October 15th is less than two months away and Change.org wants you to vote on this year’s Blog Action Day topic. Currently, the selection includes the following topics, but they will continue to take suggestions until the poll closes.
Water: The UN recently declared water to be a human right, but millions around the world still lack even the most basic access, causing widespread disease and the possibility of military conflict over access to clean water.
Human Trafficking: From prostitution to forced labor, more than 27 million people are modern-day slaves, making human trafficking one of the most overlooked man-made tragedies in the world.
Women: The most discriminated against group in the world isn’t a minority: it’s women. From inequality in schooling to reduced economic opportunities, women face a disproportionate degree of adversity all over the world.
Sustainable Food: Industrial agriculture has overtaken the world’s food supply – creating obesity in the developed world and spreading genetically modified crops and oftentimes undercutting local farmers in the developing world.
Hunger: While many of us may take healthy, nutritious food for granted, more than 1 billion people around the world see it as an unattainable luxury.
Oceans: Overfishing and pollution have decimated untold species of fish and other ocean life over the past few decades, and recent oil spills have shown how vulnerable aquatic life is to man-made disasters.
Last year, over 31,000 posts were made from across the globe on the topic of climate change, so vote for your favorite topic and plan to make yourself a part of this monumental event.
I was thrilled by the concept of a day for worldwide blog-powered reflection when the first Blog Action Day was announced in 2007, and I participated with Save the Environment for Free. Unfortunately, I missed the last two, but I’m already thinking of some great posts for all of the potential topics. Have you participated in any past Blog Action Days, and are you planning to participate in this year’s Blog Action Day?
Kind of puts the whole Matt versus Thesis debacle into perspective doesn’t it?
How so?
Water is a human right?
Does that mean that if someone wants my water, and I deny it to him, that I’m a criminal? Should I be providing residents of African deserts access to my water? How should I send these people my water, should I choose to do so?
Where do we draw the line on this silliness of granting everyone “rights” to things they don’t have?
My understanding of the issue is that you have a right to water if the source is accessible. In a village with a fresh water well, it would be a violation of human rights for anyone to restrict the local population from accessing the well. Now, in the middle of a barren desert, you don’t really have a right to water because there’s no water to have a right to, but that’s where the spirit of sharing comes into play.
Most of the charities that deal with water availability help villagers tap into local fresh water wells and/or provide filtering technology for dirty water.
There’s nothing silly about it. Corporations are buying up water rights in countries across the globe and charging for access to it. It might not affect you, but it does affect people in third world countries.
My vote is fr “HUNGER” in Asia thats the main concern.
Just voted for sustainable food. There so much cool stuff happening in the space (e.g., slow food movement, big fast food chains like Chipotle showing amazing leadership) – I really hope that comes through.