Don’t you hate it when the tomatoes you eat are sprayed with endosulfan, a pesticide linked to autism? I personally don’t want to ingest this chemical and neither do many of you. In fact, 25,000 people nationwide joined together to sign a petition submitted to the EPA calling for the dangerous chemical to be removed from our food supply. The effort was spearheaded by the Pesticide Action Network, the United Farm Workers and Earthjustice, organizations we’re working closely with as part of the Social Action campaign for our upcoming documentary, Food, Inc.

Endosulfan is banned in the European Union and 20 other countries but is widely available and used in our country.  Their campaign is not only to ban it in the United States but to have it banned globally.  takepart today to sign the petition and receive updates. Here’s to safe tomatoes!

(photo by Muffet)

I wrote about Art Brut a while back, in which frontman Eddie Argos said he’s a sometimes-vegetarian, which is good enough for the purposes of the Sunday Vegetarian Post.  Well, even if he does eat meat sometimes, Argos - and the rest of Art Brut and a dozen other bands - doesn’t like to see fashion companies use real fur for their clothing.  As Argos says,

I don’t understand why anyone would wear fur. Everyone knows how animals are killed for their fur is brutal– it all comes down to vanity, which is pretty sad. [peta2 via Pitchfork]

And that’s where peta2 comes in with their petition to get Burberry to stop using fur.  The clothing company (which, full disclosure, I really like but really can’t afford) still uses actual animal fur in their collections, even though synthetics are readily available.  Other bands that have signed on are Jack Penate, Jamie T, The Maccabees, The Courteneers, The Rakes, Super Furry Animals, Los Campesinos!, Friendly Fires, Good Shoes, Hadouken!, Air Traffic, and The Wombats.  And, yes, those are all British bands, as Burberry is a British brand.  British band/British brand.  I’d rewrite that confusing sentence, but I’m lazy, so I’ll pretend I meant it.

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I am thrilled to hear the latest news about Nicole Kidman, just in time for Valentine’s Day! In case you missed the news, I’ll give you some hints about what the star told the people attending Germany’s Cinema For Peace ceremony last night. 1) Nicole is feeling some maternal instincts, 2) is going to be delivering something precious some time within the next 9 months, and 3) is looking forward to watching that something grow. Did you figure it out yet? Of course, I’m talking about Nicole’s announcement that she’s expecting– expecting people from all around the world to Say No to Violence Against Women!

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An English language Wikipedia article about the Prophet Muhammad has been subject to significant online protests because of its depiction of the Prophet, taken from medieval manuscripts. A petition made up of more than 91,000 signatures was submitted to the site, but the Wiki FAQ page states that the site will not remove the images: “Since Wikipedia is an encyclopedia with the goal of representing all topics from a neutral point of view, Wikipedia is not censored for the benefit of any particular group.” The site had considered, but ultimately rejected, a compromise to allow visitors to choose whether or not to view the images.

by learning how to teach religious tolerance inside and outside the home, and also how to confront biased behavior at tolerance.org.