What Would Jesus Buy?

Just in time for the holidays, What Would Jesus Buy is a documentary about Reverand Billy's radical anti-consumerism campaign from Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame...


via Word Soup

Target to stop selling some PVC

Target stores recently announced that they will reduce the amount of PVC they sell, specifically in their own line products (including toys, baby products, shower curtains and packaging). Read the press release from the Center for Health Environment and Justice HERE. It includes this explanation of why PVC is worth avoiding:

Among the health effects of phthalates, found in many PVC products, are premature birth delivery, early puberty in girls, impaired sperm quality and sperm damage in men, genital defects and reduced testosterone production in boys.

“Study after study have found that chemicals in vinyl can cause health problems in children and adults," said Dr. Peter Orris, Professor and Chief of Service at the University of Illinois Medical Center Chicago. "While using PVC products, people may be exposed toxic additives like phthalates and lead and when incinerated, PVC is a major contributor to dioxin.”

The hazards of PVC are not limited to its use by consumers: it creates toxic pollution during its manufacture, harming workers and community members near PVC plants such as in Mossville, Louisiana. When thrown away, toxic additives like lead and phthalates can leach into the ground and nearby drinking water sources. When burned in incinerators, PVC produces dioxins and furans, chemicals that can cause cancer and are considered to be among the most toxic environmental contaminants known to man. PVC packaging can not be effectively recycled, and can contaminate an entire batch of 100,000 recyclable bottles.

e-waste documentary

eDump is a documentary by Michael Zhao about the problem with electronic waste. It follows America's 2.6 million tons of annual e-waste as it travels to foreign countries for recycling and the pollution and health problems it causes along the way. This powerful short film can be watched in its entirety on Zhao's site HERE. Find out more about e-waste HERE.






Thanks Anne!

Illegal Signs

The goal of IllagalSigns.Ca is to "destroying illegal billboards with the rule of law" and they seem to be having an effect, at least in Toronto, Canada. Here they explain their raison d'etre:

Our Streets are where civic capital is created. Illegal billboards monetize our civic capital, under no colour of right, by treating citizens as consumers first. Illegal billboards commodify what is unique about our neighbourhoods by turning our Streets into pages of a mass-market magazine, without regard to the law. Join us as we fight to legalize and democratize Toronto’s visual environment. Join us as we fight to Reclaim the Streets.

See a map of illegal billboards, and find out what's being done about them on their site HERE.

via Anti-Advertising Agency

Compact Fluorescent Recycling

You now have another way to recycle your dead compact fluorescent light bulbs, you can take them with you to Ikea. The store's new program allows you to bring in any brand of CFLs thus preventing the toxic mercury within from ending up in landfills.

via EcoGeek

News Roundup

Several great articles have appeared in recent issues of the Christian Science Monitor:

Ugandan women improve their lives making paper beads.

Green roofs appearing on New York houses.

Trash ovens in Kenya save trees.

Reducing the racist disparity between crack and cocaine sentencing.

And from Mother Jones:

Chinese toy imports and the lack of U.S. safety regulations.
Which is followed by a short list of stories about the problems with a self-regulating industry including this gem:

HASBRO EASY-BAKE OVENS In 2006, Hasbro overhauled its iconic oven with a new design and heating system. By the following February, the company had to recall nearly 1 million ovens because children had suffered burns after getting their hands caught in them. Rather than taking the ovens back, Hasbro got the cpsc [consumer product safety commission] to sign off on an easier fix: It would send a repair kit to any consumer who requested it. The ovens were recalled again this July, after 77 kids had gotten burned; one five-year-old had to have a finger amputated. This time, consumers got to return their ovens—for a voucher, good only for another Hasbro product.

How Much Advertisers Pay For Your Attention

Good Magazine has put together this nice little video showing the actual costs of some of the myriad ads you can encounter in NYC everyday. Of course their own magazine is filled with ads, so perhaps this isn't meant to be a critique after all...




Thanks Mica! Via 5min

Richie Bush

If you haven't read a copy of artist/activist Peter Kuper's depressingly funny parody of a Richie Rich comic book featuring George W. you can watch an animated version HERE.

Vote for an Ecospot

You have until November 9th to vote on Current's contest for creating a new environmental PSA: ":60 Seconds To Save The Earth." Celebrity judges whittled the entries down to 20 semi-finalists and now the final choice is up to you. Watch the entries and make your choice (after logging in) HERE.

P.S. My friend Leah made the one titled "I did noth'N" so I would be remiss if I didn't say she would very much appreciate your vote!

Roundtables on Socio-Political Graphics in L.A.

If you're in the Los Angeles area this month you may want to check out the free series of roundtable discussions sponsored by the local student AIGA group in conjunction with the exhibition The Graphic Imperative: International Posters for Peace, Social Justice and the Environment 1965-2005, at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex, on the campus of Cal State L.A.

NOV/8 Conversation w/John Clark, Nancy LeMay + Carol Wells
NOV/15 Conversation w/Eric Lindroth, Tomas Benitez + Garland Kirkpatrick
NOV/29 Conversation w/Rebeca Mendez, Mary Sutton + Zelda Harrison

More details HERE.

Free Rice

FreeRice adds a new twist to the one-click activism sites like The Breast Cancer Site. Not only does it allow you to donate rice to the United Nations World Food Programme, but it's also a vocabulary improvement game. Each word you get right is equivalent to 10 grains of donated rice (paid for by advertisers on the site). The site is a project of Poverty.com.

Thanks Nev!

Call for Entries: Repressed III socially conscious art

T.O.W.A.R. and Gallery 5 in Richmond, VA are once again looking for socially conscious art submissions for their upcoming exhibition & workshop series Repressed III:

In our contemporary landscape, the irony that we find ourselves immersed in offers little remorse. Political constructs promise to act within the best interest of the people that they serve. We trust them to protect us from insufficient leadership and to be more informed than the general public.

But we know better.

To some degree, we remain conscious of corruption lurking just below the surface. Our sense of social altruism becomes hindered by perceived incapacity. But what resources exist for igniting these socioeconomic changes and how do we utilize them?

For many people, the intellectual realm is both exclusive and censorious. In a culture that is driven by consumerist agenda and billboard declaration, what better way to reach the masses than through the visual landscape of public domain? But is there ever a curiosity as to why most public art is illegal? It isn’t just an eyesore to gentrifiers, business & home owner associations, politicians and tourists.

It's a threat.

The ills of society are being reflected upon by a handful of demonstrators, who do so as visual street poets, permeating our cities' public spaces. These visual landmarks become nodes of free thought. Their philosophies are conveyed in passing. When they are censored, something is robbed from our consciousness.

Others spend their time indoors knowing that their passions are being marginalized; yet they still produce work. Their contributions activate the social evolution of humankind. But without opportunity, these voices become faint whispers. They exist only as the dormant catalysts of revolution. This group of disenfranchised artists/activists know that they must not stop creating because, like sharks, movements must be perpetually in motion or they fade away.

We are asking you to participate in this dialogue as witness and/or dissenter.

In collaboration with T.O.W.A.R., Gallery5 will host Repressed 3, a show dedicated to socially conscious works. This event will take place March 7th, 2008 and will be the precursor to a workshop series. Gallery5 is currently seeking workshop proposals, performers, artists, and volunteers.

Repressed III is being held in conjunction with: The 2008 Southern Graphics Council Conference.

Entry Requirements
1.) All works must be submitted for approval by February 4th. After acceptance, works must be on location by February 26. Space is limited, please submit works early.
2.) Works submitted should contribute socially or philosophically to cultural evolution. Historical propaganda artifacts also accepted.
3.) Artists are responsible for transportation of works. Some exceptions may apply.
4.) Both 2D and 3D works will be accepted.
5.) Works must be matted, mounted and/or framed and ready to be hung, unless intended to be wheatpasted.
6.) All works must be properly labeled with name, date, medium and suggested price.
For those with original multiples there is a space to display and sell prints. Gallery5 will take 35% of these sales to benefit its building, Steamer Company no5, Virginia’s oldest Fire Station.
Please put “Repressed” in the subject line of submission emails. gallery5_AT_ gallery5arts.org or info_AT_thereoncewasarebellion.org.

Download the entry packet PDF with submission form HERE.