EarthAction

Have you read Little Brother?

In my tenth grade English class, the year’s ongoing theme was freedom versus security. To have more of one, you have to have less of the other. We put laws into place that limit our freedom, but increase our sense of security. However, the perennial question is, where do you draw the line? When do you know the balance has tipped too far in one direction? Tied into the debate is the question of “real” security versus a false sense of security, which further muddies the water.

Reading Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, reminded me of that class, and the way it made me question the world around me. All too often schools fail to encourage curiosity, inquiry, and creative thinking. This book works to engage people of all ages (although it is specifically targeted at young adults) in these kinds of questions.

The novel stars Marcus, a seventeen-year-old boy, who lives in a close-future post-9/11 world that is chillingly believable – after all, we live in a world where Nelson Mandela is a terrorist, air marshals are grounded because they are on the no-fly list, your laptop can be searched just because, tourists taking photos are automatically terrorist suspects, and waterboarding is not torture.

This book is a must-read, whatever your age. Buy a copy for yourself, and then buy copies for your loved ones, nieces, kids, and grandchildren.

Download Little Brother for free, shared under a Creative Commons license, or buy Little Brother from Amazon.

Save The Whales!

I live in Hawaii and am aware of numerous whales dying on our beaches from the effects of sonar. For many years the US Navy has used unsafe frequencies of sonar in the range of whales around the world. Sonar is harmful to whales because sonar frequencies are so loud that they can cause the whales’ organs to rupture. This often results in death. Some of the other consequences are problems with their communication, or singing, which is needed for their ability to migrate, mate and stay together. Sometimes this causes many whales to beach themselves, or baby whales to be separated from their mothers in a vital period of their lives.

The Navy have been told many times how harmful sonar is, but they have not heeded the warnings and they continue its use it within the range of whales. The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) have made protecting the whales from the Navy’s sonar experiments one of their priorities. Since 2001, they have asked people like you to write the Navy letters asking them to carefully regulate any use of sonar so as not to cause damage or death to whales. By signing the letter here, the Navy will know that we are serious about saving the whales.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Zen, shared under a Creative Commons license)