Taking the Starbucks Challenge

October it turns out is Fair Trade month. Thanks to a post on Green Thinkers I found out about the Starbucks challenge started by green LA girl and CityHippy. The aim:

According to its own policy (PDF), Starbucks will make fair trade coffee for you, any day of the week, in the 23 countries it is licensed to including: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K. and the U.S.

But just how easy is it to get a fair trade coffee in a Starbucks in one of those countries?

We aim to find out.

I think it is a great idea. I tried it out at the Starbucks here in downtown State College yesterday. Here is how it turned out...

me: Can I have a tall small fair trade coffee please?
barista: Tall coffee? ( gets a small cup and goes to the coffee machine...pauses and returns) What kind of coffee did you want sir?
me: Fair trade coffee please.
barista: (Takes a look at the tags on the coffee machines) We don't have any fair trade brewing right now sir. Would you like a regular one?
me: I was looking for the fair trade. Do you brew it a particular time everyday?
barista: Let me check the schedule. (Goes and checks bunch of papers at the back of the counter). We used to have a monthly schedule but I don't see it here.
me: (Relenting to looks from bunch of people behind me in the line) um... OK, can I have the regular one then?

I am going to try it again when its not so crowded and just to see if a different person behind the counter would react differently.

If you want to read more about fair trade products this site would be a good start. Also this wikipedia page has good information about the fair trade movement.

Technorati Tags: Starbucks Challenge, Fair trade movement, Fair trade coffee
Del.ico.us: Starbucks Challenge

Miniature Earth

Thanks to Steve for this link.

Miniature earth tries to answer the question "What would the world look like if the human population were to be turned into a small community of 100 people?". The online presentation created by Allyson Lucca is very thought provoking.

Those more interested should also take a look at the text transcript of the CD version of the presentation. It has a little bit more information that the online version. Went ahead and checked out Allyson Lucca's website

We Were Humans is another great presenation compiled by her.

Really creative work and especially powerful when put online because of the huge audience it can get.

Technorati Tags: Earth, War, Arms Race

Narripi

We first heard about the elephant nursery run by David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on the NPR radio show, Living on Earth. The trust is based in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. These animals are orphans and often the victims of poaching, ivory trade and other human interferences in their habitat. We both love elephants. Baby elephants are simply adorable. The trust which runs this orphanage is a great organization fostering the cause of conservation and protection of wildlife in Tsavo. I visited their website and wanted to help. As a gift to my wife on her birthday, we fostered a small baby elephant - Lualeni. Here is a picture of Lualeni with her keeper.

Yesterday we got the sad news of the death of Narripi, another little elephant in the nursery. I had read about Narripi on the trust's website. Narripi was a brave little elephant. He was rescued from a hole in which he was trapped after he got separated from his mother and his herd. A Maasai discovered him and contacted the trust. Narripi was in a bad shape when he arrived. His trunk had been ravage by hyenas and had to be operated on. Narripi (which means "male guide" in the Maa dialect) was recovering pretty well. He passed away fighting a serious bout of pneumonia. You can read the full story here. Here is a picture of Narripi

In a world where there is so much suffering, both for humans and other sentient beings, I applaud the great job the trust is doing for these animals. There are many such organizations worldwide trying to reduce the plight of humans and animals. I feel that it is our duty to support such causes by contributing our time, money or other resources possible. I also feel that it is very important for the whole human society to undergo a major overhaul in terms of its lifestyle. We need to imagine and strive for a world where ALL humans can enjoy a lifestyle which is comfortable and amply fulfills our basic needs AND which allows harmonious existence for other sentient beings in this world. The words sound lofty and the concept sounds too "ideal" to be possible. But I feel it is the only thing worth striving for.

As for Narripi, I wish you a happy journey little fella. You gave us great joy. We will try to help your friends as much as we can.

Techorati Tags: Africa, Elephants, Conservation, Wildlife

Non-science and Nonsense

I came across this post on the digital divide on Atanu Dey's blog the other day. It has an interesting bit about the south sea cargo cult. I had heard this phrase "cargo cult science" before somewhere, but never bothered to investigate I guess. Turns out it is about things that seems like science (because they go through the motions of scientific inquiry) but actually are not!

This reminded me of the website publicizing the dangers of DHMO (Dihydrogen Monoxide), that I had come across few months ago. It is a really great and amusing website. DHMO can be extremely harmful, even kill people in many cases. The website clearly warns us about the ill effects on this page:

The dangers, uses and potential threats posed by this chemical, Dihydrogen Monoxide, are widespread, and some feel, terrifying. Here is just a small taste of what Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is:
* Some call Dihydrogen Monoxide the 'Invisible Killer'
* Others think dihydrogen monoxide should be Banned
* Dihydrogen Monoxide is linked to gun violence
* Dihydrogen monoxide was found at every recent school shooting
* Athletes use DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE, or DHMO, to enhance performance
* Dihydrogen Monoxide has been found in our rivers, lakes, oceans and streams
* Dihydrogen Monoxide is a major component of acid rain
* Thousands die each year after inhaling dihydrogen monoxide
* Dihydrogen Monoxide can be deadly
* Find out the truth about Dihydrogen Monoxide

DHMO is ofcourse not really harmful. After all about 60% of human body is "contaminated" with it. If you haven't guessed it by now, DHMO or dihydrogen monoxide (H2O) is just a clever way to say "water". The website www.dhmo.org was started in 1997 by Dr. Tom Way, a research scientist in Newark, Delaware. The motivation behind creating it in his own words:

"The original purpose of the site was as a sort of writer's therapy to blow off steam about all the devious (and sometimes just ignorant) ways the truth is bent to prove a point by some in the media, politics, sales, environmental activism, organized religion, web site authoring, etc."

The website then took a life of its own. The city councilors in Aliso Viejo, CA went so far ahead as to vote on a ban on styrofoam cups because DHMO was used in their manufacture (Check out this article in Scientific American). When they were made aware of the truth (probably while some of them were consuming some DHMO themselves), they blamed the fiasco on some paralegal doing bad research. You can read more interesting stuff about dangers of DHMO on the website itself and about the Aliso Viejo incident on this page.

We are being bombarded with all sorts of poll results all the time. Columnists and TV anchors quote results from "latest studies" every day. This DHMO website is a great example of how people can be fooled by seemingly scientific sounding information. It also bring out the importance of ascertaining the facts. That ofcourse takes time and effort which most of us are unwilling to spend. Perception is everything. In India there are all sorts of advertisements where people wearing white lab coats show the effectiveness of a product (like a soap or toothpaste). The ads are full of pretty looking graphs and animations showing the germs being killed. All these things in the media have a huge effect on shaping the public opinion. I guess there is no real way to judge how much of the information we are presented makes sense and how much is pure BS (bad stuff!).

The importance of ascertaining the facts behind everything is obvious. That of course takes time and effort which most of us are unwilling to spend. So who is looking out for me? Is every man to himself when it comes to finding the truth behind the stuff we get from media? I hope not! Blogs are doing a good job at keeping checks. There are some good websites too. Phil Plait's bad astronomy website and others like Fact Check are some examples. I am more and more convinced that participatory internet (through blogs, podcasts and what not) and the mechanics of competition may be robust enough to keep things in order!

Techorati Tags: Science, DHMO, Cargo cult

Acting Locally

Nabina Das laments the lack of community news coverage in Indian media. India Together: Making it to page one:

"My experiences with the news coverage in places like Assam or Delhi highlighted nothing that could be put in the category of community news coverage. Community mattered when political leaders visited a ward or a municipality for a specific reason or when it was time to woo voters. Even then, assignment editors would not want the stories to be woven around the tribal farmer with his subsistence pig farm or the poor Muslim pith crafter community (whose craft is nearly vanishing)."

I feel that the local language newspapers in India (e.g. Sakal in Maharashtra) do a much better job at reporting local stories. Although I do agree that most of those stories too fall into well defined categories. There is a strong need for alternative media in India. There is still a long way to a place where the community members themselves from all corners of India will participate in reporting and publishing stories about their community. As the use of internet in India grows, community blogs in my opinion will play a really great role in closing the gap.

The news media can start community blogs, where their local reporters may post stories which typically won't go into the print edition. These blogs accessible from the newspapers' websites, would give the readers more access to local reporting. Another solution could be websites (for profit or non-profit) dedicated to community reporting where community members themselves contribute stories via the internet. Websites such as Good news India and India Together have already begun the process a little bit.

There can be many innovative solutions to this problem. I believe that internet and communication technology has vastly improved the number of possible solutions. I am simply thrilled by the possibilites that a participative internet provides for this particular problem.

Looking forward to blogs from Sangli and Kirloskarwadi...

Technorati Tags: Community news, Indian media, Community reporting