Yasher koach! (Congratulations) Israel has banned animal experiments in its high schools and junior high schools. Thanks may be sent to Israeli Minister of Education Yossi Sarid (Maretz party) [sar@education.gov.il], the Israeli Society for the Abolition of Vivisection, and Yossi Wolfson, coordinator of Anonymous for Animal Rights, Israel's largest animal rights group [Box 6315, Tel Aviv 61062, Israel; phone/fax: 011-972-3-525 8599]. Israel joins a growing list of countries that have banned vivisection and/or dissection in schools.
A Golden State of Investment California State Treasurer Phillip Angelides has a radical plan for the Golden State's $300 billion investment portfolio. Angelides argues that the state has too much money invested in despotic third world countries and not enough invested at home creating jobs and housing. With the support of minorities and labor unions, Angelides wants to use the fund's huge economic clout to fight tobacco interests, support human rights and slow urban sprawl. State Senate President John Burton (D-San Francisco) calls Angelides a pragmatic, policy-driven guy who "believes the funds should benefit housing, not slave labor or prison labor."
Charitable Clicking Every 30 seconds seven people (five of them children under five) die of hunger. At the Hunger Site homepage [www.hungersite.com], a simple mouse-click triggers a donation of wheat, corn or other staple food. Corporate sponsors (whose ads adorn the site) cover the donations, which go directly to the United Nations World Food Program. The Hunger Site generates more than 200 metric tons of food per day. Other click'n'give sites: www.igive.com · www.4charity.com · www.greatergood.com · www.yourschoolshop.com · www.schoolpop.com · www.charitycounts.com · www.charitableway.com · www.helping.org · www.giveforchange.com · www.charitygift.com.
Non-toxic Dentistry If you'd like to avoid poisonous mercury in cavity-filling material, the internet now offers a list [www.talkinternational.com] of "mercury-free" dentists in the US, Australia, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Central and South America.
Green Triangle Protects Monterey Bay A rare coalition of farmers, environmentalists and government officials has formed a plan to save the renowned Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary from pollution. The problem is agricultural toxic runoff from the state's $3 billion agriculture industry, which produces more than 200 crops, including most of the nation's lettuce. The sanctuary, the nation's largest, extends along the central coast of California for 400 miles and covers 500 square miles of ocean. The sanctuary is home to 28 species of marine mammals, 94 species of sea birds, 345 species of fish, four turtle species and more than 450 species of marine algae. Under the historic plan, farmers agreed to adopt runoff-reduction techniques and use faster-decomposing pesticides. The state agreed to promote better erosion controls, and everyone involved pledged to coordinate water-quality and pesticide-use monitoring.
Indigo Girls Goin' Green The singing group Indigo Girls has established the Honor the Earth Foundation to promote indigenous thinking and environmental justice. Honor the Earth began as a music, arts and media touring campaign in 1993. To date, their efforts have generated 100,000 political action cards and nearly half a million dollars for 65 native groups. The Indigo Girls are now on tour raising funds for Honor the Earth [2801 21st Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55407, (800) EARTH07, www.honorearth.com].
Eco-deposits Heal Enviro-ills Shorebank Pacific Eco Bank is moving toward a conservation-based economy in the Pacific Northwest, where it has funded an organic cranberry farm, an affordable green-rehab housing project, a habitat restoration project at an alternative school, and an innovative stormwater management system. The bank hopes to expand the funding base for its popular environmental loans by offering eco-deposits in the form of eco-savings accounts, eco-IRAs and eco-time deposits (five-year CDs with a 5.25 percent interest rate). [Shorebank Pacific, 203 Howerton Way, SE, Ilwaco, Washington 98624, 888-ECO-BANK; 360-642-1166; www.eco-bank.com]
Too Hot for TV Author and Greenpeace activist Harvey Wasserman calls EnviroVideos [Box 311, Ft. Tilden, NY 11695; envirovideo@earthlink.net] "essential to the fight to save the planet." EnviroVideos (available for $19.95 a pop) feature such bright lights as Michio Kaku, Helen Caldicott and Frances Moore Lappé. Some of the titles: Food Irradiation; Environmental Racism/Environmental Justice; The Whistleblowers and Karl Grossman's award-winning Nukes in Space 2: Unacceptable Risks.
Hey, kids! Help the Animals! In Defense of Animals [131 Camino Alto, Suite E, Mill Valley, CA 94941, (415) 381-9461, www.idausa.org] has created the Youth Corps for Animals website for kids [www.youthforanimals.org]. Here young people interested in volunteering time to save abused or neglected wild or companion animals can find some wonderful opportunities with a wide range of animal protection agencies.
Holiday Coffee Tips Save Non-human Lives Employees at the West Portal Avenue Peets Coffee shop in San Francisco donated all of their Christmas Eve tips - $1009.50 - to the National Anti-vivisection Society.
A 21st century Eco-ethos with Biblical Roots The Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership in Tel Aviv, Israel, explores the Torah and Talmud for ways in which eco-issues can be implemented within an observant-Jewish way of life. [Jeremy Benstein, jeremy@heschelcenter.org or Eilon Schwartz, eilon@heschelcenter.org]
The Package Pulpit Boxes of Bearitos organic foods now carry this statement: "All life - every plant, animal and human being - is healthy to the extent that the earth itself is healthy. [We] support farmers who rotate their crops, naturally replenish the nutrients of the soil, avoid the use of toxic chemicals and meet our high standards for organically grown foods. ... [S]top treating our soil like dirt and start treating the earth as the precious gift it is." [The Hain Food Group, Inc., Uniondale, NY 11553, (310) 886-8200, www.westbrae.com]
Give Your Peddling a Little Zip The Traveler Express mini-bicycle folds up, so you can cart it on and off the train, ferry or bus. A small saddlebag-shaped electric motor above the rear wheel provides a little help up those hills. The motor all by itself (known as the Universal Express "adapter kit" and selling for around $300) can be easily installed on your own bike, according to ETC, and quickly removed for recharging indoors from a household outlet. [Electric Technology Company, 1486 East Valley Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93108; 805-969-1767; www.etcbikes.com]
No More Denim in Them There Fills The Advantage Manufacturing Group [918-343-9200, kjnunn@aol.com] removes and recovers the indigo dye from old denim to make reusable white cotton fiber. Developmentally challenged workers are hired at livable wages to sort the fabric scraps. The process saves 240 million pounds per year of fabric from moldering in landfills.
Building Green Communities New Village Journal serves as a clearinghouse for green building resources, community revitalization and affordable ecological design. The premiere issue put a human face on housing rehabilitation, with articles such as "A Brief History of Grassroots Greening in NYC" and "Community Shamanism: Youth, Violence and Healing." The magazine sees "nimble non-governmental organizations" as essential to the pursuit of affordable housing, economic development and social services. [New Village Journal, $8.00 per issue from Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, 2000 Center Street, Suite. 120, Berkeley, CA 94704; 510-845-0685]
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E-mail Sharon Skolnick at <sskolnick@earthisland.org>.
