Conscious Living - Focus of the Month
Take Your Power Back
October
Newsletter |
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Live Consciously through
holism! Holism recognises that all life is interdependent and
connected - interconnectedness. The Whole is a sum of its
parts. Holism also recognises that through self-reflection
(understanding the Self) can we truly understand another. The
world is a creation of all the choices of all the people. By
changing your life through small little steps - you inevitably
change the Whole. This is your Power!
Remember, don't
feel pressured to get involved politically - the most
important thing one can do is to live
consciously by making small changes in your own
life as well as raising your awareness of what is occurring in
the greater world - for you are irrevocably connected!
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| Company Focus - Frontier TV |
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Online
Television Network at the forefront of Evolving
Consciousness
- To provide innovative, uplifting
and highly relevant programs, news and
documentaries focused on the cutting edge of today's
top social, spiritual, economic, scientific and
environmental issues.
- To create open and honest forums of discussion
that bring together the business, environmental and 'quality
of life' communities with a commitment to mutual respect and
creative win-win solutions.
- To promote and model integrity in all our
business endeavors and relationships, including, but not
limited to, our audience, customers and stakeholders.
- To provide expanded exposure to a plethora of
ethical brands which cannot afford to promote themselves
through existing TV networks.
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| Join Our List |
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| Corporate Focus - Gap &
Unethical Cotton |
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Another month, another big company
shamed.
And this
time all publicity can't be good. An investigation
has uncovered Gap clothing being produced in
factories employing child labour.
In the same
week, a Newsnight special report has uncovered children
being used to pick cotton in
Uzbekistan. Matalan was revealed as a major buyer
of cotton sourced from Uzbekistan.
A timely reminder in the
lead up to Christmas that cheap doesn't always mean
cheerful.
But the choice is ours.
No Sweat
campaigns against the use of cheap and
forced labour. They also list companies that should be
avoided.
We're
starting an ethical shopping directory. WE've already
received three suggestions. Peopletree, Natural Collection
and Ethical Wares. To
send in your recommendations and reviews to be
featured on the website click here.
You can see the Newsnight report
on their website.
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Humanitarian Issue - Burma
Update |
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Your Support Needed
It may have left the
headlines, but the Burmese struggle for democracy goes
on. In the last issue we profiled Burma. The pictures of
Buddhist monks leading demonstrations for democracy were
beamed into homes everywhere.
They were supported
internationally with protests around the world. In
London crowds rallied in Trafalgar Square to voice their
solidarity with the people of Burma.
But as
we exercised our right to free speech, in Burma
demonstrators faced a military crackdown. Protestors
including monks, have been arrested, tortured and
detained. However, the movement for democracy continues.
You can add your voice to the cause by downloading and
posting one, or all three of these sample
letters.
What can I do?
Download these letters from the
Conscious Living website
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Conscious
Living Contributors
Managing Editor - Vaz Sriharan
Editor - Lila Allen
Want to write a review for a book
you've read? Seen a film you think could raise
awareness? Have an issue you'd like
raised?
To contribute please contact
Editor |
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| Issue Focus -
Tibet |
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Why are
we talking about it?
Brief history of
Tibet
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1904: Britain invades
Tibet
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1911: Tibet achieves independence after
decades of fighting off Britain and China who aim
to control
it.
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1950: China invades
Tibet
The
Issues
Genocide and human
rights
Since 1950, an estimated 1.2
million Tibetans have been killed by the Chinese. China
has ratified a number of UN conventions, including those
related to torture and racial
discrimination, and yet
has repeatedly violated these in China and Tibet.
Education
Chinese has replaced Tibetan as
the official language. Young Tibetans are being
re-educated about
their cultural past, with references to an independent
Tibet being omitted.
Lack of religious
freedom
The 1982 Constitution of the
People's Republic of China guarantees freedom of
religious belief,
but China seeks to restrict the numbers of monks and
nuns entering monasteries and to discredit the religious
authority of Dalai Lama. The child recognised as the
reincarnation of the Panchen Lama was rejected and the
Chinese installed their own candidate.
Resource exploitation
China's predominant interest in
Tibet is no longer ideological, but is based on
resource extraction and land for Chinese colonists. Mining and
mineral extraction is the largest economic activity in
both U'Tsang and Amdo and at least one-half of Tibet's
natural forest has gone since Chinese occupation.
Chinese migration
Long-term Chinese settlement
in Tibet has been deliberately encouraged, with the
result that Tibetans are in the minority in many areas.
Independent research puts the number of Chinese in the
TAR at 5 5.5 million versus 4.5 million Tibetans;
in Kham and Amdo, Chinese outnumber Tibetans many times
over. Chinese traders are favoured by lower tax
assessments and the dominant position of Chinese in
government administration.
This information has been supplied
by Free Tibet website, who have been hardworking with
many sucesses in bringing liberty to the people of
Tibet.
What Can I Do?
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Book of the Month - Tescopoly: Andrew
Simms |
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"Every Little
Hurts"!
You
can shop anywhere you like, as long as its
Tesco.
The inexorable rise of
supermarkets, particularly Tesco, is big news but have
we taken on board what it really means for our
daily lives, and those of our children? In this
searing analysis Andrew Simms, one of
Britain's leading experts on this issue and the person
who introduced the term `Cone Towns' into our language,
tackles a subject that none of us can afford to ignore.
Simms traces the supermarket disease back to its
American roots and charts the moment when the promise of
choice turned into something altogether different. With
Tesco leading the way, he shows how supermarkets are
draining the life from our town centres, creating a
commercial nanny state that knows more about you than
you think, profiting from shelves full of global plunder
and unpicking the fabric of our communities.
But there is change
afoot. The consumer tide is turning and the backlash
spreading, with international campaigns gaining ground.
Simms ends with suggestions for change and rethinking
big business to safeguard our communities and
environment - all over the world.
Tesco now controls 30% of the
grocery market in the UK. In 2007, the
supermarket chain announced over £2.5 billion in
profits. Growing evidence indicates that Tesco's success
is partly based on trading practices that are having
serious consequences for suppliers, farmers and workers
worldwide, local shops and the environment.
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The Tescopoly Alliance represents a
diverse group of organisations from large international
NGOs to unions and small pressure groups, embracing a
range of issues from homeworker's rights to the decline
in small independent retailers. Members are Banana
Link, Friends of the Earth, GMB London, Labour Behind
the Label, National Group Homeworkers, nef (the new
economics foundation), the Small and Family Farms
Alliance, War on Want and Women Working
Worldwide.
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Environmental Issue - Prince
Charles speaks out |
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Prince
Charles speaks out on Amazon
Rainforests
Prince Charles
called for an urgent end to the destruction of the
Amazonian rainforests at a Royal Gala Dinner at Hampton
Court Palace to raise money for WWF-UK's conservation
work in the region.
"The world's forests need to be seen for what they
are - giant global utilities, providing essential public
services to humanity on a vast scale," said the Prince
of Wales.
"The simple fact is that combatting
deforestation is likely to be one of the quickest and
most cost-effective means of reducing carbon dioxide
emissions," Prince Charles
added.
WWF-UK is working with
governments and financing instutions to reduce the
impact and counter the effects of climate change in the
Amazon. When trees are cut and burnt, mainly as a result
of logging or when roads are built, carbon is released
in the air. This exacerbates the problems caused by
other greenhouse gases and contributes to climate
change.
The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed
at am average of 18,000 sq km a year. If this level of
deforestation continues, 40% of the Amazon will be
destroyed by 2050.
"How can we expect developing
countries and emerging economies to take action if we -
who, unwittingly or not, caused the problem that is
likely to affect them more than ourselves - stand by and
do nothing?" added Prince Charles.
The Amazon is
home to approxinately 30 million people. It is the
world's largest river basin.
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