DECEMBER 2003 NEWSLETTER

 


WORLD BEYOND BORDERS
NEWSLETTER


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This is the official newsletter of World
Beyond Borders (www.worldbeyondborders.org).
It reports site news and world events that
affect our quest for a united Earth. To
subscribe, send a blank email to
wbbnews-subscribe@topica.com.
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Volume 1, Issue 4
December 1, 2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. Quote of the Month
2. What's New at World Beyond Borders
3. Bad News for the Ozone Layer
4. What You Can Do
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1. QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and
probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in
hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded
will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing,
asserting itself with ever-growing insistency." --Daniel Burnham,
architect of first skyscraper, 1864-1912

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2. WHAT'S NEW AT WORLD BEYOND BORDERS

One of the purposes of World Beyond Borders is to empower on-the-ground activists by providing information and resources. This month, we are introducing two new features we hope will help you. The first is a new mailing list for World Beyond Borders participants -- people working to promote human unity, world citizenship and global government. Some belong to organized groups; others do not. All can use this list to share ideas, coordinate projects, discuss results and support one another. To subscribe, send a blank email to
wbbaction-subscribe@topica.com.

Our second new feature is a Projects section in Interactive Activities and Communication. This is where you get to toot your own horn. Tell us about any cool projects you're working on or have completed in the past. We're interested in everything from small, local accomplishments to national and international campaigns. Send your stories, long or short, to Jane Shevtsov, jaia@ucla.edu.

We also have two new articles. By section, they are:

Why Global Government?
*"The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings: A Mythology of Ending All War" by Eli Williamson-Jones looks at movies that have become modern myths. What do these films tell us about our society and about ending war?

What Might It Look Like?
*"The Anatomy of Peace: Conventional Constitutional Conservatism" by Alexander Madison Fleming. The author has been Professor of Earth Politics at the University of New Washington at Mars North (UNWMN) since 2185. He was Chair of the United Earth Centennial Committee (2169) and served on the New Mars Union constitutional committee (2179-80).

Please send article ideas or submissions to Jane Shevtsov,
jaia@ucla.edu.

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3. BAD NEWS FOR THE OZONE LAYER

by Eli Williamson-Jones

Last month, talks between the United States and the rest of the world concerning the Montreal Protocol broke down in Nairobi, Kenya. The Montreal Protocol is a treaty that curtails the world's use of ozone-depleting chemicals, most famously CFCs but also the even more destructive pesticide methyl bromide. The Bush administration is threatening to ignore the treaty's provisions if its demands for higher usage of the chemical are not sanctioned. Even after the European Union offered a compromise that would provide farmers with the same amounts of the pesticide as they had used a year earlier, delegates from the U.S. refused. Apparently this wasn't enough for the nation which already accounts for a quarter of the world's use of the chemical.

It has been argued that the Bush administration is moving forward with such environmentally hostile actions in order to win the electoral vote of Florida which is desperately needed in a reelection. Strawberry growers in Florida are consequently large users of methyl bromide and may not support Bush if they can't continue using the pesticide.

Although the ozone hole is expected to heal in about fifty years, scientists say that the danger to the ozone layer persists. As a result of the dissonance created over the Montreal Protocol in Nairobi, another meeting will be held in Montreal, Canada during March 24th through the 26th of next year. The question is how the world community will deal with the threat to the ozone layer that protects us and the treaty that protects the ozone layer.

For more information:
Common Dreams, Geoffrey Lean, "Ozone Layer 'Sacrificed' to Lift Bush's Re-Election Prospects",
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1123-05.htm

EPA ozone depletion site, http://www.epa.gov/ozone

Grist Magazine, Kathryn Schultz, "The Loophole in the Ozone Layer",
http://www.gristmagazine.com/thegist/gist112003.asp

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4. WHAT YOU CAN DO

*Forward this newsletter. That's one of the most effective ways to promote World Beyond Borders, so send it to at least two people.

*Talk with a friend about the ozone article above. You can use it to bring up the question of enforceability. If countries can break treaties as they please, what good are treaties? We need true world law to protect Earth.

*Make a New Year's resolution. (For those of you outside the US, a New Year's resolution is something people commit to doing in the new year.) Think about what it means to live as a global citizen and choose a resolution -- or five! Can you come up with creative ways to promote World Beyond Borders and the idea of global government? What can you do to make the whole world a better place? Make your resolutions realistic and measurable -- and tell us about them!

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We want your stories! Email Jane Shevtsov at jaia@ucla.edu.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license. See
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/

 

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