Archive for September, 2012

NBN News face up front

Thursday, September 27, 2012

TV journalist shares with students

NBN News journalist and weekend presenter Jane Goldsmith lectures to the Writing for Broadcast Media (Television) class at the invitation of Dr Carolyn Rickett. The senior lecturer in communication received a learning and teaching award in 2010 for her commitment to providing authentic learning experiences for her students. Credit: Brenton Stacey.

Correspondence

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sweet Poison

It is well known that during the Cuban missile crisis the import of sugar (“Sugar hit,” Connections Vol 25 No 18) to the US plummeted, and so did the curve for the incidence of cancer. I wonder why?

Belle Gillespie-Howard
www.facebook.com/avondaleaustralia
Comment

Using anything in excess will have a negative effect on our health and wellbeing. Sugars and fats are an everyday part of most people’s diet. It’s the amount of each consumed and how they’re presented that’s important. Fruits are a valuable source of natural sugars for the brain, for example. It’s not enough to “ban” all forms of sugar just because it’s potentially not good for us in certain forms.

Sonja Garbutt
wp.avondale.edu.au/news
Reply

Correspondence

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Sweet Poison

Interestingly, two of the main critics of David Gillespie (“Sugar hit,” Connections Vol 25 No 18) are Australia’s leading defenders of added sugar in food as harmless. Awkwardly, these high-profile The University of Sydney scientists are involved in a dispute about unscholarly behaviour in the publication of a pair of supposedly peer reviewed scientific papers that falsely claim an inverse relationship between the consumption of refined sugar and obesity.

Rory Robertson
wp.avondale.edu.au/news
Reply

The brain feeds exclusively on glucose, so if we eliminate all sugar from our diet, we risk our brain health. The problem is not the sugar but the form and the amount in which we consume it. For example, fructose can be harmful if we take it out of the fruit and consume it as a concentrate. The emphasis should be on consuming whole foods not isolates. Our body may be able to compensate for the other missing elements while we are young, but as we age, we will reap what we have sown.

Jasmin Kukolja
wp.avondale.edu.au/news
Reply

Good point, Josh. There is a lot more to a healthy diet than avoiding sugar. It’s not what we leave out that is most important, but what we put in (ie. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, legumes). I’d sooner have an extra piece or two of fruit full of antioxidants and phytochemicals than a fat-laden hamburger.

Julie Baum
wp.avondale.edu.au/news
Reply

Good to see some common sense health advice from Avondale’s staff and students, despite the fanfare surrounding David Gillespie’s lectures.

Kyle Morrison
www.facebook.com/avondaleaustralia
Comment

Social Justice Week

Raising awareness becomes pointless after a while because everyone thinks it’s someone else’s responsibility to step out and do something about it. Time to stop talking and get out and do something.

John Dickson
www.facebook.com/avondaleaustralia
Comment

Giving poverty the flush

Thursday, September 13, 2012

What did the giant loo have to do with FoF?

John Beckett
National coordinator
Micah Challenge Australia

Micah Challenge’s The Great Toilet Tour came to Avondale during Festival of Faith last week. What did the loo have to do with the celebration?

You probably don’t realise how much progress the world’s made since 1990 to reduce extreme poverty. In just 20 years, we’ve:

  • Halved the number of people living below the extreme poverty line of USD1.25 a day.
  • Halved the proportion of people living without access to clean drinking water. On current rates, 92 per cent of the world’s population will have access to clean drinking water by 2015.
  • Reduced from 12 to seven million a year the number of children dying before their fifth birthday.

This is phenomenal progress. There is much to celebrate. However in many areas, the progress is not sufficient. Enter the giant toilet.

Few things are as fundamental to human health and dignity as the water we drink and the way we dispose of our waste. Illnesses related to water and sanitation are among the largest causes of death in the developing world. Around 3000 children die every day from water, sanitation and hygiene related causes. Almost all of these deaths are preventable.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goal 7 aims to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation by 2015. The world is falling short on the sanitation target. We can’t be satisfied when 2.6 billion people still don’t have access to decent sanitation.

Micah Challenge is lobbying the Australian Government to make a substantial increase in the amount of aid it invests in water, sanitation and hygiene, lifting it towards $500 million a year by 2015.

So, the toilet invites us to celebrate, even as we mourn. Surely that is the Christian way. And it invites us to commit ourselves again to pray and act on behalf of those living with poverty. We want more reasons to celebrate!

Dig wells not graves

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Are you an advocate for basic human rights?

Alexandra Radovan
Bachelor of Arts student
Avondale College of Higher Education

An advocate protects and raises awareness of the human rights of others. During Social Justice Week, students at Avondale College of Higher Education are campaigning for the rights of those in Nepal who lack access to safe drinking water and to clean toilets, which dramatically reduces quality of life.

We’re blessed in Australia with constant access to abundant amounts of clean water and to sanitation services. So, we have the ability, and responsibility, to help those who are less fortunate.

God wants us to act in response to injustice. Themes in Proverbs suggest we should not withhold good from those who deserve it.

According to the United Nations General Assembly, safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life. The United Nations designed the Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty by 2015. Goal seven focuses on the rights of every individual to have access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and appropriate hygiene.

Did you know 773 million people still live without access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion still don’t have access to decent sanitation?

Today, 3000 children died from water, sanitation and hygiene related causes. At the current level of development, we will not reach the target to halve the proportion of people without access to improved sanitation until 2026. Basic human rights are being violated daily, and the question is, what are we going to do about it? It’s time to give poverty the flush.

Patrick McDonald, founder of the non-government organisation Viva Network, has said: “Why is it that one child’s death amounts to a tragedy, but the death of millions is merely a statistic?”

Our objective during Social Justice Week is to empower one village in Nepal by raising money to dig wells and not graves for children.

Will you help?

Alexandra Radovan is a Bachelor of Arts student majoring in communication and international poverty and development studies at Avondale College of Higher Education.