CONSERVE WATER

10 Ways to save energy

Information and communication technologies

This piece of Information is taken straight away from The Division for the Advancement of Women...

I. Introduction

The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), in cooperation with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the United Nations ICT Task Force Secretariat, is organizing an expert group meeting (EGM) on "Information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women". The meeting will take place in the Republic of Korea from 11 to 14 November 2002.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PfA), adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, drew attention to the emerging global communications network and its impact on public policies, and private attitudes and behaviour. It called for the empowerment of women through enhancing their skills, knowledge, access to and use of information technologies. The twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, held in June 2000 to review progress made in implementation of the Platform for Action, recognized the increased opportunities created by information and communication technologies (ICT) for women to contribute to knowledge sharing, networking and electronic commerce activities. It also noted that poverty, lack of access and opportunities, illiteracy, including computer illiteracy, and language barriers prevented some women from using ICT, including the Internet. Steps were proposed to ensure that women benefited fully from ICT, including equal access to ICT-related education, training and entrepreneurship opportunities, and equal access as producers and consumers of ICT through public and private partnerships.

The role of ICT as a tool for development has attracted the sustained attention of the United Nations. In 2000, the Economic and Social Council adopted a Ministerial Communiqué on the role of information technology in the context of a knowledge-based economy. Later that year, the Millennium Declaration underscored the urgency of ensuring that the benefits of new technologies, especially ICT, be available to all. In 2001, the Council considered the role of ICT for development in the context of partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including the private sector. In June 2002, the General Assembly will hold a two-day meeting devoted to ICT for development (17 and 18 June). A World Summit on the Information Society, with the ITU as lead organizing entity, will take place in 2003 (Geneva) and 2005 (Tunisia).

Based on recommendations of the ECOSOC, a United Nations ICT Task Force was launched in November 2001 to help harness the power of ICT for advancing the goals contained in the Millennium Declaration, in particular the goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. The Task Force's mission statement and action plan recognize the potential of ICT for promoting gender equality, and for enhancing women's educational, health and economic opportunities, and for participation in public life.

The Commission on the Status of Women, as part of its multi-year programme of work for 2002-2006, decided to consider the topic "Participation and access of women to the media, and information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women" as a priority theme at its upcoming session in 2003. The Commission's deliberations should also serve as a contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society. (The theme "participation and access of women to the media" will be the subject of a separate expert group meeting.)

II. Background

Information and communication technologies are usually understood to include computers, the rapidly improving communications technologies, including radio, television and mobile telephony, as well as networking and electronic data processing capacities, and the software for applications of these new technologies and capacities. Their defining characteristic is the capacity to harness, access and apply information and diffuse knowledge at electronic speed to all types of human activity, thereby giving rise to contemporary knowledge-based economies and societies.
This digital revolution is rapidly transforming social, economic, cultural and political interactions the world over. The Internet is emerging as a source of considerable potential for individuals, businesses and countries. In the year 2000, the Internet had 150.000 new users per day and 2 million web-pages were added daily. E-commerce, or e-business, is projected to grow from $45 million in 1998 to $7 trillion in 2004 . Knowledge and information are essential in taking advantage of the opportunities presented by ICT, and have become commodities of value in their own right in the networked economy.

ICT have the potential to create new types of economic activity and employment opportunities, and enhance the quality of life. They have changed the nature of work, the range of occupations and skills requirements, making it necessary for workers to acquire a broader, and more adaptable knowledge base. E-commerce is creating opportunities for even small firms to market their products and services directly in a globalizing market. Education and training, and access to relevant institutions, are critical factors in taking advantage of ICT-related opportunities. At the same time, ICT are transforming education itself, and are creating new possibilities for achieving educational goals. Distance learning, lifelong education, alternatives to formal education, as well as community-based learning are among the areas where important ICT-based applications are emerging. ICT have also brought improvements to health-care delivery, research and training, and the health sector has become one of the major areas where knowledge is shared and used through ICT. As an information- and knowledge-based tool, ICT have vast potential for participation, networking and advocacy among citizens, and for a variety of purposes. ICT also provide the means for enhancing interaction between Governments and their citizens, and can foster transparency and accountability of governance. National development frameworks are increasingly integrating components to enhance ICT access and use, legislative and regulatory aspects of ICT, and public-private partnerships for ICT.

The potential of ICT for stimulating economic growth, social development and political participation is recognized, but it is increasingly apparent that the benefits are unevenly distributed between and within countries, to a large extent because of differential access to ICT, and differences in the knowledge base needed for optimal use of ICT. This has been coined the "digital divide", or "information poverty", to describe the difference between those countries, regions, sectors and socio-economic groups which have the resources and capabilities to access knowledge through ICT, and use ICT for a multitude of purposes, and those lacking such access and capabilities. It brings into focus the growing inequalities and income disparities, and inequitable patterns of development between and within countries. It is estimated that less than 8% of the world's population currently benefits from the Internet . There are three time more PC's in the Americas than in Africa and the 400.000 citizens of Luxembourg have more international Internet bandwidth than Africa's 760 Million .

Even within regions, it remains a small minority of each society that has access to the global ICT network. Factors such as gender, levels of education and literacy, income, language, and race and ethnicity are critical determinants of access within countries. While the number of people connected to the global information society is expected to continue to grow very rapidly, the underlying patterns of differential access and benefit are unlikely to change without concerted efforts.

Women are increasingly taking advantage of ICT in all spheres of life, thus confirming that ICT can be a tool to promote gender equality and enhance the economic, political and social empowerment of women. At the same time, a "gender divide" within the digital divide is apparent and reflected not only in the lower numbers of women users of ICT, compared to men, but also in the persistence of gender-specific structural inequalities that constitute barriers to access. In particular, persistent inequalities between women and men at all levels of decision-making constitute serious constraints to women's participation in shaping the role of ICT as a tool for development. Furthermore, as ICT reshape the world of work and commerce, educational opportunities and health systems, they have the potential to perpetuate existing gender-based inequalities in access, use and opportunities, as well as perpetuating gender-based educational, employment, health-related and other disadvantages for women. They may also create new forms of inequality between women and men.

It is thus essential to focus on the gender dimensions of the digital divide, not only to prevent adverse impact of the digital revolution on gender equality and to enhance women's equitable access to the benefits of ICT, but also to ensure that ICT can become a central tool for women's empowerment and the promotion of gender equality. Policies need to ensure that the gender perspectives of ICT access and use are fully addressed so that ICT actively promote gender equality, and ensure that gender-based disadvantages are not created or perpetuated.
III. Objectives

Public Diplomacy & Sports

The interview that was conducted with Karen Hughes is extremly interesting. Concering the method the man is using to target the audience in terms of public diplomacy is a very smart way. He believes that sports is a brilliant idea to use in Public Diplomacy. He states that it is difficult for him to communicate is some countries such as in China and Korea but in performing sports everything becomes easy to communicate since sports itself is a sort of language.

Now, can this sort of public diplomacy be applied in the Moroccan context. To my understanding it can be applied but to only a certain category of Moroccans. We should not forget that in Morocco 56% according to the statistics of people are illtrate, so using this method will not be that effective. Moroccans are not an easy audience, they are really hard to convince, and sports is not one their major interests so I believe that in Morocco there should rather be dialogue first and then when dialogue works then sports for Public Diplomacy can work.

My point here, is that the United Stated promotes its image because it is at the center and is controlling the world and it does not want to loose its credibility especially after the invasion of Iraq where it feels stuck. Morocco has other priroities than promoting its image it should first try to see the problems of its citizens and its country and then think about promotong its image for outsiders.

MOROCCO LAGGING BEHIND

Why is Morocco lagging behind?

According to David Archer, he stated that "Literacy is the fertilizer needed for development and democracy to take root and grow."

As I have read the article about Morocco as one of the countries with the worst education reformer, I was not surprised. Morocco does give importance and does invest in IT and other services, however, we can say that education in Morocco is Marginalized.Literacy is crucial if individuals are to participate in political, social and economic life.

"Unesco says governments and aid agencies must allocate more cash for youth and adult literacy programmes, as well as expanding quality primary and lower-secondary education."

Every year, the state decides to change the systemlike as if they are changing their clothes. They do not study the danger of these alterations for the students. Second, of all the government is to be blamed because the schools are not well constructed and the teachers are not well paid and that pushes them to not perform their job as they are supposed too.

Now, because these people are not performing their jobs, students do not get to to have a good educational background and that causes their failure in their work integration in society and then they do not end up performing well in their jobs, and the cycle goes around.

Now, Morocco is lagging behind because it does not follow the scientific method of project implementation, it wants to stay up with way advanced countries, and forgets that it has many other responsibilities to fullfill. Morocco has to seriously look over the education system before it will be too late. If we take the example of the US, they did not start with IT ect untuil they felt their feet stable on the ground. Since it is from basics that we can create complicated things not the opposite.

Digital visionary: Nicholas Negroponte

Concerning what Nicholas has done, I believe that it is an excellent idea to bring the world even closer and give others oppurtunities to learn, discover and connect to the world. Education is one of the most serious problems that exist in the poor countries, and by creating this laptop to encourage education, is considered as a big accomplishment.

The fact that OLPC is a non-profit organizations reveals to us the motivation of others that are really willing to assist the less advantaged people.

I believe that rich people should dedicate their time and money to these projects in order to improve our world instead of making wars and creating hatre.

Spreading peace over the net

This article that BBC had reported concerning TREVOR, the teenager innovator, happened to be a success story. Trover, has done the job of adults and of people that are supposed to be in charge of making peace in this world.

This can be given as an example of interculteral convergance because with the help of the Internet, there will be other people who will be motivated to do such an act in other countries. People will learn the culture of "peace" and that living in a peaceful world will be the key to their assurance. Especially those that are faced with daily attacks and harrasments.

Another intercultural convergence can be for instance another teenager in another country who will try to do something similar because he/she will believe that they are strong and capable to change the world not only adults can do such acts.

However, the Internet is the number one cause of this interculteral convergence, because then if there was no Internet then it would have been difficult to spread the word especially for a "teenager". The Internet has brought people together and was able to gather them from facebook and even get other responses similar on youtube. We can say that the Internet is a "global village" because it brings people together in less time, space, and into little communitites. People also believe that the Internet is abroad and hard to control, contrastly it is easier to control than anything else.

To conlude, this interculteral convergence is thanks to the Internet that helps people spread their beliefs, values and even their dreams such as that of Trover's.

Tips for Saving Electricity

This article too is taken from a website,none of the information is mine and this is to help people have an idea about what they can do to save water. The link of this article is obtained by clicking on the title. This is for copyright reasons...


1. Turn off your television, video, hifi, playstation, and other entertainment devices when they are not being used.

2. Do not leave your television etc in standby mode. Devices can use up to 90% as much power in standby mode as when they are on, so it is a serious waste of energy when a device is left constantly on standby. If you keep forgetting, consider purchasing a PowerSafer - a device which automatically cuts power to appliances when they go into standby mode.

3. Replace all of your inefficient incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient CFL bulbs. Replace halogen spotlights with much more efficient and longer lasting LED Spotlights.

4. Hang your clothes out to dry rather than using an electric drier.

5. Cook many items at the same time when your electric oven is hot.

6. Use a microwave to reheat food or to cook small portions. Although a microwave uses a lot of power, it does so over a very short time and so saves energy overall.

7. Turn down your heating system. For every degree you lower your heat between 60° and 70° F you can save up to 5% on your heating bill. Wear an extra layer of clothing in the house so that you stay warm. Turn down individual radiators - for example, 16°-18° is warm enough for bedrooms whereas 20°-22°C is more comfortable in bathrooms. Rooms that are rarely used can have their heating turned all the way down or off.

8. Purchase energy efficient white goods (washing machines, tumble driers, fridges etc). Although they usually cost a little more initially, the cost savings in electricity will cover that many times over. As an added benefit, efficient items are usually better made and last longer than inefficient models.

9. Vacuum clean the condenser coils at the back or underneath your fridge freezer. Accumulated dust reduces their efficiency by up to 25% adding that cost to your electricity bill.

10. Keep your fridge full, but not so full that air cannot circulate properly.

11. Fold clothes straight out of the tumble drier while they are still warm to save on ironing.

12. Cool cooked food before you put it into the fridge.

13. Do not put uncovered liquids into the fridge. Their evaporation will make the fridge have to work harder.

14. Heat only as much water as you require for drinks and cooking. If you keep forgetting, purchase an energy efficient eco kettle.

15. Use a convection oven. A small fan inside circulates hot air throughout the oven cutting cooking times by up to 30%.

16. Don't preheat the oven for roasting.

17. Don't keep opening the oven door. Every time you do so, your oven loses 20°C of heat.

18. Put lamps in the corner of a room so that the light is reflected off two walls.

Tips for Saving Water

This Information is directly taken from a website in which if you click on the title of this post wil take you to the website. This is done for copyright reasons

Water conservation in the home...


1. Check for hidden water leaks
Read the house water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.

2. Check your toilets for leaks
Put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the color begins to appear in the bowl within 30 minutes, you have a leak that should be repaired immediately. Most replacement parts are inexpensive and easy to install.

3. Don't use the toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket
Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue or other small bit of trash, five to seven gallons of water is wasted.

4. Put plastic bottles or float booster in your toilet tank
To cut down on water waste, put an inch or two of sand or pebbles inside each of two plastic bottles to weigh them down. Fill the bottles with water, screw the lids on, and put them in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanisms. Or, buy an inexpensive float booster. This may save ten or more gallons of water per day. Be sure at least 3 gallons of water remain in the tank so it will flush properly.
For new installations, consider buying "low flush" toilets, which use 1 to 2 gallons per flush instead of the usual 3 to 5 gallons.

Replacing an 18 liter per flush toilet with an ultra-low volume (ULV) 6 liter flush model represents a 70% savings in water flushed and will cut indoor water use by about 30%.

5. Insulate your water pipes.
It's easy and inexpensive to insulate your water pipes with pre-slit foam pipe insulation. You'll get hot water faster plus avoid wasting water while it heats up.

6. Install water-saving shower heads and low-flow faucet aerators
Inexpensive water-saving shower heads or restrictors are easy for the homeowner to install. Also, long, hot showers can use five to ten gallons every unneeded minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off.
You can easily install a ShowerStart showerhead, or add a ShowerStart converter to existing showerheads, which automatically pauses a running shower once it gets warm.
Also, all household faucets should be fit with aerators. This single best home water conservation method is also the cheapest!

7. Take shorter showers.
One way to cut down on water use is to turn off the shower after soaping up, then turn it back on to rinse. A four-minute shower uses approximately 20 to 40 gallons of water.

8. Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush
There is no need to keep the water running while brushing your teeth. Just wet your brush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.

9. Rinse your razor in the sink
Fill the sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your razor just as well as running water, with far less waste of water

10. Check faucets and pipes for leaks
A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste 20 gallons of water per day. Larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons.

11. Use your dishwasher and clothes washer for only full loads
Automatic dishwashers and clothes washers should be fully loaded for optimum water conservation. Most makers of dishwashing soap recomend not pre-rinsing dishes which is a big water savings.
With clothes washers, avoid the permanent press cycle, which uses an added 20 liters (5 gallons) for the extra rinse. For partial loads, adjust water levels to match the size of the load. Replace old clothes washers. New Energy Star rated washers use 35 - 50% less water and 50% less energy per load. If you're in the market for a new clothes washer, consider buying a water-saving frontload washer.

12. Minimize use of kitchen sink garbage disposal units
In-sink 'garburators' require lots of water to operate properly, and also add considerably to the volume of solids in a septic tank which can lead to maintenance problems. Start a compost pile or use an indoor kitchen composter as alternate methods of disposing food waste.

13. When washing dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing
If your have a double-basin, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have a single-basin sink, gather washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray device or a panful of hot water. If using a dishwasher, there is usually no need to pre-rinse the dishes.

14. Don't let the faucet run while you clean vegetables
Just rinse them in a stoppered sink or a pan of clean water.

15. Keep a bottle of drinking water in the fridge.
Running tap water to cool it off for drinking water is wasteful.


water conservation in the yard and garden...

16. Water your lawn only when it needs it
A good way to see if your lawn needs watering is to step on the grass. If it springs back up when you move, it doesn't need water. If it stays flat, the lawn is ready for watering. Letting the grass grow taller (to 3") will promote water retention in the soil.

17. Deep-soak your lawn
When watering the lawn, do it long enough for the moisture to soak down to the roots where it will do the most good. A light sprinkling can evaporate quickly and tends to encourage shallow root systems. Put an empty tuna can on your lawn - when it's full, you've watered about the right amount. Visit our natural lawn care page for more information.

18. Water during the early parts of the day; avoid watering when it's windy
Early morning is generally better than dusk since it helps prevent the growth of fungus. Early watering, and late watering, also reduce water loss to evaporation. Watering early in the day is also the best defence against slugs and other garden pests. Try not to water when it's windy - wind can blow sprinklers off target and speed evaporation.

19. Use efficient watering systems for shrubs, flower beds and lawns
You can greatly reduce the amount of water used for shrubs, beds and lawns with strategic placement of soaker hoses, rain barrel water catchment systems and simple drip-irrigation systems. A watering meter can be easily added to your hose, and lawn sprinlker timers can be used to set water usage to required needs. Avoid over-watering plants and shrubs, as this can actually diminish plant health and cause yellowing of the leaves.

20. Plant drought-resistant shrubs and plants
Many beautiful shrubs and plants thrive with far less watering than other species. Replace herbaceous perennial borders with native plants. Native plants will use less water and be more resistant to local plant diseases. Consider applying the principles of xeriscape for a low-maintenance, drought resistant yard.

21. Put a layer of mulch around trees and plants
Mulch will slow evaporation of moisture while discouraging weed growth. Adding 2 - 4 inches of organic material such as compost or bark mulch will increase the ability of the soil to retain moisture. For information about different mulch materials and their best use, click here.

22. Don't water the gutter
Position your sprinklers so water lands on the lawn or garden, not on paved areas. Also, avoid watering on windy days.

23. Don't run the hose while washing your car
Clean the car using a pail of soapy water. Use the hose only for rinsing - this simple practice can save as much as 150 gallons when washing a car. Use a spray nozzle when rinsing for more efficient use of water. Better yet, use a waterless car washing system; there are several brands, such as EcoTouch, which are now on the market.

24. Use a broom, not a hose, to clean driveways and sidewalks

25. Check for leaks in pipes, hoses, faucets and couplings
Leaks outside the house may not seem as bad since they're not as visible. But they can be just as wasteful as leaks indoors. Check frequently to keep them drip-free. Use hose washers at spigots and hose connections to eliminate leaks.

Water conservation comes naturally when everyone in the family is aware of its importance, and parents take the time to teach children some of the simple water-saving methods around the home which can make a big difference.

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