The animation above is based on illustrations from the Flight of the Hummingbird by Haida Canadian artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. The story, which is from the parables of the Quechuan people of Ecuador, is about a small yet persistant hummingbird who is determined to save his forest from a fire drop by drop, while other bigger animals stand back, believeing that nothing they do will make a difference.

I’ve written before about Wikileaks and how it provides a venue for whistleblowers to leak documents without fear of being caught. Since I last wrote about Wikileaks, which was precisely 2 years ago, the site has leaked numerous other documents, and for obvious reasons, has faced some strong legal challenges. The site appears to continue operations none-withstanding and in fact today released a 2007 classified video from Iraq dubbed “Collateral Murder” (Huffington Post) showing air-strikes killing a Reuters’ news photographer among other individuals.

Of course, whistle-blowing organizations like Wikileaks have detractors, and some of the criticism is definitely valid. But Thomas Jefferson didn’t say “Information is the currency of democracy.” for no reason. Corruption exists, and therefore the placement of checks and balances, including systems to reveal information in the interest of the public, is a necessary part of preserving our democratic societies. Some of these truths may not be particularly pleasant to see. However, Asa says it best:

There is fire on the mountain and nobody seems to be on the run.
There is fire on the mountain top and no one is running.
One day the river will overflow
and there’ll be nowhere for us to go
And we will run, run… wishing we had put out the fire.

There is incredible injustice in our world today, and many individuals and groups who consider themselves to be above the law. But the whistle-blowers, journalists, and photographers who risk all to uncover truths are much like dukdukdiya, the little hummingbird, doing their part to put out the fires before they consume us all.

We ask them, “What are you doing?”
They say, “We are doing what we can.”

You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

-Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965)

A friend shared this collection in Time a while back, but I stumbled upon them again today. The pictures are by photographer Peter Menzel and are part of the book “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats“.

Bhutan, Shingkhey Village — $5.0
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

Before coming to university, I never really thought about food beyond ‘what’s for dinner?’ but since coming here I have to admit my perspective on food has really begun to transform. Aside from learning that I will never make it as a chef, through friends I’ve become exposed to the politics of food, from the meat industry to global food production. I’ve had to research on the Green Revolution and learn in class about agricultural genomics. I’ve gotten to know about the current food crisis, food and women’s rights and even food and homelessness in lectures and conferences.

I am really fascinated by these pictures because they capture a truly colourful cross-section of cultures, juxtaposing some startling differences between what we eat, and how much we [are able to] spend on our food. But I think what is even more striking is the nuanced story that the foods set on the table tell about each family, painting a unifying narrative of the human condition and our basic needs– needs that make us human. It seems as though food ties into every aspect of health, environment, economics and justice in a very subtle yet important way. After all this, it has become a tiny bit harder for me to look at the dinner plate the same way.

*Picture source. The exhibition is on display at Montréal Science Centre until May 3^rd.

First and foremost, happy World Water Day. And also happy spring, and happy Norouz to Persians around the world! Aside from good times spent time with great friends, I was pleasantly surprised on Norouz to find that my modified translation of Saadi’s Bani Adam verse had been quoted on the NY Times. I am truly looking forward to this new year and all the opportunities it will bring for… change and growth.

A few weeks ago I participated in the 2009 edition of MonWHO, a three-day international conference which stimulates the World Health Organization, designed similar to model United Nations. While this year the theme was Environmental Health, the majority of the conference was spent focusing on issues surrounding water.

Having observed and worked for two years on civil engineering water-remediation projects, I was very interested in seeing the public health perspective. We had a wonderful key-note speaker, Maude Barlow, the founder of the Blue Planet Project and the Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the United Nations General Assembly. She presented a bleak, yet truly compelling picture of the global water situation. She highlighted the importance of viewing water as “a public trust and not a commodity”, urging that legislation must be designed to protect the public’s right to water.

There has been a lot of resistance by the governments, including the Canadian government, to introducing water conservation bills. Here in Canada many people seem to be under the false impression that our water-supplies are virtually limitless. A survery conducted by Unilever and RBC revealed last year that the majority of Canadians are “over-confident” in the long-term water supplies of the country. As Maude Barlow pointed out, while the figure 20% is often thrown around, the reality is that Canada possesses only 6.5% of the world’s fresh water, which needless to say is highly vulnerable and threatened by exploitation and global warming.

My favorite part of Ms. Barlow’s speech was when she evoked Dr. King’s words “Legislation may not change the heart, but it will restrain the heartless.” For me, in the face of the pollution of water resources and the looming scarcity that threatens the majority of the world’s population, her point that “by default or by design” we now have to choose, or we will be later forced to change our approach to water really hit home.

Of course, after a fun legislation-filled weekend, I was super excited to hear that the World Water Council would be meeting the upcoming weeks in Istanbul to discuss the same issues that we had discussed in the weekend. Unfortunately, it seems that this week-long conference of world leaders and experts was less productive than ours, despite the better food and scenery.

From CBC News: “A week-long international conference ended Sunday in Istanbul with a statement that recognizes access to safe drinking water as a “basic human need,” but not a “human right,” as some delegates had proposed.

The statement, coinciding with the United Nations’ World Water Day, was issued at the end of a three-day ministerial meeting at the 5th annual World Water Forum in the Turkish city.

“We acknowledge the discussions with the UN system regarding human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation. We recognize that access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a basic human need,” the statement said.”

While I am aware of the arguments on either side, I am still perplexed by how water has not been declared a human right when food explicitly has been protected by Article 25 of the UDHR. This just seems like playing with semantics, or if one is cynical perhaps a statement that, among other things, gives leeway for the continuing use of water resources and water access as a political tool in regions of conflict.