Peacekeeper Truth Serum Blog

Earth Month is almost over, but we here at PeaceKeeper still want to let all of YOU know how other companies have been going sustainable!

On April 14, eco-friendly fashion line Loomstate threw a party to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day.  The main attraction?  A 40-man drum circle led by Japanese noise-rock musician Hisham Bharoocha.

“Earth consciousness doesn’t really have to be a drag,” explained Loomstate designer Scott Hahn.  “[We’re trying to] find new ways to speak to people.  There’s a lot that can come from, you know, sharing and energy and inspiration.  It’s hard to ask people to change; it’s better to inspire them to change.”

The party, hosted by Hahn and his design partner Rogan Gregory (known for the socially conscious fashion company EDUN) also featured a light show, a face-painting booth, and a 20-foot pyramid installation designed by jewelry designer Pamela Love.  The drum circle was set up around the pyramid; guests were encouraged to bring their own instruments.

Bharoocha said that the circle was a modern interpretation of an ancient rain dance, and that the beat of the drums were intended to give guests “that sensation of being something larger than yourself,” a fitting objective for a celebration of Mother Earth.

We at PeaceKeeper find Loomstate’s mission admirable!  The company, founded in New York in 2004, insists on using organic cotton in all its clothing, and enforces fair labor in its manufacturing.  Additionally, their clothing is made in factories that operate under the highest ethical and environmental standards, so you get gorgeous, comfortable duds for half the pollution and waste.

If you’d like to find out more about Loomstate and its mission, you can visit their website at www.loomstate.org.  Additionally, you could indulge in some eco-friendly beauty products of your own!  Why not try PeaceKeeper’s Paint Me Tranquil, a springy shade of light pink that’s 100% vegan?  Or our Eco-Sensual Lip Balm, also vegan and made with 73% organic ingredients?  Visit www.iamapeacekeeper.com to get gorgeous—the environmentally friendly way!

With Love,

The PeaceKeeper Team

(Writer:  Renee Estey.  Editor:  Jessica Smith and Eva Kuhn.)

Dear PeaceKeepers:

From all of us here at PK, Happy 40th Earth Day! Today, April 22, 500 million people are celebrating the beauty and power of Mother Earth. We hope that you will join us in celebrating this eco-friendly holiday!

Earth Day was founded in 1962 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who decided to organize a grassroots movement to save the environment. The movement spread quickly; in less than half a century, it is now celebrated in 175 countries, almost the entire world!

Every country celebrates Earth day in its own unique and wonderful way. In Thailand, monks in the Dhammakaya movement promote world peace through meditation, inviting people from all corners of the world to come to the Dhammakaya temple and meditate together. Spain holds the two-day Fira de la Tierra (Fair for the Earth), which includes music, dancing, a ‘visual arts concert’, and a public forum on sustainable energy. Here in New York City, Grand Central Station celebrates Earth Day for the entire week, with art from Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, live music, and organic (!) food.

It’s easy to celebrate Earth Day locally, even if there isn’t a big celebration going on where you live! Here are some of PeaceKeeper’s suggestions for living eco-friendly:

-REDUCE! Commute to work or school by walking, biking, or public transit. Not only does this cut back on air pollution (from car exhaust), but it’s also a great way to stay in shape!

-REUSE! Bring your own mug to Starbucks and your own bags to the supermarket. Tons of paper and plastic are wasted every year on disposable cups and bags. Also use stainless steel water bottles instead of buying Evian or Poland Spring. Not only are those plastic bottles wasteful, they also contain harmful chemicals that can infect the water you drink!

-Recycle! Who could forget? Visit www.recyclenow.com to find out how you can start recycling locally, what items you can and can’t recycle, and what all those funny triangles on the underside of your recycleables mean.

-Eat less meat. You don’t have to go all-vegetarian, but try to eat at least one meat-free meal a week. This cuts back on carbon emissions, which cuts back on global warming!

-Cut back on processed foods in general. Like with plastic water bottles, these contain chemicals that are often the last things you want in your body.

There are so many ways to stay green we can’t list them all here, so we want to hear from YOU! How are you celebrating Earth Day? How do you live eco-friendly? Comment on this blog or drop us a line at info@iamapeacekeeper.com!

Batter up!  Keep an eye on Eri Yoshida, the hot new pitcher not only known for her incredible knuckleball—50mph!—but for her gender.  Eri is the first woman to play professional baseball in the USA in over a decade!

She started out at age 16 on the Japanese team Kobe 9 Cruise, making history the only female in a league of all-male players.   Her professional debut was the very first game of the Kansai Independent Baseball League—versus the Osaka Gold Villicanes– and was attended by almost 12,000 people at the Osaka Dome, a major stadium in central Japan.  This remarkable opening is enough to have given even the greatest players a bad case of stage fright; Yoshida, though, played a fantastic game, walking one batter and striking out another in a 5-0 victory!

Only a year later, she has advanced through the ranks like wildfire, appearing in a one-inning battle against Japan’s top hitters and pitching four shut-out innings in an Arizona Winter League game against Canada.  In February, she was officially signed to the Chico Outlaws, a California team in the Golden Baseball League (one of the premier minor leagues in the United States).

In preparation for spring training, Yoshida has been training with Tim Wakefield, the pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.  She has stated in interviews that Wakefield is one of her professional idols; though she had been an excellent pitcher before (her fastest clocks in at 63 miles per hour), she only started using her famous knuckleball after watching videos of him playing for the Red Sox.

PeaceKeeper is very excited to watch Eri Yoshida throughout this season.  One more home run for women!

With Love,

The PeaceKeeper Team

(Writer: Renee Estey.  Editor: Jessica Smith.)

Mu Sochua, current opposition member of the Cambodian parliament and former Cambodian Minister of Women’s Affairs, is an inspiring example of what it means to be a woman in a man’s world.  She is currently one of the most influential figures in Cambodian politics, despite the endless abuse and discrimination aimed towards her gender.

Sochua was sent away from her home at the age of 18 in order to stay safe from the Vietnamese takeover of Cambodia.  An exile for 18 years, she learned English by listening to the Beatles earned a master’s degree in social work at the University of California-Berkeley.  In 1989, she returned to Cambodia with two small children and immediately set about creating a grassroots movement for women’s rights.  Throughout her political career, she has fought to provide equal opportunity in the workplace and to prevent violence and abuse in the home.  She has also fought against human trafficking, negotiating with several neighboring countries to Cambodia to stop the international slave trade.

Her efforts have gotten her a Leadership award from Hillary Clinton’s “Vital Voices” organization, nominated her for a Nobel Peace Prize, and her one of the most famous women in the Cambodian Parliament, but Mu Sochua’s livelihood has been challenged continuously.  During her 2008 election campaign, she protested a military general using government vehicles to campaign, and during the ensuing scuffle her blouse was ripped open.  Not long after, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a statement about an anonymous woman—clearly referencing Sochua– acting like a ‘gangster’ (in Cambodian, ‘strong leg’, a derogatory term for women), inciting trouble, and provocatively ‘rushing to embrace someone.’

Sochua promptly sued the Prime Minister for defamation; when she lost the case, Hun Sen lifted her parliamentary immunity—an unheard-of tactic—so that his administration could counter-sue for publicly criticizing him.  A court has ruled that she pay USD$4000; she has refused and could face prison.  The case is still in court today, as Sochua has appealed multiple times; the upcoming date for the verdict is April 17, 2010.

We at PeaceKeeper hope that Mu Sochua is able to fight for her right to speak out against the forces of injustice, and that one day soon she will obliterate the tide of abuse and discrimination that she has faced every step of her career.  In the meantime, you can support Mu Sochua and her campaigns at her official website, www.musochua.org.

With Love,

The PeaceKeeper Team

Despite the ever-increasing number of female lawyers and law students in Egypt, several important bodies of Egyptian government have continually refused to allow women into their ranks, disallowing thousands of intelligent, strong women to build a career in politics.  The Egyptian Council of State, a series of courts for settling administrative disputes, recently voted 334-42 against allowing females into the system.  Additionally, out of the 12,000 judges in Egypt’s judiciary system, 42 are women; the first was not even appointed until 2002.

The reasons behind this discrimination are equally reprehensible and assume that a woman’s role in life is inherently domestic.  When the Council of State refused admittance to several female law students, it did so on the grounds that “work in the Council is difficult, and a woman won’t be able to withstand this work, and it will conflict with her duties as a mother and wife.”  Many women have been disallowed from working as judges because Egyptian law requires a six-month maternity leave, and also because they are unable to leave behind their families to move between regional courts.

The response to the Council of State’s decision was overwhelmingly negative; due to the controversy surrounding the vote, the Council has postponed appointing any candidates—male or female—to judicial positions until they can create a committee to find a solution.  Many female protesters of the vote have taken this delay as a step in the right direction, as it is a gender-blind decision, and because they are certain that they can convince this upcoming committee of their skills and abilities in the political realm.

PeaceKeeper wishes these women great luck in their campaign for equal opportunity in the world of politics, and cheer them on for bringing such strength and courage to the fight!
With Love,

The PeaceKeeper Team

(Writer:  Renee Estey.  Editor:  Jessica Smith.)

Obama’s revolutionary new healthcare plan was accompanied by cheers and controversy alike upon its acceptance, but one of its most groundbreaking and cheers-worthy accomplishments is its elimination of gender discrimination in the healthcare system.

For years, insurance companies have been operating under a double standard for women and men.  Healthcare plans for women-even those without maternity leave-have always been more expensive than those for men; as a result small businesses with mostly female employees have been unable to provide healthcare at all to its employees.  With the passage of the new law, however, this double standard is eliminated AND all policies for women employees are required to include maternity coverage, as the birthing of children is an essential health benefit.

In addition, the new law requires that coverage must be provided to domestic abuse victims and women who have had caesarian sections.  In the past, out of a fear of lawsuits and higher expenses, insurance companies have refused coverage to these women.  In a  recent scandal, for example, the high-ranking Golden Rule Insurance company refused coverage to a perfectly healthy woman because of her caesarian; when she filed a complaint, the company replied that they would only provide coverage if she was sterilized (i.e. if she underwent an operation to prevent her having children).

Most of the benefits of this new healthcare bill will not take place until 2014.  However, the federal government has made sure that all gender discriminations have been rendered illegal, and that people of both sexes will be getting the fair coverage they deserve.

With Love,

The PeaceKeeper Team

(Writer:  Renee Estey.  Editor:  Jessica Smith.)