Anti-Violence Global Hero - Hetty van Gurp
Sudan Global Hero - Eugene Ellmen
Anti-Violence Global Hero - Hetty van Gurp
When Hetty van Gurp's son died after an incident with a bully, the Halifax elementary teacher resolved to take action. She decided that she would try to get rid of school violence by teaching about peace. Starting with her own students, Hetty worked to foster a class atmosphere that discouraged all forms of aggression. At the time, she never imagined that her ideas would spread to schools in places like North Ireland and Russia.
Today, Hetty heads Peaceful Schools International, an organization that aims to end conflict among youth in schools. Incidents like the Colombine school shooting and the Reena Virk murder have brought youth violence to the forefront of the media in recent years. Ms. Van Gurp says that all the attention has put pressure on schools to address important issues. "For a long time, schools would say 'We don't have bullying here; we don't have a problem' but now at least it is out in the open and we're discussing it, because it does exist," she said.
Ms. Van Gurp started Peaceful Schools International in May, 2001 after a four-month tour in Asia where she put on workshops for students and teachers. After giving workshops on peer mediation to nearly three hundred students and teachers in Macedonia, she had the idea to start a global network. "We need to do something globally to try to move beyond all this conflict, especially given the tragic events of September 11th," Ms. Van Gurp said.
Peaceful Schools International encourages schools to adopt a number of initiatives, including conflict resolution, peer mediation, co-operative teaching and student-based decision-making. To find out more check out the Peaceful Schools website at www.peacefulschoolsinternational.org
Sudan Global Hero - Eugene Ellmen
Nice guys don't always have to finish last.
Eugene Ellmen is a man who understands this concept well. He's an expert on socially responsible investment. Ellmen heads the Social Investment Organization, which promotes socially and environmentally sound investment in Canada. He's proven to investors that they can make money while investing their money in responsible ways. Ellmen's organization oversees 500 investor groups--they manage funds on behalf of 200,000 Canadians.
The Investment Game.
In today's world, investing is an incredibly complex process. There was a time when Canadians invested their money into a single company, thinking they would reap the dividends of their company's profits as they headed into retirement. These Canadians had a feeling of connectedness to the companies in which they invested. Today, the investment game has changed dramatically. Instead of investing in a single company, many Canadians invest in mutual funds, which means that they give their money to a financial institution which then invests in many different companies. This means that someone with money in mutual funds could unknowingly be supporting weapons manufacturers, tobacco companies and corporations that operate in war-torn countries. These companies are often listed in mutual fund portfolios.
Ethical Investing.
Ethical funds operate on the same principle as other investors-their goal is to make money. But they use a set of guidelines to screen out companies involved in questionable projects. Ethical Investment funds aren't perfect-they put money into companies that some consider to be unethical. But as Eugene Ellmen points out, socially responsible investing represents "an alternative to investment funds that do no social or environmental screening whatsoever."
To learn more about socially responsible investing, go to http://www.socialinvestment.ca/ and click on box titled What is SRI?
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