The objective for this Programme area is to “Address the specific needs of women and girls by improving environmental sustainability, and mitigating effects of climate change and disasters”.  (See the full list of Programme Objectives).

For further information about the Assistant Programme Director for Environmental Sustainability, see the Programme Team Page.

1. What is Earth Hour?

Earth Hour is a global campaign to showcase what can and is being done all over the world to combat climate change. Earth Hour is a worldwide initiative showing how individuals, communities, businesses and governments can address the threat of global warming if we resolve to work on it together.

2. When does Earth Hour take place?

Earth Hour takes place once every year on the last Saturday of March.  Earth Hour 2012 will be held on Saturday March 31 between 8.30PM and 9.30PM in your local time zone.

3. What does Earth Hour ask people to do?

Earth Hour encourages individuals, businesses and governments to show leadership on climate change through their actions, to use Earth Hour as a platform to showcase to the world what measures they are taking to reduce their carbon footprint.

Earth Hour asks everyone to take personal accountability for their climate impact and make behavioural changes to facilitate a low-carbon lifestyle. Taking the first step is as easy as turning off your lights.

By switching off your lights for Earth Hour you are making a statement on the indiscriminate threat of global warming and a commitment to a low-carbon lifestyle.

What can you do?

• Take part as an individual
• Hold a club event and take part as a group
• Encourage other people to take part, companies, local governments and other organisations
• Sign up as a Soroptimist on the web site, you only have to give your name or organisation and country (no more personal details)

For more information visit http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/campaign/earth_hour/

Some Soroptimists have been concerned about events where balloons have been released and maybe members are not aware of the damage this does to wildlife.  In the UK  the balloons often float over the sea and many animals think they are food and die a painful death. So maybe you would like to follow the Marine Conservation Society Guidance and instead of up up and away go for Don’t let go!

Wildlife friendly balloon use

You can enjoy balloons without harming wildlife:

• Don’t Let Go of balloons outdoors
• Fill balloons with air rather than helium
• Use balloons made of natural rubber latex rather than mylar (foil) balloons
• When tying balloons, use natural cotton string rather than plastic ribbon
• Securely tie any balloons that are used outside
• Always hand tie balloons rather than using plastic valves

Other ideas for balloon events.

• Prize balloon popping - air fill your balloons, and hide a few prize tickets inside. Release the balloons indoors and have everyone pop them to find prizes.
• Guess the number of balloons - run a competition before the balloon-pop, the closest guess wins.
• Balloon art - hire a balloon artist or, for the big, bold statement, try a giant air-filled-balloon sculpture.
• Balloon relay - each member of a team has to run a short distance and sit on a balloon to pop it before running back to tag the next member of the team. The first team to pop all their balloons wins!
• Guess the number of balloons - why not fill a car with inflated balloons and run a competition to guess how many balloons are in car. The nearest guess wins the prize.

WOMEN ARE MAJOR AGENTS FOR PROGRESS IN CLIMATE CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT GOALS – BAN

Women, among the first victims of climate change and enduring social ills, must also be seen as principal agents for change both in curbing global warming and in attaining the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to improve the lot of humankind, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

“Think of the women who, as a result of desertification linked to climate change, will have to forage even farther and longer for wood and water,” he told the Women’s International Forum that brings together some of the world’s most pre-eminent women. “Think of the women small-holder farmers who could see their crop yields fall by half over the next decade because of increasingly erratic rainfall.

“Think of the women who depend directly on the environment for their livelihoods and for the well-being of their families and communities,” he said, stressing that in most parts of the world, more than half, sometimes 70 to 80 per cent, of the burden is borne by women. “People who have been the least responsible for causing climate change are suffering first and worst from its effects.

“But let us also remember: to see women only as victims is to miss the point. So let us also think of the women who are custodians of local knowledge about food rationing, water harvesting, and forest conservation. Let us recognize how their insights can point the way toward sustainable natural resources management and green prosperity for all.”

With just six days left until the opening of the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, Mr. Ban said he was looking to women to take up the call for a fair and effective agreement that will reduce emissions while helping vulnerable communities adapt.

“Science demands that we act. So does economic common sense,” he declared. “Some say tackling climate change is too expensive, especially at a time of global economic and financial upheaval. They are wrong. We will pay an unacceptable price if we do not act now.”

Turning to the MDGs, the targets adopted at a UN summit in 2000 that seek to slash extreme hunger and poverty, infant and maternal mortality, and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015, Mr. Ban cited the stark challenges: 93 million children, mostly girls, not in school; a woman dying every minute during pregnancy and childbirth from preventable and treatable problems; millions of women without access to decent work and social security.

“On development, too, we need to think again: of the women who change their communities,” he said. “Consider Bangladesh, where the success of microfinance has transformed the lives of its people, mainly through the empowerment of its rural women.

“Consider also the women who are shaping the policies of their countries through their growing presence in parliament. Our efforts to reach the MDGs and our response to the global economic crisis must place women at the centre of decision-making.”

He pledged to appoint more women to senior posts, noting that since taking office three years ago nine new women under-secretaries-general (USG) have been appointed and he would soon name two more to the posts of Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and as head of the new gender equality entity.

“We have more women USGs than at any time in UN history – and many of them are the first women appointees to positions which have traditionally been held by men over the past six decades,” he said noting that the number of women in senior UN posts has increased by 40 per cent during his tenure. “I will continue to do everything I can to ensure the equality and empowerment of women and girls.”

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Taken from 12/1/09 UN News