No accident

The Artdog Quote(s) of the Week

I recently realized that I've talked about habitat loss several times this year on this blog, but always in the context of plants and animals in the environment, never about humans losing their homes, except in the context of natural disasters.

But there's an ongoing, not-too-dramatic-looking but heartbreaking and needless disaster unfolding in our country. Not the addiction epidemic, although it's related. It's a crisis of homelessness.

I'll focus mainly on the US for my thoughts about homelessness in my December Quotes of the Week, because that's a political system and society in which I participate. But it's a global problem that all too few people are thinking about or addressing.

It's time we started improving our record. Practical steps:
(1) Educate yourself. Start on the Internet but don't stop there.
(2) Contribute as you can to a local, well-run homeless shelter or food bank.
(3) Educate others. Post, tweet, talk, participate.
(4) Advocate for change. Write, call, or otherwise communicate to local, state, and national government that you care about this issue!

IMAGES: Many thanks to Quote Addicts, via Joyce Naren's Pinterest board , for the Linda Lingle quote-image; to UNDP (the United Nations Development Program) and the Summer Rain website, for the Nelson Mandela quote-image; and once again to Summer Rain for the Mahatma Gandhi quote-image.

Banned! Too political, they said.

The Artdog Image of Interest

Normally when we think of a banned book or other communication, we assume it's considered pornographic or inflammatory. And of course we immediately become curious, if we're most people.

But . . . they banned a supermarket chain's Christmas ad, designed for children, as "too political" to broadcast in the UK.

Say what?

This week's Image of Interest is a video whose story kind of begs for me to pass it on. Yes, it's designed for kids, and yes, it does make a strong point. Whether or not that point is a dangerous or political point, I'll let you decide. It just might be the most adorable banned video you'll ever see.





You see, the point isn't about a political party or a politician. It doesn't consist of hate speech, and it's not inciting anyone to rise up in rebellion against the government. It's not attempting to inhibit any unalienable human rights.

It's about deforestation and habitat loss due to palm oil cultivation and production, and it's also about orangutans, topics I've addressed on this blog within recent months. What it does have the audacity to do is point out a problem that is widely acknowledged in scientific and environmental circles, and largely ignored or unknown by the general public.

I consider it my honor and privilege to spread this message as far as my humble little blog can spread it. It appears that lots of others feel the same way I did. The world's caring people need to learn about, and pay more attention to this problem, before all the Pongo Faces are gone forever.

IMAGE/VIDEO: Many thanks to Iceland Foods, Greenpeace, Australia's The New Daily, and YouTube, for access to this banned video.