Humane Edge E-News October 2008

In This Issue:

• HUMANE HALLOWEEN
  
• FEATURED ACTIVITY: HOW'D THAT GET ON MY PLATE?
  
• E-WASTE NOT, E-WANT NOT: GREENING YOUR E-HABIT
• THE REST OF THE STORY: RESOURCES FOR REEXAMINING COLUMBUS
  
• FEATURED RESOURCE: FREEDOCUMENTARIES.ORG
  
• FEATURED GRADUATE: DORIANE LUCIA
  
• HUMANE EDUCATION IN ACTION: THE WRITE STUFF
  

HUMANE HALLOWEEN

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent more than $5 billion dollars on Halloween last year, an average of almost $65 per person. Even though Halloween is “only” the 6th largest spending holiday, that’s still a lot of candy corn and plastic fangs. There are numerous reasons to enjoy celebrating Halloween: dressing up as your alter-ego; partying with friends; shoving your face in ice-cold water bobbing for apples; giving yourself nightmares watching creepy movies; celebrating the coming of winter (and winter holidays); getting kids to take candy from strangers….There are also plenty of ways to make this howlingly-popular holiday a more compassionate, sustainable, healthy one. Consider these ideas:

Treats

Candy, candy and candy are three of the most popular draws of Halloween. However, not only do all those wrappers generate a lot of waste, but candy has some skeletons hidden away in the closet. Candy made with animal products (such as dairy, eggs, and/or gelatin), supports suffering and cruelty to farmed animals. Additionally, there is a sad but real connection between chocolate and slavery, including child slavery. And, it’s not easy to forget just how big an impact all that candy has on our kids’ health. 

Treats - What You Can Do

• Buy fair trade dark chocolate. Global Exchange is one source for yummy fair trade mini-treats. Some retail stores are even starting to stock fair trade Halloween chocolate. If yours doesn't, order some online this year, and ask your local grocery to stock it next year.
• Look for healthier alternatives, such as those listed at the Green Guide or Green Halloween.
  
• Get together with friends and family (or like-minded organizations) to collaborate on creating a special trick-or-treat depot. Adults can make or buy the healthy, humane treats you want for your kids; kids have a safe, fun place to get their goodies.

If you’d prefer not to give out candy, there are plenty of humane alternatives. The Green Halloween website has several suggestions, from organic fruit leather and mini-snack bars to organic seed packets and non-toxic crayons.

You can also get your kids in the trick-or-treating mood by participating in campaigns to do good, such as Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, or Global Exchange’s Reverse Trick-or-Treating, which promotes fair trade and brings awareness to child labor and slavery. 


Costumes

Dressing up isn’t just for kids. Almost a third of adults donned costumes for Halloween last year, and nearly 1 in 10 pet guardians decided to adorn their furry friends. But those costumes often come with a larger price than is listed on the tag. In addition to many costumes becoming another part of the trash on November 1, most costume fabrics contain hazardous chemicals, such as polyvinyl chloride or vinyl, and make up –- often thought to be a safer choice than masks –- often includes toxic ingredients, such as formaldehyde, parabens or phthalates. Additionally, many costumes are made in sweatshops. And, have you noticed the kinds of costumes available for kids today? Marketers gleefully promote popular media characters and products through costumes; costumes for girls and young women are becoming more sexualized; costumes for boys often celebrate violence; and, some costumes promote biases and stereotypes. (For more on biases/stereotypes in costumes, read Questions to ask yourself before donning a Halloween costume  and check out this activity designed to help kids identify biases/stereotypes in costumes.)  


Costumes – What You Can Do:

• Pay attention to the messages costumes convey. Help your child choose costumes that support and nurture positive messages.
• Get together with friends, neighbors, co-workers and other parents and have a costume swap, so that costumes can be reused year after year.
• Check out thrift stores; they often offer great bargains. If you can’t find the perfect costume, look for separate pieces to combine.
• Invest in making costumes yourself. Have costume-making parties with other parents or friends.
• Work with your kids to make their costumes out of “junk” around the house. It’s inexpensive, reuses objects, is a great bonding experience, and empowers kids to be part of the creative process.
• Look for fair trade and sweatshop-free costumes and costumes made from eco-friendly materials. More online stores are offering them.
• Combine costumes with education. Kids can dress up as endangered species and share a quick factoid when people ask “What are you?” Or, kids can travel door-to-door covered in plastic bags (or bottles) to bring attention to consumer waste.
• Use healthy, humane, eco-friendly cosmetics for make-up.
• Look to craft and similar magazines (online, too) for recipes for homemade horrorific Halloween make-up.

Other Tips:

• Pumpkins – Grow your own or buy organic to avoid pesticides. Use as much of the pumpkin as you can (make pumpkin pie, roast pumpkin seeds, etc.)
• Transportation – Walk, don’t drive, if possible. If not, carpool with friends.
• Bag It – Buy, find or make a reusable bag to catch all those goodies each year.
• Pets – Remember that Halloween can be a traumatic (and sometimes dangerous) time for your animal companions. The Humane Society has a few tips for helping keep pets safe.
  
• Decorations – Stick with eco-friendly or homemade choices that can be reused year after year. Resist the lure of flashing orange lights, glittered plastic, and motorized, air-filled ghosts and goblins, all silently screaming Energy vampires! Sweatshops! Landfills! More stuff to store! Toxic materials!
• Parties – Send evites instead of paper invitations, or create them out of recycled materials; use reusable goods; serve healthy, organic food (some farmers’ markets are still running!); get in touch with nature. Farm Sanctuary’s Veg For Life site has a list of links to recipes for tasty, veg Halloween treats.
  

And if celebrating Halloween isn’t your thing, there are plenty of opportunities for alternative ways to celebrate. One of our graduates described what her family does:

"For a variety of reasons, we have chosen not to participate in Halloween or trick-or-treating.  Instead, we invited grandparents and cousins over to our house to have an alternative celebration.  It was a BYOP event... "bring your own pumpkin."  Everyone brought their own pumpkin, and we spent the afternoon carving our pumpkins.  I also made some vegan pumpkin muffins and shared some local apple cider, apples and vegan apple dip.  We topped it all off by bobbing for apples, which was great fun for the young ones and old ones alike.  

"One of our son's most favorite things to do is to read, so on the actual night of Halloween trick-or-treating, we took him to the bookstore, where we spent the next couple of hours reading book after book to him.  To him, this was the best treat of all!" 
~ Stephanie M., M.Ed. graduate

With a little foresight, ingenuity, and connection with others who share your concerns and interests, Halloween can become a fun, memorable holiday that also supports a compassionate, sustainable, just way of living.

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FEATURED ACTIVITY: HOW'D THAT GET ON MY PLATE?

Everybody eats, but how often do we stop to think about how the food on our plates got there and about the impacts of that food on people, animals and the planet? How'd That Get on My Plate? encourages participants to explore how sample ingredients in our food might affect the environment, people, and animals, and what humane alternatives exist.

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E-WASTE NOT, E-WANT NOT: GREENING YOUR E-HABIT

When Apple’s iPhone debuted, people lined up for days to be one of the first to snatch one. Computers become obsolete almost as soon as they make it to your desk. And, if you believe marketers, no person is truly complete (or competent), unless s/he has all the latest electronic gadgets. Use of electronics –- computers, TVs, mp3 players, cell phones, personal devices, etc. –- has become an integral part of many people’s lives. But all those gadgets create a lot of waste –- not to mention all the toxic and uneco-friendly components involved in their creation and disposal, and the severe consequences to the adults and children in developing countries who end up deconstructing these toxin-laden components. Since our penchant for all things "e" isn’t likely to diminish anytime soon, it’s important to be informed about the effects of the electronics we’re buying and what we can do to reduce their negative impact. Here are a few sources to get you started:

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition has a whole slew of useful resources and information. From electronics purchasing and recycling guides, to information about e-toxics and your health, to an exploration of the "global e-waste crisis," to resports on a variety of e-issues, SVTC is a great starting place for your e-education. SVTC has also embarked on a project to explore the impact of e-waste in workers and communities in India.

Greenpeace recently updated their Guide to Greener Electronics, which rates “the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.” (Toward the top? Nokia and Samsung. At the bottom? Nintendo and Microsoft.)

Greenpeace also has a nice overview about e-waste, the production and disposal of electronics, and the major negative impacts on people and the planet of our e-habit.

The Daily Green offers tips about electronics recycling, as does Earth 911, which lists companies and manufacturers that offer e-waste recycling.

The Electronics Take Back Coalition, the EPA and Consumer Reports Greener Choices also have useful and helpful information about electronics and their recycling. 

My Green Electronics, a site sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, allows you to type in your zip code and see if there are any electronics recyclers near you. It also lists corporate electronics recycling programs.

Until we citizens speak up and insist that electronics manufacturers, distributors and retailers offer us truly green, sustainable, healthy options, they’ll continue to make and sell the toxic soup we're offered now.

It’s also important that we take responsibility for what happens to our e-gadgets once we’re done with them. Donating them is one option, as is using them until they no longer function (do we really need to upgrade every few months or so?). And, we can also ensure that they are properly recycled in a way that doesn’t cause harm to other people, animals or the planet.

Electronic tools connect us to the world. We can help ensure that it's not a destructive connection.

Image courtesy of CP.

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THE REST OF THE STORY: RESOURCES FOR REEXAMINING COLUMBUS

October 13 is Columbus Day in the U.S., and this year, as in generations before, elementary schools all across the country will teach another group of children that, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" and discovered America. It is a fact that Columbus sailed to North America in 1492 and encountered native peoples, but there’s a whole lot that seems to get left out about what happened after that. Like mass murder and the transatlantic slave trade.

While many adults no longer think much about Columbus Day as anything other than another federal holiday, and while children are taught about explorers who “discovered” lands and people around the world, for a growing number of people, Columbus Day has become known as “Genocide Day” or “Indigenous People’s Day,” a time to acknowledge the role that Columbus played in the enslavement, destruction and genocide of cultures flourishing in “America” for thousands of years. In an essay calling for the abolition of Columbus Day as a recognized holiday, one young woman equated it with celebrating “Hitler Day.”

Just as with all issues, there is no simple answer or easy either/or dichotomy. But what is evident is that most people are taught a single view of events from the perspective of Columbus as intrepid explorer, tradesman and “discover of the New World,” without exploring what life was like for natives before the three ships landed, or what happened in the aftermath.

While resources for alternative and more complex viewpoints are fairly scarce, there are several excellent ones available. Whether you’re an educator, parent, or concerned citizen, these resources can help you share a broader perspective with others.

Children and Young Adults:

Probably the most useful resource to date is Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, a book created by Rethinking Schools that offers ”resources for teaching about the impact of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas” and includes ideas for kindergarten through college.
 
There are few books for young people available that explore the story of the fateful encounter from a native perspective. The American Indians in Children’s Literature blog recommends A Coyote Columbus Story by Thomas King, which explores what happens to humans when Trickster Coyote meets Columbus.
 
Although it has several flaws, according to the AICL blog, Encounter by Jane Yolen, also offers an alternative perspective of native peoples and Columbus.

For older kids, Morning Girl by Michael Dorris tells the story of a Taino culture, just before they meet Columbus.

In her book Black Ants & Buddhists: Thinking Critically and Teaching Differently in the Primary Grades, Mary Cowhey offers a description of how she has explored with her second graders the issue of Columbus’s encounters with native peoples. You can read excerpts from her book on Google's book search application.

For older teens, the famous poem “Columbus Day” by Jimmy Durham provides a springboard for discussion.


Adults:

Two books that can help adults expand their perspectives include Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen (2008 ed.) and A People’s History of the United States: From 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn (2005 ed.).
 

Image courtesy of dbking.
 

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FEATURED RESOURCE: FREE DOCUMENTARIES.ORG

Especially these days when our youth begin drinking in technology about the same time they start breastfeeding, images and video are important tools in sharing information with kids and in encouraging them to think critically about important issues. But, it can be difficult to find good sources of video that are quickly available and that have that all important element: they're free.

The creators of FreeDocumentaries.org have developed their website so that people can view -- via web streaming -- documentaries on a variety of important issues, from war to democracy to animal abuse to globalization. The site offers access to more than 100 complete documentaries and has organized them by title, topic and region. Haven't seen Supersize Me? Sicko? Born into Brothels? Earthlings? Invisible Children? Watch them, and many other important films at this site, and share them with your students, children, friends and family.

For additional excellent resources for videos on humane issues, check out the Links section of our website.

Image courtesy of ssh.

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FEATURED GRADUATE: DORIANE LUCIA

The nurturing of Doriane's love for animals and sense of justice for people as a child helped lead her to humane education. Now this M.Ed. grad has her own humane education foundation, has published a children's book, and is ready to change the world.

Read about Doriane.

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 HUMANE EDUCATION IN ACTION: THE WRITE STUFF

IHE HECP graduate Ginnie Maurer decided it was important to improve herself as a human, and to explore the kinds of lessons she was teaching others through her life. Looking for a means of doing so led her to the Institute for Humane Education.  Now she uses her writing and humor talents to share her life lessons and to educate others about harnessing their own power for the good of people, animals and the earth.


IHE:  What led you to the path of humane education?

GM: Life did.  Okay, I’m assuming you want a more complete response than that. A Buddhist proverb comes to mind: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”  I wasn’t looking for humane education, but humane education found me.  I was searching for a way to improve myself as a human being, not necessarily to teach anyone anything.  I truly believe that how we live our lives is what we teach others.  We don’t have to be teachers or professors or even work in an educational setting to be teaching people.  As Palmer Parker wrote in The Courage to Teach, “We teach who we are.” 

So, I decided I’d better find out what kind of lessons I was sharing with the rest of the world.  When I found the IHE website, I knew I had found the place where I could become a better me.  The better I am, the better the lessons are that I am teaching others.  


IHE:  For the last several months you’ve been sharing humane education issues with the public by writing a community column for your local paper. How have you decided what issues to write about and how have your readers responded?

GM: Writing is a living, breathing process for me.  I find I write the best when I’m walking my dogs or behind the wheel of a car.  Actually, much creativity comes out of our right hemisphere, so if our left is otherwise engaged in a routine task, and driving certainly can become routine, I find my right hemisphere taking off, having a blast. 

First, some background on how I came to be writing this column.  Each year the local newspaper runs a contest to select eight community columnists.  We write one column every four weeks.  We are to connect our thoughts with local issues, or at least make our columns relevant to the readership of the newspaper.

I wanted my first column to be about why I moved to the country outside Martinsburg, West Virginia, seven years ago from suburban Washington, D.C.  I wanted to share with the readers what the serenity of the area means to me and how that serenity is changing through uncontrolled growth and development.  I received some nasty feedback from the “locals.”  They said I was part of the problem, not the solution, because I was one of so many transplants from the D.C. area.  I neglected to mention that I had bought an existing home in a long-ago developed area.  Most of the recent development in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia has occurred in the past few years and has taken away orchard and farm land, turning it into tract housing.  Long-time residents are upset with the change and the newcomers think the locals should lighten up, join the 21st century, etc. 

So, my second column was on “us” and “them” — can’t we all just get along?  There’s just so much animosity in the world — so much tension.  I wanted to address the “us” and “them” I see around me in my own community, between long-time residents and the newcomers.  I did receive some nice feedback on that column. 

The third column on garbage was a no-brainer after already having written about the development and increased population issues in the area.  Sadly, we have no system to clean up trash along the roadsides in this area.  So the garbage is quite visible to all.  But that column also addressed our insatiable need for “stuff” and how we are clogging our lives and our environment for the newest, the latest piece of stuff.  The consumer is being consumed by his and her consumptive behaviors.  I received a lovely note following that column:  “We are glad you are part of our community and speak out.  We’ll use some of this in a budgeting class and at church.”

I tried to time some of the columns with the seasons, such as about eating locally in spring, or a column on using chemicals that came out in early June when the “weekend warriors” do battle with outdoor “nuisances” as they fire up their weapons of grass destruction.

So far, the column that has received the most positive feedback was about the local library system.  People were amazed at how much our libraries offer.  Sadly, a week after the column appeared, there was an article about the new hours at the main branch of the library in Martinsburg — they were being cut back.

I have sent my columns to many friends and have posted them on IHE's Online Classroom.  The feedback from friends is, naturally, kind and gentle and, for the most part, quite positive. The feedback from the general public, through the newspaper’s speak-out column, has sometimes been less so. 

(Note: You can read all Ginnie's columns thus far by going to the Journal's website and searching "ginnie maurer.")

IHE: What has inspired you to manifest humane education through writing?

GM: I’m a good writer.  I’m a good storyteller, so I’m told to put my stories into the written word for others to read.  I’m finally honoring those people who have been saying that.  I think I’ve finally matured enough to be able to write from the heart, from the soul, and not just from the brain.  In fact, I think I write less from the brain than any other place in or on my person. 

We can sit with the written word, return to it, mull it over, cogitate and ruminate on it (two of my favorite activities).  The spoken word flies out of our mouths — sometimes uncensored — and is lost in the ether.  Although I love to talk, I find I love to write even more.

If we’re to change our lives, to live more humanely in this world, we have to have constant reminders of what to do that’s healthy, humane, compassionate.  The written word gives us all a chance to do just that.  We can return to the same books, websites, magazines and reread what we need to remind ourselves of what is good, whole, and sane.  I want to be part of that message.  I want my words to live beyond the instant they are created.


IHE: On the Online Classroom (the online discussion boards for IHE students and graduates), you’ve mentioned that humor is important to you. How have you been integrating humor into teaching others about humane living?

GM: I laugh, mostly at myself.  I laugh at the absurdities of the world.  I laugh because crying requires tissues that must be disposed of or hankies (do they make them any more?) that need laundering.  Laughing requires no such expenditure of non-renewable resources — unless of course you pee your pants, but I’m not going there. 

I laugh because it’s just so much fun to do.  So I don’t actually integrate humor; I am humor.  And, if we teach who we are, then I hope I’m teaching joy, happiness.  I hope I’m teaching people to “lighten up.”  I hope I’m teaching the Reader’s Digest column:  “Laughter is the best medicine.”

We can all walk around with somber faces thinking the world is coming to an end.  But it hasn’t yet, so why not enjoy the time that we have?  I’m not oblivious to the problems facing the world (How could I be after all the IHE reading I’ve done?!).  I’m just so much more aware that humor moves people in a different way than does doom and gloom. 

I realized many, many years ago: I was put on Earth to make people laugh.  I can find humor in almost all experiences.  I tend to tilt the world a little to one side, and while viewing it from that perspective find the absurd in the human condition.  The more I can share my tilted world, I feel the more others can find their own tilt and take on what’s of value, what’s important to them.  I think the biggest killer of tilting is stuff.  We weigh ourselves down with stuff, and then we weigh ourselves down with the need to earn money to buy the stuff.  Then we weigh ourselves down with the need to find safe lodgings to store the stuff, but first we have to earn more money to pay for the safe lodgings.  Let’s lighten up — we can all do so without expending one non-renewable resource. 


IHE: What other plans do you have for sharing humane education in the world (once your column has ended)?

GM: I have written a book.  It’s not published yet.  The working title is Choices:  Meditations on Living a Humane, Compassionate Life.  It’s divided into three sections:  Humans, Earth, Animals.  Each of these sections is further divided, bringing to life content about the various issues affecting these three topics.  Woven into the content are meditations.  Each meditation begins with a quote relevant to the content, a few sentences developing the theme of the quote, and then an action readers can take for that day to improve their lives, the lives of those around them, and the planet as a whole. 

I’ve begun a children’s book: The Adventures of the BB Boys.  Two kittens, Bentley and Barkley, travel the world, starting with the garden they are born into, eventually circumnavigating the globe, as well as traveling into outer space.  They carry the humane education message with them in their relations to the planet and other species, including the human species.  They are talented enough to speak dog, ladybug, squirrel, and even human.

Beyond these two projects, I’m not sure what’s next. 


IHE:  What are some of your biggest challenges?

GM: I have none.  Okay, so I maybe I do have a few.  I drive an SUV.  Do I dare offer a class on environmental protection and show up in it?  I can totally rationalize why I own such an environmentally unfriendly vehicle but I won’t — well, okay, so I’ve got one good reason — animal rescue...including the fawn on a busy highway and the baby Bouvier sitting in the middle of a heavily traveled small town street for starters.  There are others. 

When I see myself making excuses, rationalizations, for my behavior, I have to stop and say, "Don’t other people do the same thing?  How can I expect you to change if I’m doing some harmful things to the planet?"  So humility is a challenge — always.

Figuring out how to carry the message to more people (beyond living my life and teaching who I am) is a challenge for me.  I want to write, but I’m not sure how to parlay that into a career.  I’m searching for the right vehicle (not an SUV this time) to use my talents to do the most good. 


IHE:  Share a success story. What has helped encourage you?

GM: What encourages me is the fact that as long as I’m alive I can learn, I can grow, I can change.  I can do good, see good, experience good.  I can start now.  I don’t have to wait.  I have the tools I need.  I can do a seemingly small task, like call a friend who’s in need of a kind word.  I can offer to help.  I have so many tasks to perform before the inevitable takes me to the next plane of existence. 

“Success” comes from taking risks.  Sitting on my butt in my rocking chair won’t bring success.  All it might do is smush a cat’s tail.  So moving outside of my comfort zone brings “success” because even a failure is a success — I’ve succeeded in realizing that I can’t do what I’d planned to do.  That’s knowledge.  That’s power.  That’s a success to me. 

Years ago, I was teaching a public speaking workshop.  After participants gave their speeches, they gave feedback on how they felt their presentation went and then others chimed in with comments. 

One participant did a particularly poor job (I was surprised as I did not expect that of her).  She said in her comments that she “wished she could have another chance.”  I avoided eye contact with everyone in that room — with her colleagues and with the other instructors sitting across the back of the room — and looked directly into her eyes and said, “I’m your fairy godmother and I’m granting you your wish.  Please come up and do your presentation again.”  There were a few gasps, then utter silence.  She returned to the front of the room and did the outstanding job she was capable of. 

After the class, my colleagues said, “What if she bombed again?”  I haven’t a clue what I would have done.  It was, at that moment, an irrelevant question.  I knew at the instant she mentioned her wish that I had to grant it.  That was a risk.  That’s what success is about.  She needed to prove to herself she was capable and only I could give her that chance.  We both took risks — hers in asking and mine in granting.


IHE:  What are your thoughts about the power of humane education to positively transform the world?

GM: Humane education can’t change the world; people can.  People have all sorts of power — even those that feel the least powerful.  We have to learn how to harness our power for the good of other humans, the earth, and the animals.  Humane education is a tool box that can help us do just that.  But first, it must be opened.  The tools must be handled carefully.  Some tools can be unwieldy in the hands of novices, and some can be downright dangerous if not used properly.  I have a great deal of information as a result of this program, but how I use it is much more important than that I have it.  How I demonstrate what I know in my own life is far more valuable than how much I can spout off based on what I’ve read or what I’ve studied.  I’m a novice in this field.  When I read the interviews from other IHE students and grads, what they’re involved in, what they have created, what they want to create, I’m in awe.  They appear to be using all their tools well and wisely.  Time will tell how well I use mine.


IHE:  Any future plans, dreams or projects?

GM: Winning the lottery.  Well, you asked.  I’d share with IHE, that’s for sure.  So I guess one future plan is to buy a few tickets.  Having Oprah select Choices as her book of the month.  Oh, and having an independent filmmaker turn The Adventures of the BB Boys into a movie (but not to commercialize the kittens — no bobble-headed Bentleys and Barkleys inside “happy meals,” please.).  When I dream, I dream big.  Oh, that’s a good name for a show—Dream Big or Go Home (apologies to Oprah and her show Give Big or Go Home).  Live a life of meaning, service, joy, and laughter.  Now that’s totally achievable.  That’s a good plan.  Yeah, I think I’ll do that.  Oscar Wilde reminds us to “Be yourself.  Everyone else is taken.”  Aho.

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