The Body Shop Activist

Melbourne: Climate Emergency Rally

2008-07-03T09:36:00.005+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

To everyone in Melbourne: Join the Climate Emergency Rally on July 5 to send a wake-up call to state and federal governments.

New coal, new freeways and expanding sea freight, and desalination plants all increase our use of fossil fuels at a time when we must be cutting back dramatically. We are calling for a halt to these irresponsible projects, and urgent action to stop global warming.

To send this important message to the government, we are going to form a 140-metre-long human sign to spell the words: 'CLIMATE EMERGENCY!'

(Don't forget to wear red!)

For more information click on the poster or go to http://climaterally.blogspot.com

Act locally with Greenpeace
Get involved with Friends of the Earth

Children of Burma

2008-07-01T18:44:00.005+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Group Shot
Originally uploaded by .ash

This is a photo taken by my friend Ash, who I used to work with in World Vision. He's a great photographer and currently posted in Burma where he's helping the Burmese recover from the biggest natural disaster to hit Asia since the Boxing Day Tsunami. He writes in the caption:

"Kids in a cyclone-affected village in the Myanmar Delta happily pose for a picture. Up to half the kids in this village were lost in last month's cyclone. "

Their smiles are amazing.
The statistic sobering.

Katie's East Timor experience

2008-07-01T13:42:00.006+10:00

By Katie Phillips - The Body Shop - The Glen, Manager

RONALDO, The CUTEST kinder kid EVER

I have been apart of an amazing group of people who have returned from East Timor that participated in the Child Friendly Space – Children on the Edge (COTE) Playscheme 2008.

To live in the community and experience all aspects of East Timor is an experience that I will never forget – nor will I give up on. Not everyone will want to go, or feel like they could go – but there are lots of ways that you can still participate and ensure that this centre runs and provides the village of Viqueque a safe space where children are welcome to learn and play – regardless of income, race and religion.

The journey began in December when my application was successful and that’s when the fundraising began – this enable us to purchase supplies and to fund our expenses of airfares and accommodation. It was a challenging time to raise the funds – but I believe that we all created awareness about this organisation and the amazing work it does.

Tri massagers are the best way The Body Shop staff can contribute, by promoting the values behind this groovy little gadget – not only will The Body Shop Australia donate the whole $9 profit to COTE East Timor, you will also support Teddy Exports another amazing Community Trade group.

You can also jump online to www.childrenontheedge.org and make a direct donation to East Timor.

If you want to check out more of my photos go here.

~ Katie

SAVE ZIMBABWE FROM MUGABE

2008-06-25T13:36:00.004+10:00

From AVAAZ

"Violence, intimidation and murder have won the day in Zimbabwe."
- Moses Moyo*

In elections this March, the people of Zimbabwe sent a clear message: Morgan Tsvangirai, not Robert Mugabe, should lead their government.

Since then, through a campaign of violence, fraud, and intimidation, Mugabe's government has undermined any hope for a legitimate run-off on June 27. The MDC has, appropriately, withdrawn. But this is not a concession of victory -- it is an acknowledgment of reality.

Now, the world's eyes turn to the leaders of Southern Africa -- without whom even Mugabe cannot retain power. Please sign on to this message to Thabo Mbeki and other Southern African leaders, and Avaaz will deliver it this week in newspaper ads throughout the region.

* Moses Moyo is the pseudonym of an independent Zimbabwe-born journalist based in Harare, who is reporting exclusively for The First Post

Marion rocks ACF campaign

2008-06-23T11:39:00.003+10:00

Tess Taheny-Penna - The Body Shop Marion - South Australia.

Our store was very successful with the recent Tell Kevin You Care ACF campaign. As of yesterday I think we had nearly 600 postcards signed, I think this was a great effort as we have not been particularly busy in the last few weeks.

I think we were so successful due to having a 'motivation' night a few days before the campaign started. We watched An Inconvenient Truth and spoke about how we all play a part with our carbon emissions. This meant that every staff member approached the campaign feeling very confident with how to speak to customers (especially the slightly difficult ones).

The target of a 30 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020 that we advocate for the Australian Government to adopt is reasonable and modest. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists found that if wealthy countries reduce emissions by 25–40 per cent by 2020, we’ll give ourselves a 50/50 chance of keeping global warming below two degrees. That’s a real gamble. To improve our chances of avoiding the worst climate impacts, we would need to make bigger reductions by 2020.

UN classifies rape a 'war tactic'

2008-06-20T14:12:00.005+10:00

From the BBC

Photo: More Altitude

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously in favour of a resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war. The document describes the deliberate use of rape as a tactic in war and a threat to international security.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said violence against women had reached "unspeakable proportions" in some societies recovering from conflict. The UN is also setting up an inquiry to report next June on how widespread the practice is and how to tackle it. Human rights group hailed the resolution as historic.

'Silent war'

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan said China, Russia, Indonesia and Vietnam had all expressed reservations during the negotiations, asking whether rape was really a matter for the UN security council. But the US-sponsored resolution was adopted unanimously by the 15-member Council.

It described sexual violence as "a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group". The document said that the violence "can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security".

During the debate in the Council, Mr Ban said: "Responding to this silent war against women and girls requires leadership at the national level." "National authorities need to take the initiative to build comprehensive strategies while the UN needs to help build capacity and support national authorities and civil societies," he added. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the world now recognised that sexual violence profoundly affected not only the health and safety of women, but the economic and social stability of their nations.

Other speakers identified the former Yugoslavia, Sudan's Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Liberia as regions where deliberate sexual violence had occurred on a mass scale.

Deterrent?

The former commander of the UN peacekeeping force in eastern Congo, Major-General Patrick Cammaert, told the BBC he personally witnessed its impact. "It's a very effective weapon, because the communities are totally destroyed," he said. "You destroy communities. You punish the men, and you punish the women, doing it in front of the men."

In the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, some 40 women are raped every day, our correspondent says. Sometimes women are even raped by peacekeepers who are supposed to be protecting them, she adds. The question is whether those in conflict zones who use rape in war will be at all deterred by the new measures, she says.

Learn More:

Stop Bridgestone Tyres from using child labour!

2008-06-18T12:17:00.006+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

To mark the recent World Day Against Child Labour (15 June), The Body Shop Australia calls on Bidgestone Americas Holding Inc the makers of Bidgestone and Firestone tyres to make concrete changes on their rubber plantation in Liberia to ensure an end to child labour.

According to the International Labour Rights Forum :

Firestone workers must tap trees in order to extract the latex necessary for making rubber tires. The rubber tappers must meet a daily production quota or their already low wages will be halved.

By Firestone Natural Rubber Company CEO Dan Adomitis’ own admission on CNN (transcript), it would take over 21 hours to meet the quota. As a result, tappers are forced to bring their children and wives to work. Children are forced to carry two 70 pound buckets of rubber on their shoulders for miles. In addition, tappers and their children must apply toxic pesticides without protection.

From their website, it looks like the Firestone Natural Rubber Company should be congratulated for doing a lot for local communities in Liberia, in terms of jobs, education and healthcare. However, it's time for Firestone to change its pay structure to a living wage and enforce their own "zero-tolerance policy against bringing children to a work site". The reality is that changing the quota system is the only way of stopping child labour.

The Solutions:

After a long struggle, the workers on the plantation finally have democratic and independent union.
The union is negotiating their new collective bargaining agreement with company management right NOW.
The biggest demands for the workers is to switch from a task-based pay system to a fair, daily wage. Note: the current adult wage is only $3.19 a day!
Firestone can honour World Day Against Child Labor by agreeing to end the quota system, but they need pressure from you!

Activist action The Body Shop has taken:

The Body Shop Australia is immediately boycotting Bridgestone / Firestone tyres for all of our company vehicles until they end the quota system in their rubber plantations in Liberia.
Talking to the International Labor Rights Forum about how we can best support their campaigns to stop this human rights abuse.

Activist action you can take:

Read more about the issue and download campaign materials from www.stopfirestone.org/about
Use your ethical purchasing power to only support tyre manufacturers that do not use child labour.
Use this form to email Firestone and demand change!
Help spread the word by joining the Stop Firestone MySpace or Facebook group.

~ Adam

Join the mass online protest against whaling in the Southern Ocean

2008-06-16T14:39:00.009+10:00

By Deb Baxter -The Body Shop

Create your own electronic whale out of virtual origami paper, and send it "swimming" with a personal message to the Prime Minister of Japan.

In just over a month, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Chile. Japan will be pushing hard for approval to resume full-scale commercial whaling. Greenpeace will be delivering all the origami whales to the Japanese embassy in Canberra, highlighting them in the media, and showing them to IWC delegates in Chile. Meanwhile, Greenpeace has released explosive evidence of corruption in the whaling program - where whale meat is being stolen and sold on the black market. The scandal - resulting from a 3-month undercover investigation by Greenpeace - has made the front pages of newspapers across Japan and brought the entire whaling program into further disrepute. Increasingly, the Japanese public is concerned about their taxes subsidising an aging whaling fleet conducting fake science to justify a hunt for whale meat few want to eat. Now is the moment to increase the swell of international outrage about whaling with "Origami whales" and bring Japan into the fold! Click to make your origami whale today!

Photos from our ACF Campaign

2008-06-12T14:16:00.010+10:00

Outside The Body Shop Bourke Street Store

The Body Shop Bourke Street Team

The Body Shop Melbourne Central Team

Be Humankind

2008-06-06T09:43:00.006+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Man

Oxfam UK has re-branded... Be Humankind. I like it... check out their website. I especially love the interactive mapping in the Reshaping Our World section. See how the world really looks in terms of global education, population, poverty, hunger, HIV and trade. The above video is a tad cheesy but as a cartoon kid I love the sentiment. Ordinary people can be superheros if they just speak up (or even vomit fire) on injustice.

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Adam

Obese wealth

2008-06-04T10:43:00.009+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

'Nice ad placement' by Aaron Suggs

Today, Jacques Diouf, the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, placed part of the blame for rising worldwide food prices, related unrest and famines in developing countries on Western obesity.

"The excess consumption by the world's obese costs $20 billion annually, to which must be added indirect costs of $100 billion resulting from premature death and related diseases," he said.

It makes our fears of paying $1.60 for a litre of petrol seem somewhat petty when we're talking about potentially nearly 1 billion people who won't get enough to eat, in no small part thanks to unfair trade policies of the U.S, Europe and other wealthy nations.

'Reality' by Mike BG

More than 1 in 6 people in the world have no choice but to choose the one on the right.

They don't have access to safe drinking water.

In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.

Over one-third of the world's population has no access to sanitation facilities.

My question is will individuals, businesses and Governments ever stop to realise how obscene our relative wealth has become? Will we ever become bigger than our own greed and prioritise wealth redistribution to the truly hungry, thirsty and sick people of our world who are dieing in the shadow of our gross wastefulness?

What can you do? Heaps!

Stop to think about things you don't need to buy for yourself. Save that money and help to lift someone out of the despair of poverty. Eg: Kiva. It will be a lot more rewarding.
Don't waste food.
Make Poverty History
Learn about the Millennium Development Goals
Throw your weight behind Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign
Ask your local MP about the Government's timetable to increase our overseas aid contribution to it's own target of 0.5% of GNI and then ultimately the UN target of 0.7% of GNI (currently we're at 0.32% the equivalent of 32cents for every $100 in our economy)
Join the 'Kevin .7' campaign on Facebook!

We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. - Millennium Declaration

~ Adam.

MTV EXIT

2008-06-03T12:07:00.007+10:00

Cassie Monahan - TBS Trainer

The other day I was watching MTV when what can only be described as the most amazing yet confronting ad I have seen for a very long time was shown.

The ad, a collaboration between Radiohead, MTV and USAID raises awareness about child trafficking. It depicts the parallel lives of two young boys, one living a happy life the other living a life of horror. Watch it now!

After watching the ad I wanted to know more about child trafficking, according to MTV EXIT the UN estimates that worldwide about 2.5 million people are victims of trafficking and over half of these people are in Asia and the Pacific. This is the equivalent of the combined populations of the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania. Trafficking is also the second largest crime after drugs and the UN estimates the total market value of trafficking to be around $32billion

MTV EXIT aims to increase awareness and prevention of human trafficking through tv programs, online content, live events and partnerships with anti-trafficking organisations.

Child trafficking and trafficking in general is an issue that needs more awareness and I applaud MTV for taking an innovative stance towards raising awareness on the issue. It certainly makes you think twice about trafficking and child labour and how products that we purchase our produced.

Take Action

Find out how you can help, go to MTV EXIT and read more about the issue, then help to raise awareness by telling your friends and family to make them more aware.

~ Cassie

Kevin, I Care About Climate Change!

2008-06-02T09:30:00.018+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Climate Change Campaigner

Today we're excited to be launching our third* campaign partnership with the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF): Tell Kevin You Care About Climate Change.

This campaign asks the Rudd Government to improve our response to the threat of climate change by setting a reasonable, national target to reduce greenhouse pollution by 30% by 2020.

A lot has been said about the dangerous impact climate change will have on every one of us. It does however also present huge opportunities for Australia. By dealing with climate change boldly, we can change from one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases per capita, to a world leader in renewable energy, creating new jobs and new clean technologies for export.

I found it very bemusing to hear that Germany has ten times the number of solar panels as Australia, but only half as much sunlight!

Take Action:

Visit one of our stores or attend an At Home party and ‘tell Kevin you care’ by signing a postcard. By including your postal address, ACF will post you a free Climate Change Action Kit, full of tips to reduce your environmental footprint. We aim to get at least 86,000 postcards signed by the end of the three week campaign!
Read / Watch Government urged to boost solar incentives from the ABC's 7:30 Report
For more campaign details, talk to our friendly 'greenies' in your local The Body Shop store or go to www.acfonline.org.au

*Other values campaigns we've run with ACF...

1995 Stop Woodchipping Old Growth Forests

Distributed a postcard focusing public pressure on Prime Minister, Paul Keating, to stop wood chipping in 1300 areas of high conservation value. 35 000 postcards were sent to the PM asking him to protect the threatened forest areas and to announce a timetable for placing the areas in a system of parks and reserves. Representatives of The Body Shop also took part in three way discussions between the government, the forestry industry and the Green movement.

2007 Spoil Yourself Not The Planet

Provided customers with an opportunity to educate themselves about climate change and reduce their impact on the environment. 6,500 customers were encouraged to sign up for a free climate change action kit from the ACF. We also sold 10,000 shower timers (at cost) to show a practical way we can all reduce our impact on the environment.

~ Adam

P.S: A big thanks to Michael Fogarty, Sara McMillan and everyone at ACF who helped to pull this campaign together.

The Guides Say...

2008-05-28T15:15:00.008+10:00

By Deb Baxter
Advocacy is at the heart of Australia's young women. Girl Guides Australia has released the results of their first National Survey of Australian Girl Guides after members asked to be given a voice to raise awareness about issues that are important to girls and young women.

The report gives an insight into the concerns of the next generation of Australian women, detailing the responses of 4,500 girls from 5 to 17 years to the broad questions of which issues Guides care about in the world, in Australia and in their community.

Nationally, the primary concerns for Australian Guides at a global level were Global Warming (16.9%), Environment (15.6%) and Poverty (15.1%) whilst 21.2% of Guides were concerned about Water as the most serious issue facing Australia.

At both the national level and at the local level, Environment (Aust.18.0% and local 12.3%) and Addictions (Aust. 8.7% and local 10.8%) were considered of significant concern. Bullying (8.4%) out ranked Water (7.5%) as a concern to Australian Guides in their local communities.

The older Guides varied from the national averages, recording their primary global concern as Poverty (22.3%) and issues relating to Government and Body Image were also seen as important issues facing Australians today.

The Body Shop is proud to have been associated with Girl Guides Australia for a number of years now, through the cork recycling program. This program enables even the youngest girls to advocate by doing something practical to make a difference and educate their peers and community.

Kiva - Loans that change lives

2008-05-23T10:48:00.015+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Ghana Bakery Investor

Have you ever invested in a taxi in Tajikistan, a beauty salon in Nigeria, a grocery store in Vietnam?

These are just some of the amazing business ventures being supported by local micro-finance institutions around the world and the www.kiva.org website. All it needs is you.

Brian Cullis-Overton (Vegetable Store Investor - Tanzania) from The Body Shop Geelong and I would like to share the joy of Kiva with you.

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Choose an Entrepreneur, Lend,
Get Repaid

It's so easy. Here's how it works. The below diagram shows briefly how money gets from you to a developing-world entrepreneur, and back.

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva's microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.

I just invested 50 bucks in a bakery in Ghana. The lady in the photo wearing the blue dress is Araba Amoaniwaa's daughter, who is helping the business. Araba wants to use the loan to buy flour, margarine, sugar, and firewood to expand her operation. In the time it has taken to write this blog post, Araba's loan request of $525 went from 85% funded to 100% funded! It's amazing how quick and easy it is for us affluent web users to park some money in a business that will help alleviate poverty!

You can check out my Kiva profile here.

If you can spare the money just do it. You get the money back and it makes such a great difference for people trying to fight their own way out of the poverty trap.

www.kiva.org

~ Adam

Could you stay in a mosh pit for 32 days?

2008-05-22T11:27:00.008+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

I took this photo on my way to work this morning.

Look at how crammed these poor sheep are. The only way I can relate to this is the times I've chosen to be in a mosh pit... I can't take it for more than an hour. Imagine it was you in a hellish mobile mosh pit / jail like this. How long could you survive being squashed by other humans? How about a month non-stop?

This is how animals in our country are treated (mistreated) on long journeys from their farm to the port and then on a voyage by ship. Eg: From Fremantle, Western Australia to Aqaba, Jordan in the Middle East takes 32 days.

Notice the poor sheep squashed into the corner? Over the past 30 years more than 150 million animals have left Australian shores for slaughter in the Middle East, 2.5 million of these animals died during the journey.

Each year many shipments exceed the ‘reportable’ death rate of 2% for sheep and 1% for cattle on long haul shipment. Read more about the live animal export death toll

The Government says:

Australia leads the world in animal welfare practices. The Australian Government does not tolerate cruelty towards animals and will not compromise on animal welfare standards. Our ongoing involvement in this trade provides an opportunity to influence animal welfare conditions in importing countries.

And yet they have recently decided to allow a resumption of the live cattle export trade to Egypt, which was suspended two years ago after animal cruelty was exposed. The world’s leading animal protection groups have united in the condemnation of this move.

Act now:
It will only take 5 minutes to express your opposition to live exports, by writing an email from the Handle with Care website. They have everything you'll need to contact:

Don't forget to help spread the word about this campaign by letting your family and friends know. You could also contact the media by writing a letter to the editor or calling talk back radio.

~ Adam

Bottled Water Leaves A Bad Taste

2008-05-21T10:53:00.012+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Photo: Heath Missen The Age

As of today we've stopped selling bottled water in our Head Office's Restaurant.

The raw materials consumed to manufacture plastic bottles; the energy consumed to put water in the bottles; the energy consumed to store and transport water bottles to customers and the fact that the majority of water bottles end up in landfill is unacceptable.

The numbers quoted in this article in The Age include:

300 million litres of bottled water will be consumed in Australia in 2008 and it is expected to grow next year
Each 1 litre bottle requires 200ml of oil to produce and transport from manufacturer to customer
544,000 barrels of oil will be consumed in producing and transporting bottled water in Australia this year creating 72,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions
The cost to manufacture and transport 1 tonne of bottled water is $3,000
The average cost to purify and pump 1 tonne of tap water in Sydney is $1.20 65% of water bottles end up in landfill

We are also encouraging all The Body Shop staff to likewise, ban bottled water from their stores and replace it with filtered tap water. If you've got 12 minutes spare, and you're passionate about this issue, check out this satirical but very revealing investigation into the bottled water industry by US comedians Penn & Teller - The Truth About Bottled Water.

~ Adam

Burma Cyclone Nargis Emergency

2008-05-19T13:00:00.009+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Mark Knight's Reality Check Aisle 3 Cartoon in today's Herald Sun.

I understand it's really hard to always be "on" for charity. People are busy and have their own stresses, money problems and sometimes can feel overwhelmed by all the worthy causes out there. Save The Children's founder, Eglantyne Jebb, said it well: “The world is not ungenerous, but unimaginative and very busy”.

We know this to be true today but it is quick and easy to make a difference for children living in drastic poverty and far, far, far worst off than any of us.

Can I beg that in the case of an emergency like the one Cyclone Nargis caused a few weeks ago in Burma, there is never a better time or a better reason to dig deep.

Non-Government Organisations are still working tirelessly in Burma to get the 2 million people left homeless, food, water and shelter in order to prevent the further loss of human lives (Currently estimated at 216,000 people!). Click here to find Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) member charities with Cyclone Nargis Emergency Appeals.

There is still lots to be done to save more lives.

The Body Shop has been working behind the scenes in the last two weeks with Save The Children Australia to organise collection tins in all of our stores. I'm also very proud to announce that the Chairman of The Body Shop, Graeme Wise, has kick started our efforts with a $25,000 donation!

Save The Children have reached 80,000 people in four Yangon townships and has distributed 175 tons of relief supplies to affected families throughout the region. Supplies have included rice, water, oral-rehydration solution, blankets and materials for cooking and shelter. The Department of Social Welfare has granted Save the Children an official letter to state that we are ‘official partners’ in this emergency response.

Take Action:

Donate to Save The Children; right now online or via their toll free number toll free number 1800 76 00 11
Send us a cheque/money order payable to Save the Children Australia. Forward it to Burma Emergency Appeal, Save the Children, PO Box 340, Fitzroy VIC 3065. Make sure to enclose your name and address for receipting purposes
Build a hero page to help Save the Children fundraise for the Burma Cyclone Appeal
Go to any The Body Shop store
Go to any Bunnings Sausage Sizzle this Friday (23 May)

Thank you!

~ Adam

Save The Children photos Cyclone Nargis

Bloggers Unite For Human Rights Day

2008-05-15T11:54:00.008+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Today is Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day. So here it is....

I'm passionate about protecting the humans (from the humans). I blog for human rights. I blog for the end of the barbaric practice of child slavery, child prostitution, child labour, child trafficking and child soldiers.

I blog to alleviate poverty - the mother of all prisons.

I blog to give children a full tummy and the chance to laugh and play.

I blog to give people access to medicine if they are sick, to prevent the spread of HIV, Malaria, TB and other easily preventable yet deadly diseases.

I blog so kids can go to school, to learn how to read and write. To learn that they have rights as humans that should be given to them no matter what their age, gender, ethnicity or wealth.

I blog for freedom of information, healthy democracies and transparency in power. For people to be able to know the truth, their rights and what their options are. To let people decided for themselves how to think, believe, associate and act.

I blog to end the death penalty, to stop torture, violence against women and censorship.

Although this blog doesn't experience massive amounts of traffic, I will keep blogging because I believe that Gandhi was on the money when he said:

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
~~ Mahatma Gandhi ~~

I blog for and am thankful to The Body Shop and all our activist friends, whether they are staff, customers or Values Partners like ANTaR or Amnesty International. Together, with much gusto we will never stay quiet about defending human rights.

Blog on!
~ Adam

Voice Your Choice in the Corporate Hall of Shame 2008

2008-05-14T09:25:00.008+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Hi everyone! The below is a tiny bit extreme, but it's still well worth a read. We know, for example, that not all corporations abuse their power. Many try the best they can at being responsible members of the community. However I still think - in this age of Corporate Social Responsibility 'spin' it's vital for NGOs to carefully monitor corporate power which is allowed to run largely unchecked, is not transparent or democratic. From the CAI Website:

Corporate Accountability International has been waging winning campaigns to challenge corporate abuse for more than 30 years. Corporations boost profits at the expense of people's health and environment by using campaign contributions, aggressive lobbying, deceptive public relations and influence over global trade talks to write the rules that govern our economy and society to their advantage.

As corporations grow richer and more powerful than many countries, it becomes even more important to challenge the undue influence they use to weaken government policies that should protect people

The Nominees:

(Archer Daniels Midland) for making Indonesia the world’s worst contributor to global warming (after the U.S. and China) through its clearing of endangered forests and wildlife habitat for palm oil plantations.
Read more.

for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians, hiring paramilitaries trained under military dictatorships, and using its close political and financial ties with the Bush Administration to secure lucrative contracts. Read more.

for predatory mortgage lending to elderly and non-English-speaking borrowers, and for gouging minority borrowers with discriminatory rates and fees. These actions have forced nearly a quarter of subprime borrowers into default, at the same time their CEO earned a $120 million salary.
Read more.

for producing tens of millions of lead-contaminated toys and aggressively lobbying against bans on other highly toxic chemicals. Read more.

for numerous labor violations including child exploitation, contributing to the obesity epidemic, and threatening community water supplies for its bottled water brands. Read more.

for aggressively lobbying against increased fuel economy standards and state measures to reduce global warming gas emissions, while hypocritically spending millions to advertise its environmental leadership and popular Prius line. Read more.

for displacing local businesses, failing to cover employees under the corporation’s health plan, and opposing legislation that would increase homeland security. Read more.

for its contribution — as America’s third largest fast food franchise — to the growing childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics, and for refusing to meet nutritional labeling regulations. Read more.

Here’s how to vote and help expose the worst abusers:

Read More!
Vote for your top three choices or write in another corporation at the Hall of Shame website.
Post comments, if you like, about why these corporations should be inducted.
Encourage friends and family to vote. Voting closes on July 4th. Corporate Accountability International will continue to expose their abuses through the year – making sure to publicise genuine efforts at reform.

~ Adam

Get Lippy Prevent HIV Campaign Results

2008-05-12T12:24:00.001+10:00

By Deb Baxter - Values Coordinator

I would like to congratulate The Body Shop staff on the success of the "Get Lippy" campaign.

Staff commitment to both Defending Human Rights and our partnership with MTV has once again produced magnificent results, raising in excess of $63,500 for The Staying Alive Foundation.

The Staying Alive Foundation will distribute this money to organisations working on the prevention of HIV. By educating the young, this money will help to promote long-term attitudinal and behavioural change towards HIV/AIDS.

~ Deb.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-09T12:31:00.002+10:00

By Deb Baxter - Values Coordinator

The Body Shop Australia would like to wish all Mum's a very Happy Mother's Day.

Through the Mother's Day Gift Giving Programme , The Body Shop are proud to have distributed more than 4,500 individual products, to over 60 organisations supporting Mum's and children escaping domestic and family violence this Mother's Day. In States such as NSW, these organisations support up to 60 individual refuges. An alarming indication of just how big an issue domestic and family violence is.

The Body Shop hopes these products will help to make Mother's Day for these Mum's, a little brighter.

~ Deb

Tearing Down The Wall

2008-05-08T11:00:00.012+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Grant Beckwith - TBS's IT Guru- as featured on Amnesty International's homepage... tearing down the Great Firewall of China.

Sophie Peer, Amnesty's Uncensor Campaign Coordinator, wrote in an email:

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! The TBS crew have been fantastic. Fun, engaging, professional, punctual, good monkeys and just generally great! I had a ball with them on day one and two in Melbourne and know that our staff and volunteers have really appreciated TBS help thus far. I think we have captured Grant's mood fairly accurately here!!! I hope that everyone who has been involved to date has enjoyed themselves and now see themselves as a human rights defender! We look forward to meeting more TBS people around the country.

Yours truly doing the patented "Censorship = Bad, Dance" with the TBS Geelong crew who were going above and beyond by volunteering in their own time.

I know this kind of thing is not that mainstream - especially the fact that companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are in bed with the Chinese Government by helping them to patrol and censor the Internet in China. But my take home from interacting with 'the public' was that people know very little about Human Rights or Human Rights abuses around the world full stop. What are they teaching in schools these days?!

Everyone should take 10 minutes to read The Declaration of Human Rights

If you would like to help Amnesty International take a stand and Defend Human Rights in China... find out when their Great Firewall is coming to your city or town and volunteer your services!

~Adam

Cheesecake anyone?

2008-05-06T15:34:00.009+10:00

By Steph Maule, PR Co-ordinator

Lunching on Saturday with four girlfriends, I got particularly disgruntled when two friends started debating how many laps of a nearby running track they’d need to endure in order to enjoy the delicious looking slice of cheesecake sitting in front of them. I immediately scolded my friends for even mentioning that we should feel guilty for enjoying such a wonderful treat.

So, you can imagine my sheer delight when I heard that today is International No Diet Day (INDD) - the annual celebration of body acceptance and diversity.

INDD originated in 1992, when British Feminist - Mary Evans Young - decided to fight the diet industry and raise awareness of the dangers of punitive and restrictive dieting, and to encourage people to accept their natural body shape. INDD has since been celebrated by body liberation, anti-diet, and other activists, groups and individuals around the world wanting to empower people of all sizes.

So today of all days, don’t count your calorie intake, enjoy a regular (rather than skinny!) latte, stop wishing you had Giselle’s washboard stomach, and LOVE the body you’ve been blessed with!

Cheesecake anyone?

For more information, visit The Butterfly Foundation http://www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au/

- Steph

This Is Not My Beautiful House!

2008-05-02T11:07:00.007+10:00

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager via The Sydney Morning Herald

Congratulations to Mission Australia and Realestate.com.au, who have found a novel way to raise money for housing homeless people.

For every person who visits the website housesforthehomeless.com.au, realestate.com.au will donate one dollar to the Mission Australia charity, up to a total of $100,000.

To publicise the national campaign - launched by federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek - the charity built a cardboard "city" of 250 houses in Sydney's Martin Place, to illustrate how homeless people have to sleep on the streets.

"Every night over 100,000 people sleep on the streets," realestate.com.au Asia Pacific general manager Shaun Di Gregorio said. "We know everyone wants to make a positive difference for the homeless, but most people's budgets are tight these days. "We've set up housesforthehomeless.com.au so people can donate $100,000 without it costing them a thing. "We also hope they will use the information on housesforthehomeless.com.au to learn more about the homeless issue.

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At the time of posting this, $69,355 had been raised. So to all TBS peoples, I encourage you to visit the site and add an extra buck into the kitty! Of course I'd also encourage everyone to continue to support our friends at The Big Issue by buying a magazine from a vendor or one of our stores. You can also support them buy buying one of our Bags For Life - with all proceeds going to The Big Issue to train vendors.

~ Adam.