Clipmarks | Socratoad's Activism collection

Who are Leakey's Angels?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:13:58 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: The third of Leakey's Angels is Birute Galdikas, a German-born Canadian who was introduced to Leakey in the 1970s. Unlike Goodall and Fossey, Galdikas actually had training and experience in the field, and she approached Leakey to discuss the studying of orangutans. Her studies took place in the jungles of Indonesia. Galdikas is credited with coining the term “Leakey's Angels,” discussing the three women in a 1995 book.

Clip Source: www.wisegeek.com

Some people refer to three notable female researchers who worked with the sponsorship of paleontologist Louis Leakey as “Leakey's Angels.” These women all sought Leakey out and asked him to assist them in finding research positions, and each became famous in her field. Leakey, of course, sponsored and assisted numerous other students of primatology, zoology, and paleontology, but Leakey's Angels became as famous as Leakey, in their own right.

Jane Goodall, a British woman, worked with Leakey in the 1950s, and ended up going to Tanzania to study chimpanzees. She pioneered innovative fieldwork techniques which focused on getting the animals comfortable around her so that she could study natural behavior. In the 1960s, Leakey met Dian Fossey, an American woman who wanted to work with gorillas. He helped her find a research position in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and she later moved on to Rwanda to do additional research.

Hunger. Homelessness. Poverty, Plus One Altruistic Young Person

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:58:26 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.ladybugfoundation.ca

Hi Everyone

Then I started school and one day when I was going to school, I saw another homeless person; everything she had was in one grocery cart. Now my heart was too sad.

My name is Hannah Taylor. I am 13 years old and I have started the Ladybug Foundation to help the homeless. Ladybugs are good luck and they are my mascot.

Let me tell you why I care about the homeless and why we all must care about people without a home.

When I was 5 years old my mom and I saw a man eating out of a garbage can. I was very sad and felt sick about it. I asked my mom why he had to do that. I talked to my mom about homelessness a lot. Why, Why, Why I asked. If everybody shared what they had would that cure homelessness?

86 Year Old Speaks About Gay Marriage

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:05:24 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.penn-olson.com

It’s becoming easier with the improvement of technology and its widespread adoption. We have the power to change lives, fight for our country, punish wrongdoers and see our ideas transform into actions.

Recently, we saw how Ben & Jerry’s stood for Gay marriages through its Hubby Hubby ice cream.

Today, we see a 86 year old WWII veteran with 4 children support the freedom to marry.

Despite his feeble voice, Philip Spooner was able to make a strong and inspiring speech. Even if you don’t agree with Gay marriages, you must admire how this old man managed to capture the attention of almost half a million people.

He said: “The woman at my polling place asked me do I believe in equality for gay and lesbian people. I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her: what do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?”

[Video]

For Lexica

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:51:43 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: In four months, Ryan will have traveled through 7 countries as he covers roughly 12,000km on bike. If you've ever been to South America, you probably know that there are flat parts...and there are not so flat parts, so Ryan definitely has his work cut out for him. Though, Ryan has done extensive bike touring around the world, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process, so maybe he has "some" idea of what he is in for. This time he wants to up the ante and single-handedly raise $250,000USD to be given

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

One Man, One Mission, And 12,000km On a Bike

What started out as a four month mission on a bicycle to raise awareness about climate change, has turned into a lucrative fundraising endeavor as well as a visual documentary about the environment in South America. Ryan Stotland, self-confessed TreeHugger fan, decided to take four months this fall and travel roughly 12,000km around South America to raise money for Climate Change and Cancer Research, as well as just see if he could do it. What is it with kids these days, first a 23 year old wants to spend 3 years on a bike raising awareness about climate change and now a 22 year old spend 4 months on a bike for climate change.

Laliberté's water conservation show blasts off from space

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:41:52 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: "Water is a source of life. When I learned a few years back that a child dies every eight seconds because of contaminated water, I knew it was urgent to act."

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

Dancers, celebrities and science lectures kicked off the biggest show in the known universe Friday night as space tourist Guy Laliberté brought his crusade to conserve water down to Earth.

Laliberté spent months planning the event that some are dubbing Spacestock — a concert on five continents, with the Cirque du Soleil founder acting as the master of ceremonies from the International Space Station.

Guy Laliberté introduces the Moving Stars and Earth for Water show from the International Space Station, as seen on a screen at the Montreal performance Friday. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)The billionaire circus impresario hopes his grandiose event, "Moving Stars and Earth for Water," will focus the world's attention on an important cause: water conservation.

"Water touched me and inspired me," Laliberté said from space.

What No One Is Telling You

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:22:59 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: You'd never know it listening to the endless blather of the politicians and the media, but 100 million Americans - about 40% of all us us with health insurance - already have some form of "government-run" health plan.
Why isn't this talked about all the time? The Democratic Congressional leadership and President Obama should be citing this fact over and over again

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

What No One Is Telling You: 100,000,000 Americans Already Use Government Health Care

Would that make a difference in how you hear the debate? What I said it was 40% of all Americans with insurance? Would that make a difference?

43 million are on Medicare
42 million are on Medicaid

8 million are covered by the Veterans Administration
7.4 million are on SCHIP
1.8 million are served by the Indian Health Services
2.7 million Americans are offered the FEHBP
656,000 are US Post Office employees
3.8 million are full-time State government employees
10.9 million workers are full-time Local government employees - 6 million of them public school teachers.

Prominent lawyer takes up Lucy's cause

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:54:55 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.nationalpost.com

Lucy the Asian elephant gets cleaned by Jackie Buck, right, elephant manager, and Maureen Anderson, elephant trainer, in her enclosure at the Valley Zoo in Edmonton.

Now, the high-profile criminal lawyer will work to free a different kind of jailbird -- Lucy the elephant -- from a different kind of cage: Edmonton's Valley Zoo.

"I have been retained to look into the Lucy problem and find a solution," Ruby confirmed yesterday.

Ruby's involvement in the case was revealed at a news conference in Edmonton yesterday where former TV game-show host Bob Barker called for Lucy to be sent to a California sanctuary.

Mr. Barker, visiting Edmonton along with several animal-rights organizations, has been lobbying the city since last winter to ship Lucy to a sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif., run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society.

She would live in a 12-hectare enclosure with four other female Asian elephants.

List of threatened Arctic animals is growing

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:33:19 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.canada.com

Polar bears may be the most iconic Arctic creature threatened by climate change, but they've got plenty of company.

Hooded and ringed seals, Arctic foxes, ivory gulls, narwhals and Pacific walruses are also faring poorly as temperatures climb, say leading northern researchers, who report that climate change has "severely perturbed" Arctic ecosystems.

Nobel Winner Rethinks Business - World Benefits

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:11:04 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Excerpt at clipped source. Excellent!

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Muhammad Yunus' ideas about lending to the poor have changed lives in his native Bangladesh and beyond.

Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, has helped people rise above poverty by giving them small, usually unsecured loans through his Grameen Bank.

Now Yunus has written about his next big idea in Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. He calls his vision "social business" — a model where entrepreneurs can apply their creative, social and altruistic vision to the world's most pressing problems, such as poverty and homelessness.

Excerpt: 'Creating a World Without Poverty'

Prologue: Starting With a Handshake

"A social business? What is that?"

"It's a business designed to meet a social goal.

a business that pays no dividends.

It sells

at prices that make it self-sustaining.

The owners

get back the amount they've invested

but no profit

any profit made stays in the business

to do more good for the world.

Animal Rights Issues

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:15:57 GMT

clipped by: Johanna_G
clipper's remarks: The links above work from the quoted web page only.

Clip Source: www.adaptt.org

Tags: tierrechte, animal rights, zoo, jagd, hunting, circus, rodeo, horse racing, islam, veganism

Cash row at wildlife trade forum

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:03:38 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: IMO it is a toss-up as to which is worse. greed or apathy.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Delegates sought to improve protection for animals and plants

Cash row at wildlife trade forum

A budget row dominated the final day of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) forum.

Member states approved a cut in real terms in CITES' budget, which could compromise attempts to control the illegal wildlife trade.

An earlier proposal to prevent corals being used in jewellery was overturned, to the dismay of conservation groups.

And a renewed bid by the European Union to restrict trade in the spiny dogfish - sold in British fish and chip shops as huss, or rock salmon - was defeated.

The final day of the meeting was marked by acrimonious rhetoric, political wrangling and farcical scenes as the electronic voting system malfunctioned, delegates delayed proceedings by raising point after point of order, and a number of countries' seats emptied as people left for early flights home, missing the crucial late votes.

Tags: wildlife, conservation, greed, money, apathy

Trifecta of misery: unnecessary, unhealthy, unkind...foie gras

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:47:16 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: Let's ban foie gras from the menu and serve "la muqueuse du jour" instead, at $24 per serving. Doesn't that make your mouth water?

As the author of this article states so well:
" Not long ago it was common to beat horses unmercifully, or to bag puppies and kittens and drown them in the river. A slow-dawning enlightenment birthed the idea that brutality to animals is wrong."

"It didn't lead to rampant vegetarianism. It didn't give animals the vote."

"Neither will banning unnecessary, unhealthy, unkind foie gras."

Clip Source: www.philly.com

FOIE GRAS is French for "fatty liver."

Each year in the U.S., almost a half-million ducks are caged, tortured and slaughtered for their livers, deliberately diseased by the cruel hand of man.

To create "fatty liver," tubes are jammed down the throats of helpless male ducks two or three times a day to force-feed them up to a total of four pounds of grain mush. The forced feedings go on for 12-15 days.

The "feeding" stresses the duck's liver, exploding it up to 10 times normal size.

a caged duck is grabbed so the tube can be rammed down his throat. Sometimes necks are pierced, sometimes wings are broken. The grotesquely enlarged livers can make it hard for ducks to even walk, but cruelty is overlooked to satisfy the palates of those who'll pay $30-45 a pound at retail for foie gras - the trifecta of misery: unnecessary, unhealthy, unkind

I'm convinced if you gave it a French name and charged enough for it, you could sell snot

Tags: ethics, cruelty, foie gras, ban, liver, force-feeding, ducks, animals, food, health

Remember Protest Songs? The Best One You Never Heard!

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 19:18:37 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: The protest song has played an important role in American history. Anyone old enough to remember Woodstock surely remembers the "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag", and the Fish Cheer that started it off.

What ever became of protest songs? Where are they now? There is enough anti-war sentiment to produce some good ones, but the corporations, it seems to me, have choked them off. I know there are some I've missed, but they used to be like flowers in a field... everywhere, and impossible to overlook.

The above is, in my opinion, the best post-Viet Nam outright anti-war song I've ever heard, and at 22 years old it is as relevant today as the day it was released.

"And the throne, the pulpit, and the politician
Create a thirst for power in the common man
It's a taste for blood passed off as bravery
Or just patriotism hiding bigotry"

Where are Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger when we need them?

Clip Source: trconnection.com

Johnee Jingo

Composer: Todd Rundgren
Duration: 3:54

He was just fifteen, he was a new trainee
He lied about it for the opportunity
To defend the border his life was sworn
Though not a generation was native born

Johnee Jingo
Johnee Jingo

He had lost the battle but won the war
When the generals said he couldn't fight no more
He was proud and bitter at what he'd done
So he passed it off to his favorite son

Johnee Jingo
Johnee Jingo
Jingo don't you fight for me
Jingo don't you speak for me

To the man who owns the land
We're all the same
But when his grip begins to slip
Then he'll be calling out your name
Johnee Jingo

And the throne, the pulpit, and the politician
Create a thirst for power in the common man
It's a taste for blood passed off as bravery
Or just patriotism hiding bigotry

Tags: war, peace, iraq, patriotism, bigotry, rundgren, tr, anti-war

Demobilizing America

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:09:03 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: A good read for those capable of reflection.. Its about getting off your collective asses and a willingness to be counted, not in the relative anonymity of the Internet world alone but also out where your neighbors might actually see you.

Clip Source: www.tomdispatch.com

Demobilizing America

Outsourcing Action in an Imperial World

Excuse me if, at 62, and well into my second era of protest against yet another distant, disastrous, and disabling American war, I express a little confusion. Was it actually like this in Rome while the legions were off fighting on the German frontiers? Was this the way it felt in London while the imperial forces conducted their frontier wars in Afghanistan, or Paris when the Foreign Legion was holding down North Africa? Was this how it felt in Washington when Douglas MacArthur's father was suppressing the Filipinos and General Jacob Smith was turning the island of Samar into a "howling wilderness"? Is this the way it usually feels in the heartlands of great empires until the barbarians actually do come knocking at the gates?

Tags: america, war, iraq, activism

Nazanin promotes Stop Child Execution Campaign on Media:

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:37:57 GMT

clipped by: harleew

Clip Source: www.stopchildexecutions.com

NEWS &UPDATES

Reza's family sign the Stop Child Executions petition

Reza Alinejad 's family and friends signed and supported the Stop child executions petition. Signatures on petition:

No one knew of Reza Alinejad until very recently. It was the letter of Ali Alinejad, Reza's brother, to Nazanin Afshin_Jam and her follow up and contact with Nazanin Fatehi's attorney Mr. Mostafai which brought attention to Reza's situation. Ever since Ali has been in direct contact with Nazanin Afshin-Jam. In an email today he provided another photo of Reza.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam and Stop Child Executions Campaign have received new photos of Reza Alinejad and Delara Darabi.
A new and amazing artwork of Delara is also posted in her gallery:

In response to information provided to amnesty international by Nazanin Afshin-Jam and Stop Child Executions Campaign; Amnesty international published an URGENT ACTION bulletin to help save REZA ALINEJAD from execution.

Tags: stop child execution, petition