Prize-winning mom brings Monsanto battle to White House

by Kristin Schafer, panna.org, April 27, 2012

Last week was a busy one for Sofía Gatica. On Monday, she won the global Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts to protect her children and neighbors from pesticides. On Wednesday, she asked President Obama to investigate Monsanto’s “pesticide poisonings and livelihood harms” in her community and beyond.

It makes perfect sense. After all, both the genetically engineered soy beans that now surround her small Argentine community — and the herbicide those beans are designed to withstand — were produced and aggressively marketed by a company based right here in the U.S. In St. Louis, Missouri, to be precise.

Sofía and other mothers in her small rural community spent years documenting the health effects of Monsanto's RoundUp and other pesticides drifting into their homes from the GE soy fields. Among other things, they found their collective cancer rate to be more than 40 times higher than the national average. Read More »

I Will Not Be Pinkwashed: Komen's Race Is For Money, Not Cure

by Emily Michele, alternet.org, February 04, 2012

It’s October. And that means, it’s prime pink season. It’s national Breast Cancer Awareness Month, that magical time of year when shades of pale pink are plastered onto every product, every container, every conceivable gadget or gizmo the Susan G. Komen Foundation can get its hands on. That iconic symbol of overlapped ribbon is supposed to adorn every man, woman and child who ever had a mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, niece or aunt who faced the horrifying struggle of breast cancer.

But I am not buying it.

Susan G. Komen: For Cure of Con?

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a multimillion-dollar company with assets totaling over $390 million. Only 20.9% of these funds were reportedly used in the 2009-2010 fiscal year for research “for the cure.” Where does the rest of the money go? Let’s have a look. Health screening is 13.0%. Treatment is 5.6%. Fundraising is 10.0%. The largest chunk of the pie is going toward “public health education,” 39.1%. More on that later, but for now I’d like to take a look at the millions, or 11.3%, spent on “administrative costs.” Read More »

When did vegetarianism become passe?

by Lisa Hymas, grist.org, January 31, 2012

It used to be that when I told a fellow progressive I’m a vegetarian, I would get one of three reactions: (1) an enthusiastic “me too!,” (2) a slightly guilty admission of falling off the veg wagon, or (3) a voracious defense of the glories of steak.

These days, there’s another increasingly common reaction: People look at me with a mix of pity and confusion, like I’m some holdover from the ’90s wearing a baby-doll dress with chunky shoes and babbling on about No Doubt. I can see what they’re thinking: “You’re still a vegetarian?”

At some point over the past few years, vegetarianism went wholly out of style.

Now sustainable meat is all the rage. “Rock star” butchers proffer grass-fed beef, artisanal sausage, and heritage-breed chickens whose provenance can be traced back to conception on an idyllic rolling hillside. “Meat hipsters” eat it all up. The hard-core meaties flock to trendy butchery classes. Bacon has become a fetish even for eco-foodies, applied liberally to everything from salad to dessert, including “green” chocolate bars and “sustainable” ice cream.

All of which has led some vegetarians to give up their plant-based ways. But food fads aside, vegetarianism still has its place and deserves its due respect. Read More »

Join us in hijacking Valentines Day 2012

by craftivist-collective.com, January 30, 2012

There are so many distractions wherever we live, particularly on Valentines Day. Our craftivism Valentines project is a friendly reminder of the difficult circumstances our global neighbours are in and the gifts are there to encourage a conversation to start even after Valentine’s Day.

Each year we try and hijack valentines day and remind people to “Show some love” for their global neighbours as well as the usual smushy stuff. We would love it if you joined in our craftivism project this year.

For the last 3 years we have had people all over the globe make as many cards as they can and leave them around their area on Valentines day. Each includes a handmade keyring designed by cult jewellers Tatty Devine. In the last 3 years we have left 100 letters across the UK (London, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Banger, Newcastle, Cornwall, Coventry and more- see photos here) as well as America and Canada. Each letter will contain an alternative valentine’s letter (see template letter here), a handmade gift that Tatty Devine are designing for us (see design here) and a love heart sweet. Hand delivered to gaps in walls, cash machine slots, shop shelves etc- You don’t have to be in a relationship to have one of these!

Any one can deliver this project on their own or in a group.

London craftivists are meeting Thursday 6pm to 9pm 9th February in Fabrications craft shop open studio. All are welcome to come for the whole time or just drop in for a cuppa tea, biscuit and to make as many as you can. We are encouraging people to give a donation of £5 to cover costs (shrink plastic is expensive sadly). Read More »

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