The American government has a last put the Polar Bear on the Endangered Species List, after 3 years of warnings from the charity WWF.

After a 4 month delay, the Bush/Cheney administration’s Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne finally succumbed to intense pressure to add the Arctic animals to the list. He also made it clear that this should not be used to address global warming or habitat loss, the two main factors contributing to the decline of polar bears in the U.S.

The government’s decision making process was concluded over three findings. Firstly, sea ice is vital to the survival of the polar bear, but their sea-ice habitat has dramatically melted in recent years, with computer research suggesting sea ice is likely to further recede. Polar bears are now in serious danger of losing their habitat, making them likely to become extinct in the next 45 years.

Last year alone saw the arctic sea ice fall to the lowest level ever recorded, 39% less than the long-term average from 1979 to 2000.  Although the Arctic bear population has risen from about 12,000 in 1960 to almost 25,000 today, scientific projections suggest a major decline by the year 2050.

After many years of pressure, the U.S. government has finally acted on the World Wildlife Funds pressure, and you too can help save these animals from extinction. From as little as £2.50 a month you can adopt a polar bear, and help the WWF stop pollution in the Arctic Circle.

> > click here to adopt a Polar bear

> > click here to find out more about the World Wildlife Fund

Question: What’s the smartest way to help people in the world’s poorest communities help themselves?

Answer: Quizaid a new quiz night game from Christian Aid

Quizaid is the best quiz night in town – and it’s organised by you.

Challenge your friends, colleagues and neighbours to dust off their brain cells – and make a real difference this Christian Aid Week.

QuizAid events are currently being held across the nation for Christian Aid Week. Take a look at this fantastic event that was held on Monday night in North London :

 

If you are interested in holding a Quiz Aid evening all the available resources can be found here: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/christianaidweek/quizaid/index.aspx

Leonardo DiCaprio is narrating and also producing ‘The 11th Hour’, a documentary about environmental issues to be broadcast on Channel 4 later this month.

The documentary, to be transmitted on May 25, will feature leading scientific and political arguments about the environmental disaster the Earth is currently facing. Guest speakers will include professor Stephen Hawking, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The film itself will be narrated DiCaprio, and was written and directed by sisters Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, co founders of the Tree Media Group.

Tree Media have been in operation for 9 years, and thier mission is to use the media to support and sustain civil society. The film calls for action to change global human activity through technology, whilst claiming that not since a meteor hit earth 55million years ago have so many forms of life become extinct on this planet.

The film itself received critical acclaim when it premiered at the Canne Film Festival last year. Channel 4 has recently purchased the broadcast rights to the documentary from Warner Bros, who will also be releasing a DVD of the film in June.

It’s great to see big screen stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio using their voice to help save the environment, as future generations really need to sit up and take notice off the climate change issue. Hopefully with such a high profile star fronting this campaign, more people will sit up and take notice.

You too can help the planet’s enviromental problems by making a donation to Greenpeace, or even help save half an acre of rain forest with the World Trust. 

> > click here to help Greenpeace protect the environment

> > click here to save a save half an acre of rainforest

Cyclone Nargis has claimed up to 22,000 lives in Burma, with the number of dead possibly rising to 50,000 according to reports from Oxfam.

The cyclone swept the country with winds as high as 160mph, pulling down trees and phone cables, whilst destroying most buildings in its path.

Burma has declared five regions, including the main city Rangoon, home to most of its expatriate aid workers, to be disaster areas. Towns close to Rangoon have almost no houses remaining, with people living in the open without clean water, power or food. Along with extensive damage to the mainland, over 20,000 homes have been destroyed on the island of Haing-gyi, with up to 90,000 people made homeless.

 

The worst hit areas are in the Irrawaddy Delta region, which also happens to be one of Burma’s poorest. Alongside the massive death toll comes the huge amount of damage to food supplies and crops. Rice prices across the globe have been increasing over the last 12 months, causing severe strain on poorer nations. With millions of gallons of salt water flooding the rice paddies, Burma’s food economy and population may have to become importers of rice, something they cannot afford.

Immediate need for shelter, food and water is vital. In the cyclone-hit areas, communications are down and roads have been washed away, making it difficult to reach those who most need help. Oxfam is part of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), who are co-coordinating an emergency appeal to fund work across Burma in providing cash support and technical expertise. All donations will support the major effort that is urgently needed to meet the needs of this devastated country.

> > click here to buy an Oxfam charity gift

Charity of the Month Christian Aid kicks off their Christian Aid Week today. Read on below to see how the money raised during Christian Aid Week is spent.

Rekha Biswas from Bangladesh provides one of the most humbling and inspirational examples of tenacity this Christian Aid Week. This courageous lady has helped set up a water council which gives training to help people understand what they need to do to get clean water and then how to achieve it. And vitally, she challenges gender roles. She encourages women to come to meetings of the local pani parishad, the village water council.

Getting clean water is a problem throughout Bangladesh. People often have to walk for up to 24 hours carrying heavy pots to collect water to drink.

Through the new village pani parishad (water council), Rekha is teaching the community how to harvest rainwater safely so that they don’t have to travel for a whole day and cross a dangerous river to fetch drinking water.

By giving up a couple of pounds during Christian Aid Week, you are giving so much more than money. Your generosity can mean water, rights and courage.

• A gift of just £0.50 to Christian Aid would pay for one day’s gender training per person with BCAS to improve relationships in families and lessen the burden on women.
• £50 would pay for the monthly salary of a community pani parishad coordinator, who helps women and the poor to discover their voice, understand their right to water, learn about health and hygiene, and begin to instigate change.
• Your gifts this Christian Aid Week can help to give voice to a single woman or to a whole community.

>> Click here to donate during Christian Aid Week

Christian Aid is to be the very first “charity of the month” on charity information website donation4charity which has recently rebranded and added a new charity gift shop section. The new sponsorship initiative coincides with Christian Aid Week (11-17 May) and will promote the organisation’s work to potential supporters and donors.

Christian Aid Week is the UK’s largest and longest-running national awareness week and in 2007 raised nearly £15 million for vital overseas development work. This year, as well as raising money, Christian Aid is encouraging supporters to pledge to “do something else”, like recycling an old mobile phone.

The collaboration with Donation4charity - an independent portal providing users with information on UK charities - is an excellent opportunity to promote the week and new pledge-initiative.  Since launching just over two years ago Donation4Charity users have set up over 15,000 regular direct debit donations to the charities featured on the site and have purchased over £500,000 in charity gifts.

Chris Russell, head of interactive marketing at Christian Aid said: “This year we want people to give and get involved. By taking simple actions like switching to green electricity or emailing their MP about climate change, everyone can contribute.”

“The new Christian Aid Week website has lots of innovative ideas about how to get involved, and the partnership with donation4charity it is a excellent opportunity to promote and boost awareness in the run up to the event.”

Ross Travill, marketing director at Venturian Media Ltd, publishers of Donation4Charity said: “We have chosen Christian Aid as our partner for the site re-launch as with Christian Aid week fast approaching it presents an ideal opportunity for us to educate our community on the important work that they are doing and hopefully facilitate some additional support”.

If you’re planning a special event this year, why not set up an ActionAid gift list and help change someone’s life forever?

Instead of receiving the usual uninspiring gifts of flowers and chocolates for your birthday or anniversary celebration, why not ask friends and family to make a donation instead of a present? The average bunch of flowers costs £10, yet the same amount could feed a child for a week in East Africa. Your donation could help provide safe water and a regular supply of food to some of the world’s poorest people.

Not only can you ask your friends to make a donation as a present, you can also create your very own celebration web page, charting your party’s success. There you can tell people how their gift will make a difference, add photos of the event and write a blog letting people know how it all went. Action Aid can also provide you with special cards to accompany your party invitations and supply an alternative gift list to share with your guests.

10% of all children in the third world die before their 5th birthday.

You can help a child’s healthcare and education for as little as 50p a day. As a sponsor you will receive photos, messages and regular updates on how your money is being put to good use. So why not turn your special day into a special year for someone less fortunate…

> > click here to make a donation

> > click here to find out more about the work of Action Aid

The RPSCA charity credit card from MBNA is a great way to help the RSPCA animal charity whilst you go about your everyday business. This includes a £20 payment to the RSPCA when you first spend on your card!

Check out the information provided from the RSPCA and MBNA below. Please note the details are correct at time of publication - (07/05/08)

>> Click here to check full details and to sign up for the RSPCA charity credit card

• 0% p.a. on balance transfers for 12 months from the date your account is opened (3% handling fee applies)
• 0% p.a. on card purchases* for 3 months from the date the account is opened
• 15.9% APR typical rate (variable)

Help relieve the suffering of animals. When you first use your card, MBNA will make a payment to RSPCA provided you apply online for your card, and make a further payment every year you continue to use your card. In addition, every time you use your RSPCA Credit Card to make a card purchase, a payment equivalent to 0.25% of the value of the purchase is made to RSPCA. And with great rates, it’s not only the animals we rescue that benefit.

* See summary box for details of how payments to the account will be allocated”

>> Compare charity credit cards

We are pleased to announce that UK based health charity Sport 4 Life, whose aim is to relieve poverty and help build community spirit through the power of sport, have signed up to a dedicated section on our charity blog.

Sport 4 LifeUK, a social enterprise set up to promote and deliver community sport and exercise in Birmingham, celebrated its first 18 months of charitable work with an evening event held in February 2008. Attended by supporters, associates and sporting dignitaries, including professional golfer Alison Nicholas MBE, the event saw guests entertained in a sporting style, with healthy fruit smoothies being made by a pedal-powered blender (the ’smoothie bike’), with exercise-based games console the Ninetendo Wii getting hearts pounding, and with a table football tournament inspiring healthy competition all round. The event helped raise hundreds of pounds for community sport in Birmingham, and will be used to implement Sport 4 Life UK’s vision.

The Power Of Sport

Nelson Mandela once said -

’sport has an important role to play in the lives of people. Sport has the power to change the world, the power to inspire, and the power to unite people in a way little else can’ 

It is precisely this power that Sport 4 Life UK is aiming to harness. We have a vision to change lives through the power of sport by relieving poverty, building community and improving health, and we are already seeing the power of sport in action. As Chief Executive James Forrest says ’sport has a real power to engage with hard-to-reach groups and to change peoples’ lives for the better. Improved health, reduced stress, better community cohesion, personal development and less crime and anti-social behaviour are but a few of the outcomes we are seeing as a result of sports coaches working with and alongside local communities, and it is precisely these benefits that we want to see spread throughout Birmingham and further afield.’ The government, likewise, echoes these sentiments, with the Sport England policy document Sport Playing Its Part delineating 4 key contributions sport can make to society :-

•  to healthier communities
•  to safe, strong and sustainable communities 
•  to economic vitality and workforce development
•  to meeting the needs of children and young people.

The power of sport is well recognised and well understood, therefore, but the real challenge comes in effectively using that power.

Getting  Active in the Grass Roots

In its first year Sport 4 Life UK has focused its work within a number of deprived communities in Birmingham, and has delivered a diverse range projects.

The Street Sport initiative, a programme designed to provide constructive opportunity and personal development for disadvantaged children and young people, for example has been piloted on the Chamberlain Gardens Estate in Ladywood and the Stockfield Estate in Acocks Green. Structured and professional sports coaching sessions are delivered three times a week, with activities ranging from football to netball, from indoor rock climbing to kayaking, and from sports leadership courses to community tournaments, and are focused on engaging ‘at risk’, hard-to-reach and marginalised youngsters in activities that will benefit them physically, socially, educationally and morally. 

‘its fun and it gets me out and active’Danny (Ladywood)

‘the coaches are friendly and its loads of fun’Joseph (Ladywood)

The Discover Sport programme, on the other hand, provides sporting opportunities for disadvantaged men in Birmingham, and is aiming to use sport as a tool to unite, integrate and empower those suffering from social exclusion and marginalisation. 30 to 40 men from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds attend the All Nations Football Project every week, for example, while recovering substance users from the Slade Road Community Drug Team centre are benefitting from weekly football sessions designed to motivate participants to a healthier, substance-free lifestyle.

‘I feel reborn after running around’Mamadou Saliou Barry, Guinea-Conakry

Last, and certainly not least, the Exercise 4 Life project aims to combat poor physical and mental health and well-being amongst disadvantaged women by providing a unique 10-week aerobics programme. The course incorporates weekly hour-long aerobics classes, healthy eating workshops, exercising-at-home demonstrations, and introductions to mainstream gym classes, and is being delivered throughout the city including classes for young carers in Druids Heath, refugee women in Ladywood and disadvantaged mothers in Aston. 

‘The class has enabled women who would not normally be able to access such activities to improve their health and fitness’Anna Toogood, Karis Neighbour Scheme

Get In Touch

Anyone interested in our charitable work is warmly invited to visit our website Sport4life, or to contact our office on 0121 233 4793.

Over 75% of the world’s 500million dog population are strays, a problem the WSPA are fighting to eradicate. With the lack of animal medical care in third world countries, most stray dogs can expect to contract fatal diseases through tumours and rabies. The WSPA are looking to develop sustainable dog population management throughout poverty stricken countries, whilst also funding mobile veterinary services.

The WSPA run recreational and school based workshops worldwide to help educate children and pet owners on the responsible treatment of animals, while also providing medical services for all animals, stray or cared for. The work is a never ending cycle, as one animal is vaccinated, another is put down, but the tireless efforts of the WSPA will continue to fight what to most would look like a lost cause.

> > click here to make a donation to WSPA

> > click here to find out more about the work of the WSPA