August, 2009

The dolphin slaughter in Taiji starts up again today. And while there has been some momentum in stopping this horrendous practice, there is still a ways to go. We received some good news today from our friends at Earth Island Institute: Ric O'Barry is in Japan and headed to Taiji accompanied by some European and Japanese journalists as well as a film crew. We will have updates from Ric's trip so be sure to check back.

The Japanese Government went through a tremendous shift yesterday when The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which governed Japan for the last 5 decades lost the Lower House election to the Democratic Party of Japan. The Prime Minister Taro Aso resigned and Japan's next Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, is already at work to establish a new cabinet. This is an exciting and potentially tumultuous time for Japan but one thing is for sure, change is in the air. And hopefully this means there will be some legislative action that will put an end to the dolphin slaughter in Taiji.

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) agents involved in the arrests at the Rainbow Lounge back in June are finally being punished for their actions. Two agents and their supervisor were fired from the TABC  for their involvement because they did not report that they had used force in the arrest, or that the force they used led to brain injuries for one of the Rainbow Lounge patrons, Chad Gibson.

The agents are not being punished for discrimination, though it doesn't seem the TABC is oblivious that homophobia was a motivator. In fact, the TABC is now implementing diversity training for its agents.

In this video, Chad Gibson tells about his experience the night of the arrest.

There's a little town in Japan called Taiji which used to seem like an unremarkable place with Buddhist temples, a whale museum, fishermen and a verdant national park nestled around a small cove. It used to have a big secret, too. Through the award-winning documentary, The Cove, the bloody secret of this town has been exposed to the world. Beginning September 1st through March 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are slaughtered. With the world watching,Taiji is now at the epicenter of an ongoing battle to stop this horrible practice. The thousands of dolphins are routinely rounded up by fisherman and driven into the cove. There, they are chosen by dolphin trainers for a destitute life in a tank somewhere around the globe or a swim-with dolphin program. The so-called less appealing ones are chopped up and found neatly stacked in styrofoam trays in Japanese supermarkets (often mislabeled as whale meat).  Most Japanese people are completely unaware of what is happening in Taiji. While Taiji might be thousands of miles away, there's much you can do right now to help stop this slaughter. 1. Send a letter to Obama Administration officials and the Japanese Ambassador to the US 2. Ask others to get involved. 3. As a tourist, think twice before you participate in a swim-with-dolphin program or visit a captive dolphin. There's a good chance such an animal could be from Taiji. 4. See the Cove! It's a beautiful, engaging, enthralling and fascinating film that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The secret is out. The slaughter has begun in Taiji. We can all take action now to shut the cove down.

Last week Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said that discriminating against gay people shouldn't be illegal. That's right, Herbert thinks sexual orientation shouldn't be a protected class in the way that race, gender and religion are. Herbert said "We don't have to have a rule for everybody to do the right thing. We ought to just do the right thing because it's the right thing to do and we don't have to have a law that punishes us if we don't."

Um sure, we all ought to do the right thing, but people don't do the right thing, that's why we have laws! What if the same thinking went for all immoral actions? I mean, people ought to do the right thing and not steal, murder, or rape others. Should we forgo the laws that punish such crimes and hope that people just "do the right thing?" Sorry, people do not always do the right thing hence why we have laws in place.

Peter Danzig from the Foundation for Reconciliation says Herbert’s comments demonstrate that he’s unaware of the discrimination LGBT Utahns face, “A lot of people in the predominant culture of our state just don’t know a lot about the kind of discrimination that the LGBT community face. It was a surprise to me to discover that you can be fired simply because your employer discovers that you are not heterosexually oriented.”

So Gary, if we're going to live under the assumption that people will "do the right thing", then the right thing to do here would be for you to support protecting the homosexual community from discrimination.

cpstorm's photostream (CC)

KCRW, the Los Angeles public radio station, is by far my favorite station, which says quite a bit coming from someone who grew up listening to the incredibly awesome variety of broadcasts in Boston.  The station is a one stop shop for NPR news, "hand-picked" music, and entertainment, and now KCRW has launched "Five Things From KCRW", a blog series that each week features a new top five list of favorite things compiled by the stations on-air personalities.

Even if you don't live in LA, you should check out these lists to discover fresh and funny run-downs of topics such as "Top 5 Condiments" (one of my favorites), "5 Books for Summer Reading" (it's not too late!), and "5 Ways to Make Each Day Worthwhile" (a healthy reminder).  There's sure to be something for everyone, and who doesn't love lists of cool things.  More

Yesterday Swiss tightrope walker, Freddy Nock walked up a steep cable on the slopes of Germany's highest mountain, Zugspitze. Nock accomplished the feat with only a balancing pole and with no nets or safety ropes. The climb was used to raise more than $19,000 for the German charity "Menschen fuer Menschen," which runs rural developmentprojects in Ethiopia. Check out the amazing video:

In our last Carbon Footprint Battle (a series we've been running that I just made up), we found that buying downloaded music online is probably better for the environment than buying CDs. Well, now, we come to the next great battle: real books versus e-books. Can you guess who's gonna win this one? Well, given that in the first sentence of this New York Times article they tell us that for e-readers like the Kindle "the carbon emitted over the life of the device is offset after the first year of use," we get an idea of how this might play out.

The Cleantech Group conducted the study of e-books versus paper books, and their answer is unequivocal. E-books win, hands down.

“The new study finds that e-readers could have a major impact on improving the sustainability and environmental impact on the publishing industry, one of the world’s most polluting sectors,” a statement at Cleantech’s Web site states. “In 2008, the U.S. book and newspaper industries combined resulted in the harvesting of 125 million trees, not to mention wastewater that was produced or its massive carbon footprint.”

However, given that e-books account for only about one percent of the publishing industry's business at the moment, the mere advent of e-readers has had almost no impact on the environment. More

What do Snow White, Monday Night Football, Jimmy Kimmel, and now Spider-Man and Iron Man all have in common? Give up? Well, as of this morning, they're all owned by Disney. Yes, it was announced today that Disney has bought Marvel Comics for $4 billion in cash and stock. This is Disney's biggest acquisition since it bought Pixar for $7.6 billion back in 2006. Why such a purchase, now, in this economy, in which Disney actually paid quite a premium to own the Marvel brand? Reuters says it's all demographics.

"This helps give Disney more important exposure to the young male demographic that they have sort of lost some ground with in recent years," said David Joyce, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. Indeed, Disney has long been a blockbuster brand with girls thanks to characters such as "Hannah Montana," "Cinderella" and "Snow White," but has struggled to achieve the same kind of success with boys.

And, just think of the marketing power Disney has that Marvel couldn't tap into. With ABC, ESPN, cable channels, theme parks, distribution rights, and so forth and so on, Disney has the power to push Marvel further into the general population (you know, in case you missed those indie Spider-Man flicks). More

Feeling stressed, I suggest you check out this great NY Times article about researchers discovering that "the sensation of being highly stressed can rewire the brain in ways that promote its sinister persistence." Considering it's stressful to be stressed, I can see how this cycle feels never ending.

The piece went on to explore how when we are in a rut, we often dig ourselves deeper and deeper into ruts. Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist who studies stress at Stanford University School of Medicine, told the NY Times, “we’re lousy at recognizing when our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working. Our response is usually to do it five times more, instead of thinking, maybe it’s time to try something new.” I think more people than not are guilty of doing this, it's just so easy to get comfortable with our poor coping mechanisms (ie: drinking, drugs, over-eating, shopping, etc) even if they only produce a temporary relief. The scary truth is if not treated with care, that stress can kill you. Stress can raise blood pressure, stiffen arteries, suppress the immune system, heighten the risk of diabetes, and cause depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

...And this is why I do yoga, although getting on that crowded subway to then push through those crowded NYC streets to get to my often crowded class isn't always so soothing. Ahhhh stress, you are a tricky habit.