Runway Wednesday: Humanitarian of the Week

Today, my post has absolutely nothing to do with veganism. In fact, it has nothing to do with Animal Rights. I'm not even going to be talking about Environmentalism. This is, however, related to activism.

There are a lot of charities, and non-profit organizations out there, and sometimes it is hard to decide which ones to support. Sometimes it's even hard to know HOW to support the ones you want to. Especially with humanitarian-type charities, the problem is often very far away, or out of the boundaries of our finite eyesight. You can always donate money, but not very many people have the kind of money that they can just throw around to whichever charities they run across. Even when you'd like to donate money, it's often difficult to know which charities need it the most. I mean really, there are hundreds of thousands of cancer support charities, and while that is a noble cause, what about the charities that say, help feed starving orphans? Not many of us run across starving orphans every day, so that sort of things tends to be out of sight, out of mind.

I have recently discovered an organization that is the solution to all of those problems. Sevenly is a group of people who were trying to solve these same problems. They have now made it their mission "to harness the power of art and community to build sustainable awareness and funding movements that support charities in their efforts to change the world." This is a small organization comprised of artists and researchers who find worthy charities that need support, and they create designs for clothing that they turn around and sell to raise support for their charity of the week. Every shirt, tank top, hoodie, tote bag, etc. donates $7 to a specific non-profit. They have both guys and girls designs, and multiple styles and colors of apparel to appeal to as large of a target audience as possible. Every design has a story behind the art to show what inspired it, but each design is only available for 7 days. New designs are available every Monday at noon, but orders for the previous week's shirts are processed exactly up to that point. Once the time is up, the orders are processed so they never run out before the week is up.

Organizations they have worked with in the past include. . .

1Love - Helped put abandoned babies and toddlers into nurseries and provide with them with the necessities they need to survive.
Feed My Starving Children - Each purchase provided the money to feed a child in Thailand for a month.
The Sheepfold - Raised money to put abused women and children in safe-houses.
Somaly Mam - Funded a raid on a brothel in Cambodia to free women and children who had been sold into sex-slavery.

. . . And so many more.

This week, they are raising support for Autism Speaks, a charity that provides tools and therapy for children with severe autism that helps them learn to communicate with their families. The extra cool thing about it is that someone is doubling the money they raise for Autism Speaks, up to $180,000. Sevenly is also selling iPhone cases this week with both guys and girl's designs. Pretty cool, huh? Even if you can't buy something from them, they really appreciate you sharing the page on all your social networks. That way, maybe someone else can hear about it for the first time, and buy something to support the week's charity.

I am really hoping that I can get this week's design featuring the phrase "Live Loud for Autism."



I've bought 3 other shirt in the past few weeks, but since the designs are only available for 7 days, and I can't find an archive anywhere, I can't show you the designs. Maybe I'll just have to take a picture wearing them myself.

Anyway, I think that Sevenly is a great way to become aware of different organizations and charities, and show support for a myriad of organizations with Sevenly's amazing apparel art.

Does this sort of organization seem helpful to you? Are you interested in humanitarian non-profits like this one? Had you heard of Sevenly before? Give your opinion in a comment!

Update: I have added this to my Runway Wednesday series, even though I wrote this post a long time before the Runway Wednesday series started.

Getting out of your Shell

I don't really have much to say today, but I'd like to share some fail pictures from Shell's "Let's Go!" ad campaign. If you are not familiar with it, the company essentially created a meme generator and told the general internet public to make ads for Shell's billboards using provided images and words of the people's own choosing. For a while there was voting, and the winning ad's creator got a prize pack. That, however, is not the important part. The important part is that the general internet public made it clear that people don't like oil companies. Some of the images from the campaign make that very obvious.

Here are some of the more thought provoking environmental images.



These pictures are still have an environmentalism flavor, but they come at it from a more comical approach.

 

Some of the funniest images were the ones that made pop-culture references.



This is probably my all-time favorite.



Well, what did you think of Shell's marketing tactics? I'd say they made a fool out of themselves in a very public way. The general internet public is bringing them down. Which one was your favorite? Did you create your own make-fun-of-Shell meme that you'd like to share a link to? Leave a comment!

CTTVCC: Breakup Pudding

Well, I haven't been in any relationships lately, but I tried the "Breakup Pudding" recipe from PETA's Vegan College Cookbook when two of my friends were dumped by their boyfriends within a week of each other.

I have made it twice now, but both times, I've had a few variations from the original recipe. 

First off, I used light tofu. Now, seeing as tofu is usually considered a diet food, I thought it was particularly interesting that there was diet tofu. I'm not even kidding. The light tofu has half the calories per serving. It has 45 calories vs. regular tofu which has 70-80. I chose to make it with light tofu, because I didn't want my friends (or myself) to gain weight because of some stupid boy. (No offense guys.) I consider it a guiltless indulgence.

The second variation I had was that, because I have a cheap blender, I had to add a splash or two of unsweetened alternative milk to get the blending process working. I suppose you could use a regular sweetened alternative milk, even a vanilla flavored one two give it a bit more flavor. I just keep regular unsweetened milks at my house to cut down the amount of calories I consume when I use it in cereal.

The last alteration I had was using dark chocolate cocoa powder. When I was at the grocery store, a lot of the regular cocoa powder I found had some milk derivatives in it, and personally, I like dark chocolate better. Here's how I see it: if I'm going to eat something, like chocolate for example, I want to eat the real stuff. I mean, the chocolate I eat is practically baking chocolate, which if any of you ever tried as a kid when your mother wasn't looking, is pretty bitter. I guess it's an acquired taste I developed because of some of the other bitter things I consume, like coffee. That, however, is a story for another time.

Anyway, I really like this recipe, and now that I actually OWN a copy of this amazing book, I don't have to make it off the website, or using the recipe cards I've gotten in various activism packs I've ordered from PETA and Peta2. Even my non-vegan friends and family members love this recipe. When my (non-vegan) mother tried it, she said:

"This pudding is so good, it would definitely be worth breaking up with someone for."

 I would definitely recommend trying it, maybe even with my little twist on it. I hope you all enjoy it! Let me know what you think of the recipe in the comments!

Food Finds Friday: Annie Chun's

College students have a few kinds of reputations. However, there are two main things that college students are known for. One of them is for being party animals, and another is for being broke and having to live off only Ramen Noodles for weeks. I will only be addressing the latter of these two. Now, vegetarians and vegans are often thought, mostly by outside sources, to not get proper nutrition, especially while in college. I might just have a solution to the nutritional problems that students have, while keeping in mind expense and the fact that most students need nonperishable foods.

While it would be great if, while away at college, we could all cook all of our meals out of PETA's Vegan College Cookbook, there are still various reasons why we might not be able to. (By the way, the book can be purchased with Peta2 Street Team Points, which means basically FREE!) Sometimes, just the thought of having to think about what you're cooking might be too much for a brain about to go into a study-induced coma. There is something comforting about sitting down with a cup or bowl of hot noodles and taking a second to relax. So, before you place a bulk order of Ramen, (which is full or preservatives and has next to no nutritional value,) and become victim to the stereotype, consider trying a healthier, and in the opinion of many, tastier vegan option that should still be in your price range.

I recently tried Annie Chun's Miso Soup, and I was absolutely shocked at how good it was. It was more than a million times better than any prepackaged noodles I'd had before! Not only did it taste AMAZING, it's all natural, contains no MSG, or preservatives, has 8 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, only 240 Calories, and completely vegan. The container is also recyclable, or reusable since it's relatively durable and resealable. It is very fast to make. ( It takes 2 minutes vs. Ramen which takes 3 minutes. OMG A WHOLE MINUTE MORE TO STUDY! )

Annie Chun's also has other vegan soups such as the Udon and Korean Kimichi; vegan noodle bowls like the Garlic Scallion, Korean Sweet Chili, Kung Pao, Peanut Sesame, and Teriyaki Bowl; as well as Instant Rice; and well, they have Ramen too. Spring Vegetable is the only vegan Ramen flavor that I am aware of.

Soup and Noodle Bowls are $3.49 each if ordered or purchased individually, or $2.89 each if purchased in packs of 6 that cost $17.34. If you must have Ramen, theirs is $6.57 for a 3 pack, and $24.97 for a 12 pack. When I was researching this, I saw that there were other companies that were selling the Miso in huge bulk sets for a really good price, but I didn't really look at the actual website.

Anyway, I hope you have a chance to try the Miso, and that you love it as much as I do! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Update: I've added this to my Food Finds Friday series even though it  was written long before the series began. I also wrote this before I realized I needed to go gluten-free. So, I can no longer eat most of these products, sadly. 

Real Men

Photo courtesy of Plant Powered Living.

Well, if this isn't a great way to convince the men in your life to cut meat out of their diets, I don't know what is. If I were you, I'd share this infographic everywhere you can, and as soon as possible. You never know, but you could save someone's life! In fact, you could be helping to save a whole lot of lives, because if someone goes vegetarian or vegan, not only would they be lowering their own risk of getting heart disease, but animals wouldn't have to die for their meals!

I must admit, I am not the biggest fan of the way they illustrated the risk of heart disease. To me, it looks as if it's saying that the vegans don't 'have as much of a heart,' as the saying goes, as the omnivores do. I don't think that was their intention though.

We all need to let guys know that REAL men are compassionate. Spread the love!

Animal Testing Poetry Reading

So, earlier, I posted the poem I had written about animal testing, "For the Sake of Progress." Well, I decided to do a video reading of it for an I Am Peta2 video for street team points. (By the way, if you haven't joined the Peta2 Street Team, you should. Its a great way to get active for animal, and you can earn free stuff!) Anyway, I decided to share my video here. Even if you're not the biggest fan of poetry, it would mean a lot to me if you all watch it anyways! Just think of it as me telling you a story that happens to rhyme and have meter. ;) Give the video a "thumbs up" if you like it, and feel free to share it on whatever social networks you use. (I think you have to go to the video's page on YouTube to share it.) The goal here is to expose people to the negative side of animal testing, and to get some traffic to the Peta2 website where people can learn more about animal rights. Thanks!

Steak, Steak, Go Away!

For those of you who use Facebook, you are probably familiar with the sidebar ads. You know, the ones on the right side of the page, right next to the scroll bar, that most people just ignore anyways? I get a lot of ads for vegan / animal welfare things that I sometimes check out. Well, for whatever reason, I just got an ad for Fatz, (its a restaurant for those who aren't familiar,) and the advertisement image said "Love Steak?" with a silhouette of a steak. Now, this succeeded in catching my attention, but as must be obvious by the fact that I'm running a veganism / animal rights blog, I happen to NOT love steak. In fact, I've always HATED steak! Even before I was even a vegetarian. (Which was before I was a vegan, logically.) Now, normally, I don't bother to hide ads on Facebook, but since I was already looking at it, I decided to hide all ads for Fatz. Once I clicked it, Facebook wanted to know why I didn't want to receive any more ads for Fatz. There were several general reasons you could choose, and the closest one to "This is an advertisement for steak, and I am a vegan" was "Against my views," so I went with that. Something about that particular reason struck me as funny. I mean, how often do you think people select that for a restaurant? My guess is: not very.

In Your Own Words

It is absolutely ridiculous how much fun I had making these Anti-Cruelty signs. I was laughing maniacally under my breath while I was coming up with little phrases to type into Peta2's clever little generators. It actually impressed me how realistic these signs look. While I am more involved with the McCruelty campaign, mostly because there are more McDonald's restaurants in my area, the Kentucky Fried Cruelty Generator signs looked more like an actual photo to me. Maybe that's because there were cars in most of the images. I don't know. That is not to say that the McCruelty Sign Generator designers didn't do a good job, because they certainly did.

Now, if you click the links to the generators, you can type in up to 3 lines of text to display in the store sign. If you want to save and share your pictures on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or whatever, you'll need to use a screenshot. Just in case you aren't sure how to do that, I'll explain.

Step 1. Using the scroll wheel on your mouse, or the scroll buttons on the side of your browser, adjust the screen so that your Anti-Cruelty image is clearly in view. It is best to leave a visible margin of the webpage around your image.

Step 2. Locate the Print Screen button on your keyboard. It is usually toward the upper right-hand corner. It might be abbreviated to something like "PrtSc" depending on the maker.

Step 3. Push the Print Screen button.

Step 4. Open a new project in Paint, which comes pre-installed on most computers.

Step 5. In Paint, click the button says "Select" on it, and displays a dotted-lined rectangle.

Step 6. Using the select tool, right click anywhere in the empty project. A screenshot of the page with your Anti-Cruelty sign will appear.

Step 7. Left click on the selected screenshot, and drag it toward the upper left-hand corner of your project until only the Anti-Cruelty sign is in view in that corner.

Step 8. Left click anywhere within the image, but outside the the selected screenshot to deselect it.

Step 9. Using the scroll bars, scroll to the bottom right-hand corner of the image.

Step 10. Click and drag the small white box in the corner up and to the left until only your Anti-Cruelty sign is visible. Make sure that the borders are even.

Step 11. Click the "Save As" button, and save your image, preferable as a PNG. This will keep your image quality nice so that everyone will be able to clearly read your Anti-Cruelty message!

Step 12. Upload your image to all your favorite social networks, or email your image to share it with all your friends! Make sure you include a link to the McCruelty or Kentucky Fried Cruelty websites so your friends can get more information and make their own Anti-Cruelty Signs.

Alright. I hope that little tutorial was helpful, and that you have as much fun making your Anti-Cruelty signs as I did! For any of you who are members of the Peta2 Street Team, make sure you go to the "Take Action" page, and turn in a screenshot of the website where you shared your sign for Street Team Points!