“Twenty per cent of the world’s population consumes 80 per cent of the world’s resources.”
“The world invests twelve times more in military expenses than in the assistance to developing countries.” “Five thousand persons die everyday after drinking contaminated water; 1 billion persons do not have access to potable water.” “Around 1 billion are afflicted by hunger.” “More than 50 per cent of the grain that is marketed in the world is used for animal feed or biofuels.” “Species are dying one thousand times faster than the natural pace.” “Three fourths of the fishing areas are depleted, diminished or are dangerously decreasing.” “The average temperature during the last 15 years has been the highest ever recorded.” “The ice cover is now 40 per cent thinner that it was 40 years ago.” During the final minutes of the documentary, director Yann Arthus-Bertrand uses a milder language to praise some positive actions by countries he was forced to mention –and I don’t mean to offend or hurt anyone. His final words went as follows: “It is time for us to be all together. What matters now is not what is gone, but what still prevails. There are still half of the world’s forests, thousands of rivers, lakes and glaciers and thousands of successful species. Today we know that solutions are right here. We all have the power to change. Then, what are we waiting for? It is up to us to write what comes next, together.” The topic that has absorbed most of my efforts –the imminent risk of a war that would be the last in the prehistory of our species-, to which I have devoted 9 Reflections since June 1st, is a problem that becomes more and more serious by the day. Obviously, 99.9 per cent of persons entertain the hope that elemental common sense would prevail. Unfortunately, based on all the elements from the reality I perceive, I don’t see there is the slightest chance that this could be so. Therefore, I think it would be far more practical for our peoples to be prepared to cope with that reality. That would be our only hope. The Iranians have done precisely that, just as we did in October 1962, when we would rather disappear than put down our banners. Out of mere chance -and not because of the merits of the intelligence or the individual history of anyone of us- things are evolving today just as they were then. News coming from Iran everyday are not even one millimeter away from their announced position to uphold their just rights to peace and development, but they include a new element: they have already managed to produce 20 kilograms of 20 per cent enriched uranium –an amount enough to produce a nuclear artifact-, which is making all those who long ago decided to attack them to go even crazier. I discussed this with our ambassadors on Friday 16. Not even Obama could change that decision –nor has he given so far any indication he would be determined to do that. Fidel Castro Ruz July 18, 2010 4:28 p.m. " http://www.countercurrents.org/castro210710.htm You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.com http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
