PETE'S WEEKLY ROUNDUP

Die quickly or live like wonderful!

This kid lost both his arms in a tragic accident. What does he do? Learns to play Piano with his feet. What a legend!!

PETE'S WEEKLY ROUNDUP

Charity:Water launches September birthday campaign

This is such a cool idea.  This organisation has a simple idea.  Ask people to give you money for your birthday for a charity.  "There are a billion people living without clean water. Four Septembers ago, we had a crazy idea. We asked our friends to give up their birthdays and ask for donations instead of gifts. We used 100% of the money raised to build water projects. Every year, it got bigger. We've now helped over a million people get clean water. This September, join us again. Watch the Trailer. Start a campaign. Give up your birthday. It can change the world." Why not give up getting presents for your next birthday and ask people to give you money for a charity?

Make the One Percent Giving Pledge Another awesome idea!  How much should you give to charity?  Have a think about the 1% pledge.

"The billionaires are doing it. Now you can, too.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are asking all billionaires to commit to give 50% of their net wealth to philanthropy. The One Percent Foundation thinks this spirit should be expanded beyond billionaires.

A little goes a very long way. You don't need to be a billionaire to make a difference. Sign The 1% Giving Pledge and commit to give at least 1% of your annual income to philanthropic causes."

 Taking the Buffett-Gates Pledge A young entrepreneur joins Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in making a promise to donate his life earnings to charity by the time he dies.

Other noteworthy items
Change.org Social Entrepreneurship blog, challenges other young entrepreneurs to do the same.
Frequent travelers were excited when JetBlue announced its "All You Can Jet" pass this week. The great folks at DoSomething are taking it one step further by offering free passes to five lucky young people for sharing their stories of how they'd use the pass to further their organization's goals, whether by meeting with potential donors or going to conferences to learn new skills.

Have a great week,
Pete

 

Pete's Newsfeed

UN targets Australia's human rights record: "RIGHTS groups say obligations to refugees breached, boat arrivals discriminated against."

Man walks Amazon 'because no one else had': "AFTER 859 days and "50,000 mosquito bites", Ed Stafford has become the first man to walk the length of the Amazon."

Amnesty International Sign Up Support At U2 Concerts for Demand Dignity ... - Amnesty International USA: "

The Guardian

Amnesty International Sign Up Support At U2 Concerts for Demand Dignity ... Amnesty International USA Heads of State are gearing up to discuss the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to eradicate global poverty, at the UN in late September. ... Amnesty brings campaign to U2 showsUPI.com all 8 news articles »

Inspirational Idiot Number 1

I love stories about people who are so passionate about their cause they do crazy stuff.  The last few weeks I have come across some crazy stories that have inspired me.  I will never do anything like this btw. ;)

Inspirational Idiot number 1
This guy is NUTS!  Very passionate about the environment! But NUTS! He is my new hero!  After he swam the North Pole, vowed never to take another cold-water dip. Then he heard of Lake Imja in the Himalayas, created by recent glacial melting, and Lake Pumori, a body of water at an altitude of 5300 m on Everest.  And he swam it!!!  I love him

On May 22nd, 2010 I undertook a 1km swim across a glacial lake on Mt Everest. My purpose was to draw attention to the melting of the Himalayan glaciers and the consequences this will have on the peace in the region.

The combination of the water temperature (2 degrees C), the fresh water (less buoyant than salt water) and the altitude (5,300m) made this one of the most difficult swims....Read more at: http://www.lewispugh.com/expeditions/Expeditions.aspx

What can you do to raise awareness to global issues?

Affero is giving away free books!

Re-post from Affero

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
This competition is a fun global action awareness campaign. All you have to do is update your facebook status to something about social justice.

THE PRIZES:

• One book for the coolest facebook status update.
• A second book for whoever scores the most points in the comp.

WINNERS CHOOSE FROM THESE THREE BOOKS

The status updates need to be about social justice, global action, etc. Keep them positive, inspiring, challenging or fun. Link to a website, share a quote or anything else you can think of.

HOW DO YOU SCORE POINTS?

• Each unique facebook or twitter update earns you ten points.
• 2 points for linking back to this post in your status.

WHAT DO I DO?

• Fill in form linked below with each status update

Lets see if we can start a global action tidal wave of awareness. How cool would it be if we had thousands of people thinking about global issues and deciding to act this week because of our status updates?

WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN ONE WEEK ON SUNDAY 22ND AUGUST
CONTEST OPEN INTERNATIONALLY

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  To enter comp click here

Remember, you can just do one status update if you want. Coolest update will be judged by the Affero team and posted on our blog.

Lets Make this huge!

Peace,

Pete

How you can help Pakistan

How to Help Pakistan's Flood Victims

Millions in Pakistan need clean water, sanitary food, housing and medical care. Organizations are now on the ground helping those displaced by the worst floods in 80 years. Here's how you can support their efforts.
How to Help the Flood Victims in Pakistan 
Volunteer to help directly. If you have the sort of skills that might be useful in Pakistan right now, and you can find an organization... 
US adds $20 mn for Pakistan flood relief 
The US will provide an additional $20 million in relief funding for the flooding in Pakistan that has killed more than 1,600 people in the last... 
Australia ups Pakistan flood help by $5m to $10m

AUSTRALIA has pledged another $5 million to help Pakistan recover from the worst floods in the country's history...

Taliban urge Pakistan to reject US aid

Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Taliban faction has urged the government to reject American aid for people affected by the nation's worst floods in 80 years.