 Jasper with the U.S. Flag - By Betsy Seeton Click to learn about the Animal Bill of Rights
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 Directly from the website http://www.deccanherald.com/content/304804/they-cross-dressed-cause.html "I will step in if I hear offensive speech or views. If I see something wrong happen in front of me, I will create a discussion and talk about my beliefs” Soon after, a discussion was also held with people uninhibitedly sharing personal experiences about day-to-day sexual harassment faced by women. The initiative — Skirt the Issue — brainchild of publicist Samarpita and Adithya Mallya, which gathered its initial momentum through active Facebook page with over 500 Bangaloreans showing interest, culminated in the Skirt the Issue Walk that had the town talking. Jay, business analyst, said “I felt free, light and good to walk in a woman’s shoes. Women dress in minimum clothes to confidently express themselves. I realise now it’s a matter of comfort. Men should support this freedom of expression and stop demeaning them. We have stimulated a change in mindsets and our purpose has been served in that aspect” Added Adithya Mallya “ Clothes and personal attitudes cannot cause sexual assault Don’t waste time highlighting elements that have no importance. Instead address areas which require change.” Observed Deepak, an adman: We joined the issue to share our voice, facilitate an awakening and stir the consciousness of narrow minded. Rape is not always determined by circumstance. It is our duty as men to take responsibility for our unforgivable actions. SOURCE: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/304804/they-cross-dressed-cause.html  FROM CHANGE.ORG: Targeting: Tlali Tlali (Chief of Staff, Ministry of Justice), Blendynn Williams (Head of Deputy Minister's Office), Phillip Musekwa (Private Secretary, Ministry of Justice), see more... Started by: Luleki Sizwe "Corrective Rape" is a term used to describe when a male rapes a lesbian with the aim of 'turning' her heterosexual! This heinous crime is prolific in South Africa, especially in the "townships". Most of the victims are tortured, grievously assaulted and sometimes murdered! They are also prone to getting HIV/AIDS from the assault, and many of them commit suicide as a result of the "corrective rape"! The South African government and justice system are failing the victims of Corrective Rape by letting the perpetrators out on ridiculously low bail, and taking literally years to bring the court-cases to a conclusion. In the meantime the victims have to live with seeing and being taunted and threatened by their rapists every day, as do those who help the victims! In the last 10 years: *31 lesbian women have been murdered because of their sexuality *More than 10 lesbians a week are raped or gang raped in Cape Town alone *150 women are raped every day in South Africa *For every 25 men accused of rape in South Africa, 24 walk free Despite all this, hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognised by South African law! We call on the South African government to declare "Corrective Rape" a Hate-Crime that is punishable by the harshest sentences!   STRAIGHT FROM RECORK.ORG:Natural cork, the kind used in wine closures, is a perfect choice for recycling. It’s 100% natural, biodegradable and renewable. There is no reason natural wine corks should end up as garbage when recycled cork can become flooring tiles, building insulation, automotive gaskets, craft materials, soil conditioner and sports equipment.  What is ReCORK by Amorim?
ReCORK (previously ReCORK America) is a recycling program sponsored by Amorim of Portugal, the world's largest producer (3 billion annually) of natural cork wine closures; their U.S. sales affiliates, Amorim Cork America and Portocork America; and SOLE. Who is Amorim? Amorim is the world’s largest producer of natural cork wine closures and a leading advocate for the sustainable use and well-being of cork forests throughout the Mediterranean Basin. Who is SOLE? SOLE is a leading manufacturer of footwear products with distribution throughout North America. SOLE launched its line of supportive, do-it-yourself, heat-moldable footbeds in 2001. Millions of happy feet later, SOLE extended its expertise in foot health and comfort to a line of Premium Performance Socks. In 2008, SOLE launched its Platinum Sandal, which offers unrivaled orthopedic support and comfort. During 2010 SOLE will launch its line of Casual Sandals with 30% cork (by volume) in the midsole and footbed. These will use virgin cork until SOLE's infrastructure for using ReCORK's cork is in place. SOLE expects to use it for the Spring 2011 models. Stay tuned for more cork products. REI, Red Wing Shoes, Zappos.com and thousands of specialty retailers around the world carry SOLE. SOLE products are used by dozens of professional teams in the NFL, NBA and MLB as well as "UltraMarathon Man" Dean Karnazes, renowned mountaineer Ed Viesturs, Team Nike Adventure Racing, and the US and Canadian military. What are the goals for the program? The goal of ReCORK is to find reuse applications for as many corks as possible - and in the process, help communicate the value cork forests play as a sustainable natural resource that must be protected. Natural cork wine closures, unlike plastic or aluminum, are ideal for recycling and can be remanufactured into shoe components, flooring, gaskets, bulletin boards, sports equipment, and even used as a soil amendment in compost. Natural cork is also a valuable source of CO2 retention. How does the program work? The basic concept is rather simple: you collect the corks, give them to us, and we find reuse applications through recycling. Where do the corks come from? We receive quite a few corks from winery tasting rooms, quality control laboratories and bottling lines. In addition, we get used corks from restaurants, hotels and spas, wine bars, school recycling programs, airlines, wine competitions, and thousands of folks just like you who understand recycling is the right thing to do. Do you pay for corks? No, not at this time. Do you pay for shipping the corks? It all depends on the quantity of corks we are working with and your location. We will send a pre-paid mailing label for you to mail us a (used) cardboard box with a minimum of 15lbs. of corks. For larger partners, if you can fill one of our 30,000 cork collection bins, we will take care of the shipping cost to our processing center. We are building a national collection network as we speak. Your web site lists two types of collection options: “Public Collection Partners” and “Recycling Partners.” This seems confusing. What is the difference?“ Public Collection Partners” are collection sites where the public is encouraged to stop by and drop off their natural corks. Retail stores and recycling centers fit this description. “Recycling Partners” are locations that don’t collect from the public, yet provide corks from their own business activities. Restaurants, wine bars and winery tasting rooms fit this category. That said, don’t be surprised to find some of our participating partners say OK if you want to give them your corks. Find a partner in your area Where do the used corks end up? At the present time, corks are received at our storage facility in Napa, California and Great Falls, Montana, where they are consolidated. The corks are sent to SOLE's factories in Asia to be used in products and packaging. How will the corks be used? SOLE has successfully developed a unique cork blend that enhances the material properties of their footwer products, and replaces some of the petroleum-based material with natural cork, a sustainable alternative. Other products by SOLE, ReCORK and other brands are in the works now. What do you mean by “Upcycling”? This is a term coined by another recycler that we like. For us it means extending the useful life of a natural cork through recycling and reuse. In our case, we are turning spent wine corks into new footwear. What a perfect use of a natural product like cork. Where are the products available? The target is to have footwear products containing the used corks collected from this program in the marketplace during the first half of 2011. Please visit SOLE's website to find out more about their cork footwear. Why recycle wine corks? There are 13 billion (yes, billion!) natural cork wine closures sold into the world market each year. At present, the majority of them end up in landfills instead of in reuse applications. While natural cork will degrade over time, landfill capacities in most communities are at a critical state. Cork is ideal for recycling. It is biodegradable, renewable, energy efficient, sustainable, and 100% natural. How many corks have you collected to date? Since mid-2007, the program has collected millions of corks. Please see the ticker in the header for an updated amount of corks collected. Are all wine closures recyclable? No. Not all wine closures can be recycled. Plastic and aluminum closures are difficult if not impossible to recycle. While some alternative closure manufacturers are beginning trial recycling efforts, natural cork is still the easiest and best material to recycle. It takes less CO2 to manufacture, less CO2 to recycle, and a whole lot less energy to process. Some corks, like Champagne cork, are made of cork particles. Are these OK to recycle? Yes. Corks made of granular particles are called “technical” agglomerated corks and can be recycled just fine. Are cork oak trees cut down for their bark? No. Unlike many forest products, cork oaks are never cut down for their bark. Cork oaks (Quercus suber L.) provide an ideal sustainable crop during a life cycle that lasts over 200 years. A mature tree (50 years old) can be harvested every 9 years for the life of the tree. What are recycled wine corks used for? Recycled wine corks can find a new life as shoe components, fishing rod handles, bulletin boards, place mats, flooring tiles, building insulation, gaskets, packaging materials, under playground equipment, and even as a soil amendment in compost. At present, ReCORK is focusing our reuse applications on footwear, with our partner SOLE. Do cork oaks grow in the U.S.? Yes. You can even find giant cork oaks on the grounds of the California State Capital in Sacramento, on the campus of UC Davis, and in random spots throughout the sun belt of America. However, the Mediterranean basin is where the best growing conditions exist. There are nearly 6 million acres of cork forests in the Mediterranean regions of Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France. Portugal is by far the largest producer. What makes natural cork environmentally special Natural cork is made up of billions of cells. This gives cork its buoyant, elastic quality as well as the ability to absorb and retain nearly 9 grams of CO2 throughout the life of a wine cork. And with 13 billion corks sold each year worldwide, cork is an important source of CO2 retention. When you take the time to compare the features of natural cork against petroleum-based plastic plugs and aluminum screwcaps the difference is significant. It comes down to the fact that our source is renewable. Theirs is not! In a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study of the life cycle analysis of wine closures, CO2 emissions in aluminum screwcaps were 24 times higher than those from a natural cork closure, while plastic stoppers were 10 times greater than cork. Check outwww.corkfacts.com for more information about the study. How do cork forests play into recycling? The nearly 6 million acres of cork oak forests that dot the Mediterranean basin are the basis of an ecosystem which is unique in the world, and which contributes to the survival of many native species of plants and animals. It is also a source of employment for tens of thousands of agricultural workers. In addition, cork forests play a vital role in the fight against desertification and climate change. By recycling a simple cork stopper we can visualize the product source, its evolution into a useful natural product, and its potential for an extended life far beyond its first use in a bottle of fine wine. Very cool indeed! Tell me about your tree-planting program. In 2010, ReCORK and SOLE have pledged to sponsor the planting of a minimum of 4,000 trees in Portugal. This effort is in collaboration with QUERCUS (the National Association for Nature Conservation), GREEN CORK (Amorim’s equivalent of ReCORK for Portugal), and Criar Bosques, a tree planting effort in Portugal. By the end of 2010, these projects will have planted over 200,000 trees in the name of conservation and forest stewardship. And this is just the beginning. Thank goodness for consumer groups who indepently take it upon themselves to check the safety of products at the giant retailers like Wal-Mart. Without them, it appears lead tainted products w/could very likely be making their way into the hands and mouths of our children. Click below to go to Change.org where you can sign this petition.  Walmart Removes Lead-Tainted Toys From Shelves, But Only In California By Chris Morran on October 13, 2010 3:27 PM (Later Wal-Mart did end up pulling the items from all its stores.) Recent tests by the Center for Environmental Health found lead levels in excess of allowable amounts in toys and baby products sold at Walmart and Target. But while Target has agreed to stop selling the items at all its stores, Walmart has only agreed to pull the products in question from stores in California.  Target has told CEH that it will remove the two high chairs -- the "Broadway" and the "VIP" -- found to contain more than the legal limit for lead. One chair was found to contain 70 times the legal limit.
The CEH's test of products sold at WalMart found high lead levels in a toddlers' bean bag chairs, youth boxing gloves and toy foam beads sold for children's jewelry (all pictured above). The items ranged from more than 3 times to more than 45 times the legal limit. A rep for Walmart tells the AP that the retail giant is putting a halt to sales of these products in California and from Walmart.com. (Walmart later agreed to pulling the items from sale across the country.) Says CEH's Research Director: _____________________________________________________________________________ “We cannot understand how WalMart can continue to sell these lead-tainted products to children in any state, or any country... It's been more than two years since federal law established strict limits to protect children from these kinds of lead threats. Clearly WalMart needs to do better for our families.” _____________________________________________________________________________ Additionally, the study found high levels of lead in three adult jewelry items -- two plastic necklace cords and a plastic choker. The California Attorney General's office, which provided a grant to CEH for the study, has contacted the retailers to demand an end to all sales of lead-tainted items. READ MORE Help Stop Child Trafficking and Exploitation Targeting: YOU (take the pledge)
Sponsored by: U.S. Fund for UNICEF Children worldwide suffer from abhorrent acts of violence, exploitation and abuse—horrors no child should ever know or experience. Over 300 million of them are subjected to hazardous physical labor, commercial sex exploitation and child trafficking. Others are irrevocably harmed by cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriage. Children are especially vulnerable during emergencies and armed conflicts. In countries wracked by violent war and upheaval, children can be separated from their families and fall victim to military conscription or the sex trade. Without protection from violence and exploitation, children’s basic survival and development are at risk. Every day, millions of children are denied their fundamental right to safety and security. Every child should grow up free from fear and harm. Take action and pledge to help end child exploitation. GO TO CHANGE.ORG TO READ PETITION AND MORE We are a world interconnected. What goes on in one economy affects other economies. We need to work together ... Sign the petition from Avaaz.org: To President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leaders of G20 nations: "As concerned citizens, we call upon you to cooperate on a bold plan for global economic recovery, focusing on job creation and investment in the future. Cooperative global leadership is necessary to prevent a downward economic spiral and lift tens of millions of people out of poverty." Straight from Avaaz.org: This week, we could turn the tide of the global recession which is threatening progress on everything we care about and has already plunged 100 million people back into poverty and unemployment. Right now, French President Sarkozy, the new chair of the G20 group of the world's largest economies, is deciding the group's agenda. Experts have urged the G20 to urgently halt protectionism and cuts and launch a coordinated global investment plan to save millions. Former UK PM Gordon Brown has urgently appealed to Avaaz to act -- a wave of public pressure now can persuade President Sarkozy to lead. Click above to watch Brown's appeal, sign the petition, and forward the campaign - it will personally delivered to Sarkozy when we reach 500,000 voices: "The question is not 'Can they reason?' Nor 'Can they talk?' But 'Can they suffer?' " ~ Jeremy Bentham  Jasper with British Columbia flag - by B.Seeton From their website: When the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was passed in 1895, it set in motion the creation of a non-profit Society called the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA)that was authorized to investigate and enforce complaints of abuse towards animals and to propose new legislation. READ MORE about the agency.  Rhino neglected afer it broke its horn off The B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals began investigating allegations in December 2009 of abuse at a large conservation ranch that's home to about 50 species of rare and endangered species. A group of former and current employees apparently sparked the investigation, alleging that animals had been abused and neglected at the ranch over the past five years. READ FULL STORY Thank goodness for organizations like the Canada's British Columbia's Society for Prevention of Animal Cruelty. And thanks to the former employees of the zoo who called to have the it investigated for animal abuse and neglect. People need to take responsibility like that and not turn a blind eye toward's the suffering in this world.  click to enter animal protection website Directly from their website: The mission of StandUp For Kids is to help homeless and street kids. We do this, every day, in cities across America. We carry out our mission through our volunteers who go to the streets in order to find, stabilize and otherwise help homeless and street kids improve their lives. Our focus goes beyond street outreach and extends to deterrence and resource programs that we provide in schools and via the internet. But all facets of our mission are guided by the mandate that our volunteers shall tell kids they care about them and then, at every point, prove it. READ MORE  Street Kids International is a non-profit agency based in Toronto, Canada and London, United Kingdom. We strive to help street youth worldwide develop business skills and health knowledge to better their lives. READ MORE  FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Distribution Street children may be found on every inhabited continent in a large majority of the world's cities. The following estimates indicate the global extent of street child populations.  CLICK IMAGE TO ENTER Fair Trade Products & Producer Profiles There is more than just coffee and chocolate that is available Fair Trade these days! Keep up with this growing movement by learning about various Fair Trade products, their producers, and where to find them near you! VISIT THIS WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO BUY FAIR TRADE BANANAS STRAIGHT FROM GREENAMERICATODAY.ORG:
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