There is so much to see in your country, and an enormous amount for all of us to learn, angrily fixated as we are on the size of bankers’ bonuses when half the world is struggling to eat.

Best wishes to you from here in London, and many thanks again.

Water management is a big subject in supporting the developed world. As you imply, technical solutions are only part of the story – it’s getting the assistance to where it’s needed which often provides the biggest challenge. That takes imagination, and a lot of courage. I wish you all the best with your projects.

It’s sad but true indeed.

I work in the field of water treatment and I’ve always wondered how I can help… apart from the obvious… I have several ideas that might be worthwhile looking into but these ideas cost money, and money I don’t have… being an engineer, my ideas are technical and equipment related…

I am involved in a project right now in the Republic of Benin. Several companies are getting together to offer a sustainable solution for the country and also, generate jobs… I think that for now, I’ll have to piggy back on the larger social responsible firms until I can branch out on my own. We’ll see

Anyway, like you said, one person cannot solve the world’s problem, but we could change our attitude and make a small difference. To me, even giving just a penny to a hungry child and seeing his face light up means the world to me… I don’t know about you, but I take pride and joy from simple pleasures.

I’ve become a fan of yours.

Meanwhile, the irony of writing my next post about mountains of food isn’t lost on me, unfortunately. What blind and mindlessly fortunate utopia we inhabit, every single day.

Strangely, there is little or no public discussion here in Britain of the ongoing financial cost of the Iraq War.

And I’m not sure why that is. I think that mentally we’re already out of that conflict, even if we’re still paying the bills.

I’d much rather spend more money on better things, as you say.

Meanwhile, I’m glad you like today’s masthead. I’ve got the pictures off my camera now, and I’m going to write something about my trip to the snow, just as soon as I’ve got my running shoes back into gear this evening.

“A kilogram of rice costs more than US$1 and a barrel of oil costs over $100. One influences the other. The subprime loan crisis will cost more than $1 trillion and the Iraq war will cost the United States alone as much as $3 trillion.”

Is there anyone that finds some logic in all these numbers? There shouldn’t be. And hopefully each person that reads this understands that it’s not the time to sit down thinking that the world is in trouble, it’s time for some serious actions.

Solutions will not happen overnight. They evolve as an elaboration of thoughts and ideas over time. But then they have to become actions. There are so many good ideas posted here that hopefully we can all create some change. It doesn’t matter if it is a small change, let’s do it.

By the way, it is a beautiful picture you have now as masthead for this page.

Take care.