Do small steps actually lead anywhere? We all know the theory that small steps lead to bigger steps, which lead in turn to real change. And there are certainly a lot of small steps on offer these days, from the latest home energy tracker to the solar bikini. But it's not at all clear that the ready abundance of small steps is actually making any difference. Indeed, between greenwashing and green fatigue, emphasizing little behavioral changes may actually be hurting.
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If we could, we’d stick their photos up in a national “Nauseam.” They’re the media corporations, CEOs and politicians who top this year’s “Media Hall of Shame,” and their antics over the past year make us sick. Free Press unveiled the top contenders of the Hall of Shame on June 7 in Minneapolis during the National Conference for Media Reform. Media giants Viacom, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon elbowed each other for the top spot as Worst Corporation. It was difficult to choose, considering each company was the best of the worst America has to offer in media, democracy and our right to free speech. To see who took the prize in other categories,
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A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.
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After airing a five-minute segment on the recent controversy surrounding racy photos of a teenage Disney star, longtime Nightline anchor Cynthia McFadden left the viewing audience with these words to ponder: “Just another distraction to keep our minds away from the things that really matter.” With grim resignation, McFadden did her best to project the image of a grizzled industry vet, powerless to stem the tide of increasingly trivial programming at a time when serious journalism is paramount. She was Cronkite or Murrow, staring not into the camera, but into the future – and quietly lamenting what it held. It was stoic defeat, a helpless shrug. And in that one, brief spectacle, McFadden managed to encapsulate the plight of American culture today. We recognize the debasement of standards, we see the signs of intellectual decay. Yet we do nothing. And our inaction is our complicity. Each time we shrug helplessly in the face of diminished expectation, we are greasing the slope of an already rapid collective decline.
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Midge Grinstead of the Lawrence Humane Society has made a formal request to the city to END the raising of chickens within city limits of Lawrence, KS, ostensibly because of Zoonotic diseases (e.g. Avian Flu) that transmit from animals to humans. Unfortunately, this matter falls on two sides of the sustainability issue. In response to Peak Oil and climate change, the emerging relocalization movement is creating local networks to provide local energy, health care, transportation, food, water supplies, etc. This is because local production is generally more energy efficient, less mechanized, has a smaller carbon footprint, and a greater economic multiplier effect. All of these enrich the local populace and culture.
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Like most Americans in their mid-twenties, I am a child of the computer age. That I did not immediately jump on the Facebook wagon is not due to an innate dislike of technology or an irrational fear of the web, but merely because I graduated from college before Facebook became a university fad. I was, like an ever-decreasing number of people, happily oblivious to this social networking website. But then something troubling happened: my wedding photos appeared on Facebook.
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My favorite plenary talk from the conference so far. Check it. - Tim
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I'll be attending this year's seminal media conference in Minneapolis, MN this weekend. Last year's conference in Memphis, TN was an amazing experience and this year looks to be no different. 3000+ activists, journalists, media advocates, grass-roots organizers, film makers, and community media pioneers and more will all be convening to share skills and discuss the future of independent media. You can check for live streaming broadcasts from the event all weekend at freepress.net/conference. I'll be returning to Lawrence next week to report back on the highlights of the weekend (no doubt with an arm load of fresh new indy documentaries to boot). Cheers! - Tim
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Voters in Democratic-leaning precincts across the country that were disenfranchised in the 2004 and 2006 elections might be again in 2008, according to the documentary film, “Uncounted.”
The film’s director, David Earnhardt, said his documentary exposed the problems of racially based voter suppression and intimidation, under-voting and electronic voting security problems. He interviewed politicians, voters, journalists and electronic voting machine workers.
“College students should care because of the transient nature of college students,” Earnhardt said. “They are a demographic highly affected by confusing registration rules as well as Election Day shenanigans like improper voter registration purges and last-minute precinct changes.”
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Students at a South Bronx middle school have pulled off a stunning boycott against standardized testing. More than 160 students in six different classes at Intermediate School 318 in the South Bronx - virtually the entire eighth grade - refused to take last Wednesday's three-hour practice exam for next month's statewide social studies test.
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