Posts tagged with "Health"
Check Out My Article About Food, Inc. at Documentary.org
By Shira | Jun 11, 09 02:44 PM
I had a chance to see a preview copy of the new documentary Food, Inc. and interview the Director, Robert Kenner. This is my first article for the International Documentary Association's blog, and I'm psyched to get a chance to write about a topic so close to my heart:
Here's an excerpt and you can read the full article online:
Change: It's What's for Dinner: 'Food, Inc.' Takes on Agribusiness
In a world dominated by corporations, it is no surprise that the American food system has been hijacked by the relentless drive for profit. Under the pretexts of affordability and convenience, modern industrialized agriculture has consistently ignored the unintended consequences of their "efficient" practices on our health and livelihoods, the environment and other species.Equally implicated is the United States government, which simultaneously subsidizes and fails to adequately regulate the agriculture industrial complex. This reality, explored by Frederick Wiseman in his 1976 cinema vérité documentary Meat and more recently by Nikolaus Geyrhalter in the unnarrated montage film Unser täglich Brot (Our Daily Bread; 2005), is more explicitly tackled in Robert Kenner's Food, Inc., which opens June 12 in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and nationwide on June 19.
The issue of food and the many ways in which it affects our lives is an enormous one, and the film is a broad undertaking, exploring everything from the health impacts of ever ubiquitous high-fructose corn syrup (one out of three Americans born today is expected to develop early-onset diabetes), to water and air pollution caused by intensive factory farming, to human rights violations perpetrated against undocumented workers by mega corporations like Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer. Viewers are aided in processing all of this information by motion graphics created by Big Star NYC, which worked with Kenner to create an entertaining and helpful visual language for the film.
Ultimately, Food, Inc. is an examination of free market capitalism's disregard for anything other than the bottom line. "This is a film that's about more than food," says Kenner. "It's really about corporate consolidation and irresponsibility and about the relationship of these companies with government. It's not that different from what happened with the financial crisis. These companies have been totally irresponsible and at the end of the day, we're the ones who pay the price."
More: Activism | Animals | Books and Writing | Economics | Education | Environment | Film and Video | Food | Health | Human Rights | Media | Politics | What we're up to | Work
Human Scale Living
By Shira | Feb 24, 09 03:28 PM
A big part of why living in Ithaca has been so good for us is its small-but-not-too-small size. With a population of 60,000 (30,000 of which are students at Cornell and Ithaca College), there are plenty of people to create culture and innovation. But at the same time, it only takes a few social events to realize that this is a "small town." When I meet someone new, I'm no longer surprised to find out they know at least one other friend of mine, or that they've even "heard of me" - which always makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
When we were living in New York City we had a lot of great friends and yet we didn't ever have a sense of community. Part of this was that we dabbled in a lot of different subcultures - independent filmmakers, freegans, socialists, lesbians, radical marching bands, artists, academics, recreational volleyball players - instead of choosing one to call our own. These groups rarely overlapped and I found myself doing a lot of code-switching. Our friends were ideologically and geographically dispersed. The distance between a Red Hook freegan and an Upper East Side grad student is a lot greater than a few subway transfers.
Back in college I took an amazing course called Architecture as a Cultural System in which we explored, among other things, the concept of Human Scale. This is the idea that humans are best suited to live in an environment that is designed to meet their spacial needs. This means walkability, easy access to necessary resources, closeness to the ground and appropriate population size.
According to Wikipedia, "Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restricted rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar's number, but a commonly cited approximation is 150."
Ari and I counted, and in just the last week, we've had 25 different friends over to our house, some of them more than once (you know who you are...Joe). Our friends Jeremy and Teresa came over for dinner on Sunday, Ari taught a freeskool class on web design on Wednesday, we had a ton of extra veggies from our CSA share so we had a potluck/cooking party with a bunch of folks on Thursday, more friends stopped by on Friday after watching Milk together at Cinemapolis (the art house theatre on The Commons), on Saturday the Phillips family came to stay with us for the weekend and Ben and Grace stopped by to join us for dinner and on Sunday we had our second official founders' meeting for Ahimsa Ecovillage with eleven guests, including three kids.
The amazing thing is that there are numerous ways in which all these folks are connected outside their relationships to us. This makes for a very tangible social fabric and a feeling of interdependence that I haven't truly experienced since sleep-away camp as a kid (I went to the socialist Jewish kibbutz-like Camp Moshava for six summers.)
As we move forward with Ahimsa, our sustainable, vegan ecovillage project, human scale will be a key concept. How can we create a community that is big enough to create innovation and cross-pollination, but small enough to maintain accountability and trust? How many people does it take to be self-sufficient? How will our size and location (rural vs. urban) impact our connection to the broader Ithaca community? I don't know the answers yet, but I'm loving the process of finding out. In the meantime, I'm enjoying being part of the monkeysphere.
More: Economics | Education | Environment | Family | Food | Happenings | Health | Housing | People we know | What we're up to
Sometimes Green Building Makes Me Cry
By Shira | Feb 12, 09 05:25 PM
Granted, the voice-over and music are heavy-handed, but I must confess to weeping tears of joy throughout this video.
More: Activism | Economics | Education | Environment | Film and Video | Health | Housing | Human Rights
Locavore Movie from Japan
By Ari | Dec 13, 08 04:21 PM
Not vegan but very cool. Via TCLocal
Exuberant nudity
By Ari | Dec 7, 08 08:56 AM
I've been catching up on my reading, and have encountered two incidences of happy nudity that I just had to share.
In Carbusters #36, at the end of a report on the World Carfree Day events in Curitiba, Brazil: "Finally we began our bike march: 300 cyclists swept the streets of the city. The feeling of freedom and happiness was so intense that a few riders couldn't resist, and took off their clothes."
And, in Communities Magazine #138, in Anissa Ljanta's story of the shock of moving from an intentional community to a mainstream neighborhood: "I missed being naked, and the ease with which people were naked at Twin Oaks. People made an effort to appreciate beauty of all kinds, not just the skinny hairless women validated by mainstream media. I got to live in a culture that embraced me for who I was, where body image and dress were not fraught with tension."
Ljanta's story is sadder - she goes on to express her resentment at being asked to wear clothes while swimming; she describes her run-ins with sexism and the very real possibility of sexual violence which requires women in mainstream neighborhoods to be careful when walking alone at night, something she didn't fear at Twin Oaks. However, both of these stories offer glimpses of a kind of happy nudity that sounds like something that should happen more often.
Seriously, how often do you feel happy and free enough that you can revel in the body nature gave you? If we're all born with a naked body to enjoy, and we like looking at naked bodies, and all other species are running around naked all the time, what exactly is up with us that we have so many hangups about nudity? Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where nudity was not only safe and socially acceptable, but viewed as a healthy expression of joy?
More: Activism | Books and Writing | Health | Human Rights | Oppression | Politics
Shale Shocked
By Shira | Dec 6, 08 03:05 AM
There are many factors that contribute to the fertility and productivity of land that are beyond a landowners' direct control. One of the major issues we need to consider in New York State is natural gas drilling. Ever since the development of more commercially-viable drilling techniques around 2000, major oil companies have been going to town on the Marcellus Shale. One of the main ways they get access to the land is by leasing land and drilling rights from local landowners. While this can be a good source of income for struggling farmers, there are numerous environmental impacts including the distribution of toxic chemicals into the soil and water table.
We've been getting involved with Shaleshock, a local resistance group, and we recently designed their logo and a new website. Check out the site to get up to speed on the issues and take action. One thing you can do now is comment on the DEC's draft scope...
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has released a draft scope document that outlines how they will regulate natural gas drilling of the Marcellus Shale. In addition to commenting at public hearings around the state, you can submit your comments via letter or email by December 15th.
Submit comments to:
Attn: Scope Comments
Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources
625 Broadway, Third Floor
Albany, NY 12233-6500
Or email to dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us with "Scope Comments" as the Subject
More: Activism | Animals | Art and Design | Economics | Environment | Film and Video | Food | Happenings | Health | Housing | Human Rights | Oppression | People we know | Politics | What we're up to | Work
Tortillas and Cider, Delivered to Our Doorstep
By Shira | Dec 5, 08 12:43 PM
A lot of people have been talking about eating local, and the arguments are pretty straight-forward: when you eat local you save energy/fuel, build community, and develop your local economy. Not to mention, your food is a lot less likely to be processed with preservatives and other nastiness.
Eating local in Ithaca is pretty easy and it seems to be getting easier every day. The Ithaca Farmer's Market is open April through December and has amazing produce - plus local crafts, live music and hot food. A lot of the stands are organic and there's even one place where everything is veganically grown - Unexpected Farm from Watkins Glen.
We've been getting most of our produce from the Farmers Market since we moved here three months ago, and supplementing from Greenstar Cooperative Market - where we're members. Greenstar is definitely not 100% local, but they have really great signage, which makes it so much easier to know the distance food has traveled. But as winter sets in, the Farmer's Market closes up shop and buying local produce at the coop gets too expensive, so we decided to join a winter CSA. We just picked up our first share last week and it was an amazing bounty - carrots, potatoes, leeks, cabbage, turnips, garlic, kale, squash, radichio, bok choi, and salad greens.
The cool thing about the CSA model, is that it enables the farmer to get paid up front so that they have the money when they need it most for buying supplies, paying laborers, repairs, etc. And usually, by paying a fixed price at the beginning, the individual CSA member gets a really good deal on a lot of fresh, local food. It is probably the best way to eat seasonally, if you're not growing your own food.
What's really exciting right now is that all these small grassroots distributors are popping up to fill holes in the local market. A couple of months ago, it wasn't uncommon for us to go for a walk and pass by an unsupervised produce stand in front of a house on a quiet residential street.
Recently, our friend Emily was thinking about how there are no local tortilla makers, so she started making vegan, organic, wheat tortillas and delivering them to people on her bike. And then Travis and Ellen announced on the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute's email list that they had pressed a huge amount of cider and could deliver a half gallon or gallon to any one who wanted some.
And these projects are inspiring new ones. A couple of guys who got Emily's tortillas one week, made some hummus to put on them, and it was such a tasty combination that now they're planning on making and delivering hummus. I sampled some of their recipe at the hat band party and it was amazing. I can't wait for them to start distributing!
All this activity has gotten us brainstorming like crazy, especially whenever we meet up with our new friend Joe. He's a true renaissance man - a guy who knows how to build his own house, convert engines to run on vegetable oil, code websites and play death metal. We've been talking about collaborating on a vegan baked goods enterprise in the future.
But with all these microbusinesses launching, it seems like we could take this whole thing a step further. What if once a week, we all met up in one centralized location (maybe a rotating potluck at different people's houses) and we just swap stuff - no money involved. So Emily could bring her tortillas, and Travis brings his cider, and Ellen brings tea, and Dusqkee brings hummus, and Ari brings vegan cookies, and Joe brings vegan muffins, and Danila brings garlic, and Mer and Uriel offer massages, and Rachel teaches yoga, and I bring knitted hats and cozies etc. etc. And instead of paying each other, we would just swap in a mutual aid, take as you need kind of way. And maybe it's one big coop and we all put in cash when we can and take it out when we need it. And there's a local community center with an industrial kitchen and craft studios and workshops. And before you know it, we're a totally self-sustaining community.
This is where we are heading!
More: Activism | Economics | Environment | Food | Happenings | Health | Human Rights | People we know | What we're up to
World AIDS Day 2008
By Ari | Dec 1, 08 03:46 PM
World AIDS Campaign
ACT UP
Keep a Child Alive
National HIV and STD Testing Resources (USA CDC)
AIDS.ORG
HIV (Wikipedia)
Art for feminist, socialist healthcare
By Ari | Nov 11, 08 04:07 PM
Thanks to Liz Henry of Composite: Poetics and Tech for using an illustration I did for her excellent post, Argentinian feminists in the early 1900s.
You can also see and comment on the art here: "socialist heath care" on Flickr. This art was originally an illustration for an article in Socialist Women, about a woman's struggle in the U.S. healthcare system. If anyone out there is still afraid of socialists, read about Socialist Party USA's wonderful healthcare campaign.
More: Activism | Art and Design | Books and Writing | Economics | Health | Human Rights | Work
Breast cancer: Prevention is the cure
By Ari | Oct 15, 08 05:31 PM
I did some animation work a while back for a documentary called No Family History by filmmaker Sabrina McCormick. Unfortunately the animations didn't make the cut; the film has been restructured into more of an advocacy piece about the need to focus on prevention in the fight against breast cancer, and so it no longer required animated explanations of chemotherapy and other scientific details of cancer and its treatment. (Prrrrobably for the best, all things considered. They were pretty technical.)
Sabrina's written a piece about the film and the prevention approach for MediaRights, where Shira used to work. Check it out: Reframing the Fight: Why Prevention is the Cure for Breast Cancer. We can't wait to see the film - keep an eye out for it!
More: Activism | Environment | Film and Video | Health
Now here's a place where I could work out...
By Shira | Oct 13, 08 12:55 PM
More: Activism | Environment | Film and Video | Health
A new vegan cat community
By Ari | Oct 1, 08 10:31 PM
I've been frustrated for sooo long by my inability to hook up with other folks who have vegan cats. I mean, I've met a few people online, but it's hard to really share information in any kind of organized way. Where can I ask people for advice on how to talk to our vet without getting instant judgement? Where can I share tips on how to best prepare Vegecat homemade vegan cat food?
Well, I finally decided (as if I don't have enough to do), that I should just go ahead and start a community and see what happens. Maybe I'm the only one out there looking for this kind of thing, I don't know. But it's worth a try!
You can visit the community here: vegancats.ning.com
Please feel free to fire questions at me if this is the first time you've heard of vegan cats! And be sure to check out the always adorable Sid, Zora and Snow, our own dear vegan cat housemates.
This is my first time setting up a Ning from scratch, rather than just customizing an existing one, and I've got to say, it's awesome. Very easy to set up and integrate with third-party services. This one is a bit of a practice run for me because I may be setting one up for our friends at freeDimensional in the near future. Go Ning.
More: Activism | Animals | Health | Technology | What we're up to | Work
UN says eat less meat to curb global warming
By Ari | Sep 9, 08 10:02 AM
'In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,' said [Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize]. 'Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there,' said the Indian economist, who is a vegetarian. (Read more)Warning: The article has a big gross photo of a chunk of cow flesh right up top.
When we were in India we loved seeing the streets lined with vegetarian restaurants, and found delicious cruelty-free dosas and thalis just about everywhere. Unfortunately avoiding dairy can be a little tricky due to the widespread use of ghee and cream. Kerala, the beautiful Socialist area in the south, uses coconut milk instead. So any vegan Socialists headed to India, now you know where to go. Though if we're reducing our impact, we shouldn't be flying anymore! Does anyone know a good eco-friendly steamship service?
What do vegans eat? See photos of delicious vegan food and Some recent vegan deliciousness. See our map of NYC picks, and our 8 Vegan Restaurants We'll Miss When We Leave NYC.
Support healthcare for all - TODAY, NYC
By Ari | Jul 30, 08 12:37 PM
Via our friends in the Coalition Against Privatization:
Wed. July 30: Rally to Stop Healthcare PrivatizationAs the healthcare crisis deepens, people are searching for alternatives to a corporate-driven system that leaves nearly 50 million Americans uninsured. Not surprisingly, the healthcare industry's solution is even more privatization. GHI & HIP are two of the latest targets of this privatizing campaign. But what if the solution - or a partial solution - to this dilemma already exists?
Continue reading "Support healthcare for all - TODAY, NYC..." »
More: Activism | Health | Oppression | People we know
humans are so...creepy
By Shira | Jul 16, 08 05:30 PM
considering euthanasia for wild horses
gps for tracking hunting dogs
celebrity chef suffocating chicks on TV
running cars on cow fat
sheep as dialysis bags
More: Animals | Environment | Food | Health | Media | Oppression | Technology
Anti-capitalist / environmentalist / tech news mashup
By Ari | Jun 14, 08 03:33 PM
- MySpace is redesigning and I am so not excited. Sorry, MySpace. You've been too ugly for too long. I'm just biding my time until the current internet evolves into a wonderful free-culture free-software filesharing hive mind. C'mon people. Drop the profit model. Let's abandon the waste of competition and move onto cooperation, see what we can come up with then. My prediction: Awesomeness.
- Vinyl shower curtains are deadly and may be banned. We bought an organic cotton one a while back and have been using it with no liner. We throw it in the wash every month or so. Works like a charm, doesn't require regular replacement like a plastic one, and doesn't leach 100 toxic chemicals into our bathroom like PVC ones apparently do. Yaaay.
- McCain has declared the ruling on Guantanamo "one of the worst" in US history, and in so-doing, I hope he's turned off millions of potential voters. That is, if Americans like justice. I like justice. But then, I've seen time and time again that the American people don't always vote in ways that make any kind of sense to me.
- Here's further evidence of McCain's unsuitability for leadership: Dude is all about the exploitation. To stimulate the economy, he plans to "extend the Bush administration's tax cuts, eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, and slash corporate taxes," which to me sounds like "make the rich richer and the poor poorer." What little tax we do pay goes toward fighting oil wars instead of taking care of basic necessities like healthcare and public transportation. Maybe with more cash to spend we can buy more DVDs and sneakers, but why pour our hard-earned wages back into the pockets of global capitalists exploiting animals, workers and our environment for their own profit?
More: Activism | Environment | Health | Media | Oppression | Technology
Victor Papanek's Design for the Real World
By Ari | Jun 6, 08 01:12 PM
We've mentioned Victor Papanek's Design for the Real World a bunch of times but never blogged it properly, so here goes. Read it! It's amazing. It was written in 1970 but is still all-too-relevant today. The cover of our awesome 1973 Bantam edition (pictured here), reads, "Why the Things You Buy Are Expensive, Unsafe, and Usually Don't Work! With some startling practical alternatives -- like a radio that costs 9¢, a $6 refrigerator, a television set for $8, and much, much more! Design For The Real World by Victor Papanek: Human Ecology and Social Change With an Introduction by R. Buckminster Fuller; Completely Illustrated". Papanek adorably refers to his friend and introduction-writer as Bucky throughout the book, and relates stories of visionary design teams doing what the two men refer to as Anticipatory Comprehensive Design.
Basically that means looking at real-world problems and trying to solve them in an ecologically-sound and efficient, forward-thinking way, with the help of the stakeholders, the people who are actually affected by the design problem and its potential solutions. This is opposed to the more common practice of profit-driven design, which uses planned obsolescence and the vagaries of "fashion" to sell the same old crap year after year, dressed up in fancy new skins or even just different marketing. For every cool new low-cost, low-impact tool that's accessible and useful to folks who really need it, there are a million new expensive, ugly and possibly dangerous items put on the market simply to make a profit, Papanek says, and his message holds true today. The design world, for all of its improvements, does continue to churn out useless junk and endless repetitions of bad ideas.
Here's part of the flow-chart illustration with which Papanek ended the book - you'll have to read the book to see the rest of it, including his suggestions for how to get around the problems outlined here. But he doesn't give us all the answers - the flow-chart only goes so far as suggesting possible solutions to the world's problems; he puts it on us to fill in the rest of the chart as we move onto creating those solutions.
Since Shira and I are all about creating sustainable solutions in every area of life including the design work we do for clients, we found the book's message right up our alley, and the suggestions for improvement just as relevant today as they were when they were written nearly 40 years ago. It's encouraging to see that when Victor wrote this book he and Bucky were really trailblazing a new approach, which today has many adherents, with dozens of books and websites now dedicated to designing for the great majority of people instead of the privileged few who pay big bucks for pretty new designer chairs and the like. But we've still got work to do. So, read this book, and act on it!
Design, if it is to be ecologically responsible and socially responsive, must be revolutionary and radical (going back to the roots) in the truest sense. It must dedicate itself to nature's "principle of least effort," in other words, minimum inventory for maximum diversity... or, doing the most with the least. That means consuming less, using things longer, recycling materials, and probably not wasting paper printing books such as this.
Fortunately, Design for the Real World has been in print for many years, and is available used from many freecycling / swapping networks as well as libraries and used bookshops, so no new materials need be used today in learning from this beautiful and clever and useful book.
More: Activism | Art and Design | Books and Writing | Environment | Health | Oppression | Technology | Work
Happy List
By Shira | Jun 5, 08 07:20 PM
There is a cat posse in our apartment, same-sex marriages are going to be recognized in New York State, my cousin Amir starred in this Borat spoof (it's a video for his high-school graduation party in Haifa), crop circles on google earth, using skype as our land line, Senegalese hip-hop at the eighth annual Media That Matters Film Festival Awards Ceremony, visiting Ithaca last weekend for a co-housing workshop at EcoVillage, looking for an apartment in Ithaca and finding an awesome one!!!, the plants in our window pots are starting to bloom, Obama is the democratic candidate for president, sharing our art and music this weekend as part of Bushwick Open Studios, picking up our first Hearty Roots CSA share of the season in Williamsburg, women's turkish oil wrestling at Galapagos, Renegade Craft Fair at the McCarren Park Pool June 14-15, Pineapple Express at BAM with Director David Gordon Green, tank tops, summer...
More: Art and Design | Environment | Film and Video | Happenings | Health | Housing | Music and Audio | People we know | Queer | Technology | What we're up to
Helping Myanmar
By Ari | May 9, 08 12:35 PM
Looking for an effective way to help the people of Myanmar deal with the recent cyclone devastation? Their military government is blocking and intercepting aid, and as we know from 2004's Indian Ocean tsunami debacle, some aid organizations are more effective than others. So how can we best help?
Our friends at freeDimensional report:
Jay Koh, who runs NICA (Networking & Initiatives for Culture & the Arts ) based in Yangoon (Rangoon), and I have been in close email contact this week. His organization is currently accepting donations to be distributed to local relief organizations within Myanmar, the first being the Health and Death Assistant Association, which is managed by a monastery in Yangoon.I can vouch for Jay: his commitment to his community is incredible, but he is desperate for help right now. With the UN cutting off aid, this is one way to get funds to Myanmar almost instantly. NICA has a PayPal account set up (visit www.paypal.com; send to ifima-at-gmx-dot-net). Please consider making a donation.
Another friend knows someone who works at the Burma Project at Open Society Institute, who suggests folks who want to give aid do it through Avaaz.org, a global online movement with millions of members. Avaaz.org is concerned that the junta can easily delay, divert, or misuse aid. They are partnering with the International Burmese Monks Organization (IBMO) and other local organizations to aid people directly through local networks.
More: Activism | Environment | Food | Health | Housing | Oppression
NPR Covers Gender Queer Kids
By Shira | May 8, 08 01:46 PM
On All Things Considered yesterday, there was a pretty in-depth piece about families dealing with gender queer kids. In typical NPR fashion there was an attempt at objectivity by interviewing two doctors with very different approaches - one who thinks kids should be forced to behave accordingly with their biological sex, another who focuses on the child's happiness and sense of comfort and security with their body and gender expression. It's nice to see these issues getting some mainstream media coverage.
Listen to Two Families Grapple with Sons' Gender Preferences
Related: My Feminist Review: Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men
March to Save Our Healthcare this Friday - NYC
By Ari | May 7, 08 05:01 PM
Every Teacher, Transit Worker, Librarian, and Public Worker will be impacted!
5/9 FRI, 4:30 pm - Protest: "March to Save Our Healthcare."
Join the fight to prevent GHI-HIP from converting to a for-profit company & jeopardizing the healthcare of 4 million policy holders, including 500,000 NYC workers (93% of the workforce) & retirees. Mainstream politicians & union leaders support the change, hoping to benefit from the nearly $3 billion windfall profits of such a sale. Help send a "no privatization" message to the NYS Sup't of Insurance & GHI-HIP. Bring friends & signs.
At Office of the NYS Superintendent of Insurance, 25 Beaver St
(4/5 to Bowling Green, J/M/Z to Broad St , R/W to Whitehall St,
1 to Rector St, 2/3 to Wall St, A/C to B'way-Nassau).
Info: (718) 869-2279, noprivatization-at-yahoo-dot-com (request flyer)
http://www.consumersunion.org/conv/
http://www.metrohealthcare.org/html/hcoa080116.html [video]
http://www.myspace.com/saveourhealthcare
http://going.com/saveourhealthcare
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/05/96895.html
Spread the word!
More: Activism | Health | Oppression | People we know
Travelling the land and opening the mind
By Ari | May 7, 08 12:49 PM
A friend of ours is traveling to a jungle in Peru to take ayahuasca and is getting ready for the trip in his usual thoughtful style:
What helps us plug in, and stay plugged in, to stories of reality that disempower us? Certainly all forms of media, including advertisements and billboards. But I'm guessing that on a deeper level the very structures of our lives, the very things I'm supposed to miss such as electricity and toilets, keep us plugged in to a "modern American" reality that is simply our story, a story not shared by everyone on the planet.
I really identify with this idea. I found that the trip Shira and I took to India was eye-opening in ways I never expected. There's something about flushing your toilet with a bucket, taking cold showers, and being sold handmade items in bags made out of recycled newspaper instead of plastic, that makes Western environmental activism and "conservation" look woefully inadequate. It was that trip that made Shira and I get into low impact living, waste reduction, and drastically reduced consumption with more depth and enthusiasm and understanding than we ever had before. Today these practices are a huge part of our lives, but it was traveling and seeing different ways of living firsthand that turned everything around for us.
Combine a trip like that with ayahuasca and I imagine the effects must be even more profound. Keep an eye on Bunnykitteh's blog for updates.
More: Activism | Environment | Health | People we know
Go neti pot!
By Ari | Mar 12, 08 09:46 AM
Thank you thank you thank you to all of my friends and contacts who have praised the neti pot and led me to finally acquire one. It is AWESOME. Shira and I both caught this nasty cold/flu thing that's been stewing around in NYC, and mine turned into a two-week (and still going) battle with the asthmatic wheeze I picked up when I got really sick back in college. It only comes back when I'm really ill, so I headed over to the queer health center to get looked at. I think I lucked out - the doctor I saw is an aspiring vegan and not a fan of overmedication. She put me on a mild inhaler that's made it a lot easier to breathe, and suggested I drink a lot of hot tea and try netiing. I picked up a new Himalayan Institute neti pot over at Integral Yoga, and now I think you can call me an enthusiast. It really works.
For those who have not yet been introduced to the greatness of the neti pot, I offer the above ridiculous photo from Oprah, on which there was apparently a segment on nasal irrigation. Basically you lean way over and pour warm salt water in one nostril... which you can then feel going through all of your passages in there before it comes out your other nostril. It's strange at first but I can attest that once you get used to it it's easy and it actually feels pretty good - and in any case, the health benefits are well worth any weirdness. Apparently it's not just good for colds, but also for congestion, allergies, dryness, cough, sinus pain, and a host of other breathing and nose-related problems. Anyway, good stuff.
If Only All Capitalists Were Ed Begley, Jr.
By Shira | Feb 20, 08 05:29 PM
More: Activism | Books and Writing | Environment | Film and Video | Health | Housing
No more Alba Hawaiian lip balm for me
By Ari | Jan 29, 08 10:19 AM
Alba's amazing vegan lip balm is about to become not vegan. They're adding beeswax! It's such a shame. I will miss the pineapple coconut deliciousness. If you too are an unhappy vegan, write them a letter.
Fortunately, there are a lot of other cruelty-free options available. (Merry Hempsters, Literati, Pussy Pucker Pots, Eco Lips, DIY...)
If you're not boycotting bee products yet, please read Why Honey is Not Vegan. For a glimpse into the world of industrial beekeeping, visit Honey Bee Insemination Service.
