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Here’s what the person who did this video has to say…
This is a performance meant to entertain and inspire.
If you want to help…
http://www.squidoo.com/help-the-homeless-for-free
As I said this is a performance. I don’t want there to be any doubts about my situation. I am a performer. I have a roof over my head and I have yet to start my own family. But this video isn’t about me. This is for the men, women and children on our streets who don’t have bright green puppets on their hands. The people who aren’t always as easy to see. This is for you.
Look around and see there are good people out there.
See.
-Cara
22%
22% of New Yorkers have to choose between food and medical care. – City Harvest
Just thought you might want to know.
-Cara
Martha chats with Robert Kenner and Joel Salatin about the behavior and impact of the commercial food industry.
That is right I said it, as someone who will be enjoying a delightful, sure to be delicious, vegan Thanksgiving feast at our friend Joanna’s abode today and has had the guilty pleasure of being a stalker of all things Stewart for many a year, this is great news. I know her daughter Alexis is a vegetarian and has helped Martha to see the light that fur is not cool, but still, the classic Martha Turkey Day blow up…vegetarian? That my friend is revolutionary if you wrap your mind around the whole picture.
I have heard about Food Inc as well. It looks like an amazing movie and sounds like a great Christmas (or Yule, Chanukah, Kwanza, Three Kings Day, Day of Ashura, Holiday…) gift! :] I will definitely check it out.
I hope at some point to be the person that does not have to keep watching these types of movies, videos, etc to remember why everything we choose to do is so important. I am very tired of how people can not see what is right in front of them or choose to not be inconvenienced. This show with Martha Stewart promoting this film, Food Inc is inspiring to me as I do not expect someone in Martha’s position to promote something so risky. This coming from someone that was previously set up for a fall just to be taught a lesson…a lesson it seems she thankfully did not learn.
Martha Stewart is a rebel!
-Cara
Guess what I am doing tomorrow…
Human Countdown: Climate Wake Up Call
On Sunday, September 20th, 2009, people of all walks of life will come together in New York’s Central Park for a bold creative action to tell world leaders that the TIME TO ACT is RUNNING OUT. More than 2,000 people will form a moving human sculpture of our world in a race against time—a massive, living Earth and Hourglass to be picked up by the media worldwide.
On the cusp of the UN climate summit, our Human Countdown will urgently call for a fair, ambitious, and binding new climate treaty, and launch global actions for Climate Week NYC and the Tck Tck Tck Global Climate Wake Up Call.
We will assemble in two groups. The first group forms the living Earth and convenes at 9am in the morning to rehearse the movements. All others come at 1pm to form the hourglass. We will perform the Human Countdown together at mid-afternoon, hear from notable national and international speakers, and conclude by 4pm.
We need a global climate treaty. This is the time, this is the place to make history – we need YOU to join the HUMAN Countdown! All are welcome!
The goal is to show our leaders that time is running out to act on global warming. Video of the image we create will be broadcast the next night at The Age of Stupid global film premiere and delivered to world leaders.
Come to the Wollman Ice Rink in Central Park (Southern end of central park by 6th Ave) this Sunday at 12.30pm.
Click here to RSVP [I found all this stuff thanks to AVAAZ:
http://www.avaaz.org/new_york_climate_action
While action on climate is always urgent, this is an especially important moment for public action. This December in Copenhagen, world leaders will meet to negotiate a new global treaty to avert a climate catastrophe.
This is going to be awesome.
-Cara
Zeitgeist (n) – the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation
Addendum (n) -something to be added
I never watched Zeitgeist: The Movie. I came across Zeitgeist: Addendum the other day and since my thinking hasn’t been the same. It has given me a better sense of focus, new ideas to think about and hope. Look, I am not saying I am drinking the Kool-Aide, there are things I don’t agree with; for one, their take on religion. I get where they are coming from, but I am enlightened to something else.
I will not go on and on about the movie. If you want to watch it for free you can here (although I am not sure why they would choose Google Video to host the movie. It is part of the problem, not the solution. Maybe they feel it will reach a bigger audience, but I am not too sure that is the way to go. UPDATE 1-22-2011 I JUST CLICKED ON THE LINK AND IT GOES TO VIMEO NOW. THAT’S COOL.). I myself downloaded it from someone else. I am going to watch Zeitgeist: The Movie at some point, but for now I still have a lot to think about with Zeitgeist: Addendum, so I’ll wait. Addendum can definitely stand alone.
I would love to hear people’s opinion after watching the film. I have already had a few cool conversations about it. I have burned it for a couple of people. I would like to keep passing it around and then people can pass their copies around and see how fast it spreads. I want a better world and I know it is possible.
Do not fear the robots.
-Cara
On Oct 4th after months of rehabilitation, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), along with members from Centro de Recuperação de Animais Marinhos (CRAM), Institute for Aquatic Mammals (IMA) and the environmental authority in Brazil, Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA), 372 juvenile Magellanic Penguins, stranded because of inadequate food stocks, were loaded onto a military plane and airlifted to Southern Brazil for their release back to the wild.
According to Dr. Dee Boersma, a penguin researcher, the mass stranding of the penguins left them in extremely poor body condition. She states, there is a flow of warmer water (1° C higher than normal) which has caused the juvenile penguins to keep going north, past their usual range, where they are unable to find adequate food. There is always a high mortality rate for first year birds but this increased northerly range and lack of available food had increased the normal mortality rate for this group of penguins.
There is also the Penguin Network, which is works with The International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC), that put a lot of work into this and other bird rescue projects.
I don’t know what to say, but it seems like we might have broken something…
-Cara
I’ve started to look for more of a full-time job and one of the many cool companies I came across during this search was the Coalition for the Homeless.
Their mission statement off www.coalitionforthehomeless.org reads, “Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women, and children. We are dedicated to the principle that decent shelter, sufficient food, affordable housing, and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society. Since our inception in 1981, the Coalition has worked through litigation, public education, and direct services to ensure that these goals are realized.”
That seems like good work.
-Cara
The occupation of Iraq will cost $3 trillion, America’s most expensive conflict since WWII.
This site, http://3trillion.org/, is about you having 3 trillion dollars and what you can do for yourself or the world with it. You are taken to a global shopping spree, you browse their on-line store, fill up your cart, click the checkout button, and send virtual gifts to others. I was surprise how it was hard for me to get 3 trillion dollars worth of stuff. If these numbers are correct this site is a great educational tool. It makes things seem less unknown, even if the numbers are approximations. I think anyone can add stuff so…it is still fun. A tip don’t go over the 3 trillion dollar total as it has a bug and clears your whole cart. I learned that the hard way… :[
Spread the word.
-Cara
With that said…
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth via e-mail, a gift from me to you.
You’re Welcome. :]
-Cara
I feel a bit stuck in a rut with this blog lately and I’ve been thinking about why that is. What I came up with is themes. I think I am over the responsibility of theme days. I am going to just write whatever I feel like writing about each day. It will still be “green” and beyond, just the day’s writings will be whatever I feel like.
Like this one, instead of being about a heroine, it is about me giving up themes. I am, of course open to patterns developing..that’s different. :-) It is also about me finding a bunch of coupons for Organic Valley Farms’ products. :-D
Nice.
-Cara
Federal Contracts Ban
President Bush must act immediately to implement the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007. The Act bans federal contracts with companies that help fund genocide in Darfur and can add much-needed economic pressure on the Sudanese regime to end the violence in Darfur.
The legislation is in place – we’re waiting for the President to act. The April 29 deadline to implement the legislation has passed, but we have still not seen any movement from the White House.
Fill out these forms to urge President Bush to implement the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act and make sure U.S. tax dollars do not reward foreign companies that help fund genocide.
We are are one people, we must stop hurting each other for something that will never give us happiness.
-Cara
Reason 96 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
A 25-percent decline in heart disease in Poland in the early 1990s coincided with the country’s transformation to a market economy, which ended government subsidies to meat. A switch primarily to vegetable fats and the increased importation of fruit were also seen as factors in the decline, according to a report made by a team of multinational researchers. The authors of the report noted that the decline was “apparently without precedent in peacetime.”
Wednesday is hump day, the day that separates where your work week starts from when you work week ends. I thought what a perfect day to take a break and do something quick and easy that will make a positive difference. This day will be reserved for petitions and causes.
Our first lucky “Hump Day” winner is ONE. I first heard of these guys reading Ben and Jerry’s email newsletter. They have partnered with the organization to gain more exposer for their cause. What ONE does is raise public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world’s poorest countries.
In their own words, “ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world’s poorest countries.
ONE is nonpartisan; there’s only one side in the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. Working on the ground in communities, colleges and churches across the United States, ONE members both educate and ask America’s leaders to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, from the U.S. budget and presidential elections to specific legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.”
They have a lot on their plate and much work to do, so what you can do to help is click on this link and sign the ONE Declaration and have you voice heard. It is super easy. If you want to do more you can visit ONE’s “Take Action” page and spread the word, volunteer, shop to support the cause, etc.
One person can make a difference, so do.
-Cara
Reason 89 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Handling livestock these days is risky business, not the least because humans are increasingly contracting diseases from the animals: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Nipah virus, bird flu, and SARS are a few examples. “Exotic,” and often endangered, animal cuisine provides the conduit for a global pandemic. In China, wet markets display caged and invariably sickly creatures, such as cobras, civet cats, and anteaters, for consumers who want that “taste of the wild.” In Africa, the bushmeat trade is blamed for the spread of Ebola and AIDS.
We must realize that it is our voice that will change things. That one voice united with others, for the greater good, is more powerful than the few telling us we can’t make a difference.
Don’t believe the hype, believe your heart.
-Cara
Reason 83 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Forests cleanse the environment, regulate climate, and provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators of crops. Modern medicines derive from forests. Our very survival on planet Earth depends upon them. According to a 390-page U.N. report in 2006, the expansion of livestock production is a key factor in deforestation. Today, nearly all is taking place in the Amazon, thanks to grazing and the production of feedcrops. Worldwide, livestock production uses 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet.
These biscuits I have made a million times and never once did they not turn out. In fact, they have turned out delicious every time. You will not be disappointed.
Organic Biscuits
1/2 cup softened organic butter
2 cups all-purpose organic flour
1 tablespoon organic sugar
3 teaspoons organic baking powder
1 teaspoon organic sea salt
3/4 cup organic whole milk with 1 teaspoon vinegar added to it
Heat oven to 450F. Cut butter into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves side of bowl, dough will be soft and sticky. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Roll or pat 1 inch thick. Cut with floured 2 1/2 inch round cutter or a glass turned upside down. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet.
Eat well.
-Cara
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Hoof-and-mouth disease is rarely fatal for livestock, but it remains a death sentence just the same. When blisters form on hooves and lips, and growth slows because of fever, economics prescribe execution and incineration. In 2001, Great Britain responded to an outbreak by destroying nearly 6 million mostly healthy cattle, sheep, and pigs at a cost of [U.S.]$9 billion to save its export trade. There were actually only 2,030 known cases of the disease. The rest were exterminated to provide buffers to contain the outbreak.
I really love the World Wide Web sometimes. Just when I start to think, what am I going to write about, I find a great link.
This time that link is Eat Well Guide.
about them…
The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of thousands of family farms, restaurants, markets and other outlets that offer local, fresh and sustainable food in the United States and Canada.Visitors simply enter a zip or postal code to search for food that is free of antibiotics and added hormones, and produced by healthy and humane methods that include organic, pasture-raised and heritage.The Eat Well Guide does the research for people who want to find good food and support local, sustainable farmers.
I did a search tonight and it seems pretty right on. I’ll let you know if anything changes.
Let’s eat.
-Cara
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Today’s confined cattle live in their own excrement, which is the carrier of the deadly E. coli strain O157:H7. Caked-on manure will migrate to edible portions during dehiding, thanks to line speeds of 390 animals per hour and laborers who are not always properly skilled. Ground beef today is made up of mixtures of hundreds or even thousands of animals. The grinding process brings surface pathogens to patty interiors that may, down the line, not be cooked adequately. A university study found that O157:H7 may also be harbored in the interior of a solid piece of meat.
This is the only dedicated blog entry that will be solely on Pamela Rice and her book, 101 Reasons Why I Am A Vegetarian. What I am going to do for the next 101 days is, at the end of the next 101 blog entries, I will quote one reason from Pamela Rice’s book for anyone who wants to read it. I am going to be reading each reason for the first time as well, so lets hope it’s good! :P :D :)
Who is Pamela Rice you may ask, according to her web site, VivaVegie Society,
“Pamela Rice is the author of the popular 16-page pamphlet “101 Reasons Why I’m a Vegetarian,” which boasts some 180,000 copies in circulation, 10 printings, and 6 updated editions. Many have dubbed this veggie manifesto “the mighty convincer.” A good read-through and you’ll find yourself at least considering reducing the amount of meat in your diet.
Ms. Rice has dedicated her life to ferreting out every argument under the sun that lends credence to the personal choice of vegetarianism — the environmental argument, the health argument, and the ethical argument.
Ms. Rice is currently the director of the Vegetarian Center of New York City — a referral center, a reading room, a research library, and a cultural hub for vegetarians to meet and form groups.
She is the publisher of the incisive magazine The VivaVine: The Vegetarian-Issues Magazine.
She is also known to engage the public through “vegetarian street outreach,” distributing pro-vegetarian literature, including her “101 Reasons,” using eye-catching costumes and arresting images. ”
Reason #1:
- Nearly all of the some 10 billion animals slaughtered for food in the U.S. every year are the end result of a behemothic-sized swift-moving assembly line system, incorporating dangerous, unprecedented, and unsustainable methods of production. If America’s farmers were required by law to give their animals humane living conditions, including spacious quarters, clean surroundings, fresh air, sunlight, and opportunities for social interaction–and if it were illegal simply to drug the animals who would otherwise die from the conditions in which they live–cheap meat could never exist. Time and again the industry balks at even low-cost measures designed to improve the animals’ plight. Prices have been driven to levels unnaturally low, and, alas, a luxury good has been transformed into a staple.
That’s sad. :'( I think Marine is going to do a blog entry on organic, hormone free, free range meat and fish for all you carnivores sometime soon..
-Cara
In New York City something we have a lot of is homeless. You see them everywhere, on the stairs of churches, in the subways, reading the paper in the park, having lengthy discourse with each other about current events I know nothing of… I was reading an article about ways to help out homeless people on Charity.org yesterday and one idea was simple, give them restaurant gift certificates so they have a meal in their pocket whenever they want it.
I don’t really agree with the places they suggested you buy the gift certificates from, as all of them were fast, junk food spots. I am a real believer that garbage in, equals garbage out. If you give people food that makes them more tired and depressed, how is that really helpful? I decided to see if I could find national chain restaurants you can buy gift cards from that have higher nutritional value food. It would be a way for the homeless to get food that not only feeds their body, but uplifts their mind and spirit as well. It is important for us to help others to achieve true happiness, as all energy is infinitely connected.
A site I found to purchase restaurant gift certificates at is Restaurant.com. The service they offer is to purchase restaurant gift cards online, using a local restaurant search engine [via zip codes]. They are BBBOnLine members which means they will always resolve any complaints by consumers. They offer a $10 gift card for $3 or a $25 gift card for $10. That’s cool.
I also discovered that at most grocery stores you can buy gift cards at the store [or order them online]. I did some research and created a list of gift card links to grocery stores around the country. I like this idea as it gives someone back the freedom to choose what they want.
Here’s the list:
- Publix [This store is mostly in the Southeast I think. It was my store growing up in Miami.]
- Winn-Dixie [Which used to only be in the Southeast when I was growing up too, but now they are everywhere…I think.]
- Food Lion [I know nothing about these guys! :) ]
- Jewel-Osco [My old grocery store in Chicago. I think I still have a Jewel-Osco shirt. :P]
- Shaws [This store has everything!!!]
- Stop & Shop [This guys are all over the Northeast.]
That’s all I have for now. If you know other grocery stores that offer gift cards let me know and I’ll add them.
Food For Free!!!
-Cara
Well not just paper, you’ll also need a printer, an envelope and one stamp. That is not a lot to help end world hunger.
What am I talking about…?
“In September 2000, the 189 countries of the United Nations unanimously agreed to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty,” specifically hunger and the “major diseases that afflict humanity.”
To accomplish this great objective would be expensive, and the price was later estimated at about $195 billion a year. It would be very difficult for this amount of money to be raised by private charities or individuals. It would require the combined efforts of governments throughout the world to do it.
Countries Agree to 0.7% in International Aid
In the March 2002 Monterrey Conference, 22 of the world’s wealthiest countries (listed above) agreed to make “concrete efforts” towards the goal of each giving 0.7 per cent of their national income as aid to the poorest countries. This conference was attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. President George Bush, French President Jacques Chirac, and many other world leaders.
In the September 2002 Johannesburg Summit, these same 22 counties re-affirmed their commitment to reach the 0.7% goal. This would provide enough money to raise the $195 billion per year.
Why the 0.7% Agreement?
The countries made this agreement because they realized that it was hard for each country on its own to give a consistent, minimum level of aid each year. Despite good intentions, a country would find that the aid it wanted to give was eaten away by competing political interests, concern about budget deficits, “problems at home,” “problems abroad,” and so on. So they agreed to a minimal, flat rate that each country could afford each year regardless of its current political or economic state.
The 0.7% figure may sound complicated, but it is actually quite simple. You take the total income earned by all the people in the country and then the government gives 0.7% (seven tenths of one percent) of that as aid. Or to look at it another way: for every $100 earned in the country, the country gives 70 cents in aid.
| COUNTRY | For each $100 earned in the country, how much is donated in aid | Aid as % of income | How close the country is to reaching the 0.7% goal |
| Sweden | 103 cents | 1.03 | Already reached goal |
| Luxembourg | 89 cents | 0.89 | Already reached goal |
| Norway | 89 cents | 0.89 | Already reached goal |
| Netherlands | 81 cents | 0.81 | Already reached goal |
| Denmark | 80 cents | 0.80 | Already reached goal |
| Ireland | 53 cents | 0.53 | Scheduled to reach in 2012 |
| United Kingdom | 52 cents | 0.52 | Scheduled to reach in 2013 |
| Belgium | 50 cents | 0.50 | Scheduled to reach in 2010 |
| Austria | 48 cents | 0.48 | Scheduled to reach in 2015 |
| France | 47 cents | 0.47 | Scheduled to reach in 2012 |
| Switzerland | 39 cents | 0.39 | No schedule yet |
| Finland | 39 cents | 0.39 | Scheduled to reach in 2010 |
| Germany | 36 cents | 0.36 | Scheduled to reach in 2014 |
| Spain | 32 cents | 0.32 | Scheduled to reach in 2012 |
| Canada | 30 cents | 0.30 | No schedule yet |
| Australia | 30 cents | 0.30 | No schedule yet |
| New Zealand | 27 cents | 0.27 | No schedule yet |
| Japan | 25 cents | 0.25 | No schedule yet |
| Portugal | 21 cents | 0.21 | Scheduled to reach in 2015 |
| Italy | 20 cents | 0.20 | Scheduled to reach in 2015 |
| United States | 17 cents | 0.17 | No schedule yet |
| Greece | 16 cents | 0.16 | Scheduled to reach in 2015 |
Source: OECD. The figures for 2007 are due out in April 2008.
How are the countries doing?
As the chart above shows, five countries have already met the goal to give 0.7% of their income in international aid: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.In 2002 and 2003, five other countries set up a schedule to give 0.7%: Belgium, Ireland, Finland, France, and Spain.In July 2004, the United Kingdom set up a schedule to give 0.7%.In April 2005, Germany set up a schedule to give 0.7%.In May 2005, Austria, Greece, Italy, and Portugal set up a schedule to give 0.7%.
It was not easy for many of the countries to set up a schedule to reach the 0.7% goal. In some cases, such as Britain and Germany, it took the combined effort of many thousands of citizens writing and petitioning their government to get it done.
The remaining six countries
Only six countries have not yet set up a schedule to give 0.7%. These are Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States. To raise the $195 billion a year, these six will need to reach the goal.These six countries are all democracies. All that is necessary for them to reach the 0.7% goal is for enough of their citizens to show their support. “
Sources: UN Millennium Project, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), The End of Poverty (Jeffrey D. Sachs), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
I got all this information above from poverty.com. I have bought into the first-web-site-I-see-I-believe drama before and been made a fool of, so this time I decided to do some research. Here is what I found out on the United Nations’ web site about what went down at the Monterrey Conference pertaing to eradicating poverty. More specifically what President Bush said America would do to help eradicate said poverty. You can read that part here and decide for yourself what he said. I’m not here to incite political debates, I’m just trying to figure out what I need to do to make the world a little bit better…which brings me back to the one piece of paper, a printer, an envelope and one stamp…
This is the link for a letter to send to your specific country’s leader, either encouraging then to keep their word [i.e.- America, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and New Zealand] or to tell them they rock for making and sticking to their commitment! All you have to do is click on your country, hit print, fold, put in envelope, address [so you will also need a pen], lick, stamp, send…no more poverty…sweet.
I will mail mine tomorrow.
I’m out.
-Cara
This one is dedicated to my dad who sent me this site in November ’07. There is competition, you fight hunger, and learn new stuff…cool…
Here is a blurb about the site…
About FreeRice
FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.
FreeRice has two goals:
- Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
- Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.
This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.
Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.
Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth 
What Did You Say?