On this date 15 years ago, activist Julia ”Butterfly” Hill climbed down the ancient redwood in Humboldt County, Calif., where the 26-year-old had lived for 2 years (738 days) to protest logging plans to cut the forest. The tree she called “Luna” is still standing today and is protected by law for 1000 years.
Thanks to The Good News Network for this post.
Be mindful what you say after you say, “I Am…” Those two tiny words contain powerful magic. ~ Jeff Foster
“Some of us aren’t meant to belong. Some of us have to turn the world upside down and shake the hell out of it until we make our own place in it.” ~Elizabeth Lowell, Remember Summer
Check out this powerful performance by Jermaine Cole of his song ‘Be Free’, which is a tribute to Mike Brown and others who have tragically lost their lives due to police violence.
Great news :) Power to the people!
From the New York Times~
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration announced Wednesday that it would ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State, ending years of uncertainty by concluding that the controversial method of extracting gas from deep underground could contaminate the state’s air and water and pose inestimable public-health risks.
“I cannot support high volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York,” said Howard Zucker, the acting commissioner of health.
Women in India are increasingly turning to women-only taxi services like Mumbai-based Viira Cabs whose female drivers are all trained in martial arts and carry pepper spray and batons. The company is the brainchild of 35-year-old entrepreneur and social activist Preeti Sharma Menon, who wanted to create a service to help women feel comfortable traveling any time of day in a country with a poor record on women’s safety. The trend toward women-only taxi companies in India has grown even more prominent in recent weeks after a reported rape by an Uber cab driver led to the service being banned in New Delhi earlier this month. In discussing the idea behind her business, Menon explains, “I was looking for something new to do and I wanted to do something that would make a difference.” She adds that, in addition to training in self-defense, the drivers also undergo extensive training in driving skills and customer relations since finding qualified drivers was initially a challenge: “[t]he biggest ongoing challenge is that there are no ready women drivers. We have to source, mobilize, train and employ drivers… Our motor school focuses on training women exclusively from low income groups. Viira means brave women, who have been limited to temporary unskilled jobs due to lack of skills and opportunities but have decided to change their lives.” Many of Viira’s drivers are the sole bread-winners in their families and the steady income has helped many rise out of poverty. Raju Chergat, one of Viira’s drivers, says, “Before, my salary was very low, but now my income has gone up – so it makes a difference. I am independent. I am not under anyone’s dominance. I am master of my own will and I can take care of my household.” Mumbai’s women are thrilled with the availability of safe transportation. Sajna Sivan, a regular customer of Viira, says her work as a photographer is easier when she knows she can call for a Viira Cab: “I have lot of late nights. So when that happens I don’t want to randomly take a car with all my equipment. I’d rather get someone with whom I feel comfortable.”
Always inspiring to hear about women helping and empowering each other. Love this.
Thanks to A Mighty Girl for this post.
“And if the captors slave master false news caster and war benefactors knew a love like ours they would go thirsty with their lives and come to us with lost magic in their memory and we will feed them when they come to us on their knees weighed down from weaponry begging forgiveness and water we will share our medicine until they weep at the resemblance of our faces they will remember our names and their numbers will crumble to dust bankrupt, their blood money will be as worthless as their guns.” ~Climbing PoeTree, spoken word duo
Art by Anthony Freda
“The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition or surrounded by a halo . . . We need a boundless ethic which will include the animals also. ” ~Dr. Albert Schweitzer
More than 500 people have gathered in Madrid to protest the violence committed against animals every day in the so-called livestock industry, and to express sympathy and solidarity with all sentient beings.
“Only those who truly love and who are truly strong can sustain their lives as a dream. You dwell in your own enchantment. Life throws stones at you, but your love and your dream change those stones into the flowers of discovery. Even if you lose, or are defeated by things, your triumph will always be exemplary. And if no one knows it, then there are places that do. People like you enrich the dreams of the worlds, and it is dreams that create history. People like you are unknowing transformers of things, protected by your own fairy-tale, by love.” ~ Ben Okri
Under The Blue Door 