Tomorrow is WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY and Canada has a crisis.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadian youth aged 15 to 34. Only motor vehicle accidents claim more young lives.
A 2016 Kids Help Phone Canada-wide survey revealed that suicide is on the minds of more Canadian teens than we might imagine, and many are not seeking help because they don’t know who to turn to.
Continue reading “World Suicide Prevention Day: Canada has a crisis”
In September 2015, the world’s nations adopted a set of “sustainable development goals” to end poverty, protect the planet, and promote the well-being of everyone. Goal 4 is to provide quality education and promote lifelong learning, and governments are called on to “ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education…”[1] Uganda’s Early Childhood Development Policy of 2007 states, “learning begins at birth and that whatever experiences a child goes through during these formative years will impact on a child’s learning in later years positively or negatively.” [2]
Early childhood education is important for many reasons, including its impact on children’s ability to learn. The human brain develops rapidly in the first few years of a child’s life, but the pace of development slows as a child ages. That early brain development lays the foundation for future learning. UNICEF’s The State of the World’s Children 2016 report states: Continue reading “Transforming Children’s Chances through Pre-Primary Education”
In 2011, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated 53 percent of the world’s then 215 million child labourers performed hazardous work. Work in the mining and quarrying sector is the most hazardous labour children perform. Continue reading “10 Facts About Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying”
I attended two weddings during the last two months of 2015. I was quite pleased with myself when I “recycled” the dress and shoes I wore to the first wedding and wore them to the second as well, reducing my fashion consumption. But as I view photos of myself at those happy events–looking like an “angel” someone said–wrapped in tulle, satin, and shimmer, “angelic” does not describe how I feel. I cannot help but wonder whose dainty fingers might have been used to attach the sequins that made my dress sparkle. Who stitched beaded flowers onto mesh over its “sweetheart” neckline? What kind of price was paid so I could have this beautiful dress, and who bore the real cost? Continue reading “An Ethical Resolution?”
Are you concerned about the impact your fashion choices have on the well-being of other people and the planet? Ethical fashion is a growing movement to address the high cost of “fast fashion” to the environment and those in the supply chain of each garment. While it is still challenging to find ethical fashion on the high streets and in shopping malls, many companies are making it available online. Here are FIFTY-FIVE of the ones I’ve discovered! I’ve chosen each company because they have at least one characteristic of an ethical fashion company: sweatshop-free, fair wages, sustainably-produced textiles, reduced waste, and animal welfare. Comment to let me know what your favourites are, or if I’ve missed a great ethical fashion company.
Please note: Information below is gleaned from company websites. I have not vetted the claims these companies make or their business practices, although I have purchased from some of them. While many of these shops also sell giftware, I have focused on clothing, accessories, footwear, and handbags. And since I’m Canadian, Canadian shops are identified with a maple leaf. For more information on ethical fashion, see my blog post, “An Ethical Resolution?”
Adhesif Clothing makes one-of-a-kind pieces from new and recycled vintage fabrics in Vancouver, Canada. For: Women’s Apparel
Annie Greenabelle is a UK-based clothing company that offers pieces made from organic cotton, as well as items made in the UK. All factories used to produce their line comply with the Ethical Trading Initiative base code. For: Women’s Apparel, Accessories
Bibico uses 100% natural materials to make its garments and has an organic cotton collection. Clothing is produced by women’s cooperatives that are fair trade certified by the World Fair Trade Organization. For: Women’s Apparel (including denim), Accessories Continue reading “Ethical Fashion – 55 Fabulous Finds!”
The Campaign for US Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Sharon L. Fawcett – Campaign contributor
The world’s most important resources are its children and youth. They are also its most vulnerable group. For these reasons, the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed childhood is “entitled to special care and assistance.” Four decades later, a historic step was taken to ensure children would receive that special attention and protection. On November 20, 1989, United Nations member states adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)—an international treaty that promotes the rights of all children everywhere. Continue reading “Helping Children Live Better Lives”
The True Cost (2015)
Written and directed by Andrew Morgan | Produced by Michael Ross | 92 minutes
Rating: PG-13 (thematic elements and disturbing images)
My Review:
One in six people on the planet work in the global fashion supply chain, making fashion the most labour-dependent industry on earth. “The True Cost”—a breathtaking and heartbreaking documentary—reveals how consumer fashion choices impact these workers, the rest of us, and our world.
Eighty billion garments are purchased each year globally—400 percent more than two decades ago. The industry that once had two fashion seasons annually now has 52 as retailers peddle new product weekly, supplying shoppers with an endless fix of inexpensive clothing.
What is the consequence of this fashion obsession—the true cost of “fast fashion?” According to the documentary, it is the suicides of hundreds of thousands of Indian cotton farmers unable to escape debts to biotechnology and agrochemical companies, the decimation of local garment industries in low-income countries swamped by donations of cast-off clothing, and the toll taken on the earth’s ecosystems as every step in a garment’s life threatens them. Continue reading ““The True Cost” – A must-see for anyone who wears clothes”
“Every 40 seconds a person dies by suicide somewhere in the world,” according to a 2014 World Health Organization report. That’s 800,000 people each year. The Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention estimates that in my own country of Canada today,
11 people will end their lives by suicide.
210 others will attempt to end their lives.
77-110 people will become newly bereaved by suicide.
Suicide is an issue I am familiar with, and wrote about in my book, Hope for Wholeness: The Spiritual Path to Freedom from Depression.
Today, on World Suicide Prevention Day, I am sharing some excerpts from Hope for Wholeness on the topic of suicide. Continue reading “Suicide prevention…because you have the right to life”
“It’s going to be hell,” she declared. It was the first day of classes of the winter semester of 2012, and her foreboding statement expressed her expectations of the three months ahead. She was a St. Thomas University student, probably barely recovered from the demands of exams and multiple paper deadlines all coinciding in one or two horrific weeks prior to Christmas break. She was definitely not looking forward to re-living it. I could relate.
My university education was gruelling. It took a toll on me physically as way too many hours hunched in front of a computer screen aggravated my osteoarthritis and caused my neck to burn with pain. The hunching has also led to a weakening of my pectoral muscles and consequent overcompensation by the muscle attached to my shoulder blade, cramping it and necessitating frequent dates with microwaveable hot packs. I developed stress-induced eczema which caused rashes for the five years of my undergraduate and graduate degrees. (I was a sight to behold, at times!) Then there was the extinction of my social life, family time, and even miniscule moments of relaxation. It was enough to have made me declare in the final year of my undergraduate degree, “University is inhumane.”
I never expected to feel that way.
Continue reading “Post-Secondary Education: Punishment or Prize?”
A troubling advertisement showed up on my Twitter feed this morning. It’s back-to-school time, and retailers are targeting parents (and children) with ads telling them what they must have to be prepared for a new school year. Walmart Canada’s ad promoted the social ill of overconsumption, which feeds the “fast fashion” trend. Like fast food, fast fashion is attractive to people who want to purchase a large quantity of a product for as little money as possible. But just as the fast food craze overlooks the consequences of overconsumption to health, the fast fashion trend overlooks the consequences to those in the fashion supply chain.
Walmart Canada thinks Canadian children need a lot of clothing – “tees for every mood.” Walmart’s child model had 10 moods (and 10 different t-shirts) in the 15-second commercial that confronted me on Twitter.
And guess what? Having an overabundance of clothing is no longer possible for only the wealthiest in our society. Walmart Canada makes it easy for almost everyone to have more clothing than they need by sourcing outrageously cheap garments and passing on the savings to us: t-shirts, $4 each! Continue reading “Walmart Canada ignores the high cost of fast fashion”
Righting It 