Tuesday, March 11, 2014

❀ The Good News ❀



. . . . . . . . . . 
Stop watching the News on T.V. filled with lies, propaganda, and made to make you feel helpless and afraid.

With all the negative news in the world, it's time to give you hope and inspiration. It's time to the weekly Good News! 
. . . . . . . . . .


Care2 Reaches 25 Million!
Care2 and the Petitionsite are such amazing places to be making a difference in the world, and they have reached 25 Million members! That's 25 Million people making a difference in the world! If that isn't good news, I don't know what is!  

Cages, crates, cruelty, BANNED in Australia's New ACT!
The ACT has become the first Australian jurisdiction to prohibit by law some of the worst horrors inflicted on animals in factory farms. A company in the ACT can be fined up to $35,000 for locking a pig in a crate or a hen in a cage.
This landmark legislation is a welcome reminder that with consistent and strategic campaigning we can change laws to improve the lives of animals. 

Success! Canada Bans Gestation Crates For Pigs
Thanks to 37,000 Care2 members taking action, the more than one million pregnant pigs on Canadian farms will not have to spend their lives confined in a space so small they can’t even turn around. A Care2 petition demanded an urgent response to help mother pigs — and Canada’s National Farm Animal Care Council and the Canadian Pork Council have created new regulations that ban the continuous confinement of sows in newly built and rebuilt facilities.

Two Blind Cows 350 Miles Apart Come Together to Form a Beautiful Friendship
You may have already seen this floating around Facebook, but if you haven't, here's the heartwarming tale (and video) of Two Blind Cows that are brought together at the amazing Farm Sanctuary in New York and form a beautiful friendship.
Watch the video of Sweety and Tricia Below



Victory! Venue Cancels Nosey the Elephant Rides
Thanks to the support of many, a long-suffering elephant named Nosey has been spared a grueling weekend giving rides at the Oak Haven Farms & Winery in Sorrento, Florida. In response to our alert asking supporters to urge the Winery to cancel plans to use Nosey this past weekend, activists flooded the Winery with emails, calls, and posts on Facebook.
Hugo Liebel, Nosey's exhibitor, is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act following numerous complaints submitted by IDA and others. The USDA fined Liebel in 2013 as a result of earlier charges claiming more than 30 welfare violations, including failure to provide adequate veterinary care and to handle Nosey safely in public.
IDA will continue to push for the end of Nosey’s exploitation at the hands of an exhibitor who flagrantly ignores federal law at the expense of this beleaguered elephant and the public. For more information on how you can help elephants held in captivity, please visit our What You Can Do page

WWF gaining momentum for Virunga and its wildlife!‏
The fight to stop oil exploration in and around Virunga National Park—home to more than half of the world's endangered mountain gorillas—is gaining considerable momentum, giving hope that the Africa equivalent of North America's Yellowstone will become protected.
In this month alone:
  • WWF surpassed 650,000 signatures on their petition demanding oil giant Soco International's immediate retreat from Virunga. 
  • An international agency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, has accepted WWF's complaint that highlights allegations of lack of transparency and human rights violations related to Soco's operations in Virunga.
  • French oil company Total SA, which has an oil concession overlapping Virunga, publicly committed to keeping out of all natural World Heritage Sites.
Help keep the momentum going! 

Home Depot is listening - Bee Protection Hopefully Ahead! 
Good news – after receiving hundreds of thousands of emails, printed letters and a whole lot of visits from YOU and other activists across the country urging Home Depot to stop selling bee-killing pesticides, Home Depot listened!
SaveOurEnvironment.org's coalition is now in dialogue with the retail giant and they are working on a policy on neonics. This is a good step in the right direction, making things hopeful that Home Depot will be a leader in bee protection moving forward.

Wildlife Win in Court
Of 345 species at risk in Canada, more than 160 have waited far too long for recovery strategies. Thanks to a recent federal court decision, four luckier ones are finally getting overdue plans detailing steps needed to save and protect them, including identifying habitat they need to survive. But to make it happen, environmental groups including the David Suzuki Foundation, with the help of Ecojustice lawyers, had to take the federal government to court. It wasn't the first time they've gone to court to protect wildlife.
In what the judge called "the tip of the iceberg", the court found an enormous systemic problem in the two ministries responsible for protecting endangered and threatened wildlife. Both the environment and fisheries ministers broke the law for the species in question by allowing multi-year delays in meeting deadlines required under the Species at Risk Act.
This legal win is good news for Pacific humpback whales, marbled murrelets, Nechako white sturgeon and southern mountain caribou. 

Victory! Cleaner gas & cleaner cars‏
Thanks in part to the hundreds of thousands of comments from Save Our Environment activists and others in their coalition, the EPA has announced new clean gasoline and tailpipe pollution standards.
These new standards will help us all breathe easier, prevent thousands of asthma attacks, cut dangerous pollution, save up to $19 billion in health costs per year, and put the U.S. back on track with global efforts to reduce sulfur in gasoline, cutting the sulfur in our gas by two-thirds!

A Program For Crowdfunding Home Solar Launches in Connecticut
Earlier this month, Mosaic joined together with The Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA), Connecticut’s green bank and Sungage Financial, a platform that enables homeowners to efficiently apply, qualify and contract for solar financing, to offer homeowners crowdsourced loans for solar installations.
Mosaic is a pioneer in the world of solar energy, even though they have nothing to do with developing solar technology. Leaving design up to the scientists and engineers, this California-based B-Corp is instead focused on the financial part of solar: inventing new ways for people to invest in and install solar installations in their own communities.

Hundred of Students Create “Human Oil Spill” at White House to Protest Keystone XL Pipeline
I so love hearing about the creative ways young activists use to spread a message and make a point. Here is another great story of just that! And it is always inspiring to hear people standing up for what they know is right!
Anyone who says that today’s youth are apathetic about politics simply needs to look at the nearly 1000 students who protested in Washington D.C. on Sunday against the continuing plans for building the Keystone XL Pipeline.
According to CNN, nearly 1,000 students marched from Georgetown to Secretary of State John Kerry’s home in D.C., where they then formed a “human oil spill” by placing black tarps on the ground and lying on them outside his house. They then continued to Lafayette Square, and approximately one third of the march proceeded to the White House, where they created another “oil spill,” while part of the group separated from the others and zip-tied their hands to the fence surrounding the White House grounds.

Newly-Introduced Energy Efficiency Bill Is a Necessary First Step
Last week, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors. The bill would spur the use of energy efficiency technologies in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors of the U.S. economy. Among its many provisions, the legislation would strengthen the Department of Energy’s role in fostering technical support and supply-side energy efficiencies in the manufacturing sector.
The Shaheen-Portman efficiency bill is an important step in not only making American businesses more competitive, but also saving consumers money and creating jobs. According to a recent study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the bill has the potential to save American consumers $14 billion and to support the creation of 172,000 jobs by 2030.

Kroger and Safeway Refuse to Sell GMO Salmon, No Matter What FDA Decides
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still busy working on approval for genetically modified salmon, another two store chains put their names on the list of places that will refuse to sell it. Kroger and Safeway, the largest retail grocery companies in the United States, have made the commitment to keep GMO salmon off of their shelves, a commitment being made by more than 9,000 stores nationwide.

Celebrate! Texas Gay Marriage Ban Overturned by Federal Court
A federal judge this week ruled that Texas’ ban on marriage equality violates the United States Constitution. While the decision is stayed, LGBT rights activists are celebrating the ruling as a major victory.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia issued an opinion on Wednesday, February 22, that Texas state’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriages and its refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from out-of-state violates the Constitutional rights of same-sex couples.

7 Women Who Have Inspired Us in Honor of International Women’s Day
March 8 marked the 106th annual International Women’s Day, a wonderful opportunity to applaud some amazing accomplishments, successes and triumphs, all a testament to the incredible progress women are making right now. In honour of this, Care2 applauded seven of the women who have made major strides over the past year and who can inspire all of us.

Meet the Tanzanian Woman Who Said No to a Forced Marriage
Here is another beautiful and empowering story from a woman who said no to a forced marriage. These are the sort of stories that pave new futures for generations of women to come. 

. . . . . . . . . .


Thanks for reading this week's "Good News!" Join us every week and feel inspired! 
Be sure to sign up for Care2's newsletter for some real news around the globe, to make a change, and to open up your mind to the Real World!
See that your actions count and get out there and do good! Be the Change!  

Photobucket

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger... Save $100 on Blendtec Factory Recertified Blenders + Free Shipping