Giulia Rozzi
December 3, 2008 | 9:57 am EST
For those of you who think kids these days are only concerned with online profiles and illegal downloads, along comes the story of Generation E from the New York Times about innovative young people committed to solving the climate crisis. Mark wrote a great post yesterday about ways to motivate much needed innovators, green and otherwise, and these are the kids that need that support.
From rockin’ electric motorcycles to power plants fueled with rice husks, teenagers and young adults are finding brilliant ways of addressing a variety of environmental concerns. Just check out this video from Alex Loorz, the 14 year old who since learning to present Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth power point went on to found Kids vs Global Warming:
takepart by learning what you can do to help solve the climate crisis and share introduce a young person in your life to Kids-vs-Global Warming. Although, chances are, they’re way ahead of you.
My two year old niece LOVES the color pink. I mean, she is like sorta obsessed. She cries and howls is you even suggest she wear blue, purple, orange, or any color other than pink. For Christmas I am tempted to buy her pink from head to toe, but my sister is really trying to ween her off her pink possessiveness. It’s both cute and scary at the same time.
Well my little niece isn’t the only one tickled pink (sorry I had to say it) artist Jeong Mee Yoon recently unveiled her Pink and Blue Projects created inspired by her five-year-old daughter’s pink compulsion. Yoon’s exhibit examines capitalism, consumerism and the trends of children from different cultures and backgrounds. I love this idea!
Find out more about Yoon’s project at http://www.jeongmeeyoon.com/aw_pinkblue.htm
And speaking of little boys and girls, why not takepart and donate toys to Toys for Tots this year? You can give pink toys, blue toys, any color toys! More info at http://www.toysfortots.org
In honor of World AIDS Day, here are 5 movies that taught all of us about AIDS. They are all narrative (there are tons of amazing docs out there though) and are all very different. Enjoy the list and let me know if I missed any.
Also, be sure to takepart with the World AIDS Campaign
5) Before Night Falls - The story of real life Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas is one of hope and one of living your life for what you believe in. It’s also a story that ends with a man dying of AIDS. Julian Schnabel’s story captures the beauty of Arenas’ life and thus puts meaning and emphasis on how he died - making this is a film that not only teaches us all how to live but also about AIDS. The ending is quite dark (and is after the jump)
I’m a big fan of science, and an even bigger fan of science I can see, which is why the Dance Your PhD Contest rocks my world. The contest, sponsored by the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, delivers just what you might expect; scientists and graduate students choreographed dances to represent their theses and then posted them on YouTube.
How would you like to learn about the role of vitamin D in beta cell function? Here is one of this year’s contest winners to demonstrate:
Boy, I wish all my science classes were that fun. Check out the other winners and runner’s up here. Not only is this a hilarous way to get these folks moving outside the lab, but it could be a wonderful way to get kids excited about learning science.
takepart by getting involved with the National Science Teachers Association.
My pal Elliot Glazer made me laugh with this blog post regarding Australian-born photographer Anne Geddes use of babies as inanimate objects, fictional creatures and fresh produce and her later collaboration which featured Celine Dion caressing other people’s babies and how this will surely landing those babies in therapy. Hilarious! I’ve always found those babies dressed as lettuce in a garden pics weird as well. Actually I find most baby-modeling weird. I mean, I know we need baby models for things like diaper advertisements and whatnot, but I get super uncomfortable with things like “cutest baby contests” or even more so, those creepy beauty pageants that showcase infants made up like trampy call girls.
I mean, exposing the cuteness of kids. Who does that?
Okay fine, sometimes comedian aunties can’t help but film their adorable nieces for the purpose of a silly video. This. This is totally cool.
Let’s help kids instead of parading them about on stage in calendars in silly costumes, shall we? takepart and donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, which helps create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. Donate by purchasing a Hand for just $1 at your nearest participating McDonald’s between November 10th and 20th or give online at https://donate.rmhc.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=184&srcid=-2
The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie Halper:
Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water
Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To Fist Bump For First Time
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Nicole Hughes:
Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career
Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California
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Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens
Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input
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Jon Popham:
Megabus Expanding to the East Coast
Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison
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Giulia Rozzi:
Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution
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Gina Telaroli:
Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker
KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)
KidZui has decided that we adults have had enough fun and it’s time that kids have their own internet. The Internet for Kids (KidZui) is a new free browser or portal that offers 600,000 kid-friendly websites, videos, and pictures reviewed by trained parents and teachers. Also it is pronounced Kid-Zooey!
Instead of blocking the bad stuff from the adult internet, KidZui takes the opposite approach and just includes all of the positive, all of the awesome stuff that kids can and should enjoy.
You can visit http://www.kidzui.com/ to sign up today and get your kid (or you for that matter) started on a new journey to have more fun on the internet.
“With KidZui in our home, we look forward to our children exploring the Internet,” said Robyn Jackson, a San Diego resident and mother of three kids aged 2, 5 and 8. “KidZui is a great way to give my kids some freedom on the Web, without having to worry about what they might see. I have already been telling all my friends about it, and now that it’s free, I’m sure everyone will be signing up their kids.” [EarthTimes]
For a video interview with the CEO and founder of KidZui click here >>>
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Facebook will add new safeguards to keep younger users safe from sexual predators and cyber bullies. These new safety features will include banning convicted sex offenders from the site and finding better ways to verify users’ ages and identities.
The agreement was announced by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in a deal along with other attorneys general around America. “This marks another watershed towards social networking safety,” he said. It will “protect kids from online predators and inappropriate content,” he added. It comes on the heels of a similar comprehensive agreement that 49 states and Washington, DC, made with MySpace last January. [BBC]
Keep your kids safe from Internet danger, 
and check out http://www.netsmartz.org. NetSmartz is an Internet safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America that uses the latest technology to create high-impact educational activities for even the most tech-savvy kids of any age group.
What do Brigitte Bardot, beach litter, and American rappers on skid row have in common? They’re all on the TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup! The Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie:
Top 10 Reasons to Go to the Havana Film Festival in New York
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Nicole:
6 Million Pounds of Trash Found On World’s Beaches In One Day
“Take A Bite” Out of Climate Change
Once Upon A Time Mommy Wasn’t This Pretty
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Gina:
The Fresh Air of the Flight of the Red Balloon and Hou Hsiao Hsien
Just in time for Mothers Day comes a new book called “My Beautiful Mommy” which aims to teach kids about their new and improved post-plastic surgery mom.
When she was pregnant with her son Junior, who turns nine this month, Gabriela Acosta ballooned from 115 pounds to 196. Acosta lost the weight but wound up with stretched, saggy skin. Even her son noticed it. He told her that her stomach looked “pruney,” the result, he thought, of staying in the shower too long. So the 29-year-old stay-at-home mom scheduled a consultation with Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Bal Harbour, Fla.
Acosta told Salzhauer that she wasn’t sure how to talk to her son about the procedures she was considering. That’s when he showed her the manuscript for his children’s picture book, “My Beautiful Mommy” (Big Tent Books), out this Mother’s Day. It features a perky mother explaining to her child why she’s having cosmetic surgery (a nose job and tummy tuck). Naturally, it has a happy ending: mommy winds up “even more” beautiful than before, and her daughter is thrilled. [Newsweek]
Hmmm, I think the mere fact that my mother raised me and loved me unconditionally makes her beautiful already.
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Andy Kondrat:
