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social marketing & corporate responsibility (CSR) & business and human rights

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Business and Human Rights the basics (2)

The Business and Human Rights field is evolving quickly.

If you are interested in the topic from an academic viewpoint, the debate about a business and human rights binding treaty will interest you. If you are more interested in the practical application of human rights in the business world, outcomes of litigation and new case studies, then the following will be more relevant to you:

The Institute for Business and Human Rights has released their list of 2015 Business and human rights priorities again, each of which offers a good entry point into the topic.

Alternatively, you can read the list of priorities here with some extra explanations. Now you obtained a quick overview of priorities in business and human rights, here is an introductory resource list for those of you who want to dig deeper into the topic:

[Read more…]

Drug Awareness Week: How Safe are Prescription Drugs?

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Drug Awareness Week: How Safe are Prescription Drugs?

DrugFacts_Wednesday

The American Recall Centre is running an outreach programme to raise awareness of the use of medical drugs in the USA  and part of the outreach consists of asking bloggers to share the information with their networks during drug awareness week.  Upon review of the facts, it is clear why: Did you know, the United States alone consumes 75% of the worlds prescription drugs? And that: [Read more…]

From speciesism to compassionism

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From speciesism to compassionism

It’s time we exercised some compassion – we have become pretty sufficient at being passionate just about everything. Passionate about food, cooking, design, music our jobs and the list goes on.

Now it is time to be COMPASSIONATE and exercise compassion-ism!   Compassionism is the practice of compassion for ‘all living things’ as opposed to species-ism, a term which was coined in the mid 70 ties to describe ‘the idea that being human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals’. On what basis? And why do we eat some and not other animals?

 Did you know that, every year 65 billion animals are raised and slaughtered for their meat. That’s nine animals for every person on Earth.

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how to keep happy

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how to keep happy

If you  do a lot of things at once with few resources, need to deal with negativity and at the same time, need to keep your energy levels up, these strategies might help you too to keep balanced and happy.

Here it goes*:

1. Take stock.

What do you like doing?  What is frustrating you? Focus on the bigger issues. Which of the things that frustrate you can you change and which are beyond your control? Don’t waste time on the latter. Identify and remind yourself of your goals and values. Be honest.

2. Eat well and set exercise goals.

If you are a meat eater and wine lover, commit to 2 or 3 meat & alcohol free evenings and [Read more…]

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recommended reading for animal welfare reform

The following 3 books provide an entry point about different aspects and perspectives of our changing relationship to animals, the different attitudes to animals in different cultures, animal welfare issues in food production and related law reform.

The books are a must read for anybody with an interest in animal welfare. The 1st book is as relevant today as the day it was first published in 1975: [Read more…]

A Sea Change for Animals through Law Reform?

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A Sea Change for Animals through Law Reform?

Between 250 and 300 babies are born every minute.

About 120 people die in the same time.

As the planet becomes more populated, more of us are aspiring to a middle class lifestyle with all its trappings – including the increased consumption of meat.

More people entering the middle classes = increased consumption

Consumption, including raising animals for meat puts enormous pressure on the environment and has led to questionable ‘farming’ practices.  As awareness of industrial scale factory farming methods increases, so too, does the opposition to “farming“ practices inconsiderate of the welfare of animals.

Recent publicity of abuse and cruelty to farm animals has put animal welfare on the public agenda and consumers are talking with their wallets.

Systemic change against animal cruelty!  [Read more…]

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The Importance of Hearing Awareness

Did you know that this week is Hearing Awareness Week in Australia? Hearing Awareness Week has been around for a several years and takes place in August?

Unfortunately hearing impairment has a stigma attached and often people who are affected will hide the symptoms as long as is possible. In addition, awareness about the impact of hearing impairment is much too low and here is why we should take more notice:

The facts about hearing impairment

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How to Green your Easter

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How to Green your Easter

Not the St Patricks’ Day way, the treading lightly for the environment way. As they say, every little bit helps … so here are 5 easy ways to green your Easter:

1. Ditch Unnecessary Wrapping

Easter is one of the biggest holidays for chocolates and other types of sweets. These sweets are often wrapped in plastic and cardboard in addition to foil around chocolate Easter eggs for example.  Make choices that avoid unnecessary extra packing in addition to taking your own shopping bags. Go for minimal wrapping or buy in bulk. Even better, make your own, like these chocolate Easter eggs or this lovely Easter Lamb Cake.

2. The Easter Basket Case  [Read more…]

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confessions of an earth hour sceptic II

According to best estimates by the organisers, Saturday 29 March 2014 the people of 152 nations and 7000 cities will turn off their lights for one hour to prove the world can unite to tackle climate change.

Neither Earth Hour nor any other clever social marketing initiative have made inroads into the rate of destruction of the environment thus far. Earth Hour has raised awareness, but so far, the awareness hasn’t translated into environmental benefits. Many people including reputable scientists believe that we have passed the point of no return and that it is now a question of damage control rather than the opportunity to maintain what we have or even to turn this ship around. Nobody likes bad news and people are clinging to hope.  Earth Hour gives hope because it brings people together and signals good will. 

This year, Earth Hour is trying to take the initiative further than in previous years adopting crowd funding and an extensive network of partner organisations to help turn this year’s Earth Hour from a ‘moment into a movement’. [Read more…]

Eat Less. Care More. Feel Good! How?

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Eat Less. Care More. Feel Good! How?

Go Meat Free for a Week! Why?

Can you believe that with an average consumption of 111.5kg per hear per annum Australia is ranked in the top three biggest meat-eating countries in the world per capita? I guess you can – Australians love their meat in all shapes and forms, be it on the BBQ, in a pie or on a Pizza! Nine out of 10 Australians don’t eat enough vegetables, yet when it comes to meat, Australians eat more than double the world average of 41.9kg per person.

This massive consumption of meat apparently compromises our health, and with global meat production predicted to double within six years in line with the growth of the middle classes, we know for a fact, it also raises serious concerns about long-term sustainability of the planet and animal welfare.  [Read more…]