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[greenyes] Please contribute to the GAIA Tsunami Relief Fund
Dear GreenYes Friends,



Many of you have meet representatives from organizations around the world
who are part of the GAIA network at meetings during the last couple years,
such as CRRA in Oakland, the International Dialogue on Proper Discard
Disposal in San Francisco, ZWIA meetings in the UK and US, the recent CAPP
meeting in Los Angeles and elsewhere. We invite you now to join GAIA in
supporting these members in tsunami-impacted areas.



Please consider making a donation to this fund to support organizations
working on waste and related environmental health issues in the tsunami
impacted areas. We are already receiving news from groups on the ground in
these areas about exacerbated waste problems, ranging from disposal of
hazardous asbestos roofing from demolished buildings to the massive influx
of plastic containers. This is a great opportunity to include responsible
approaches to dealing with waste in the rebuilding of these communities. And
GAIA will even match your donation!



Thanks very much for your support.

Annie Leonard

REACH OUT

TO TSUNAMI VICTIMS

AND SURVIVORS,

GIVE TO THE

GAIA RELIEF and REBUILDING FUND



THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR INCINERATOR ALTERNATIVES (GAIA) INVITES AND OFFERS
TO MATCH DONATIONS TO GAIA MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS WORKING IN TSUNAMI IMPACTED
COMMUNITIES

In order to maximize your contribution, GAIA will
match the first $2,000 of contributions to this fund.

7 January 2005, Manila, Philippines/Berkeley, USA. GAIA is an international
coalition with members in 75 countries working to promote Zero Waste and
other safe, sustainable alternatives to waste incineration. Many people have
emailed the GAIA coordination team in recent days asking about the safety of
GAIA members in countries hit by the Tsunami. Miraculously, as far as we
know, all GAIA members are safe, although in some of their areas, the local
communities, environment and economies have been devastated. Many GAIA
members have put other work on hold while they prioritize relief and
rebuilding programs in communities in greatest need. Among other pressing
survival issues, impacted communities are facing severe problems regarding
waste and sanitation. As Hemantha from the Center for Environmental Justice
in Sri Lanka informed us, the already severe solid and human waste problems
in temporary camps are now being exacerbated by inappropriate donations of
unusable items.

GAIA members in affected areas have contacted GAIA requesting support for
dealing with waste and related issues. And many other GAIA members around
the world have emailed asking for information and advice on how to support
the survivors.

Because this disaster has affected communities where many GAIA members live
and work and because it has exacerbated waste issues in many ways, GAIA has
decided to do two things:

* We will collect a list of GAIA members who would like to receive
updates from GAIA members working on the ground in impacted communities, so
we can all keep up to date on the issues from the local perspective. Recent
updates from friends in these areas make it clear that the relief and
rebuilding efforts will be needed long after the heartbreaking images are no
longer in the news headlines. If you would like to receive these occasional
updates about the situation over the coming year, please email Manny Calonzo
at <mailto:manny.gaia@no.address> manny.gaia@no.address and he will add
you to the list.

* GAIA also will establish a special fund to support GAIA members
working on waste and related environmental health issues in Tsunami impacted
communities. We invite our members and supporters to contribute to this fund
to show solidarity with GAIA members in affected regions and to support
survivors in the safe, sustainable rebuilding of their communities.
Understandably in the aftermath of such a huge disaster, waste management
issues often become forgotten in the immediate need to help survivors. With
participation from the international community, we can support our members
working on BOTH immediate survival and longer term sustainable solutions to
waste management.

The funds will be re-granted to organizations in each of the four hardest
hit countries where we have active members currently engaged in relief and
rebuilding programs: Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Since the
groups, which will receive the funds, are trusted small organizations based
in the recipient countries, contributing money via GAIA will enable your
donation to reach the organization on the ground where the funds are most
needed. In order to maximize your contribution, GAIA will match the first
$2,000 of contributions to this fund. So, if you can contribute $50, then
GAIA will contribute a matching $50 to double your donation size!

To contribute to this fund, please send a check or money order to either
the U.S. or the Philippines.

In the U.S., GAIA is a fiscally-sponsored project of the Ecology Center.
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to The Ecology Center- GAIA/Tsunami
Fund and mailed to: GAIA, 1442A Walnut Street, #20, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA.
For more information, please contact Ann Leonard at aleonard@no.address or
call 1-510-883-9490, ext 1#.

If you would prefer to send your contribution to the GAIA Secretariat in
the Philippines, please make out a check or money order to Von S. Hernandez
and send it with a note specifying it is for the GAIA Tsunami Fund to: GAIA
Unit 320, Eagle Court, 26 Matalino St., 1101 Quezon City, Philippines. To
contact the GAIA Secretariat, please e-mail Manny at mannyc@no.address or
call +63-2- 9290376.

We are currently working on setting up the process for secure on-line credit
card donations via our website, so if you would prefer to donate via credit
card, please check our website (www.no-burn.org) for updates.

Together with you in mourning

and in reaching out,


The GAIA Coordination Team

Abi, Ann, Cecilia, Christie,

Fatou, Gigie, Manny, Monica, Von

(in Manila, Buenos Aires and Berkeley)


The GAIA Steering Committee

George Cheng, Von Hernandez, Ann Leonard,

Veronica Odriozola, Bobby Peek, Ralph Ryder








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