Posts Tagged Environment

The dignifying power of design

I had the great fortune to go to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a newly constructed headquarters for GEMS last week. For those who don’t know, GEMS, which stands for Girls Educational & Mentoring Services, is an organization that serves girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. It was founded in 1998 by Rachel Lloyd, a survivor herself.

The space was designed, pro-bono, by an architecture firm called Perkins + Will. The firm has a robust Social Responsibility Initiative which means, according to their site, “Every year, Perkins+Will contributes the equivalent of a 15-person firm working full-time to provide pro bono services to organizations in our communities who would otherwise not have such access.”

While ...

I had the great fortune to go to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a newly constructed headquarters for GEMS last week. For those who don’t know, GEMS, which stands for Girls Educational & Mentoring Services, is an ...

In praise of Anna Bligh

What would Anna Bligh do? That’s the question some Australians have been asking as the flooding in the northeastern state of Queensland becomes one of the worst natural disasters in the nation’s history.

Bligh is the Premier of Queensland, a position she has held since 2007, a member of the Labor Party, and the country’s first popularly elected female state Premier. As heavy rains pummeled rural Queensland throughout late 2010, resulting in the rising rivers, spilled banks and flash floods that have now killed more than 20 people and destroyed thousands of homes, Bligh has emerged as something of a heroine in the midst of a crisis.

On Wednesday, the Sydney Morning Herald described Bligh as “indefatigable” in her involvement and engagement ...

What would Anna Bligh do? That’s the question some Australians have been asking as the flooding in the northeastern state of Queensland becomes one of the worst natural disasters in the nation’s history.

Bligh is the Premier of ...

Is mother nature trying to tell us something?

First there were the thousands of red wing blackbirds who died on New Year’s Eve in Beebe, Arkansas.

Then there was 2 million dead fish in the Chesapeake Bay.

And yesterday, Sweden reported that another alarmingly large number of dead birds were found in the city of Falkoping.

As the risk of sounding like Chicken Little, doesn’t it sort of seem like the sky is falling? I’m not trying to push any sort of apocalyptic conspiracy theory, but I do think we’ve got to take these kinds of things seriously. The frightening and unexplained trifecta reminds me of Naomi Klein’s critical piece in the Guardian about the BP oil spill and the testosterone-fueled hubris that caused it:

In the arc ...

Tuesday Morning Truth: New Video from Reflection Eternal “Ballad of the Black Gold”

Reflection Eternal “Ballad of the Black Gold” from Sam Ellison on Vimeo.

If you need some Tuesday morning truth, I highly encourage you to check out this brand new video for the Reflection Eternal track “Ballad of the Black Gold”. The song is one of my favorites off their new album, and the video was directed by a very talented up and coming filmmaker named Sam Ellison around my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Plus, it brings a timely– and feminist– message about the negative consequences that can come as a result of our collective dependence on oil- the BP oil spill in the Gulf being one of them. For more on the negative effects of the oil spill ...

Reflection Eternal “Ballad of the Black Gold” from Sam Ellison on Vimeo.

If you need some Tuesday morning truth, I highly encourage you to check out this brand new video for the Reflection Eternal track ...

Quick Hit: Reproductive Health impacts of the BP Oil Spill

Kimberley Inez McGuire blogs at RH Reality Check about the chemical pollutants that have been affecting the Gulf Region for years, and how the BP Oil Spill might just worsen the situation.

For decades, industrial waste and contamination in the Gulf states have been recognized for their role in causing health problems ranging from cancer to asthma. Residents have tested positive for exposure to some of the worst reproductive toxicants–chemicals that have been linked to infertility, miscarriage, low birth weight, low sperm count, and developmental and respiratory disorders for children exposed in utero. This contamination of the air, water, and soil is so severe, and its effects so widespread, that the 100-mile stretch of Louisiana communities between New Orleans and ...

Kimberley Inez McGuire blogs at RH Reality Check about the chemical pollutants that have been affecting the Gulf Region for years, and how the BP Oil Spill might just worsen the situation.

For decades, industrial waste and ...

BP oil spill as study in thwarted domination

Naomi Klein has a powerful analysis of the BP oil spill over at the UK Guardian. In short, she argues that the disaster and its aftermath are more than an anomalous display of poor planning and corporate greed; the Deepwater Horizon disaster is the latest and most profound in a long line of moments when the complexity of nature has re-asserted itself, and in so doing, pointed out the limitations of domination and technology. No matter how much money we pour into R&D or fancy terminology or inspiring speeches we try to distract the public with, we just can’t fix the earth once it’s broken. We can’t dominate nature. She writes:

If Katrina pulled back the curtain on the reality ...

Naomi Klein has a powerful analysis of the BP oil spill over at the UK Guardian. In short, she argues that the disaster and its aftermath are more than an anomalous display of poor planning and ...

USSF 2010: Modeling the World as It Should Be

This year’s US Social Forum is the business! It is only the second day, yet it has already been an exhilarating experience to be in an activist space with 20,000 progressives committed to the movement for social justice. Most of all, it is great to be in an environment that serves as a model for the world as it should be and not the world as it is. One key example of this is that for the first time in the conference’s history, the US Social Forum has eliminated all bottled water and has set up stations where folks can come and fill up their canteens, cups and receptacles. This commitment to environmental justice is such an important action for ...

This year’s US Social Forum is the business! It is only the second day, yet it has already been an exhilarating experience to be in an activist space with 20,000 progressives committed to the movement for social ...

Reproductive health impacts of the BP oil spill

Last week at Truthout Lucinda Marshall raised the topic of the reproductive health impacts of the BP oil spill. We don’t know all the chemicals in the oil and dispersants, but what we do know already contains some pretty disturbing information. Benzene, a common ingredient in oil, may impair fertility. As for the dispersants:

Corexit, the dispersant that is being used by BP contains 2ButoxyEthanol, which “may damage the developing fetus. There is limited evidence that 2-Butoxy Ethanol may damage the male reproductive system (including decreasing the sperm count) in animals and may affect female fertility in animals,” according to the safety sheet.

Marshall followed up the original article with a blog post detailing new information that’s come out ...

Last week at Truthout Lucinda Marshall raised the topic of the reproductive health impacts of the BP oil spill. We don’t know all the chemicals in the oil and dispersants, but what we do know already ...

Load More