Direct Action

First Fair Trade Town in USA

- Adam Clare

Buying fair trade is increasing in popularity, as any ThingsAreGood reader already knows, but it has taken a little longer for the World Bank to catch on. On the WB’s private sector development blog they announced today that fair trade is popular. Even if they are a little slow, good for the WB for figuring things out.

In the United States of America, a town has proclaimed itself to be the first town to be a fair trade community. These communities have existed in Europe for years now, but now that it’s happening in America let’s hope the idea continues to grow. Congrats go out to Media, Pennsylvania becoming a fair trade community.

“The Media Borough Council unanimously passed a resolution on June 15th supporting the concept of Fair Trade and promising to serve Fair Trade products at its meetings and functions. The resolution was the last goal necessary to become a Fair Trade town. The other goals are that a certain percentage of retailers and institutions sell and use Fair Trade products, widespread support and media coverage exist for Fair Trade, and an ongoing steering committee keeps the Fair Trade issue vital. Since there is as yet no national Fair Trade town initiative in the United States, Media, Pennsylvania used the goals established by the Fairtrade Foundation of Britain.”

Urban Etiquette Handbook

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

Being proper in an urban setting is not that hard, but it’s always fun to have a guide to see if you are doing it “right.” The New York Metro has released an Urban Etiquette Handbook. What better city than New York to write a guide like this considering they are the most polite?

The basics of the list:
(1) No raking women with your eyes; glance quickly and respectfully.
(2) Offer to share a taxi rather than fight over it.
(3) Babies in strollers get right-of-way—until they abuse it.
(4) Still no ogling girls—c’mon!
(5) And skateboarding, are you kidding me?
(6) Not everybody loves your dog as much as you do.
(7) No bicycling on the sidewalk unless under the age of 6.
(8) Pedestrians can die of secondhand smoke, too”

Students Breach Great Firewall of China!

- Vanessa King

The great firewall of China is an internet firewall which blocks people living in China from viewing certain websites and content on the internet. For example, if you type in Falun Gong in a search engine (a religious group banned in China) it will not show any content. This is very obviously censorship and completely unfair to peoples human rights and freedom of education and lifestyle. So this is what led students from Caimbridge University to try and crack it. And they have! Not only that but they have managed to then use the firewall to launch denial-of-service attacks against specific IP adresses in China. This means that they can even deny access to sites by the Chinese government!

This furthers my own belief that rules of any kind are essentially made to be broken. Especially ones that inhibit people from living free thinking, and fulfilling lives. And on that note, this day being the 4th of July “freedom and independance” celebration in the United States, it seems suiting to end with a quote.

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” ~Abraham Lincoln

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide on Global Warming

- Adam Clare

I was shocked when I read that the United State’s supreme court is set to hear a case about global warming. Of course this obviously good because it forces some accountability on Bush’s administration, especially since he promised to curb CO2 emissions, but has failed to deliver. The court case basically concerns whether or not the government has the responsibility to ensure clean air, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The decision to hear the case sets up a legal showdown over President George W. Bush’s controversial position on global warming and his apparent reversal on the issue of regulating carbon dioxide.
…
The plaintiffs believe that the environmental and economic threats from climate change merit aggressive action by the federal government.

The Clean Air Act gives the EPA ample authority to regulate any air pollutant that threatens human health, they argue, and carbon dioxide – as the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming – clearly fits into that category.”

Kyoto Still Supported by Canadian Municipalities

- Vanessa King

Although the new Conservative Federal government in Canada is shying away from the Kyoto Protocol, that isn’t stopping Canada’s mayors and some provinces from taking action anyway! Two weeks ago an annual meeting was held by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, representing 1,400 municipal leaders across Canada. At that meeting a policy statement was adopted that supports Canada’s ratification of Kyoto.

“Municipal governments commit themselves…to implementing policies and operational changes that will achieve a global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050, based on 1990 levels,” the statement reads.

Municipal governments realize that they have the power to make a difference in Canada’s greenhouse gas emmisions, since they have a say in things such as transit and landfill regulations.
“In Canada, close to 55 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions can be influenced by decisions made by municipal governments,” the statement says.

Combine this with the latest news of, Quebec’s Provincial Government aiming to become the first province to levy a “carbon tax” in the fight against global warming, and it’s hard not to wonder…….who really needs the Feds anyway???

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