Gimme Shelter!

A few of my readers have asked me to post more eco-shelter inspiration. So I thought, I could easily oblige with interior space imagery from my bookmarked mile-high photo file, but then I watched this video today on the Rolling Stone magazine website. I know, you’re thinking: "She reads Rolling Stone?" YES, I love Rolling Stone…

…and I absolutely LOVE what Playing For Change does:

“Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.”

How’d you like the eco-shelter inspiration for today?

Muscle Memory

My daughter used to be a figure skater. Not an Olympic champion, but the best skater around here. So when she and her boyfriend came to visit a few weeks ago, I suggested going to the rink. After days and days huddled inside eating and…eating, we all needed to get out and get moving. My daughter lamented that she hadn’t skated since last year and probably would be rusty. She perked up when the plan included hitting the outdoor rink set deep in the majestic Hudson Highlands at Bear Mountain State Park.

We laced up our skates and stepped onto the ice. Kids bundled up in winter gear were racing around the ice in all directions - falling right and left. My daughter and I took the first few laps together. I’ve mentioned before that my dad was a hockey player and the members of my immediate family know their way around an ice rink. Being more cautious than I can ever remember, I found myself looking for openings in the ice where I wouldn’t get run down by the brightly parkered pack. I finally made my way to the sideboards and noticed that many of the skaters had stopped and were facing center ice with broad smiles across their faces. They were watching my daughter spin her magic. She still had it.

Once upon a time, I was a teacher and focused on one thing that I did very, very well…kids. Teaching kids became so casual and easy. It defined me. Purely and simply, the kids loved me, and I loved them. So, when a young boy whizzed by my twirling skater and crashed hard onto the ice while she was in mid-spin, without thinking I glided over, crouched down and scooped him up. He smiled up at me. I still had it.

Muscle memory - we’ve all got it. What’s yours?

Amazing image captured at Bear Mountain Ice Rink by Ben Ross Scott

Cradle The Kids

“Our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed.” ~ William McDonough Can we all agree that this is the world we want to leave to our kids? If so, how can we bring the principles of McDonough’s revolutionary book, Cradle To Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things to our children? Cradle To Cradle calls for the “transformation of human industry through ecologically intelligent design.” The book approaches a framework for sustainability that follows products through their lifecycle – from cradle to grave.

Since it is my prerogative to bring things that matter to Econesting, I’m going to apply the simple premise of Cradle To Cradle, in all its advocacy, to education...The education system needs to be remade.

Having worked in progressive education for many years, I believe leaving positive footprints (instead of just reducing the negative ones) is what we should be teaching our kids. This is not only for the fate of our ailing environment, but to nurture our children to make the choices needed to close the loop and create a sustainable future.

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I know, you’re thinking I’ve gone off on a tangent and landed on a lofty soapbox.  Let me step out of that cloud for a moment and confess that this is not an earth shattering observation, or a newly minted connection made by just me. Think about it, your education and mine is tunneled so deep into our core. It runs through our veins and deposits its decisions in our words and actions. These decisions (and those of our predecessors) have screwed up our cradle – our planet.

Blame game done. Can we pick up our heavy footprints and figure out what tools to give our babes to make the important decisions that will lighten the load and close the loop? You bet. Here you go…

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The Institute for Humane Education believes that quality humane education covers four elements which include:

1. providing accurate information about the challenges of our time 2. fostering the 3 C’s of curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking 3. instilling the 3 R’s of reverence, respect and responsibility 4. offering positive choices and the tools for problem-solving

Call it Humane, call it Progressive, call it Humanistic – as long as it calls to action an educational system that helps our kids learn how to think with those 3 C’s, make decisions based on those 3 R’s and discover a fifth element:

5. Teach Cradle To Cradle to insure that our kids can rock it...and live in a “delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world.”

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Fern photos: Brian Whitney for Garden Design Magazine.

Why ferns? Ferns embody the 3 E’s - they are endearing, enthralling and enduring. Their ancient beauty has been around for millions of years. Ferns have truly developed a sustainable lifestyle!

Anew: Clearing The Pipes

After a few days of family and self-imposed unplugged bliss (an absolutely scary state for a blogger) over the holidays, I've now been thrown in the other direction. I'm struggling to find my way back into the prolific writing groove that generally drives me. Maybe it was that exhaustive A-Z DIY Eco-Gift Guide which was so much fun to organize and write - but, it kind of sucked the blogging out of me for a few weeks. Could it be the fresh year awash with newness and all the connotations that accompany that? Right now, I'm tip-toeing back into the blogosphere with a few new posts and a sprucing up of this blog (coming soon). I'm also moving forward with more careful intention. You can read about that here. This is new for me. I generally catapult myself on pure instinct - then "see where it all lands." The twists and turns have been exhilarating, and continue to allow me to keep singing my Econesting tune. While I could keep truckin' merrily along, I'm also taking in the larger landscape of what's next...

2 things on my mind right now:

1. It would be nice to monetize this blog. Any ideas?

2. I would like to collaborate more. Any ideas?

2 newsy-related items:

1. I will be profiled in the next issue of Where Women Create. This is an absolutely awe-inspiring honor to have 6-8 pages of magazine real estate devoted to…me. I promise to tell you more about that very soon.

2. If you are in the New York area and have any interest in starting your own blog, join me at Wing and Clover for a workshop: Blogging The Basics: A Niche and a Knack.

As the image above suggests, I'm clearing out and reconstructing for the new year. Will you be learning some new tunes - exercising your pipes differently in 2011?

Credit: Carl Kleiner via Design Love Fest (My dad was a trumpet and trombone player, and a master tinkerer. He would have loved eco-art - although it wasn't called that yet.)

Music Feeds The Soul (with video)

"If music be the food of life, play on." ~ Shakespeare

Music’s relationship to brainpower and wellness is truly music to my ears. The NAMM Foundation website outlines the positive effects of music-making on stress hormones, the development of new skills, confidence level, memory loss, self-esteem and overall mood.

To find some benefits of making music that you may have never heard about, read my full post HERE.

Possibly, even more remarkable than all the glowing accolades from the NAMM reports, is how music feeds the soul. Music, the book by photographer and filmmaker, Andrew Zuckerman is sure to be holiday gift hit. In this highly entertaining trailer for the book (via SwissMiss), musicians from different musical genres describe their relationship with their "food of life" ~ music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o1hP_Mlc_A

Photo from Ben Fink

More econesting music: Living With Green Music Oil and Water Don't Mix (with video) Dar Williams Talks Sustainable Living, Music And The Book That Kicked Her Ass (Interview) “One World, One Love” – Charity and Peace In The House of Marley