Green is the Color of Poverty
A Message from Dick Rowland
 It’s questionable whether or not various initiatives pushed by the Green lobby will actually do anything beneficial for the environment. Less questionable is the negative effect their policies will have on the world’s poor, who will remain poor if the radical environmentalists get their way.
Even something as seemingly innocuous as the “carbon offsets” favored by Al Gore and his ilk can end up keeping the Third World in poverty. According to a recent headline in the London Times, “To cancel out the CO2 of a return flight to India, it will take one poor villager three years of pumping water by foot. So is carbon offsetting the best way to ease your conscience?” Why use a foot pump in the 21st century? Because for offsetting to work, poor people worldwide have to continue using outdated, nonpolluting technology at the cost of their own advancement and prosperity. Some have fairly called this eco-enslavement. What else would you call it when some poor person on the other side of the world has to work extra hard just so you don’t feel guilty about your SUV?
This special edition of GIR looks at the forgotten victims of the Green agenda: the world’s poor who are denied the benefits of the modern world by elites who could care less about their well-being. |
IN THE NEWS - HIGHLIGHTED COMMENTARIES
Grassroot Institute is regularly featured in news articles and broadcasts around the state. Here is a sample of some of our recent articles, research stories, and other articles of interest.
Environmental Activists Are Enemies of the Poor
By Roy Innis
"People here have no jobs," Mark Fenn admitted, after taking documentary producers on a tour of his $35,000 catamaran and the site of his new coastal home. "But if you could count how many times they smile in a day, if you could measure stress"--and compare that to "well-off people" in London or New York--"then tell me, who is rich and who is poor?"
Fenn is coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund's campaign against a proposed mining project near Fort Dauphin, Madagascar. The locals strongly support the project and want the jobs, improved port, sustained development, and improved living standards and environmental quality this state-of-the-art operation will bring....
But Fenn claims the mine will change the "quaint" village and harm the environment. He says he feels "like a resident," his children "were born and raised" there, and the locals "don't consider education to be important" and would just spend their money on parties, jeans, and stereos.
(To read more, click here.)
Green Activists Hurt the World's Poor: An Interview with Paul Driessen
By James M. Taylor
GRIH Senior Fellow Paul Driessen is a warrior on the front lines of the battle against Third World poverty and disease.
As a senior policy advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality and a senior fellow with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Driessen dedicates himself to identifying and eliminating the obstacles that keep people in underdeveloped countries from breaking through the abject poverty barrier.
All too often, Driessen has discovered, the very environmental activist groups that claim to care so much about people in underdeveloped countries are the ones keeping them down.
James M. Taylor caught up with Driessen for a discussion of Third World nations and the environment.
(To read more, click here.)
FRESH PERSPECTIVE
Opportunity for Young Adults:
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii created the Fresh Perspective column exclusively to publish the work of high school and college students. In addition to work appearing on GRIH’s website, their work is also submitted to Hawaii Reporter. Submissions are welcome from any interested young adult, and we will publish work that is clearly written and grammatically sound. For earlier Fresh Perspectives please click here.
Contact: wendy@grassrootinstitute.org for more info.
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TRY OUR BLOGS
Use these links to access various topics.
The Mystery of Hawaiian History>>>Blog Archives>>>Civil Rights Committee -- Akaka Bill Testimony
Dash of Calabash>>>Blog Archives>>>Questionable Ethics in Ethics Bill
Dash of Calabash>>>Blog Archives>>>World's Tallest Bridge Less $$ Than Nimitz Flyover
Dash of Calabash>>>Blog Archives>>>Global Capitalism & a "Model" Socialist State
Dash of Calabash>>>Blog Archives>>>Robin Hood in Reverse: That Sums Up the Proposed Honolulu Rail Project
Read what others have written or add your own thoughts. Click here for more blogs.
LIBERTY NETWORK
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is a member of an extensive international liberty network of organizations that promote more individual autonomy and less governmental involvement in human affairs.
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GRIH Board Member Paul E. Smith's response to a Dan Boylan Midweek column was published in HawaiiReporter.com:
"Down on Midweek's Dan Boylan"
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Bill Burgess was on the Honolulu Advertiser Hot Seat, August 27th. For
those of you who missed it, the comments are available by clicking here.
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The Hawaii advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will be receiving testimony in Honolulu, Hilo and Lihue:
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Sept. 12, 1:00 PM, State Capitol, Honolulu
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Sept. 13, 12:30 PM, Hilo state office building (NEW DATE)
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Sept. 14, 1:00 PM, Performing Arts Center, Kauai Community College (NEW DATE)
On July 31, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii cosponsored a 95th Birthday Celebration Luncheon in honor of Milton Friedman. The main speaker for the event was Doug Bandow, prominent author and commentator on economics and freedom. His talk will be shown on Olelo, Oahu Channel 52 as detailed below:
-- Monday, September 17th at 8:00 AM (For the early birds)
-- Tuesday, September 18th at 8:30 AM (For the early birds)
It is well worth watching. -
COALITION LETTER: GRIH joined Americans for Prosperity and 34 other citizen groups in a July 31 letter to all members of Congress opposing an increase in the tax rate on carried interest capital gains, currently 15 percent. You can read the press release here and the letter to members of the U.S. Congress here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
All of the Institute’s events, research publication dates and speaking engagements are available on our website.
REGISTER NOW!!! Saturday, November 3, 2007
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii Annual Meeting and Dinner
5:00 - 9:00 PM
Hale Koa Hotel, Waikiki
You are cordially invited to join us for our 2007 Annual Awards Dinner honoring Ken Schoolland and Unsung Heroes The Pacific Legal Foundation, State Representative Colleen Meyer (47th District), and
Paul Vierling . The keynote speaker for the evening will be Paul Jacob, a member of the GRIH Board of Advisors and Senior Advisor at the Sam Adams Alliance and Foundation. An acclaimed multi-media commentator, Paul hosts an online, radio, and print opinion program, Common Sense, which reaches a growing list of over 15,000 e-mail subscribers and is aired daily by more than 150 stations in 48 states. For more information about Paul Jacob, click here.
Click here to learn more about this event, and to register for what promises to be an unforgettable evening.
November 10-12, 2007
The 2007 Preserving the American Dream Conference
"Recovering from Smart Growth"
Wyndham Hotel, San Jose, Calfornia
Does the high cost of rail transit have you down? Are heavily subsidized, high-density developments infesting your city? Is utopian urban planning making housing unaffordable in your region?
If so, you need to attend the 2007 Preserving the American Dream conference, cosponsored by the Grassroot Institute. This conference will give you the opportunity to meet dozens of expert speakers and activists from all over the world. It will be held November 10 - 12, 2007 at the Wyndham Hotel in San Jose, California. Click here to learn more.
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