What is the one most important thing our society needs? ...

"That would be...harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan...and world peace!"

That line from "Miss Congeniality" gets me every time. It is such a pageant cliche. But I suppose every cliche has its root in truth. Peace in the world is definitely something worth aspiring to.

The United Nations has stated its goals are to facilitate cooperation on international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of that oh-so-important world peace.

The second week of December (Dec. 7-18) marks the start of its Climate Change Conference 2009, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. In advance of this hopefully productive conference, I found a spate of stories recently on the UN.

This past Saturday was the UN's 64th birthday. Founded in 1945 to replace the League of Nations, the UN has spent the last six decades working toward its goals. On Saturday, peacekeepers and staff participated in events from Darfur, Sudan to Timor-Leste in Southeast Asia designed to celebrate the UN and commemorate its work.

The UN website was the source of another story for today. In the hope of promoting environmental awareness among children before the climate change conference, the UN has nominated Disney's Tinker Bell as an Honorary Ambassador of Green. I'm sorry, but I would have a hard time announcing that with a straight face.

This past weekend, coinciding with its birthday, the UN held the fourth-annual "Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now" campaign. A record-breaking 173 million people from around the world - including the 50,000 who quite literally stood up during a U2 concert - joined forces with the UN to call on world leaders to meet their Millennium Development Goals by the deadline of 2015. Over 3000 events in 120 countries brought out 60 million more people than last year, demolishing a Guinness Book of World Records mark, according to Xinhua News.

(Image courtesy of www.moviemart.in)