Without electricity the modern way of life would cease to exist, which is why there must be a concerted effort to use sustainable sources of energy. Fossil fuels are at best a transitionary source of energy due to their finite quantity as well as their harmful effects on the environment, which in turn will affect the security and economies of all nations. Therefore, Green Cross International and national affiliates have been working on projects that will lower the cost and enhance the efficiency of sustainable energy sources such as solar power in order to compete with fossil fuels. One such project, being led by Green Cross International and its national affiliate Global Green USA, is the Global Solar Fund, which aims to reduce the overall cost of solar photovoltaic technology to a level competitive with traditional fossil fuels.
 
In the same vein, there are also projects to reduce the cost of energy consumption through the development of more "green building" techniques in the hope of reducing low-income families' utility bills by 15% - 25%.

Green Cross International continues to strive towards a more sustainable energy future with the hope that every person will have access to affordable and sufficient energy to guarantee human development and wellbeing, while also protecting the environment of which we are all a part.

Project: 2009 Global Solar Report Cards ('The time has come to harness the sun'...)

Our time is running out, the climate crisis is a fact and the demand for electricity is increasing rapidly. In 2008 Global Green USA and Green Cross International published the ‘Global Solar Report Cards’, the first overview in which for every country the current status with respect to solar energy is presented. This interesting and comprehensible 120 page report can be ordered at Green Cross Netherlands. To download it, click here.
A report of The Netherlands has not been made yet. Therefore, Green Cross Netherlands is investigating the current situation so that our country will be included in the next edition.

In case you wish to support this project financially, please donate your contribution* to bank account number 78.14.62.207 in the name of Green Cross Netherlands, referred to as “Project Solar”.

*For donations of 35 euro or more, you will receive the PureGreen Gift Box.

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Programme: Water for Peace

Half the world's population lives in river basins shared by two or more countries, and lack of cooperation between those sharing these precious water resources is causing reduced living standards, devastating environmental problems, and even potential conflicts. It is hardly surprising that tensions - that could degenerate into violent conflicts - arise over this scarce and precious resource. The Water for Peace programme aims to promote cooperation and conflict resolution throughout the world's transboundary river basins. Through this programme, Green Cross is working with governments, local authorities and civil society to remove the obstacles to integrated and cooperative water management, and resolve related conflicts, in six important international basins across the world: the Parana La Plata, the Jordan, the Volga, the Okavango, the Volta and the Danube. In 2006, Green Cross International's global work on water won Mikhail Gorbachev the prestigious UNEP "Champion of the Earth" Award.

Project: Smart Water for Green Schools (SWGS)

In January 2010 Green Cross Netherlands, in cooperation with Green Cross International and other Green Cross organizations, initiated the “Smart Water for Green Schools” project. The goal of this project is to implement a cost-effective and efficient means to providing water for an entire school community. This is done by building reliable and long-lasting systems of rainwater collection. The promotion of safe water supply and basic hygiene in schools allows children to become the agents of change within their families and communities. The exchange of experiences between schools of several countries along a river basin is a powerful tool for peace promotion and cross-cultural exchanges, especially in regions of tensions and conflicts over natural resources.

The pilot phase of this project will last until the end of 2011. Since Green Cross has local organizations in Burkina Faso and Ghana, the preparations for the implementation of the drinking water facilities in these countries are most developed. These countries share the Volta river basin. At the end of the pilot phase Green Cross will evaluate the progress.

Click here for a video fragment of the project in Ghana.

In case you wish to support this project financially, please donate your contribution* to bank account number 78.14.62.207 in the name of Green Cross Netherlands, referred to as “Project SWGS”.

*For donations of 35 euro or more, you will receive the PureGreen Gift Box.

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Programme: Access to Water Services

The lack of access to sufficient quantities of clean potable water and/or basic sanitation for a third of humanity is one of the most pressing matters of this age. Not only is there a lack of water in rural areas of developing nations, but also in the increasingly crowded urban centres. This shortage of water, which is such an essential part of modern life whether in domestic, commercial or agricultural endeavours, is having an untold effect on the health and development of communities across the developing world. GCI is dedicated to ensuring that the right of all people to basic supplies of safe water is respected. Local, national, and international initiatives are being implemented to meet rising demands.

Project: Water Solutions for Haiti

Port-au Prince, the capital city of Haiti, has been devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake which struck the island on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. Damage has been of catastrophic proportions with almost 80 percent of the structures in the capital destroyed. There has been significant loss of life and it is estimated that approximately three million people (or one third of the population) have been affected. Major aftershocks continue to be felt. Over 1,000,000 have been displaced and 2,000,000 need food and water.

For this reason, Green Cross Netherlands and Green Cross Canada have set up a joint project that aims to provide potable water to local people in Haiti, as well in the short and long term. In order to satisfy the urgent needs of those people who are currently living in camps, Green Cross Canada has developed four solutions:

- Emergency Water Purification: high tech portable water purification systems capable of meeting the drinking water needs of nearly 4,000 people per day, operating at maximum capacity.These systems are essential in areas where resettlement is overwhelming the capacity of existing water supply or where the infrastructure has been destroyed.  These systems use a six-stage micro-filtration system plus a UV disinfection system, meeting NSF/ANSI certification standards for water treatment.
  
- Supply Packs: filters, treatment tablets and other consumables for treating 380,000 litres of clean water enough to provide 76,000 person-days of basic water needs.

- Water Bottles: 2400 x 10 litre collapsible water bottles.

- Community Wells: drilling a series of small wells to provide a clean, sustainable water supply to communities or displaced person camps.  There are many variables in the productive capacity of wells, but typically these systems supply the daily water needs of 500 to 1,500 people.

Project: Water4Life

Did you know that:

- More than 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water?

- 88% of all diseases are due to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation or lack of hygiene?

- Every 15 seconds a child dies as a result of unsafe drinking water?
  (source: www.water.org/waterfacts)

These facts illustrate how serious the worldwide water crisis currently is. Here in ‘the West’ we often do not realise that people in developing countries have to walk several kilometres every day to reach a water source, which then provides unsafe drinking water. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery and hepatitis A and E can easily spread through water. In case public water facilities are of bad quality, this can have disastrous consequences for entire communities.

     
This leads to developing countries getting stuck in a vicious circle: because of water-related diseases people become weaker, which makes them more vulnerable to other infections. Due to their weak physical condition they often cannot work and thus cannot take care of their family. Children cannot go to school, which means they lack proper education which, in turn, hinders the economic development of already weak economies.  
For these reasons, Green Cross Netherlands supports the projects of Water4Life. This independent foundation is created as a result of the 100th anniversary of the DSM “Dream Action” that started in 2002. The goal of this “Dream Action” was to utilize the talents of its employees in order to contribute to a better world. Alex Vrinzen and Paul Vergossen, membrane experts, won a “Dream Action Award” with their idea to assist people in developing countries in providing safe drinking water to themselves. They established the Water4Life Foundation in 2004.

With the philosophy “Give people clean and safe water and you give people life” Water4Life seeks to provide many people in the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ with affordable options to provide safe drinking water to themselves. This is achieved by sharing knowledge and experiences with regards to simple techniques to produce water-purification systems. As a result of this knowledge transfer, local production sites can be established that can satisfy the needs for safe drinking water of entire communities. Individual families can buy their own water filter for a small price. This stimulates their independence and, simultaneously, the local economy and employment. Water4Life’s water-purification system has already been introduced in 30 countries in which people are currently working hard to produce prototypes that comply with quality norms set by Water4Life. The project that, currently is being implemented on several Indonesian islands, is already in the phase that production of the water filter can take place. To be sure, training on sanitation, hygiene and safe drinking water is at least as important as the technical part and thus cannot be forgotten.

For more information on Water4Life: www.water4life.eu

Click here to see a video fragment of our partner organisation Water4Life in Indonesia.

Article in H2O Magazine on World Water Dag 22 March 2010: “Wereldwaterdag: water in tijden van cholera” (Dutch)

In case you wish to support this project financially, please donate your contribution* to bank account number 78.14.62.207 in the name of Green Cross Netherlands, referred to as “Project Water4Life”

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Lecacy Programme

The main objective of Green Cross International's Legacy Programme is to promote the clean-up and conversion of military bases to civilian use, the remediation of nuclear contamination, and the environmentally-responsible destruction of conventional and chemical weapons stockpiles. This programme started in 1994 with the active participation of Green Cross Russia, Global Green USA, and Green Cross Switzerland and the overall support of Green Cross International.

One of the most important achievements of the Environmental Security Programme is the visible change in awareness and attitudes within the different stakeholder groups in the Russian chemical weapons destruction process. Local communities, having acquired a better understanding of the demilitarisation project, are more realistic (and positive) in their demands and can elaborate (often with Green Cross staff serving as experts) appropriate development strategies for their areas. The federal bodies responsible for implementing the Russian Chemical Weapons Destruction Programme have begun to understand the importance of public out-reach and imitate some of the information activities of Green Cross International (even outside the sphere of chemical weapons demilitarisation itself). The international community providing assistance to the Russian Chemical Weapons Destruction Programme has an increasing understanding of the interface between demilitarisation projects and community realities and needs, and that public outreach is a key factor in preventing the investments of hundreds of millions of dollars into destruction facilities from turning into "white elephants" because of public protests.                                                                                                                             top      

The catastrophe at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl on 26 April 1986; the testing, production and stocking of nuclear, chemical and biological and other weapons of mass destruction; as well as the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War all led to large-scale contaminations. Still today millions of people suffer the consequences of these man-made disasters. Efforts of Green Cross International are therefore aimed at reminding the world of these largely forgotten populations and helping them to resume normal lives, through the Social, Medical Care and Education programme (SocMed). This programme, implemented by Green Cross National Organizations in Belarus, Russia, the Ukraine and Switzerland, and a partner organization GTZ/Vietcot in Vietnam, focuses its activities on three areas in three regions. Children, young adults and families are at the centre of Green Cross's particular attention.

Project: Summer Youth Camps in Belarus

Since 1995 Green Cross National Organizations in The Netherlands, Switzerland and Belarus organize summer camps for children from the Gomel region in Belarus. This region experienced the highest concentration of radioactive sediment after the explosion in 1986 of the 4th nuclear power reactor in Tsjernobyl in Ukraine, which caused an extremely high number of victims. Local youth is still suffering from the consequences of this explosion.

Goal of the Summer Camps:
Green Cross seeks to strengthen the youth of Belarus by providing therapy and training, which should help them to have a future in which they are in harmony with the nature and themselves. Through medical support for the weakest children, as well as creating positive memories, Green Cross aims to assist local youth in preparing mentally and physically for the future.

In addition, the cooperating Green Cross organizations give the camps an international character by allowing children from neighbouring countries to participate in the Summer Camps.

Finally, Green Cross is currently setting up a program for adolescents and students. For these people the educational part will be broadened with an ecological theme, which includes the creation of a botanical garden. Other forms of sustainability will be visualised physically (solar energy, solar boilers, etc.). This program will be implemented in the Ecological Centre, a building that is being developed on the main site of Green Cross Belarus in Smolevichi, 80 km East of Minsk.

For additional information please consult the website of Green Cross Belarus.

In case you wish to support this project financially, please donate your contribution* to bank account number 78.14.62.207 in the name of Green Cross Netherlands, referred to as “Project Youth”. 

Programme: Education for Sustainable Development

Green Cross International is working to include both children and adults through its Environmental Education for Sustainable Development Programme established by the Green Cross National Organisations. Many other Green Cross affiliates have implemented environmental education and awareness projects with promising results. The idea is to educate and infuse children and adults with a positive awareness of and responsibility for the environment. Green Cross International understands that many of the issues faced by the planet will not be solved immediately, which is why it is important to give children an understanding of the links between the problems of security, poverty, and the environment.

Project: Green Cross World Speakers (GCWS)

GCWS stands for transferring and sharing of knowledge, information and perspectives. Individuals, companies, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and governments frequently organize meetings during which subjects such as sustainability and sustainable developments, innovation, the environment, the climate, green energy, human rights, and poverty are becoming increasingly important. Our civilization shows a clearly noticeable increasing need for accurate information around these topics. Furthermore, in order to work towards effective solutions, Green Cross Netherlands believes that the discourse with regards to these issues should change and, therefore, the GCWS slogan is: “from burden-sharing to opportunity-sharing”.

Green Cross Netherlands, supported by Green Cross International, will present professional speakers who can conduct lectures on the abovementioned themes across the world. These speakers can be booked through an advanced website called “Green Cross World Speakers”. On the GCWS website those national and international speakers are presented who possibly also demonstrate that they care about these issues in their personal lives. The unique aspect of this initiative is that speakers will give a considerable part of their honorarium away to projects of Dutch and international NGO’s, which are active in (and provide information on) the abovementioned subjects.

For additional information about this project you can visit the temporary website of GCWS. A permanent site is currently under construction.

In case you wish to support this project financially, please donate your contribution* to bank account number 78.14.62.207 in the name of Green Cross Netherlands, referred to as “Project GCWS”.

*For donations of 35 euro or more, you will receive the PureGreen Gift Box.
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Project: 5th International Drawing Competition for Children ‘In My Home Land’

New technologies, fast transport, high speed communication made the world small. Globalization is rapidly growing. Geo-political storms and reduction of distances caused a high migration of people. Both poverty and wealth push people to move. Millions of refugees, economic and political migrants and even high qualified specialists wander from country to country. Many of them loose gradually anchor on the land.


Goal of the ‘In My Home Land’ project:
With the abovementioned developments in mind, Green Cross Belarus and Green Cross Netherlands have been working together for several years to support children growing up in the exact place where they are born. Green Cross Belarus is currently extending the reach of its international drawing- and painting competition. The main theme, which children in various age categories between 5 and 20 years old can dream about, is ‘In My Home Land’. This can be interpreted very broadly. Green Cross Belarus has already received more than 20,000 drawings of children striving for appreciation. 

Green Cross Netherlands, like Green Cross Belarus, seeks to enthuse children to participate in this competition by actively approaching schools. In cooperation with the Nature, Environment and Education Centre (NME) in Amsterdam, the Centre for Development Cooperation (COD) in Noord-Brabant and Overijssel, and the T-House in Eindhoven, Green Cross Netherlands is investigating the possibilities of implementing this successful project on a larger scale in order to reach more youth in The Netherlands. Green Cross Netherlands is planning to create an exposition of these drawings.

In case you wish to support this project financially, please donate your contribution* to bank account number 78.14.62.207 in the name of Green Cross Netherlands, referred to as “Project HomeLand”.

*For donations of 35 euro or more, you will receive the PureGreen Gift Box.
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Project: 10th Anniversary Earth Charter Event

The Earth Charter will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2010. This will be celebrated cross the world with various events and activities, which will start on 22 April in Mexico and end on 3 November in India. For more information regarding locations and programs you can visit the Earth Charter International website.

In The Netherlands, the 10th anniversary of the Earth Charter will be celebrated on Saturday 26, Sunday 27, Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 June with activities for both the general public and the corporate world. Events will take place in Eindhoven (city of innovation), which will be focused on Sustainability, and in The Hague (city of political affairs), in which the Earth Charter will be the main subject. Among other locations, activities will take place in the Peace Palace, and many special guests such as the Mayor of The Hague, Mr. Jozias van Aartsen, previous Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers (Earth Charter Commissioner), Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp (Earth Charter Commissioner and President of Green Cross Netherlands), Queen Beatrix and possibly also President Mikhail Gorbachev (founding president of Green Cross International), who were both present at the foundation of the Earth Charter Initiative.

Soon this page will show more content information with regards to the activities that will take place in Eindhoven and The Hague. A special ‘eventsite’ for these days is under construction. 

In case you wish to support this project financially, please donate your contribution* to bank account number 78.14.62.207 in the name of Green Cross Netherlands, referred to as “Project EC10”.

*For donations of 35 euro or more, you will receive the PureGreen Gift Box.
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