It is sad and hurtful when people are cold and judgmental. It makes me see why the world is in the state it's in. This lack of understanding and tolerance for others definitely can make the world an ominous place to be in.

Maybe if we all just tried a little harder to be more understanding despite differences, and instead decide to spread around a bit more joy, laughter and smiles... The world can be a beautiful place.

I saw this link in the newsletter of the Youth Environment Network. It is a good intro about the possible effects of transgenics which some (or many) food producers such as Kraft are using in their products, which may cause negative effects on human health.

What is Kraft up to?

For more in-depth information, check out the website:
Say No To GMOs

There is also a book written by Jeffrey Smith called "Seeds of Deception"

Hey everyone, hope all is well. I thought i should submit a report as it has definitely been a while. I have been able to travel quite a bit since my last update to go to 3 different conferences which has been quite interesting. The first one was a national conference in the capital called "Políticas Públicas para a Juventude" which was about Youth and Public Policies, where youth and "older people" from the Brasilian gov't and NGOs discussed and debated current issues in Brasil. As well, I went to another conference in Brasilia called "Encontro Indígena Interamericano Preparatório sobre Sociedade da Informação", which was a meeting of Indgigenous people from all over South America and Canada! It was great, I meet people from various Indigenous groups from Mapuche, Mayan, Xavante. I was the only Cree person there! I was able to network and meet various people, however, one issue is that the lack of access to the internet is a problem. As well, there are many language barriers and concern of loss of culture through the overwhelming characteristic of the mass media. Some Indigenous groups are using the radio as a mean of communication to help circulate accurate and relevant news. We also had a video conference with the First Nations University in Canada, it felt really cool to be a part of it! Just recently, I went to another conference called the Brasilian Social Forum, which was also a National Conference resembling the World Social Forum that was in Porto Alegre this past January. It was very large with i think at least 40 000 people from all over Brasil. I was able to take part in a march that protested against transgenic food and pro-environment causes. It was interesting. The only negative point for me, however, that the forum was so large that it was hard to meet people as everyone was busy running to various events happening around the city happening at the same time. So I would say that the first two conferences were much more productive than the latter. One thing that I have been trying to focus more on recently is the translation system and helping certain volunteers with this. I am now starting on the second batch of newsletter for the various regions. I want to focus on the Caribbean first to see if it will increase some more activity in that region. Wow, and i can't believe there is basically only a month left to go! Well, that is all I can think of right now, but i will add more later! Take care, melina

Hey everyone, hope all is well. I thought i should submit a report as it has definitely been a while. I have been able to travel quite a bit since my last update to go to 3 different conferences which has been quite interesting. The first one was a national conference in the capital called "Políticas Públicas para a Juventude" which was about Youth and Public Policies, where youth and "older people" from the Brasilian gov't and NGOs discussed and debated current issues in Brasil. As well, I went to another conference in Brasilia called "Encontro Indígena Interamericano Preparatório sobre Sociedade da Informação", which was a meeting of Indgigenous people from all over South America and Canada! It was great, I meet people from various Indigenous groups from Mapuche, Mayan, Xavante. I was the only Cree person there! I was able to network and meet various people, however, one issue is that the lack of access to the internet is a problem. As well, there are many language barriers and concern of loss of culture through the overwhelming characteristic of the mass media. Some Indigenous groups are using the radio as a mean of communication to help circulate accurate and relevant news. We also had a video conference with the First Nations University in Canada, it felt really cool to be a part of it! Just recently, I went to another conference called the Brasilian Social Forum, which was also a National Conference resembling the World Social Forum that was in Porto Alegre this past January. It was very large with i think at least 40 000 people from all over Brasil. I was able to take part in a march that protested against transgenic food and pro-environment causes. It was interesting. The only negative point for me, however, that the forum was so large that it was hard to meet people as everyone was busy running to various events happening around the city happening at the same time. So I would say that the first two conferences were much more productive than the latter. One thing that I have been trying to focus more on recently is the translation system and helping certain volunteers with this. I am now starting on the second batch of newsletter for the various regions. I want to focus on the Caribbean first to see if it will increase some more activity in that region. Wow, and i can't believe there is basically only a month left to go! Well, that is all I can think of right now, but i will add more later! Take care, melina

Hey everyone, hope all is well. I thought i should submit a report as it has definitely been a while. I have been able to travel quite a bit since my last update to go to 3 different conferences which has been quite interesting.