Local NAACP group heads to D.C. to hear Obama's speech

Local NAACP group heads to D.C. to hear Obama's speech

While the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, D.C., will draw an estimated hundreds of thousands from around the globe Saturday, it's hardly being billed as a celebratory event.

The Kankakee County Branch of the NAACP is sponsoring a bus trip to the nation's capitol, and a group of about 50 riders will depart from Kankakee this afternoon. Theodis Pace, president of the local NAACP chapter, said there is a specific purpose behind the venture.

"Our focus is it's a continuation of what happened on Aug. 28, 1963," Pace said.

On that date, acclaimed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream'' speech, which expressed his hope that racial equality would one day be reality in America.

Pace said that day has yet to arrive.

"Fifty years later, voting rights are being challenged, jobs are an issue and there is racial profiling,'' he said.

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Local NAACP group heads to D.C. to hear Obama's speech

Local NAACP group heads to D.C. to hear Obama's speech

While the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, D.C., will draw an estimated hundreds of thousands from around the globe Saturday, it's hardly being billed as a celebratory event.

The Kankakee County Branch of the NAACP is sponsoring a bus trip to the nation's capitol, and a group of about 50 riders will depart from Kankakee this afternoon. Theodis Pace, president of the local NAACP chapter, said there is a specific purpose behind the venture.

"Our focus is it's a continuation of what happened on Aug. 28, 1963," Pace said.

On that date, acclaimed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream'' speech, which expressed his hope that racial equality would one day be reality in America.

Pace said that day has yet to arrive.

"Fifty years later, voting rights are being challenged, jobs are an issue and there is racial profiling,'' he said.

View the original article here

Kankakee theater group celebrates 50th anniversary with gala

The Kankakee Valley Theatre Association is celebrating 50 years of bringing the magic of live theater to Kankakee and the surrounding communities. The KVTA 50th Anniversary Gala will be held on at 6 p.m. Saturday at Quality Inn & Suites in Bradley.

The gala features a cash bar, silent auction/raffles, dinner,and live entertainment. The entertainment portion will consist of a special one night performance of Forbidden Broadway and a time for guests to share their favorite memories of KVTA.

A memory book that commemorates the 50 year history of the organization may also be ordered. For more details, visit kvta.org and click on the 50th Anniversary link. Advance reservations required. Call Renee Brammer at 815-936-0583.

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Macintosh product users' group meeting

The Kankakee Macintosh Users’ Group KAMUG Mac/iPad/iPod/iPhone will meet starting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Judy’s Place, 220 Curwick Drive, Bourbonnais. This event is free, open to the public and guests are welcome.

The sessions:
• Beginner’s corner: how to maximize your document management system — files, bookmarks, music, videos, photos.
• Hardware and software: how to clean you Apple Mighty Mouse.
• iPad/iTouch/iPhone: how to use your iOS device to catalog your books and share it with friends.
• App corner: individuals can share information on their favorite apps.
• Internet: member share
• Demos on the following: educational software including To Do List and iProcrastinate, new iPad mini, Mac and iOS publications and power supply.
• Panel discussion: how to diagnose an OS problem, and how to reinstall your OS.

Refreshments are special order.

For more information, questions, suggestions or if you are interested in volunteering, call KAMUG at 815-472-4472.

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Humanity in ecological deficit for rest of 2013, group says

As of Tuesday, the Earth's ecological budget for the year has maxed out. For the rest of the year the planet will operate on an ecological deficit. And it's only August.

So claims the Global Footprint Network, which calls today "Earth Overshoot Day," its annual estimate of when human consumption exceeds the planet's ability to regenerate its resources for the year.

The sustainability think tank acknowledges that the date is only a rough approximation, and something of an arbitrary factoid.

"It's a bit of a gimmick, I admit," said the group's president Mathis Wackernagel, in a phone interview from Switzerland.

"It's not that tomorrow I won't be able to eat potatoes anymore."

But, he said, it's meant to make a point: Humanity is using resources faster than the Earth can replace them. According to the group's analysis, it would currently take one and a half Earths to renew the resources humanity consumes.

The release warns that if current trends continue, humanity will require the resources equivalent to two planets before 2050.

"We believe this is a risk that is under-appreciated by most risk assessors," said Wackernagel. "And that's dangerous."

"Ecological debtor" countries use more than their own ecosystems can renew.

/ Global Footprint Network

While it is the poor who are most exposed to the risks posed by evaporating resources, said Wackernagel, the group's release highlights more wealthy countries as having some of the highest per capita impact on the problem.

"If everybody were to live like United States residents today, it would take four Earths to support the global population," the group states.

"In Qatar, the typical resident requires the resources of six and a half Earths."

The group estimates that more than 80 percent of the world lives in what it calls "ecological debtor" countries, which consume more resources than their ecosystems can renew.

"Japan's residents consume the ecological resources of 7.1 Japans," the group's release states. "It would take four Italys to support Italy. Egypt uses the ecological resources of 2.4 Egypts."

There are "ecological creditors," which demand less than their ecosystems can provide, but, the group warns, even the reserves of such countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Sweden are shrinking.

It's a trend, Wackernagel said, that could have major geopolitical consequences.

"As we are moving into a more resource-constrained world, having a biocapacity reserve -- being an ecological creditor -- will have evermore economic advantage, and having the opposite will be more of a liability," said Wackernagel.

"It's like musical chairs, as you have fewer resources, you have more conflict."

The Global Footprint Network calculates the date of each year's Earth Overshoot Day with a seemingly simple formula: They divide the amount of ecological resources the planet is able to create for a given year by humanity's demand for that year, and then multiply by 365.

Based on that formula, Earth Overshoot Day has arrived three days earlier each year since 2001.

View the original article here

Humanity in ecological deficit for rest of 2013, group says

As of Tuesday, the Earth's ecological budget for the year has maxed out. For the rest of the year the planet will operate on an ecological deficit. And it's only August.

So claims the Global Footprint Network, which calls today "Earth Overshoot Day," its annual estimate of when human consumption exceeds the planet's ability to regenerate its resources for the year.

The sustainability think tank acknowledges that the date is only a rough approximation, and something of an arbitrary factoid.

"It's a bit of a gimmick, I admit," said the group's president Mathis Wackernagel, in a phone interview from Switzerland.

"It's not that tomorrow I won't be able to eat potatoes anymore."

But, he said, it's meant to make a point: Humanity is using resources faster than the Earth can replace them. According to the group's analysis, it would currently take one and a half Earths to renew the resources humanity consumes.

The release warns that if current trends continue, humanity will require the resources equivalent to two planets before 2050.

"We believe this is a risk that is under-appreciated by most risk assessors," said Wackernagel. "And that's dangerous."

"Ecological debtor" countries use more than their own ecosystems can renew.

/ Global Footprint Network

While it is the poor who are most exposed to the risks posed by evaporating resources, said Wackernagel, the group's release highlights more wealthy countries as having some of the highest per capita impact on the problem.

"If everybody were to live like United States residents today, it would take four Earths to support the global population," the group states.

"In Qatar, the typical resident requires the resources of six and a half Earths."

The group estimates that more than 80 percent of the world lives in what it calls "ecological debtor" countries, which consume more resources than their ecosystems can renew.

"Japan's residents consume the ecological resources of 7.1 Japans," the group's release states. "It would take four Italys to support Italy. Egypt uses the ecological resources of 2.4 Egypts."

There are "ecological creditors," which demand less than their ecosystems can provide, but, the group warns, even the reserves of such countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Sweden are shrinking.

It's a trend, Wackernagel said, that could have major geopolitical consequences.

"As we are moving into a more resource-constrained world, having a biocapacity reserve -- being an ecological creditor -- will have evermore economic advantage, and having the opposite will be more of a liability," said Wackernagel.

"It's like musical chairs, as you have fewer resources, you have more conflict."

The Global Footprint Network calculates the date of each year's Earth Overshoot Day with a seemingly simple formula: They divide the amount of ecological resources the planet is able to create for a given year by humanity's demand for that year, and then multiply by 365.

Based on that formula, Earth Overshoot Day has arrived three days earlier each year since 2001.

View the original article here