Issues news

My Dad often sarcastically comments that I should join Greenpeace. I ain't no hippie, but I am a dog lover. While at Miranda Fair on NYE day I waltzed on into Pet's Paradise (ironic name I must say!). I see a sign in the window asking for good samaritans to baby-sit a puppy over the new year, while the 'paradise' is closed. So, of course after a whole lot of self persuasian (not) I adopted a little Boxer X for 2 days. My boyfriend, who let him bunk at his house (as my Dad is not open to adoptions, especially of the puppy type) named him Bobby Disco (seen in the picture). Bobby Disco was the best little four legged specimen to ever walk the face of this earth! Long story very short - we fell in love with him. We already have a dog each, so there was no way we could keep him. He had to go back. Taking him back to his 'paradise' was honestly heartbreaking. As lame as I must have looked I had tears in my eyes when I placed him back into his little display box. As predicted he started crying and that's the day I felt my heart break in two. After a few hours in recovery (my bed) I searched the net for ways in which we can help and rescue poor little pups in need. Monika's Doggie Rescue is like DOCS for dogs. So many dogs are left abandoned everyday and the pounds are bursting at the seams trying to house them, that most end up being put down. If your best bud is your dog and couldn't bare the thought of them in this horrible situation, click here to find out how you can get your doggie rescuing shoes on!

Even though I usually begin Christmas shopping long before Santas on boards start surfing around town, it never fails—every year I still find myself looking for that perfect present even as Carols by Candlelight is flickering on TV. Lucky for us last minute types (and animals) it’s now easier than ever to find cool, cruelty-free gifts for everyone on your list, at just about any place you go.

Hotter than Christmas dinner on Bondi Beach, most retail stores carry heaps of faux fur trim fashions, piles of pleather shoes, jackets, and accessories, and bunches of better-than-wool acrylic and cotton pullovers, socks and suits. So this year, give fur, leather, and wool the old heave ho, ho, ho and go faux instead. And remember—animal testing stinks, so steer clear of perfumes, cosmetics, and other gifts made from, or tested on our fellow creatures. That said, what are you waiting for? Get shopping!

An initiative that is sure to strike fear into the hearts of boyfriends around the world; Fanuary has been devised by NZ website myjobspace in an effort to raise money and awareness for cervical cancer. As you can see from the flyer, the premise of the fundraiser is fairly simple - but my,my,my: how the vagina does divide a nation. Fanuary’s original backer; the Cancer Foundation, recently pulled all support and association with the campaign (I can only guess it was around the time the term “Indonesian Rainforest Sloth" came up in the boardroom) and have instead joined many others in labelling Fanuary “pornographic”. Obviously it’s a fairly ambitious idea - even in today’s vajayjay friendly society of surgical “restoration” and undie-eschewing celebs – and general opinion amongst the NZ public seems to lay in either category of “ingenious” or “tasteless”. What, dear YEN readers, do you think?

An eight-year-old girl asked Santa to bring her happiness in a letter received by Chile's national postal service. The girl's wish came along with a description of her experience of being raped by her mother's boyfriend and her father.
Chilean police are now investigating and verifying the child's letter to charge the culprits involved.
The UN compiled a report last year called the Violence Against Children Study. It estimates that globally "150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 have experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence involving physical contact." The UN Study also revealed that between 14% and 56% of the sexual abuse of girls, and up to 25% of the sexual abuse of boys, was perpetrated by relatives or step-parents." It's shocking but these statistics are recognised as underestimations as many are silent victims who suffer alone. You can help the young and the defenceless in more ways than one so get in contact with organisations such as Child Wise and Stop Child Abuse to prevent more crimes against children and help victims of abuse.

I promise this rant is not about 'just another art exhibition'! Last week, YEN supported an excellent exhibition with a difference, Save By Art, where proceeds from the sale of the art were donated to Friends of the Earth. The group endeavours to put on more of these exhibitions choosing a different charity each time to support. Here are some of the art works that was on show at the event last Thursday. It will be up until 8 December, check it out. Photo by Amanda Neagle.

What are you going to buy your mates for Christmas this year? I've got an idea for you! And it has nothing to do with that amazing jewellery store that wraps their fine jewels in a beautiful green box and bag. It's that other shade of green I'm referring to. Greenpeace have launched an online gift shop just in time for Chrissie. The idea behind it is that you can buy your friends or family a virtual gift that will help stop climate change, halt logging in an ancient forest or even save a whale. Some of the gift donations include: Help fund peaceful direct action training for a Greenpeace activist; One share in a portable sawmill, to empower communities in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to manager their own forests and reject industrial loggers; Help fund our activists who defend whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary or Give voice to your wish for a green and peaceful future through the gift of a Greenpeace campaign sign.

The choice is yours!!

So Christmas is descending upon us faster that we can snap a candy cane in half! I don't know about you, or her or the little one... but I am just not ready for this overwhelming time. I work in a supermarket part - time to help fund my studies. I have experienced 3 consecutive festive seasons in a row as a 'check - out - chick'! Not only do people go jolly mad for hams, chocolate coated almonds and fruit cake, they also go crazy for maxing out their credit card, running into the backs of my legs with a shopping trolley and abusing me once they get to the checkouts, as the poor sods have had to wait in line for 10 whole minutes! Sorry my love, but this is a supermarket. This is the place everybody flocks to to buy a trolley load full of sweets to devour in one single day and then feel disgustingly sick the next. This is Christmas time. A time when carols play like a broken record and when parking at your local Westfield's is as hard as winning the lottery.
As a 4 year old child, Christmas time was almost as amazing as my birthday. I would cut up carrots for the reindeer's and leave Santa milk and cookies on Christmas Eve. Now, thanks to the rat race, the economy and greed of human kind... Christmas is no longer about giving. People who are not Christian celebrate Christmas because Woolworths and Myer celebrate Christmas. To me Santa is now just a myth to make kids want 'stuff'. Useless meaningless stuff. It is more than likely that the reindeers have caught the horse flu as well. A petrol fueled sleigh is no longer an option either as rising oil prices make us wish we all still rode in carriages! I am not sure who I am angry at here. But I'll go with this one: Thank you' supermarket' for making me loathe Christmas and the fat jelly belly that comes with it!