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unplug

unplug magazine asks you to unplug from your current modes of thought and look at life in a new way, whether this means unplugging from our toxic consumer culture, mainstream society, the tv, or a limiting mindset. author megan prusynski explores life's alternatives and discusses activism, progressive thinking, and moving towards a "green" & sustainable life.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Recent Sources of Inspiration...

I am getting ready to leave for a vacation to Spain (of course I offset the carbon emissions of my flights!) but I had to take a break from packing and finishing up projects to share two recommended sources of inspiration I have encountered recently.

The first is a film: The U.S. vs. John Lennon. It's about John Lennon (obviously) and Yoko Ono and their revolutionary art and music. Being a huge fan of the Beatles, I was surprised at how little I knew about John Lennon's political views and post-Beatles music. Let's just say he is my new hero! He was a self-described "Peacenik" and used art and music to open minds, reach out to others, and shed light on important issues. This film has renewed my belief that art can truly change the world. Of course, the end is sad, since such a wonderful, revolutionary, creative, and inspirational person was murdered and thus silenced (wait, you all knew John Lennon was dead, right?). But overall the film is uplifting and inspiring - and sheds some light on the 60's and 70's era of radical politics and music, but not enough change...

The second inspirational item is the book Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth by John Robbins, which I have been reading for months and just finished. This book is not new by any means, it was written in 1987, and I must admit that I wish I had read it years ago. This book is revolutionary. Robbins examines the typical American diet (namely an obsession with meat, eggs, and dairy products that pads the pockets of the industries that produce them while robbing everyone and everything else). Diet for a New America is very well-researched and based on solid science, all presented in digestible language. Basically, the point of the book is that our country's meat-centered diet is the hidden cause of many of today's biggest maladies: world hunger, overuse of water, the destruction of the world's forests, our deadliest diseases (including heart disease, many forms of cancer, diabetes, obesity, and many more), our reliance on foreign oil, pollution, soil erosion, depleting resources, unmeasurable animal suffering, and even a dwindling economy. After examining every possible effect of our meat-centered diet and especially the post-WWII industrialization of farming, Robbins ends on a positive note. There is a solution that will in time reverse many of the diseases we are afflicted with, make our lives more sustainable, boost our economy, and ensure clean food, water, air, and land for future generations: a shift in the American diet-style towards a plant-based diet. Even reducing our reliance on meat for food by 10% can have an enormous impact. Not that I really needed any more convincing to be vegan, but this book is life-altering and very enlightening (although I must admit parts of it were hard to get through and often left me in tears - yes, the truth is harsh).

I will end this post with a quote from Chief Seattle, which appears at the end of Diet for a New America and is one of my absolute favorite quotes:

The earth does not belong to man:
Man belongs to the earth.
This we know:
All things are connected
Like the blood which unites one family.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth
Befalls the sons of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of live.
He is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web,
He does to himself.

Labels: animal rights, art/culture, environment/sustainability, lifestyle, peace

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Why We Fight

I rented a documentary (I think documentaries are my favorite genre) called Why We Fight last night. I highly recommend it. It is a look at the military-industrial complex (a phrase invented by Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation in 1961), various perspectives on why we go to war, and in particular a look at the current "war on terror" and its effects. Various members of the government, from Richard Perle to John McCain, several soldiers, a parent who lost his son on 9/11, civilians in Iraq, and even American people on the street, were interviewed. Each one was asked the question "Why do we fight?" and the various perspectives are interwoven with a look at the current conflict in Iraq. If nothing else, visit the movie's web site and check out Eisenhower's speech. His warnings about the expansion of the military-industrial complex are especially pertinent today.

Labels: art/culture, politics

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

What's worse than a Hummer? McDonalds selling toy Hummers to kids.

Ya know, I'm not a fan of huge corporations. I'm not saying they are all bad, but really the entire idea of a company that large is set up for failure and corruption. Corporations have the rights of people but about a million times the resources at their disposal. That's scary stuff. Things get particularly complicated when corporations combine forces, whether for a simple marketing gimmick or a huge lobbying campaign.

Two particularly nasty corporations are McDonald's (makers of cheap, overly-processed, factory-farmed garbage that is helping fuel our lovely obesity epidemic) and General Motors (makers of really heavy, gas guzzling SUVs including the behemoth HUMMER). Guess what McDonald's is enticing kids with in their Happy Meals? Toy HUMMERs.

Well, regardless of your thoughts on this, why not have a little fun while telling McDonald's & GM just what you think of them on RonaldMcHummer.com. You can learn about why HUMMERS are less than savory for the environment and kids themselves and create your own McDonald's sign and send it to Mc-D's. I went for the long-winded but passionate approach for the first picture. It's not likely that I will ever set foot in McDonald's again (if I'm lucky) so they're not really losing any business from me... but promoting gas-guzzling cars as "cool" and "fun" to impressionable youngsters while filling them full of chemical-laden, cruelly-produced processed crap is just about as low as it gets. So I had to say something. Come on! Do it for the kids!

My second attempt at a sign is a philosophy I've developed over the years by observing men that drive huge SUVs simply because they are cool or make them look macho (i.e. people that definitely don't need that gas-guzzler): they seem to be compensating for something. As I always say, the bigger the truck, the smaller the dick. Hehehe.

Be sure to check out the other signs that people have created and vote for your favorites. I think my fave is "Would You Like a War With That?" Other classics include "Destroying the Planet, One Burger at a Time" and "Supersize Your Ecological Footprint Today!" Making fun of corporations sure is fun, and as I have found out in recent years, boycotting companies you don't agree with is quite satisfying as well.

Labels: activism, art/culture, corpo-consumerism, environment/sustainability

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Save the Internet!

The corporations are at it again! Big telecom companies are trying to have tighter control over bandwidth (and make a buck in the process). Basically, they would charge web sites for bandwidth, meaning the sites that can afford to pay up will load quickly, and those that can't will load painfully slow or not at all. The House passed a telecommunications bill without net neutrality protections. Net neutrality is basically the First Amendment of the internet: it's what makes everyone from the biggest corporation to an individual blogger on a level playing field and equal opportunity to make their voice heard online. The bill is now in the senate, and hopefully a net neutrality amendment will be added.

I've always seen the internet as one of the last frontiers for truly free speech. The fact that anyone can put up a web page and anyone with access can see it is just amazing. It's the one place that hasn't been totally co-opted for only commercial uses. If net neutrality is not protected, it would be easy for internet providers to control whice sites people got to access and which they could not. And no one should have to be a corporate pawn!

Help keep the internet a level playing field and find out more about net neutrality at SaveTheInternet.com. Send a message to your senators today and keep the internet open for all.

Labels: activism, art/culture, politics

Monday, June 05, 2006

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

I watched a very enlightening (and unsettling) documentary last night, WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price. In the movie, many Wal-Mart employees, customers, factory workers, and ex-executives were interviewed. The effects of the big box store moving in on small town America are disasterous: the closing of small family-owned businesses, urban sprawl, inhumane sweatshops, and workers on welfare who can't afford health insurance... Wal-Mart plays a large role in the wreaking of communities, pollution, and proliferation of poverty that seem to run rampant in corporate America today. I highly recommend renting this video, it's a great inside look at what one company can do to communities all over the world.

There were some interesting facts in this film as well:

In 2004, a study released the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that "reliance by Wal-Mart workers on public assistance programs in California comes at a cost to taxpayers of an estimated $86 million annually; this is comprised of $32 million in health related expenses and $54 million in other assistance."

Wal-Mart Costs Taxpayers $1,557,000,000,00 to Support its Employees

Wal-Mart considers full-time 34 hours a week. The 34-hour per week full-time definition still is not the 40-hour definition employed by most businesses in America. Also, at Wal-Mart's stated average hourly wage of $9.68 per hour (source: WalmartFacts.com), a 34-hour week results in an annual wage of only $17,114—STILL below the poverty line for a family of four.

Wal-Mart currently faces lawsuits in thirty-one different States for wage and hour abuses potentially involving hundreds of thousand workers.

Federal Poverty Level Family of Four - $17,650
Average Wal-Mart Hourly Sales Employee Wages - $13,861

Wal-Mart gets huge subsidies to open doors from local governments: WAL-MART SUBSIDY NATIONWIDE: $1.008 BILLION

...Yeah, depressing, huh. Good thing I don't support those pricks. In a small town it's hard to avoid the Wal-Mart, but I've managed to steer clear of them for quite some time. This movie really hit home for me because Moscow recently stopped a Super Wal-Mart from being built on the East edge of town. Granted, we already have a regular Wal-Mart on the West end of town (in a tiny college town of just over 20,000!), and one was approved to be built 8 miles away in neighboring Pullman, Washington. But it's a small victory in a long and hard-fought battle against the evil giant. Now, if we could only get them to close up shop permanently...

Join me in Boycotting Wal-Mart, and for more information, check out Wal-Mart Watch or the movie's site, The High Cost of Low Price.

Labels: art/culture, corpo-consumerism