animal rights

Is it justified to intentionally injure animals if it will possibly save human lives in the future? The army obviously believes so.

The plan is for soldiers to shoot live pigs and then practice treating their wounds as part of a medical exercise. Apparently, this will enable troops to treat wounded soldiers when there is not a doctor or other medical professional nearby.

Though I can understand the merits of the learning first-hand how to dress a wound, I really don't believe that it is necessary to torture innocent animals to do so.

PETA suggests other methods, such as high-tech human simulators. Besides this alternative, I think it would be advantageous to have people in the military learn from following emergency ambulance squads or shadowing an emergency room technician. Maybe they could be given basic medical skills during their training in the army.

However, the army representative (Major Derrick Cheng) says, I quote, "Those alternative methods just can’t replicate what the troops are going to face when we use live-tissue training.” Um...that is repulsive. Live-tissue training?

And somehow they think it is better because they anesthetize the animals. Yeah, it's okay to be carving holes with bullets into these pigs because they are numb to the pain right? And we'll fix them right up, okay?

This is an outrageous act of animal abuse. Sadly, it probably cannot even compare to the violence seen by troops in real life.

This image is from www.ecosherpa.com

Found through Youth Venture, AASHE and its newsletter, Conference Alerts, and Americans for Informed Democracy

UN Climate Negotiations, COP14
The SustainUS Agents of Change program is now accepting applications for its delegation to the UN Climate Negotiations, the Conference of Parties 14, to be held in Poznan, Poland this December. COP14 will determine the future of international policy on climate change, and this is an opportunity for youth to make their voices heard. The SustainUS delegation, comprised of key leaders in the youth climate movement from various organizations and backgrounds, will have the unique opportunity to represent American youth at the COP. Delegates will work with each other and with international youth in advance of the conference to educate themselves, develop policy priorities, acquire skills in effective lobbying, and engage the broader youth population in a conversation about international climate policy.
Dates: December
Deadline: July 12

Community College Summit: Building Gateways to the Green Economy
The two-day event will feature general sessions with keynotes, speakers and more than 30 workshops and sessions addressing the full range of green workforce, education and building issues. Attendees will learn from educators, policy makers, business leaders and a range of experts about the curriculums that are being developed in conjunction with renewable energy and other green industries and coordinated among campuses; creating campuses that are models of sustainable practices to their communities; the savings available from building and running green campuses; community colleges that are living laboratories where students learn by applying their skills and training to green their campuses; and green job opportunities – what the “green collar” jobs are now, and what they will look like in the future.
Dates: October 8th and 9th
Deadline: August 1

Performing the World
Performing the World ’08 builds on the momentum of 2007’s PTW 4, which brought together 300 practitioners, scholars, educators, youth workers, researchers, psychologists and therapists, health and helping professionals, business people, artists, and community activists from 27 countries. Some conversational themes, panels, workshops and performances will include Performance as a Community Building Methodology; Postmodern Creativity and Performance; Knowing, Not Knowing and Performing; Performance and Politics; Performance in Daily Life; The Therapeutics of Performance; The Creativity of the Group; Ensemble and Community; Theatre and Community; The Creativity of Improvisation; Performing, Improvising and Learning; The Power of Play; and Conflict Resolution and Performance.
Deadline: October 2nd-5th
Deadline: August 1

HMF International Film/Media Festival and Conference
HMF seeks to tap into the power of the media—film, both documentary and narrative; art and music; print, web, television, and photojournalism—and extend their influence more broadly, so that humanitarian issues are not just covered in brief articles, commercials, profiles, or soundbytes, but can be explored and given context, so that their importance is more widely known. With greater knowledge, more people in positions of authority and influence can then also be drawn in as part of the dialogue, so that such issues are not just lamented, but perhaps some constructive and creative answers can be illuminated among those with the greatest capacity to make a difference. The Conference will cover the media’s role in humanitarian histories, events, issues and crises; the role that the media has played and perhaps should play in the work of the UN, NGO’s and other agencies who help to support populations in need and are affected by certain issues or crises; the future role of the media with the advent of new technologies, the possibilities inherent in the web, and how these new possibilities can be utilized by those seeking to bring further attention to the public sphere regarding issues of humanitarian importance; the role of the artistic media in revealing the nuances of issues of humanitarian importance and the significance of “celebrity” involvement; the role of print, television, web, and photojournalism and its importance in the humanitarian sphere.
Dates: December 10th-14th
Deadline: August 1 for presenters; December 1 for attendees

The Annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations
This Assembly attracts hundreds of youth leaders to the United Nations Headquarters in New York from over 52 countries. During the assembly, attendees learn more about the Millennium Development Goals and find ways that young people can contribute to the MDGs in their own country. The Assembly has become a major gathering of young people over the past five years. Among our honored guest speakers each year is Dr. Arun Gandhi (Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), UN officials, Olympic Medalists, Goodwill Ambassadors and other celebrities, who have made significant contributions to young people's lives and to the Millennium Development Goals themselves.
Dates: August 11th-14th
Deadline: August 5

AASHE 2008: Working Together for Sustainability--On Campus and Beyond
AASHE will host its second biannual conference, AASHE 2008: Working Together for Sustainability – On Campus and Beyond. AASHE 2008 will offer an opportunity for every sector of higher education in the United States & Canada to come together to demonstrate how colleges and universities can lead the way to a sustainable future. Goals of the conference include advancing sustainability on campus and beyond through partnerships and collaborations, increasing the integration of social responsibility and social justice into mainstream campus sustainability, promoting new pathways for elevating sustainability education and student leadership development, magnifying the role of campuses as responsible members of communities, both local and global, and to involve a wider range of participants in advancing sustainability in higher education. Students, administrators, faculty, staff, community members, and business are encouraged to attend. During the conference, AASHE will also host a two-day tradeshow, Sustainable Solutions Expo: Green Solutions for Campuses, Businesses and Institutions. Admission is included with conference registration. Discounts are available for students and AASHE members.
Dates: November 9th-11th
Deadline: August 29

Global Youth Enterprise
Making Cents International will convene practitioners, donors, educators, youth, members of the private sector, representatives of governments, and other partners in youth enterprise, entrepreneurship, and livelihood development for the Global Youth Enterprise Conference. These conference participants are part of a growing community committed to investing in young people, and the innovations necessary to ensure programs and policies achieve greater impact, sustainability, and scale. Making Cents supports this community regularly meeting to share lessons learned, promising practices, and new ideas that create economic opportunities for young people. This year's conference themes are Market-Driven Approaches and Effective Methodologies and Practices for Monitoring, Evaluating, and Conducting Impact Assessments.
Dates: September 15th and 16th
Deadline for late registration: September 1

2008 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo - Revolutionary Green: Innovations for Global Sustainability
The U.S. Green Building Council will host its Greenbuild 2008. USGBC’s Greenbuild conference and expo is an opportunity to connect with other green building peers, industry experts, and influential leaders as they share insights on the green building movement and its diverse specialties. Speakers include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, E.O. Wilson, and Janine Benyus. The conference will feature over 100 educational sessions, LEED workshops, off-site educational sessions. Students, universities, and professionals are invited to attend.
Dates: November 19th-21st
Deadline: September 8

CFP - Fifth World Environmental Education Congress
The Organizing Committee of the Congress invites submissions for abstract proposals. The presentations may be in the form of a poster, oral, or round table presentation, or a workshop or NGO forum. Themes include relationships between ecology and economy; the issue of sustainability; questions of fairness in socio-ecological issues; environmental health; urban challenges; greening colleges and universities; and school and community. Each participant is limited to a maximum of two proposals.
Dates: May 10th-14th
Deadline for presentation submission: September 30
Deadline for presenter registration: February 1

Good and Green
This conference gives you the opportunity to catch up on the very latest green marketing info and know how. It is the only event focused on green marketing solutions and insights for Fortune 100-1,000 companies and their agencies! Attendees will receive invaluable research, case studies, strategies and techniques. They can also expect some new marketing ideas and insights, as well as surprise entertainment value from Planet Green. Presenters include The Daily Green.com, The Natural Marketing Institute, Ketchum Public Relations, Denise Waggoner from Getty Images, and Earthsense. There will also be a Partnership Panel, from which attendees will learn to correctly identify and develop great partnerships successfully. Good And Green is the place for senior brand marketers to touch base, connect, learn and share insights from their green marketing journey.
Dates: December 3rd and 4th
Deadline: register online now

Green Community College Conference
The National Council for Workforce Education Board of Directors will host the Green Community Colleges Conference: Sustainable Campuses and Programs. Presentations will be given on sustainability initiatives, energy programs and opportunities, and workforce curriculum and faculty development.
Dates: October 18th-21st
Deadline: register online now

National Youth Venture Summit
The First-Ever National Youth Venture Summit will be an exciting leadership experience, gathering young changemakers from across the nation. Attendees will participate in skill-building and Venture-strengthening workshops, engage in meaningful dialogue to share experiences, network and find ways to collaborate. Free time will also be available to explore our nation's capital. For additional information and questions regarding financial support, contact Kristin at 703.600.8347 or kfurio@youthventure.org.
Dates: July 17th-20th
Deadline: register online now

Pop!Tech 2008: Scarcity and Abundance
For the twelfth year, the Pop!Tech Conference will again convene a network of 600 remarkable thinkers, doers, leaders and global change agents in science, technology, social innovation, business, environmentalism, globalization, media, education, and many other fields for a four-day exploration of ideas shaping the future. This year, we will pay particular attention to the 21st century dynamics between systems based on scarcity and those based on abundance, in areas ranging from digital social networks to environmentalism, from biology to business, from peacemaking to politics. We’ll chart the core scarcities that humanity will face in this century, and how a wealth of new innovations, new bottom-up approaches to collaboration, and new insights into collective wisdom might hold the key to addressing them. As always, there will be incredible performances, jaw-dropping technology demonstrations, spirited discussions, formal debates and surprises throughout. We will leave each other with an inspired sense of our challenges, our potential, and the dynamics of positive change.
Dates: October 23rd-25th
Deadline: register online now

Slow Food Nation 2008 This event is the first-ever American collaborative gathering to unite the growing sustainable food movement and introduce thousands of people to food that is good, clean and fair. The first annual event of Slow Food Nation takes place on Labor Day 2008 in San Francisco with enjoyable, accessible and educational activities for all Americans. Slow Food Nation is dedicated to creating a framework for deeper environmental connection to our food and aims to inspire and empower Americans to build a food system that is sustainable, healthy and delicious.
Dates: August 29th-September 1st
Deadline: register online now

UCB, U Washington Summer Institute in Sustainability
The University of British Columbia and the University of Washington Extension are pleased to invite participants to the Summer Institute in Sustainability, a 5-day intensive program that will provide intellectual perspectives and practical skills to integrate sustainability as a core value within an organization, and develop programs that represent best practices in sustainability planning. The program provides participants with a combination of lectures by sustainability experts and practitioners, on-site excursions to UBC’s sustainability initiatives, case studies featuring five of UBC’s signature sustainability programs, and applied work sessions focusing on sustainability planning.
Dates: July 20th-25th
Deadline: register online now

United Students Against Sweatshops Summer Conference
This summer, hundreds of students from throughout the US and Canada will be gathering in Boulder, Colorado for this conference. Attendees will be participating in skill building workshops, strategizing around winning our campaigns, hearing from workers, participating in anti-oppression trainings, and meeting up with students from hundreds of other schools.
Dates: August 8th-10th
Deadline: register online now

World Youth Congress
The 4th World Youth Congress will bring 600 of the world's most dynamic young activists in the field of sustainable development to Québec from 120 different countries. The congress offers a unique opportunity to meet and work alongside young people who are really doing things and going places. This event sets a new standard for international youth events, and will be the largest and most inspirational gathering of its kind for young people taking place anywhere in the world in 2008. There is a strong role at the Congress for young journalists, cultural performers (e.g. dancers / actors / film makers / musicians), as well as for those with an interest in sustainable development, but less personal experience in this area. Delegates will join forces with young Canadians to undertake hands-on community action projects across Québec, and will help shape international policy by documenting and showing governments what young people are doing to achieve the MDGs.
Dates: August 10th-21st
Deadline: register online now

State of the World Forum
The Forum, in partnership with Wisdom University and Olmstead Productions, is convening a new State of the World Forum in 2009 designed to draw attention to the emerging power of the cultural creatives and the enabling technologies required to shape constructive change in the face of the growing crisis of global warming. The application will be posted soon.
Dates: November 9th-15th
Deadline: registration materials will be available online soon

“Creating Global Change: How Youth are answering the question, 'What can I do?'”
Interested to know how you can make a career out of social change? How you can continue to work for poverty reduction and social justice after your time at college? This summer, AID and the Student Movement for Real Change will be hosting a conference to address these questions. Attendees will get an opportunity to speak with young social entrepreneurs, national organizers, and new media activists—learning from them about how to create global change as youth. For details, contact kristen@aidemocracy.org.

Global Health Conference in DC: "Mobilizing and Engaging Communities in Global Health"
This conference promises to be informative and filled with take-home actions you can do. For more details, contact christine.g@aidemocracy.org.

With the presidential campaign well under way, many issues have been debated and discussed such as Iraq, gas prices, and foreign policy. One of the lesser addressed areas is each candidate's stance on the environment and animal rights. However, Obama's and McCain's views on this matter should be taken into a greater consideration for the decision of who should become the next leader of the country.

Obama has a variety of environmental goals and successes. He has organized inner-city recycling, introduced bills to reduce mercury and lead levels, and supported national parks. Much of his effort is focused on environmental racism and educating the inner cities and the poor.

He does not support the storage of nuclear waste in Yucca mountain, and instead promotes green technology and fuel efficiency.

The Humane Society gives him a score of 60%. While Obama supported bills against dog/cock-fighting and signed a letter asking for more funds for the Animal Welfare Act, he did not vote for the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act or the Downed Animal Protection Act.

John McCain received a 40% from the Humane Society. He only supported the bills involving the prevention of horse slaughter for human consumption and exportation.

McCain believes that the economy and the condition of the environment are not "mutually exclusive, but intrinsically linked." Therefore, he advocates sustainable use of resources and the preservation of wilderness areas.

He co-sponsored many bills on protecting natural parks and wants the EPA to become a cabinet department. He does support Yucca Mountain and using nuclear energy.

So, the two candidates do have some overlapping opinions, especially on the subject of national parks and sustainability. Obama has a slighter better track record in the eyes of the Humane Society, but both candidates don't seem to be hardcore animal rights supporters. The major area in which they disagree is the storage of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain.

Obama seems more of an "activist"; he has actually gone into the cities, interacted with the people; physically done more for the environmental cause. McCain, on the other hand, has supported a lot of legislation in Congress that protects and preserves nature.

Both candidates seem to do fairly well from the environmental standpoint. At least they each acknowledge the problems that the world has and have advocated methods to alleviate them. Hopefully, no matter whether McCain or Obama wins, our country will start making eco-friendly decisions for a sustainable future.

The image is from www.time.com

There's been all sorts of meat substitutes over the years for the vegetarians who can't seem to let go- quorn, tempeh, veggie burgers, veggie hot dogs, etc. But there's nothing like the "real" thing, right?

Apparently, soon there will be. In an extremely controversial move, the animal rights organization PETA has decided that it will pay $1 million to anyone who develops a commercially viable form of vitro meat- meat grown out of a tube.

These "tissue cultures" are suppose to be safer, more nutritious, more humane, and cause less pollution. Obviously, though, one can see where they would cause uneasiness.

No one really likes the idea of eating something that was grown artificially in a lab- not just chemically produced, like aspartame and food additives, but actually grown. Vegetarians, vegans, and others who advocate eating "whole" and "natural" foods surely will be turned off by this humane meat. Additionally, the thought of eating any kind of animal flesh at all may disgust those who have abstained from meat for a long period of time.

Sure, vitro meat may be a more sustainable way to continue Americans' insatiable appetite for slabs of steaks and meatloaf. Crops won't have to be used to feed animals, and the pollution from agriculture will decrease. Manufacturers may truly label the vitro meat with "no animals were harmed in the making of this product."

Personally though, I definitely feel queasy at the prospect of living tissue being grown artificially, but who knows? Maybe this is the trend of the future. Maybe one day down the road we will all be sitting down to a nice steaming dinner of vitro meat and scoff at the days when sustenance had to come from the killing of an animal.

To read more, go to this New York Times article.

The image above is from Science Blogs.

Back in 2007, Artist Guillermo Vargas caused a violent outburst of protest on the internet when he used a starving dog off the street as an object of artwork. Apparently, he tied up the emaciated dog, placed bowls of food just out of its reach, and allowed the public to come in and view the slowly dying animal as "art."

This exhibit, titled "Eres lo que lees," according to Vargas, was intended to create public awareness of the thousands of starving dogs in his hometown in Costa Rica. Obviously, there was an immediate outcry against the artist. Thousands of online viewers signed petitions when photographs of the animal were placed on the internet. Facebook group
It is hard to distinguish between the facts and the rumors, but according to some sources, the animal died the day after the display. However, the art gallery stated that the dog was not tied up and actually had been fed.

When Vargas was invited to repeat his display at the Central American Visual Arts Biennial, many protested. The World Society for the Protection of Animals contacted officials to make sure that no animal abuse would take place at the event. WSPA

However, a startling new turn has occurred in this already twisted story. Apparently Vargas has told the public that the whole incident was in fact a hoax. He intended to trick the world to show the irony of the situation- millions of people are horrified at the starvation of one animal while many more creatures are dying in the streets right in front of their homes.

Many do not believe Vargas is telling the truth and is lying to save his reputation against the multitude of internet users petitioning against him. Guillermohabacusvargas.blogspot It is truly hard to tell what is reality- most of the information is from individual bloggers as opposed to a credible news site.

However, the whole situation does bring up a good point. Obviously, it is cruel to force a helpless animal to die, even as a statement to some larger truth, but there are indeed millions of animals that do starve right before us. Though there is a difference between choosing not to feed a stray animal and deliberating withholding food from a captivated animal, does it matter to the animal if he dies because he cannot reach the food in front of him or because he wanders for days without finding a scrap of nourishment? Are people angrier because they are forced to confront the reality of a dog's fate of starvation, when they convince to themselves that the dog on the street will be fed by someone else?

No matter what his intention was, Vargas did give everyone something to think about.

The image above is from Latinaviva.com

In the past few years, a few events have brought more attention to animal rights. These incidents range from the abandonment of pets during Hurricane Katrina and widespread pet food contamination to Michael Vick’s dog-fighting and Oprah’s recent show about puppy mills.

According to USA Today, PETA’s membership has risen to 1.8 million and the Humane Society’s to 10.5 million.

This year, 28 state legislatures are expected to strengthen bans on dog/cock-fighting and 13 states are considering bills to regulate puppy mills.

The book and movie Fast Food Nation (Google Books) educated millions of Americans about the horrors of the industry. Since then, 330 colleges have stopped or reduced the use of eggs from hens housed in battery cages. Mass retailers are also following the trend- examples include Burger King and Hardee’s. Grocery stores display more meat and eggs labeled “free-range” or “grass-fed,” and sales of organic agricultural products have sky-rocketed.

Additionally, there is a campaign in Massachusetts to ban commercial greyhound racing by 2010.

Many other reforms have happened and are in the process of being passed. In fact, some people compare this burst of animal activism to the civil rights activism in the 1960s and the environmentalism in the 1970s.

However, it is important to realize that even with these successes, there are still many other concerns in the world today. Destruction of natural habitats, horrifying agriculture practices, and domestic animal abuse are some of the many problems that must be addressed. Sadly, most issues are not acted upon by the general public until a tragedy strikes.

Of course, awareness is the first step, and it is a great sign that people are reacting to the recent news.

For more information, visit
USA Today

The adorable picture is from www.kloudiia.com