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A few days ago Lifehacker had a post on the top 10 ways to save energy in computer environments, which is not just good for our hip pockets but also in terms of minimising our carbon footprints. Click on the images or descrptions for further information.

Top 10 Energy Savers

10. Upgrade your gear

9. Dim your screen

8. Consolidate and virtualize computers

7. Turn off peripherals

6. Kill unnecessary processes

5. Get a smart power switch

4. Enable energy saver settings

3. Unplug energy vampires

2. Spin down your hard drive

1. Shut down

[thank you to Lifehacker]

Aminata Palmer, born and brought up in Sierra Leone, was interviewed here by Riz Khan on Aljazeerah (English Edition) on January 29, 2007. She currently is 13 years old and goes to school in Freetown. According to UNICEF UK, she joined two years ago her school branch of the Children’s Forum Network (CFN) which is a group of young people that lobby the government on behalf of children. She has been involved in helping to educate other children through activities that aim to promote Child Survival and Development (CSD) issues such as quality basic education and girls’ education, HIV/AIDS, child exploitation, improved health care facilities and poverty; one way in which she helps to raise awareness of these issues is through a program she presents on the Voices of the Children radio station - all quite remarkable given her age.

Aminata became an active member of the organisation’s drama group; the CFN uses drama to convey messages on the rights and wellbeing of children to other children as well as adults in schools, institutions and communities. Not surprising then, she soon found herself talking to street girls who had been raped: “We ask them how they feel and they tell us. Then we go back to our network and sit as a group and make plans on what should be done. We take them to the leaders and make sure that something is done.” This determination is part of her passion for the rights of girls: “In Sierra Leone, boys are seen to be more important than girls. If a woman gives birth to a boy, it is celebrated with great joy. On the other hand, if it is a girl, it is still celebrated but not as greatly. This is because girls are seen as a burden added to the family, which is why a girl who is still a child will be married off to a man older than her father.” (New Internationalist)

This discrimination and human rights abuse do not just happen in Sierra Leone - it is a worldwide phenomena. Despite all the talk of gender equality and girl power, there are millions of girls who are treated with contempt. Nikki van der Gaag from Plan UK writes in the New Internationalist’s July 2007 issue that “an estimated 100 million women are ‘missing’ due to female foeticide and the growing practice of sex-selective abortion, according to the [Because I am a Girl] report [by Plan International]. Baby girls are often fed less than their brothers. Meanwhile, 62 million girls are still denied primary schooling, despite to commitments to girls’ education in the Millennium Development Goals. Millions of girls, like those Aminata refers to in Sierra Leone, are married at an early age, risking not only their education but their health and future prospects. Half a million women, more than 50 per cent of them under 19, are lost unnecessarily to pregnancy-related deaths each year.” And then there is of course female genital mutilation. UNICEF reports that “estimates of the total number of women living today who have been subjected to genital mutilation/cutting in Africa range between 100 million and 130 million. Some 26 million have been subjected to infibulation, the most severe form of female genital mutilation/cutting. Given current birth rates, this means that some 2 million girls are at risk of some form of genital mutilation/cutting, including infibulation, every year. These practices have been reported in at least 28 African countries, among a number of groups in South and East Asia and among some immigrants in Europe, North America and Australia who come from these countries and regions.”

Any form of sex and gender discrimination is morally, culturally, politically and socially indefensible, which means that governments who generally have signed international agreements like the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women have to be held accountable. Aminita certainly does exactly that. Two years ago, when she was still eleven, she met Gordon Brown at the G8 summit in Scotland and asked him ‘what he is doing for girls’. “When I meet him at this summer’s G8 summit, I am going to say: ‘Why haven’t you done anything since we last met?’” I am sure he’ll have some weasel words at hand to brush off any embarrassment, but I am also certain that this won’t get Aminata of his back!