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Kinda…
Sorry to everyone I could only find this video with annoying ads. I try to avoid this whenever possible.
Kill your MySpace. Delete your profile.
I said it.
-Cara
I dedicate this song to me and my shitty day.
I got hurt feelings.
-Cara
It’s a rough call. I want the world to be a place where people don’t have to bully each other to get what they want.
What do I want?
Enlightenment.
When do I want it?
Now!
:]
-Cara
I watched a movie tonight called, “Who Killed the Electric Car“. and it was a great documentary on the electric car and the auto industry’s, mainly General Motors’ relationship with the government and their consumers. There is definitely a lot of information in that movie that people need to be made aware of. At least so they can make the right decisions about their effect on the environment through their car consumerism. I mean it’s conspiracies theories coming true right in front of your eyes. General Motors is an anti-green company run by middle east controlled monkeys in love with money, which still hasn’t been able to fill that void within them.
After the movie I felt a bit overwhelmed and not sure what was that I could do about the issue of the auto industry’s insistence on keeping Americans addicted to oil, especially foreign oil or George Bush’s desire to take nature preserves in Alaska and destroy them by drilling for a minimal amount of oil. During “Who Killed the Electric Car”, they mention a web site called, Plug In America. It was there I found a petition you can sign to automakers stating, “Plug-in vehicles are in America’s national interest. They decrease fuel costs, greenhouse gases and our dependence on foreign oil. I want to buy a vehicle that runs on cleaner, cheaper domestic electricity. I want to be able to plug in my car! Please manufacture plug-in vehicles immediately.” You can even start your own petition drive by printing this form and getting people to sign. At Co-Op America they have a petition speaking out to Ford about the importance of produce plug-in hybrids. These and other things I found here can make a difference, you just need to take the few minutes it takes to do it. In the long run it is definitely worth it.
Be good.
-Cara
I can’t remember if I’ve ever wanted to hear a person’s speech after they realized they would be the next U.S. President, and I know I’ve never listened with hope. These are two of three very amazing things that happened tonight.
Hope is an awesome thing.
-Cara
With that said…
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth via e-mail, a gift from me to you.
You’re Welcome. :]
-Cara
It is time for some music…
…and some dance.
-Cara
Senator McCain announced his vice-president choice and I took action with ONE.org to make this national political moment a meaningful poverty-fighting moment by sending a digital postcard
Here’s what the postcard says,
Dear Governor Sarah Palin,
Congratulations on being picked to be #2 on the ticket.
We hope you’ll be 
in the fight to end global poverty.
Sincerely,
Cara Reynolds
and 37,587 other ONE Members
Click on this link to send Governor Sarah Palin a digital postcard letting her know that you want leadership as committed to ending extreme poverty and global disease as you are.
It’s important you contact her now, whether or not she becomes the Vice President, just to make her more aware.
Do what you can where you can.
-Cara
If so Meet the Bloggers Dot Org is very pleased to tell you that Michael Moore will be their special guest this Friday, August 22.
You can suggest text question or video questions for Michael Moore here. The best questions for him will win a Moore trademark hat (signed by Moore himself), or an autographed copy of his new book Mike’s Election Guide 2008
Hmmm…. I don’t have a question yet. I might watch it just to get Michael Moore inspired again. I haven’t really been super pro Michael Moore, like I used to be, not sure why. I remember I used to tell people I would intern for free for this guy and I rarely do anything for free. :)
Get inspired.
-Cara
Code Pink, who knows how I found this site, but I was cleaning up my bookmarks today and rediscovered it. You’re welcome!
According to their web site,
“CODEPINK emerged out of a desperate desire by a group of American women to stop the Bush administration from invading Iraq. The name CODEPINK plays on the Bush Administration’s color-coded homeland security alerts — yellow, orange, red — that signal terrorist threats. While Bush’s color-coded alerts are based on fear and are used to justify violence, the CODEPINK alert is a feisty call for women and men to “wage peace.”
CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities. CODEPINK rejects the Bush administration’s fear-based politics that justify violence, and instead calls for policies based on compassion, kindness and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODEPINK women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.”
In other words, they kick ass. They have a YouTube channel you can check out, Don’t Buy Bush’s War. There’s videos of these women getting arrested by Capitol Hill police and such. They’re no joke, and I’m glad they exist.
Represent.
-Cara
I thought it would be cool to put up some of my pictures once and awhile, that go along with this blog’s point, theme, mood, or whatever you want to call it. Not only just that, but my pictures and photography web site will get some exposure, which they both could use! :)
Sometimes I will include commentary and other times, like now, I will leave the photo for you to deconstruct.
This is the view of the building across the street, from my roof, in NYC.
Unplug.
-Cara
This is just an update of what is going on in my life as far as the television is concerned. I still have no satellite or cable TV. I have gone on a few trips where there was a TV in the hotel, house, etc., and I was drawn to it like a bad habit. With no restraint, I would put on the E! network…there must be some trashy TV show on right now full of stars and their drama..Talk Soup perhaps…
After the first few times I wasn’t as excited, and that made me sad. Then last month I went on a family trip which included a million people and 2,000 kids and a TV in the main room that was on…a lot… I don’t miss TV anymore, in fact it is super annoying.
Here’s what I do sometimes, in the background I play really bad, “you-may-have-thought-it-good-at-one-point” shows like Charles in Charge, and Knight Rider and bad stand-up comedy on Netflix “Watch Instantly”. I play stuff to have sound around. I need to slow down.
Turn it off, see what happens.
-Cara
I was talking the other day to my dad about different ways to conserve energy in his house and it reminded me of this switch, called GreenSwitch, which I discovered watching a “Living with Ed” (If you don’t know the show, I wrote about it here.) episode. What it does, simply put, is turns off the juice to your outlets, lights, thermostat and whatever other electric entity you wish to control, with just one switch.
If you know my dad, this is the perfect invention for him as he wants to save the planet and money, but can only be guaranteed to do so regularly if it’s a simple process.
I cannot personally recommend this product never having tried it; I just think the idea is fantastic. I myself craw behind things and under things to unplug as much as I can remember, but less than I should. When I do build my dream house, this feature will be included.
Turn off, unplug.
-Cara
The Bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act gets first Congressional hearing in 12 years on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held, for the first time ever, a hearing on the bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act. Championed by Representative DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Snowe (R-ME) and Senator Landrieu (D-LA), this bill would eliminate the practice of “drive-through” mastectomies, when women are forced to leave the hospital following their physically and emotionally difficult breast cancer surgeries before they and their doctors may feel they are ready to go home. For the nearly 200,000 women who will face breast cancer this year, they feel it is way past due.
Sign the petition today and urge Congress to continue to take steps to pass this bill.
Here is a video by hersfund.org about breast cancer that’s inspiring.
Be heard.
-Cara
I discovered Greenwashingindex.com in an email I received today. What people seem to do is upload “green” ads, rate them, and then others comment. It is not too hostile an environment so far, and a cool concept, if done right. The rating system is from 1 to 6, 1 being a “Good Ad”, 3 being “Pushing It” and 6 being “Total Greenwashing”.
They say they are promoted by EnviroMedia Social Marketing, who say they are, ““…not tree huggers, but we can put you in touch with some.” Here is a link to learn more about them. Not too sure what to say after watching a painful MSNBC segment with EnviroMedia’s Valerie Davis, Ann Curry, Janice Liberman and some angry, anti-everything woman. You can find said video on their homepage if you so choose to watch the Honda Accord or Cascade ad (you must watch the advertisement before this segment begins), or whoever the non-green NBC advertiser of the day is.
Have fun.
-Cara
Some days I think I am so smart and know so much when suddenly I realize I truly know very little of the world outside of America or even New York City. I think it has a lot to do with being raised on American televised news and in American schools that didn’t teach me much about the world outside of these great states. Don’t get me wrong, I love America and am sure she was only trying to protect me from the big, bad, scary world out there…or was she? I digress, this is not the point of this entry.
The point is, until today I don’t think I ever heard of Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma). Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma’s liberation leader Aung San, who negotiated Burma’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, and was assassinated by his rivals in the same year. Aung San Suu Kyi showed an early interest in Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent protest. After receiving her education in Rangoon, Delhi and at Oxford University, Aung San Suu Kyi then worked at the United Nations in New York and Bhutan. For most of the following twenty years she was occupied raising a family in England (her husband is British), before returning to Burma in 1988 to care for her dying mother.
After having long refrained from political activity, she got involved in the “second struggle for national independence” in Myanmar in 1988. She became the leader of the National League for Democracy on September 27th, 1988, and subsequently was put under house arrest on July 20, 1989. She also emphasizes the need for conciliation between the sharply divided regions and ethnic groups in her country. She was offered freedom if she left the country, but she refused. The election held in May 1990 resulted in a conclusive victory for the opposition. The regime ignored the election results. Suu Kyi refused to leave the country and since then, she has been kept under strict house arrest.
One of her most famous speeches is the “Freedom From Fear” speech, which begins:
“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”
The whole reason I found out about her is I think at times Sarah Silverman is hilarious and she participated in this website, www.fanista.com. It is a program where each day in May celebrities do a P.S.A. to spread awareness about Aung San Suu Kyi
Here is Sarah Silverman’s for your viewing pleasure.
Aung San Suu Kyi is super fresh!
-Cara
Ever since I was a kid I’ve had people I looked up too, had crushes on, believed in, and thought were super cool, but I evolved and grew out of them. There has only been one person throughout my life I have always looked up too; one woman that my belief in the beauty of her soul, strength of her spirit, and greatness of her mind has never faltered. This woman is Alice Walker
I believe peace is possible.
-Cara
Reason 95 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Except for a single decade from time to time, the climate above America’s Ogalalla aquifer is bone-dry. Thanks to titanic amounts of water tapped from this ancient underground lake, however, for the last fifty years the land has been blanketed with thirsty feed grains. Farmers in some years have irrigated their land with more water than the annual flow of the Colorado River. Since this aquifer was originally the gift of a glacier in another age, today’s rainfall has essentially no recharging effect. Consequently, the experts give only fifty years before this phenomenal creation of the natural world is gone forever.
Last Saturday I went to ABC Carpet and Home on Broadway to watch the Pangea Day films. I think it is crazy in such a huge city we did not have a large public event like in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro, but was appreciative that ABC Carpet and Home hosted it, as they got nothing from it really. It may have been to their detriment, as people would come towards the showroom we were in and some left thinking they were interrupting something. Well maybe the people watching the film never came there before and now love it!!! Who knows? One thing they did gain was a fan, so if anyone from ABC Carpet and Home is reading this, thank you! Oh yeah, and we also ate in their restaurant, Pipa [nice place], so they did get some monetary value out of it!
For those that don’t know what Pangea Day is here is a link to an entry I did on it called, “What is Pangea Day?“. There were amazing films. It was a really great line-up. The only negative I will say was the three of the four hosts of Pangea Day were a bit annoying. I only really thought June Arunga cared about the event, the two men Max Lugavere and Jason Silva seemed very insecure and fake, so that kept distracting me and Lisa Ling was just on script. I could have also lived without all the actors reading their teleprompter, but I must admit when I told my mom Meg Ryan, Goldie Hawn and Cameron Diaz were a part of it, she got interested. Until then she was like, that sounds interesting dear…you know in THAT way…but later that same day she did email me and said she watched a whole hour. I guess it was a good idea to use popular Hollywood actors to pull in people like my mom, who are a little skeptical of us crazy do gooders, but trust that if Hollywood actors can support Pangea Day, it must not be too radical.
If you want to see some of these films go here. There was four hours of films [some ads, and songs, and such in between], I arrived about 45 minutes late, so only saw 3 hours and 15 minutes, but still they were so good time flew by. I think this was a great event, and in the words of the creator of Pangea Day, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, “Movies can’t change the world. But the people who watch them can.”, so please take some time to watch these films and see where they take you.
One last thing, I just want to say I think Jehane Noujaim is an amazing woman and a beautiful soul and am thankful she exists in this world.
-Cara
Reason 90 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Even if meat eaters are spared the big killers that their lifestyle is associated with (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer), their diet may still be robbing them of everyday good health. A meat diet is sure to lead to nagging conditions and ailments. A whole-foods, high-fiber vegan diet, full of grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, is just the ticket to reduce arthritis pain, ease irritable-bowel disorders, mitigate common back pain, relieve cold and allergy symptoms, and lower risk for gallstones, kidney stones, and heartburn. But perhaps best of all, the vegan life is one free of constipation!
For no particular reason, I always liked the actress/comedian Janeane Garofalo. There is just something about her that interests me, maybe it’s her anger, or her glasses, or her general dislike of idiots and the fact she is not quiet about it. Anyway, it was no big deal, just a general liking that if asked, “Hey, do you like that actress Janeane Garofalo?”, I’d say, “Yeah, she is great in Wet Hot American Summer. I love that flick.”
Then the other day I watched this documentary narrated by Janeane Garofalo entitled, “Dangerous Living: Coming Out In The Developing World“. It is about the lives of gays, lesbians and transgender people living in the Global South in the present time and the homophobia and injustice they face. I found it interesting that a heterosexual comedian/actress was narrating this indie documentary about homosexuals. I remembered someone telling me awhile back that she was a part of this liberal internet radio station Air America and was crazy political, so it made some sense I guess. I was interested and decided to do some Garofalo investigating. What I found out is she is no longer with the station and is acting on some TV shows [not sure which and it doesn’t matter as I don’t have a television]. The station itself was sold to some corporation that recently suspended this host Randi Rhodes for calling Hillary Clinton, a whore over and over again at some Air America, San Francisco event she was doing some shtick at. Here is my opinion on this; I feel whore is a negative term created by men to degrade women. I personally am not into women degrading women in an unproductive way, but I am into people having the right to say whatever they want, I just prefer it to be intelligent. Anyway, after the station suspended her, she resigned. I would have staid and fought, but not knowing the whole story I shouldn’t really say that…but I will anyway!
OK, sorry back to Janeane. During my Garofalo investigating/stalking I found this video on YouTube of Janeane in an interview on Fox News with Brian Kilmeade and two other reporters I don’t care enough to find out the names of, from February 2003.
This is why she is today’s heroine, not only is she well read and intelligent, she did not jump up and sucker punch Brian Kilmeade, who was trying desperately to silence her voice and make her out to be an anti-American, Saddam supporter. Fox news is disgusting. The reason they were number one at the time is they are an entertainment, fluff network. Their news is a joke, and yes all network news is a joke, but Fox News is the champion of crap.
Do not support America’s televised news! It only exists to sell you crap and distract you from the truth.
-Cara
Reason 88 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Just as smokestack emissions result in acid rain, toxic fumes from decomposing livestock waste in open-air lagoons on factory farms become poisonous to fish when returned to waterways via rainfall. The errant ammonia also ravages terrestrial ecosystems. Since Earth’s plant species evolved to efficiently use scarce amounts of nutrients, today’s gluts will generally kill them. Fallout can degrade environments as far away as 300 miles.
OK, so this is shameless promotion of another blog of mine that Marine and I started last week called, “Those Movies We Watched Out Of The Box [after we turned off the satellite TV]“. This is an “green” entry because we are watching “recycled” DVDs. :)
What is it all about you ask? I’ll tell you…
On April 9th, 2008 in the House of Marine and Cara the Direct TV was turned off (If you would like to learn more about why this event occurred you may go here.). Anyway, with no TV now, we watch movies on DVD, but quickly went through our selection of personal DVDs. Things began to look dark, when suddenly I remembered our friend Tony had given us a box containing millions of his old movies and so began this journey to review every film we watch from out of the box.
Our reviews will be short and to some point I am sure. We rate the films from 1 to a 6. 1 being, “we only watched it to review it” and 6 being “one of the most super fresh films out there”.
As you will see so far the selection has not been the greatest, but ALL films will be watched. I am not sure we can watch all in this lifetime, but we will try!
Pop the popcorn and let’s go.
-Cara
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Reason 74 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation and its Department of Health have posted an Internet factsheet called “Eating Sport Fish.” The advice speaks for itself: No one should eat more than one meal of fish per week from any of the state’s fresh waters; chemical contaminants may be a problem; trim all fat; don’t consume cooking liquids. On the other hand, if you still want to enjoy the “fun” of sport fishing but don’t want to poison yourself, the factsheet recommends catch and release. But don’t tear out the hook–cut its leader, goes the advice. Also, avoid playing fish to exhaustion. Other states could post similar Web pages: nearly every state in the union has a mercury-in-rivers advisory.
That’s right…negative! I don’t know why but I am super not into Earth Day. It puts me in a bad mood. I get that rhetoric that people say…it is a time where non-“green” people get into it, but I feel like it is a way for people to make up for sucking all year long. Like confession, but only annually.
For example, places like GE/NBC having a “star-studded” tree planting party on Earth Day. A tree planting day will not make up for the tons and tons of paper they print a day in visitor passes, millions of pieces of paper for a 30 minutes meeting, instead of just have people bring in their laptops to review the documents, or the zillions of pieces of paper they use on new hire brainwashing propaganda.
If people related to how they are a part of the problem when they did these types of things, that would be awesome, but most don’t. They pat themselves on the back, which then gets them through another year of printing pages of documents they don’t really need to print.
I was negative today, but now I’m done.
-Cara
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Reason 68 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
To choose industrial meat is to support a system that has long ago put family farmers out of business. Essentially, it is only the big players–those who bought into factory systems–who are feeding America. We do have lower prices at the retail level. But ultimately, what is the real cost of cheap meat? You need to factor in the $20 billion per year in government subsidies to commodity farmers, higher medical costs attributable to excessive diets, antibiotic resistance in common bacterial strains, a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, the inordinate need for oil for petrochemical fertilizers, and dwindling aquifers–the list goes on.
It is coming to a close this Super Fresh Month of Women, so time for a list of ten cool chic sites. Enjoy!
- Let’s start with Meredith Monk. Here is a segment of her bio from her site, “is a composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera, music theater works, films and installations. A pioneer in what is now called “extended vocal technique” and “interdisciplinary performance,” Monk creates works that thrive at the intersection of music and movement, image and object, light and sound in an effort to discover and weave together new modes of perception.” I personally think she rocks. :)
- Feminist Ecovillages web site contains information on a number of communities, both ecovillages and wimmin’s lands, at which feminism and ecology are values held by the group.
- This site is cool, it lists a bunch of places where awesome women made history [or herstory if you like!] They focus on 75 historic places in New York and Massachusetts associated with the varied aspects women’s history.
- Another site I really like is the Suffragist Oral History site. This site translates twelve interviews with twelve leaders of the Suffragist’s movement.
- Women time to learn your Bill of Rights, U.N. style. It’s all about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
- Then there is the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-International (CATW). They are a non-governmental organization that promotes women’s human rights by working internationally to combat sexual exploitation in all its forms.
- Then we have The Wip! What is their mission you may ask. According to their site, the Women’s International Perspective, The WIP, is a comprehensive news website of women contributors that reports world news, opinion, and commentary. Our mission is to provide quality news from the unique perspectives of women that is accessible worldwide and free to our readers.
- Women’s Space Work was created by, Yvonne P. Doderer’s. Her web site, based in Germany, provides annotated links to resources concerning cyberfeminism as theory and activism, political networking, feminist and lesbian activism, art on the net, among other things.
- The Feminist Sexual Ethics Project explores sexual ethics within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and you can learn how the toleration of slavery in the early teachings of these religions affects the lives of women today.
- Last but not least, the Isle of Lesbos web site. The Isle of Lesbos web site is intended to serve as a place of art and culture for women-oriented women, offering a historical glimpse into lesbian lives and vintage views of affection between women.
Represent.
-Cara
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Genetics through single-trait selection has become as important a component of today’s intensive farming as drugs and confinement hardware. The animals themselves, right down to their DNA, must stand up to the rigors of the industrial process, both in life and in carcass form. They must produce at breakneck speeds and do so on as little feed as possible. And ultimately, the particular output they unwillingly give forth must please our final end user, the consumer, in texture, taste, uniformity, convenience, and price. Mutant genes that would never survive in the wild are cultivated to monstrous ends.
The other day I did an entry based on my visit to stopbigmedia.com. I will not rehash all the drama, you can read it here if you want.
It leaves me sad to think about all that stuff….then tired from fighting the propaganda and advertising shoved down my throat while I watch TV, ride the train, walk the streets, listen to music, surf the web. I hear all the people telling me to then just turn it off, but do I really want to disconnect? How then can I fight the good fight to save myself and those who are still plugged in, which is the majority of people in the world? Plus, I am a super nerd and like following the evolution of technology.
Look, I’m not here to save all the unplugged people in the world. These 3 people can take care of themselves. I am here to help people like me who are excited for Season 3 of Workout, can’t get enough of Sandra Rinomato of the fantastical show Property Virgins. :D Someone who likes to sing a catchy jingle every now and again, and who has to get places in this supersaturated, advertising conglomerate called America. That is who I write for.
I was fighting with someone earlier in the day who was trying to get me to see the positive in something that was just super annoying and at that moment positivity was the last thing I was searching for, so just to be a jerk I started surfing the web for obnoxious positive quotes and “you-can-do-it”, “you-are-good-enough” crap to include in every exchange we had in this “debate”. Then a strange thing started to happen, as I read all these quotes and positive news, etc., I started to get in a better mood and feel more…positive.
For some it might be hard getting through the granola-ness of it all, my anger and desire to be annoying is what initially pushed me through it and then the good feeling I got kept me going…not bad.
Here is some of the positive sites I found for when you want to take a break from all the negative stuff surrounding you, but are too lazy to take yoga. ;)
- Mr. Positive has a blog! All good news, all the time! “Mr. Positive” David R. Boufford is the Founder of PNN-Positive News Network, Inc. and also a business coach and consultant.
- Then there is Positive News International, which has a US version as well. Positive News (PN) is a free, not for profit newspaper published four times a year. They report news from around the world in the areas of sustainability, social equality, education and happiness with a clear message that “another world is possible.”
- A blog, Only Positive News, who quotes the awesome Maya Angelou, “If you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” That’s positive!!! Their mission is to “remind you of all that is great in our world!” OK, sounds good.
- Lastly I was going to list some positive quotes sites I went to, but they all have so many banner ads an pop-ups I am afraid it will bring you down. Instead, I will list some positive and/or inspirational quotes I really like and you can come back to The Day After whenever you need a little bit of love!!!”
Quotes
“Hope is the dream of a soul awake.” —French Proverb
“Leap and the net will appear.” —Julia Cameron
“I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare; My business is to create.” —William Blake
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” —Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” —Isaac Asimov
“Never give up and never face the facts.” —Ruth Gordon
“What we need is to use what we have.” —Susan Sontag
“I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way…I can’t apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to… We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful…We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose.” —Alice Walker, Democracy Now Feb. 13, 2006
Alright, I think that covers a vast amount of positivity. I am going to stop while I am ahead.
Keep it real.
-Cara
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The world’s exploding human population, combined with its sagging ability to feed itself, appear to be on a collision course. The Green Revolution, which facilitated much of the recent growth, has clearly stalled out. Indeed, cereal availability per capita has been declining since 1984, and the “promise” of biotech is far from certain or free of risk. Today, 70 percent of grain in the U.S. and 43 percent of grain worldwide lavishly go to feed livestock. And just as the world clamors for more grain to feed to animals, so people can eat them, per-capita world cropland declined by 20 percent in the 1990s alone. The World Health Organization says 800 million people in the world live with chronic hunger. More meat production is definitely not the answer.
A topic I have left alone so far is big media. It is such an enormous issue to discuss, much less conquer, that I am brought down just thinking about it. I was doing research today on who own what media firms. Who has their little dirty fingers where and in the process I found this site StopBigMedia.com.
What’s So Bad about Big Media you may ask, well according to StopBigMedia.com,
- Big Media fail local communities. Big Media companies get a sweet deal from the government. They get to use the public airwaves — for free — to make billions in profits. In exchange for this government handout, broadcasters are supposed to serve the public by offering quality programs that meet the needs of local communities. Instead, Big Media companies gut local newsrooms and ignore local issues.
- Big Media ignore diversity. Big Media have limited ownership opportunities for women and people of color, pushing them off the public airwaves and stifling vital voices. Coverage of issues that matter to people of color, women, the middle and working class, and rural communities has disappeared. The result? Media that fail to represent our nation’s diversity.
- Big Media are bad for democracy. Democracy can’t exist without an informed public. We rely on unbiased news from independent sources to stay informed and to hold our government accountable. But media consolidation means fewer sources of news, opinion and information. Instead of hard-hitting critical journalism, Big Media give us a junk diet of celebrity gossip and sensationalism.
I like what I have seen so far, but I haven’t spent hours on it. I think is cool and their site is not saturated with ads for crap pens and free credit reports like most media companies’ sites.
Turn off the news, stay off their web sites. They are perpetuating the belief that the world is much worse than it is, but wouldn’t you feel better if you bought something…anything…
I would prefer a hug.
Turn off your TV!
-Cara
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Birds are cheap and cages are expensive, so battery hens live out their dreary days in space just about the size of their own bodies. No hen gets to run, build a nest, enjoy a cleansing dust bath, protect a chick, forage in the sun, perch, fly, or even lift a wing. Instead, this creature will crouch and suffer and fend off the feather pulling of cage mates. And every egg that is laid will roll away down the slope of a wire floor, which will also cripple her legs and feet.
I learned a new word today, greenwash.
Permatopia.com definition of greenwash is,
“the false claim of environmentalism by polluters, used as a noun and a verb. Most of the claims for environmental policies by governments and corporations are greenwash that distract from the goals of a sustainable civilization.“
I heard the word on this super fresh site I found called gliving.tv.
Here is a little blurb about them, by them,
“We started G Living to focus on the positive and creative side of green. We look for green solutions that are practical and easy enough for anyone to incorporate into their own lives. The solutions, ideas and products have to have the same (or a higher) standard than the traditional options everyone is used to.
You can look at it like this: G Living is not about just Green Living, it’s about smarter living. Here is the equation to figure out if something is “G”: it must have, The Green factor + Quality + Function + Design + Style + Price = “G”.“
I like how they put that. They are located in Venice, California…just saying.
Anyway point is, I just sat through a 15 minute video [which NEVER happens] an interview by Sarah Backhouse, with the co-founder, Howard Brown, of the organic fashion line, Stewart+Brown [the other co-founder is his wife Karen Stewart] and really was into it. Watch it!!! You will hear terms like greenwashing and people power, you know you’ll love it. They are doing a cool/good thing, so do it up! I think the collections on their site are fresh.
I adore good fashion!
-Cara
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Wild salmon stocks in 20 Norwegian rivers have in recent years been wiped out by a parasite that first took hold in local aquaculture feedlots. Scotland’s river managers warned early in 2007 that one careless angler spreading the parasite could decimate Scotland’s wild salmon stocks as well. Pharmaceuticals and pesticides are typically added to all aquaculture pens to forestall disease and infection, sometimes doing neither and inadvertently causing environmental havoc.
In January I wrote about the Catalog Crisis in America and some solutions to stop receiving millions of unwanted catalogs. That entry has inspired today’s topic of how to stop receiving other types of junk mail that ends up in your garbage and then landfills.
1. Credit Card offers are the worst. According to the Federal Trade Commission, If you decide that you don’t want to receive prescreened offers of credit and insurance, you have two choices: You can opt out of receiving them for five years or opt out of receiving them permanently. Call toll-free 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com for details. The telephone number and website are operated by the major consumer reporting companies. When you call or visit the website, you’ll be asked to provide certain personal information, including your home telephone number, name, Social Security number, and date of birth. The information you provide is confidential and will be used only to process your request to opt out.
Remember that if you have joint credit relationships, like a mortgage or a car loan with a spouse, partner, or other adult, you may continue to receive some prescreened solicitations until both of you exercise your opt-out right.
That is good to know. I am going to opt out for sure. I don’t need to waste all that paper or another credit card!
2. To stop the multitudes of AOL online discs, is call 1-800-605-4297. I don’t think you can do it online.
3. That crazy ValPak you get in the mail all the time, but can never really use the 18 carpet cleaners and your not moving soon, so cancel it!
4. Direct Marketing Association has some great tips on their web site as well. Like, How to remove your name from mailing lists. Some consumers would like to receive less advertising mail at home. DMA’s Mail Preference Service (MPS), which was created in 1971, is designed to help consumers decrease the amount of nationally generated commercial or nonprofit mail they receive at home. Here is information on how you can opt out of mailing lists.
Now that we have gone over the serious stuff. Check this web series out, Off The List. This guy, Jonny Hal is on a one person mission to get off all junk mail lists.
Series Preview
[For all the Episodes click here]
It is awesome. I love this guy.
This web series reminded me that we will never get our true voices or message heard through mass media. as their only purpose is to sell advertising. I think we all need to think of how we are going to make a difference. Jonny Hal did it through his webisodes. I am doing it with this blog. The internet is still in it’s infancy, it is the Wild, Wild West, while we can still get our voices heard here we need to. No more complaining that one person can’t make a difference, of course we can, that is just the type of thinking is the people making money off your faithlessness want you to believe.
Wake up!
-Cara
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Half of every butchered cow and a third of every butchered pig becomes either byproduct material or waste. And “mortalities” are integral to every feedlot and stockyard. What’s an industry to do with all this death and gore? Call the renderer straightaway! Recycling, they call it. Lips are exported to Mexico for taco filling; horns are made into gelatin; other parts are fashioned into drugs, aphrodisiacs, and industrial ingredients. Much is dried to a tacky brown powder to be mixed into chicken and pig feed. The rest is minced, pulverized, and boiled down for cosmetics and household products. Essentially, assume slaughterhouse byproduct is all around you.
Web TV!!!
“green.tv is a web TV channel dedicated to the environment. The aim of green.tv is to raise awareness of environmental issues, especially climate change. We try to do this by collating watchable, engaging films and publishing them online.”
The first video I watched on green tv is called, “Going Big Box vs. Going Local”, which was created by Amy Wolf.
Here is the summary,
“Created by Amy Wolf, a Movement Vision Lab Film Fellow in 2007, this short new video follows one woman on a shopping quest – as we learn about the the pros and cons of shopping at big multi-nationals versus local, community-owned businesses. This video explores the social and environmental consequences of shopping at a big box store versus shopping locally. ”
Here is the film on You Tube:
What I like about this film is it doesn’t just give you information on this particular problem, but it also gives solutions. I think what happens with me sometimes is I get overwhelmed with the problem, that I determine the solution must also be too huge, too time consuming, just too much for me to deal with. I am learning that isn’t the case and that’s cool. Hope on a more consistent basis feels better, it’s empowering! :)
Second, it made me laugh a few times!
Third, it is in New York City Baby! Home sweet home.
I’m going to check out some more of videos, see if they rock as well.
I’m out!
-Cara
I’ve been going through the green change lately, reading about it, writing about it, living it, etc., but one of my favorite mediums has been neglected…television, tv, the boob tube…I love it…but using all that juice just to watch it, I thought, how can I give back? HGTV [Home & Garden Television] to the rescue. This informative channel is a favorite in our home, it is always on. One day an ad came on for “Living With Ed“. I remembered Ed Begley Jr. on St. Elsewhere from way back in the day. I remember hearing some gossip about him, people saying he was strange to work with or just strange or that there was something different about him…I don’t remember exactly what…but I was curious to check out his show. I set up the Tivo to record “Living With Ed“, and after a few months of procrastination, I finally watched an episode and loved it. In fact I just watched three episodes in a row earlier and guess what…by the end I had the great idea for today’s post. :P GENIUS!!!
The show is awesome. It is Ed and his wife Rachelle, who seem to be people with passion for something good and are intelligent as well, which is fresh. Given the show is more what rich people of California can do to green their property by paying pricey specialists to come in their homes, then paying other people to install said updates, but in the process, we pleabians learn for free why compact halogen lights are better. It is a win/win situation…Right now I can’t afford a house much less solar panels and windmills, but it is a good way for people to learn about the options that are available and of course for people like me who will one day be drowning in riches, I will luckily already know what to do to be the greenest human I can be! :P That’s living…
:)
Cara
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth 
What Did You Say?