like Mary and Tolea. Saving the younger generation is not only the right thing -- the human thing -- to do, but it is also important for global security and stability. As Lewis warned, if we don't intervene now, ``We are inviting the whirlwind, and we will not be able to cope.''
RUTHANN RICHTER, director of media relations at the Stanford University School of Medicine, writes frequently on the topic of children and AIDS. She wrote this article for the Mercury News.


© 2006 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.mercurynews.com

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15515972.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Chemists Without Borders Conference Call 8-17-2006 notes

Chemists Without Borders Conference Call, 8-17-2006

1. Agenda

1.1 Introductions
1.2 Open Access
1.3 Legal
1.4 Funding
1.5 Education
1.6 Conference Presentations
1.7 Arsenic Project
1.8 Communications
1.9 Vaccines & Medicines
1.10 Personnel & Roles
1.11 Unfinished Business
1.12 Feedback

2. Introductions

2.1 Steve Chambreau
2.2 William Doria
2.3 Bego Gerber
2.4 Rolande Hodel - in absentia
Steve, Bego, amazing confference... Jonson&Jonson just blew my mind - in a positive way - I'll give you a summary - maybe for the newsletter when I am back - can you bring up the topic that AIDSfreeAFRICA is looking for volunteers with technical and accounting expertise to join us in Cameroon Jan-Feb 2007? Sorry I will have to miss the call. Cheerfully, Rolande "The humanity of our world will be measured against the fate of Africa," said Horst Koehler, German President and former managing director of the Washington, DC-based International Monetary Fund, in his inauguration address in 2004. Dr. Rolande R. Hodel, Ph.D. 125 South Highland Ave. #3-B1 Ossining, NY 10562 914-923-2073 AIDSfreeAFRICA, Inc. http://www.AIDSfreeAFRICA.org Community Partnerships Against AIDS Programs Bamenda/Cameroon http://www.copaapcam.org


2.5 Heather Morrison
» See document: http://chemistswithoutborders.blogspot.com/2006/07/draft-open-access-position-statement.html
2.6 Meghann Mouyianis
2.7 Brian Wagner

3. Legal Issues

3.1 Perry on vacation
3.1.1 Will move our 501(c)3 to top of his pile on his return
3.2 Steve has large list of things to work on

4. Open Access

4.1 Feedback@chemistswithoutborders.org email ready
4.2 Newsletter attachment public statement
4.3 Bill Doria: New issue for him
4.4 Schools moving towards making their work accessible
4.5 Support Open Source science a al Jean-Claude Bradley
4.5.1 Doing things in new ways
4.5.2 E.g., Human Genome Project
4.6 Chemistry slowest to implement owing to being major publisher with vulnerable budgets
4.7 Peer reviewed articles published as open access
4.8 Some journals charge publishing fees, others do not
4.9 NIH prefers open access
4.10 Wellcome Trust (UK) insists on open access to results
4.11 Research Councils (UK) 4/8 requiring open access to the work they fund
4.12 Make existing work open before applying for new funds

5. Funding

5.1 Colin Scholes - fundraising

6. Personnel & Roles

6.1 Director of Development
6.2 Director of Public Relations
6.3 Director of Information Technology
6.4 Director of Communications Technology
6.5 Director of Education
6.6 Director of Vaccines and Medicines
6.7 Director of Water Purification or Remediation
6.8 Director of Legal Affairs
6.9 Director of Human Resources
6.10 Project Leaders and Organizers
6.11 Graphic designer
6.12 Web designer
6.13 Other key players and roles

7. Education Project

7.1 Bill Doria will connect with Gary DeBoer re pharmaceutical testing
7.1.1 Bill may be able to start testing this coming semester
7.2 Arsenic Project
7.2.1 Will need hands in November
7.3 Meghann is teacher with teacher contacts

8. Conference Presentations

8.1 PowerPoint
8.2 Quicktime
8.3 Approvals
8.4 Nov 10 deadline for Chicago ACS Conference

9. Arsenic Project

9.1 Have protocol and equipment list from State of CA
9.2 Attempt to tag along with their crews instead of doing it ourselves
9.3 Sign a liability waver
9.4 What will we do with it when we get it?
9.5 How much will we need for first project?
9.6 Ask foreign members what resources local communities might have

10. Other Business

10.1 Next conference call
10.1.1 7 AM GMT, 8-24-2006
10.1.2 6 PM PST, 9-7-2006

11. Topics not dicussed this time

11.1 Communications
11.2 Vaccines & Medicines
11.3 Unfinished Business

12. Feedback

12.1 Plus
12.1.1 Very informative
12.1.2 Better idea of what group stands for
12.1.3 Better feel for what we're trying to do and what the possibilities are
12.1.4 Easier to identify goals
12.1.5 Sense that things are coming together
12.1.6 Seems like we are getting close to practical implementations
12.2 Minus
12.2.1 Didn't review conference call ground rules

AIDSfreeAFRICA wish list

Chemists Without Borders is collaborating with AIDSfreeAfrica, a non profit organization focusing on "empowering people in Africa to produce their own essential drugs, diagnostics and diagnostic reagents, in short pharmaceuticals, by helping to build factories and a pharmaceutical infrastructure in Africa." (Rolande Hodel)

Please see the website for more info:

http://aidsfreeafrica.org

If you know any individual or organization who would be willing to donate any of these items, please contact Rolande Hodel at:

RRHodel@aol.com





(post updated 11/10/06)

ELMO

More from Dave T and water supply in Africa

Dave:

I was thinking that Chemists Without Borders could help with the decontamination aspect of the water that the Rotarians are supplying. The cooperative idea is a good one, especially the idea of a small user fee to reduce misuse. There are many things in your emails that CWB needs to consider before trying to implement our hyacinth/arsenic remediation project- I appreciate your input.

We have already been in contact with the UN (UNICEF). At UNICEF, Lynn Geldof:

http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/reallives_1344.html

has given us some good ideas as to where to look for help with our medicinal/vaccines projects. If you have other contacts that might be helpful for our cause, I would be happy to talk to them.

Please keep in touch- your input has been very helpful.

Cheers,

Steve

Steve:

After a couple failed attempts to create a blog account (which I
likely would seldom if ever use anyway), I decided to take a pass on
that offer.

Thanks for posting my e-mail for those who want to read them.

I'm not a Rotarian, having been in class for 40 years at their
meeting times. Now retired, I'm enjoying not having to attend weekly
meetings so may not take up several invitations to join. But I
support their great efforts. My outsider view is that Rotary clubs
do a great job at raising money for beneficial projects both locally
and abroad.

We visited a number of such projects around Addis Ababa. In those
typical cases, money is raises in the US and administered by
Rotarians in Addis. The first water project we visited is still in
the planning stage. We travelled over some rough roads and
eventually had to hike the last mile or two when the road became
unpassable to both our bus and a 4 wheel drive utility vehicle.
Rotary is taking as low tech a solution as possible, diverting a
portion of a year round clear water stream from the hills into a
storage tank, then providing gravity fed piping to a few taps in the
village below. The village already has an irrigation ditch but the
appearance matches that of chocolate milk. The intent is to form a
local cooperative and charge each family a small users fee. The
cooperative will elect a local administrator. The fee should cover
any eventual maintenance costs, but the hope is that by charging a
small fee, the system will have less possibility of misuse, and the
community will feel some responsibility to make sure it continues to
function.

We also visited a more elaborate completed project with funding from
a group in Karisruhe. That obtained water from a lowland spring,
collected it in a covered concrete storage tank, and used a field of
solar cells to pump water to a second storage tank on a nearby
mountain top. The water then flowed downhill to a dozen villages,
each with four spigots.

My original concept was to help while visiting by doing some water
testing since I was moderately well versed in testing and
interpreting results. I was surprised by the mix of low living
conditions with the availability of the latest technology such as
cell phone communications. I am still not clear of what CWB
collaboration might be useful. I have cell phone numbers but not any
e-mail addresses for our hosts in Addis. But perhaps I might obtain
e-mail addresses from our group's leaders and obtain their views on
how CWB might be of assistance.

In Uganda I was impressed with World Vision's similar concept of
hiring local people to provide their local assistance efforts, using
funding from US donations. I understand early on they decided that
sending volunteers to help actually wasted much of the donations on
transportation, lodging and such for the volunteers and that hiring
local people avoided that as well as providing employment. One of my
former students, now Senior Vice President for World Vision in the
US, joined us on our journey in Uganda. He might also have some
insight, or be able to gain some advice as to possible CWB
collaboration.

Finally, the UN presence was abundant in both countries. Presumably
they may already be providing such assistance where needed?

cheers
dave t

Letter from Dave T.

Here is a letter I received from Dave T, printed in its entirety:

Last Fall I discovered Chemists Without Borders when I was preparing
to accompany a Rotary group to Ethiopia and Uganda. With the group
scheduled to visit several potable water projects being developed by
Rotary, I considered taking along water testing kits and doing some
water quality tests. However I discovered that United States
regulations prohibits taking out of the US even simple Hach water
test kits such are used for teaching in our schools. So while we did
visit several water projects, I was unable to do any testing. We did
find that large areas have hand pumped wells where family members
routinely obtain presumably potable water and then carry it in 5
gallon plastic containers several miles for use in their homes.

Bottled water and Coke was universally available and widely sold in
both countries. The price of Coke was the equivalent of a few cents
per recycled glass bottle. There was very little variety of either
beverages or food.

I was impressed that while the standard of living remains low for
many people, televisions and cell phones abound, and Internet access
is being brought to schools and libraries. When we visited political
leaders and schools in both countries we received repeated requests
for "America, send us teachers." We found classes typically crowded
and many schools teaching two shifts of children each day.

While it is unlikely that a significant number of American teachers
will help in east Africa, I see no reason why American teachers
cannot modify current instructional chemistry lessons and experiment
directions and post them on a single web site or at least link to a
common site so that peoples in developing nations can easily access
free systematic instruction and gain secondary and higher education
without having to seek funding for study elsewhere. We could deliver
education at many orders of magnitude less expense than either
sending teachers or as Rotarians are currently doing, sending
shipping containers of discarded surplus library books.

I have been probing to determine whether effective instructional
activities might be developed for such use. I have posted both
photographs from Africa and test versions of chemistry and physics
lessons on my web site: URL http://www.SequimScience.com/ I invite
CWB readers to contribute activity and experiment directions and
related instruction content as well as suggest other creative ideas
which could be further developed. This is another way that CWB could
cause an enormous benefit for these peoples.


PLease post comments!

ELMO

Engineers Without Borders

I spoke with Sam Burd (President, Medical and Biotech Developments, Inc.), who has been a member of the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders for 10 months. The chapter has been around for 2 years and the entire organization for 5 years. Sam recommends staying very focused and to commit to lifetime attachment to each project, cradle to grave, or projects will flounder. Keep them small, especially at the beginning, and don't worry too much about money. He said their most expensive project so far in Africa was about $30,000. Don't worry about growing the organization, just stay focused on the project. For example, get vaccines into one village, somewhere. Sam suggested that tsunami-affected areas will be good candidates for our efforts. Sam has offered to be a consulting resource for us.