A part of
Fall 2011 Edition - Sample Stories
On June 26, thousands joined Hands Across The Sand in protest against offshore drilling all across the world. At 12 noon, people joined hands for 15 minutes on beaches and in cities, rain or shine, to show their solidarity against our dependence on oil and to bring attention to the necessity to convince our politicians to adopt policies that pursue clean and renewable energy.
For Larry and Betsy Spiess, participants at St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, the event meant taking a stand. "For all the wildlife, our beaches, and our environment," Larry said. "It's getting our point across and that's what we want," Betsy added..
For Larry and Betsy Spiess, participants at St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, the event meant taking a stand. "For all the wildlife, our beaches, and our environment," Larry said. "It's getting our point across and that's what we want," Betsy added..
More Stories from this Edition
Ten-year-old Ta’Kaiya Blaney stood outside Enbridge Northern Gateway’s office on July 6, waiting for officials to grant her access to the building. She thought she could hand deliver an envelope containing an important message about the company’s pipeline construction. But the doors remained locked.
“I don’t know what they find so scary about me,” she said, as she was ushered off the property by security guards. “I just want them to hear what I have to say.”
The Sliammon First Nation youth put in a great effort learning about environmental issues and the pipeline in particular, and hoped to share her knowledge. Enbridge officials said they were unable to provide Ta’Kaiya space or time and failed to comment because the Vancouver office is staffed by a limited number of technical personnel. Their headquarters are located in Calgary.
“I don’t know what they find so scary about me,” she said, as she was ushered off the property by security guards. “I just want them to hear what I have to say.”
The Sliammon First Nation youth put in a great effort learning about environmental issues and the pipeline in particular, and hoped to share her knowledge. Enbridge officials said they were unable to provide Ta’Kaiya space or time and failed to comment because the Vancouver office is staffed by a limited number of technical personnel. Their headquarters are located in Calgary.
Some say that laughter helped bring down the Soviet Union, by making “-Brezhnev” rhyme with “ridiculous.” At the Yes Lab, we help activists cook up funny antics and escapades to change public opinion-with laughter. We’ve used humor as a tool to avenge corporate wrongdoing for more than a decade, ever since we started dressing up as phony PR men, comic strip heroes, and government officials.
That’s because we know humor is powerful: people have used jokes and hoaxes for centuries to humble the bad guys and inspire the good ones. Here are some of our favorite moments in “laughtivism.”
1. Abbie Hoffman incites a money grab
In 1967, Abbie Hoffman and members of the Yippies, a radical activist group, threw 300 one-dollar bills from the New York Stock Exchange balcony onto the trading floor. According to Hoffman, as brokers grabbed for petty cash, trading ground to a halt. The famous stunt mocked the unregulated greed that still pervades Wall Street.
That’s because we know humor is powerful: people have used jokes and hoaxes for centuries to humble the bad guys and inspire the good ones. Here are some of our favorite moments in “laughtivism.”
1. Abbie Hoffman incites a money grab
In 1967, Abbie Hoffman and members of the Yippies, a radical activist group, threw 300 one-dollar bills from the New York Stock Exchange balcony onto the trading floor. According to Hoffman, as brokers grabbed for petty cash, trading ground to a halt. The famous stunt mocked the unregulated greed that still pervades Wall Street.
In recent centuries, one of the most important concepts shaping humanity has been that of human progress. The idea of inevitable progress was accepted as so obviously true that for most people it was beyond doubt. Now however, many people are beginning to question the notion.
World problems are piling on thick and fast, and there are already the beginnings of a scramble for the remains of diminishing fossil fuel and other material resources, not to mention fresh water and food. This is not to belittle much of the material progress we have made. Enormous strides have been taken in medicine and science. Smallpox has been eradicated, polio almost entirely so, and with further financial backing and effort malaria could also be eliminated - a disease that kills nearly a million people every year.
Biodanza or “dance of life,'' embraces over 100,000 enthusiastic followers, and it is more than just an uplifting dance modality.
Created by clinical psychologist, poet and painter Rolando Toro Arenda, this visionary system integrates music, movement, and authentic human connection.
In the 60s, while studying psychiatric patients in Chile, Rolando found that by combining the mythological power of music and dance, he could awaken a consciousness for universal solidarity and help participants recover their joy and vitality. Over the past 50 years Biodanza has blossomed in 54 countries.
Campaigning through the celebratory act of feasting, a small group of artist-activists are touring events and festivals in Wales throughout the year to communicate the scale of preventable food waste in the UK.
From Cardiff to Bangor, the campaign organisation This is Rubbish (TiR) will set up a renewably powered food waste cafe. The team will host a two-day program at the cafe, featuring workshops, games and creative activities, followed by a food waste feast for 30 people each evening.
While raising awareness of the problem of food waste and the associated environmental issues, TiR also wants to promote solutions in a fun, engaging and creative way. Through community and arts-led public events, TiR founders Caitlin Shepherd, Kate Blair and Rachel Solnick, believe that celebration can be an effective means of communicating needed change.
Caring citizens and environmentalists created a vast new marine protected area around Cocos Island, south-west of the Costa Rican mainland. Extending across over two million acres, the Seamounts Marine Management Area will give vital protection to endangered marine species, such as hammerhead sharks and leatherback turtles, and will allow fish stocks a chance to recover from over fishing.
The declaration formalising the creation of the marine park was signed by the Costa Rican President, Laura Chinchilla Miranda on 3 March 2011 and will conserve an entire marine ecosystem, which includes a group of seamounts (underwater mountains).
Outside the federal courthouse in Tacoma, Washington, on a crisp day in March, a line of people wrapped around the block, hoping to pass through security to courtrooms already filled to capacity. They were there to support five silver-haired peace activists being sentenced for convictions of conspiracy, trespassing, and felony damage and destruction of government property on the Navy's Kitsap-Bangor Trident nuclear submarine base.
The activists, members of "Disarm Now Plowshares," were two priests, a nun, and two grandmothers: Bill Bichsel, Stephen Kelly, Anne Montgomery, Susan Crane, and Lynne Greenwald. They entered the Trident base on November 2, 2009, used bolt-cutters to get through the first fence, and then walked nearly four miles to a nuclear weapons storage area, where they cut through two more fences. There they hung a banner and prayed,before their arrest.
It is now well acknowledged that to preserve the global ecosystem we shall move away from high consumption lifestyles and find new ways of valuing our world. An exciting outcome of recent studies concludes that this will also make us happier and more fulfilled. Perhaps the most important finding is that by focussing on ‘sustainability double-dividends’ (lifestyle choices which improve both wellbeing and sustainability), we can find a popular route into the future ecological age.
1: Living a more local life The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. - James Oppenheim
Our life triangle consists of the distance between home, work and where we shop. If that triangle also includes schools and centres for the arts and health we get thriving local communities. Localisation benefits the environment by reducing the amount of travel and transport required to sustain our lives, resulting in fewer resources used and less pollution
