<a href="https://nackpets.wordpress.com/" title="&quot;OUR WORLD&quot;" rel="home">&quot;OUR WORLD&quot;

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/635/993/913/

Petition: This Nail Salon Uses Live Animals As Nail Art. It’s Not Cool, It’s Cruelty.

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Nail Sunny

5,347 SUPPORTERS – 10,000 GOAL
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

That’s the consensus to a new video nail salon Nail Sunny of Moscow recently posted showing nail “artists” using live ants as decoration for human nails.

Nail Sunny — who is no stranger to testing the limits to nail art — went a bit too far for most of their fans this time. In a now-deleted video, the salon shows a nail technician applying long clear acrylic nails to a customer. On the other side, the employee adds another layer that seals the nail making it more like a vessel. Then, the technician grabs the ants with tweezers and stuffs one ant into each clear nail before fixing them on to the customer’s fingers.

The poor ants struggle to find a way out. After pushback from their fans, Nail Sunny tried to calm their disturbed customers by saying they left air in for the ants to breathe. Unfortunately, without food, they would likely die anyway.

Now, we are the first here to say that some of you might read this and say: “yeah, but they are just ants who cares? I’ve probably killed hundreds or thousands already today just on my walk to work right?” What’s the difference?

But there is a difference — a huge one. For starters, it’s one thing to kill ants unintentionally as you go about your day, it’s quite another to take a living, breathing animal, and use them as accessories. Secondly, using an animal, no matter how small it is, for decoration and human entertainment normalizes and justifies the behavior. Last year, a Chinese company was called out for making phone bobbles using baby turtles. Live turtle hatchlings were stuffed inside tiny plastic bubbles no bigger than the size of a credit card. People all around the world spoke out against this cruelty. We should do the same for these ants because normalizing live animals as decoration should be a line we refuse to cross.

Please sign the petition and tell Nail Sunny to stick to art, not torture. Ask them to never use live animals for their nails again.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/264/694/825/

Petition: Demand Coca Cola find ways to use less plastic in Thailand.

by: Michael Taylor
recipient: Coca Cola

7,226 SUPPORTERS – 10,000 GOAL

Watching monkeys run around and laughing at their antics it is easy to forget that they shouldn’t be drinking from plastic bottles and rummaging through garbage left behind by humans. There is nothing cute about monkeys playing with human waste and there is nothing cute about watching a monkey digging in plastic, getting it tangled around its head and slowly suffocating.

While tourism is a good thing, with obvious benefits for local communities and the economy, it can still have its drawbacks. Irresponsible tourists, mixed with badly managed waste disposal and no or ineffective recycling initiatives can have devastating effects on countries and its wildlife.

Countries like Thailand with stunning its beaches, friendly locals and rich culture and cuisine provides 35 million tourists a year an unforgettable holiday. Phuket that is Thailand’s largest island, and is popularly known as Phuket the pearl of the south because of its natural resources. Rocky peninsular, white beaches, limestone cliffs, tranquil broad bays and tropical forests are some of sites and wonders to enjoy. It is one of the most visited and most popular tourist destinations in the world. Phuket sees around 5 million Thailands tourists yearly. While leaving them with an indelible mark, the island of Phuket is also left with something a lot less pleasant – unmanagable waste that is choking the environment, polluting the ocean, it looks terrible and is dangerous to the animals.

Coca-Cola is one of the largest producers of plastics in the world, and they are very well aware of this. Taking responsibility for this, Coca-Cola joined the Mexican plastics industry in 2002 to create a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting a culture of recycling in Mexico. Coca-Cola then also funded an initiative to help create IMER and PetStar, the country’s food-grade PET (Polyethylene terephthalate ) plastic recycling plants. In 2016, Mexico recycled 57% of the PET plastic it produced (up from 9% in 2002), making it a leading country globally for recycling PET plastic.

Now we ask the same be done for Thailand. While we appreciate the 2nd Lives campaign, we believe a more substantial effort is needed in Thailand, and Phuket more specifically. We have seen the success that you had in Mexico, and we are sure that you have learned much from the Mexican campaign.

James Quincey, President and CEO of Coca-Cola: I have read your blog where you speak about a world without waste, and you passionate speak about recycling and the role Coca-Cola played in Mexico. Thailand is sinking under plastics, and we ask that you put your money where your mouth is, and focus on Thailand, and Phuket as you did in Mexico.

Coca-Cola has the experience and the means to save Thailand and its monkeys from death by plastic. Sign this petition, send it to your friends and family and be a part of something that can and will make a difference.
Tell James Quincey that one monkey suffocating is too much.

James Quincey, act now, please, and do something for Thailand and her wildlife

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/304/009/879/

Petition: People Are Snatching Nesting Sea Turtles Out of the Ocean for the Most Horrific Reason

by: Care2 Team
recipient: President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega

47,370 SUPPORTERS – 50,000 GOAL
It’s not easy being a baby sea turtle. Once you break out of your shell you have to find the ocean and hightail it to the waves, avoiding seagulls, large fish, and other predators before you even have a chance of survival.

And those are the dangers you face AFTER you hatch. In some parts of the world, they never even get a chance to peek through their shell because the locals find turtle eggs so delicious they collect them by the hundreds.

That’s what happened recently in Nicaragua’s La Flor Beach Natural Reserve. The reserve is a coveted nesting spot among female olive ridley sea turtles. They come in droves to lay their eggs in the soft sand in hopes that in a few months, they will hatch and make it back to sea. But too often that doesn’t happen, and what happened earlier this month is a tragic example.

A video that’s recently gone viral, shows several locals wading in the ocean and grabbing female turtles straight out of the water. Usually, egg hunters wait for the turtles to lay their eggs before they swoop — which is illegal itself — but, as the Daily Mail notes, the most recent “video marks [a] new level of cruelty.” The stunning footage shows the enormous turtles, flipped upside down, propped up on the poachers’ shoulders flailing helplessly before they disappear into the distance.

While the poachers just want their eggs, it’s likely that the mother turtles didn’t survive the ordeal, making this story even more tragic.

The video shows that even though egg poaching is highly illegal in Nicaragua and turtles are protected there, there is still a lot more that needs to be done. If locals can simply walk down to the beach and snatch a 50 to a hundred pound creature out of the ocean in plain sight, with no repercussions then clearly something is wrong.

Nicaragua needs to protect the turtles and their eggs especially at their most vulnerable otherwise their laws are superficial.

Please join us in demanding that Nicaraguan officials implement a beach watch and guard program to protect sea turtles during nesting season and prosecute poachers to the fullest extent of the law. Sign the petition.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/271/589/785/

Petition: They Shot Her Dog Dead In Her Own Yard!

by: Care2 Team
recipient: London Police

37,670 SUPPORTERS
40,000 GOAL

When Suzzana Day of Islington, London, let her dog Lola out to go to the bathroom in their garden, she had no idea it would be the last time she saw her chihuahua alive. After a while, when she noticed Lola still hadn’t returned she went to look for her, only to find her lying dead in a pool of her own blood.

There, in the same garden where her children play, someone had mercilessly killed her dog. An X-Ray would later reveal that Lola had been shot with an air rifle, the pellet could be easily seen, lodged in her brain.

Lola’s story, unfortunately, isn’t unique. According to the Express, the RSPCA received more than 650 calls regarding animals being targeted by people using air weapons just last year.

Cases like Lola’s should be taken seriously. Her killer should be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That’s because people who are capable of inflicting this kind of violence against an animal, could potentially turn to humans.

Help demand justice for Lola and the Day family. Sign the petition and demand that London police continue their search for Lola’s killer.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/121/758/390/lonely-fuko-has-been-trapped-alone-for-10-years.-please-help-her-have-a-better-life/?TAP=1724

Petition: Lonely Fuko has been trapped ALONE FOR 10 YEARS. Please help her have a better life!, Japan

by: Elephants in Japan, Zoocheck
recipient: Nagano Chasuyama Zoo, JAZA, Minister of Environment, Mayor of Nagano and prefecture council, Japan

552 SUPPORTERS in Japan
111,606 SUPPORTERS – 120,000 GOAL

Fuko the elephant has been alone for 10 years—after losing her companion Dumbo in 2008. For 25 years, Fuko and Dumbo spent every waking moment together in the same enclosure. At least back then, they had each other.

Now Fuko is forced to spend most of her days trapped alone in a tiny, featureless concrete cell at Nagano Chasuyama Zoo in Japan. To cope with her loneliness, she tries to interact with zoo visitors by following them and reaching out to them with her trunk.

Totally alone, bored and lonely, Fuko has found another disturbing way to cope: EVERY DAY, HUNDREDS OF TIMES A DAY, Fuko paces in a routine repetitive pattern, over and over and over in her tiny indoor enclosure. #1: She backs up to the far left wall of her cell #2: Walks to the far right side #3: Walks to the front right corner #4: Walks to the front left corner, and touches her trunk to the bars of her cell. Watch the actual video footage, HERE.

Fuko’s repetitive pacing is an abnormal stereotypical behavior that is often seen in captive wild animals kept in substandard enclosures. They are often associated with boredom, anxiety, frustration and depression—and they mean that Fuko’s biological, behavioural and social needs are not being met.

Solitary confinement is an undeserved punishment for an animal that is naturally highly intelligent and social. Elephants live up to 60-70 years, and are exceptionally social animals who have families and friends. They grieve their dead.

But finally Fuko’s plight has come to light! Fuko still has a chance at a better life: experiencing soft soil on her feet, companionship and enrichment to occupy her very intelligent mind. The Elephants in Japan campaign is working with top elephant experts and organizations to help Fuko and other solitary elephants in Japan. BUT we need your help! Please sign and share this petition demanding change for Fuko!

The more voices we can add to this cause, the more power we have to approach our targets and demand change. In Japan, this is pushing for the government and other relevant authorities to develop legislation that sets higher standards of captive elephant housing and care, including prohibiting the keeping of highly social animals, like elephants, in social isolation.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP TO SAVE FUKO!

Aug 25 2018

Europe’s Biggest Illegal Turtle Farm Dismantled

europol.europa.eu

The Spanish Guardia Civil carried out the operation in which some 1 100 turtles and 750 eggs were rescued
Three individuals have been arrested and three others detained
Europol supported the operation by coordinating the exchange of information between Spain and the following European countries: Austria, France, Germany and Italy

14 of the 50 most endangered species in the world

Operation Coahuila, carried out within the framework of Europol’s operation Naultinus, began in February 2017 when officers from the Spanish Guardia Civil seized a shipment of turtles at Mallorca airport, as the turtles in the shipment did not match the details included in the corresponding declaration.

Police later discovered a farm in the Balearic Islands devoted to the industrial breeding of several species of water turtles and tortoises. More than 1 100 adults and hatchlings and over 750 eggs were seized. These numbers are expected to increase because there were more than 200 females about to lay eggs. Among the species found on the farm were 14 of the 50 most endangered turtle species in the world, some originating from Canada, Mexico and the United States and protected by respective national legislation. There were also turtles from South Asia considered at high risk of extinction as well as black turtles, listed as “vulnerable” in Spain. The total value of this reptiles and eggs is worth some EUR 600 000, with some of the species worth up to EUR 10 000 per turtle.
Pet shop in Barcelona used to launder the specimens

Criminals used to poach endangered species of turtles and then they falsified the content of the accompanying documents stating that the turtles or the eggs belonged to their breeding farm. The turtles were shipped by animal couriers specialised in reptile and amphibian transportation. The owners of the farm collaborated very closely with a pet shop in Barcelona, which specialised in exotic animals and was used to smuggle the turtles bred in Mallorca. The operation resulted in two individuals arrested in Mallorca alongside one in Barcelona and another three people detained in both cities. They are accused of offenses against wild fauna and flora, smuggling protected species and money laundering.

The Spanish Guardia Civil lead this operation with the support of experts from the CITES Convention (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and experts from Europol, who cooperated from the beginning by analysing and coordinating information from several EU countries, such as Austria, France, Germany and Italy and by deploying one expert to Spain equipped with a mobile office and a Universal Forensic Extraction Devices (UFED). This allowed cross-checks of the data gathered during the course of the actions against Europol’s databases, as well as the extraction of data from the mobile and computer devices seized for its posterior analysis.

https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/europe%E2%80%99s-biggest-illegal-turtle-farm-dismantled

Aug 25 2018

Some Major Twitter Owners Have Russian Interests; Trump-Kushner Connections

Mining Awareness +

555 California St. in San Franciso, California, is partially owned by the Trump Organization. Morgan Stanley is a tenant.

The Palmer Report was temporarily suspended from twitter, apparently because they had “asserted that Donald Trump would spend the rest of his life in prison.” Reportedly others have been suspended, as well [1]. This raises the question of if Twitter is defending Donald Trump? If so, why? While the obvious answer is that Trump is good for Twitter business, it raises the question of who owns Twitter? Do they have Trump or Russia ties? The answer is yes. Is this why people are being suspended? Not necessarily, but it is worth noting.

Below are some connections between some of Twitter’s major owners and Russia and/or Trump. There are almost certainly more. Russian sanctions? What sanctions? The same attitude kept sanctions from working against Hitler. Sanctions could have prevented or…

View original post 1,460 more words

https://www.change.org/p/get-harmful-chemicals-out-of-sunscreen?signed=true

Petition · Get harmful chemicals out of sunscreen · Change.org

Get harmful chemicals out of sunscreen
Arabella Hubbauer started this petition to Coppertone and 1 other

Summer means the beach, roofdecks, backyard barbecues and for many, being outside as much as humanly possible. It also means sunscreen! But what if the chemicals in sunscreen products were potentially harmful — not just to humans, but also do precious wildlife and coral reefs in the ocean?

You might not know the name Oxybenzone, but it’s a common chemical in many brand name sunscreens. But in many places around the globe — most recently Hawaii — lawmakers have been working to ban sunscreens with the chemical because of its potentially harmful side effects to human health (including possible effects on the endocrine system), and devastating impact on coral reefs and ocean life.

Coppertone and its parent company, Bayer, have a real moment to be industry leaders and remove Oxybenzone from products. Tell the makers of Coppertone to get potentially harmful chemicals out of sunscreen.

The Environmental Working Group has long considered Oxybenzone toxic, and regularly warns that using sunscreen with this chemical is problematic for health and for the environment. There are also countless sunscreens that don’t use this chemical — some even produced by Bayer! — that allow for people to continue to use sunscreen while also not dousing themselves with a chemical that could cause serious side effects, as well as bleach coral reefs that are already under terrible duress.

As one scientist who co-authored a study on coral reefs and the impact of sunscreen on them stated, “any small effort to reduce oxybenzone pollution could mean that a coral reef survives a long, hot summer, or that a degraded area recovers.”

With so many potential Oxybenzone-free sunscreens available, let’s make it the industry standard that the sunscreens we’re putting on our body remove this chemical that could harm human beings, and looks like it’s harming precious coral reefs.

138,106 have signed. Let’s get to 150,000!

Get harmful chemicals…

https://www.change.org/p/get-harmful-chemicals-out-of-sunscreen?recruiter=44240641&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=396231

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/173/283/627/

petition: They Thought It Would Be Cool to Ride a Whale Shark and Nearly Killed It

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti

11,328 SUPPORTERS
12,000 GOAL
The whale shark — the world’s largest fish — is under threat. Its numbers are in decline and it is up to the global community to implement laws that ensure their survival.

That’s why Indonesian marine laws stipulate that divers — who come from all around the world for a chance to see them in the wild — keep a distance of at least three feet from the enormous creatures.

But those warnings weren’t heeded by a few careless scuba divers in Indonesia’s Cenderawasih Bay National Park. In a video that recently went viral, the group can be seen decked in full scuba gear and with no regard for their safety or that of the sharks. One person straddled the shark’s back while two others held down its fins and another clung on to its tail. Others then proceed to take photos.

Whale Sharks like other sharks must keep moving to breathe. Although they are huge, the fish are extremely fragile, and any type of human contact can lead to injury which could quickly lead to their death.

While the scuba divers are clearly at fault and have been arrested by authorities, there is one other person that should be equally accountable — the tour guide. Tour guides supposedly know the laws that protect Indonesia’s endangered marine species, but this one decided to ignore them and allow his clients to treat the fish like a plush toy.

Indonesian authorities should make sure to find the tour guide and make sure they also pay a price for endangering the whale sharks. Sign the petition and encourage Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti to take action against all guilty parties.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/209/171/678/

Petition: These Scottish Hares Will Disappear if We Don’t Stop Culling Them

by: Margherita B
recipient: Scotland Government

42,709 SUPPORTERS – 45,000 GOAL

Mountain hares on eastern Scottish moorlands have reached an all-time low: only 1% of the population recorded 60 years ago remains, and culling by the estate managers and gamekeepers of the areas is being blamed.

Red grouse have been hit very badly by a virus, spread by sheep ticks, and this is the excuse that gamekeepers are using to cull hares, even though there is no proof that the presence of hares increases the amount of infected grouse.

Up to 38,000 are culled every year in Scottish estates.

This has to stop. Local extinction is imminent, and it cannot be condoned!

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/790/342/612/

Petition: Protect Koalas From Becoming Roadkill!

by: Margherita B.
recipient: New South Wales

41,686 SUPPORTERS – 45,000 GOAL

Neglected maintenance issues, fences installed inappropriately and late interventions have caused the decline of koala populations in New South Wales.

In the last twenty years, koala numbers in this area have fallen by 25%. Should these populations become locally extinct, the impact on the species would be dramatic, frustrated experts warn.

NSW needs to improve its intervention, maintenance and protection policies now, before it’s too late. The recent deaths of koalas in supposedly wildlife-proof tunnels only goes to prove that not enough has been done up to now, and action must be taken!

Photo by Harrison Warne

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/968/080/204/

Petition: Justice for the torturers of “Colin” the kitten in Clare, Ireland and support for her to remain with the rescue group who saved her., Ireland

Justice for the torturers of “Colin” the kitten in Clare, Ireland and support for her to remain with the rescue group who saved her.

Location: Ireland

2,218 SUPPORTERS in Ireland
19,337 SUPPORTERS
20,000 GOAL
Please support the cause to bring the harshest punishment to the teenage torturers of this very young kitten.

Poor “Colin”, a tiny female kitten only weeks old, was kicked around like a soccer ball and tortured by being held down on a scorching hot frying pan.

All the while, this was filmed and posted on snapchat by these two teenage sickos. In addition to this, a local rescue group who had rescued her from this horror and provided veterinary care for “Colin” were forced by local law enforcement in Kilrush to hand her back to her owner who is a friend of the two torturers.

Sign now to demand that the rescue centre be allowed to care for and rehome the kitten with someone who loves her, and who will not allow her to be harmed.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/562/432/435/

Petition: New York City’s Carriage Horses Suffer Under the Scorching Sun

by: Care2 Team
recipient: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio

31,103 SUPPORTERS – 35,000 GOAL

The city of New York has been experiencing a heatwave in recent weeks. So much so that the city took the rare step of issuing a heat advisory, warning New Yorkers of the dangers of the scorching hot summer sun and providing tips on how to avoid overheating.

But while the two-legged residents can decide whether or not they want to brave the heat, many of NYC’s four-legged citizens don’t have that luxury.

Earlier this month, video of an NYC carriage horse suffering under the blazing sun went viral. As One Green Planet says in the video “the poor horse is tense, breathing heavily, and almost looks as if he may collapse at any moment.”

What’s worse is that the video was taken early in the morning, before 10 am, meaning that the horse likely had to work for several more hours and it wasn’t even the hottest part of the day yet.

Indeed the heat advisory recommended that, on hot days, people should work out before 7 am and walk their pets in the early mornings or late evenings. Unfortunately, this horse’s owner ignored the message.

Sadly, NYC is one of many American cities that still allow the wholly unnecessary and completely inhumane practice of horse carriage rides to persist in spite of protests. Throughout the country, from Charlotte to Cleveland, horses are forced to pull tourists — sometimes through harsh weather like the recent heat wave in NYC — all the while unaware the real cost to the horse.

This practice needs to end today. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio should take action now and end this antiquated industry. Sign the petition and say no more carriage cruelty.

Photo credit: mr_t_77

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/394/713/005/

Petition: Some Sick Individual Sliced the Throats of Seven Puppies for Barking

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Dwarka Deputy Commissioner of Police Anto Alphonse

18,695 SUPPORTERS – 19,000 GOAL
Birds chirp, cows moo and dogs bark. We learn this almost before we can pronounce our own names. But for a sick individual in the locality of Dwarka in New Delhi, India, the fact that dogs bark was too much for them to handle.

This week, an unnamed person took it upon themselves to make sure the dogs around their apartment complex would quit barking — permanently. The unnamed person tortured, murdered and left the bodies of seven puppies strewn along the walkway of the Kargil Apartments.

Later residents found the puppies, all under two months of age, with their throats slit and stabbed multiple times.

Imagine walking out of your house to be confronted with such a disgusting sight.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time dogs have been murdered for simply being dogs. According to DNA India, earlier this month, after puppies had the nerve to bark at a drunk man passing by, the man attacked them, flaying and beheading them before tossing them into a garbage can.

Police need to find these killers because they not only pose a threat to dogs, but people capable of such violence are a danger to society as a whole.

Please sign the petition and encourage Dwarka Deputy Commissioner of Police Anto Alphonse to find the dog murderers and charge them with animal cruelty.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/494/513/842/

Petition: This Oregon County Stopped Circus Animal Suffering — Now the State Should

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Oregon governor Kate Brown

38,130 SUPPORTERS – 40,000 GOAL

Last Summer, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus also known as the “Greatest Show on Earth” took their final bow. The traveling circus, hated by animal rights activists, had decided to pack away their tents, retire their elephants and put an end to the 146-year-old enterprise.

Many activists thought the end of America’s most famous circus would bring an end to the use of animal entertainment throughout the United States. In May 2017 for example, the National Geographic explained: “Why All of America’s Circus Animals Could Soon be Free.”

While we may be headed down a path that will end in freedom for circus animals we are sadly not there yet.

Case in point: The state of Oregon, one of the country’s most progressive governments, still permits traveling circuses and seems to have left it up to the counties to regulate whether or not they will allow them within their borders.

And that’s just what’s happened. In 2014, Catslop County became the first county in the state to ban the use of whips and bullhooks on animals — effectively keeping circuses like Ringling Bros. out. Now four years later, Multnomah County — the state’s most populous county that includes Portland — has also taken steps to ban traveling circuses. Any traveling enterprise using wild or exotic animals for live public “entertainment” or “amusement” is now prohibited.

While we can celebrate the great news, one wonders when the entire state will decide to put an end to these terrible traveling shows of cruelty. Last year, Illinois and New York became the first two states to ban circus elephants from their states. Why doesn’t Oregon do the same?

Animals are not entertainment. They have their own will and desires and deserve to live a life free from cruelty, preferably in the wild where they belong. Circuses, magic shows and aquarium spectacles that use live animals reduce living, breathing beings to objects that can be forced to do as we want, when we want. It’s not only cruel, it is wrong.

It’s time Oregon join New York, Illinois, El Salvador, Sweden and a whole host of other national and local governments in ending the animal entertainment industry. Please sign the petition and ask Oregon governor Kate Brown to ban the use of animals in circuses.

Photo credit: Owen Parrish

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/601/868/261/?z00m=30794806&redirectID=2726663123

Petition: Two Dead Animals in One Day! It’s Time to End the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo

by: Care2 Team
recipient: Tourism and Events Queensland, Outback Queensland, Government of Queensland
more

70,595 SUPPORTERS – 75,000 GOAL

Last year, after a bull had to be put down at a South Australia rodeo, animal activists demanded change. The tragedy was caught on film. In the video, the bull can be seen landing awkwardly from a buck. It then twists, snaps its leg, and hobbles off in pain. It was put down shortly afterward.

Now, in another Australian state, more needless deaths have taken place at a rodeo. This time at Australia’s largest — the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo in Queensland.

A steer and horse both died because they were used as tools in a sport that treats animals as if they were expendable.

Part of what makes this rodeo so pproblematic is the fact that it’s actually sponsored by the state. That means the Queensland government is actively complicit in the cruelty that takes place at the event every year.

It’s time the state pull its sponsorship and cancel the rodeo.

In response to the bull’s death last year the Professional Bull Riders Association of Australia claimed that these accidents were rare, that since it was founded, no less than three bulls have had to be put down. But now that tally has grown.

It’s time Queensland asked itself if the death of an innocent animal is worth a few seconds of “entertainment.” We hope the answer is no, what about you?

Join the call, sign the petition and ask the government of Queensland to stop sponsoring animal cruelty and to cancel the rodeo altogether.

Photo credit: Farm Watch

https://www.ecowatch.com/contact-lenses-microplastic-waste-2597484024.html?utm_source=EcoWatch%2BList&utm_campaign=4d13d4e552-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-4d13d4e552-86074753

Contact Lenses Add to Earth’s Microplastic Crisis

ecowatch.com
Contact Lenses Add to Earth’s Microplastic Crisis
Lorraine Chow
4-5 minutes

Contact lenses may appear harmlessly soft and small, but a big chunk of American users are improperly disposing their used lenses and adding to the planet’s microplastic problem, Arizona State University researchers found.

In a survey of 409 wearers, about 1 in 5 responded that they flushed their used lenses down the toilet or sink instead of throwing them in the trash, according to a new study presented at the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting and Exposition.

“We found that 15 to 20 percent of contact wearers are flushing the lenses down the sink or toilet,” said Charlie Rolsky, an Arizona State University Ph.D. student who is presenting the work, in a press release.

The flushed lenses, which are mostly plastic, turn up at wastewater treatment plants and become part of sewage sludge that gets spread on farmland.

Contact lenses recovered from treated sewage sludge Charles Rolsky

With 45 million contact users in the U.S., the research team estimated 6-10 metric tons of plastic lenses end up in wastewater in the U.S. alone each year.

Rolf Halden, the director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and one of the authors of the new study, noted at a press conference on Monday that these contacts do not decompose.

“They don’t degrade. They don’t attenuate but they become smaller. So they create what we know as microplastic pollution, which is contaminating the oceans,” he said.

Halden said that fragments have been found in sewage sludge, which can contaminate the soil environment and become ingested by earthworms when it’s spread on land.

“We know that earthworms take up soil and can ingest plastics, and then if birds eat the worms it creates a pathway for plastics to enter the food chain,” he said. Further, after heavy rains, the plastic bits can trickle out into streams and other waterways and make their way into the ocean.

And it’s not just the contact lenses themselves that are an environmental problem. Dailies, weeklies and monthlies are packaged by the billions in polypropylene plastic containers and aluminum lids, and “the unfortunate news is that they do not get recycled very effectively,” Halden said. Only one manufacturer, Bausch + Lomb, has a take-back recycling program.

Soft contacts are usually made of a combination of poly(methylmethacrylate), silicones and fluoropolymers, which makes them feel watery and gel-like. Halden suggested that people flick their contacts down the sink or toilet because they do not feel like solid plastic waste.

The researchers hope their study will teach users to stop flushing their contacts. They are also calling on lens manufacturers, at the very least, to label their products with proper disposal instructions.

“Ultimately, we hope that manufacturers will conduct more research on how the lenses impact aquatic life and how fast the lenses degrade in a marine environment,” Halden said in the press release.

Angela Lashbrook, who reported about the new study for The Atlantic, admitted to flushing lenses down the toilet herself. She also polled a few of her contact-wearing friends and was surprised to find they all flushed their lenses, too.

Thanks to the study, she and her friends vowed to make the simple switch of throwing used contacts in the trash.

“It’s quite possibly the easiest change to my behavior I’ve ever had to make that could avoid hurting the environment. My contacts-wearing friends, without my scolding, all pledged to do the same,” Lashbrook wrote.

Watch here to learn more about the study:

https://www.change.org/p/u-s-fish-and-wildlife-service-protection-of-red-wolves-in-north-carolina/sign?utm_medium=email&utm_source=aa_sign_human&utm_campaign=393490&utm_content=&sfmc_tk=Y65ELrEVwnOSO7%2bDYTtOcZoJO8qaap4jTxSHw11uftls3cxBpKaVDmi8YmY2Is3e&j=393490&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=64896972&mid=7233053&jb=1765

Petition · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Protection of red wolves in North Carolina · Change.org

change.org
Petition · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Protection of red wolves in North Carolina · Change.org
Bailie Proveaux started this petition to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 5 others

Stop the proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would allow the public to shoot and kill Red Wolves on U.S. soil if not on the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge, meaning any can be shot on private land. This proposal is to voice the general public and the residents of North Carolina’s opinion of keeping the 2006 Red Wolf Recovery Act alive in fear of possible extinction and endangerment of a necessary and incredible species.

The population of Red Wolves in the Wild has dropped to shocking numbers as the current estimate is a heart wrenching 40 in 2018. Don’t wait to do something until the only red wolves we’ve saved are the few behind closed doors and living in captivity. Red Wolves are an important part of our echo system just as any other predator is. Without these animals an overpopulation of deer and other wildlife is possible, which can also lead to problems such as disease.

Let’s make sure they can continue to live there lives on and off of the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge.

https://www.change.org/p/ask-costco-to-stop-selling-styrofoam-products/sign?utm_medium=email&utm_source=aa_sign_human&utm_campaign=393474&utm_content=&sfmc_tk=Y65ELrEVwnOSO7%2bDYTtOcUH1V6LjbFFCIgnb9Xcx%2fpOqiqvB5XWG8alkVoyJ5fF4&j=393474&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=64877233&mid=7233053&jb=864

Petition · Ask Costco to stop selling styrofoam products · Change.org

change.org
Petition · Ask Costco to stop selling styrofoam products · Change.org
David Sergi started this petition to Costco Wholesale
2 minutes

Did you know Americans throw away billions of styrofoam cups each year — cups that create pollution that stays in our environment for generations.

More and more people are dumping styrofoam — finding solutions for cups, plates, containers and other materials that don’t poison the environment.

Costco sells styrofoam cups and serving trays. We are asking Costco to stop selling styrofoam products to encourage paper products that are better for the environment. Will you join us?

More and more corporations are looking for ways to encourage sustainability. Just this year big companies like McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts announced that they would be phasing out styrofoam cups, and companies like IKEA have already said they’d phase out styrofoam packaging.

The companies making styrofoam products also make products that are better for the environment. By Costco selling more of the environmentally-friendly products, it will help lower cost and ensure environmentally-friendly products are accessible to everyone. That’s why we’re urging Costco to set a better standard for retail stores, and stop carrying styrofoam products in their stores.

https://firepaw.org/2018/08/17/artificial-intelligence-may-replace-testing-of-live-animals/

Artificial Intelligence may Replace Testing of Live Animals – FIREPAW, Inc.

Great news coming out of the scientific – based tech world today: The use of laboratory animals to test drug safety may be replaced by computer models and artificial intelligence(Al). It turns out that Al results can be even more accurate and reliable then real animal tests. We may finally be getting ready to turn the corner on the use of live animal testing.

Al May soon save a ton of animals from drug testing…

https://wptavern.com/wordpress-com-boots-sandy-hook-conspiracy-theory-sites-bans-malicious-publication-of-unauthorized-images-of-minors

WordPress.com Boots Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theory Sites, Bans Malicious Publication of Unauthorized Images of Minors – WordPress Tavern

US: Free Speech – Hate Speech – Limitations On Free Speech

Mining Awareness +

“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic…. The question in every case is whether the words used … create a clear and present danger” (Justice Holmes in Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 52 (1919) [1]

Ben Franklin Freedom of Thought Speech Capitol, AOC gov

“Lost in the discussion about unfettered freedom of speech is the 1977 Supreme Court decision, “National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie.” The nationalist party promoted a Nazi and anti-Semitic platform, and despite attempts by Skokie, Illinois, to restrict the group, the court ruled it could march in the predominately Jewish town, north of Chicago. All speech is free speech, the court ruled.

Many people are unaware of that decision, says Howard Gillman, chancellor of the University of California-Irvine, because, “Not a lot…

View original post 1,407 more words

https://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/why-recycling-wont-save-planet.html

Why recycling won’t save the planet

treehugger.com
Why recycling won’t save the planet
Katherine Martinko feistyredhair

We blame ourselves for not recycling more plastics, and yet our efforts are like “hammering a nail to halt a falling skyscraper.” It’s time we got to the root of the problem.

“People need to get better at recycling” is a comment I often hear as soon as the topic of plastic waste comes up. It’s a misleading assumption, however, to think that tossing more items in the recycling bin and fewer in the trash can make that much of a difference in dealing with the catastrophic level of plastic contamination that our planet currently faces. In fact, it’s pretty much pointless.

Before you think I’ve given up and gone all anti-TreeHugger, please realize that this is an issue we discuss every single year on America Recycles Day, an annual event sponsored by Keep American Beautiful and the plastics industry that has taught us to pick up our garbage. Matt Wilkins explains in Scientific American that we need to rethink the way we deal with trash, saying that individual consumers cannot sole this problem because individual consumers are not the problem. We have taken it on as our problem because of some very astute, corporate-driven psychological misdirection in the form of campaigns like Keep America Beautiful.

Huh? you might be thinking. Isn’t Keep America Beautiful a good thing? Well, Wilkins has a different view. Keep America Beautiful was founded by major beverage companies and tobacco giant Philip Morris in the 1950s as a way to encourage environmental stewardship in the public. Later it joined forces with the Ad Council, at which point, “one of their first and most lasting impacts was bringing ‘litterbug’ into the American lexicon.” This was followed by the ‘Crying Indian’ public service announcement and the more recent ‘I Want To Be Recycled’ campaign.

While these PSAs appear admirable, they are little more than corporate greenwashing. For decades Keep America Beautiful has actively campaigned against beverage laws that would mandate refillable containers and bottle deposits. Why? Because these would hurt the profits of the companies that founded and support Keep America Beautiful. Meanwhile, the organization has been tremendously successful at transferring the blame for plastic pollution onto consumers, rather than forcing the industry to shoulder responsibility.

Wilkins writes:

“The greatest success of Keep America Beautiful has been to shift the onus of environmental responsibility onto the public while simultaneously becoming a trusted name in the environmental movement. This psychological misdirect has built public support for a legal framework that punishes individual litterers with hefty fines or jail time, while imposing almost no responsibility on plastic manufacturers for the numerous environmental, economic and health hazards imposed by their products.”

If we are serious about tackling plastic pollution, then corporations’ actions are where we should start. They are the real litterbugs in this situation. The focus should be on the source of the plastic, not its near-impossible disposal.

Reading Wilkins’ article felt disorienting for me, in light of all the zero-waste, pro-recycling, plastic-free articles I write for this website. One line in particular made a big impression:

“Effectively, we have accepted individual responsibility for a problem we have little control over.”

I see where he’s coming from, but cannot agree entirely. First, I think that people have to feel like they can do something in the face of great difficulty. So, even if it’s not the most effective method, putting bottles in the blue bin is at least some kind of beneficial action. Second, I believe in the collective power of people: that’s how movements start. Governments won’t force corporations to change their ways unless the public is crying for it — and that begins ever so humbly, with individual households putting their blue bins out each week.

So, how does one even start shifting the blame for plastic pollution to where it’s supposed to be? Wilkins calls on people first to reject the lie:

“Litterbugs are not responsible for the global ecological disaster of plastic… Our huge problem with plastic is the result of a permissive legal framework that has allowed the uncontrolled rise of plastic pollution, despite clear evidence of the harm it causes to local communities and the world’s oceans.”

Then start fighting. Talk about the plastic problem with everyone you know. Contact local and federal representatives. Think beyond zero waste and recycling initiatives to cradle-to-cradle models, “where waste is minimized by planning in advance how materials can be reused and recycled at a product’s end of life rather than trying to figure that out after the fact.” Support bans on single-use plastics or, at the very least, opt-in policies where customers have to request straws or disposable coffee cups, instead of getting them automatically. Support bag taxes and bottle deposits. Fight the preemptive laws in some states that prevent municipal plastic regulation.

As Wilkins concludes, “There are now too many humans and too much plastic on this pale blue dot to continue planning our industrial expansions on a quarterly basis.” We need a better approach, and it has to get at the real root of the problem.

https://www.change.org/p/sysco-corporation-please-stock-paper-straws-for-your-customers/sign?utm_medium=email&utm_source=aa_sign_human&utm_campaign=382875&utm_content=&sfmc_tk=Y65ELrEVwnOSO7%2bDYTtOcai29H5kdKvIa%2fjB8tVejWeO%2fzDdQZM0Gz%2fh3oVee5Dk&j=382875&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=64689389&mid=7233053&jb=1359

Petition: Please stock paper straws for your customers! · Change.org

Please stock paper straws for your customers! · Change.org
John Lyman started this petition to Sysco Corporation
1-2 minutes

Sysco is one of the largest restaurant product suppliers in the United States, supplying straws to thousands of restaurants around the country. But they only stock plastic straws for their customers.

I have spoken with multiple restaurant owners who want to buy paper straws, but don’t have a viable option to do so. Once Sysco has them, they can easily order them along with their other standard supplies.

In the U.S. alone, 500 million plastic straws are used every single day. Many restaurant customers want to avoid plastic straws, but have no other option when dining out.

Once restaurant suppliers make it easy for restaurants to offer paper straws, many will do so. This will have a huge impact on the generation of plastic waste. That’s why I’m asking Sysco, one of the world’s leading restaurant supply companies, to make it easier for restaurants to purchase paper straws and offer alternatives to single-use plastic straws.

https://www.change.org/p/dunkin-donuts-adopt-a-plastic-straw-upon-request-policy/sign?utm_medium=email&utm_source=aa_sign_human&utm_campaign=385680&utm_content=&sfmc_tk=Y65ELrEVwnOSO7%2bDYTtOcVK%2fbDbHFP1HR4TLOmZza5g8gexy405l7FX6EyjcgUeW&j=385680&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=64740345&mid=7233053&jb=1906

Adopt a Plastic Straw Upon Request Policy · Change.org

change.org
Adopt a Plastic Straw Upon Request Policy · Change.org
Sophia and Amanda started this petition to Dunkin’ Donuts
2 minutes

Our names are Amanda and Sophia. One day in science class, we came upon an article on plastic straws. The article stated that Americans use more than 500 million straws a day- and throw them away. That is equivalent to 125 school buses filled with plastic straws. We also learned that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

Those numbers concern us. So when we joined the Earth Club at our school, the leader suggested using change.org, which is how we came upon this website. All 500 million of these plastic straws end up in a landfill or worse, the ocean. When plastic straws get into the ocean, the fish mistake it for food, eat it, and get sick or die. In fact, science shows that when you eat fish, you might as well be eating plastic!

We both think that Dunkin Donuts is a very tasty and an influential company. By choosing this business, we hope to make them take this issue very seriously. These shops have a lot of people coming in every day, almost all of them getting cold beverages containing plastic straws. However, those straws add up to the landfill and get into the ocean. Dunkin’ Donuts is a very successful company, so if they stopped giving out straws (and retained some available for customers with disabilities), won’t others follow their lead?

So please sign this petition and share it with your friends to help the environment, and the world we all live in. Remember, #StrawsSuck! Thank you!