Jasper today, after being rescued from a bear bile farm by Animals Asia, and living free at their sanctuary in Chengdu, China. I wrote an article recently about bear bile farming and then decided it's not enough to write about a problem. I need to take action to solve it! So that's what I did, and now people across dozens of social networks have joined forces to launch a poster campaign to liberate 9,000 bears from crush cages in China, where they live torturous lives so their bile can be drained for Chinese medicine. We need thousands more people to join the Ursa Freedom Project. We need YOU! We will launch the poster campaign on March 20 (Vernal Equinox) and run a new poster each month with the idea of catapulting the whole globe into action by the time the action day arrives on June 21 (Summer Solstice). The advantage of setting an event to significant astronomical turning points would be that folks in the Southern Hemisphere could feel connected to the same sky even if the constellation they would focus on would be different. We will drop money bombs to Animals Asia, the bear rescue organization in China, on both designated days: March 20 and June 21. On summer solstice (June 21), we will hold concerts, art auctions, dramas, theater readings, poetry slams, etc. to raise awareness and funds to rescue bears and put an end once and for all to bear farming. Artists have already stepped forward to make the posters and others are designing original art that we can sell to raise money for bear rescue. We have signed up our first Benefit for Bears concert with a band in San Francisco. A fashion designer is creating a one-of-a-kind jacket to be auctioned for the bears. All of this in just 3 days, since the idea sprung forth on Saturday between two internet friends. But we need more! The plan is to create local actions all over the world on behalf of the bears! We also need people who know how to make the Ursa Freedom Project go viral. We need folks to upload the posters everywhere, and we need podcasters, vidcasters, bloggers. We need a technie to design a banner and badges, and we need photographers to document local events that we can post on the internet. We need a massive cyber "street team." I'm dedicating myself to ending the suffering of these magnificent creatures in crush cages and am asking you to be part of the Ursa Freedom Project. You can read about bear bile farming at
ecopaparazzi or on
Blogger, which includes links to the rescue organization Animals Asia and other resources. Join the movement, and spread the word! XOXO! Jeanette

Jasper at the bear bile farm, where he lived in this crush cage for 15 years before being rescued by Animals Asia.