Hasta La Creative!

It was Junot Diaz who said, "If you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves." So Pro Infirmis, a European advocacy organization for the disabled, has created a series of mannequins to provide those reflections in the image-obsessed world of retail.

The project's call to action is: "Because who is perfect? Get closer." And indeed, who is? The redesigned mannequins depict people with scoliosis, brittle bone disease and missing limbs. The models are radio host and film critic Alex Oberholzer, Miss Handicap 2010 Jasmine Rechsteiner, athlete Urs Kolly, actor Erwin Aljuki? and blogger Nadja Schmid.

The short film below, which documents the process, is deeply moving, particularly when the models encounter their mannequins for the first time. The works were displayed for the International Day of Persons With Disabilities in Swiss shop windows on Zurich's main street, Bahnhofstrasse. And once they had been polished to the perfected shine of a mannequin and posed in the windows, the disabilities almost disappear. Rechsteiner’s curved spine, in particular, creates a stunning silhouette that would be envied by high-end fashion models, and a young girl is shown trying to achieve the same pose after seeing the mannequin.

It's an important lesson, not only that people come in all shapes and sizes, but that all those shapes and sizes can be beautiful. If only more businesses had the bravery to show them.

"Say no to dog or cat meat." That's the message in 279 new ads being plastered across Chinese train stations, bus stations and elevators by a pet advocacy group called Animals Asia.

Steering consumers away from eating dogs and cats would be a pretty easy sell in America, but apparently the problem is quite massive in Asia, with millions of dogs slaughtered each year for food, according to the group.

Each ad shows someone putting chopsticks over a malnourished stray or beloved family pet. Some warn that dog meat is made from stolen pets, while others highlight health and safety issues.

"Cat and dog meat sold in restaurants is often sourced from stolen domestic animals and strays snatched from the street," one ad variation says. "Don’t pay for this cruel and dirty industry with your own health. Be healthy, say no to dog and cat meat.”

Check out several of the ads after the jump. Via One Green Planet.

An estimated 75% of the world’s fisheries are at or beyond sustainable limits. Yet, the consumer market for seafood is growing rapidly. This is a business problem, an environmental problem and a health problem. In other words, it’s something for big companies to stay away from. Unless you’re Walmart and not afraid.

When you’re Walmart, you have unrivaled buying power on your side. Thus, you can set the price, but more than that, you can dictate how the products sold at Walmart are sourced and made.

Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club require all fresh and frozen, farmed and wild seafood suppliers to become third-party certified as sustainable using Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) or equivalent standards. By June 2012, all uncertified fisheries and aquaculture suppliers must be actively working toward certification.

Yes, the Arkansas-based retail behemoth that left-leaning elites love to bash is busy charting a new reality for how the oceans are fished. Should they spread this conscious sourcing to garments and other product categories sold in their stores? Absolutely. But let’s stick with this fish tale for a moment.

According to Sustainable Brands and Reuters, roughly 40 salmon processors in Alaska decided in 2012 to drop the internationally accepted blue ecolabel awarded by the London-based Marine Stewardship Council, saying it was expensive and eroded their brand. They said their own control systems were enough and they would consider the Ireland-based Global Trust Certification, as a replacement.

Wal-Mart responded with a routine letter to its salmon suppliers in June warning them it requires its salmon to be MSC-certified or working toward that distinction.

The Alaskan seafood industry is valued at $6.4 billion annually and is state’s largest private-sector employer, with more than 63,000 workers. Hence the “plead my case” visit by Alaskan officials to Bentonville last week.

“We are optimistic that Walmart will recognize Alaska fisheries as sustainably managed,” said Susan Bell, Commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Commerce. Meanwhile, I am optimistic that Walmart and sustainable practices will prevail. What the market wants, the market gets. And the market wants healthy seafood.

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