International Volunteering through Idealist.org


I just received this e-mail from Idealist.org which I think many ARC members might be interested in. It looks like there will be a huge event featuring many international volunteer organizations and free trainings! April 12, 10 am - 4 pm at the Harvard University School of Public Health at Kresge Building 3, 677 Huntington Avenue, in Boston.

Check it out:

Want to make a difference in a community outside the United States? Thinking about volunteering in another country?

Learn more about opportunities for international volunteering at the first ever Idealist.org Global Volunteering Fair in Boston on Saturday, April 12th!

At this FREE event, hosted by the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Graduate School of Education, John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Harvard Divinity School, you can:

* Meet with nonprofit organizations that coordinate volunteer projects
around the globe, including:

• American Jewish World Service
• Amigos de las Americas
• Center for Cultural Interchange
• Cross-Cultural Solutions
• Earthwatch Institute
• Friends of the Orphans International Volunteer Program
• GeoVisions
• Global Routes
• Global Volunteers
• Greenforce
• Kathryn Davis Fellowships
• Manna Project International
• Peace Corps New England Region
• United Planet
• Volunteers For Peace, Inc.
• VSO Canada
• WorldTeach

* Participate in free workshops on topics like:

• International Volunteerism 101
• Determining whether to go abroad with a program or on your own
• Overcoming potential cultural or physical barriers to international service
• Volunteering globally as a family
• International opportunities for skilled volunteers
• Connecting service with learning while studying abroad
• Translating your global volunteer experience into a career path

Please join us from 10 am - 4 pm at the Harvard University School of
Public Health at Kresge Building 3, 677 Huntington Avenue, in Boston.
To learn more about the fair, locate directions, and/or register to
attend this FREE event, visit http://www.idealist.org/globalvolunteering

Once again, this seems like a great opportunity. If anybody wants to go, let me know!

Get your dance on.

Trisk and SEA are having their dance *tonight*!

Love camp (the summer experience)?
Love camp (the theatrical, coquettish approach to life)?
Love being out (doors)?
Love being out (of the closet)?
Love Trisk?
Love SEA?

Come to the dance at the Shapiro Atrium starting at 10pm. It's going to be amazing, and it's a great example of two clubs working together to create a fantastic event.

EarthFest 2008 is fast approaching!


Check it out:

Sunday, April 6th - Charles River Cleanup, 11 A.M.-2 P.M.
The Annual Charles River Cleanup, a collaboration by SEA and Boston-area groups such as the Charles River Watershed Association, will clean up our portion of the Charles River in order to protect, preserve, and enhance the health, beauty, and enjoyment of the Charles River and its watershed.

Wednesday, April 9th - Focus Brandeis, All Day
A day for Brandeis professors to voluntarily open their lecture with discussion about the applications and implications of climate change to the topic of their particular class. Focus Brandeis will facilitate an interdisciplinary academic understanding of climate change.

Thursday, April 10th - Environmental Career Panel, 5-7 P.M.
A panel of environmental activists and professionals will discuss what an environmental career actually means and how students can get involved now with these kinds of organizations.

Friday, April 11th - Eco Shabbat, 7:30-9:30 P.M.
A Shabbat sponsored by Hillel where all the dishware and materials used in preparing and serving for Shabbat will be biodegradable. This will be followed by Rabbi Siemenowitz from Teva discussing the connection between Jewish law and our responsibility to protect the planet. The Rabbi will interact with students at lunch and fireless bonfire on Saturday. [Does anybody know what that is?]

Sunday, April 13th - Panel of Speakers, Congressman Markey, 4-6:30 P.M.
A panel preceded by Congressman Edward Markey, chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, will speak and then be followed after refreshments by a panel discussing the profitability of the green revolution. This panel will feature Mr. Steven Strong, President and Founder of Solar Design Associates, who will discuss his projects at the UN and the White House and Dr. Mark Rentschler, Director of Institutional Greening Programs for the NGO Green Seal.

Sunday, April 13th - Senator John Kerry, Noon-2 P.M.
Senator John Kerry will discuss his experiences with environmental and sustainability
legislation in the United States Senate.

Tuesday, April 15th - Waste-Free Picnic, Noon-2 P.M.
SEA is holding its "Waste-Free Picnic" for the entire campus on the Great Lawn. Free
food will be served on Frisbees and trash will be minimized in creating this fun event for all of the Brandeis community.

Wednesday, April 16th - Concluding Speaking Event, 7-9 P.M.
Ross Gelbspan, investigative journalist and environmental advocate, will discuss his role in the documentary "Everything's Cool."

Thanks to SEA for helping organize all these fantastic events!

Over at It's Getting Hot In Here a great blog about the youth-environmental movent, they've posted some great summer opportunities to help work on environmental campaigns around the country. Here are a few of them:

• Change It (July 16-21st Boston, MA & July 26-31st Seattle, WA) : Change It provides an opportunity for student leaders already committed to protecting the environment, leading social change and taking action to learn the skills and tools they need to become effective leaders. Change It participants will work one-on-one with Greenpeace mentors, who will provide personalized training on campaign strategy, recruitment, and event planning. Students will emerge from the program ready to engage in the efforts necessary to prevent global warming and address the most critical issues facing their generation. The website will go live in April. Contact: mary.nicol@sfo.greenpeace.org
• Northeast Climate Confluence (Late July, Worcester, MA): At this summer’s Northeast gathering we will be coming together from many backgrounds (multi generational, multi-racial, multi-gender, etc.) to help create the tangible changes we need within our communities. The focus will be on the needs and knowledge of communities that are most negatively effected by fossil fuel mining, burning, and by climate related disasters. The camp will include: over a week of workshops; issue based, skills based, trainings; strategy planning; and social events for networking and sharing stories in a fully sustainable gathering. Contact: northeast@climateconvergence.org
• SPROG (10 week-long programs, OR, CA, NM, MN, TX, GA, VA, PA, NH, PR): The Sierra Student Coalition’s week-long summer training programs (SPROGs) are nationally recognized and feature some of the country’s top student environmental leaders. They offer a perfect opportunity to get the grassroots organizing and leadership skills you need to organize and rise to the growing climate challenge. With 10 trainings around the country and spread throughout the summer, the SSC aims to train hundreds of students in grassroots organizing and connect them with organizing opportunities during the summer. Contact: jon@ssc.org.

There are many, many more. Check 'em out!

Innermost Parts has a great roundup of the positive reactions to the Brandeis vigil and imagery. My favorite comes from Talking Points Memo, a prominent progressive blog. Have a look:

My office is at Brandeis University. Today as, I walked down the curving path that carries everyone through campus, I noticed that, lining the path, at very short intervals, were small American flags. A sign explained that there was one for every 10 American soldiers who had died in Iraq.

It's a long path. There were hundreds of flags.

By the time I made it across campus, tears were running down my face. It's not the Vietnam Memorial, but I found it profoundly moving nevertheless. I send my admiration to the students who organized it.

Yes, I know that it's just as grievous to think of the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have died. My friend Huda Ahmed, an Iraqi journalist, has personally lost more people than I can bear to consider, and reminds Americans periodically that Iraqi dead are just as important as American dead. And the truth is, Iraqis are the ones I think about most often when I am wrenched by the thought of the war.

And yet we all know that the human animal has a larger imagination for the suffering of those like us, for those closer to us in our various tribal memberships; it just seems to be how we are built. And so I do not apologize for weeping, today, for the American dead.

Thank you to to the students who organized this fantastic event. Also here are some great pictures.

Aramark, which provides us with "food" on campus, it seems has been involved with a major labor dispute with UNITE HERE in New York.

"There is no greater example of income inequality in American society than the Goldman Sachs cafeteria," Mr. Raynor said, adding that average employee compensation at Goldman Sachs was $660,000 last year, while employees in the company cafeteria typically are paid about $21,000 a year. "Aramark is in the middle of this equation, and as an owner and as a client Goldman Sachs needs to get Aramark to do the right thing."

What do you think?

Hat Tip to Art from SDS.

ARC is on the move.

There have been a lot of great things happening at ARC. I have to apologize for not blogging about them more.

Funding
This past Sunday, we brainstormed funding sources outside of F-board. Here are some of the things ARC members came up with:

• Brandeis Pluralism Alliance - Gives out grants relating to pluralism and diversity.
• Ethics Center - contact Marci McPhee (mcphee@brandeis.edu or ethicscenter@brandeis.edu to contact the admin).
• Student Union Social Justice Grants
• Local businesses. See especially: Franco's and Prime Deli. I'm told they really love Brandeis students.

Those are just some of the resources you came up with. The full list will be on the website soon. (I hope!)

Media
Two weeks ago, we had a great chat with representatives from The Hoot and The Justice. We discussed the entire production process of both newspapers from story to print. We had a conversation about misquotes, ethics and getting our activist events in the paper. Notes from those meetings will be on the website soon as well.

Sorry for the spotty updating -- I'm trying to do better in the future!