Elisa's Green Scene

Why be Vocal also in the Carnival of the Vanities

The Carnival of the Vanities is hosted this week by Catymology. Given that Karen and I both have cats, how could we not like this site?

Aloysius Katz, a.k.a. Aloysius Pangur Ban, M.F.A. (Master of Feline Arts) even picks my Why Be Vocal? post at one of his Editor's Pick. Thanks!

Being the un-themed Carnival of the Vanities, the posts range from politics to business to advice. There's only one post on the Environment, but it's a lengthy one from Ruminating Dude about how to continue to use coal in the most eco-conscious way possible.

You know what's really not represented in this Carnival: wellness, philosophy...stuff like that. Where are all those bloggers? Do they not have Vanity?

Carnival of the Green is up at Animal Broadcast Network

This week's Carnival of the Green is up at the Animal Broadcast Network, which is "the first network of affiliated independent broadcasters, writers and journalists reporting on current issues, news, entertainment and events that impact our living, animal world."

The theme is the four elements: earth, wind, water, fire, and my post about how to decide the size of your soapbox is listed under Wind. Hmmm, are they saying I'm full of hot air? ;)

Check out bothe the Carnival and the ABN.

Behind the masks

Throughout our lives we perform various social roles.  If we're not careful we can find ourselves identifying too closely with a particular role, which then becomes limiting. What are the roles you currently associate with?  Visualize yourself in each of these roles.  What masks and manners do you adopt?  What lies behind these masks?  Who are you really?

Why be vocal?

When you decide to alter your lifestyle to adhere to a personal ethos you can do everything from not mention it to anyone to stand on a crate in Times Square and preach it.

You can hope to set an example simply by your actions, and that will no dobut be noticed by some. But is that enough? If you believe in something is it enough to simply do, but not speak out? I often wonder this when bloggers say they don't care about traffic or links or attention. I'm sure many of them speak the truth, but when I hear a political blogger or a green blogger say this I think either a) I don't believe you or b) I believe you, but then why bother? Aren't you trying to persuade when you blog a partisan political position (as I do for the Santa Clara County Democratic Party)? Aren't you trying to persuade when you devote much of your blogging energy toward Starbucks and it fair trade policies (as green LA Girl does)? green LA Girl publishes a Fair Trade primer here, and I don't think I'm assuming too much to say that she wants you not only to read it, but to change your coffee-buying behavior, right? So, if you're tryng to persuade, don't you want to persuade as many people as possible?

But can it go too far? I continue these ruminations in the extended entry...

New hip & zen blog: Emerald Market

Blogger extraordinare Karen Walrond has yet another blog project: Emerald Market. This one is right up the hip & zen alley. Here's her brief description:

The Emerald Market is a shopping blog, showcasing the best eco-friendly, organic, sustainable and fair trade items the web has to offer. If it's green and I dig it, you'll find it here.

Of course, I've let Karen know that hip & zen is right up Emerald Market's alley too.

With one quick perusal of Emerald Market I discovered:

• Hemp hiking boots! (hip & zen Karen: shoes, I'm telling you, shoes!)
• Disposable bamboo picnic plates that will decompose within a few months in your compost pile!
• And another cool site for the hip & zen blog roll: The Green Guide, that provides a cool headline sidebar widget for blogs. Look for it on this very blog soon. (And if I get really ambitious I might try to figure out how to provide the same thing.)

Very hip & zen, so check out Emerald Market.

Dealing with unpleasant feelings

This last week I became aware of some very physical feelings of anxiety and sadness, and I wasn't sure why I was feeling this way.  I thought I would meditate on it a bit and perhaps figure out where it was coming from.  But that didn't help, and as much as I tried to name the feelings, I couldn't figure out what it was about.  Then I read something in Raphael Cushnir's book "Setting your Heart on Fire", about this very topic which really struck me. 

He says we should not attempt to figure out what the feelings are, as much as allow the feeling to fully express itself.  Trying to understand it can get in the way of feeling the emotions.  He suggests simply putting your attention where you feel the emotion and paying attention to it - how it feels and moves within you.  He says that emotions pass when you let yourself feel them.  When you do not let yourself feel them, they cannot escape.  Most of us have mechanisms to distract ourselves from these uncomfortable emotions (perhaps by overthinking and intellectualizing the emotion), and that in fact traps the emotion in us and it is unable to pass.  He has a quote later in the book which sums it up nicely "What you resist, persists".  How unfortunate, but true!

OK, I have to admit these are cool

Trolling around the hip & zen-osphere, I came upon these two posts  at greatgreengoods. Yes, you can buy watches made from recycled footballs and basketballs. Now, you know our friends over at fiftyRX3 must love this idea. She focuses her green energy on wearing clothing that is recycled, re-fashioned, re-used...and I'm sure these watches qualify. I was trying to suss out what I thought of them...given that I know that footballs, at least, are made from leather. So, if they're recycled, dot hey still violate my "no leather" rule?

I have to say that for me, personally, I think they do. I would still be quite conscious of wearing a dead animal on my wrist. On the other hand I could easily see some vegetarians feeling differently.

No such qualms about these recycled PDA, iPod and laptop cases made from recycled auto tires, fround at Treehugger.com. I'm afraid the laptop case might be so large that the industrial ugliness of the tires, no matter how cool, might overwhelm me..but in PDA or iPod size? Just right.

Encouraging Green-ness

Al from CityHippy has some good advice about how we can encourage others to adopt more green behaviors. It's sort of the "more flies with honey" approach. His advice aligns very nicely with my refrain that we all do the best that we can do, and that it's always better to do something than nothing...and most of all that none of us will ever achieve perfection, but that's no reason to do nothing.

It also hearkens back to another refrain of mine, most recently blogged here. That is: if we want mass adoption of green products and practices, we can't make it too burdensome for people. Key excerpt:

Green products have to be as functional as non-green. (And let's admit that style is part of the function of fashion, right?)

Green products simply can't cost a tremendous amount more than non-green products and become widely accepted.

Green products can't require their consumers to work a lot harder just to get those green products.

Feeling good about a purchase is an incentive, but it is not incentive enough for consistent, mass adoption.

E-commerce really has made it so that anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can find this stuff. I think a lot of people believe that green products are over-priced and trendy, but I think you can find many many exceptions.

Take this laptop bag for example. It's made from recycled plastic bags. It's got a sturdy canvas lining and it's fairly traded. So that recycled, fairly-traded, as far as I can tell vegan, and how much do you think it is? Well, it's $37.50. Now, that's about as economical as laptop bags come. OK, I admit I had one that was cheaper once. I bought it for <$10 at Ikea. I ended up abandoning it in my hotel room when I left Austin, TX last March because it was a piece of crap and wouldn't close properly. (I often remind myself of the William Hurt character at the end of "The Accidental Tourist." I tend to leave unnecessary material possessions behind in hotel rooms and airplane seat pockets.)

Point is, hip & zen is just one place where you can find products that are cool, progressive and not completely out of a normal person's price range. I just have to convince Karen to start carrying shoes, and I'll be all set. Luckily hippyshopper pointed me recently to Vegetarian Shoes, so, unlike Richard Gere in "Officer and a Gentleman", I got somewhere else to go.

Zen and the art of deadlines

Here is the first post from Athena Williams-Atwood, President of Inspired Action, whom I introduced as a guest contributor for the hip & zen blog.  I found this very appropriate when I received it, as I was in the middle of a deadline, and feeling not very hip & zen...So here it is...

As I begin my first posting with Hip and Zen...I wonder "What does Zen at work look like?"  If we consider Zen to be a teaching about the removal of the non-essential, then Zen at work might inspire us to let go of things/thoughts/actions that clutter our path.  So, how does this actually
work in the midst of a 5:00pm deadline looming?   Begin by noticing where you are in the present, take a breath, feel your body then get a sense of anything "non-essential" that you might be engaged in.  It might be worry, stress, frustration, panic, gossiping, procrastinating, sugar, caffeine, or constantly checking email.  Perhaps you have a few other personal favorites.
I know I do. :)

So, together, let's embark on the practice of Zen at work as we notice and challenge ourselves to focus on that which is essential to THIS project at THIS time (or THIS person in THIS moment).  By letting go of the non-essential, we are able to be in the present moment, bringing our brilliance and creativity to all that we do.  Ah, what a way to work.  Try it and let me know how it goes.  I bet you'll love it.    

Introducing contributor Athena Williams-Atwood

Athena Williams-Atwood will be joining us as a guest contributor in the
areas of working and living with ease.  As President of Inspired Action, a
socially responsible company based in the US and New Zealand, she offers
Working With Ease(tm) programs, retreats and products that integrate yogic
principles into work and business.  She brings a wealth of experience in
leadership, management, communication, and employee development to
skillfully integrate spirituality and business.  She draws on her 16 years
of experience as an entrepreneur, manager, trainer, business consultant,
meditator, poet and yoga teacher to create dialogue to transform our planet.
Her diverse clients include individuals and organizations around the globe
such as Adobe, Agilent, Bank of America, eBay, Fujitsu, Giving Global, NASA,
Social Fusion, Xerox and Young Women Social Entrepreneurs.  Athena and her
partner, Eric, live bi-coastally between the US and New Zealand.  She is
thrilled to be a contributor to the Hip & Zen blog and looks forward to
hearing from you.     http://inspiredactioninc.com