I really hate the way the Red campaign is co-opting the global aid movment. My rage is impotent but at least this piece on Bono editing the Independent made me laugh:
“Inside lurk about 2,000 adverts for the new Motorola RED phone. If you buy one, an Aids charity receives an initial payment of

It’s that time of year when I start collecting sites of travel information. I’m booking my flight to Turkey today, and I’ve booked my flight back from Krakow already, so all I have to do is fill in the gaps to get from one to the other. I’ve never been this organised about a trip, but we’ve already worked out how to get from Istanbul to Romania (via Bulgaria), and we’re starting to work back from when Min must leave to see what we can see in Romania and Moldova. I’ll have nearly a week in Ukraine by myself, but even then there are vast distances to cover so it’s not as much time as it sounds.
At least I’ll have two weeks of vegetarian food on site but then I’ll be needing IVU’s Vegetarian Phrases in World Languages and Vegetarian Phrases In Other Languages.

“The permits effectively make the right to pollute a tradeable commodity – giving companies the ability to buy and sell permission to emit extra carbon dioxide.” (BBC)

A new site, www.noflying.info has gone live. “The site has potential to be a huge success and be highly beneficial to the cause of sustainable travel.” They’re looking for people to contribute content or help with development before the full launch around May 20.

“A SHEFFIELD feminist group is claiming a victory after campaigning for city stores to stop selling Playboy accessories to girls under the age of 16.

Sheffield Fems member Jayne Taylor said: “We are not having a go at Playboy but we feel these products perpetrate the sexualisation of children.” (Sheffield Today)
This story is great. Partly because I hate the idea that young girls are being sold images of commodified sexuality and partly because I’m glad to see that some radical feminist groups are still active.

I’m loggin’ it
Greenpeace on McDonald’s suppliers using illegally cleared land in the Amazon:
“New Greenpeace research has shown that McDonald’s are partners in forest crime that is creating a trail of destruction right into the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The chicken they sell is fed on soya grown in areas of the Amazon that have been illegally cleared. This means that every time you buy a Chicken McNugget, you’re taking a bite out of the Amazon.
We want McDonald’s to tell their suppliers they will not buy animals that have been reared on soya that comes from the Amazon rainforest.”
You can send a comment to McDonald’s via the Greenpeace site.