World Week for the Abolition of Meat: 23-30 January 2012
World Day for the Abolition of Meat: 28 January 2012
The 2011 WWAMs (World Weeks for the Abolition of Meat) had a large amount of participation. Close to two hundred public actions were organized around the world to raise awareness and demand the abolition of meat: in Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Peru, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
A series of events were carried out in the public domain so as to remind people of the widely-held precept according to which sentient beings must not be mistreated or killed unnecessarily, and therefore to demand an end to this carnage.
The actions were very diverse: there were presentations, debates, street performances, a collective exhibition of dozens of corpses of animals in public, leafleting events, information stands, vegan meals, and initiatives around giant "human meat packages" that imitate commercialized meat packages.
Antwerp, Belgium
photograph: biteback
The demand for abolition is progressing in the world: it is part of animal rights activism, it's mentioned in publications, and the media is talking about it...
We will not cease to arrange events to advocate for the abolition of animal farming, fishing and hunting.
Indeed, over a thousand billion fish are caught yearly and 460 billion sentient beings are brought into the world
The campaign season for the Office of the President of the United States is taking shape. The Democrats have their candidate while Republicans have a candidate the GOP establishment feels is the strongest and wants its members to get behind. With all the need for distraction on the part of the establishment this year the need for a comparable level of theater seems to have come about. As the GOP primary is where all the attention seems to be right now, what better distraction than the chance an establishment pick may not be the one to win? A rebel perchance? (gasps) Reality show kind of drama, and with the current level of anger and resentment simmering below the surface regarding the establishment, perhaps they'll even provide a reality show twist at the end. Oh how dramatic.
Occupy Binghamton-2: You have to be asleep to believe in the American Dream. --Geo Carlin
The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia. Websites all over the Internet, including sites like YouTube and even MoveOn.org, could be made unavailable if big entertainment companies, the Chamber of Commerce, and their lobbyists get their way by ramming Internet censorship legislation through the Senate.
That's why Wednesday, January 18, we're joining Reddit, Wikipedia, Mozilla, Wordpress, TwitPic, Boing Boing, and thousands of other sites and blacking out MoveOn.org in protest. Wikipedia facilitated a discussion of over 1000 members and decided to join the blackout protest. Here is what they said:
We depend on a legal infrastructure that makes it possible for us to operate. And we depend on a legal infrastructure that also allows other sites to host user-contributed material, both information and expression. For the most part, Wikimedia projects are organizing and summarizing and collecting the world’s knowledge. We’re putting it in context, and showing people how to make to sense of it.
But that knowledge has to be published somewhere for anyone to find and use it. Where it can be censored without due process, it hurts the speaker, the public, and Wikimedia. Where you can only speak if you have sufficient resources to fight legal challenges, or if your views are pre-approved by someone who does, the same narrow set of ideas already popular will continue to be all anyone has meaningful access to.
To sign a petition go to http://pol.moveon.org/pac/nointernetcensorship/letter.html?id=34811-5096....
(If binghamtonbridge.org were more technically astute, we would join the protest!)
Right now, our country’s food system is broken. A few large companies, like Cargill and Monsanto, control every part of our food system, risking public health, driving out small and mid-sized farmers, and hurting the environment.
The good news is that we can make our food system work better for small farmers and our communities, and give consumers access to safer, more sustainable food. Find out how at our meeting!
This winter, Senator Gillibrand has the opportunity to level the playing field for small farmers through the Farm Bill. Senator Gillibrand is on the Agricultural Committee and we need to show her that New Yorkers want her to stand up for small farmers and consumers.
RSVP (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dF9fVlVyT044QVpLWkF...) and come to the Fair Farm Bill Campaign Kickoff Meeting to learn how you can help! All are welcome– bring your friends!
To learn more about how you can get involved before the meeting, please contact Mara Schechter at mara.schechterATgmail.com or 203-912-8418 or join the facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/142543892525776/
Fair Farm Bill Campaign Kickoff Meeting!
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
6:30-7:30pm
Broome County Public Library
Exhibit Room
185 Court St, Binghamton NY
RSVP Here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dF9fVlVyT044QVpLWkF...
The Winter Semester at RiverRead Books begins January 25th! We will be offering yet more of our popular One-Day creative writing workshops. Tuition = $17. No, that's not a misprint: yes, a seventeen dollar tuition for 2 and a half hours of quality literary instruction & inspiration!
The following single-session workshops will be offered:
Lessons in Enhancing Your Creative Abilities
Style: Develop Your Own Unique Writing Voice
How to Win Over Agents & Publishers
Writing Detective, Mystery & Suspense Stories
Editing and Proofreading Skills
How to Publish an E-Book
Screenwriting & Stagewriting
Power Writing: Advanced Writing Techniques
Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication
Master Class in Writing Powerful Scenes
Crafting Authentic Dialogue
When the Well is Dry: How To Get Great Ideas For Your Writing Projects
Classes are held Wednesdays at the bookstore, in your choice of afternoon or evening sessions.
The workshops are scheduled based on demand-that is, the first workshop to fill up will be the first taught, and so on. Participants will have the opportunity to express their preferences for which class time and which sessions they desire. Students will be promptly notified when their choices are scheduled.
Classes are limited to only 12 students, so sign up today! To ensure your seat is saved, please visit the registration site by clicking HERE!
The workshops are taught at the bookstore by retired literature professor and regional novelist Bob Comenole. Classes meet in evening or afternoon sessions. They are designed for both beginning writers who wish to learn fundamental techniques and seasoned writers wishing to acquire more advanced skills; there are no prerequisites.
The Instructor: For more than 20 years Bob Comenole has taught writing, literature and communications at several colleges, including Miami University, Siena College, the State University of New York and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Comenole, author of Bushel & Lamp and the novella The Long Night of Clement C. Craggogre, has just completed work on a collection of short stories, Perplexed by the Egg & Other Stories, as well as a collection of essays. He was also the producer of the children's television series, StoryBrook.
To view what past students have said about the writing workshops, visit HERE:
Call or visit the store for further details on the workshops or to sign up.
RiverRead Books
5 Court Street
Binghamton, NY 13901
(607) 217-7292
LGBTQ* Families will be Topic of Upcoming Wednesday Webinars
Calling all LGBTQ parents, prospective parents, service providers, and allies!
Please join Pride and Joy Families for our upcoming Wednesday Webinars with presenter Ari Istar Lev, Albany-area family therapist, educator and writer. The first session in the two-part series is "Gender in LGBTQ Families," and will take place on January 18, 2012, 6:30 - 8:00 pm. The program is free but registration is required. Register now at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/388099078.
According to organizers, "This live online educational program is an opportunity to discuss gender in LGBTQ families, including roles within same-sex couples, gender identity, trans parenting, and raising gender-variant children. Ari will also address questions such as, 'How do we assist our children in developing healthy gender identities, whether they are "normative" or variant?' and 'How do we, as parents, manage our own angst about our children's developing sex and gender identities?'" The webinar will feature a 1-hour presentation, plus a half-hour of lively conversation and Q&A.
The second webinar in the series, "Talking with Children in LGBTQ Families about their Origins," on Wednesday, March 7, 6:30 - 8:00 pm will follow the same format. This session will describe how to talk with children about their origins and their inclusion in LGBTQ families as they mature through various stages of childhood.
The Lesbian and Gay Family Building Project sponsors the Wednesday Webinar Series. The Project is dedicated to helping LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) people in Upstate New York achieve their goals of building and sustaining healthy families. Our network of Pride and Joy Families provides social and educational opportunities, and a sense of community to LGBTQ parents and their children.
To register visit www.prideandjoyfamilies.org. Both programs will be recorded and archived at our website for 24/7 access. For further information about the webinar series, please contact Claudia Stallman, Lesbian and Gay Family Building Project, at lesgayfambldg@aol.com or 607.724.4308.
* Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer
I am a retired High School Librarian. My profession involves collecting, categorizing and assessing information on most any topic under the sun and doing what I can to assist anyone who walks through the door to make sense of this information. I have read more about hydrofracturing than I ever wanted to and have collected hundreds of newspaper articles, magazine articles, emails and website links about this topic. What started as a relatively small part of my vertical file collection of varied topics has turned into a bit of a monster. A month's worth of articles now is the limit of what one of my manilla files will hold.
I am also a local historian and I would posit that this is one of the most controversial issues in the history of New York State and certainly one of the most controversial for both the Southern Tier and the Finger Lakes Region. In terms of environmental issues I can't think of any other that has generated this much discussion and acrimony or whose importance equals that of gas drilling.
Currently we are full to capacity with cats at The Humane Society. Due to the number of animals, we are in desperate need of the following items:
-Purina Cat Chow
-Purina Kitten Chow
-Canned cat food (any kind)
As always, all of us here at The Humane Society, especially the animals, sincerely appreciate your continued support!
bhumanesoc@aol.com
The Humane Society | 2 Jackson Street | Binghamton, NY 13903
Real Freedom by Cecile Lawrence
Every time you hear your furnace kick on that's money and energy being wasted. With efficiencies and retrofits, we would not "need" anywhere near the amount of energy projected by those who come up with every reason why renewables will not satisfy our needs.
Renewables absolutely will meet our needs when we stop wasting it. NYSERDA has a Deep Retrofit program that can lower energy costs by at least 70% but it can cost around $70,000 per house, depending on age. A lot of people can't afford that. Deep Retrofit is not just blowing in insulation into walls and attics but also layering additional panels on external walls, plus moving out old boilers, furnaces and water heaters, replacing with instant-on heaters or solar hot water heaters. You could end up with not having the need for any heat/cool appliances in the basement and close to zero heating/cooling bills. That's real freedom.
Deep Retrofits can reduce costs and thus improve the bottom line, can improve the economy with more jobs, reduce carbon emissions, and create energy security.
We must move federal, state and local subsidies and tax breaks from oil, gas, coal and nuclear now and transfer those taxpayer dollars to Deep Retrofit incentives and grants as well as solar on every single and multifamily residence and on all public buildings, thus lowering our taxes. New York could meet 15% of its power needs and 100% of its electricity needs with rooftop solar.
Every new high rise must first dig a geothermal trench before they start building. They have to dig a deep hole anyway. Both geothermal and solar installation companies are in New York State and growing, including in Broome county. Check out the New York State solar Industries Association. The state and the Southern Tier should be open to business to these companies and others like them, not to giving tax breaks for polluting gas pipelines, noisy compressor stations, puzzled about what to do with fracking waste fluid, taking the chance of illegal dumps of radioactive waste into fields and streams in the middle of the night, etc., etc.
Hydraulic fracturing's sole purpose is to burn fossil fuel, the greenhouse gas emissions of which have brought us global warming. Methane, i.e. natural gas, is worse than CO2 for heating up the planet. Formerly rare downpours, floods and heat waves are now common across the U.S. and will come to dominate our climate in our grand-children's lifetime.
Let’s stop hiding our heads in the sand and get to work on this. Call and write your legislator and demand a change. If he or she refuses to budge or fudges, vote him or her out of office in 2012. Get together with community members and start your own community energy initiative like in Maryland and Washington State. States that have more insulated buildings and solar have lower electricity bills, including cold mid-western states. New York State is not one of those states. Let's change that.
All rights reserved (c)
