Sunday links

Times Haiku: Serendipitous Poetry from the New York Times

This New York Times piece talks about the power of citizen lobbying and the hurdles that citizen lobby groups must overcome. In the words of Captain Planet, "The power is YOURS."



One of my first posts on this blog was about the Peter Singer book, The Life You Can Save. In his recent TED talk on Effective Altruism, he argues the ethics behind that book. I think it's worth 20 minutes of your time.

Bigger Than Yourself is starting a letter-writing campaign to Australian fashion labels, asking about the ethics behind their clothing production. She's starting out with popular brands Sportsgirl, Review, Portmans, Alannah Hill and Witchery and she's had a few typically vague responses. I'm going to write to a few of the brands I no longer purchase because I'm not confident they're sweat-shop free.

Three Australian-based, ethical fashion/lifestyle blogs I discovered this week: Indigo Bazaar, Green Flings and Eco Warrior Princess.

One of my food heroes, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is heading to Australia for a River Cottage Australia. Unfortunately, it's on Foxtel. I may need to find a friend with Foxtel...or wait until it comes out on DVD. I'm hoping there will be a River Cottage Australia cookbook.

Another of my food heroes, Michael Pollan, was on ABC Radio National this week along with celebrity chef Peter Kuruvita and "Salt Sugar Fat" author Michael Moss. They talk about taking back control of cooking (from food corporations) as a source of pleasure and self-reliance. (Thanks to @timsenior for the link.)

Fat City: What can stop obesity? is a long, but eloquent and thorough, read by Australian physician Karen Hitchcock. (Illustrated by a faceless fatty, I see.) She discusses the individual and societal factors leading to obesity, and the costs to the individual and to the public.  She concludes, "If you come to me, your doctor, and you ask me to make you thin, for now I will have to cut you or drug you, as these are the only weapons I have to ward off the sirens." We (not just doctors but everyone) need to tackle obesity at a societal level because as Dr Hitchcock says, our options are limited at an individual level.
 
Please comment if you find these links of interest and would like to discuss their content.