Damages, both physical and mental in nature, are potential effects of respective involvement in a situation in which personal injury was sustained; due to the varying degree of damage or injury rendered by the circumstances at hand, there exists a very real possibility that an individual will incur expenses in the form of rehabilitative services ranging from medical to psychological. However, any expenses accrued by an individual in personal injury cases are not without the potential for personal injury compensation; the employment of a personal injury lawyer or traffic accident lawyer – dependent on the given circumstances – allows for astute and unbiased legal review of any and all pertinent case details.

Upon the employment of a personal injury attorney, not only gains the opportunity to receive legal assessment of the personal injury case at hand, but also the investigation of latent probability for the reception of personal injury compensation. Damages and injuries that have been sustained by an individual do not have to exist as the responsibility of the non-guilty party – personal injury compensation is available. At best, the employment of a personal injury lawyer can result in a court judgment that calls for the disbursement of personal injury compensation; the hiring of a personal injury attorney results in an educated and informed review of the case details, thereby clarifying the opportunity – if any – to receive personal injury compensation.

In the event of a traffic accident, there exist a multitude of injuries that the involved parties are liable to sustain; these injuries can range from physical injury to emotional and psychological damages – yet, regardless of the nature of any injuries sustained, the legal services of a traffic accident lawyer can be employed in order to receive educated and informed legal counsel. In many states, there exists a methodology of “at fault” and “not at fault” in the event of vehicular traffic accidents; upon review, a traffic accident lawyer can assist in the clarification of these details, which can allow for the subsequent personal injury compensation of expenses incurred by the party deemed to be “not at fault”. In other states, a No Fault vehicular traffic accident policy exists, which is absent of blame placed on either party involved in the traffic accident.

In states with No Fault traffic accident policies, many feel that the employment of a traffic accident lawyer is imperative. Due to the absence of definitive fault, the legal acumen and familiarity with appropriate legal statutes and legislation, a traffic accident lawyer can assist in the review of pertinent case details in tandem with injuries or damages sustained; should the traffic accident lawyer in question feel as thought the case retains the probability of the reception of personal injury compensation, they possess the ability and knowledge to suggest that further legal action be taken.

World Resources Institute

The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people’s lives.

1. Develop robust international agreements and US policies to protect the climate system.
2. Foster widespread investment in climate-friendly energy and transportation technologies.
3. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions through clean alternatives supported by businesses, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the public.

1. The Access Initiative–the largest global network dedicated to ensuring that people have the right and ability to influence decisions about the natural resources that sustain their communities.
2. Electricity Governance Initiative–a collaboration of civil society, policy-makers, regulators, and sector actors to promote open, transparent, and accountable decision-making processes in the electricity sector.
3. Poverty, Environment, and Distributional Equity–promote equitable allocation and distribution policies for revenues from ecosystem goods and services.
4. Decentralization and Natural Resources–promote representative local government as a tool to improve environmental justice, reduce poverty, and raise the efficiency and equity of decision-making.
5. Mapping Poverty and Natural Resource Revenues–overlay data about geographical distribution of poverty, natural resources and fiscal transfers to improve development approaches and outcomes.

American Forests

www.americanforests.org

Trees have an irreplaceable role in maintaining the health of our Earth’s ecosystems and atmosphere. While humans and other animals breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, trees and other plants capture and store carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air. Ultimately, trees not only help keep our lungs filled with oxygen, but play a crucial role in reducing harmful carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. In fact, forests are the largest forms of carbon storage, or sinks, in the United States. This is part of the reason why our atmosphere has suffered so much over recent years: millions of trees have been cleared with no replacements planted. It is estimated that deforestation, especially of rainforests, is responsible for roughly a fifth of global carbon dioxide emissions from human activities. Overall, planting trees is one of the cheapest, most effective means of removing excessive carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

American Forests is a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration, a pioneer in the science and practice of urban forestry, and a primary communicator of the benefits of trees and forests.

American Forests is about action, and so its major campaigns focus on taking actions for healthy ecosystems. Today, the organization’s primary campaigns are “Tree-Planting for Environmental Restoration” and “Reversing the National Urban Tree Deficit,” which encourage people to improve rural, suburban, and urban ecosystems by planting and caring for trees that provide important environmental and economic benefits including pure water, clean air, and wildlife habitat.

Over the past 20 years, the organization has planted over 25 million trees, and will plant an estimated 4 million trees this year alone!

For 70 years, American Forests has also run and maintained the National Register of Big Trees, documenting the largest of over 800 species of trees from all over the country. Topping the list as the biggest tree in the U.S. is the towering “General Sherman” giant sequoia, which has a whopping 1,020 inch waist line and stands 274 feet tall. The latest, most comprehensive and up-to-date edition of the Register will be released in the spring of 2010.

Although its educational and restoration operations take place mostly in the United States, American Forests also has several projects under way in China and South/Central America. The organization’s recent work in the States includes restoring forests damaged by the California wildfires, and collaborating with major companies, including IKEA and Chegg, to reduce their use of paper and plastic.

American Forests is the nation’s oldest conservation group, celebrating its 135^th anniversary in 2010. It is an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and any gifts, donations, and grants may be tax deductible.

To donate to American Forests click here. Every $1 plants a tree!
To visit the American Forests website and learn more about its mission and current programs, click here.

www.pennfuture.org

PennFuture (Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future) works to create a just future where nature, communities and the economy thrive. The organization enforces environmental laws and advocates for the transformation of public policy, public opinion and the marketplace to restore and protect the environment and safeguard public health. PennFuture advances effective solutions for the problems of pollution, sprawl and global warming; mobilizes citizens; crafts compelling communications; and provides excellent legal services and policy analysis.

According to the PennFuture website, its current work focuses on the following areas:

Working to replace old outdated dirty sources of power with clean renewable Pennsylvania-made electricity.

Fighting factory farm pollution;

Helping to stop damage from mining;

Protecting watersheds from sprawl and pollution;

Reducing global warming pollution;

Watchdogging state government and

Providing $2 million per year of free legal services to protect the environment.
In those areas, PennFuture has already won victories in several “David vs. Goliath” type opponents:

Standing up to the polluters, fighting for a strong state rule to clean up toxic mercury pollution from the state’s power plants;

Leading the fight for passage of a new law that requires the state’s electricity providers to supply ever larger amounts of renewable energy to their customers;

Winning $80 million to support clean, renewable electricity in utility cases;

Convincing Governor Rendell to support a nearly $1 billion bond issue for environmental funding;

Saving water and streams, parks and undeveloped pristine areas around the state.
For more information on PennFuture, visit the website at www.pennfuture.org.

You can help PennFuture continue to grow and succeed by taking part in their volunteer opportunities. You can help us with tasks such as writing letters to newspapers, event planning, administrative support, or visiting with legislators. Learn more about the subject here.

In addition, PennFuture is an IRS recognized non-profit and your charitable contribution may be tax-deductible.
Learn more about donation options by clicking here.

Human Rights Organizations

The DNA sequences between humans and chimpanzees are 98.5% similar; the similarity is 99.9% between humans. As we know today, DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. Unfortunately, for humans, that 0.1% difference fuels the hate behind genocide, war and crime.

To achieve universal peace, humans must place their allegiance within the human race before their ethnicity, creed, or religion. We must place the rights of every person on the planet, regardless of gender, ethnicity, social standing or religion, above our own.

This is not a task to be undertaken by the lone wolf – there are simply too many subsections that the term ‘human rights’ can be broken up into. That is why the Attorney.org Equality, Justice, and Peace Network has compiled the following list of human rights organizations in order to provide our users with the most prominent names pursuing worthy causes. We hope that you can find an organization pursuing the same cause as you and that you choose to stand alongside them in their mission.

We have categorized each advocacy organization according to the continent that their work focuses on:

Africa

Action for Integration and Tolerance – http://www.afsi.org.uk/
Voluntary organization based in London, UK. Responds and advances African and ethnic minority communities’ welfare, rights and development needs through information provision, support, advice and capacity building. Develops effective partnerships between voluntary and community groups, funding bodies and statutory agencies.

Africa Action – http://www.africaaction.org/
Organization based in Washington, DC. working to change U.S. foreign policy and the policies of international institutions in order to support African struggles for peace and development.

Africa Files – http://www.africafiles.org/
A network of volunteers committed to promoting African perspectives and alternative analyses for human rights and economic justice in Africa.

Africa: Law – http://www.africa.upenn.edu/About_African/ww_law.html
Constitutions of African countries. Details of Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), counseling individuals and groups on human rights matters, promoting awareness of human rights, and publicizing violations.

African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies – http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/ACOHRS.htm
Charter and general information on this initiative for equal rights.

African Commission on Human and People’s Rights – http://www.achpr.org/
Organization charged with ensuring the promotion and protection of human and peoples’ rights throughout the African Continent.

Africans In America Inc. – http://www.aiainc.org/
A nonprofit organization combating modern trafficking and slavery of African children, and providing services for the victims of African child trafficking and slavery in New York City

All Africa – http://allafrica.com/
AllAfrica Global Media is a multi-media content service provider, systems technology developer and the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide. Registered in Mauritius, with offices in Johannesburg, Dakar, Lagos and Washington, D.C., AllAfrica is one of a family of companies that aggregate, produce and distribute news from across Africa to tens of millions of end users.

Black Sash – http://www.blacksash.org.za
Works to advance equality, social justice and human rights in South Africa. Provides a paralegal service to those who need help in a variety of matters, including child support, social grants, labour problems, debt counselling and citizenship applications.

Foundation for Human Rights of South Africa – http://www.fhr.org.za/
Foundation for Human of South Africa advocates human rights awareness, promotion of children’s rights, public interest litigation, security of tenure on farms and youth and human rights development. It is the main South African grant maker.

Independent Advocacy Project – http://www.ind-advocacy-project.org/
Promotes respect for good governance in Nigeria. IAP brings together individuals and organisations to promote participation, transparency, accountability and respect for human rights.

Kabissa – Space for Change in Africa – http://www.kabissa.org
Seeks to strengthen the capacity of African non-profits to build civil society and democracy in Africa. Includes Newsletter.

Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) – http://www.khrc.or.ke/
An NGO based in Nairobi, Kenya. Originally formed in the US in 1991 by Kenyan exiles and activists to lobby for human rights and the promotion of democratization, accountability and good governance in Kenya.

Legal Assistance Centre – Namibia – http://www.lac.org.na
A public interest law centre advocating human rights in Namibia by making the law accessible to those with the least access.

Nelson Mandela Foundation – http://www.nelsonmandela.org/
Supports conflict resolution, removal of poverty as well as improving the health of the public, especially in regard to terminal diseases. The Foundation was established in 1999 as the primary vehicle for Mr Mandela’s pursuit of his ideals and goals.

POWA – People Opposing Women Abuse – http://www.powa.co.za/
People Opposing Women Abuse is an NGO undertaking research into gender-based violence in Africa.

Sangonet – http://www.sangonet.org.za/
Supports the effective use of ICTs in Southern African civil society organisations by providing quality services and initiatives. Includes list of South African NGOs on the web.

The Africa Law Institute – http://www.africalawinstitute.org/
Legal and social science think tank that engages in policy-oriented research that promotes good governance, democracy and the rule of law in Africa.

Asia

Afgan Women’s Association International – http://www.awai.org/
A non-profit, tax-exempt organization to establish and defend the basic rights of Afghan women. Includes current projects, reports, and news.

American Institute for Taiwan-China Strategy – http://fire.prohosting.com/aitcsweb
Organization producing articles supporting Taiwanese independence and opposing China and other communist countries.

Arizona Friends of Tibet and Dalai Lama – http://www.arizona-friends-of-tibet.org
A non-profit organization supporting non-violent efforts of the Dalai Lama to regain dignity and sovereignty for Tibetan people, to preserve the endangered culture of Tibet, and its Buddhist tradition.

Asian Human Rights Commission – http://www.ahrchk.net/
Seeks to promote human rights in Asia by monitoring, investigations, advocacy, education, conflict resolution, truth commissions and international tribunals.

Free Tibet Campaign – http://www.freetibet.org/
Official site, campaigning for an end to the Chinese occupation of Tibet and for the Tibetans’ fundamental human rights to be respected. UK based.

Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities – http://www.hrcbm.org/
Information about the worldwide campaigning movement dedicated to protecting the human rights of people in Bangladesh

Initiatives for International Dialogue – http://www.iidnet.org/
The IID is a solidarity and advocacy group involved primarily in peoples’ issues in East Timor, Burma and Mindanao in the Philippines.

Montagnard Alliance – http://www.montagnard-foundation.org/
Group of Australian lawyers and advocates dedicated to protecting the human rights of the indigenous Montagnard/Degar peoples of Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

People’s Union for Civil Liberties – http://www.pucl.org/
Provides online journal and documents concerning unresolved human rights problems in India.

Tibet Support Group Grampian – http://www.tibetsupport.org.uk/
Campaigns for Tibetans’ right to determine their own future and preserve their culture, for an end to the violation of their human rights and for a Tibet free from Chinese occupation.

Tibetan Liberation Theatre – http://www.tibetanliberation.org/
Grassroots performance organization supporting Tibetan freedom. Theatre, dance, music programs, community festivals and bazaars. Participate in demonstrations, campaigns, and celebrations.

Tibetan Support Programme – http://www.tibetsupport.org/
A non-religious, non-political group dedicated towards improving the quality of life of ethnic Tibetan people.

Uni Sosial Demokrat – http://www.unisosdem.org/
A nonpartisan NGO in Indonesia which seeks social, economic, and environmental democracy.

Central America

Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador – http://www.cispes.org/
Organization providing solidarity to the people of El Salvador. Also, donations taken online for disaster relief from the earthquake of 2001.

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights – http://www.cidh.oas.org/
An autonomous organ of the Organization of American States for the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as investigating abuses.

Latin America Working Group – http://www.lawg.org/
A advocacy coalition of 65 U.S. organizations concerned with an improved policy of human rights, peace and justice towards Latin America.

Europe

Association for the Prevention of Torture – http://www.apt.ch/
Founded in 1977, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the APT is an independent non-governmental organisation working worldwide to prevent torture and ill-treatment.

Centre Europe – Tiers Monde (CETIM) – http://www.cetim.ch/
Pursuing its research and publications devoted to North-South relations, focuses on human rights and participated in related United Nations work. Based in Switzerland.

European Roma Rights Centre – http://errc.org/
An international public interest law organisation which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe and provides legal defence to victims of human rights violations.

Fortress Europe? – Circular Letter – http://www.fecl.org/
Organisation providing news, analyses and comments on European developments in the fields of liberties, human rights, public order, policing, justice, data protection, immigration and asylum.

Liberty – http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/
An independent human rights organisation which works to defend and extend rights and freedoms in England and Wales.

NEMECIS – http://www.nemecis.org/
A non-governmental, non-profit organization working for the protection and promotion of human rights in Greece.

Human Rights Institute of the Bar of Bordeaux – http://www.idhbb.org/uk-default.htm
Promoting human rights and the training of lawyers in human rights and international criminal law, and reporting on the respect of defense rights.

Human Rights Server, Germany – http://www.humanrights.de
Organization placing human rights within the context of the progress of the mass of humanity. Includes links to those who resist.

Hungarian Helsinki Committee – http://www.helsinki.hu/
Hungarian human rights organisation monitoring respect for human rights in Hungary and providing legal counselling to victims of rights violations.

Justice et Solidarité Mondiales – http://www.jsmddh.com/
Seeks greater human rights for people, aid for victims of repression, children in need and victims of catastrophes worldwide.

Nordic Committee for Human Rights (NCHR) – http://www.nkmr.org/english/index.htm
Non-governmental organisation seeking to protect family rights in the Nordic countries.

OSMTH of Norway – http://www.osmth.no
An ecumenical order of Christians based on the foundations of the knights templars who advocate for human rights.

PanCyprian Association for the Protection of Human Rights – http://agrino.org/humrights/main/main.htm
Organisation providing information on human rights issues, with particular interest in the situation of human rights in the Republic of Cyprus.

The Danish Centre for Human Rights – http://www.humanrights.dk/
The Centre’s site gives information about the organization’s activities and also brings news about Human Rights issues.

The Finnish League for Human Rights – http://www.ihmisoikeusliitto.fi/tausta/introduction
European Union’s Finnish monitoring center against racism. Principle objectives are supporting the Sami people against mining activities and logging in the Sami areas, and fighting against all forms of racism and discrimination.

Middle East

Al-Bushra – http://www.al-bushra.org/
Arab American Roman Catholic community standing for truth, justice and peace.

Arab Association For Human Rights – http://www.arabhra.org/
Founded in 1988 by lawyers and community activists, the HRA is an independent, grassroots, non-governmental organization (NGO), registered in Israel.

Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa – http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/mena/
Resource for organizations related to human rights issues in the Middle East and North Africa.

Kurdish Human Rights Project – http://www.khrp.org/
An independent, non-political project based in Britain to protect and promote human rights of people living in the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the former Soviet Union.

Middle East Children’s Alliance Home Page – http://www.mecaforpeace.org/
A non-governmental organization working for peace and justice for Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. Especially focusing on the rights of children.

North America

Alliance for Native American Indian Rights Inc. – http://www.anairtn.org/
Native American advocacy organization focused on Native American burial site preservation and stopping burial ground desecration and looting in Middle Tennessee.

American Civil Liberties Union – http://www.aclu.org/
Advocating individual rights by litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues affecting individual freedom.

Boycott-Riaa.com – http://www.boycott-riaa.com/
Organization rebutting arguments of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and writing critiques of the industry lobbyists’ attempts to control music sharing and copying. With background information, news, essays, and links.

Canadian Arab Federation – http://www.caf.ca/
Umbrella organization whose mandate is to identify, articulate, defend and otherwise pursue the interests of the Arab-Canadian community.

Dakota Lakota Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition – http://www.dlncoalition.org/
Chartered on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, the DLN is an advocacy group for human, civil, legal, and indigenous rights, and social justice for traditional Dakota/Lakota/Nakota People.

El Centro Hispanoamericano – http://www.elcentronj.org/
A non profit agency advocating for and protecting immigrant rights. Based in new Jersey.

Healthy Citizens – http://www.healthycitizens.com/
Citizens against human experimentation. Focuses on the development of post World War II United States health and military programs.

North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee – http://home.comcast.net/~nscolombia/
Committee formed by people from various North Shore communities in Massachusetts in response to news that a portion of the coal for the Salem, Mass. power plant was coming from a mine in Colombia where grievous human rights atrocities were being committed against the people in the villages surrounding the mine.

Ontario Human Rights Commission – http://www.ohrc.on.ca/
Information guide about Canadian human rights, classifications of rights and laws, links to individual rights and to the work of the commission.

Ozarkopathy – http://ozarkopathy.org
Claims the attitudes and prejudices in the Ozark Mountain Region of the United States are dangerous.

Rights Action (Formerly Guatemala Partners) – http://www.rightsaction.org
Rights Action raises funds for community development, relief and human rights projects in Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti. Advocates and educates on these issues in US and Canada.

The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations – http://www.law.ufl.edu/centers/csrrr/
An interdisciplinary academic institution that explores issues of race and race relations

War Child Canada – http://www.warchild.ca/
A non-profit organization to raise awareness and support of war affected children globally through local and international initiatives. Along with the music industry, targets youth with concerts, online chats, and documented footage and diaries of music artists.

Ecological Tower

Earth Policy Institute

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI), founded in 2001, is dedicated to providing a vision of a sustainable global economy and a roadmap of how to get from here to there, what we call Plan B, the alternative to business as usual. EPI works at the global level simply because no country acting alone can stabilize climate or preserve the earth’s biological diversity. EPI’s unique global vision often allows it to see trends that more specialized organizations cannot, its research generates attention.

Plan B is a comprehensive global strategy for reversing the trends that are fast undermining our future. It aims to stabilize climate, stabilize population, eradicate poverty, and restore the economy’s natural support systems. It prescribes a worldwide cut in net carbon emissions of 80 percent by 2020 to stop atmospheric CO2 concentrations from exceeding 400 parts per million, thus keeping the future global temperature rise to a minimum. Failure to reach any one of these goals will likely mean failure to reach the others as well.
Their founder, Lester Brown, was called “one of the world’s most influential thinkers” by the Washington Post. The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as the “guru of the environmental movement.” In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”

In 1974, with support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. While there he launched the Worldwatch Papers, the annual State of the World reports, World Watch magazine, a second annual entitled Vital Signs: The Trends That are Shaping Our Future, and the Environmental Alert book series.

In May 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide solutions through its publications—books, Plan B Updates, Eco-Economy Indicators, and Book Bytes. In November 2001, he published Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, which was hailed by E.O. Wilson as “an instant classic.” The most recent book is Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. David Roberts of Grist said, “It’s the best summation of humanity’s converging ecological problems and the best roadmap to solving them, all in one compact package.”  All of their publications are available online for free downloading—a phenomenal bargain—along with supporting data.
According to their website, EPI’s goals are

1. To provide a global plan (Plan B) for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path.
2. To provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work.
3. To keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.

People can help by getting involved. Depending on the person, that can mean a lot of things. Some people simply give money; others only give time, by writing elected officials on critical issues, helping out with mailings, tree plantings or whatever urgent matter needs our attention that day.

Earth Policy Institute is an independent, nonprofit environmental research organization supported by financial contributions from foundations and individuals, along with internal sources of income such as publication sales. Therefore your support is invaluable to our efforts. Please consider making a donation.

Click here for their donation page. (A contribution to the Earth Policy Institute goes a long way. Less than two percent of our income is used for fundraising; the rest supports program activities.)

Click here for how you can get involved with the EPI.

Human Rights

Although human rights has come a long way since men dragged women by their hair, our world still has just as long a way to go in order to achieve global peace and harmony. The problem with human rights is that it pervades every level of our society. At the macro-level, wars blur the line between acceptable and unacceptable human rights practices. In 2004, Israel’s IDF detained a 13-year-old boy throwing stones at the soldiers and strapped his left arm onto the screen that guarded the Humvee’s windshield. In Iraq, suspected terrorists are detained for indeterminate amounts of time, with little evidence or rights provided to them. On the micro-level, racial tensions have turned communities against each other.

We at Attorney.org believe that regardless of whether you promote women’s rights, LGBT rights, minority rights, or anything else — it is one step in the pursuit of truly egalitarian human rights. As part of our new human rights campaign, Attorney.org is partnering with premier institutions striving for change in the hopes bringing greater awareness to their causes. Attorney.org’s role will be to promote the free flow of information and bring well deserved recognition to the people who fight to make this world a better place.

Save a Library

We here at Attorney.org understand the importance of libraries as an essential community resource. As part of our “Save A Library” campaign we are highlighting libraries from across the country in an effort to increase awareness about the current state of libraries across the country. Ultimately, we hope that you, our readers, will choose to take a pro-active approach towards improving the state of education in our country by contacting a library and contributing to their fund. Attorney.org is a not-for-profit website and will not accept any donations or serve as a broker in the process. We ask that all charitable contributions are made directly to the individual library or district.

Why are we doing this?

The bottom line is that America’s libraries, and the people who staff them, is a group forgotten amidst government bailouts of too-big-to-fail banks and institutions.

Sure, the burden of educational standards and funding rests largely on the respective state’s shoulders, but with state’s operating in the red, the lack of federal oversight on the issue is a glaring mishap. Just when people need them the most, libraries are first on the list for budget and staff cuts.

According to the American Library Association, “Library use increases dramatically as economy sags; funding declines.”

As the economy plummeted in 2008, people began looking for cost-effective resources during the time of crisis. As people slashed subscriptions to internet access in an effort to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, they flocked to libraries for free internet access, a working printer and computer. However, as funding faltered, libraries have not been able to grow to meet public demands. In academic library centers and public libraries alike, reduced hours/under staffing to minimize overhead and stifled innovation due to inadequate funding is a recurring scene across the country.

In a 2009 State of America’s Libraries report by the American Library Association, they found that:

1. Children are among the heaviest users of public-library resources. Children’ s materials accounted for 35 percent of all circulation transactions, and attendance at library-based children’ s programs was 57.8 million.

2. Individual visits to school library media centers increased significantly at the schools that responded to both the 2007 and 2008 surveys: up 22.7 percent for the 50th percentile, up 12.5 percent for the 75th percentile, and up almost 25 percent for the 95th percentile. There were no major year-to-year differences in the responses with regard to the other variables.

3. More than 68% of Americans had a library card in 2009. This is the most ever since the ALA began compiling data in 1990.

4. In 2009, Americans visited their libraries nearly 1.4 billion times and checked out more than 2 billion items in 2009. This is an increase of more than 10 percent in both checked-out items and visits, compared to data from the previous economic hurdle in 2001.

5. Public funding did not keep up with use in 2009. Forty-one states (82%) reported declining state funding for U.S. public libraries in 2009. Eight of these states anticipate further reductions in the current year.

6. The southeastern section of the country has been the hardest hit, with declines as large as 30 percent in South Carolina and 23.4 in Florida when comparing 2008 and 2009. This comes despite an average inflation rate of 2-3% in the past few years.

7. Libraries continue to report that job-related activities are a priority use of their computers and Internet services.

Today, the Internet has largely taken over the duty of archiving information and records, which were the duties of the earliest libraries, but today’s libraries are far more than that. Today’s libraries are a center for thinking minds to work, professionals to seek job training and placement, and a leading resource for youth programs. Libraries have persisted as an invaluable common area for generations, let’s not sit by idly while they disappear.

America’s farm

farmland.org

American Farmland Trust is the leading national organization dedicated to saving America’s farm and ranch land, promoting healthy farming practices and supporting farms and farmers. As the vital link among farmers, conservationists and policy-makers, American Farmland Trust is focused on ensuring the availability of fresh food, a healthy environment and strong local economies across the nation.

Since its founding in 1980 by a group of farmers and citizens concerned about the rapid loss of farmland to development, it has helped save millions of acres of farmland from development and led the way for establishing sound environmental practices on millions more.

The benefits of bountiful and protected working lands represent our best bet for a healthy, sustainable future — and our plan to help America guarantee that future through comprehensive stewardship of the nation’s working lands is based on the following key programs:

Farmland Protection

Approximately half of the two billion acres of land in America is working agricultural land. This productive farm and ranch land is a finite resource as fertile soils take thousands of years to develop and are irreplaceable.

The focus of AFT’s work revolves around protecting this precious resource—America’s best farm and ranch land.

Agriculture & Environment

• Protecting water quality
• Addressing Climate Change
• Finding Solutions
• Implementing Conservation Practices
• Shaping Strong Federal Policies

Growing Local

At farmers’ markets, restaurants, grocery stores, school cafeterias and communities across America, people are searching for healthy food that’s grown on nearby farms.  Meeting this demand will take more farms, more farmers and more farmland growing local food. AFT is helping build sustainable food and farming systems to make fresh food from local farms a reality for everyone by:

• Planning for agriculture and sustainable food systems
• Working on the ground for change
• Improving food, farm and land use policies
• Sustaining farms and farmland for our future
• Spreading the ‘No Farms No Food’ ® message