life down the rabbit hole...

Amazing stuff coming up everyone :)

In this post:

1. Derrick Jensen in Hamilton: Civilisation is Killing the Earth (March 1st)
2. Film Screening: Negative Effects of a Privatized Money Supply (February 20th)
3. Second Annual Toronto the Better Movie Series (February 22nd)
4. 10th Annual International Day Against Police Brutality (March 15th)
5. Seedy Saturday (March 17th)
6. Conference: The Real Dirt on Food: Unearthing the Controversies behind the Food We Eat (March 17th)
7. The Toronto Haiti Action Committee Presents: An evening of talk, music and solidarity with legendary SÒ Ann (March 2nd)

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1. Students for A Renegade Society an OPIRG Working Group presents:
DERRICK JENSEN
Civilization is Killing the Planet. What are you going to do about it?
Thursday March 1st, 2007

An evening with renowned author and activist DERRICK JENSEN, brought to you by the Students for A Renegade Society.

Join us on March 1st at 7.30pm in room 1A1 of the Ewart Angus Center for what promises to be a fascinating, inspiring, and enraging talk with the "philosopher poet of the environmental movement". "Speaking in an almost improvisational style, Jensen explores the nature of injustice, of what civilizations do to the natural world and how, in the face of the
resulting horror that is one of the all too apparent consequences of grave injustice, civilized human beings create intricate systems of denial, silence, abnegation, deception and self-hatred to keep it at bay." His critique is not to be missed, nor is his urgent message for change.

Room 1A1 of the Ewart Angus Center (part of the Health Sciences Building)
McMaster University
1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, ON.
7.30pm
donations $5 or $10 or PWYC

Learn more about Derrick at www.derrickjensen.org. And email Marya at marya.bee@gmail.com for more information about the SRS and the lecture.

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2. Video: Negative Effects of a Privatized Money Supply,
Tuesday, February 20, 2007, 7:30
30 Gloucester St

Canadians are in debt. The City is in debt. The Province is in debt. The Federal Government is in debt. If we're all in debt, who's got the money? Come and find out.

Location: The recreation building accessed through 30 Gloucester St - 2 blocks north of the Wellesley subway station. The buzzer code is 333. This month's video is from Sydney White's lectures at the University of Toronto's Free University, The Negative Effects of a Privatized Money Supply.

Bring a food bank donation.

For info call Anne or Paul: 416 536 9789

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3. Second Annual Toronto the Better Movie Series
Feb.22, 7.30pm
Tinto Coffee Shop (89 Roncesvalles)

movies/discussion/action on everyday economic decisions for a Better Toronto and a Better world - starts 7.30pm Feb.22nd.at Tinto Coffee Shop (89 Roncesvalles). Series features movies on factory farming in South America and Canada, women activists in the Maquiladoras and Toronto rappers speaking up about their music.

PWYC, cash bar and organic food menu, Guest Speakers, Free Books/CDs for first 10 arrivals.

For details see:
http://www.torontothebetter.net/2tgbd-2007movies.html

Taodhg (Tim) Burns for LIBRA KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION SERVICES CO-OPERATIVE INC., o/a Libra Information Services, a Toronto based co-operative business since 1989 and creators & operators of TORONTOTHEBETTER.NET, Toronto's socially responsible business directory and home for progressive enterprise.

We are: Arnold Alfonso, Usha Agrawal, Taodhg Burns, Musonda Kidd, KamlynNg-See Quan, Rachel Rosen, Miko Schechter, Greg Taylor

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4. March & Speak Out Against Police Brutality
10th Annual International Day Against Police Brutality

Thursday March 15, 4:00pm,
College and Lansdowne

Every day OCAP works hand in hand with communities that have been under attack by the Police. Under attack because they are poor, homeless, people of colour, First Nations or new immigrants. Under attack because it is the job of the police to maintain the power of the wealthy and upper class.

When we struggle to improve our lives and the lives of our children and communities, it is these same police that attack us and keep us beaten down.

March 15th 2007 marks the 10th Anniversary of the International Day Against Police Brutality. A day to bring awareness to the violence, torture, intimidation and harassment inflicted on citizens' by our governments' Police Forces. A date set by the people, the victims, the survivors, to raise their voices to show that they won't stay silent!!

As part of this internationally observed day, a march and speak out has been organized for Thursday March 15th. We will be meeting at the southeast corner of College & Lansdowne and marching on to 14 Division headquarters.

OCAP invites all people to come out and show support for those whose lives have been affected by the police and remember those whose lives were brutally ended by the police.

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
10 Britain St. Toronto, ON M5A 1R6
416-925-6939 ocap@tao.ca www.ocap.ca

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5. Seedy Saturday

Seed exchange & vendors, displays and information from environmental groups, great food from local vendors, raffle, workshops and hands-on demonstrations.

March 17, 10 am - 3 pm
Location: Scadding Court Community Centre, 707 Dundas St. W
(southeast corner of Dundas West & Bathurst)

Info: rhonda@thestop.org or 416-652-7867 x 222

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6. The Real Dirt on Food:
Unearthing the Controversies behind the Food We Eat

March 17, 9 am - 5 pm
Hart House Student Centre, University of Toronto,
7 Hart House Circle

The conference is organized and run by students at the University of Toronto, who are simply passionate about health and sustainability issues.

The main goal of the conference is to address controversial issues about sustainable eating, access in Toronto, nutrition, vegetarianism, organics, local food and slow food. There will be 8 workshops (2 at a time, 4 over the course of the day with one keynote speaker to open and conclude the conference)

Cost: $20 (students $10) - includes a sustainable lunch
Info: www.therealdirt.ca

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7. The Toronto Haiti Action Committee is pleased to present:
An evening of talk, music and solidarity:
SÒ Ann - legendary Haitian folksinger, political activist and grandmother

Friday, March 2, 7:00pm
Earth Sciences Centre - Room 1222
5 Bancroft Street, University of Toronto
(north of College, west of Huron)

Annette "SÒ Ann" Auguste was forcibly detained by US marines in April, 2004. She was held in prison without charge for more than two years by the Canadian-backed coup regime in Haiti, along with scores of other political prisoners. She was finally released in August, 2006. She continues to campaign to free political prisoners from Haiti's overflowing jails.

This event is a fundraiser for MOFAVA, an organization struggling in defence of Haiti's women's political prisoners.

Suggested donation: $5

Organized by:
Toronto Haiti Action Committee
E-mail: toronto-haitiaction@riseup.net
Web: www.canadahaitiaction.ca and www.ijdh.org

David Suzuki's 'If you were Prime Minister' Tour presents:
A conversation with
Dr. David Suzuki with Stephen Lewis

Winter Garden Theatre (Yonge at Queen)
Monday February 12 ~ 7:30pm ~ Doors at 7pm
$20 / $15 Students

This is the biggest tour of David Suzuki’s life and it comes at a time when voters are saying the environment is their number one election issue.

"The good news is, there are all sorts of solutions out there," Suzuki says. "The bad news is, our political leaders don't seem to be looking at them. Our job as citizens is to make sure they listen. That's what this tour is all about."

www.ticketmaster.ca ~ 416-872-5555
Box Office: Winter Garden Theatre - 189 Yonge Street - 11 to 5pm. (mon to sat)

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ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK, Toronto, Ontario
February 12-17, 2007

www.endisraeliapartheid.net

For the third consecutive year, Israeli Apartheid Week will take place in Toronto from February 12-17, 2007. This year we continue to work towards building a collective understanding of the Zionist ethnic cleansing, colonization and occupation of Palestine. The series of events will include nightly talks and presentations from some of the leading activists and analysts in the anti-apartheid movement such as Bonita Lawrence, Joel Kovel, Walter Lehn, and Jamal Zahalka. The week will culminate in a day of action on February 17th as part of the growing boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign against Israeli Apartheid.

The apartheid analysis put forward during Israeli Apartheid Week in previous years has played an important role in raising awareness and disseminating information about Zionism, the Palestinian liberation struggle, as well as the connections with the Aboriginal sovereignty struggle on Turtle Island and the South African Anti-Apartheid movement.
Rapidly spreading on a global scale, this year, Israeli Apartheid Week will be taking place simultaneously in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Oxford, Cambridge and London.

As Israel and its global backers like "Canada" and the "United States" tighten the strangulation hold on the Palestinian people in an attempt to provoke Palestinian infighting; and while the Israeli military continues its brutal daily assault on Palestinian life, it is crucial that people in the rest of the world wake up to the apartheid nature of the Israeli state, and realize that it is our collective responsibility to expose and isolate this racist regime until apartheid is dismantled.

Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) Proudly Presents:
Israeli Apartheid Week 2007

Monday Feb 12

7:00 pm
"Apartheid: Turtle Island, South Africa, Palestine"
Speakers: Bonita Lawrence, Shaheen Ariefdien, Hazem Jamjoum
Moderator: Judy Rebick

Location: Ryerson University (Main Building) LIB 72
Directions: 350 Victoria Street. Exit at Dundas Station. Walk East on Dundas, and then North on Victoria Street)


Tuesday Feb 13

12:00pm
Film Screening: "Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance"

Location: Sidney Smith (room 2128)
Directions: 100 St. George Street (Exit from St. George subway Station and walk South a little past Harbord)

7:00pm
"The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine"
Speakers: Azada Rahi, Zac Smith, Issam Al Yamani
Moderator: Kole Kilibarda

Location: University of Toronto, Tanz Neuroscience Building, Room 6/7 (Theatre)
Directions: 6 Queen's Park Crescent West (On the North-East Corner of College and Queen's Park (right next to Queen's Park Subway Station)


Wednesday Feb 14

12:00pm
RALLY AGAINST RACIST POLICE INACTION AND IMPUNITY!
Hundreds of Indigenous women have been murdered or have gone missing over the last 30 years. Today we come together to demonstrate against the complicity of the colonizer state and its institutions - police, RCMP, coroners offices and the courts, in the ongoing genocide against First Nations. Indigenous communities are over-policed and indigenous girls make up the fastest growing prison population yet their deaths go uninvestigated and their killers unpunished.
Organized by NO MORE SILENCE

Location: Outside Police headquarters at Bay and College
Directions: Exit at College Subway Station and walk half a block west.

7:00pm
"Apartheid in Present-day Palestine"
Speakers: Walter Lehn, Jon Elmer, Nimer Sultany
Moderator: Zein Ayoub

Location: University of Toronto, Tanz Neuroscience Building, Room 6/7 (Theatre)


Thursday Feb 15

7:00pm
"Ideologies of Genocide and Apartheid"
Speakers: Gabi Piterberg, Joel Kovel
Moderator: Navid Anvari

Location: University of Toronto, Tanz Neuroscience Building, Room 6/7 (Theatre)


Friday Feb 16

7:00pm
"Debunking the Myth of Israel as a Democracy"
Speaker: Jamal Zahalka
Moderator: Rafeef Ziadah

Location: OISE Auditorium (Ontario Institute of Secondary (Education)
252 Bloor Street West, Next to St. George Subway Station (exit on Bedford Street),


Saturday Feb 17

1:00pm
BOYCOTT CHAPTERS/INDIGO DAY OF ACTION
Please join CAIA and allies to protest Israeli Apartheid and highlight the support it receives from the Heseg Foundation. Please visit www.caiaweb.org for more information about Heseg and the Chapters/Indigo connection.
Organized by the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid

Location: Israeli Consulate at 180 Bloor Street West
St. George Subway Station and walk East on Bloor St.

WWW.ENDISRAELIAPARTHEID.NET

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Premiere Video Screening of:
"The Fight For True Farming" (2005) - 90 mins.

GENEaction General Meeting
Wed, February 14, 7:30pm

Metro Hall, 55 John St, Room No. 303. south of King St.

Cost: Donations Welcomed - $2 to $5 Suggested or PWYC

Who's trying to control our Food Supply and Why?
And why are they also trying to sell us "GMO Terminator Suicide Seeds"?
The shocking truth that affects both Farmers and Food Consumers.

Filmmaker/Director: Eve Lamont
Produced by: N.Hubert, S. Van Brabant (Rapide Blanc) & C. Loumede(ONF)

In this documentary, crop and animal farmers in Quebec, the Canadian West, the US Northeast and France offer solutions to the social and environmental scourges of factory farming. Driven by the forces of globalization, rampant agribusiness is harming the environment and threatening the survival of farms.

The proliferation of GMO crops is a further threat to biodiversity as well as to farmers' autonomy.

In Europe as well as North America, a current of resistance bringing together farmers and consumers insists that it is possible--indeed imperative--to grow food differently.

The Fight for True Farming is a film of grim lucidity but also irrepressible hope.
http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=53662&v=h&lg=en

<http://nfu.ca/seedsavercampaign/>
<http://biotech.indymedia.org>]
<www.banterminator.org>
<http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=500>
<http://www.activistmagazine.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=217>

<geneaction@yahoo.ca>

ive just posted a large amount of all very important news articles, all of which are honestly highly recommended, ive divided them into categories (or tags), as well as provided quick access to upcoming community events if you feel like participating in our world a little more! phew!

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Upcoming Events

http://therabbithole.blog.com/Community/

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Headlines

Featured Article
Ontario attacks Aboriginal and treaty rights in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) Litigation
http://therabbithole.blog.com/1513595/

Environment & Climate Change
http://therabbithole.blog.com/1513554/

The Middle East, War & Oil
http://therabbithole.blog.com/1513542/

Oppression & Poverty
http://therabbithole.blog.com/1513524/

Health
http://therabbithole.blog.com/1513474/

NISHNAWBE ASKI NATION
Transmitted by CNW Group on : January 29, 2007 12:43

THUNDER BAY, ON, Jan. 29 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) spokesperson John Cutfeet are outraged by the Government of Ontario's attack on Aboriginal and treaty rights during Friday's court proceeding in the case of KI vs. Platinex.

"Ontario's legal argument dismisses constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights based on First Nation culture and spiritual connection to the land," said KI spokesperson John Cutfeet after the third court proceeding since Toronto-based mining company Platinex sued his northern First Nation community for $10 billion after they requested drilling equipment be removed from their traditional territory last Spring. "The mining act is an outdated piece of legislation, whereby the McGuinty government grants permits without consulting the First peoples where lands will be affected by the various impacts of mining. The McGuinty government claims the provincial mining act trumps all constitutionally protected rights recognized under section 35 of the Canadian constitution for all First Nations."

Government of Ontario lawyer Owen Young argued for intervener status in Thunder Bay's Ontario Superior Court Friday January 26, 2007.

"It's clear the McGuinty government has a twisted interpretation of the spirit and intent of James Bay Treaty 9, not to mention sixteen years of Supreme Court decisions that have ruled for consultation and accommodation with First Nations prior to land exploration, let alone
drilling," said NAN Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler.

Despite a community declared moratorium on resource development recent Supreme Court rulings to consult and accommodate, including Mikisew (November 2005), Platinex received permission from the Government of Ontario to drill in KI territory February 2006.

KI brought a constitutional challenge to the Ontario Mining Act June 2006, claiming the Act fails to prioritize Aboriginal and Treaty rights deeming it unconstitutional.

In July an Ontario Superior Court decision halted Platinex from drilling in KI territory until the mining company and Province of Ontario fulfil obligations to consult with the First Nation community. In this decision, Justice Patrick Smith specifically referenced the impacts of mining on not only the right of First Nations to fish, hunt, and trap, but also on impacts to the cultural and spiritual connection to the land.

The next scheduled date for court proceedings is April 2, 2007 in Thunder Bay.

KI is a signatory to the 1929 adhesion of James Bay Treaty 9. The community is located approximately 600 km north of Sioux Lookout.


For further information: Jenna Young, NAN Director of Communications at (807) 625-4952; or John Cutfeet, KI Spokesperson at (807) 627-9062/

Scientists Offered Cash to Dispute Climate Study
By Ian Sample, The Guardian UK
Friday 02 February 2007

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.

full article here.

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Canada acts to protect rainforest
Monday, 22 January 2007, 08:44 GMT

Canada has pledged to spend millions of dollars to help protect the world's largest temperate rainforest.

The government will allocate CAN$30m (US$26m, £13m) to maintain the area of British Columbia known as the Great Bear Rainforest.

full article here, related here.

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Under Water by 2100? Risk of the Rising Sea
By Mike Taugher, The San Jose Mercury News
Friday 26 January 2007

Scientists seek ways to avert a creeping catastrophe in Bay area.

The seas have been rising for 18,000 years, but the pace has quickened.

At the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean crept seven inches higher during the past century, as global warming melted glaciers and expanded ocean waters.

Californians are taking notice. In one of the first efforts of its kind in the state, officials are starting to address the threats rising seas pose to the Bay Area.

One of the first steps was to compile maps that show what would happen if the sea level rose three feet - the upper limit for what might occur by 2100, according to computer models of climate used by the state.

full article here.

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US Urges Scientists to Block Out Sun
By David Adam and Liz Minchin, The Sydney Morning Herald AU
Monday 29 January 2007

The US wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming.

full article here.

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Canada Worried by Plunging Caribou Population
By David Ljunggren, Reuters
Monday 29 January 2007

Ottawa - The caribou population in Canada's vast Northwest Territories is falling rapidly and the increasingly warm climate could slow the animals' chances of recovery, a wildlife specialist said Friday.

Herds of barren-ground caribou - which for centuries have been a crucial source of food and furs for local aboriginals - have dropped by between 40 and 86 percent over the last 10 years. The largest single herd fell from 472,000 animals in 1986 to 128,000 in 2006 and is still declining.

full article here.

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Some Experts Blast Latest Climate Report
By Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press
Sunday 28 January 2007

Washington - Later this week in Paris, climate scientists will issue a dire forecast for the planet that warns of slowly rising sea levels and higher temperatures. But that may be the sugarcoated version.

full article here.

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White House Rejects Mandatory CO2 Caps
By John Heilprin, The Associated Press
Friday 02 February 2007

Washington - Despite a strongly worded global warming report from the world's top climate scientists, the Bush administration expressed continued opposition Friday to mandatory reductions in heat-trapping "greenhouse" gases.

full article here.

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Bush 'distorted' climate change reports
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Fiona Harvey in London
Updated: 5:12 a.m. ET Jan 31, 2007

The Bush administration has routinely suppressed or ­distorted communication of climate change science to the public, a climate specialist at Nasa's Goddard Institute said on Tuesday.

full article here.

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Indonesia May Lose 2,000 Islands to Climate Change
Reuters
Monday 29 January 2007

Jakarta - Indonesia could lose about 2,000 islands by 2030 due to climate change, the country's environment minister said on Monday.

full article here.

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Pirates Stick By Whales
By Kelpie Wilson, t r u t h o u t | Columnist
Sunday 28 January 2007

Every winter, the Japanese whaling fleet heads to the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica on a mission to kill a thousand whales. Ever since the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, Japan has used a curious rationale for its whaling. It does not kill a thousand whales for commercial purposes. It kills them for scientific research.

full article here.

Iran Clock Is Ticking
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
Wednesday 31 January 2007

While congressional Democrats test how far they should go in challenging George W. Bush's war powers, the time may be running out to stop Bush from ordering a major escalation of the Middle East conflict by attacking Iran.

full article here.

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Israel may have misused cluster bombs, says U.S.
Last Updated: Monday, January 29, 2007 | 2:10 PM ET
CBC News

Israel may have violated an agreement with Washington by using American-made cluster bombs during last summer's war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, the U.S. State Department said Monday.

full article here.

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Democrats Try to Increase Leverage Over Iraq Policy
By Kate Zernike, The New York Times
Saturday 27 January 2007

Washington - Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the House majority leader, said Friday that Congress might consider legislation revising the authorization it gave President Bush in 2002 to use military force in Iraq.

full article here.

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Bush Slashes Aid to Poor to Boost Iraq War Chest
By Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian UK
Tuesday 06 February 2007

President George Bush is proposing to slash medical care for the poor and elderly to meet the soaring cost of the Iraq war.

Mr Bush's $2.9 trillion (£1.5 trillion) budget, sent to Congress yesterday, includes $100bn extra for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for this year, on top of $70bn already allocated by Congress and $141.7bn next year. He is planning an 11.3% increase for the Pentagon. Spending on the Iraq war is destined to top the total cost of the 13-year war in Vietnam.

full article here.

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America "Poised to Strike at Iran's Nuclear Sites" From Bases in Bulgaria and Romania
By Gabriel Ronay, The Sunday Herald UK
Sunday 28 January 2007

Reports suggest that "US defensive ring" may be new front in war on terror.

President Bush is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of April and the US Air Force's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania would be used as back-up in the onslaught, according to an official report from Sofia.

full article here.

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Exxon Record Profits Also Shows Company Took Less Profit in Run-Up to the Election
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights | Press Release
Friday 02 February 2007

Exxon, Shell and Marathon Oil slashed fourth quarter refining margins to temporarily lower pump prices, group says.

Washington - Exxon set the record for the largest annual corporate profit of $39.5 billion last year even with a 4% decline in fourth-quarter profit resulting in part from an 18% drop in refining margins, according to the company's profit report today. Shell, the world's second largest oil company, set a company record earning $25.4 billion in 2006 but also announced a 23% decline in refining margins. Pump prices have increased dramatically in recent years following industry wide increases in refining margins.

full article here.

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Harper, Dion both profess support for Israel
Updated Tue. Feb. 6 2007 9:59 PM ET
Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper painted his political rivals as fairweather friends of Israel and said he will stand by the Jewish state even if costs him politically.

full article here.

Global Unemployment Remains at Historic High Despite Strong Economic Growth
International Labour Organization
Thursday 25 January 2007

Modest gains in reducing working poverty.

Geneva - The number of people unemployed worldwide remained at an historical high in 2006 despite strong global economic growth, the International Labour Office (ILO) said in its annual Global Employment Trends (Note 1) released today.

full article here.

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The new face of poverty
Virginia Galt, Globe and Mail Update
Posted AT 11:09 AM EST on 30/01/07

In spite of their higher education levels, new immigrants to Canada are worse off now than they were in the 1990s, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. In 2002, low-income rates among immigrants during their first full year in Canada were 3.5 times higher than those of Canadian-born people. By 2004, the rate had eased only slightly, to 3.2 times higher, Statscan reported.

full article here.

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Western bankers and lawyers 'rob Africa of $150bn every year'
Nick Mathiason in Nairobi, The Observer
Sunday January 21, 2007

Africa kept destitute as western firms shift cash to tax havens

More than $150bn a year is looted from Africa through tax avoidance by giant corporations and capital flight using 'a pinstripe infrastructure' of western banks, lawyers and accountants, according to the African Union.

full article here.

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U.S. in Afghanistan Means Harsher Oppression for Women
Revolutionary Worker #1219, posted at rwor.org
November 16, 2003

November 3, 2003. A World to Win News Service. Shortly after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell self- righteously declared, "The rights of the women of Afghanistan are not negotiable." Life in Afghanistan for women today shows that this was just a lie to justify the crime the U.S. was about to commit.

Women's lives did not become better after the U.S. invasion. They have become worse. This is one of the worst periods in the country's history for females.

full article here.

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Japanese Minister Wants "Birth-Giving Machines," aka Women, to Have More Babies
By Justin McCurry, The Guardian UK
Monday 29 January 2007

Japan's health minister did nothing to endear himself to female voters over the weekend when he described women as "birth-giving machines" and implored them to "do their best" to halt the country's declining birthrate.

full article here.

Traffic Exposure Disrupts Teen Lung Development
By Roxanne Khamsi, The New Scientist
Friday 26 January 2007

Exposure to traffic pollution can significantly stunt a child's lung development, new research shows.

The study finds that youngsters who live within 500 metres of major highways develop weaker lungs with less air capacity than their counterparts who live at least 1500 metres away from arterial roads.

full article here.

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Toxic Teflon: Compounds From Household Products Found in Human Blood
By Stan Cox, AlterNet.org
Tuesday 02 January 2007

Evidence is piling up that emissions from the production of synthetic compounds in non-stick cookware, cleaning products, and a host of other common products may cause cancer and other health problems.

"Better things for better living - through chemistry." From the 1940s to the 1980s, E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. wooed customers with that slogan, one of the most memorable in American advertising. But today, two groups of DuPont products developed during that era - fluorotelomers and fluoropolymers - are showing how chemical-dependent "better living" can come at a high price.

full article here.

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Cheap, Safe Drug Kills Most Cancers
By Andy Coghlan, New Scientist Magazine
Saturday 20 January 2007

It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their "immortality". The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe. It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.

full article here.

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Bird flu confirmed in Okayama Pref. (Japan)
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The deaths of chickens at a farm in Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture, were confirmed to have been caused by a type of the highly contagious H5 bird flu virus, the agriculture ministry and the Okayama prefectural government said Monday.

full article here.

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British govt 'preparing for human flu pandemic'
04/02/2007 - 13:39:35

The British government is preparing “very seriously” for the remote possibility of a human flu pandemic as officials battle to contain the first avian outbreak in the UK.

full article here.

 

An Inconvenient Truth
A Public Lecture By Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore

February 21st 2007
7.00pm

University of Toronto Convocation Hall
31 King's College Circle

Tickets Available via www.uofttix.ca or call 416.978.8849

 

The Food Animator Project is offering series of community gardening workshop. The courses are geared towards community organizers (agencies) and community leaders who are interested in starting a community garden.

Session: Gardening
February 7, 2007, 7.00pm - 9.00pm

Session: Fundraising (Where and how to get money for gardens)
February 21, 2007, 7.00pm - 9.00pm

Session: Unified Groups (How to run a group so that people are satisfied and the garden is successful)
March 7, 2007, 7.00pm -9.00pm

All workshops are at the Lawrence Heights Community Centre, 5 Replin Road, near Lawrence and Allen

Registration Fee: $25. Leadership scholarships are available.

To register please call Ravenna Barker at 416-363-6441 ext 225 or email
Ravenna@foodshare.net