Some Petitions to consider signing! I know they're hardly effective but it makes me feel good sometimes to know that someone, somewhere, once counted some of our opinions! You know... a small insignificant petition can sometimes make the news, sometimes get quoted by sociologists (ahem) and be preserved as part of academia, and sometimes, those things just might help get something done about something. Clicking on the short intro sentence shows you more details (look out for another 'more details' link on the page, too, for even more than the intro paragraph. Grammar & punctuation are not my own:

• Stop tv companies turning up the volume during commercial breaks
• Reduce drugs packaging (Vexen - reducing packaging is good for environment & allows cheaper products)
• drop income tax for Territorial Army Personnel and all other Military Reservists (Vexen - its odd to have government employees pay tax back to the government)
• increase car tax on heavy polluting cars with top bands levying £1000+. At the same time make the cleanest available cars tax free
• Tax the fossil carbon in fuels so as to reduce our emissions
• all new houses built from 2008 have solar panels and / or a wind turbine
• Introduce a system of energy efficiency measuring for computer equipment
• Raise the legal age for buying tobacco products to 18 and increase the penalties to retailers who break this rule
• Reduce the need to recycle by compelling Retailers and their suppliers to reduce packaging and provide recycling facilities rather than place the burden and cost of recycling packing on consumers
• Abolish Sunday trading laws and make 24 hour shopping 24 hour
• Encourage the reduction of household waste by requiring producers and retailers to meet the disposal costs of their products and packaging, instead of passing these on to consumers and local authorities
• abolish the House of Lords and introduce a fully-elected second chamber
• Get all companies to deliver to BFPO addresses (for my sake! Companies often don't post to BFPO addresses such as mine, which are perfectly normal UK addresses)

Tags: activism, environment, government, opinion polls, petitions, politics, recycling, uk
Current Location: Germany
Listening To: "Barefoot" by Coptic Rain

Many people are abhorred by some of the modern and inhumane methods by which animals are farmed and the conditions that they're subject to. It is honourable to wish to reduce the suffering of animals. It is good to insist that animals are farmed in ethical and compassionate ways. However, I think it is far better to support humane animal farming by buying meat produced by humane methods, rather than avoiding meat altogether. The massive meat industry is not affected by such passive vegetarian non-consumption protests. But if market forces dictate that ethical production methods sell better, the meat industry does listen. If you are morally concerned about the welfare of animals, as you should be, it is better to buy meat farmed ethically than it is to shun meat altogether, because that makes the entire market swing towards ethical methods and has a bigger impact than resorting to (self-harming) vegetarian protest.

The Economist magazine's special report (2006) explained that buying meat from those conforming to ethical standards is more effective at changing the industry than simply abstaining from meat altogether - "consumption, rather than non-consumption" is "far more likely to produce results" according to Ian Bretman of Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) International, the Fairtrade umbrella group.

Added to: "Vegetarianism: Consumer Activism and Economics" by Vexen Crabtree.

Tags: activism, animal rights, diet, fairtrade, food, food industry, health, ian bretman, vegetarianism
Current Location: Germany
Current Mood: busy
Listening To: "A am the light" by Kirlian Camera

Launched: "The Dangers and Purposes of Vegetarian Diets" by Vexen Crabtree

Updates:

• 2006 Dec: Launched "Vegetarianism: Consumer Activism and Economics".

• 2006 Dec: Launched "Vegetarianism: Vitamin D Deficiency.</p>

Tags: activism, animal rights, animal welfare, carnivore, diets, fish, food, food industry, health, herbivore, omnivore, vegetarianism
Current Location: Germany

Throwing away... all my old Stonewall documents. I was a letter-writing activist in my youth! Campaigning for gay rights.

Throwing away... all letters and pointless christmas cards and old birthday cards. Why do people keep this kind of stuff anyway? I'm sentimental... but from now I'm living life, not collecting it!

Throwing away... lots of childhood boxed games.

Am considering throwing away a few hundred 80s computer magazines - Amstrad Actions and Amstrad Computer User.

Also throwing away... holy shit!!! Why on Earth did I ever keep *that*????

Tags: activism, amstrads, minimalism, possessions, stonewall, vexen
Current Mood: hyper
Listening To: "Just let it go" by Razed In Black