NEWS

Rwanda: The Art of Remembering and Forgetting

Photograph by David Guttenfelder

Remembering is a tricky thing. It can release a river of volatile emotions that can drown you in sorrow or shame, and it can also unleash a torrent of vengeful anger. But forgetting is equally treacherous, lest those who were lost died in vain or the crucial lessons learned are not passed on to future generations. Rwandans of all walks of life navigate this complex riptide of emotion every day, each in his or her own way. It is far more art than science.

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Discovering the Ocean of
Childhood Dreams

Photograph by THOMAS PESCHAK

Photographer Thomas Peschak documented the remote atolls of Bassas da India and Europa, which are among the last vestiges of pristine seascape in the Indian Ocean. Interest in the rare ecosystem started at an early age for Peschak. “As a kid, I used to dream about the ocean. It was a wild place full of color and life. I pictured dense shivers of sharks ruling over the food chain and herds of turtles paddling through reefs and sea grass. As a marine biologist turned photographer, I have spent most of my career looking for the places I used to dream about when I was little.”

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VIDEO

Life on Mars

“If you want to suspend reality for a bit you can really feel like you’re on Mars. You look out onto this arid, red landscape and it really feels like you’ve traveled to a new world.” Photojournalist Jim Urquhart embedded with Crew 138 of the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station for two weeks in March. The crew’s goal is to research and understand what it would be like to live on Mars.

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THE INNOVATORS PROJECT

How to Solve the Coldest Cases

Often the stories that physical anthropologist BrunoFrohlich uncovers during his fieldwork involve violence. In Mongolia, he’s pieced together murders that occurred as far back as the Bronze Age and as recently as the 1930s: children strangled, women with necks broken, people with their heads smashed, knife wounds, compound fractures—the details of each killing offering insights into the region’s culture then and now.Some of these investigations would qualify as the coldest of cold cases. But Frohlich’s work is not limited to the distant past. For nearly 30 years, he’s also worked with the FBI and provided specialized, archaeology-based forensic guidance and training to state police investigating homicide and missing-person cases. One such case even inspired the Oscar-winning movie Fargo.

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Capturing the Essence of
Jane Goodall

PHOTOGRAPH BY Michael Nichols

Photographer Michael “Nick” Nichols has been photographing Jane Goodall since 1989. Nick on Jane: “[She] knew that chimps are a million times more complicated than gorillas. Chimps have been used as human surrogates in biomedical research along with their use in space programs. At the time I came along, there was a 1989 conference about chimpanzees. People were realizing that chimps were in trouble with habitat destruction, they didn’t have rights, and there were a lot of biomedical issues. Who better to be a flagship for chimp issues than Jane Goodall, with her work in Gombe? At that point she was not yet an advocate. It was her time to say: ‘I’m a serious scientist, and here’s the truth about chimps.’ She wanted to prove herself as a scientist.”

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BIG win for tigers, orangutans, and you!

04/14/2014 Nativegrl77

Share the news with your friends and family

It’s official. And it’s massive win for Indonesia’s rainforests and the planet.

I almost can’t believe I’m writing this, but after just two short months of campaigning Procter & Gamble (P&G) has officially committed to a ‘No Deforestation’ sourcing policy for its palm oil. This a great step to protect the Indonesian rainforest — home to animals like orangutans and the endangered Sumatran tiger — from future destruction.

Procter & Gamble’s new policy is the direct result of hundreds of thousands of people like you who took their message straight to P&G.

Take a moment to share the good news with your family and friends on Facebook. Or just forward this email.

When Procter & Gamble’s new policy is fully implemented, P&G will trace where its palm oil comes from, and ensure that none of its suppliers are associated with forest destruction.

This a great win — but our work here is far from over. Greenpeace and our allies will be making sure that P&G not only follows through with its commitment, but that it does it faster than its 2020 deadline. We also need many more companies around the world to commit to change their palm oil policies to protect forests. Our goal is to realize No Deforestation worldwide by 2020 — protecting the rainforests of West Africa, South East Asia, and the Amazon.

Today, let’s celebrate the good news together! The power of people made this day possible. Please take a minute to celebrate by spreading the word.

P&G’s new policy is proof that our voices are heard in the board rooms of even the biggest corporations. Companies like Unilever, Nestle, L’Oreal — and now Procter & Gamble — have all committed to No Deforestation because of public pressure from people like you.

For a healthy planet, all of us need forests. And to save them, Greenpeace is building a movement of people across the world who are willing to fight forest destruction wherever they find it: whether it’s in their household products, or directly threatening their communities. Together, we can see more victories for forests like today.

Sincerely,

Joao Talocchi
Greenpeace Palm Oil Campaigner

P.S. YOU did it. Procter & Gamble has officially committed to a ‘No Deforestation’ sourcing policy for its palm oil. That means no more destroying Sumatran tiger habitat for Head & Shoulders shampoo! Celebrate and share the good news with your friends on Facebook.

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Take the pledge. Reduce your meat consumption!

04/14/2014 Nativegrl77

Take the pledge to not eat meat one day a week!

Looking for a healthy alternative to meat? For every Earth Day Sampler Pack, Paleta will donate a dollar to plant a tree through EDN’s Canopy Project.

Did you know that the meat industry is responsible for about 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions? That’s more than the entire transportation sector! The production and distribution of meat doesn’t just consume a lot of energy and cause greenhouse gas emissions, it also requires a huge amount of water—up to 2,500 gallons to produce just one pound of beef. Take the pledge to reduce your meat consumption today! And the problem is getting worse. Over the last 10 years alone, global meat consumption has increased by 20%. So what can we do to help solve this problem? It’s simple—eat less meat! In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, eating just one less burger a week for a year is the equivalent of skipping 320 miles of driving. Join us in pledging to not eat meat one day a week. Thanks for your support. -The Earth Day Network Team

Black History

the Senate CONGRESS 4/14 the House

04/14/2014 Nativegrl77

Schedule for Monday, April 28, 2014

The Senate stands adjourned until 2:00pm on Monday, April 28, 2014.

Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business until 5:30pm, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each and with the time equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees.

At 5:30pm, there will be up to 4 roll call votes on the following:

Confirmation of Executive Calendar #574, Michelle T. Friedland, of California, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit;
Cloture on Executive Calendar #613, David Weil, Massachusetts, to be Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor;
Confirmation of Weil nomination; and
Confirmation of Executive Calendar #648, Katherine M. O’Regan, of New York, to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

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Last Floor Action:
1:45:52 P.M. – The House adjourned pursuant to S. Con. Res. 35.

The next meeting is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on April 28, 2014.

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City Council: Fully fund safe access to Seattle parks ~~ Nick Licata: Fund initiative 4.9 to create safe and equitable access to our parks!

04/12/2014 Nativegrl77

By Seattle Neighborhood Greenways

Sign the Petition

It’s a sad fact that people throughout Seattle are often separated from their favorite parks by dangerous roads and street crossings.

We envision all Seattle parks being places that our kids can safely bike to and through for fun or simply to get home. We envision all Seattle parks being places that grandparents can safely walk to and through as they enjoy staying active, or as they pick up a quart of milk from the grocery store.

We believe equitable access is a basic, core function of our park system. Much attention has been given to equity in terms of geographic distribution of park resources, and rightly so. In addition, we need to start considering how physically accessible parks are to the people who live near them. Parks should be accessible to people of all ages and abilities, not just able bodied adults who can dash across lanes of traffic. One quarter of our population do not own a car, and they deserve safe and comfortable access to their parks.

Part of the Mayor Murray’s Seattle Parks district funding proposal is for Investment Initiative 4.9. This Initiative, entitled “Activating and Connecting to Greenways,” is currently budgeted at $321,000 and will allow the Parks Department to start proactively working with SDOT to activate and enhance connection points from our communities to our parks, with parks-oriented expertise. The current proposed funding is critical to providing equitable access to our parks. However, with an increase to $2 million per year we could truly create equitable access to and through our parks for people of all ages and abilities.

We know there is a large need to provide safe and comfortable access to and through our parks for people of all ages and abilities. There are roughly 200 potential access opportunities between neighborhood greenways and parks. If funding were increased from $321,000 to $2 million dollars per year, the Parks Department would be able to fund capital improvements to make equitable access to our parks a reality. I hope you strongly consider not only maintaining the current funding for this Initiative, but also increasing the funding to $2 million dollars per year. Please make safe access to our parks a reality, and pass the Mayor’s proposed parks funding package!

Thank you,