Poster by Max Erdenberger

From the W+K Studio online store:

• Upon learning of the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan on March 11 we felt a helplessness that compelled us to do something. We quickly designed this poster and offered it as a thanks for anyone donating at least $25 to the relief effort through our site. We’ll be donating the net proceeds to the Red Cross.

For more efforts like this, visit GOOD.

INSIDE JOB received this year’s Oscar for Best Documentary. It’s quite a powerful and infuriating film about our financial system and how it crashed and burned. And why no one on Wall Street went to jail. (Note: the only reason Madoff went to jail was because his illegalities hurt other rich people, period.)

Watch it, and if, for some reason, you still think the reason all the cards came crashing down was because some poor people bought houses they couldn’t afford, well then I think it’s time for a cage match.

HOW Magazine’s Blog features The Haiti Poster Project, now with over 510 artists:

• Over a year ago, in the wake of a tragedy, designers and artists were called to action by The Haiti Poster Project. Limited edition posters are donated and signed by their creators, and funds from their sales benefit Doctors without Borders for Haiti’s relief efforts.

Waiting for Superman is a powerful new documentary from Participant Media about the education crisis in America. We saw it on Saturday in Omaha. Touching and infuriating, a kind of hopeless look at a stark reality that demands a passionate response from an engaged citizenry to make change as soon as possible. Pledge to see the film and Take Action.

A couple video animations done to support the film:

TakePart: Participant Media – Waiting For ‘Superman’ – Infographic from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

A Conversation with Davis Guggenheim from TakePart on Vimeo.

Maya Lin’s Green Memorial. What Is Missing? focuses on extinct and vanishing species, and incorporates sculpture, video, sound, hand-held electronics, printed material and an interactive website. More at Maya Lin’s Studio.

How the world really works, as opposed to how we were told it worked. The LA Times has a great article about the documentary, which opened late last year: Apocalypse now: ‘Collapse’ and the end of the world as we know it.

We’re trashing the planet. We’re trashing each other. And we’re not even having fun. So, let’s turn this spaceship planet earth around. Presented by the Story of Stuff Project and Free Range Studios.

Let’s just get this out there. I think Al Gore kicks ass. Straight up. And his newest book that came out last year does as well. Our Choice is a plan to solve the climate crisis with all sorts of information about our energy sources, living systems, how we use energy, how we can go far quickly and the obstacles we need to overcome.

Obstacles meaning how we think and behave now, and what we need to do to change. We can start with putting a price on carbon. Thinking not about short-term profits but long-run investment. Moving past that overly simplistic idea we call GDP and focusing on our genuine progress which includes benefits like volunteering or costs like air pollution. Understanding that fossil fuel companies spend millions every year to trick people into not believing in a very strong scientific consensus. To be done with the market fundamentalism and realize that for our system to work, we need both markets and democracy.

We can overcome those obstacles. It’s our choice. We’ve got maybe a 2-3 year window to make up our minds. Then we’re moving forward, whether we’re ready or not. Hopefully we pick the blue side.

The Tap-Tap Puzzle

HAITI: 6 MONTHS ON. From the Guardian: When the earthquake struck on 12 January, the poorest country in the Americas was devastated. The world rallied, but not for long – much of the promised aid has not materialised. And while their government falters, many of the 1.5 million displaced Haitians are still sleeping rough…

FRONTLINE has a series on the Aid Dilemma. On post-disaster relief, the economy of a tent city and the tap-tap puzzle.

And the crisis goes on…

Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer | Soil Not Oil by Vandana Shiva

Yesterday Democracy Now! hosted a little debate between Indian environmentalist, scientist, philosopher and eco-feminist, Vandana Shiva, and geopolitical analyst and columnist, Gwynne Dyer. They talked Geoengineering in the face of runaway Climate Change.

On one side you have a very ecologically-focused, democratically-led effort at getting our emissions down in a way that is in harmony with the planet and its web of life. The Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth that shifts us to an earth centered paradigm.

And on the other, there’s not enough time. So we’ve got to geoengineer ourselves out of this crisis that’s coming so fast the scientific community is scared and desperate. Temporary intervention is needed so we have more time to get emissions down, then we don’t have megadeaths starting in the tropics and subtropics in 30-50 years.

Very interesting. If a decision had to be made today, which side should we choose?