Fair trade

A young friend of the Resource Centre (9th grader, I think) had some questions about "unfair trade" so I just sent him a long-ish but fairly basic explanation, with links to more materials. I hadn't thought about those broad policy issues for a while, so it was fun to flex those particular brain cells a bit. But I assume that most of my huge readership knows the basics of fair trade and how US & European agricultural policy harm poor farmers, so I won't rehash it all here. If you're interested though, let me know, and I'll be glad to email or post it.

Burma disaster relief

In some ways, this is worse than Katrina because it's a poorer country, as bad as the tsunami -- maybe worse because Burma's isolation and its insane junta make helping people much more difficult. A US diplomat is estimating that 100,000 may have died. If you want to help, but want to avoid strengthening that regime, the US Campaign for Burma has a donations page where you can designate your donation for cyclone relief. And EarthRights International, another great organization, recommends supporting World Vision, UN World Food Program, Red Cross, UNICEF, Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), Islamic Relief, Save the Children, Direct Relief International, Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres. Please be generous.

"Burma: It Can't Wait"

Really not. I mean, if Will Ferrell gets that this is serious... Not sure what they'll ask us to do, but the campaign is a good way to keep informed for a month now that Burma has fallen off the headlines.