Getting to meet the coolest people!

I have the best job in the world! Do you know why? I get to meet the most tremendously interesting people when planning events. Right now I am working on the Northeastern BC Community Living Conference to be held in May which is going to be a wonderful event full of great workshops and information. One of the individuals speaking at the event is Norm Kunc of Broadreach  Training and Resources.  Norman and his partner Emma have spent the last 25 years working to ensure that people with disabilities are able to take their rightful place in schools, workplaces and communities. Norm was born with Cerebral Palsy but that has not slowed his pace or dampened his passion for life. After school he went on to complete a Bachelors degree in Humanities and a Master of Science degree in family therapy. It was great to speak with him on the phone while planning this event and I can't wait to meet him in October.

I also was fortunate enough to touch base with Amy Roloff  recently. Amy and her family come into our homes each week with a program called, "Little People, Big World". We were looking to see if she would be available to speak at our conference. Unfortunately, she wasn't available, but maybe another time. As I expected, she was very nice and every bit down to earth. I really enjoyed speaking with her and maybe having an opportunity to work with her in the future.

As I said, "I get to meet the coolest people"!

J

Watching the garden grow....

I feel a little like a child these days watching our garden grow. The potatoes are looking good, the peas are reaching for the sun and I think I overplanted the turnip a bit! I am currently looking on websites trying to come up with some recipes for turnip other than the traditional. Can you freeze it, can you "can" it? 

I also will have beans, beets, onions and slowly but surely I will have carrots (we planted them a little deep.

When the carrots weren't coming up and the turnips looked like they had been nibbled on by something I had a "Little House on the Prairie" flashback to the episode when their garden didn't produce. "What are we going to eat Pa?", cried Laura

We don't have that problem, having a garden for us is not a necessity because we can go to the grocery store and buy what we need. But what if it was a necessity? What if we needed our garden to produce so that we could survive the winter? 

J

Water, water everywhere...

We have water restrictions on in our community. They have been on since the 1st of May and they are fairly easy restrictions to follow. Even numbered houses water on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and odd numbered houses water on Thursdays and Sundays....same time...you get the drift. Now the wierd thing about unenforced water restrictions is just that....they are unenforced. The only pennance you receive for watering beyond the restricted hours is losing your neighbour's respect and you know, sometimes that is enough. Peer pressure is sometimes all it takes.  

Greetings and salutations

You know when you don't do something that you are supposed to do and the longer that you leave it undone, the harder it gets to do? Well, that is what it is like writing in a blog. Unless you commit to writing regularly, it gets forgotten. Well I am back and I will be blogging regularly (here I go, setting myself up for failure.....)

I have almost finished reading "Sleeping Naked is Green" by Vanessa Farquharson. She committed to 365 acts of green, wrote a blog about it and then turned it into a book. She doesn't set out to write a resource book, she isn't writing it as a how to, she is just telling it like it was for her and with that comes some laughs and insight on how difficult it can be. I am enjoying it.

I am reading two books at the same time though. One is "Sleeping Naked is Green" and the other is "Slow Death by Rubber Duck". So I laugh a little reading Sleeping Naked and then cry a little reading Slow Death. Slow Death is a much darker book and is about how the toxic chemistry of everyday life affects our heath.....not a comedy that is for sure.

Now all I can think about now is the pacifier than my children had in their mouth for days, months, years!! Or the teething ring, or the rattle that they chewed on. Sorry kids....I honestly didn't know any better at the time.

The best part of reading books like these is that it makes you think and it makes you question and that is half the battle isn't it?

Until tomorrow.....

J

Earth Hour 2009!

I was fortunate enough to spend earth hour with Jennifer at her cafe, "Under the Willow". It was dubbed, "Acoustics by Candlelight" and was just a nice evening. The whole cafe was lit with flickering candles and there were so many people connecting with one another, listening to music, brought together by a common bond. I felt peaceful and content. Lets not wait til next year folks....lets have earth hour every day!

Like a bad dream...

I had a sudden jolt back to reality this evening. I attended a dinner where they served bottled water, used paper napkins, clear plastic wine glasses, styrofoam coffee cups and plastic forks. I was shocked. I guess I have been so immersed into greening my own events that I have forgotten that there are alot of individuals who have no idea how much what they do impacts the environment. 

What do I do? I think I will send them an email introducing myself, what our company does and invite them to a workshop. Baby steps....

Chamber of Commerce presentation today!

Jennifer and I were fortunate enough to be invited to speak at the Dawson Creek Chamber of Commerce luncheon today. We chose to speak about "Greening the Hospitality Industry" knowing that not everyone in the audience would relate to our statistics, but feeling that it was important to get the numbers out. The hospitality industry has the opportunity to affect so many.

All in all, it was a good presentation. I was pleased at the content and the response. Hopefully we made a difference.

Judy

"Doing things right or doing the right thing"

I just had a meeting with a small business owner who is looking to create sustainability policies for his company. It was a great meeting and very inspiring to speak with someone who is truly committed to making better decisions. He said to me, "There is a difference between doing things right and doing the right thing". Wow!

Deepak Chopra on Ellen Show

Deepak Chopra just said on the Ellen Degeneres show that you should "be the change you want to see in the world" and if you aren't "you are just another angry peace activist" (might not be exactly verbatim). I had heard the message before about "be the change..." but never the part about the angry peace activist. That is quite funny

Judy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh27C1dkNgg

Oh those crazy librarians!

I was surfing the blogosphere yesterday and came across this youtube video from a Librarian Convention in the states. Just goes to show, if you can dream it........check it out!

Top Three New Year's Resolutions for 2009!

Happy New Year everyone

I was listening to MSNBC this a.m. and they were reporting on the top three New Years' Resolutions for 2009. What do you think they are? Well of course there is losing weight because that is always a resolution, second is quitting smoking and the third top resolution was..........spend less money.

You thought I was going to say, "go green" didn't you? It really doesn't matter though because usually spending less money does equal going greener. You spend less so you get less stuff, you are more frugal with your fuel so you plan your trips more efficiently, you may even decide to put in a garden this year if you can. You will reuse instead of replacing. You will go green out of necessity.

With recycling in a bit of trouble due to global markets, we are focusing on the other R's, Reduce and Reuse and that does save you money no matter how you look at it. Someone even said the other day that composting was gaining popularity......finally.

Whatever your resolution is for 2009, commit to one greener act this year.

Happy New Year

Judy