ideas for action

Consumption

Don’t throw away!

Are you familiar with the Long Life for Objects website, designed by Ademe, the ecological transition agency? A good way to break with the “make-consume-throw away” cycle, which puts the planet’s resources at risk. The advice is very concrete. For the purchase, first: what are the eco-labels, is there a repairability index, second-hand, etc.? The interview, then. We learn how to prevent breakdowns of about fifteen products – computer, washing machine, faucets, electric bicycles, etc. And if the failure occurs, the site offers the Diagnostic Widget, a conversational tool to identify the problem in a few minutes and remedy it thanks to tutorials. It also encourages giving, selling, exchanging and recycling so that our objects have a second life.

longuevieauxobjets.gouv.fr

Migrant women

Welcoming more refugees to university

According to the UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the enrollment rate in higher education for young refugee women is only 3% worldwide (2018 figure). To remedy this, the UniR association (university and refugees) launched a mentoring program called “Intercultur’elles”. It thus organizes pairs, made up of active or retired women who make their knowledge and networks available to them, and of women who have had to flee their country. With the hope, in six months, of promoting the academic integration of these refugees in search of knowledge and a new life.

Contact : [email protected]

Health

Roll back leprosy

This last weekend in January marks the 70th edition of World Leprosy Day, launched in the 1950s by writer and journalist Raoul Follereau. A chronic disease, caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae, which remains unknown and leads to many discriminations. According to the WHO, more than 208,600 new cases were detected worldwide in 2018, including 15,380 children. These January 27, 28 and 29, throughout France, thousands of volunteers are mobilizing to raise funds to support research and actions carried out in the 15 countries of intervention of the Raoul Follereau Foundation (recognized as being of public utility) . So that it is no longer a disease of exclusion – it can be treated well today – and live tomorrow in a world without leprosy.

raoul-follereau.org

Energy

Limit tensions on the network

Are you going on vacation and planning to cut off your electricity meter? It is now possible to report it on the LibertéWatts website. The principle is simple: declare the duration for which you turn off your meter and obtain a certain number of points in exchange. These points can then be redeemed for pennies or vouchers. According to Guillaume Faure, the co-founder, “the goal is to prevent periods of energy tension rather than to react to them, but also to encourage consumers to get involved”. LibertéWatts insists in particular on the importance of anticipating consumption to guarantee the fragile balance between supply and demand for electricity, especially this winter, when power cuts are feared.

libertewatts.fr

Solidarity

Donate wigs

Many pathologies or medical treatments cause hair loss, such as chemotherapy, hyperthyroidism or alopecia. To allow patients to better experience this physical transformation, the volunteers of I give my wig receive, get back into shape and offer second-hand wigs. Since 2014, thanks to its network of association partners in France and Belgium, a hundred patients each year have been offered a wig from among those available online on the association’s website. To lend a hand to the initiative, volunteers and of course, always more wigs, are welcome!

jedonnemaperruque.fr

old age

sing together

Since 1998, one Sunday afternoon a month, the 800 volunteers of the Se Canto choir – including 200 children – have been going to retirement homes and geriatric hospitals all over France to sing with the residents. This joyful monthly ritual, conducive to memories and communion, is awaited by the elderly of the association’s 46 partner establishments. It is also, for some, a non-drug therapy that allows them to exercise their memory by singing the songs of their youth. To continue to bring the project to life, the association is looking for volunteer singers ready to commit.

se-canto.org

Streaming

Phosphorize on ecology

A “decreasing coffee”, do you like it? With a guest specialist in ecology (academic François Gemenne, geographer Magali Reghezza-Zitt, economics researcher Timothée Parrique…) and under the gaze of a comedian (like Vanessa Kayo)? To do this, connect to the new free video streaming platform TV4planet, dedicated to the ecological transition. Inspired by television and YouTube, it targets the general public, going further than the convinced: eating better, traveling more responsibly, deciphering indicators such as GDP, understanding the hidden face of digital… content is well put together and varied, for those who want to expand their knowledge of ecology in a rather playful way.

To create an account: tv4planet.tv

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