The National Pork Board has created a series of pro-feedlot propaganda videos to counteract their growing negative image as a result of anti-factory farming videos like The Meatrix, a cartoon spoof on The Matrix. Last year the Pork Board conducted a survey of children up to age 14 too see if they had viewed anti-factory farming and anti-feedlot content online, including The Meatrix and those created by PETA Kids and the Human Society, and they were none to happy with the response they got. Although not many had viewed PETA Kids content, many had seen The Meatrix, and as a result had very negative views of feedlots.

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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!

Nicole Hughes:

U.S. Media Ignores Link Between Midwest Floods and Global Warming

Top 10 Houseplants for Removing Indoor Air Pollution

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Andy Kondrat:

Dubai to Build Rotating Positive Energy Tower

Bioethicist Peter Singer Tackles World Food Shortage

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Jon Popham:

Americacorps Workers Assist Flood Ravaged Town

Australians “Out-Fat” Americans

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Giulia Rozzi:

Progressive Book Club

Oprah Recommends “A New Earth”

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Gina Telaroli:

Human Rights Watch 2008 Film Festival Update

SilverDocs 2008 Update

The results for PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity of 2008 are in! And the winners, who will be given a lifetime supply of tempeh and tremendous amounts of smugness, are Anthony Kiedis and Leona Lewis! Hooray!!!

Now, when I reported on this contest three or four weeks ago, I made mention that I had no idea who Leona Lewis is. Of all the people on the list, I had to go and single her out, and now she’s won, and I have been shamed.

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Peter Singer, possibly the world’s most renowned bioethicist (I mean, how many others can you think of?), found himself on NPR’s Marketplace today to discuss this food crisis we’re in the midst of. Dr. Singer starts with a very simple question: “Why are we in the midst of a food crisis when world production of food per person has actually grown steadily since the 1960s?”

There are a few reasons according to Dr. Singer, not least of which is our new forays into ethanol production, which takes 100 million tons of corn off our tables. But it’s the meat people eat that’s really doing it. Dr. Singer breaks it down old skool:

But most corn isn’t eaten by humans; it’s eaten by animals and that’s the biggest part of the problem. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 756 million tons of grain plus most of the world’s soybean crop are fed to animals and that amount has increased sharply in recent years as Asian nations have become more prosperous and their populations have started eating more meat.

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Beef is a bigger eco-burden than ethanol, say Swedes, who’ve seen large increases in the sale of ethanol-run cars over the last few month. The increasing demand for ethanol in the country highlights the ever more prevalent debate on ethanol’s effect on food prices and the food shortage crisis. The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet printed a series of articles and studies arguing that beef production does a lot more to exacerbate eco-problems than ethanol. According to one study conducted by Gothenburg’s Chalmers University, only 1 percent of the world’s arable acreage is planted with crops to be used in ethanol production, while 1/3 of all global arable acreage (500 million hectares) is used for milk and meat production – even though milk/beef products make up only around 15 percent of our total food basket.

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Voting is going on right now (yes, NOW!) to decide which man and woman will be crowned PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity of 2008 (Oprah not an option)!!!  HUGE news here.  Here’s your chance to tell the world which vegetarians really rev your biodiesel engine.  From the website:

Being “green,” living healthy, embracing compassion, and looking fabulous are all the rage in Tinseltown right now, and more and more celebrities are figuring out that the best way to make all these things a part of their daily lives is to go vegetarian!

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Mother’s Day is this Sunday (don’t forget!), so be sure to take a look at some of the great posts we’ve put together in celebration of moms everywhere! Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Top 10 Mother’s Day E-Cards

Hillary Andrews Will Not Lick Bob Stokes’ Swizzle Stick

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 10 Green Gift Wrap Ideas For Mothers Day

Peak Oil Strip Tease

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Andy Kondrat:

Tornado Devestated Town Rebuilds As Green Model Community

Radiohead Attempts An Eco-Friendly World Tour

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Jon Popham:

Nepalese Art Photography: Rubin Museum of Art

America’s First Wind-Powered City

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Giulia Rozzi:

Women For Women International Celebrates Mothers Day

Even More on the Kentucky Derby

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Gina Telaroli:

Video Blog: The Week In Social Action

The War Now Tomorrow and Forever

We all know sex sells - bikini car washes for cancer, vegan strip clubs, and of course PETA loves throwing around a little (human) flesh for a good cause. Now peak oil is getting some sultry attention from Oily Cassandra, who is pretty confident that her oil-conservation-inspired strip tease will get you worked up and ready to take action:

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. In celebration of Earth Day 2008, we made ‘green’ the major theme on the TakePart blog this week - green documentaries and television programs, Earth Day quotes and action activities, as well as some great film reviews. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Top 10 Earth Day Videos From the Hub

Joanne Herring Invites You to “Charlie Wilson’s War” Screening Discussion - Free DVD!

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 10 Documentaries About the Environment

Top 10 Ways to Take Action On Earth Day 2008!

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Andy Kondrat:

Top 10 Quotes About the Environment

Disney Launches DisneyNature to Make Documentaries - I Freak Out

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Jon Popham:

B Corporation Takes the Guesswork Out of Going Green

Sea Level Rise Explorer

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Giulia Rozzi:

Oprah and My Mom Going Green

Green It. Mean It.

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Gina Telaroli:

Taking Part In the Blogsphere With “The Visitor” and “Standard Operating Procedure”

“The Soloist” Explores the Homeless and Mentally Ill With Grace and Music

Celebrate Earth Day 2008 with these top 10 documentaries about the environment. The films below address a variety of ecological issues including climate change, vegetarianism, crude oil, industrial development and our oceans. When you’re properly inspired to green up your eco-behaviors and help preserve Mother Nature for future generations, and check out these top 10 ways to celebrate Earth Day!

1) An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man’s fervent crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. [climatecrisis.net]

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