Social Issues
Bush Vs. Wolves
Bush is killing wolves again.
Why I’m Glad Obama Is Not Gay
But although bigotry took a hard kick to the gut on November 4, 2008, it caught its breath quickly and assuredly in America that day when voters banned gay marriage in California, Florida, and Arizona and banned adoptions and foster parenting by unmarried couples in Arkansas. So, while I’m glad Obama happens to be black, I’m grateful he is not gay because he would not be our President (-elect) if he were.
Refugees from Planet Earth
Where are all the displaced people going to go? You can be sure that refugees are coming to your neighborhood, if you remain lucky enough to still have one. And the refugees will not just be human. We will be seeing refugees of every species in search of hospitable places on earth, looking for food, looking for water, looking for shelter.
Wolf in the Mirror: Recovery and Redemption
The fact that there is no recorded case of a wolf killing a human in North America has long been eclipsed by an irrational fear and hatred of wolves that stretches back to the time of the Inquisition.
Beware the Chocolate Monsters: Keep Slave Labor Out of Halloween
According to Global Exchange, such child slaves and laborers experience the hazards of using machetes and applying pesticides and insecticides with no protection. Enslaved children typically work over 12 hours a day harvesting cocoa beans and have no idea what chocolate tastes like.
A Green Lining to Economic Downturn
Besides, there may be a green lining to all of this economic turmoil. I can’t think of any more effective way to get most Americans to change their lives than lack of cash. So let’s try—amid foreclosures, job loss, the costly (on so many levels) war in Iraq, salary freezes, skyrocketing health care costs and grocery, gas, and heating bills—to look on and for the bright side of things.
Stand Up for Your Rites
We green, free thinkers who dream of a radically transformed society sometimes feel a little like we’re blazing trails in the dark. Ongoing rituals that are full of meaning for people who care about life and the planet can sustain us during difficult times and during times of doubt and fear.
Beyond Climate Change 101
As with all meaningful change, there is no simple fix for our climate change crisis. There is no pill, band aid, 12-step formula, or “expert’s” advice to heal Earth or its life forms. There is no “clean” nuclear power that will preserve our current luxuries without risking even more environmental disaster, no green product that will redeem generations of overconsumption, no fluorescent light bulb that will reverse the excess of our industrialized systems, no recycling process that can restore forests, no zoo or seed bank that can preserve our world’s biodiversity, no replacement planet we can relocate to. For worse and for better we are stuck here with our mess and our weakness, our solutions and our strength.
Trust Your Kids: Raise Them Cage-Free!
Parents are a jumpy bunch these days. Even before I had my daughter I was troubled by the prevailing attitude among parents that the world has become a place too dangerous to let kids be kids anymore. Popular opinion seems to be that it is now too risky to let children do time-tested things like play outside unsupervised, climb a tree, explore on a bike, or walk to school alone, all things I and my friends enjoyed as kids. Once I became a mother I began to witness first-hand the stifling paranoia among other parents about their kids’ safety and to see the effect it was having on kids.
Planet Earth Hung Out to Dry
Blue Planet Run, a U.S-based foundation that supports clean water access projects worldwide, estimates that these water collectors spend 6 or more hours and walk an average of 6 kilometers a day to get water for their families and communities. Their water-collecting journeys often put them at risk of attack from predatory men and animals and make it difficult or impossible for them to go to school or earn money, perpetuating cycles of illiteracy and poverty.
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