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Fractal Time
Fractal Time
If you look up the word “time” in Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, you’ll see a list of fourteen definitions for time as a noun, eight as a colloquialism, five as a verb, eleven as an adjective, one as an adverb, and no less than forty-one words that start with the word time (time lapse, time-out, time immemorial, to name a few). Judging by the amount of “time” Webster’s devotes to the word, time appears to be as ubiquitous as air. No wonder we don’t understand it. Read more here…
tote your own bag
Living green can be an intensely personal decision. . .or it can gain such momentum socially that it actually moves into legislation. The state of California is considering oulawing plastic bags. It’s become a status symbol to be seen toting your own canvas or other upcycled bag into the store, and why not? As consumers we have the choice to affect not just our own small corner of the world, but the entire planet. Is that hubris? It is what it is.
meeting me, meeting you
Have you ever noticed how meetings run your life? Sometimes it seems that meetings have a life of their own and libraries of books have been written on the subject. But what if you had a crystal ball? Would that change how you show up at your meetings?
the well-socialized nonprofit
You wouldn’t bake a souffle without a recipe, what makes you think you can raise the capital to support your pet project without a fundraising strategy? It’s easy as ABC, baby, and our friend the strategist will the tell you how.
don’t reuse that water bottle
Dear Water Bottle, We’ve had a beautiful romance, but I’m breaking up with you. It’s simple, really: I’ve learned that you’re a slow poison, and that just doesn’t work for me. In my quest to compost and recycle more I have been studying the various plastics in my life, which until now, I’ve considered a convenience. Well, an evil convenience, but still. Oh Plastic, you have made my life easier, but the fact remains that when the landfills are overloaded and when the Pacific Island of Trash manages finally to put us in a collective gasping choke-hold, I will have no one to blame but myself.
Here are five everyday plastics and why I need to rethink them:
#1 : The most commonly used plastic and can be found in microwavable food trays, water and juice bottles. This plastic absorbs bacteria and should not be reused.
#2: A stiff plastic used in toys, plastic lumber, picnic tables, detergent, household cleaner and shampoo bottles. This plastic is nearly neutral and can be recycled to make detergent bottles, floor tiles, pens.
#3: PVC is a soft, flexible plastic used to make teething rings, toys, cooking oil bottles clear food packaging, mouthwash bottles. Sometimes called “the poison plastic,” it contains phalates that interfere with hormonal development.
#6: Polystyrene is used to make disposable cups and plates, egg cartons, take-out containers. This material leaches styrene, a carcinogen, into food (especially when microwaved) and should be avoided.
#7: Polycarbonates are used to make baby bottles, sippy cups, three and five gallon water jugs. Contains bisphenol (BPA), which migrate especially if heated, and has been linked to heart disease. BPA, is a xenoestrogen, a known ednocrine disruptor.
So you see Water Bottle, it’s over. You and your extended family are simply toxic and I’m done with you. Now that I know, I will recycle your ilk whenever possible and avoid the worst of you when I can.
Ciao, baby.
hashtag fundraiser, baby!
eat the world
I don’t want to toot my own horn here but . . .oh, wait. I do.
A while back, I wrote about recycling, composting, and the ideas great and small that come of that kind of thinking. Well, I’m glad to report a kind of unexpected progress.
I got the counter-top compost bin I ordered, and have put it to good use; filling it and hauling it out to the green waste wagons at the curb. I continue to recycle what I can, even the smallest strips of plastic and unwanted paper. And guess what? The actual basket of trash that goes to the landfill has shrunk substantially. I mean Duh, right? And still. I didn’t expect it but there it is. The largest part of my household trash is either recycle- or compost-able. Yay!
I’ve reduced my personal carbon foot print by at least two-thirds, which I consider a personal best, and therefore pretty awesome. If I can do this kind of recycling on a weekly basis, I can redistribute my annual trash impact on the planet significantly, and that’s just crazy cool!
Summer Solstice Reboot
Here Comes the Sun
For years, people prayed to the sun, thinking it was an actual God and the source of their abundance. Without the sun, earth was a dark and dismal place. Witness the endless winter caused by Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, who withdrew her gifts from the earth because her daughter, Persephone was imprisoned underground with Hades, god of the underworld. Clearly, winter wasn’t all Demeter’s doing. Apollo, the sun god of the Ancient Greeks, the bringer of light to the earth and the one who told Demeter about Hades’ kidnapping of Persephone, had to be involved. Without him, crops didn’t ripen and the earth didn’t warm. While Apollo still took to the skies every winter morning, his solar beneficence waned on those dark days as he streaked across in his gilded, horse-drawn chariot. Sometimes circumstantial evidence is all you have. READ MORE HERE…
the butterfly effect
“It’s a closed system, baby,” I wrote in a story. “We’re breathing the dust of the pharaohs.” And still? It’s so easy to ignore that our little planet, spinning in the darkness of space recycles and redistributes every bit of stuff we throw at her. For now. Remember the tsunami that hit Tohoku, Japan, in 2011? It’s been three years and even though network news ignores it, the harrowing story continues as cleanup stalls and a poisoned food supply is “approved” for human consumption.
persephone's step-sisters 