The World by Us

When was the last time you had a good scare?

Well, what if we told you that global sea levels are rising 60% faster than expected? That the situation our children will face is “as bad or worse than the worst case scenarios” that scientists have predicted? That the risk of extreme flood events like Sandy has already doubled as a result of climate change for dozens of coastal cities across the US?

This is frightening stuff. 

There are, of course, many wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to combating climate change. But we all need to do our bit, and soon enough we probably won’t have a choice.

Innovation and Design firm IDEO is asking us all to join the conversation and reflect on what life will be like 20-30 years from now. How will climate change affect each of us, and how we will adapt? Which behaviors will need to change? Which will we choose to preserve?

Are YOU ready to create a new future?

Today we celebrate girls. 

Throughout history, women all over the world have risked their lives again and again to have the same rights as men, and to give generations of young women to follow a better life. Today, women run million dollar companies, lead countries and make world-changing decisions.

We’ve come a long way…but in many parts of the world there is still so much progress to be made.

Let’s take a look at what young women around the world are facing today (thanks to the UN and Day of the Girl for these stats):

EDUCATION

• By age 18, girls have received an average of 4.4 years less education than boys.
• World-wide of the more than 130 million primary school age children not enrolled in school, nearly 60% are girls.
• By 2015, females will make up 64% of the world’s (adult) population who cannot read.

FORCED MARRIAGE

• One in seven girls in developing countries is married off before age 15.

HEALTH

• In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls have HIV rates up to five times higher than adolescent boys.
• Pregnancies and childbirth-related health problems take the lives of nearly 146,000 teenage girls each year.
• An estimated 450 million adult women in developing countries are stunted, a direct result of malnutrition in early life.
• Two million girls and women are subjected to female genital mutilation every year.

VIOLENCE

• One in five high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.
• Worldwide children as young as age 11 are forced to work as prostitutes.
• Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year.
• At least one in three girls and women worldwide has been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime.
• In the US more than half (54%) of all rapes of females happen before age 18.

BODY IMAGE

• More than half (54%) of 3rd – 5th grade girls worry about their appearance
• 37% worry about their weight
• More than half (57%) of music videos feature a female portrayed exclusively as a decorative, sexual object.

Despite all this we are optimistic. We see fabulous organisations out there doing wonderful work for girls around the world and are constantly encouraged, both by their efforts and by the inspiring women who lead them. Organisations like:

Girl Effect

One Girl

She’s The First

Project Futures

And other extraordinary women around the globe working tirelessly to make the world a better place.

What will YOU do today for women and girls?

“I love unmade beds. I love when people are drunk and crying and cannot be anything but honest in that moment. I love the look in people’s eyes when they realize they’re in love. I love the way people look when they first wake up and they’ve forgotten their surroundings. I love the gasp people take when their favorite character dies. I love when people close their eyes and drift to somewhere in the clouds. I fall in love with people and their honest moments all the time. I fall in love with their breakdowns and their smeared makeup and their daydreams. Honesty is just too beautiful to ever put into words.”

(Source: ModernHepburn, via our-rights-our-wrongs)

If you appreciate a wonderful documentary as much as we do and have somehow missed this Academy Award nominated beauty, get thee to the video store!

Brazilian artist Vik Muniz creates pieces of artwork that invite a second look. Often repurposing unlikely materials to recreate a well-known image (eg. peanut butter and jelly in his interpretation of the Mona Lisa), Muniz has become a fixture in the world of contemporary art thanks to his unique and intriguing style.

In 2008, Muniz took on an inspiring project. He returned to Brazil from his home in New York and headed straight for the world’s largest dump, Jardim Gramacho, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.  There he got to know the Catadores – the workers who collect recyclable materials from the mass of rubbish. Muniz photographed these workers and together with their help, recreated the photograph out of rubbish.

Throughout the process, we get to know the workers as Muniz does. We witness their day to day realities, we meet their children, are welcomed into their home, and watch as they are empowered to see their lives in a new light.

What moved us most was the powerful effect the experience of working with Muniz had on the workers (particularly the women in the film) triggering a newly realised sense of self-worth and dignity…

 ”Sometimes we see ourselves as so small, but people out there see us as so big, so beautiful.” – Irma

A gorgeous film for your next quiet night in (and a brilliant soundrack by Moby too!)

A few weeks ago, we shared our reaction to Anne Marie Slaughter’s article ‘Why Women Still Can’t Have it All.‘ This week, one reader responds with her reflections:

To the World by Us,

I’d like to share this with you as I feel some of your readers may be able to relate to these words. 

On the outside, I may seem strong, independent, free and detached, a ‘super woman’ but, I’m not… not all the time anyway. So I’ll be open, vulnerable, and let you know that I’m not “perfect”.

Instead of shouting loud or being proud, I’ll be honest. My head can fall down a well of worry. 

I call this poem “I’m Super Woman”….because despite pressures, stress, insecurities etc, we can find the strength within ourselves to continue. Accepting the ups and downs, makes us stronger in the long run.

I hope to portray the stereotyped Super Woman with a realistic perspective, shedding light on the bad days we all know to well.

I’m Super Woman

Irrational, crazy, indecisive

Paranoid, afraid

My mind once on point

and then way off

Connections made

and then dissolved

Steps slow with negativity

Feasting away on my enzymes

looking down, encapsulating all of me

I’m sad, I’m alone, misunderstood

in this revolutionary world

What will make it work?

What will help me let go?

How can I trust again?

I’m ugly, overweight, not fashionable

not desirable, un reliable

I don’t do my washing often

I refuse to cook every night

Fear of becoming a 1950′s house wife

My breath stinks, my nails filthy

absolute disgust

have little trust in myself

put me back on the shelf

I’m lost.

The lost dog on a plastered poster

Peeling off the under layer

from the one before

Thank god the rain is falling

cleansing my mentalities

I could walk out in it

get me wet, make me forget

I could get lost

Never to return

Reinventing this.

Words:  Zaniah Carigiet

While we in the Southern Hemisphere are rugging up with our warmest winter wear and flocking to pubs with fireplaces, we look longingly at our Northern Hemisphere counterparts as they strip down to their bikini’s and gather at pool parties and backyard BBQ’s.

Here’s what’s been on repeat and getting us through the colder months!

And when we say ‘on repeat’ we mean literally with this one. It is 24 minutes of pure bliss and we can’t get enough. We know the last album was only released last year, but we’re ready for more gold Mr. Vernon…

Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon & Sean Carey live at AIR Studios for 4AD and Jagjaguwar

A lovely new discovery:

Noble Oak – We Decide

Love this track. And a thought-provoking message from the creators of this unofficial video…

Major Lazer – Get Free

An old favourite – the whole album perfectly accompanies rainy days:

Coco Rosie – Werewolf

Another beautiful live performance – Florence’s cover of Drake & Rhianna’s version of Gil Scott Heron’s ‘Take Care’

Florence & the Machine – Take Care

This one’s a collaboration between Fawn Myers and Oliver Tank. A gorgeous ambient track. Love the sax!

Fawn Myers – You Know Me So Well

For a little boogie…

Electric Guest – This head I hold

And finally one to conjure up sunny days…

Teen Daze – Brooklyn Sunburn

What’s caught your ear this month?