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ALR news
ALR's brochure design for Target Margin Theater's production of Dido. will be featured in the upcoming book "A-Z" from Print Magazine. Look for it in stores and on their site http://www.printmag.com in Spring of 2002.
activism
Adbusters magazine is sponsoring a petition urging the FCC to consider the voice of individuals as it sets the guidelines for the use of the "public" airwaves. If the FCC provides 2 minutes of airtime every hour for citizen-produced advocacy messages Adbusters believes we could have a real media revolution on our hands. Think so too? Then sign the petition at: http://adbusters.org/campaigns/mediacarta/toolbox/petition-usa.html
(source: Adbusters Nov/Dec 2001)
Looking to make a donation to an organization that is working for social change from a community perspective? Then Funding Exchange, a network of publicly supported groups that share an interest in making a change in the underlying causes of social problems rather than merely dealing with the symptoms, is the resource for you. Their site http://www.fex.org/ lists the organizations involved and provides a variety of ways to get involved.
information
Donations to non-profit organizations are desperately needed this season, but as the call to donate may come from unfamiliar sources, how can you be sure that an organization is properly accredited? Check with GuideStar.com (http://www.guidestar.com/) an online database of the over 850,000 IRS registered non-profit organizations.
Also the American Institue of Philanthropy, a charity watchdog organization, has set up a website http://www.charitywatch.org/ that reviews major charitable organizations. They rate them on a variety of criteria, including costs-to-spending comparisons, and provide an easy to use database for potential donors.
Finally The Christian Science Monitor has posted it's yearly ranking of the top 50 charities at http://csmonitor.com/2001/1126/p14s1-wmgn.html This invaluable resource not only tells you how much each organization raised and what percentage is devoted to actual programs but also how much the highest paid official at each organization makes.
media
By facilitating the access to social action documentaries on a variety of social issues MediaRights.org has given a voice to many people who never would have been heard. Their site http://www.mediarights.org/ which is essentially a documentary database provides both visibility for the works of documentary filmmakers and gives activists access to tools for inspiring action.
human rights
The Los Angeles based International Medical Corps is a humanitarian organization dedicated to saving lives through relief programs and health care training worldwide. One of their current projects is helping the former child soldiers of Sierra Leone recover from their horrendous experiences by providing plastic surgery to remove the brands inflicted upon them by their captors. To learn more about their programs, make a donation, or get involved go to: http://www.imc-la.com/ (source: Christian Science Monitor 10/30/01)
do it yourself
Threatened with a potential lawsuit and figuring there's strength in numbers the Yes Men!, creators of the clever WTO parody site http://www.gatt.org, have created a software program that will allow activists to quickly and easily create their own corporate parody site. Samples of the software in action include a revised CNN where the word "money" has been replaced with "greed", among other things. The free download and several examples can be found at http://www.theyesmen.org/yesiwill/ (source: Victory is Certain)
environment
The US magazine publication industry uses 35 million trees worth of paper each year. With that
in mind the Independent Press Association, Conservatree and Co-op America formed the PAPER Project, as a means of encouraging magazine publishers to adopt environmentally friendly materials and processes. Their site http://www.ecopaperaction.org/ not only catalogs the environmental benefits, but also provides step-by-step directions on how to make the change along with resources for both readers and publishers. (Connections, Fall 2001)
education
One of the most disturbing recent trends has been the invasion of public schools by corporations. One organization The Center for Commercial Free Public Education is doing something about it. Their site, http://www.commercialfree.org/ provides a guide to actions that you can do in your own community to preserve the sanctity of the educational atmosphere.
green consumer
Need more ideas for holiday gift giving? How about a bottle opener made from bicycle parts or a woven bowl made from used phone cable. These item and dozens more can be found at Eco-Artware.com (http://www.eco-artware.com/), an outlet for functional and affordable art pieces made from recycled materials by individual artists and small art studios
For those of you with a slightly larger budget, the furniture from Wooden Duck is definitely worth a look. Each hand crafted piece of furniture is made from recycled wood from around the world. Their site http://www.thewoodenduck.com/ includes an extensive catalog that tells where each piece originated.
bookshelf
Naomi Klein has become the spokesperson for a growing movement of anti-corporate activists due in no small part to her debut book No Logo (1999, Picador). An excellent document of the history of branding and the anti-corporate sentiment it is not just a catalog of corporate wrongs. Instead Ms. Klien couples facts and figures with personal stories of what is being done to combat global logo-fication, both its successes and failures. While much of the content will be familiar to readers of Adbusters or anyone who's participated in the anti-advertising movement of the last several years, the depth of the research alone makes it worth reading. An excellent reference for those already involved and a potential eye-opener for the average consumer.
nosh
File under, "What if they had an ad and no one cared". It seems that the worlds biggest billboard is a flop. At 985 feet long by 148 feet high, you'd think that Nike or Coca-Cola would be falling over themselves to fill the space, but it was never rented. Apparently someone forgot to tell the owners that the spot that they built the billboard on, in Chongquin, China, is covered in a near constant shroud of fog. Thanks, Mother Nature! (source: Christian Science Monitor 11/27/01)
in closing
Thanks for your time and feel free to contact us with suggestions for future issues, web sites to check out, or just to say "Howdy".
Noah Scalin, founder
ALR design
socially conscious graphic design
noah@alrdesign.com
http://www.ALRdesign.com