Every Dec 1st two things come to mind when I awaken...

The AIDS crisis and the Montreal Massacre (Dec 6 '89) and I just can't help it.

And I believe its a good thing as neither one should ever be forgotten.

Its world AIDS Day and HIV/AIDS Awareness week in Canada.

I remember the years before this horrible disease was discovered and changed our lives forever. I was just reading that there are 34 million people in the world living with HIV and that 80% do not have access to treatment.Thats so tragic.The numbers of people here in Canada (and everywhere else) continues to rise.

Apparently most teens believe that there is a cure for HIV...and of course there is not. More reason to educate our children is that: According to the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (“CANFAR”): “A quarter of Canadians with HIV are not aware of their infection and young adults (aged 15-29) account for approximately 26 per cent of all people diagnosed with HIV in Canada."

**Don't forget The Shanti Uganda Society **and all they do in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Shanti's Mission statement is:

"The Shanti Uganda Society improves infant and maternal health, provides safe women-centred care and supports the well-being of birthing mothers and women living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda." and helping is so easy and the ways are countless.

click here for more info.

One last note is that ALL Vancouver Whole Foods locations will be donating 5% of their net sales today to Aids Vancouver Grocery! Click here for more info on that.

Have a FAB day friends and Happy December! Hard to believe its here already.

Now heres a cool Guerrilla stunt. Its at the corner of Georgia and Thurlow.

A friend just brought a really interesting movie on plastics to my attention this morning as well. I just finished watching it and its great. It would be a wonderful little flick to show children (although its likely not the children who are the problem, its us adults.) The movie is by Ramen Bahrani. Here is the link: FUTURESTATES : Plastic Bag By Ramin Bahrani For more info on plastics and the environment go to The Plastic Pollution Coalition website here

Ever see The story of stuff? Its worth a watch, right along with all the other story of stuff videos.

Here are some links to some of the other Story of stuff videos

Cosmetics click HERE

Electronics click HERE

Bottled water click HERE

Cap and trade click HERE

This blog is always so light and fluffy, but this is serious! You WANT to sign this petition to STOP the meter on your internet use.

For more info click HERE

I can't believe The Briefing is just 5 days away!!

Heres the trailer for The 2011 Briefing at UBC.

Are you going? Can you go? I am so sad I can't go but I'll be there in spirit. I've got my yoga classes to teach that night, and I've never been one to miss those!

It takes place Tuesday January 25 from 5-8pm at UBC Woodward 2 and you can register here for a toonie, and make your voice heard!

It's called The UBC Dollar Project (click here for more info).

You can hear about 8 different community projects and vote for your favourite one! And YES Shanti Uganda is one of them! **click here for Shanti's site**

I love the whole concept so much. The fact that you can pay a dollar and make a HUGE impact in the world. Thats so beautiful to me.

And to me, just listening to the speakers and hearing their passion, while learning about the world around me and the various causes being discussed would be so fascinating to me. If you can go, go!

I can't wait to hear all about it! And being an Ambassador for the organization and feeling so passionately about it, I am rooting for The Shanti Uganda Society all the way! We need that fence asap, and every single bit helps! For more info on Shanti's Fence Project click here

To keep up with Shanti Uganda and all the good they do, and their various projects etc, you should sign up for their newsletter. Its lovely and will make you feel really, really good inside. much like yoga. Namaste.

Have you seen the movie HOME?

Wow is all I can say. It is just incredible. This is the most visually stunning movie I have ever seen in my life. And so informative. It is a movie about the earth. Our home.

This is the best documentary I have ever seen. Watch in full screen. Even if you were a climate change denier you will be mesmerized and will learn so much.

A link is HERE

Namaste...

Brain Tumours are more common than you think

Did you know that there are currently 55,000 Canadians living with a brain tumour right now in Canada? And another 10,000 will be diagnosed this year?

Thats a lot of people.

I know it sounds shocking (and believe me when someone you love is out of the blue diagnosed with a brain tumour?) it can send you reeling...

Take it from me. Someone I love very much is a brain tumour fighter/survivor.

My niece. She is the strongest, coolest, wisest, most intelligent and bravest human I have ever known.

Some things we just can't explain in this life. There are simply no answers for certain events, but thankfully there IS HOPE.

There is always hope.

And thanks to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada there is more than hope.

There is support, research, education and information available to everyone affected by a brain tumour. But they need our help. www.braintumour.ca

Sadly there are certain types of cancers that people don't like to speak about and this is one of them. I suppose the mere thought is so frightening to many of us we choose to not even go there in our minds, but the truth is...we can not ignore it.

We need to at least raise awareness and support those affected by a brain tumour. There are many different types of brain tumours but they are all very dangerous. Sometimes babies are born with brain tumours. :(

No one knows why.

We need more research and more treatment options. Sadly brain cancer is considered one of those 'orphan cancers' (meaning that it doesn't get a lot of press or funding compared to some other cancers). But thats not to say that it is any less. A brain tumour diagnosis is absolutely devastating.

We want to eradicate every cancer out there one day thats for sure.

Wouldn't you love to say to your children one day that "There used to be this thing called cancer"?

I know I sure would.

Anyways, the Spring Sprint is coming up and it is SUPER fun!!!

You can walk, run or sprint in support of those affected by a brain tumour and it really is...amazingly fun! You can raise money or awareness or both.

Or just come out and enjoy the festivities and show your support!

It takes place Saturday May 29 at Burnaby Lake East at the Rowing Pavillion and check in is 10:00am. Its a 5 km walk/run, and the scenery is spectacular. It is a guaranteed amazing experience.

Come on down and join us!

Here is a link for the Spring Sprint to find out all about it www.springsprint.ca

Hope to see you there!