22 November Newsletter
STUFF HAPPENING AT JUST FOCUS
Kia ora koutou!
The JF team is still buzzing as creative and completely mad ideas get thrown around the office …. We’ve heard a few of your ideas for making JF brighter and bolder, but we want to hear more! Just Focus is about you, so talk to us!! If you live in or around Wellington then come and have your say about Just Focus on Saturday 1 December, over a FREE and yummy lunch. Email Tessa if you are keen.
We are also very excited because Just Focus now has a Media Gallery! Our first entries are all from The Outlook for Someday sustainability film challenge for young New Zealanders, but we’re on the lookout for more stuff made by JFers. Send in short films, music videos, digital news stories - anything, as long as it’s a JF original focussed on global issues.
RECENT NEWS AND EVENTS
Last Thursday Bangladesh was hit by its worst cyclone in a decade. The Guardian reports that over 3000 people have been left dead and millions homeless. This video clip shows winds of up to 250kms an hour battering the capital Dhaka. A report from Al Jazeera suggests that some of the damage could have been avoided, but many communities failed to receive the evacuation warning. On top of this the underdevelopment of Bangladesh meant that many homes were barely standing before the cyclone hit. Now Bangladesh must focus on rising from the storm’s rubble, but this will be long and difficult process.
Most of us know about issues surrounding blood diamonds and more recently we have learnt that Myanmar’s military rulers rely on the sale of precious stones, such as rubies, to fund their regime. But did you know about the other deadly gem? The BBC has a report on the violent and dangerous conditions at a sapphire mine in Madagascar.
The Ecologist reports that the global IT infrastructure has roughly the same carbon footprint as global aviation, yet it receives very little attention. The main difference between the two industries is that IT is in a position to, fairly easily, do something about it.
UPCOMING EVENTS/ACTIONS FOR YOU TO BE PART OF
Catch the Climate Change Bus
November 7 - December 16
The Be The Change Climate Rescue Bus is travelling (on biodiesel) from Bluff to Northland. Along the way the campaign team will be sowing the seeds of change and collecting stories of people doing good things for the climate.
Catch the Climate Rescue Bus nationwide tour here.
International Buy Nothing Day
November 23
Environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in as many as 65 countries will be hitting the streets on Nov 23 in celebration of the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day. This is a 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending - participate by not participating!
More info and some fab little promo videos here.
World AIDS Day Film Night
November 28
This is a fantastic opportunity to see two powerful documentaries by New Zealand producers in support of World AIDS Day. Tickets are $15 (Proceeds from this event go towards people living with AIDS in NZ.) Where: Academy Cinema, Auckland When: 6pm-8.30pm, November 28. Download the flyer.
Summer Festivals 
Festivals are a great way for Oxfam to spread the word about their campaigns and they always need help! In the past three years, they’ve added over 22,500 signatures from around New Zealand to the international Big Noise petition, among others. If you would like to volunteer with Oxfam at any of next summer’s festivals, contact Trien on trien@oxfam.org.nz
LINKS TO OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
Remember Sam Suds, the Poison Investigator? He was developed to spread the word about the dangers of PVC and try and get this poisonous plastic banned from US based Target Stores. What can an animated bar of soap do to influence a giant like Target you might ask? This - Target stores have just announced the systematic removal of PVC from their stores! 
Check out Morgan Spurlock’s (Super Size Me) latest offering What would Jesus Buy? It was part of the DOCNZ 2007, but will be on general release later in the year and it may give you some inspiration for International Buy Nothing Day.
A young British film maker, Jack Guest, takes a journey of faith and offers a positive response to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. The film is set to be released online in five parts before its full feature length unveiling next year, and the first part is available now here (you need adobe flash
player9), or view the preview here.
The finalists for the annual Roger Award For the Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2007 have been announced. Go to Scoop for details.
NEW STUFF ON THE WEBSITE
Check out the three winners of Talk With Me, a national writing competition for secondary school students, on the experiences, challenges and triumphs of young refugees in Aoteaora New Zealand.
And of course all eligible entries for The Outlook for Someday Film Challenge are now available on the Just Focus site! If you want to vote for your favourite (winning) film follow the link to The Outlook for Someday website and register your vote.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT…….?
…Global population issues
…Ethnicity in Aoteaora New Zealand
…The death penalty
You can have a rant about this stuff and anything else you want on the Just Focus forum!
NEW STUFF FOR YOU 
Amazing Grace is based on the true story of William Wilberforce, a British statesman and reformer fought a 20-year battle to abolish the British slave trade, which he won in 1807. If you missed it at the movies then you can now borrow this DVD and heaps of other books, guides and great films for FREE from the Global Education Centre. Email info@justfocus.org.nz for info on how to borrow them.
WANNA GET MORE INVOLVED?
Want to add stuff to the next newsletter or the Events Page, or to write an article/review, or take a photo/create an image for the Just Focus website? get in touch with us at info@justfocus.org.nz, it’s always great to hear from you!
