Inspired by the WorldChanging article "Bird Flu: Can We Out-Collaborate a Pandemic?" (dead link removed; SF 2025), I want to join the blogosphere chorus for educating the public about the dangers of avian influenza. This is a nasty topic almost no one knows about. Instead of writing my own article, I've borrowed the following from one Barry Campbell and his blog Enrevanche, licensed under the Creative Commons SA 2.0.
Change happens. Today is not the same as yesterday, and both are far different from a few decades ago. Nevertheless, most of us look at the troubles of the world and feel more or less hopeless than any social change will ever lessen the suffering and degradation of more than a small handful of any given populace. But change does occur. Legalized slavery was abolished in the United States. Citizens stopped hunting for witches. Democratic movements swept over the Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon. Gandhi and King preached non-violence, and with non-violence achieved at least the first vital steps toward realizing their dreams. How this change comes about is the topic of an excellent essay, albeit one in need of some tightening, called The Six or Seven Axioms of Social Change.
