Humane Education Issues in the News...

Each week we post links to news about relevant humane issues, ways that people all over the world are manifesting humane education & humane living, and items that provide excellent material for discussing humane issues, from human rights to environmental preservation, to animal protection, to media and culture.

Can peer pressure help save the world? – Plenty Magazine (11/08)
”According to Bruce Link and Jo Phelan, professors at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, social stigma exists when four conditions converge: Categories are established to differentiate groups of people such as environmentalists and others who don’t care; some of these categories have certain adverse attributes; an 'us' versus 'them' separation results; and finally, that labeling causes a loss of status and discrimination.”

Global warming having major impact on world’s oceans - Daily Green (11/25/08)
”The world's oceans are growing acidic at a rate 10 times as fast as predicted, according to a new University of Chicago study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Charter of compassion hopes to help transform the world – Christian Science Monitor (11/25/08)
”The world needs more compassion. That is the premise for charterforcompassion.com, a new website that's inviting people all over the globe to draft an online charter aimed at putting the golden rule at the center of daily life. Participants are encouraged to share their own stories of compassion, define the idea, and propose specific steps that societies can take to engender it.”

Kids leading the charge to change the world - Christian Science Monitor (11/24/08)
"’It has become a value for young people to be personally involved,’ says Claire Gaudiani of the Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University. ‘Many have seen first-hand where the needs are and what a difference individual citizens can make.’"

Vermonter focuses on living simply - Times Argus (11/23/08)
”Returning home to the states, Merkel decided to simplify. He not only cleared away stuff (enough for 13 yard sales) but also tapped his engineering degree from New York’s Stony Brook University to calculate the economic and environmental savings. By doing so, he figured out how to live comfortably — and income-tax-free — on $5,000 a year.”
Thanks, Common Dreams, for the heads up.

Institute helps connect children with nature - Los Angeles Times (11/23/08)
”The institute's organizers have armed themselves with studies linking nature-based education with children's improved academic performance, reduced disciplinary problems, improved mental and physical health and greater dedication to environmental stewardship.”

Student helps campaign to bring libraries, books to Ethiopia - Associated Press (11/22/08)
”Tobyn said he read about Ethiopia Reads in a magazine last year and wanted to do something to help Ethiopian children. He started by raising $1,800 selling ‘Shout Outs’ — complimentary messages to friends — for a quarter apiece to be read each morning on the school's public address system. Then parents organized a community golf tournament to raise the rest of the money.”

Canadian Supreme Court ruling paves way for citizen action to polluters - Globe and Mail (11/21/08)
”In a landmark ruling favouring the environmental movement, the court allowed a class action launched by 2,000 citizens near Quebec City who suffered for half a century from an irritating blanket of dust and odour emanating from a St. Lawrence Cement Inc. plant that was located in their midst.”

Peter Singer: Animal protection is becoming mainstream concern – Newsweek (11/19/08)
”If this sounds radical, so did suffrage and civil rights a few decades ago. The notion that we should recognize the rights of animals living among us rests on a firm ethical foundation. A sentient being is sentient regardless of which species it happens to belong to. Pain is pain, whether it is the pain of a cat, a dog, a pig or a child.”

Companies want more time to get (some of) the lead out - Wall Street Journal Online (11/18/08)
”Manufacturers use lead in everything from snaps on clothing to electronic components. It can give heft to a product or intensify color, but if ingested, it can cause irreversible neurological damage. The new rules for the first time impose limits on the amount of total lead that can be used in children's products, and they toughen standards on the amount of lead allowed in paint....Congress is allowing companies to gradually decrease the amount of lead used in their products over several years.”
Thanks, Daily Green, for the heads up.

Animal rights group releases video revealing cruelty to turkeys – New York Times (11/18/08)
”In what is becoming an annual Thanksgiving rite, an animal rights group on Tuesday released undercover videotapes taken at the nation’s premier poultry-breeding operation, showing turkeys being stomped to death and punched by workers.”

The incredible shrinking product packages – CBS5.com (11/17/08)
"The companies have found a sneaky way to pass on a price increase by taking out some of the content from the package, but making the package look the same size…."
Thanks, PR Watch, for the heads up.