environment

Jonathan Safran Foer (01/19/2011)

brittany — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:00:00 +0000

London, England

Jonathan Safran Foer spoke about the issues in his most recent book Eating Animals to a packed house at the London School of Economics. I haven’t read the book yet, or either one of his other two titles Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, so I went bracing for a preachy rally full of vegetarian dogma.

For those of you who have read the book, you probably know that I had no reason to fear. I’m a vegetarian, but both vegetarian activists and passionate meat eaters alike bother me. I tire of vegetarian propagandists shoving violent pictures of animal cruelty in people’s faces in an attempt to convert the nonconvertible. Just the same, I grow weary of telling people I’m a vegetarian and fielding questions like “No meat? What the hell do you eat?!” “Why? It’s natural to eat meat, y’know” or my favorite, “Ok, but jamon you eat, right?”

Thankfully, there were no leaflets handed out for either cause. Rather, I was captivated by Safran Foer’s social and environmental observations gained from the three years of research he put into the project. Safran points out that at this point in society’s development, everyone can recognize that eating meat is an “issue”, something we care about. However, voices from both sides are overly judgmental.

Safran Foer says vegetarian activists have helped create this strict dichotomy between meat eaters and non-meat eaters so much so that people do not see the benefits of just cutting down on meat consumption. “They have created a framework in discussing this so that they feel there are only two options: you’re a vegetarian or you’re a carnivore. And, most people cannot condition themselves to become a vegetarian… I think most people can condition themselves to eat less meat.” According to Safran Foer, if Americans can attempt to not eat meat for just one meal every week, the influence on the environment would be the same as taking five million cars off the road.

Vegetarians are often teased that they have canine teeth because humans are meant to eat meat naturally. Perhaps that was true during times when food was simply putting calories in our bodies. But Safran Foer points out that the huge social discourse surrounding the meat industry and the great lengths they take to create an idealistic picture of factory farms plays a much larger part in what we eat than we realize. According to Safran Foer, the animals in factory farms in the U.S. consume eight times more antibiotics than humans. Safran Foer asks “Is it natural to eat these kinds of animals that are raised in these ways? What’s natural about eating an animal that cannot survive without antibiotics? What’s natural about eating food that most nutritionists biologist and doctors I’ve spoken with say is probably the reason why girls are going through puberty at ages nine and ten?”

The system in which meat is produced is so distanced from consumers that we aren’t conscious of the externalized costs to the environment. Safran Foer says fast food “is presented as the cheapest food that’s ever been produced, when in fact it’s the most expensive food that’s ever been produced.” Indeed, the cost rung up at the supermarket does not include the destruction done to the environment. Safran Foer says the Global South has paid a huge price for this. Africa, South America, as well as parts of Eastern Europe all export food that they grow themselves but don’t eat to American and European companies. Their natural environments are destroyed in the process. Safran Foer asks “For what? Only for burgers. Not to solve the healthcare problem. Not to create peace in the Middle East. It’s for cheap burgers that make us fat.” Safran Foer also found that ninety-nine percent of the world’s soy crop is fed to animals concluding that, “No one eats tofu like meat eaters.”

Safran Foer claims that Eating Animals exists to begin a discussion about how people eat meat. He was not trying to create a book to persuade readers to become vegetarians, which is why he approached it journalistically, relying on the industry’s statistics and using two fact checkers. Even if you’re a die hard carnivore who scoffs at anything coming from the Kingdom Plantae or if you’re a vegan who refuses to swat a malaria carrying mosquito or somewhere in between, you should read Safran Foer’s book, if for no other reason than to learn about the affect the foods you choose to eat have on the rest of the world.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

An mp3 recording of the event can be accessed here.

Written by: Sara Custer, February 9th 2011

Our Earth: How Kids are Saving the Planet

mandy — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:00:00 +0000

By Janet Wilson

Second Story Press

Warm colours cover this book of global children’s experiences of how they are changing the world. Janet Wilson’s Our Earth is a brightly illustrated compact collection worth reading. The core message is simple: all people need to come together to heal the Earth.

Children such as David Suzuki’s daughter, Severn, are included. Part of her advice on protecting the earth is, “If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!” Susuki certainly had an environmental hook-up through her parents, but her message is no less potent.

Other voices, such as that of twelve-year-old Adeline Tiffanie Suwana (Indonesia), present knowledgeable adolescent awareness of the devastating effects of humans on Earth. Part of her realization is that we are all connected and whatever damage we do in one region of the world influences other areas.

Part of the attraction of this collection (beyond the artwork and inspirational experiences) is the fact that all of these individuals have proved that activists, no matter their age, can make a difference in the world. Costa Ricans Janine Licare and Aislin Livingstone have started up Kids Saving the Rainforest, a nonprofit that helps maintain habitats for animals like the Titi monkeys.

Accounts go beyond dealing with the after affects of human destruction; Fan Minghe, a Chinese teenager, searches markets for endangered wildlife being sold illegally in China. Thanks to his efforts, China has an organization called Green Eyes Club that not only saves animals but also is responsible for a number of tasks including reporting poachers and maintaining animal sanctuaries.

The last few pages provide a number of inventions and ways that children have provided as alternatives to modern pollutants like plastic bags. There are also snippets of grassroots level awareness which educate the reader.

Another strong point about this book is that the author does not highlight human atrocities; Our Earth's goal is to present solutions to the current problems Earth faces as a result of our existence here. Wilson encourages the reader to implement such strategies in their own schools and neighbourhoods.

Pollution and destruction are not simply local problems; they are global problems too. But as Our Earth shows, the world’s children and youth are at the forefront of the change we need to repair the earth. Get a copy of this book and pass it along to a young person you know in order to keep the momentum going!

Written by: Nicolette Westfall, January 19th 2011

Sandy's Incredible Shrinking Footprint

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:00:00 +0000

By Femida Handy, Carol Carpenter, Adrianna Steele-Card

Second Story Press

Struggling with the idea of how to teach your child about the concept of his or her environmental footprint? Who isn't! With young children being so literal, it's hard for them to think about how a footprint could be anything other than, well, a footprint. In steps (pun intended!) Sandy's Incredible Shrinking Footprint.

With interesting, creative fabric and wood sculpture art introducing us to Sandy, and her dog, we learn about her summers with her grandparents at the ocean. Her grandfather teaches her all about sea creatures, and Sandy loves to explore the beach. When she stumbles over some garbage, and begins to clean it up, she meets the "garbage monster" who is really not scary, but an older women who collects garbage. She shares some environmental words of wisdom with Sandy, and then Sandy is off to tell her family how they can reduce their footprint on the earth as well.

This book is simple, clear and not preachy. The illustrations give life to the story, and provide some clues for developing knowledge beyond the literal. For example, the pictures of the earth clearly illustrate what can happen to the earth if we don't take care of it, and what will happen if we do. Children can see and understand this.

I only wish there was a page filled with adult ideas for lessening our footprints and kid ideas for lessening their footprints. A resource page with these lists would be nice to review with a child. But, of course, you can generate those lists with your children, yourselves. We brainstormed some ideas after reading this book together with my three- and five-year-old girls. Perhaps doing this ourselves makes it more meaningful than if it was in the book in the first place.

Looking to teach environmentally responsible lessons and meaning through books? This is a great addition to your green book collection. And rest assured, this book wasn't created by using rainforest pulp, as I shared that many environmentally-themed books are. Sandy's Incredible Shrinking Footprint is printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. A big thank you to Second Story Press for being a publisher that values the environment and minimizes its impact (or, shrinks its footprint! I couldn't resist). More publishers need to join you in this regard.

Cross-posted from Non-Toxic Kids

Written by: Katy Farber, June 25th 2010

Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Sandra Steingraber

Da Capo

In the original 1997 edition of Living Downstream, Sandra Steingraber was the first to compare data on toxic releases with data from U.S. cancer registries. In the last ten years since this edition was published, there has been rapid growth in the understanding of environmental links to human cancer and new published findings that corroborate the evidence Steingraber compiled in 1997. With a Ph.D. in biology and a Master's degree in creative writing, Steingraber has been the recipient of many awards, including Chatham College's Rachel Carson Leadership Award in 2001 and a Hero Award from the Breast Cancer Fund in 2006. Living Downstream is both a personal story of Steingraber's battle with cancer and her investigation into the potential sources of carcinogens released into the air, land, and water in and around her hometown of Normandale in West-Central Illinois, as well as in other areas of the United States.

Thirty years ago, when Steingraber was a twenty-year-old college student, she learned that she had bladder cancer and was surprised when her urologist asked her whether she had ever been exposed to textile dyes or worked in a tire factory or the aluminum industry. The author later learned that bladder cancer was considered a quintessential environmental cancer. In other words, there was more evidence linking it to toxic chemical exposure than to any other type of cancer. However, although bladder carcinogens had been identified, they continue to be used by industry even today. The obvious question, of course, is why have these chemicals not been banned. The reader quickly discovers that cancer causation is complex, as is proving the source responsible for this disease.

The author reminds her readers that of the 80,000 synthetic chemicals currently in use in the U.S., only about two percent have been tested for carcinogenicity and only five have been banned under the U.S. Toxics Substances Control Act since 1976. We also learn that the U.S. environmental regulatory system does not require exhaustive toxicological testing of chemicals before they are marketed. Legal limits are set on chemical releases, but, as we recently learned with bisphenol A (BPA), trace amounts can be more harmful to humans than higher doses. Moreover, we are often exposed to many contaminants simultaneously in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we ingest, and the land where we live and work.

Often compared with Rachel Carson, Steingraber makes some compelling arguments in favor of the precautionary principle, or the better-safe-than-sorry approach to chemicals. She also advocates the principle of reverse onus, which holds producers responsible for proving that their products will not harm the public, as is the case for pharmaceutical companies.

Sandra Steingraber has the expertise in science to give her the necessary authority to present an investigation of this scope and the impeccable writing to make it accessible to a wide audience. Although some environmental texts can be dry, Steingraber's writing and personal story make for a compelling read. Her drive and commitment to finding the missing pieces of the cancer jigsaw puzzle are humbling. I only wish that she had included a map of Tazewell County, Illinois, which we repeatedly visit throughout the book. A few diagrams of some the atoms she describes would have also been nice.

In short, if you have ever thought that the environment may have played a role in the death of a loved one and would like to know more, this is the book for you.

Written by: Heather Leighton, June 9th 2010

Black Wave: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:01:00 +0000

Directed by Robert Cornellier

Macumba International

In light of the recent devastating oil spills along the southern U.S. coast, it seems unfortunate but appropriate to revisit the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989. Black Wave is a documentary that looks at both the environmental and personal economic impact of the disaster on the small fishing village of Cordova, Alaska, twenty years after the spill.

The story of the Exxon Valdez is as convoluted as you want it to be. Some maintain that the vessel’s captains were drunk and/or overworked when they ran the tanker aground in Prince William Sound. Others say that a faulty sonar system was to blame. In any event, the crude oil spill is cited as the most ruinous human-caused environmental disaster to ever occur.

Black Wave features interviews from the people who have lived to tell the tale. While the O’Toole family—whose personal story is highlighted through several conversations with the filmmakers—have suffered markedly less than some families, their willingness to speak on-camera was largely due to their relative pain. Sam O’Toole had invested his savings in expensive fishing permits less than two months before the spill, effectively leaving the family bankrupt when the local fishing industry subsequently collapsed. In the aftermath of the disaster, his wife Linden was able to shoulder the economic burden by working as a real estate agent, keeping the family afloat. The O’Tooles explained that because they lost less than many Cordova residents—many of whom find it too painful to discuss how their lives were ruined by the spill—they were willing to once again dredge up their memories to share in the hopes of educating a wider audience.

The film also prominently features Riki Ott, a renowned marine biologist and toxicologist, activist, and author of several books about the disaster including Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. At the time of the spill, Ott—like many others in her community—had been working in commercial fishing. Skeptical of the oil ships all along, she had long predicted a spill by saying “not if; when.”

Following the spill, it was apparent that the oil industry was completely caught off guard. Containment and cleanup crews were promised within six hours; but they simply did not materialize. The film includes old footage from locals, who began cleaning up oil faster than the corporation could dispatch emergency teams, which didn’t arrive until days later. To complicate matters further, a storm four days later moved nearly half of the sludge 1,200 miles west of impact, trapping the glistening goo in the sound.

The immediate effects were disastrous. Three hundred thousand sea birds were killed; over 3,500 otters died, as did 300 harbor seals, 250 eagles, and up to twenty-two killer whales. Two hundred thirteen salmon streams were contaminated, and billions of eggs were destroyed.

The human cost is also shown to be immeasurable. While local Cordova fisherman like the O’Toole family suffered losses, cleanup crew workers continue to live with myriad chronic problems such as bronchitis. One cleanup worker in the film, Merle Savage, originally believed he had the flu after he worked to contain the mess. Today, he’s been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis and takes a daily cocktail of medication for pain. He’s one of many affected by the “poisoning epidemic.”

The spill can also be blamed for the city’s unusually high stress levels among residents and resulting problems such as high rates of domestic violence, substance abuse, and a higher-than-normal suicide rate. Ross Mullins, a fisherman interviewed for the film, lost his marriage to divorce after the spill, and his sons, once thought to take over the family business, moved far away. At least twelve suicides since the spill have been attributed to Exxon litigation and the related legal matters, including a former Cordova mayor who killed himself due to the immense pressure of the situation and hopelessness that plagued the community.

Alaska’s vastness is difficult to capture on film, as is the vast impact of this horrific disaster; but the documentary effectively showcases the gorgeous wilderness and its inhabitants. Mixed with archive footage of old town meetings and spill cleanup efforts, Black Wave comes at just the right time: to remind us why oil drilling won’t solve any of our problems, and to incite anger and action in response to the impending devastation along the Gulf Coast.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, May 13th 2010

That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Ruby Roth

North Atlantic Books

If you are planning on raising a vegetarian child who will be well-prepared to explain his or her beliefs to inquiring peers, teachers, and friends’ parents, That's Why We Don't Eat Animals is a great start.

Did you know that turkeys blush? Or that newborn quail start walking the moment they are hatched from their eggs? I didn’t, but any child who reads That's Why We Don't Eat Animals will know. Facts like these work to emphasize the connections between living things in a way that small children in the book's targeted audience (about age 4 and up, in my estimation) will understand and appreciate.

The book shows animals in their natural habitats, and explains the difference in the quality of life an animal will experience if it is running free versus living in cramped quarters on factory farms. The book also illustrates the effect that factory farming has on various biomes and the health of the Earth overall. The animals are charmingly drawn in a caricaturist, almost geometric style, and their environments are depicted with bright or dark colors, depending on their living conditions. The vocabulary is simple and straightforward, doesn’t get too dark or complicated for children, and avoids a preachy, overbearing tone in favor of a sensitive, informative one.

In another review I’ve written this month on a book promoting the vegetarian lifestyle, I’m not nearly as praiseful. The books share primarily the same messages—that eating animals is morally shady and bad for the environment—but the book for adults tends to alienate and divide, as if putting meat-eaters and vegetarians on opposing sides of a war, while the children’s book emphasizes the connectedness of living things. Whether or not the children ingest the other moral and environmental messages of the book, that one message trumps all.

Written by: Kelly Palka Gallagher, March 27th 2010

From Pink to Green: Disease Prevention and the Environmental Breast Cancer Movement

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:01:00 +0000

By Barbara L. Ley

Rutgers University Press

...the environmental breast cancer movement is well positioned to use its breast cancer work as a way to contribute not only to the eradication of the disease itself but also to the environmental health of all humans and other living beings.

When I was diagnosed with Stage II invasive ductile carcinoma, I was angry not just because I now had cancer, but because no one seemed to be talking about its causes or, better yet, prevention. When my husband spied an opportunity for me to review From Pink to Green, I jumped at the chance: finally, someone was addressing prevention.

From Pink to Green consists of eight chapters, useful notes, and a largely accurate index of the names of researchers, cancer-related organizations, and several score topics. The first chapter, "A Movement in the Making," considers a postcard from 1994 depicting breast cancer survivor and activist Raven Light. She stands with her hand on her hip while holding a sign that reads, "Invisibility Equals Death." Light is bare-chested, her mastectomy scar exposed. The postcard says the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer increased from one in twenty in 1964 to one in eight by 1994, but what does this mean? That the incidence of breast cancer in women has tripled? That the rates of diagnosis have tripled? Both? Something else? The already visually arresting postcard implicitly asks whether the dominant paradigm of breast cancer research—diagnosis, treatment, and cure—overlooks something even more fundamental: prevention.

Ley's fascinating account is multi-sited and multi-method in scope. She volunteered in both a small, one-room office at WomenCARE (Women's Cancer Advocacy, Resources and Education) and at the American Cancer Society, and was also a research associate for the environmental health scientist Devra Lee Davis. She thus simultaneously inhabits the worlds of social activism and scientific research.

Much of the text is devoted to the science of multiple exposures to cancer-causing pathogens. Readers will appreciate how xenoestrogens "share chemical properties with the hormone estrogen and can act on the body's cells and tissue as false estrogen molecules, disrupting the ability of natural estrogen to function normally." They will be challenged to find that phthalates found in cosmetics, deodorants, shampoos, plastics are known breast cancer carcinogens and have been linked to increased rates of testicular sterility in male offspring of women using these products.

Because From Pink to Green shines the light on precautionary prevention, not secondary cure, I want to quote from Mary O'Brien, breast cancer survivor and environmental health activist: _Our breasts are simply ONE marvelous part in Earth's system... If we're going to put our bodies and our breasts back together... we're going to have to restore the hormone systems of the frogs. ... We're going to have to put estuaries, streams, grasslands, the winds and the ozone layer back together. ... We are going to have to reconstruct our agriculture so that farms are not hazardous chemical sites... we're going to have to consider what it means to know and care for children, to avoid forcing them into a world that has no room for anything but humans.__From Pink to Green_ is designed for women's studies and public health courses. I will share it with other women whom I have met through my experience with breast cancer.

Written by: Cassandra Lee, December 18th 2009

Garbage Dreams: Raised in the Trash Trade

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Directed by Mai Iskander

Iskander Films

At seventy-nine minutes long, Garbage Dreams is New York-based producer, director, and cinematographer Mai Iskander’s directorial debut. Before viewing the film I had never heard of the Zaballeen nor did I know that Cairo, one of the world’s most historic cities, once at the very pinnacle of human history, has no municipal waste disposal system to handle the trash of its eighteen million residents. Garbage Dreams provides an important window into one of the world's invisible and endangered communities who slog, dangerously unprotected, through the detritus of the upper classes and barely earn a living wage.

The Zaballeen are a primarily "Coptic Christian community of impoverished peasants from rural Egypt” whose work is collecting the trash of Cairo residents. They earn a small amount for the collection service and also for recycling (a minimum of eighty percent of) what they collect. Garbage Dreams follows several members of the Zaballeen community, and we see them working, playing, hanging out at home, and organizing to save the vocation that has sustained them for generations. An influx of foreign companies is not only taking their customers but also attracting some of their labor force.

Among the individuals documented is seventeen-year-old Adham, who expresses an existential resignation mixed with practical and spiritual acceptance of his destiny. He says, “each one gets what is written,” and demonstrates pride in his community, but is not immune to being embarrassed by his social class, which he refers to as the “Nothing Class." We also see into the life of eighteen-year-old Nabil, who has been contentedly “working in trash” since the age of seven, and Community Social Worker Laila, who walks among the garbage villages administering tetanus shots and providing education about the very serious health risks involved in the Zaballeen profession. Laila also acts as counselor, community organizer, and activist, urging the Zaballeen to prevail over the foreign companies.

Osama is perhaps the most poignant person documented in Garbage Dreams. He is restless and seems to need much more out of life than his current circumstances allow. At just sixteen years old, Osama has worked more jobs than most middle-aged Americans. After years of “looking for the job that suits [him] best,” he finds his destiny in garbage.

Although their focus on recycling is not motivated by environmentalism, I noticed strong anti-waste principles driving the Zaballeen, perhaps mostly because they see the cash to be made in a jumble of discards. When visiting the UK and observing operations at an English sanitation company, Adham is appalled at the sheer wastefulness of not recycling even the smallest scraps possible; not only are outside companies taking their livelihood, they are spitting on their principles to boot.

Garbage Dreams has won a slew of film festival awards, including several Best Documentary, World Cinema Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography awards. I would add to that Most Excellent Soundtrack and recommend checking out the film’s website and clicking on "How to Help" for information on screenings, distribution, and how to help the Zaballeen.

Written by: Matsya Siosal, December 17th 2009

Black and Green: Afro-Colombians, Development, and Nature in the Pacific Lowlands

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:56:00 +0000

By Kiran Asher

Duke University Press

Black and Green is a publication based on Kiran Asher’s doctoral thesis in political science, a field she came to by ways of a masters in Environmental Management and much field experience in Costa Rica, Belize, China, and now Colombia. It is her contact with local people that let Asher to want to explore the link between environmental management and society, and her passion for both of these areas of investigation is well displayed in this book.

Throughout Black and Green, one finds passages where the author speaks of her connection with people involved in the Afro-Colombian movement, a concrete connection made through relationships forged during field work with the people she is writing about. Asher’s book not only examines a little-known area of research (resource management in the Colombian Pacific Lowlands on the west coast) but also gives a voice to a people (Afro-Colombians) who have had problems getting their voice heard in their own country and on their continent, let alone to a wider English-speaking audience.

Research in both of these fields is only recent. African slaves and their descendants have inhabited the Pacific coast area for almost as long as the Spanish colonizers. However, the acknowledgment of a distinct Afro-Colombian identity and the development of a national Afro-Colombians movement have only arisen in the last thirty years. Similarly, in a part of the country which has largely been forgotten by national (and often nonexistent) environmental policies—and despite being home to a unique biodiversity—the development of ecological strategies is also quite novel. Both of these issues, as Asher points out, are inextricably linked, and thus the correlation of these issues in her study.

Asher is a privileged witness (and occasional, often reluctant participant) to the process she is analyzing. She frequently employs firsthand accounts of the meetings she attends and the people she meets, something that transforms Black and Green into an interesting narrative of Asher’s own involvement with/in the identity she is studying (something she is very conscious of and recognizes the ambiguities of). The author does not shy away from exposing underlying issues relevant to the construction of her text; this is especially true in the last chapter where she deals with the thorny problem of Colombia’s last few decades and specifically the guerrilla and paramilitary presence in the region she deals with.

Chapter 4, on Afrocolombianas (Afro-Colombian women), is one of the shortest, but one which could have been developed into its own book. Asher’s meaningful connection with the Afrocolombianas is evident in this chapter and her writing at its strongest. She accentuates the implication of Afrocolombianas in the environmental policies movement and establishes the importance of their mobilization for the larger identity and environmental movements.

Overall, Black and Green is an engaging study that signifies a defining moment for academic studies about both Afro-Colombians and nature in Latin America.

Written by: Sophie M. Lavoie, December 6th 2009

make/shift: feminisms in motion (Issue 6)

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:34:00 +0000

Edited by Jessica Hoffmann, Daria Yudacufski

Make/Shift aims to thrust the ignored populations into the greater recognition. Native Americans living in urban settings rather than rural reservations tend to be invisible in our nation’s consciousness. Society shies away from the combination of disability and sexuality, and when it comes to women’s prisons, many question the validity of empowerment through peer education health programs. The Fall/Winter edition of Make/Shift explores these and a wide variety of other social issues. It highlights individuals working to improve the world on personal, local, international, and virtual levels through social action or artistic ventures.

A letter from the editors tells readers that the theme of the issue is movement, but some of the articles that follow move more efficiently than others. A few of the more personal pieces struck this reader at a trifle tedious. A piece about losing one’s ethnic identity by using a certain hair product makes about as much sense to me as the belief that using spray-on tanner would force me to concede my Whiteness. An article entitled “Vocabulary Lesson” questions the queer world’s borrowing of the word wife from mainstream society when that word has many negative historical connotations attached to it, but the execution came off condescending, and seemed to push for the continued separation of the two groups.

Many stories move quite fluidly, however. A tale about a formerly battered woman’s journey into professorship hits the mark, as does a story about a Haitian lesbian’s encounter with a skinhead on a train. A collage piece on kitchens examines how this politically charged space changes depending on the occupants and attitudes. A series of segments on health focus on specific issues concerning women’s health, such as environmental hazards connected with work traditionally performed by females.

Another focuses on the push to provide health care for transpeople. As a health care provider featured in the article puts it, “If someone has a cervix, they need gynecological care,” yet many trans people harbor fears of discrimination and simply discomfort with entering a clinic. A piece on immigration explores how the nation’s policies affect those in the queer community.

The magazine doesn’t focus long on any one issue or demographic. Make/Shift strives to reach out to all who identify as female, no matter what their origin or back story, and there is a tidbit for everyone—hopefully more, if you’re willing to learn something.

The design would benefit from more art and photographs to further connect readers to the subjects of the articles. This shouldn’t be difficult, considering that this is a magazine that celebrates artists. I don’t know if the lack of image distribution is a reflection of the magazine’s relative newness, a lack of resources, or failure to see the need, but either way, the need is evident.

Written by: Kelly Palka Gallagher, December 2nd 2009

The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:15:00 +0000

By Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Harper

“Poor deer,” quoth he, “thou makest a testament/As worldlings do…” - As You Like It, Act II, Scene 1

Oak trees plan ahead. In any given area, in any given year, they produce shrunken acorns by design not disease. Such meagre bounty keeps in check acorn-eating animals. Deprived of autumn calories, many of these animals starve to death come winter. Thus fewer ravenous mouths eat healthy acorns in years following; thus more acorns survive; thus more new oaks sprout and thrive.

In fall 2007, the oaks around Peterborough, New Hampshire, resorted to shrunken acorns. This occurrence would have drastically thinned the local deer population. Enter Liz Thomas, who lives in Peterborough. She helped the deer that inhabit the woods around her family farm by feeding them dried corn every day that winter and into early spring.

The deer were lucky to have a benefactor; so are we to have the resultant book. Thomas is an anthropologist whose working life positions her to observe animals closely. She has worked with wild elephants in Africa. She has written books on dogs and cats. The fields in which she scattered small piles of corn lie outside her farmhouse office windows. This proximity allowed her to watch deer behaviour daily and take notes.

Twenty to twenty-five deer, plus an amazing flock of wild turkeys, showed up to eat the corn. Deer, we learn, divide into families of three or four fauns and yearlings with an older doe as matriarch of each bunch. Bucks, being exceedingly wary, live in deep woods. They show only in rut, when they need space to joust with other males. Thomas named the doe-led families (alpha, beta, delta, tau) and came to recognize and appreciate the individuals in them. We readers do, too.

As well as the deer, Thomas introduces us to a bear with history; a strategizing fungus; a brave elephant whose sad end will make you angry; and the habits and characteristics of numerous wild New Hampshire fauna, including the complex meanings of their scats.

The humans whom the writer encounters during her deer study make for interesting research as well. In one anecdote, remembering that brave elephant, she stares down two determined men, a cop and a neighbour, to prevent them from killing an injured animal. The author strongly disagrees on such killing and on other received wisdom concerning animals. This brings her into conflict not just with individuals but with New Hampshire Fish and Game. Whether humans should be feeding wild animals at all, for example, is a question Thomas faces squarely. Her decision—which is to feed if necessary—is reasoned with great interest. So, too, is her take on the anthropomorphizing of animals and her participation in a deer hunt.

Throughout her narrative, Thomas cites what she calls the Old Way, that time before humans were industrialized, mass produced, and virtualized. That time when we lived close to the real. That time when we could hear and read the communications around us made by many another of Earth’s elements and life forms aside from us. She also cites “Gaia” frequently. Referencing our planet as a single organism cycles us continually to the big picture, even as we witness tiny, local New Hampshire. This cosmic zooming insists on deer, humans, and all living beings as members of one family. Thomas accomplishes this purpose with the eye of a scientist and documentarian, and in poetic prose as clear as a limpid stream in the British Columbia backwoods. Come to think of it, poetry and science have similar methods and goals. Each observes acutely the particular while drawing large lessons. And so it is with this graceful, tough-minded book.

Written by: Neil Flowers, November 3rd 2009

China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing’s Expansion in Africa

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:17:00 +0000

By Serge Michel, Michel Beuret

Nation Books

In China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing's Expansion in Africa, Serge Michel and Michel Beuret invest a lot of time and energy in examining China’s presence in African countries. They travel to various places to interview different people in order to find out what affects Chinese business has across the continent. China is quickly colonizing African counties with a speed that must make Western colonizers like America, England, and France (to name a few) burn with envy.

The environment doesn’t matter, the people don’t matter, and future generations certainly don’t either. What is important is the almighty dollar—er, yuan. Nobody and nothing is indispensable. Even the average Chinese laborer who travels from the mainland to work the fields, factory, pipelines, and mines is expendable. He makes more money in the Congo than he ever could in China, and as an added bonus, if he dies in a work-related accident, it will net his family back home a few extra yuan—so his death isn’t seen as a complete waste, but an honorable sacrifice.

It isn’t just the natural resources that China is trying to take as it competes with Western countries for contracts. African governments favour doing business with China and give construction contracts to Chinese companies. In return, all these nations have to do is hand over a bit of oil, which then increases the need for construction of more pipe lines. (More contracts for China!), or other enviable resources—like Niger's uranium. China may give out loans to build dams and highways, but the money comes with a cost: Chinese labor is preferred instead providing jobs for local people, the construction quality is poor, and there are no unions to protect the workers.

Also, Chinese businesses have made, and continue to make, a lot of money off of selling their cheap manufactured goods to African consumers. Whatever the consumer needs, from Islamic prayer mats to plastic souvenirs sold by the Nile River to rifles and handguns for regional warring, China makes all of the items at a cheaper cost than its competitors.

The information China Safari offers about the Chinese exploitation of African (and Chinese) workers is a hefty wake up call for those in the pursuit of global fair trade and environmental and human rights. The bleak reality of industrial “progress” in places across the African continent are well-documented in this book__. The authors leave no stone unturned. The amount of research they did for this book is staggering, and I was shocked to read just how deeply China has sunk its claws into the world's poorest continent.

Written by: Nicolette Westfall, October 13th 2009

So Happy Together

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:30:00 +0000

By Maryann McFadden

Hyperion

So Happy Together is Maryann McFadden’s second novel in which the themes of love, change, and nature—along with a strong and very human woman protagonist—are at the heart. Claire Noble is a forty-five-year-old woman in the “sandwich” generation; she has to juggle living her own life while caring for her daughter, as well as her aging parents. As the book begins, Claire is planning her new life with her fiancé Rick, who loves golf nearly as much as he loves an easy and uncomplicated life. But Claire’s life is anything but uncomplicated. Her daughter, to whom she hasn’t spoken in months, abruptly returns home and has a baby. Claire’s father is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. An environmental writer moves into the area and asks Claire to take the photos for his upcoming article. The beautifully planned life she and Rick used to have becomes very messy very quickly, and all that Claire thought she wanted, all she thought she was, comes into question.

The book is set in New Jersey and Cape Cod. McFadden writes beautiful descriptions of both areas, and there is a strong emphasis on embracing nature and family. There is also a strong focus on images, which makes sense considering Claire is a photographer, and the culminating scene takes place at her art show.

I wholeheartedly applaud the telling of the story of a woman in Claire’s position, and I also appreciated the story being told, at times, from the perspective of Claire’s mother. The lives and challenges of middle aged and elderly women aren’t often represented in today’s fiction world. The women in _So Happy Together _have a pocket of emptiness in their lives, and we get to see them fill in those pockets as the book goes on.

While the book has a fairly interesting plot and characters that are generally believable, the book tries to do just a bit too much. The layers of stress and trauma from side characters get to be overwhelming, and at times, the writing suffers. The effort to show the real complexities of the world is admirable, but it gets too heavy handed in places.

That being said, I love McFadden's (mostly) subtle agenda of protecting the environment and raising awareness about the beauty and magic in the natural world. Inherently, the book rejects cookie cutter suburbia and development, and this is a lovely addition to the text. So Happy Together is a decent followup to The Richest Season. It is not a step up in quality, but it is certainly not a step down.

Written by: Kristin Conard, October 6th 2009

Cherrystone Earrings

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:09:00 +0000

By Cherrystone Earrings

When I was a kid, my mom would stop at the same gas station every week to fill the tank. The spot was a local affair with a tiny convenience store attached that housed assorted odds and ends. I always looked forward to those trips to the pump because my mother's way of occupying my sisters and I during the seemingly endless flow was to give us a quarter each to buy ourselves a piece of candy. My favorite were the giant chewy Sweet Tarts.

Before leaving the store, I would start salivating just thinking about the taste of the round sour chews, and by the time we got home, I would have gobbled all four of them up. On the rare occasion that sweet tarts were unavailable, I moved on to my second choice: a sour apple Jolly Rancher stick. Despite the stick being second to the chew in taste, it easily won out in aesthetics. The hard candy was slick, green, and deliciously transparent—not unlike Moonrise Jewelry's Cherrystone Earrings.

Made from deep green recycled glass beads and fair trade sterling silver ear wires, the Cherrystone Earrings ($25) are a perfect accent piece for outfits both casual and dressy. Adaptability is a common theme among the stylistic and ideological vision of this progressive, eco-friendly jewelry maker. Whether rolling up your sleeves to build a habitat for humanity or hosting an art auction fundraiser for charity, this pair would be perfectly at home in your ensemble. In fact, they may well steal the show.

Handmade in Virginia, I wonder if these lightweight yet sturdy earrings aren't named after Cherrystone Campground, a nature getaway alongside the Chesapeake Bay where luxurious cabins and tent-style "roughing it" cohabit nicely. Another possibility of the moniker's origin is a throwback to a particularly small type of quahog that was used as currency by some Native Americans, but given the latter's decreased geographical relevance—and my own irrational bias against crustaceans—I'm going to bank on camping over clams.

As further demonstration of its social justice mission, Moonrise is providing Feminist Review readers a 15% Discount off anything and everything on their website. The discount code is 'FEMINIST' and there is no expiration date. Anyone up for some holiday shopping?

Written by: Mandy Van Deven, October 4th 2009

Red Bamboo Tank

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:36:00 +0000

By Dear Lil Devas

Cotton is a quandary. To me, no fabric is more comfortable, but its environmental impact is vast. Cotton is sprayed with reservoirs of pesticides, dumping tanks of volatile organic compounds onto the soil. The wide spacing necessary to cultivate cottons also diminishes soil fertility. Also, if you use cotton, odds are that you are exploiting a child in Uzbekistan. Is there anyway to avoid culpability?

Synthetics make me feel like I'm wrapped in plastic. Bamboo, on the other hand, takes in five times the volume of greenhouse gasses as an equivalent stand of timber trees and releases thirty-five percent more oxygen. Bamboo does not require replanting or fertilization, and its roots provide an infrastructure that help prevent erosion.

Fortunately, bamboo-material clothing is becoming more available. The labor conditions of the workers who produce it may be compromised, but at least it's creating less damage at the ground level. Dear Lil Devas purchases material from factories from who meet Oeko-Tex and ISO 14001 standards, the highest international standards for protection of workers and the environment. They offer splendid high-coverage tanks in a full spectrum of shades—white, natural, baby pink, light blue, red, cobalt, green, brown, and black—made from lightweight bamboo fabric. The fabric is reported to have hypoallergenic and antibacterial and antifungal properties, and the top is designed with a lined bust and a length that keeps the belly covered when executing the Tree, Triangle, or Cobra. Their pants and bags are manufactured locally. Pants are available in two styles and five colors. Now, if I can achieve something more than the lotus position. Tadakasana, I can also handle. Time to go practice.

Photo depicts Dear Lil Devas bamboo tank in brown.

Written by: Erika Mikkalo, September 8th 2009