Category: Everything Else

Stimulate a Green Economy:

“Members of Congress are crafting an economic stimulus and recovery plan. Please tell them that the stimulus must help to build an inclusive green economy – not reinforce the pollution-based economy’s status quo – and has to include funding for the Green Jobs Act.”

-from Green for All.org

Ask Congress to green the inevitable economic stimulus by filling out this petition.

While you’re at it, you may want to consider asking your mayor and county executives to pledge to support green jobs on a local level.

And if you REALLY want to get all fired up, read Van Jones’ The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.

Be An Instrument for Change:

Ideas For Change in America is collecting, well, ideas for change in america, and encouraging everyone to vote for those ideas they most support.

The “Top 10 Ideas for America” will be presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day. We will then build a national campaign to advance each idea in Congress, marshaling the resources of Change.org, MySpace, and our dozens of partner organizations and millions of combined members.

At first glance I am partial to asking the Obama administration to support Al Gore’s challenge for 100% green energy in 10 years.

That’s just looking at energy; but, as this eloquent post from Treehugger states, we can’t afford to get this issue of energy use and the environment even one little bit wrong.

There’s also ideas on education, the economy, gay rights, healthcare, the Middle East. Let me know if you come across any other worthy ideas; I’ll keep digging, too.

Make Schools Non-Toxic:

In response to the Smokestack Effect Special Report, MomsRising.org has made it easy for you to demand action on school air quality health and safety standards.

Sign that petition here.

Save the Teddy Bears (and other homemade toys):

After all the recalls brought about by the discovery of phthalates and lead and date rape drugs in children’s toys, Congress passed the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act strengthening testing and safety standards. Unfortunately, the cost of the testing required will likely put every homemade toymaker (like anyone who sells on Etsy) and every small toymaking business under, benefiting the big business companies who made this mess in the first place!

Again, who do we want to support? Do we want big business to be the only ones left standing? Here I thought America was all about independence and individuality and and the entrepeneurial spirit.

Take a look at the petition for amended changes at the Homemade Toy Alliance and check out Cool Mom Picks for other avenues to save homemade. (And don’t forget to show support by buying homemade!)

Just a few minutes to add your voice. That’s all I’m asking.

Thanks.

Brighter Planet is giving away presents of carbon neutrality for a day!

Go claim your carbon neutral day now- give them to family and friends- all they ask in return is that you think about conserving throughout the holiday season.

What a festive way to raise awareness… love finding presents in my email!

When I was in high school I decided, for no good reason, that I wanted to cross-reference the sacred texts of multiple religions. I already had a good working knowledge of the Bible- New Testament in particular- and the Tao te Ching, which my father was forever quoting at me. I got out some books on the Koran and the teachings of Confucius, the Bhagavad Gita and the Book of Mormon.

Please remember that I was fourteen, maybe fifteen; I am 32 now. I came away with only a vague understanding and time has dulled my memory. But I would venture to say that in all religions and philosophies there runs a common thread: that to live a human life to its fullest potential, one needs to live with responsibility, respect, and reverence.

Responsibility: the act of being responsible; that is, involving personal accountability or ability to act without guidance or superior authority; able to make moral or rational decisions on one’s own and therefore answerable for one’s behavior.

Responsibility means to accept the consequences of your actions, and to be fully aware of what those consequences might be.

It is to live with the knowledge that we will be held accountable.

We are all connected- to each other, to future generations, and to the environment that shelters us all. Everything we do, every action we take, affects everything else, and we are responsible for deliberately choosing actions that bring about the least harm.

And we are accountable as individuals. It is not enough to blindly abide by the rules of the religion we embrace or to be governed by the laws of the land. It is not enough to do as we are told. We are personally accountable.

We are to be guided by our own moral compass. We need to actively consider what is right and make decisions that are in alignment with our decided-upon values.

Respect: to feel or show deferential regard for, esteem. To avoid violation of or interference with. To relate or refer to; concern.

What does it mean to be respectful? I believe it is to acknowledge that the divine spark rests in each of us.

We are to esteem every living being as equal to ourselves; to see that every living thing has an equal function, a destiny that is great and of sacred importance.

To live a respectful life is to strive never to act in a way that benefits ourselves at the expense of others, but to recognize that in lifting up others we all benefit.

Reverence. A feeling of profound awe and respect and often love; veneration.

We live not for our own selfish agendas, but for a greater good. There is something which is greater than ourselves, and it is vital that we periodically take time from our lives specifically for the purpose of experiencing and honoring it.

To transcend for a time the mundane, the day to day, and to look at your life with a broad scope. A time for reflection and wonder. To open our eyes to the complexity and beauty of the world and consider your place in it.

Why are we here? What is our purpose?

I think that, whatever your set of beliefs may be, they include this: whatever this energy is, this sense of “greater than ourselves”, it is essentially good, by which I mean the essence of goodness; and capable of joy.

Therefore my theory is that our purpose here on this earth is to do what we can to share in and expand this basic goodness and joy.

Do all the good you can, in every way that you can. Act every day in such a way that the world is a better place for having you in it.

Want to save the earth? Teach your children the three R’s: responsibility for one’s actions, respect for every living creature, and reverence for that which is mysterious and greater than ourselves. Cultivate character and conviction. Spend all the unstructured time you can in the cathedral of nature, so that you may cultivate a sense of wonder.

The world is a difficult place, and the greatest gift we can give our children is the means to live a life of responsibility, respect, and reverence; a moral compass that makes life’s journey less treacherous to navigate.

And live this way yourself. Endeavor to teach by the strength of your example.

This post is my belated submission to the December APLS carnival, hosted by Robbie at Going Green Mama. I was supposed to turn this in yesterday, but I was distracted by the discovery of a flying squirrel in my bedroom.

Definitions in this post found in my print copy of The American Heritage Dictionary.