eBay and World of Good Inc. have teamed up to help to change the world for the better through people-positive and environment-positive commerce strategies. As people have become increasingly more aware of how their shopping choices impact the planet, there has been a growing demand for transparency in how and where their products are made.

World of Good’s aim is to provide for the eBay community the resources they need to make socially conscious shopping choices that help to alleviate poverty and protect the environment by working with wholesalers and retailers who are working toward the same aims. The site supplies tools to help ensure that producers and buyers have access to information on how to support fair trade wages and improve the economic conditions of artisans and their families, many of whom are living off less that four dollars per day.

For more on World of Good’s social commerce community, and to learn about how to empower producers and shop responsibly, visit their website at www.worldofgood.com. You can also and learn about sweat-free shopping at GlobalExchange.org.

“Taxi to the Dark Side” won the Oscar for Best Documentary last weekend, and is a brutal and methodical investigation of torture and interrogation policies in America’s “war on terror.” Over 100 prisoners have died in US custody, with the military itself reporting 37 of those deaths as homicides. Additionally, only seven percent of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been apprehended by US military personnel. The rest have been turned in by bounty hunters, warlords, and others with agendas completely unrelated to the US war on terror.

Filmmaker Alex Gibney parallels a disturbing investigation into the abuses at Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo with an in-depth look at the apprehension and eventual murder of an innocent taxi driver, Dilawar, who was accused of a crime by the very man who committed it. The film contains uncensored footage of the Bagram base and shows interviews with interrogators, guards, and other military personnel, while examining the roles of key figures in the Bush administration in refuting the Geneva Conventions and the embracing of torture as the weapon of choice in the war against terrorism.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dick Hoyt and his son Rick Hoyt make up Team Hoyt. The Massachusetts duo have competed together in marathons, triathlons, and other athletic endeavors for the past 25 years. Rick was disabled at birth by a loss of oxygen to his brain because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and he also suffers from cerebral palsy. Dick carries him in a special seat up front as they bike, pulls him in a special boat as they swim, and pushes him in a special wheelchair as they run.

Watch this wonderful piece on Dick and Rick from the Today Show.

This incredible pair have inspired many through their Team Hoyt organization. As described on their site the goal of Team Hoyt is to integrate the physically challenged into everyday life. One way to accomplish this is to educate the able-bodied, making them more aware of the issues that the disabled face every day. Another is by actively helping the disabled to participate in activities that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. Team Hoyt targets both of these.

For more on Team Hoyt and to join the race, visit http://www.teamhoyt.com/

Here’s a scary scenario for you: Autonomous, gun-toting robots developed for warfare fall into the hands of terrorists and unleash a robot arms race.

No, this is not a pitch for Will Smith’s next science fiction summer blockbuster. It’s a warning delivered today by a top expert on artificial intelligence, University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey, in a keynote address to Britain’s Royal United Services Institute. Sharkey told the AFP:

They pose a threat to humanity”I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me.

We’ve already got more than 4,000 US military robots on the ground in Iraq, including “the first three armed combat robots fitted with large-caliber machine guns,” which proved so successful, according to Sharkey, that 80 more are on order.

Read the rest of this entry »

After seeing Lukas Moodysson’s black and white mystery film Container last night as part of Lincoln Center’s Film Comment Selects, I was left in a hypnotic daze contemplating first and foremost consumption here in America. The film is 72 minutes of silent black and white footage, mostly of two characters in various messy grotesque spaces, with a continual narration by Jena Malone. Malone speaks in the first person and talks about a variety of things including celebrity culture, Chernobyl/other disasters, being a woman in a man’s body, a porn star named Savannah, and being pregnant with Jesus. I later learned upon reading, that there are 21 voices or stories that she is telling, all mixed up and all heard over the black and white footage.

While I agree with Moodysson, that this is not a film you can decipher in one viewing, I also think that on the surface (since I’ve only seen it once) he has created one of the most poignant critique’s on the container that is American culture and the consumptive nature of all of us that I’ve seen in some time. The black and white images of excess, garbage, human bodies, and simple discomfort create a visual atmosphere that makes you question all the items in your own various spaces. Malone’s voice is calming and serene, a nice contrast to her words that are disturbing, sad, grotesque, confused and brutally honest.

Read the rest of this entry »

When Colin Farrell, star of Terrence Malick’s amazing film The New World, learned that his young son had Angelman Syndrome (AS) (he originally thought he had cerebral palsey), he decided that he wanted to make a difference. Since then, Farrell has become very involved with the Special Olympics and in 2007 he acted as a spokesperson for the 2007 games held in China.

Of his son James, Farrell has said that “It’s just different, but it’s not different to me. He has his own path. He’s just brilliant.”

and learn more about Angelman Syndrome and then again to learn how you can become more involved with the Special Olympics.

Below the fold are a video diary from Farrell’s time at the Special Olympics in 2007, a trailer for his latest film In Bruges and a trailer for my favorite Farrell Film, The New World.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pete Seeger : The Power of Song is on PBS tonight! Remember to and tune in!

Comedian Dan Nainan tells the NY Times how he stays green while on the road performing comedy. These tips are great for all travelers, no sense of humor required, just a sense of compassion.

When I get to the hotel, the first thing I do is to put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. My goal is to keep housekeeping out of my room for my two- or three-day stay. I want my sheets and towels changed before I get to my room, but I don’t need a daily change once I’m there. I don’t wash and then switch linens every day at home, and if you are honest, neither do you. So why do we need to have it done while we are traveling? Imagine the water that could be saved and chemicals that wouldn’t have to be used if all of us road warriors said it was O.K. to sleep on the same sheets for a few nights.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is there no end to Michael Pollan’s influence? Now he’s got Rand Waddoup, Wal-Mart’s Senior Sustainability Director, pondering the sorry state of our current food chain. Waddoup posted an entry on Wal-Mart’s corporate blog today entitled “Sustainable Industrialized Food?” :

Having finished Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma just a few nights ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic and in general about food, health, and sustainability. Quoting Michael Pollan from In Defense of Food, “We are eating a lot of edible food-like substances, which is to say highly processed things that might be called yogurt, might be called cereals, whatever, but in fact are very intricate products of food science that are really imitations of foods.”

So Waddoup, whose big box boss is the number one food retailer in the U.S., wants to know what Wal-Mart can do to make things better:

I know food, in general, is a very sensitive topic for a lot of people, but what do you think should and can be done in the short term to make the industrialized food chain better? What products should Wal-Mart have that they don’t to meet your desires for a more sustainable food assortment? If you could choose one item you would want removed from stores, what would it be?

Read the rest of this entry »

Usually museums are quiet. We are often asked to be careful around the pieces on display. We are encouraged to walk slowly and take in each piece. However this Saturday the Museum of Modern Art in New York puts museum etiquette aside for a one-night dance party.

In conjunction with the exhibition Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today, PopRally invites you to bring the color chart to life on the dance floor with an amazing lineup of DJs from DFA Records.

Color Chart, which explores artists’ use of ready-made color”from paint chips to colored tape”features works by forty-four modern and contemporary artists, including Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, and Angela Bulloch. PopRally presents an exclusive preview of this monumental exhibition before its official opening to the public.

MoMA encourages guests to wear their boldest and brightest colors and get ready to DANCE! More info at http://moma.org/calendar/poprally/upcoming.php