Root has discoved StumbleUpon, a social search network that is a great tool for research and an amazing community. Discover like minded stumblers and go deeper into the issues that are of interest via their curated pages. If you like what you see on DgirlP's site, please review her and reference her pages on yours. One more opportunity to spread the word. Peace.
As a follow up to our post yesterday about the disturbing imminence of cloned animal products in our food chain, we are directing our readers to the Organic Consumers Association's page to send an email to Michael Leavitt, Secretary of Health. Please click here to take action.
According to the World Wildlife Fund
's Living Planet Report, humanity's Ecological Footprint - the demand humans place upon the natural world - has increased to the point where the Earth is unable to keep up in the struggle to regenerate. The statement says that on current projections, humanity will be using two planets' worth of natural resources by 2050. WWF Inernational Director General James Leape says, "The consequences of this are predictable and dire." Download the full report here.
Once again, MoveOn.org has initiated a grassroots email campaign, this time to get people to host and view the groundbreaking film, Iraq for Sale. This is the story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war.
Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed and Uncovered)
takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and
children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in
the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq, and the decision makers who allow them to do so. Check out an interview with the director by consciousmedianetwork.com, and the film's trailer.
Half of the world's cocoa is produced on West African
plantations, where, according to the United Nations International Labor
Organization, 284,000 child laborers, "are either involved in hazardous
work, unprotected, or have been trafficked." Organic Consumers Organization offers a number of
options for consumers and advocates to become more knowledgeable about
this - the first being - buy only Fair Trade and organic chocolate.
Their are lots of choices, but Root loves Dagoba and Green & Black's . Help educate people about this important issue by sending a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Host a slavery-free Halloween house party to distribute trick-or-treat sized Fair Trade chocolate minis to your friends and neighbors. Help OCA publicize the slavery-free Halloween campaign by letting them know about your house party. Contact: alexis@organicconsumers.org
Metropolis Magazine features an article on green roofs. 
Set amid the industrial squalor of a Queens neighborhood, Silvercup Studios, New York's largest film production studio, plays host to New York's largest green roof. An idea whose time has come, green roofs cool down concrete jungles, productively utilize runoff, and provide a visual respite for those commuting at a bird's eye view on overpasses surrounding urban sprawl.
Cool Hunting blogs that Good Magazine launches this month. Ben Goldhirsh, Good's founder says, "We see a growing number of people tied together not by age, career, background, or circumstance, but by a shared interest. This revolves around a passion for potential mixed with fierce pragmatism and creative engagement. We sum all this up as the sensibility of giving a damn. But to shorten it, let's call it GOOD. We're here to push this movement and cover its realization."
For all the weightiness of the topics, an optimistic point-of-view coupled with elegant layouts, photography and illustration (that often add a dose of humor) keeps the LA-based magazine accessible without losing its intelligent edge.
Brandchannel has an article featuring Dame Anita Roddick, 
the founder of The Body Shop, the now ubiquitous natural body products chain found in airports and on high streets around the world. Roddick speaks to the power of business, moreso than politics or religion to change the way people act.
According to the article, one of Roddick's biggest accomplishments is establishing 36 purchasing programs with impoverished farmers in 23 countries, including Brazil, Nicaragua, Zambia, Pakistan and India. Through them, the Body Shop buys herbs, nuts, almond oil, sesame seed oil and other ingredients for its moisturizers, creams and shampoos. In total, the company has business relationships with more than 5,000 families, but the economic spin-offs are felt by thousands more with schooling, training, HIV/AIDS awareness, health clinics and fresh water.
Within their own scale, Roddick calls upon businesses to use their power as activism, and to take creativity to the next level. At 64, still an activist, and in command of her choices, Roddick is an inspiration, who with her wealth and power as a creative social tool, continues to manifest real change in the world.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agreed Wednesday on a plan to cut by 25% the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from California electric power plants, refineries and other sources by the year 2020. It would make California the first state in the nation to fight global warming by slapping caps on carbon dioxide and other emissions.
As curbing emissions is an essential step in this immense global problem, and as legislation of corporate action is necessary in solving it, Root applauds these steps. In doing so, we encourage further action on the part of the global community and the rest of our 49 states to act now to restrain and repair the damage done to our fragile ecosystem.
Bike ride 35, 65 or 100 miles and enjoy an organic, vegan meal at the end of your ride.
A Green Event in our town that encourages nonprofit groups and small businesses to get involved by hosting rest stops. This is a great way for organizations and businesses to introduce participants to the flavor of their mission.
Founded in 2003, OrganicAthlete is a nonprofit organization that unites people in a global effort to create a better world through sport. Their mission is to promote health and ecological stewardship among athletes of all ages and abilities by sharing information, building community and inspiring through athletic example. The Tour d'Organics simultaneously promotes their educational mission, brings communities together in celebration of health and the environment, serves as a model for how athletic events can be ecologically sustainable, and generates a revenue base from which to further the mission.
The Tour d'Organics is a great way to explore farming communities and meet the people who grow your food. For rest-stop refreshments and post-ride meals, as much local food as possible is served.
Each rest stop will be well stocked with produce from the farms and other munchies including fruit, boiled potatoes, energy bars, and nut butters from Living Tree Community Foods. The 65 and 100 mile rides include a substantial lunch. After the ride, there will be a delicious vegan meal made from locally grown produce. All food is included with registration. Massage will also be available after the ride.
Organic Athlete does everything they can to make this a green and ecologically sustainable event. Methods include: printing all printed materials on tree-free or 100% recycled paper with vegetable based inks, offering only 100% organic and plant-based food, using food containers made from compostable materials, making every effort to make the events carbon neutral and zero waste, encouraging and facilitating carpooling with Spaceshare.
Register, ride and share in the bounty of our incredible county, Sunday August 20th.
