Thrift in this recession

The New York Times has polled authors on whether the recent trend of thrift will last beyond this recession. I have read dozens of blog posts on this matter--and many of them say, yes, let's hope so!--but I'm left scratching my head with the large environmental groups. Where are you? Now is the time when people are realizing how important a dollar is. They are finally stopping to think about their money and realize the power of their dollar. You vote with your money, so where are the large eco-groups crying out for a renewed interest in thrift and where your money goes, what practices it supports, what national policies, what pollution is created, etc etc etc? Now is our moment, our chance. If we can harness enough support now for wise green spending and thrift, it will last beyond this recession and carry us into a new line of thinking, a new way of being. All I'm seeing from the large eco-groups is a sort of "oh, good, they're finally being thrifty" observation when it should be instead the largest PR push they have ever mounted. I suppose it's up to individual actions once again ...

Oh, and The Boston Globe explained how greenhouse-gas emissions have lowered since the recession began--yay!--but how this negatively impacts the cap-and-trade industry.

Why religious fundamentalism and politics shouldn't mix

On the floor of the Colorado State Senate on February 23, Senator Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley) actually referred to gay and lesbian people as an "abomination" and an "offense to God."

It gets worse: Renfroe equated gay and lesbian people with murderers and quoted the Book of Leviticus suggesting that gay people should be put to death. He also said that women were created to be "helpers" for men, quoting the Book of Genesis. You can watch his rant on YouTube.

Renfroe was referring to Senate Bill 88, a bill that would extend healthcare coverage to the same-sex partners of CO state employees. SB 88 is about healthcare. It's about gaining some measure of equality for gay and lesbian state employees. And regardless of how people like James Dobson and Scott Renfroe feel about gay people, their shameless hate-mongering has no place in public debate and we should reject them completely.

Respond to Scott Renfroe via ProgressNowColorado, from which some of this message above was obtained. Or, write your own letter to:

Scott Renfroe
Colorado State Senator, District 13
200 E. Colfax
Denver, CO 80203
303-866-4451
scott.renfroe.senate@state.co.us

This letter clarifies the LGBT community's position and Renfroe's misguided speech well--feel free to use parts of it as a sample in your own letter. Let him know hate speech--especially within our government's own walls--will not be tolerated.

Dear Mr. Renfroe,

Recently on the Senate floor, it was your statement that our country was founded on certain beliefs which you hold. The implication was that our country was founded on one version of Christianity. If we go back and look at the situation of our founders, one of the strong reasons we founded our own union was to be free from the violent and murderous religious persecution of England. It is partly because of this experience of persecution our founders believed in a strong sense of religious freedom and that no one religious interpretation should be upheld in our laws if we are to have true religious freedom. (As a side note, some of our founders were actually atheists and deists, not all of them were Christians though one common belief held them together and that is their belief in the implementation of religious freedom.) History has shown the bloody, violent and discriminating effects of instituted religion and your readings on the floor of the senate point to verses commonly perceived as and used to support death as punishment for homosexuality. This is a good example of the value of religious freedom. In the past, religion has been a convenient advocate for everything from slavery and segregation to the oppression of women's equal rights. Our country is a melting pot of many different types of people, religions, races and sexualities and you must consider the diversity within your constituents in order to represent the group fairly. To single one group out and deny them equal access to life-saving healthcare by citing one specific set of religious beliefs is against the nature of our union and also the belief in equality held by our President who holds very high approval ratings. I urge you to do some research into the positions of the following groups on the issue of homosexual equality as they all cite research and fact as support of their positions: The American Psychological Association, The American Psychiatric Association, The Academy of Pediatrics, The National Association of Social Workers and more. I urge you to apologize and retract your statements on the Senate floor, as they speak for religious intolerance and cold discrimination, two things that history has shown to be an embarrassing mistake.

Sincerely,
Laura Elizabeth Woodson

Word

"We have done better at playing according to the men's rules than changing them to our own." -Susan Estrich

A drop in the bucket

Harvard has released its recommendations for changes to the U.S. energy policy. Most of the recommendations center around the idea of approaching this enormous task in an integrated, interdisciplinary way. Seeing as how reactive Americans prefer to be (or just are, whether they prefer it or not), I wonder if stuffing budgets for the right things--carbon capture and storage, increasing building efficiency, renewable energy sources, etc.--will be enough. The report calls for an integrated approach, which would mean a turnaround in how we tackle problems, from reactive to proactive. Might this be just where the debate over the effectiveness of individual versus collective action fall? If we can convince other individuals through personal action to become more proactive, that proactive, integrated way of living can guide our collective action. A pebble that moves a mountain ...

Word

"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on. Never will a time come when the most marvelous recent invention is as marvelous as a newborn baby. The finest of our precision watches, the most supercolossal of our supercargo planes don't compare with a newborn baby in the number and ingenuity of coils and springs, in the flow and change of chemical solutions, in timing devices and interrelated parts that are irreplaceable." -Carl Sandburg

Eating local in the New England winters

Eating local can be easy for people with year-round access to farmers markets. But what's a New England girl to do in the snowy, mushy winter? Eat a solid diet of carrots and pray for spring? This article from today's Boston Globe highlights a few local farms that offer winter CSA shares (as well as restaurants featuring locavore dishes/menus). It might be too late for this winter, but learning how to preserve local foods this summer and joining a winter CSA works for next year. This year, you can at least get local meat and local dairy products at places like the Dairy Bar in Somerville if you're interested in eating more local foods.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Let's get crafty

After spending my weekend pouring over thousands of old photographs in an effort to launch my first-ever website (yay!), I have taken stock of my goals. I've wanted to get my portfolio online for years--almost a decade, actually--and now that I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for this massive project, I'm pondering what other goals I should aim to accomplish this year. Not in a New Year's resolution sort of way, more in a mid-life crisis way. Minus the mid-life and the crisis. A constant self-evolution makes for constant evaluation, and so this weekend it was evaluating my goals.

I want to learn how to knit. I started it up pre-Bean, but stopped when I became violently sick in my first trimester. Now, I want to begin anew, and this time I will recognize my inability to learn how to knit via books or manuals. I'm searching for a cheap, local class for this spring or summer. Ditto for sewing, although I'd like to get my hands on a machine. Freecycle, perhaps. There is so much crafty stuff I want to learn!

Etsy browsing has renewed my goal of getting an Etsy shop up like my friend Jessica. Just today, on a break from work, I saw this amazingly inspiring moss pendant based on the moss and rocks jutting the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Amazing! Adorn Jewelry is the one-woman company behind the moss, and I had to check out her neat website too. If I could buy every necessity in life on Etsy, I would be happy ...

Now I just need to start knitting toys, sewing skirts, and scanning my portfolio in for my new website! Bean might have other plans, though. ;) Speaking of Bean, guess what she said last night while eating some rutabaga and zucchini? "Mama." Not sure if she knew what she was saying, but she said it a dozen times or so very clearly. Does that count as a first word?!

A very happy birthday week to Momma Val! My dear, dear friend ... one of my first memories of her generosity (something I have gratefully experienced many times since, as well) was when she came into work with a glass jar filled to the brim with vegetable soup for me. Just because. The first and only time someone has brought me soup, and for no reason but kindness at that! I love you, Momma Val! May your kindness be reflected back upon you a million times over.