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Frackers vs. activist-photographers: The activists win

Posted on May 16, 2012 by ari

Check out this interesting story about a photo I posted for a fellow activist on Flickr! WSKG Busted! Shilling for Gas Industry (Bill Huston’s Blog).

In short, WSKG printed an article that was basically a reprint of a press release by natural gas industry folks, who had arranged a study that apparently showed that regulations can make fracking safer. My position is that fracking is intrinsically unsafe. They used a photo I’d posted for another activist on Flickr to illustrate the article, which Bill brought to my attention. I told them I wanted them to take it down, and that using a photo taken by anti-fracking activists was obviously a bad choice for what was essentially a piece of industry propaganda. They took it down. Yay!

Read Bill’s post for a rebuttal to the points made in the article – he knows his stuff!

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Please don’t support sweatshops

Posted on May 16, 2012 by ari

If you’re vegan, if you’re a human rights activist, if you care about justice and fairness at all – please do not support sweatshops. Shira and I buy our undies and socks and such from companies that use fair trade organic cotton and hemp and which pay their workers a fair wage. (For other stuff we generally try to buy second-hand.) Please join us!

Companies to check out:

• Maggie’s Organics
• Satori Hemp Movement
• Gaiam

If you know of other good companies that we should check out, please tell us about them by posting a comment below – thanks! In particular, I’m looking for a good pair of slim-fitting jeans that aren’t made by (sexist, exploitative) American Apparel. Any tips?

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Would you put this sign in your yard?

Posted on May 4, 2012 by shira

If you haven’t heard of NIMBYism, it’s the attitude “Not in my backyard” and it’s a double-edged sword. We can and should be against development that hurts our communities, but renewable energy is something that we can ALL get behind.

I’ve designed this graphic that we’re planning on putting on yard signs and bumper stickers. We plan to give 10% of profits to Shaleshock, 10% to Sustainable Tompkins and the rest will go directly into renewable energy projects on our home – starting with a bike generator!

Before we invest the up front cost into printing, we want to know what people think. Do you like the design? Would you buy a sign for your yard?

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Shirari Peace and Love Podcast #7: May Day 2012

Posted on May 1, 2012 by shirari

In honor of International Workers Day and the Mayan calendar, we offer a 7th installment of Shirari’s Peace and Love Podcast. (Our last episode was way back in February 2009!)

Listen for an update on our lives, our perspective on Occupy and 2012 and the idea of apocalypse, activist resources and tips, and a general pep talk. In summary: We love you.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Please post comments or contact us to tell us what you think. Thanks! Peace and love!

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MUSIC: A 2012 Playlist

Posted on May 1, 2012 by shira

On this momentous May Day, some songs to inspire personal and global revolution. We’re of the mindset that we are experiencing a broad shift in consciousness towards compassion and justice. Want to join us?

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Saul Bass and the art of film and TV title design

Posted on April 30, 2012 by shira

I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of Saul Bass before watching this video (his legacy is discussed at the very end during the credits). Born in the Bronx in 1920 to Eastern European Jewish parents, Bass designed some of the most iconic logos of our time (AT&T, Girl Scouts of America, Kleenex and more) and revolutionized the art of title design through his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock and later, Martin Scorsese. Awesome.

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Calling all vegans: Stand up and be counted!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by ari

If you didn’t know, I run a vegan blog and link listing called Vegan Ithaca. Here’s a recent post I thought folks might be interested in! Calling all vegans: Stand up and be counted!

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Three Cheers for San Francisco’s Knights of Revery

Posted on April 29, 2012 by ari

If you ever chance to be in San Francisco, California, please go see a show by the Knights of Revery. Shira and I were fortunate enough to be invited to one by our friend Josh, and I think I’m not exaggerating when I say that it was life-changingly awesome. A huge thank you to the Knights (and to the Queen of Dreams, and to the Magnificent Sparrow, and to Josh) for an extremely enlightening evening.

For future reference and as a note to creative folks and activists: The artful combination of shamanic journeying, performance art, improvisation, and interactive theatre is a very good idea.

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A New Kind of Man

Posted on April 29, 2012 by ari

Yesterday I watched a great TED Talk from back in 2010: Tony Porter: A call to men, which I found very moving. Check it out:

Read the rest of this post…

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Clearcutting and whalehunting

Posted on April 14, 2012 by ari

Now I’ve seen clearcutting for the first time. Forests so deep and rich they’re like cathedrals, the trees dripping with moss and ferns, alive with singing birds, and then – acres and acres of silent dry land and dessicated stumps.

I visited a museum of Native American culture and read a lot of texts celebrating a history of whalehunting; human slavery and wars were glossed over. Inside of me are drops of Cherokee and Iroquois blood that yearn to reconnect with their heritage, but I’m unwilling to look at any form of exploitation in a positive light. I read these cards describing the hunt and I mourn.

Nearly everything else is beautiful. I usually try to state what I’m for, not what I’m against. But I have to stand with trees and whales. They can’t say “stand up for me” out loud, but I can hear them anyway.

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