April Action Alert: How would you spend 1.6 trillion dollars?

Grant a primary education to every child on Earth? Bring clean water and basic sanitation to the entire global population? Reduce maternal mortality rates by three quarters? Adequately treat every person living with HIV/AIDS? End armed conflict? All of the above?

Imagine the world we could live in if each of those dreams came true. Instead, global military spending in 2011 was equivalent to 1.6 trillion dollars. Every minute, the United States spends 2.1 million dollars in military spending. That means the money spent by the US government in just day could cut the spread of malaria worldwide by half, saving over 300,000 lives. 

On Tuesday, April 17th, 2012, concerned global citizens in locations around the world will be taking action to not just imagine but secure a world with less spending on militarization and more spending on human rights. This year marks the second Global day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS), founded by the International Peace Bureau and the Institute for Policy Studies. 

GDAMS urges global citizens to take action to focus political, public and media attention on global military spending, and to let our world leaders know that we’re watching. Something EarthAction can really get behind.

How to Participate in GDAMS:

Locally- visit Demilitarize.org to find an event being organized in a city near you. Events are already being organized in over 35 countries!

On the Web- Take a picture explaining what you would do with 1.6 trillion dollars. Post it to the GDAMS photo wall and on social media sites to show the world you’re interested in new priorities for the world’s biggest economies. Post your picture to EarthAction's Facebook Wall or tweet to @EarthAction to spread the word.

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Feeling motivated?- Gather some friends and fellow activists, find a busy street corner or a public space like a military base, capitol building or town hall and make signs articulating the true cost of military spending. GDAMS has effective tools for organizers incuding posters, quick facts and printable leafletts. Be sure to post your event to let others in your area join you! Tell your local radio station, newspaper, television station or other media agency that you’ll be out spreading the word about your government’s choice to fund bombs instead of books and warfare instead of healthcare.

More Information-
Official GDAMS website: demilitarize.org,
International Bureau for Peace fact sheet: http://ipb.org/i/pdf-files/Dont_Spend_Money_on_War_Use_it_for_Peace.pdf

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