This June, elephant journal turned 12 years old and reached 8.6 million readers a month.

So, has elephant journal achieved what they claim to be?

During the four months that I worked for elephant journal as an apprentice editor, I edited many submissions and read quite a few of the more than 37,000 articles published in the past.

Yes, a lot about yoga, organic food and sustainable business. Also many personal blogs written by wise souls sharing intense emotional experiences.

But, I found out that elephant journal is about much more than that. It really is independent journalism.

It hit me for real just the other day, when I saw the above list passing by on Facebook. I traced it back to a post on Imgur in 2013, but I still consider it very relevant.

Now to be fair, there are some items on the right side that I am interested in, such as “travel and leisure stuff” and “where to eat.” But on the whole, I’m not interested in who murdered Lindsay Lohan, who got divorced from Justin Bieber nor who got an award for the best courtroom drama.

I’ve stopped reading front page news because I really do not care about the new Vivienne Westwood designed uniforms of the Virgin Atlantic stewardesses nor Sarkozy facing criminal charges. Like Berlusconi, he’s not going to go to jail anyway, so why waste my time with political intriges and depressing stories about corruption and greed.

The left side of the list however, definitely appeals to me. Global issues, sustainable solutions. Articles that uncover the past to learn lessons for our future.

I thought this would be the ultimate test for elephant journal.

So I went to work. For each subject mentioned in the left column, I searched the elephant journal archives. Within a couple of hours, I found at least one relevant article, sometimes many more, for each topic.

As far as I’m concerned, elephant journal passed the test with flying colours.

Unlike mainstream media, elephant journal publishes articles about the subject you should know about and not about what governments, large corporates and religious leaders want us to know about. Articles written by people like you. Ordinary, authentic individuals with simple, honest opinions.

Researched, analyzed and straight from the heart, yes. Sponsored, subsidized, lobby pressured, no.

So happy 12^th birthday elephant journal and congratulations on being and staying indie.

See below the 26 articles, old and new, that I found for those who are interested in things that you should know about.  There are many many more where they came from.

Why bats are dying by the millions
Why bees are dying by the millions
Why birds populations are plunging
Ocean acidifcation
The melting icecaps
Deforestation
Dangers of natural gas fracking
Tar sands pollution and its dangers
Mountaintop removal
GMO’s, Monsanto and the problems caused by toxic farming
Potential food shortages because of drought, soil depletion and the plunge in wildlife populations
Polluted and depleted aquifers
How to grow food
Hazards of industrial pollution
Lies your government is feeding you
Lies the financial system is spewing
Lies about the tax system
How your rights are being violated
Damaged, clunky, aging nuclear power plants and their dangers
The realities of war
Depleted uranium bomb residue from the ongoing wars and how it’s spreading via weather patterns
Growth of the prison industry (well, not entirely relevant but it’s a great interview about the prison reform)
Lies about the War on Drugs
How to disconnect from fossil fuels
Permaculture and sustainable living
Importance of organic foods

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Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: Imgur