Every Day is "Improving Our Lives" Day

An article by Shana Rappaport copied here: 
"VERGE, as we often say, is what sustainable business should be about: systems thinking, radical efficiency, innovation, busting through silos and, ultimately, moving the needle on challenges like energy and climate. It should also be about improving lives — a metric that’s admittedly elusive. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try".
 
I was reminded of this yesterday, Human Rights Day, which commemorates the United Nations’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It got me thinking about the whole “improving lives” part of VERGE. How do we ensure that this is part of the conversation, central to our actions and not merely a happy outcome? How do we make sure that VERGE is not just about technology for technology’s sake, and that we’re effectively addressing some of the world’s most pressing social challenges as well as its environmental ones?

Take sustainable mobility — hyper-efficient vehicles, alternative fuels, smarter roads, the data layer and the apps that allow so many new products and services. How much is all this is actually expanding access to mobility for those who don’t have it? For example, is access to reliable public transit really improving, or do we merely reliably know that “the bus is late”?"  Source: The Verge: founded in 2011 in partnership with Vox Media, and covers the intersection of technology, science, art, and culture. Shana Rappaport 12/11/13

Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year. It commemorates the day in 1948 in Paris when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The formal inception of Human Rights Day dates from 1950, after the General Assembly passed resolution 423 (V) inviting all States and interested organizations to adopt 10 December of each year as Human Rights Day.

 

When the General Assembly adopted the Declaration, with 48 nation-states in favor and eight abstentions, it was proclaimed as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations", towards which individuals and societies should "strive by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance". Although the Declaration with its broad range of political, civil, social, cultural and economic rights is not a binding document, it inspired more than 60 human rights instruments which together constitute an international standard of human rights. Today the general consent of all United Nations Member States on the basic Human Rights laid down in the Declaration makes it even stronger and emphasizes the relevance of Human Rights in our daily lives.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the main United Nations rights official, and her Office play a major role in coordinating efforts for the yearly observation of Human Rights Day. (From 12/11/13 Human Rights website)

Best, Rod
Copyright 2014 

Surviving Bipolar Disorder in the modern age . . . a journey of Hope for the afflicted.
My poetic memoir Episodes available at www.amazon.com/episodes-rodney-richards/dp/0615914705/   

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