researching clothes made with sustainable practices and socially responsible consideration

After re-awakening to the issues of sweatshops:http://questionsthoughtsoneducation.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-new-topic-of-exploration-who-makes.html
I have started an investigation of my own into what companies can i buy clothes from who have some sort of ecological and socially responsible consciousness:
I wrote letters and received responses. http://questionsthoughtsoneducation.blogspot.com/2013/10/continuing-my-research-on-sustainable.html
 I have been posting this to my other blog and so I want to link those to here.http://questionsthoughtsoneducation.blogspot.com/2013/10/i-wrote-letter-and-they-wrote-me-back.html
Thanks!  I might copy the posts over, but please take a look at the blog and the content.
http://questionsthoughtsoneducation.blogspot.com/

read this post for farming information

http://edu309.blogspot.com/2012/08/fall-2012-our-class-and-our-focus.html

and look at side bar for info!

Keystone pipeline and rallying and Ojibwe Natives (from Birchbark house)

ON Feb 17 I went to DC with my daughter and participated in the rally for forward thinking on climate change. It was organized by the Sierra Club http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer#.UToV99bvvoI and 350.org http://350.org/

The main focus of this rally was to ask the congress and president to BLOCK Keystone pipeline, which is an environmentally dangerous project.

I always think of it as an ecological issue. However, it is also a human rights issue, which I was made aware of by  the first set of speakers we heard.  They were the chief of the Cree and the Ojibwe chiefs were there too, speaking about their human rights...the fact that their life is on the land of tar sands and the land where the pipeline goes through.  They spoke of how since tarsands started to be extracted, the cancer rates are through the roof for the people who live in the area.
This article in daily kos speaks to the human right issues of climate change "why people of color should care about Keystone Pipeline"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/15/1187348/-Why-People-of-Color-Should-Care-about-the-Keystone-Pipeline?fb_action_ids=10200704629036676&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582  and of course many minorities live right among the places where they extract and refine oil:
"And it gets worse. Mining tar sands oil wipes out huge swaths of forest, destroying the planet’s natural ability to fight global warming. The extraction process kills wildlife and leaves behind pools of poisoned water and sludge. High levels of arsenic, mercury, and lead have been found at Canadian tar sands sites. It’s not surprising then, that the indigenous tribes who live near these operations have spoken out about staggeringly high rates of cancer and illness in their communities.  "

The ecological issue of course is that every single oil pipeline has spills. see map."Two Decades of Spills: Since 1990, over 110 MILLION GALLONS of mostly crude and petroleum products have spilled from the nation’s mainland pipeline network. More than half of it occurred in three states — Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana — where more pipelines exist."

and that this one goes right through a massive aquifer...which provides CLEAN WATER for many US citizens:  Ogallala aquifer...and Sand hills.  Which just last year the environmental impact statement turned down Keystone omn the science that it would damage this BIGGEST MOST INTRICATE WETLAND IN THE UNITED STATES!!!
"In a report (2011-11-10) on the Keystone Pipeline Project Presidential Permit Review Process, the U. S. State Department rejected TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline (Hardisty-Baker-Steele City) proposal. "[G]iven the concentration of concerns regarding the environmental sensitivities of the current proposed route through the Sand Hills area of Nebraska, the Department has determined it needs to undertake an in-depth assessment of potential alternative routes in Nebraska [...] The comments were consistent with the information in the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) about the unique combination of characteristics in the Sand Hills (which includes a high concentration of wetlands of special concern, a sensitive ecosystem, and extensive areas of very shallow groundwater) and provided additional context and information about those characteristics. The concern about the proposed route’s impact on the Sand Hills of Nebraska has increased significantly over time, and has resulted in the Nebraska legislature convening a special session to consider the issue." ^[8]"U.S.State Department (November 10, 2011). Media Notes on Keystone XL Pipeline Project Review Process: Decision to Seek Additional Information (Report). Retrieved March 22, 2012.

Then I read Birchbark House , which led me to become enamored with the old Ojibwe lifestyle, how intricately they were woven with and throughout nature...and how the decimation of their tribes happened through small pox , which originated by European culture and caused anhilation.
But the people exist and persist.
I found on website on information of Ojibwe for children...they had a picture of babies then and babies now in their nation...showing how they maintain some of their culture but are current too:

And this got me wondering, where do they live? where is the Ojibwe nation, and why were the native americans at the Keystone rally?

Their nation in canada is right where tar sands is...
horrifying!

The attack on indigenous people continues.  I keep thinking of Omokayas and their tribes ways and the two bears and the birchbark houses and it just breaks my heart.
WE HAVE TO STOP attacking nature and native people and sacred land and so forth.
we need more green energy.  we need alternative energy. 

spring 2013 what is hot out there?

HI everyone,
If you are in a quandry of what to study as your current event, let me help you with what I notice in  the field.
OF COURSE, it is not limited to this. Note: I notice what I tend to notice, so there is some subjectivity in  this list, but here goes:

1.  climate change.  

What is it? Why do people say there is a connection between the massive storms, the flooding and climate change.  What does this mean?  How can govt take action? How can I take action?

GOOGLE ALL THESE

See rally in DC sunday Feb 17, 2013
see alternative energy: wind and sun.

See keystone pipeline XL (The Keystone XL pipeline is proposed to run from the tar sands oil fields in Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Various organizations have spoken out against the Keystone XL pipeline, voicing health, safety, and environmental concerns.)  good explanation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-anderson/keystone-xl-explained_b_2664071.html?utm_hp_ref=keystone-pipeline
 (some websites that came up: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/keystone-pipeline/)The Keystone XL pipeline is proposed to run from the tar sands oil fields in Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Various organizations have spoken out against the Keystone XL pipeline, voicing health, safety, and environmental concerns.
See TARSANDS

See: 350.org This website is good for not only info but if this is a topic of interest, they have action associated with it http://350.org/  http://350.org/

2. FOOD GENETIC MODIFIED ORGANISMS

see all links on the side...
check out the food industrialization and organics?

3.  debt ceiling-BUDGET talks!

under this comes everything from cuttin g budgets for NPR or Planned parenthood or Head start.

4. FEDERAL REGULATORS OF BANKS

Biggest corrupt move of the govt. to date: senate banking committee.
 Do you know why these settlements were so corrupt? What is the whole scandal behind wall street? Here is a movie of your senator calling the federal regulators out.  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/14/172045516/watch-sen-elizabeth-warren-grills-regulators-on-taking-banks-to-trial  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/14/172045516/watch-sen-elizabeth-warren-grills-regulators-on-taking-banks-to-trial