Shell Oil Given Permission to Begin Oil Exploration in Beaufort Sea

Provisional permission to drill oil exploration wells in the Beaufort Sea was given to Shell this week by President Barack Obama's administration. This is despite fierce opposition from environmentalists. This should concern us all.  The remoteness of the location, the pristine ecosystem in which they will drill, roving icebergs, freezing water and NO PLAN to clean up under such conditions exists.

Shell has a disastrous environmental record, as evidenced by what was done in the Niger Delta. This once fertile wetland ecosystem has basically been destroyed, as has the water supply and the livelihood of many Nigerians.  The Nigerians still await clean up and restitution.

Changes in Environment Changing Human Reproduction

Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
National Center of Excellence in Women's Health

Shaping Our Legacy:
Reproductive Health
and the Environment

A report on the Summit on
Environmental Challenges to
Reproductive Health and Fertility

Convened by the University of California,

San Francisco and the Collaborative on

Health and the Environment

A Report by:

Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment

Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences

National Center of Excellence in Women's Health

University of California, San Francisco

Excerpt:

We have made great strides in some aspects of our of health, such as increased life expectancy and better cancer treatments, but in other areas we are losing ground. When it comes to our reproductive health, we are only about half as well off as our grandparents were. Sperm counts have decreased by 50 percent during the past 50 years in several industrialized regions. More women, particularly those under the age of 25, are reporting difficulty conceiving and maintaining their pregnancies. Compared with 30 years ago, 26 percent more women get breast cancer, 46 percent more men get testicular cancer and 76 percent more men get prostate cancer. Thirty percent more babies are born premature, and, on average, babies are born one week earlier now than they were 15 years ago. The second and third most common birth defects today are malformations of male reproductive organs. For the most part, we do not know exactly why this is happening. But we do have substantial clues that suggest something in our environment is involved.

If you are interested in more information, please click here to download the report, Shaping our Legacy. (Adobe Reader required).  Shaping Our Legacy is also available in Spanish..

Fair Trade Improves Lives, Families and Communities

Do you wish to help artisans and producers in developing countries reach new markets and earn a fair price for their goods and services? While these are two noble reasons to support fair trade, probably the ultimate benefit to buying fair trade goods is that the income is sustainable.

Local materials, recycled goods and repurposed items make unique fair trade goods for the marketplace. No rain forests decimated to plant palm trees, no chemical plants to pollute water supplies, no mining roads through fragile ecosystems--and the money earned remains in the community.

Did you know that worldwide 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people surviving on less than a $1 a day are women? Research has shown that when women earn money, they are more likely to reinvest in themselves and the health, education and nutrition of their children. These results in improved communities, enhanced by better schools, fortified by healthier food and uplifted by improved health care for families.

There are many different fair trade products. Coffee and chocolate were some of the first fair trade goods you may remember in the marketplace. Now, there are handicrafts, clothing, jewelry, purses, religious items, toys, garden accessories and household items, just to name a few,  In fact, The Hunger Site has pages of fair trade goods.

Global Girlfriend(tm) is a fair-trade boutique that offers women-made, fair-trade products. In addition to providing a marketplace for fair trade goods, a portion of each purchase funds a seed money micro-grant and micro-credit program. These funds launch small businesses that benefit the women, their family and their communities.

A new player in the fair trade goods marketplace is Ethical Ocean. This organization hopes to increase the awareness and consumption of ethical products and services in North America.

	Eco-Friendly		Organic		Fair-Traded
	Animal-Friendly		People-Friendly		Social Change

Ethical Ocean fills a niche that was empty for too long. When we think of the "poor," we often think of Haiti, Africa or other developing countries.

In the United States, more than one in eight people, one in five children, live below the poverty line, Nearly one in four children is at risk of hunger. Among African-Americans and Latinos, one in three children is at risk of hunger (Income, Earnings and Poverty data from the 2008 American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, 2009).

In Canada, one in nine children, more than a million, live below the poverty line (2008 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada). There are several groups excluded from the overall  affluence of residents of Canada: native people, recent immigrants, women and the disabled. Women head over 85 percent of single-parent households and these households have a higher level of poverty than traditional two-parent households (Encyclopedia of the Nations » Americas » Canada - Poverty and wealth).

Empower the poor, the women and the children--buy fair trade goods and support the shops that bring these ethical products to you.