When I'm walking in the city or reading a magazine, I don't pay much attention to the advertisements I see. But they nonetheless slyly work their way into my consciousness, which is exactly what the advertisers want. I see the ads from this oil company or that financial institute and their "altruistic" projects to protect the environment or help developing countries, for example. The problem is that I am seeing only one small part of a much bigger picture.

That's one reason why I enjoy working with the folks at the Berne Declaration for their annual Public Eye Awards that take place in Davos, Switzerland, on Opening Day of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The awards remind us that corporate advertising shows us only the side of the corporation that it wants us to see, many times hiding activities that help it maximize profits, with the often unfortunate (although apparently acceptable to the corporation) side effects of human rights violations or environmental destruction.

My involvement is translating documents from German to English, and helping out with computer support during the awards ceremony. Here's the beginning of the (translated) press release:

On Opening Day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace will present the Public Eye Awards 2010 in Davos. Screen star Julia Jentsch will moderate the WEF-critical event on January 27th, joined by keynote speakers Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, and Jürgen Trittin, former German Environment Minister and current parliamentary leader of The Greens. Six corporations are once again nominated for the (in)famous awards, including Arcelor Mittal, Roche, the Royal Bank of Canada and the IOC. Online voting for the People's Award is possible at www.publiceye.ch, and for the first time a Greenwash Award will expose the most implausible social and eco labels.

Descriptions of all nominees are available on www.publiceye.ch, where you can also cast your vote for the People's Award until January 26. Tell your friends!

When I was looking for a volunteer project in Latin America, I wanted to go with a grassroots organization instead of a larger and more institutionalized one. Deciding to concentrate on small organizations meant that it might be harder to find information about them and to find feedback from prior volunteers. This blog entry describes a small organization that deserves your attention if you found this entry by searching for something like "latin america volunteer."

The organization is called Asociación MAPU and most of its activities take place in or near Esquel, Argentina, in the province of Chubut, in northern Patagonia. It offers various volunteer projects on its Patagonia Volunteer Web site.

I found little independent information on the Web about MAPU, other than that it had won a UN award for virtual volunteering. So although I found no reports from prior volunteers, I decided to go for it. And I have no regrets.

Since 2000, the Berne Declaration and ProNatura have organized the Public Eye on Davos, which takes a critical look at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, every January.

On January 24, 2007, the next installment of the Public Eye Awards will take place, on the opening day of the WEF. Not only will it shine a critical light on the sometimes unsavory activities of the multinational firms that attend the WEF, but it will also spotlight a company that "gets it" regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) and that is setting an example for others.

A friend invited me to go to a demonstration against the WTO in Geneva last week. Negotiators for a small group of countries were holding closed-door sessions, trying to save the Doha Round. Farmers and fishermen and NGOs had come from around the world to protest. Then on Monday, July 24th, the talks collapsed. The demonstration had been scheduled for the following Thursday, and in light of the new circumstances it was converted from a protest into a celebration.

The demonstrators assembled at the edge of Lake Geneva, and then marched along the lake to the WTO building. A small flotilla of boats, with banners flying, accompanied us from just off-shore. As we were approaching the building, a Dutch journalist and cameraman wanted to ask us a question. Actually, they wanted to ask my friend a question, and at first I was secretly envious. The journalist asked her, "The Doha Round of talks is also referred to as the 'development round.' Why are you happy that it failed, if the development round is good for developing countries?" As I watched my friend remain cool and calm I realized that I probably wouldn't have done the same in front of the camera, and I suddenly switched from envious to being secretly thankful that they hadn't chosen me. And it gave me an opportunity, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, to think about what I would have said.