On the Bonobo Challenge, we talk a lot about things you can do to help the environment - like turning off lights, recycling and riding your bike to school - but there is another way too! It is so important that all of the products we use in and around our homes are non-toxic, organic, bio-degradable and safe for the environment. So I went searching for a ‘safe for the environment genius’ to give us the low-down, and I was so lucky to find Debra Lynn Dadd.

Hailed as “The Queen of Green” by the New York Times, Debra Lynn Dadd has been a pioneering consumer advocate (which means she tells people helpful information about the products they are buying) since 1982, specializing in products and lifestyle choices that are safer for human health, animals and the environment. She is the author of Home Safe Home which was the first book of its kind and reveals the hazards of common household products and their healthy alternatives. This book is such a powerful resource that it has been in print since 1984!

We were thrilled when Debra wanted to do an interview with us…here is part 1:

Bonobo Kids: Debra you have so much information on the web! Which of your sites do you think the Bonobo Kids would find most useful?
Debra Lynn Dadd: I think that everyone working to save the environment should visit, use and share Debra’s List and the Green Living Q&A blog. Debra’s List gives extensive lists on natural alternatives for everything! Some examples are cleaning products, body care (like lotion or sunscreen), toys, candles and house paint. And when you go to the Q&A blog you can search old questions and answers or ask me and my readers a new question. My readers are the best and they know so much! We always answer as many questions as possible!

BK: How did you get into the world of finding non-toxic items for your home?
DLD: About 27 years ago, I became very sick and didn’t know why. My symptoms were incredibly random. Eventually, I found out that I had something called MCS, or Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, and I was becoming totally disabled. The common treatment for MCS at that time was to give the sick person small amounts of the toxic chemicals that were making them sick.

BK: That seems completely backwards! Why would you want more of what was making you sick!?!
DLD: Exactly! I knew intuitively that ingesting the chemicals was making me feel worse. So, what I did instead was I learned where the toxins were and I removed them all from my life as best I could - starting with my home. There were no resources at the time, so I had to do the research myself. The result was my first book, Home Safe Home. I think it’s lasted for so long because it was the premier book on how to make your home toxic safe.

BK: Can you tell us how the work you do within the home connects to the environment?
DLD: I had this big realization: I can make my home as safe as I want to, but the environment is so polluted! It occurred to me one morning that the environment is supporting my existence, I can’t be alive without the air and rain and other species which means that I’m not separate from the environment, we are all one system, we are all connected. So, if I want to live and be healthy, there has to be an environment to support this. We all have to understand that we live with this truth, and we have to cooperate to make it work. When you start at home, you make a difference - starting with yourself is the place to begin. But, then, you have to continue the work out in the world.

Coming next, Part 2: How Debra Lynn Dadd is saving the environment!!! She is very courageous - just wait until you hear what she’s doing!

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On June 18th, Mathea joined TASC (The After-School Corporation) Masters of Literacy at their End-of-Year Conference. She presented I’m Lucy and discussed how it can be used as a literacy and learning tool:

1. Marian Brickner’s beautiful photography makes I’m Lucy look like a cool, adult coffee table book, but its simple to read words make it an easy reading book for people of any age that are learning to read.

2. I’m Lucy is a springboard for learning about bonobos, great apes, endangered species, Africa, conservation and the environment.

3. The Bonobo Kids website offers interactive tools (growing everyday) helping kids learn, act and share all things environmental and bonobo!

As a result of this conference, I’m Lucy will be read at 37 after-school programs, reaching close to 5,000 children, representing all 5 NYC boroughs. Participants at the conference included after-school site directors, librarians, parents, students, and staff. Evaluations from the conference were full of enthusiastic praise for Mathea’s presentation including her behind-the-scenes view of the process of writing books for children and, of course, the fact that she signed all of the book copies for TASC!

TASC Masters of Literacy enables TASC-sponsored after-school programs to open school libraries for student use by providing the funds needed to employ a librarian between the hours of 3-6 pm. They also provide after-school sites with lending libraries, parent book collections, professional development, and literacy curriculum.

The After-School Corporation (“TASC”) was established in 1998 with a challenge grant from the Open Society Institute and the mission of enhancing the quality and availability of in-school, after-school programs in New York City, the state and beyond. TASC’s goal is to change public policy and make quality after-school programs sustainable and universally available. TASC works with community-based organizations, schools, and government and private partners to support after-school programs in New York City and beyond, serving more than 40,000 children and after-school staff.

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This is amazing…so amazing that I’m reprinting the entire article here - there are too many incredible points!

Thank you, Spain, for this incredible, powerful, trailblazing act. Let’s get the rest of the world to follow - I know the Bonobo Kids will help lead the way!

Spanish Parliament to Extend Rights to Apes

By Martin Roberts

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans.

Parliament’s environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

“This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity,” said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project.

Spain may be better known abroad for bull-fighting than animal rights but the new measures are the latest move turning once-conservative Spain into a liberal trailblazer.

Spain did not legalize divorce until the 1980s, but Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist government has legalized gay marriage, reduced the influence of the Catholic Church in education and set up an Equality Ministry.

The new resolutions have cross-party or majority support and are expected to become law and the government is now committed to update the statute book within a year to outlaw harmful experiments on apes in Spain.

“We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening,” Pozas said.

Keeping apes for circuses, television commercials or filming will also be forbidden and breaking the new laws will become an offence under Spain’s penal code.

Keeping an estimated 315 apes in Spanish zoos will not be illegal, but supporters of the bill say conditions will need to improve drastically in 70 percent of establishments to comply with the new law.

Philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, arguing that “non-human hominids” like chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured.

(Reporting by Martin Roberts; Editing by Richard Williams)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

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Photos by: Ullas Karanth, Wildlife Conservation Society

This video from Time Magazine’s website features the conservationist and wildlife biologist, Alan Rabinowitz. Dr. Rabinowitz is the Director for Science and Exploration for the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society. He recently established protected land in Myanmar (Southeast Asia) for tigers. Originally, he asked the Government of Myanmar for 2,500 square-miles, but they asked him to create an 8,452-square-mile (13,602-square-kilometer) tiger reserve in the rain-forested Hukawng Valley! Of course, he said yes.

This is no small task:

• It has taken over ten years to accomplish.
• Fighting groups within the region all had to agree on this common use of the land.
• Discoveries of gold brought thousands of people to the area, literally ripping apart the land with poisons to separate the gold from the earth – these poisons run directly into the river which the tigers drink.
• Similar to the DRC, Myanmar is a dense rainforest without the comforts of home.

Watch this amazing video and be inspired by Dr. Rabinowitz and his passion for saving all wildlife – and see some pretty cool wildlife ‘swing’ through the video!

Note: A good friend and bonobo cohort, Neil Brooks, just told me a wonderful and inspirational story that he heard Dr. Rabinowitz tell and I wanted to share it with you all. Here ’tis: Alan Rabinowitz was a horrible, horrible stutterer as a child and he was put into a class for “slow children:” Stutterers often don’t stutter when they sing or when they talk to animals. He was a terrible singer but loved animals who also could not speak. He promised them that if he ever found a voice he would give that voice to animals.

He certainly has done just that! Thanks for all that you do for the world, Dr. Rabinowitz.

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Eleven year-old Haley Stern, president of Kids Save Apes, had an incredible journey to Boston in May where she met Jane Goodall, our very own Mathea Levine, and James Brooks - an incredible young man who has also done so much to raise awareness and money to help save great apes (and bonobos in particular). The reason for the trip was that Haley was chosen (with James as her co-pres) to present the great work that she’s doing as a member of Jane Goodall’s youth organization, Roots & Shoots. In her own words, here is the story of Haley’s adventure:

The weekend had finally arrived - I’d be meeting James Brooks, Mathea Levine - and of course - JANE GOODALL!

My dad and I drove into Boston with all of the Kids Save Apes material. “There it is!” I called up to the front seat. “Legal Seafood!” We walked in. I had only seen small photographs of James, but he was easy to spot. He was wearing a t-shirt with a gorilla, and a Great Ape Trust baseball cap. I sat down in between James, and Mathea’s kind daughters, Isabella and Delilah. I was not used to this… and I was thinking “Wow, this trip was arranged by me!? I was the one who was the advocate and talked with Roots & Shoots, and met James, and got every one together!”

So I had my meal, Mathea signed I’m Lucy for us, and we chatted a bit longer, and James, Neil (his dad), my dad and I walked out of the restaurant thinking about our next event - the Jane Goodall lecture.

It was great!! She receieved a standing ovation before she spoke a word. Of course, we were VERY proud of her accomplishments as well, being the advocates that us kids are.

I guess I expected the lecture to be long, boring, like most talks are! But Jane blew us all away. She talked about her unique experiences and the reasons for hope. She talked about kids, and how we ought to make a difference. To sum it up - you won’t regret it.

In the morning, we had a lot of fun. We presented our projects, gave a speech, and then…..met, and took pictures with Dr. Jane. It wasn’t like meeting someone famous, it was like meeting an old friend. She signed my book “Through a Window” and we were off. It was a great moment…and I hope to meet her again in the future.

After that, we went to the Franklin Park Zoo with James and Neil. We got face to face with gorillas ( a topic that I’ve reflected on through school reports ) and wow - that changed my life. When you get to know them for a while, the bonds really show!

Over all, I had a really amazing time, and I hope to have more events like this in the future !!

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Amanda Snow is a children’s librarian by day and a book reviewer by night! As a lover of all kinds of books, she writes a great book blog called A Patchwork of Books. And she just gave I’m Lucy a glowing review for Non-fiction Monday!

Click here to read the review. Thanks so much, Amanda!

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It has come to our attention that the Tennessee Center for Policy Research is making many claims that former Vice President Al Gore’s home is not energy efficient - maybe even energy inefficient. Something about that really bothered us, but we just couldn’t put our finger on it. And then, we talked to a fantastic woman and author this morning named Debra Lynn Dadd, (aka the Green Queen according to the New York Times) and she summed it up so beautifully.

Basically, she said this: The difference Al Gore has made for this world by talking about the environment, raising money for the environment, sharing An Inconvenient Truth with the world and generally spreading the word and suggesting doable solutions, far outweighs what might be going on in his home. And how do we know how many changes he has personally made anyway - in his home or in his everyday life?

And, we’re saying, ‘What’s the point?” He’s doing good work. If you have found out he could be greener, then right him a letter and make some suggestions. Don’t be mean, especially in public. We don’t think that does any of us any good.

Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with Debra Lynn Dadd coming next week!

UPDATE!!!

We just found this response from former Vice President Al Gore’s spokesperson:

1. The Gores undertook a three plus year renovation that concluded in
November 2007 with the issuance, in November 2007 of Gold LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design) from the US Green Building Council.

2. As part of this renovation, the Gores have:
-Installed a geothermal system for heating, cooling and hot water
-Installed 33 solar panels
-Completely retrofitted their appliances, windows, ductwork, insulation, and
lighting.

3. Since the renovations were complete, the Gores have saved 40 percent on
their site energy use (which is a combination of electricity and natural gas
bills–the two major sources of global warming gases).

4. The Gores also purchase their electricity, through their utility, from
the Green PowerSwitch program–which means that their electricity come from
solar, wind and methane gas.

So, in summary, the Gores have: made their home more energy efficient, the
produce electricity from renewable power (solar, geothermal) and they
purchase renewable power. No one is perfect, but they are doing their part.

Finally, the Gores are also donating a substantial amount of their personal
time to educate the public about the climate crisis as well as donating the
proceeds of their work to charity. They have donated the proceeds of the
Nobel Peace Prize, “An Inconvenient Truth” (the book and film), and Mrs.
Gore’s photography to the Alliance for Climate Protection and The Climate
Project.

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Today, we had the pleasure of interviewing a brilliant, revolutionary and talented woman named Dr. Patricia Gray. She is the pioneer of Bio Music which basically examines music scientifically and science creatively - it studies the biological foundations of music. In particular, they study animal song (birds, whales, dolphins, mice) and animal music-ing (bonobos like Kanzi and Panbanisha making music) and then using their findings to understand incredible concepts like how humans can sing in tune together and clap rhythmically - it’s an amazing opportunity to delve into our evolutionary past since we share a common ancestor from 6 million years ago! These findings directly uncover the inner workings of our brains. We’ll be posting the interview (audio podcast) soon, so stay tuned…

I listened to Dr. Gray talk about how her work is so different from what’s typically done in scientific research because she isn’t just observing the bonobos, she’s participating in the process with them, she’s interacting with them. And, it got me to think about Dian Fossey who believed that all beings had the same rights and that they needed to be treated with the same respect as humans - a researcher who touched and communicated with the gorillas; Jane Goodall who named the chimps she worked with instead of giving them numbers as had always been standard practice; Sue Savage-Rumbaugh who communicates with bonobos and studies them as they move through their lives; and, Sally Jewell Coxe who is working to protect the bonobos in the DRC by involving, supporting and educating the people that share their country.

Of course, we know that this small summary barely scratches the surface of what these incredible women did and continue to do - but the common themes are: respect, interaction, doing something revolutionary and progress. And, we think that’s powerful stuff.

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Yesterday, our beloved author of I’m Lucy, Mathea Levine, presented the children’s book to The After-School Corporation (TASC). ‘The After-School Corporation works in New York City, New York State and nationally to enhance the quality, availability and sustainability of comprehensive, daily after-school programs. The first nonprofit organization in the nation to set about building a citywide K-12 after-school system, TASC funds, monitors, evaluates and supports after-school programs in New York City public schools.’ (from tascorp.org)

TASC is looking for quality, engaging books to use in their literacy program, and they asked to feature I’m Lucy! Here are some of the highlights from Mathea’s presentation about why our book is a perfect learning and curriculum tool for the classroom, any learning program and every child:

1. I’m Lucy is beautiful, hilarious, heartwarming and we haven’t met a person (of any age) that doesn’t just love it!

2. The story of Lucy and her Jacksonville Zoo family is a springboard to an extended curriculum about bonobos, great apes, conservation, the environment, endangered species, Africa, science and more.

3. I’m Lucy’s accompanying (and expanding) interactive website and this blog offer realtime, doable actions that kids (and adults!) can do - as an individual, a family or a class group - to help the environment.

4. While the book is written with clear, uncomplicated, easy to read words, it doesn’t ‘look’ like a kids book with Marian Brickner’s stunning photography and Leslie Tane’s beautiful design - making it a perfect literacy tool for readers of all ages.

Thank you TASC for inviting Mathea to your event…it was a huge success, and we are honored to be part of the important educational work that you do.

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Perry Beeman from The Des Moines Register dug a little deeper into the flood situation at the Iowa Great Ape Trust to discover that the bonobos were in fact a little scared by the rising flood waters, while the orangutans, whose natural habitat regularly floods, were calm, cool and collected. Most fascinating to us bonobo lovers is that we know the bonobos were uncomfortable with the situation not just because of their behavior - and our interpretation of their behavior - but because of Kanzi and his ability to communicate with humans.

Using his lexigram (picture board with symbols representing words and concepts), Kanzi was able to tell his people that he was afraid of ‘water gorillas’ (beavers) and ‘big water’. Thankfully, this communication works both ways and the scientists were able to tell the bonobos that the water would stop and that they’d be okay. Another way that researchers let the apes know that everything was okay was to stick to their routines, making sure to do some of their standard research activities everyday. Click here to read Beeman’s full article.

But the best news is that the flood waters have receded and a massive clean-up is underway. Thankfully the danger has passed, and all of the apes are okay. Good luck to the clean-up crews and everyone at the Great Ape Trust…and thanks for all that you do!

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