Project Economic Refugee

Watch this video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHO8l-Bd1O4]

Personally, I am more of a PC person.  I guess this all stems from way back when Apple was associated with words like “old” and ”outdated” but then their new fruity-shaped designs came along and we got inundated with messages of how “cool” and “sleek” Apple computers were all of a sudden.  To Apple’s credit, their PR campaign was a huge success-so much so that Bill Gates decided to start fighting back. 

In the end, I agree with the video above: both types of computers get you the same and are good at it … the only difference between them is us: brand loyalty.  So what is your computer orientation? PC or Mac?

Here’s a rustic print ad I did with the help of my friend Saira who modeled for me-thank you Saira! (this was part of an assignment that I did for a Communications class I’m currently taking):

Paper AND plastic are BOTH bad choices for your health

These are the basic elements of the ad:

Attention grabber: bright colors in the fruit and vegetables

Appeal: fruit, healthy living, relatable to you (you could see yourself doing what Saira is doing).

Narrative: the ad asks the question that you often hear at the grocery store: “paper or plastic?” It then urges you to be different, to “step outside of the box” and to support and pick “the better choice”: reusable bags.

Call to action: it asks you to reject the use of paper AND plastic bags so you can instead use reusable bags; it also invites you to visit the site www.healthebay.org/store  so you can get your own reusable bag.  In the future, the site could change to something like healthebay.org/healthyfuture (Heal the Bay does not have a site that has such a name … yet) that could be a centralized online center for people to take action (like send letters of support to newspapers and legislators or the like) on various issues dealing with marine debris.  Ideally, the center would reinforce the idea that it’s going to take all of us to solve the problem of plastic bags polluting our environment, working together: 1) through legislation that taxes the use of plastic and paper bags to discourage usage, 2) cleanup efforts, and 3) reclycling campaigns; and that if you take one element out (because of pressure from powerful moneyed interests), the efforts will most likely fail to solve much. 

I’m also trying to frame the situation very clearly with this ad with some long-term messaging:

• Plastic AND paper bags = bad for your health (because it impacts your quality of life).
• Reusable bags = healthy living, promising future, protecting your children from pollution.

Sure, the ad is not commercial-quality, but I think it gets the point across very effectively nevertheless.

  PS Don’t forget to click on the picture of the print ad above: it takes you to a video that CurrentTV aired about the problem of plastic bag pollution in our rivers and ocean.

So apparently we’re under swine flu watch.  Yes, it’s all over the news, like the bird flu and the mad cow desease were.  They way the media is talking about it, you’d think our civilization is coming to an end a-la Twelve Monkeys movie. 

The Center for Desease Control and Prevention (CDC) has the following up on their website:

“Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans, however, human infections with swine flu do occur, and cases of human-to-human spread of swine flu viruses has been documented. [...]

From December 2005 through February 2009, a total of 12 human infections with swine influenza were reported from 10 states in the United States. Since March 2009, a number of confirmed human cases of a new strain of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in the U.S. and internationally have been identified. An investigation into these cases is ongoing. [...]“

People are taking advantage of this opportunity of the flu being on the news 24/7 and so we get videos trying to sell you vitamins and others to promote crazy right-wing tinfoil hat libertarian conspiracy theories:

I’m still unclear as to how exactly this “new” flu is more serious than other kinds of flu (other than being related to pigs).  According to the CDC, these are the symptoms:

“What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.”

…uhm, correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t those more or less the symptoms of regular flu? (if there is such a thing-because the flu can come in many strains).

I realize this “swine” flu is a serious matter because people have died from it … but again, correct me if I’m wrong: don’t people die of “regular” flu too when it’s accompanied by complications and not treated with the right medical approaches?  Also, how come no one is asking “who is cashing in on the flu paranoia?”  The manufacturers of desinfectant products and people like Donald Rumsfeld are sure making money on the deal, among others.  Meanwhile, the racist right-wing pig media talking heads are having a field day with this story even though there are now reports emerging that the “swine” flu might have actually originated in the United States.  To top things off, some political extremists have used this opportunity to display their own idiocy, just watch what Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann said here. 

Perhaps what is most annoying about this whole thing is the hypocrisy inherent in all this media circus.  IF there were such a sincere concern for pandemics, you’d think conservatives (like Michelle Bachmann) and its media talking heads would agree that it is now more urgent than ever to approve a public healthcare option that would care for all as quickly as possible … well, guess again-they’re trying to kill off any attempts to fix our healthcare system that would cover us all.  By the way, you can fight back the politicians that are trying to choke healthcare reform in its crib; to fight them, visit: http://www.standwithdrdean.com/FAQ

Update: Luckily, there are some personalities emerging in the cable news that are being more realist about this whole thing. Watch Keith Olbermann talking about this strain of influenza in a more serious in-depth manner; click here.

Also, Media Matters for America did a great week-in-review wrap up of how the right-wing media personalities hyped it up to blame immigrants and even Obama for the “outbreak”.  Click here to read it.

I leave you with this “Swine Flu Overload” infoMania Editorial. Enough said.

Do you twitter?  Here’s another CurrentTV video on the topic:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w]

I am so lost in twitterland and I guess I’m not alone; the whole thing seems so esoteric to me.  Here’s Twitter’s CEO explaining what exactly Twitter is and how it come about:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n_EitPb7BU]

 SO do you tweet … ehr, I mean, “twitter”?

Check out this video from Current TV:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUA1N840Bkk]

An AlterNet article recently explored this very same topic: whether or not your online social network “friends” are really true friends.  Personally, I think online social networking is simply enhancing face-to-face interaction, rather than replacing it.  The claim that Facebook and MySpace are turning us into anti-social hermits seems to me a little bit of, uhm, I don’t know, shall way say ”old-people’s way of thinking?”…

Plastic bags float in green slime in Compton Creek. The trash that flows through inland waterways eventually ends up in the ocean and on the beach.

I’d like to share an experience that I had last year with a PR campaign that I thought was very clever but was nevertheless quite damaging to the environment.

As you may have heard on the news, there is currently a push to increase the use of reusable bags when one goes grocery shopping.  This is so the use of single-use plastic carry out bags is diminished.  The reasons why environmental groups want to discourage the use of single-use plastic carry out bags are many, but the bottom line is that these bags pollute the environment and kill marine animals.  For a list of fact on this issue, visit this page:

http://www.healthebay.org/currentissues/ppi/theneed_bags.asp

You can also watch this CurrentTV video that summarizes the issue pretty well:

http://current.com/items/89141407/plastic_is_murder.htm

One way to discourage the use of single-use carry-out plastic bags would be to put a tax on them (and on paper bags as well-since their use are no better for the environment).  For this reason, there have been several bills in the California legislature to make this tax on plastic bags a reality. 

Now, you might think “well that sounds all good to me so who would opppose it?”

Enter the all-powerful plastic and chemistry industry.  When the plastic industry got word of the legislative attempts to decrease the use of their precious plastic bags, they VERY quickly launched a massive radio, online, and billboard ad campaign to basically kill ALL legislative attempts at curbing the use of plastic bags.  Not only did they oppose the legislation, they crafted a misinformation campaign that was so effective that it had legislators up in Sacramento shaking in their boots.  The campaign revolved around this site:

http://www.stopthebagtax.com/

They even funded a “Save The Plastic Bag Coalition” if you can believe it.  Their angle was basically this: “politicians are insensitive rat bastards that want to tax you for using plastic bags that are already being recycled.”  Now, when you put it that way, who wouldn’t agree with the plastic industry, right?  Well, that’s exactly the point.

The level of deceipt in their pro-plastic bag ads was amazing.  First off, it wasn’t “politicans” that were behind the legislation, it was actual environmental and community groups-real average people that were pushing for such legislation because they were concerned about the health of their environment and of their communities.  Second, the idea that single-use plastic bags are actually being recycled is just plain false.  There is a small percentage that is being recycled, but it is basically so tiny that it is NOT making a difference.  That is why more aggressive steps-like the legislation that was being considered, are needed to address the problem.  For an explanation of the pro-environmental stance on what happened, check out these two posts:

http://spoutingoff.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/evil-incarnate/ 

http://spoutingoff.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/compton-creek-bags-slime/

Ultimately, the solution to the platic bag problem rests in the view that “we’re all on this together”.  It’ll take all of us to tackle this problem through educational efforts, volunteer activities like beach cleanups, recycling efforts like what some grocery stores are attempting to do, AND legislative efforts to discourage their use (like the tax on plastic and paper bags).  If you take one those elements out, we will probably NOT solve the problem effectively any time soon. 

After everything was said and done, I am wondering what kind of messaging techniques the environmental groups should have used in order to counter the misinformation campaign that the plastic industry launched against them.  This was definitely a battle of the big wealthy plastic industry with big pockets against the small tiny nonprofit enfironmental/community groups.  A tale of David & Goliath indeed; but in this case, Goliath (sadly) won.