Each week find a round-up of selected news and resources related to global ethical issues and positive solutions that you can use in your solutionary teaching/work.
Here’s some recent news worth knowing:
Small steps toward positive solutions …
- Colombia’s Constitutional Court has banned “recreational hunting,” citing that it is counter to the constitution’s principles of protecting the environment. The ban goes into effect in 2020. It does not include sport fishing.
- The US Senate has passed a “sweeping public lands conservation bill,” which designates more than a million acres for environmental protection and reauthorizes “a federal program to pay for conservation measures.” The bill is expected to pass the House.
- The European Union has voted to ban certain single-use plastic products. The ban will include “plastic bags, straws, plates, cups, drink stirrers and cotton swabs.”
- Humane Society International, working with organizations in China and South Korea, has helped shut down several illegal farms raising dogs and cats for slaughter and/or as puppy mill pets.
- Mattel has announced that they are introducing new Barbies, one with a prosthetic leg, and another that comes with a wheelchair. Mattel says its goal is to “offer kids more diverse representations of beauty.”
- Talent Beyond Boundaries is an organization working to connect skilled refugees with jobs (and visas) in other countries.
- New York City has issued new regulations prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyles and giving people the right to wear their hair in styles connected to their culture. There has been a long history of some employers and schools forbidding Black people from wearing their hair naturally or in styles such as dreadlocks.
We must do better …
- Several US states, including South Dakota, Virginia, Montana, and Maine have introduced legislation “that could interfere with the teaching of scientifically founded theories on climate change” in schools, as well as potentially prohibit teaching about certain social and political issues.
- A new report shows that the US EPA in 2018 granted “emergency” approvals to spray the highly toxic sulfoxaflor – which is extremely harmful to bees – on more than 16 million acres of bee-attracting crops across 18 states. The EPA has granted these approvals for several years, which some scientists say is a misuse of the process and causes a danger to bees and other wildlife.
- Reports and surveys have shown that anti-Semitic opinions and actions – including violence against Jewish people – have significantly increased in several EU countries.
Did you know? …
- The New York Times reports on how Hong Kong has become a hotbed for the illegal wildlife trade, with its lax oversight and close proximity to China, which has a high demand for illegal wildlife products.
- A new study has found that “screen time for children under 2 has more than doubled,” from 1997 to 2014. The average time a two-year-old now spends in front of some sort of screen is 3.05 hours, most of that in front of a TV screen.
- A report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy noted that, while Amazon almost doubled its profits between 2017 and 2018 to $11.2 billion, the company will pay no federal taxes for the second year in a row.
Be sure to forward this to at least ONE person who would benefit from these resources.
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The post What’s New Wednesday 2-20-19: News & Resources for Educators & Solutionaries appeared first on Institute for Humane Education.
