Choice is an every day part of Western society. We all enjoy the ease with which we can choose whatever we desire. We switch on the TV and choose one of many programmes. We choose the latest fashion, we choose food from any country in the world any night we want. We're fortunate enough to have to care very little about how we get what we choose and what the environmental, and humanitarian costs are.
Unfortunately capitalism is both the cause and the result of our satisfaction of whimsical desires and, as my wise father says about all things that seem too good to be true, It is. Somebody somewhere is paying for our luxurious living.
Perhaps none more so than the people of Bhopal, India, who's lives have been blighted since December 1984, on a night when thousands of people died and thousands more continue to suffer as a result of a chemical leak from the plant of a large American corporation, Union Carbide.

Not only did UC show total disregard for the people of Bhopal with their cost cutting lack of safety measures in the plant, which produced one of the worlds deadliest chemicals, they subsequently refused to accept responsibility for the leak, and have thus far refused to clean up the toxic site that is left behind.

The people worst affected by the chemical leak are largely working class people who live in slum dwellings and don't have our luxury of choice. They didn't choose to have a corporate company produce its pesticides there, they didn't choose to end up dying, sick and disabled. They didn't choose to have to drink contaminated water or live in an area that is saturated in toxic substances because they have no money to go elsewhere.
In December I am going to go to Bhopal to volunteer at a clinic called Sambhavna which means 'possibility'. The organisation tirelessly works to provide relief and treatment from the horrendous conditions and symptoms the people of Bhopal have been left with, using a combination of conventional medicine, community development, yoga and ayurvedic medicine while providing a safe and contaminant free environment for people to receive the help they desperately need. Check out the clinic at http://bhopal.org  I'm not sure exactly what I'll do there yet, but my hope is to spend at least 6 months there, and become involved in the training and development of community health workers in order to help people to help themselves, and perhaps do some research into the continuing health problems in Bhopal.
Sambhavna, and its wider campaign, the Bhopal Medical Appeal doesn't accept funding from corporations, for obvious reasons, and so they really need OUR help.
So lets do something to acknowledge that our ability to live abundantly, some may even say excessively, comes at a cost to many people the world over, and give a little back to those who don't have a choice. Any donations are greatly appreciated by both myself and the Bhopal Medical Appeal.