Elisa's Green Scene

One of my other hats: writing a regular column on vegetarianism for the Metro weekly

You know, if you're into that kind of thing.

This column is about a recent chicken rescue that took place in my area. Happy ending to a story with a really unfortunate beginning and middle.

[Warning: I've been told some of the details of this column are "gruesome", but my philosophy is if you are what you eat you might want to know what that is. Feel free to skip it if you're squeamish about such things.]

Depressing take on success of CSR

OK, I thought CSR stood for Customer Service Rep, but as some of you may know it is also an acronym for Corporate Social Responsibility. A new report (PDF, sorry) out of Stanford's Graduate School of Business contends that CSR as a successful movement in large public companies is, basically, a myth.

Now, before you think that it's some soulless corporate type dissing the idea of Doing Business and Doing Good (you know, simultaneously) you should know that the author of the study, Deborah Doane, is very committed to the CSR cause.

The problem, she contends, is that companies, despite their "personhood" in the eyes of the law, are mandated to choose profit over public good. Self-interest, therefore, over social interest. Not only that, but people are apparently way more well-intentioned than they are active for social causes. SO people say they care about the environment or overseas child labor or health benefits for full-time workers, but it doesn't stop them from shopping, as an example, at Wal*Mart. Or driving SUVs.

Doane does see two avenues to improving the situation...which I'll outline briefly in the extended entry...I just have trouble envisioning either avenue being the road taken in the current political environment...

Take an iToor

You may be like me and not quite a converted member of the the Podcast Nation. I am not a spoken word person. I like music in the background when I work, and I like music turned up really loud when I drive. And much as I understand it's affords an opportunity to be really productive, I've just never tried a Book-on-Tape, preferring to read.

Most of the early podcasts I tried listening to were people sitting around talkin'. And often trying to be insightful, or worse...funny. It's a delicate thing...humor via audio only. So I got a bit turned off. I have recently discovered that there are two kinds of podcasts that do float my boat.

There are actually music-focused podasts, my favorite being Coverville. And there are also, so I'm learning, what can only be called instructional podcasts. The best idea I've see so far is iToors, a podcast devoted to giving you audio tours of famous places.

Now, don't get too excited, as far as I can tell they don't have a fully stocked library yet...but the concept is awesome. Especially if you don't like treading down the beaten path. Here's the pitch from the site:

"iToors Walks & Rides are dramatic audio tours taking you to a city's most interesting places by topic. You'll get the insider scoop on the lives, legends, stories and gossip that make a place come to life. We'll throw in a few facts for good measure, but these are anything but dry and academic."

I can dig it.

Getting my walk on

So, true to my pledge, I got out and walked this afternoon. Only around my neighborhood. It wasn't quite the autumnal stroll I imagined, mostly because it was over 90 degrees outside. And I was a tad over-dressed in a sweatshirt. You might ask why on earth I was so attired. It all started with my natural inclination to multi-task. I decided I ought to swing by the bank and deposit some checks while I was out. And I decided that because it was still 4PM on a weekday that I had to take my cell phone in case anyone called.

[I think I still need to learn about disengaging and focusing on the task at hand.]

So, I needed pockets. And T-shirts may not have pockets, but some of my sweatshirts do.

Anyway, I decided I should find some fall foliage and take a picture to prove that, in Northern California, anyway, we do get some sense of season. I was not so lucky. I found no fall foliage, but I found a segment of the neighborhood where they're trying to make up for it. I also saw more stand-alone basketball hoops than I remember hanging around when I was a kid. Is there some reason people don't attach them right above their garages anymore? I also saw people much smarter than I am walking around with umbrellas to block the sun.

But the point is, despite being both overly roasted and thwarted in my fall foliage foray, I did get out and walk around for an hour. I'll take it.

Time for a walk

I've been a slug lately, I'll admit it. When I first left corporate life I knew I was burned out and unhealthy, and I really prioritized getting back on track with my health. I was faithful about eating well and about exercising. I didn't go all crazy with hard-core cardio. I did Pilates 3x/week. I took a Cardio-Funk class. I met friends to hike 1 or 2 times per week. I lost weight. I got fit. And I looked and felt great.

But it's completely true that growing your own business is all-consuming, if you really want to succeed. (And, I should concede, if your measure of success includes certain milestones that require more clients, more income, more, more , more.) This year I've been right back where I was as a high-level corporate tech type. At my computer for many hours at a time. rarely making the time to get out in the fresh air unless I'm off to a meeting.

I went for a hike yesterday and felt both good that I was out there, and bad that I could tell I was not nearly as fit as I was a year ago. Consistency really is key.

So, I am taking this post at simplehuman as a nudge, a little reminder that fall is the best time to get out and walk in just about any part of the country. They link to a site where you can track where the autumn foliage is loveliest (unfortunately for me they don't even have trackers on the West Coast.) And they also link to a site with hints about how to buy and test out properly fitting shoes. I desperately need that advice. My feet roll outwards (pronation I think it's called) and I can never seem to get the perfect shoe for not-too-brutal trail walking.

So I'm going to get back out there tomorrow, even if it's just around my neighborhood. Who's in?

Looking for ideas for vegan/vegetarian lunches?

I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan, but frankly it used to be my annual New Year's Resolution to go vegan, and my annual disappointment that I failed. Sure I can blame the fact that going out to eat can be tougher (or at the very least, get boring.) Sure, I can blame the fact that traveling overseas as a vegan can be tough. But mostly I should blame myself and my inability to keep away from the cheese. Even though I know it's not good for me...or the cows.

Perhaps if blogs had been around during my early years of vegetarianism (I've been one since 1989) I would have found this site, Vegan Lunchbox, and been both inspired and indoctrinated into the idea that going vegan can be easy and tasty. Vegan Lunchbox is simply one vegan mom's record of what she sends he child off to school with for lunch each day. Variety, nutrition, fun. It's all good!

This is a definite addition to my RSS reader...I expect to be inspired daily :)

Hat tip: CityHippy

hip & zen joke for the day

I sent out a little blog birth announcement this afternoon, letting my friends and colleagues know that the hip & zen pen was alive and kicking over here.

One such friend and colleague replied only with this:

Q: why doesn't buddha vacuum under the couch?
A: the buddha has no attachments.

Cute, huh?

And if you don't think so, then blame it all on Chris Carfi of the Social Customer Manifesto. And he will tell you to blame it all on JoDee, proprietrix of the La Di Da cafe in Half Moon Bay, who told him that very joke this very morning. Coinky-dink, huh?

The New Yoga Journal Blog

Yoga Journal's new blog has launched, to coincide with both a visit from Mr. B.K.S. Iyengar, the father of Western yoga, and their annual conference in Colorado. Now is a great time to check out their blog as they are going to be blogging from the conference live, making you feel like you're getting C-SPAN coverage of the event!

Here's how one of their BlogMasters describes it:

"Hi, everyone--For the next week, Yoga Journal and a small group of blogerati will be working together to bring you almost real-time quality coverage of the 10th annual Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park--and of the visit of Mr. B.K.S. Iyengar, father of yoga in the West.
We'll be posting photos, video, audio and lots of talk/observations/comments so that everyone interested in yoga, relaxation, wellness and balanced living can tune in and enjoy a look at what's happening here."

Namaste

Feel good paint

It's not news that colors are associated with moods, but an innovative paint company is taking things to a whole new level.  Anna Sova makes organic milk-based paints in gorgeous colors.  What's new and different are their new aromatherapy paint essences that can be added to the paints to enhance your mood.  The essences will permeate your room for up to six months, after which they can be refreshed with a wall-spritz every now and then.  Fragrances include orange-clove, which is said to allay indigestion, and vanilla, for anger and frustration.  Look for new fragrances this winter: cedarwood-lime (for fatigue and stress), gardenia(tranquility), and lavender (peaceful sleep).  Hmm.  I wonder if this would remove the stress of the painting project?  All this for $12 at www.annasova.com. 

It's raining water!

I admit to loving stories about people doing wacky things, but I guess what's so wacky about this story is that we think it's so wacky.  Richard Heinichen is the hero of this story, and is bottling his rainwater on a farm outside Austin, Texas.  Disappointed by the taste and mineral content of the water from a well he had drilled, he developed his own water collection system to create bottles of Richard's Rainwater.  First he built a rain barn with a 20,000 square foot collection surface.  The runoff - 10,000 gallons from 1 inch of rain, gets collected in a farm of tanks, producing 5,000 bottles of rainwater a week.  Bottled at the source, Richard can forgo chlorine and other chemicals during his award-winning water purification process.  Filters remove the pollen, dust and other particles, while UV lights and reverse-osmosis membranes take care of the bacteria.  According to Richard, water is filtered to about .008 microns, better than most big-name brands, which often still have some herbicides and heavy metals in their water.

Water connoisseurs love the stuff, saying that this is what water should taste like.  You can even buy the bottles with your own labels on them - now wouldn't that be cool at your next eco-event?  Of course, it's available on the web.  Get your very own rainwater at www.rainwater.org.