thought for the day:
Indeed… now is the time.
connecting round the world
Sometimes we’re amazed at the power of good.
Love. Hope. Happiness. Acceptance. Gratefulness. Compassion. Even the teeniest just-ready-to-blossom seed of a “good thought” in your brain has the power to touch others in a way that can make heads spin. Speak those thoughts and before you know it, Good has gained the power to connect you with human beings on the other side of the globe. Thanks to the web.
It’s amazing really… this internet thing.
2010love was recently featured in Peppermint Magazine in Brisbane, Australia in an article titled “Good Old Fashioned Values.” We, along with an amazing group of others who are also dedicated to good in their own ways, were connected through what we’d like to say is the beginning of a media trend for a new generation: Publications dedicated to what matters, rather than only what sells.
Our very own 2010love friend Melissa Morris Ivone at Operation Nice was right beside us in the feature, as well as Jade Sims at Craft Hope, Anthea Krook at Spoonful Zine, Hailey Bartholomew at 365 Grateful, a blog featuring things for which they are indeed grateful every single day of the year. Also featured was Danielle Lauren, the Australian Ambassador for the Charter for Compassion, Morgan Daly at the Sub Urban Grind, and Cat Sweeney from Jungle City Massive, a hip hop group of girls between the ages of 12-19 from the western suburbs of Melbourne, Autralia. Jungle City Massive is being featured in a documentary by Thomas Barlcevic called Step by Step.
Peppermint is the new Green Fashion Magazine, covering eco and ethical styles for those concerned with environmental and social justice issues, but also love fashion and design. We love Peppermint’s dedication and inspiration, we really dig the design and above all, we love their commitment to walking the walk and giving back. Peppermint Magazine is printed on an FSC-certified waterless printing press on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. They also donate 35 cents from each issue sold to charity!
I don’t think you can find Peppermint Magazine at news stands here in the United States just yet, but I’m sure it’s soon to come. Those of you in Australia and New Zealand can find Peppermint at your local Borders. Subscriptions are available world wide. Follow Peppermint on Facebook and Twitter for the most up to date information about current and upcoming issues.
Read the entire article (PDF) in the Press Section.
I had no idea…
Obviously, at 2010love we’re big fans of companies who make the effort to incorporate what matters into the core of their business model. Some have chosen to bring awareness to social and ecologic goals. Some have philanthropic missions, and still others have dedicated their businesses in whole to bringing responsible products to the masses. Our favorites offer simple solutions to living life in a more conscious way.
Priscilla Woolworth has a passionate love for the environment, and offers eco-friendly products via her online General Store. I spotted her Love Towel there, and learned a little in the process. For instance:
Did you know... that if you use these (reusable) towels for 1 year, you save ¼ tree, reduce landfill waste by 23lbs and conserve 250 gallons of water?
Did you know... to make one ton of paper towels, 17 trees are cut down and 20,000 gallons of water are polluted?
Did you know... that every day, over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced in the USA alone?
Did you know… that decomposing paper towels produce methane gas, a leading cause of global warming?
Did you know… that the average person uses 2,400-3,000 paper towels at work, in a given year? Paper towels, even made of recycled materials, still produce an impact 100% greater than People Towels.
3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced in the USA alone??? Did you know?
I certainly didn’t.
Who’d have thunk that something as simple as a paper towel — something we envision disintegrating into the netherworld as soon as it hits the can — could have such an impact when the bulk of our actions are added together?
Even better… imagine the impact a daily, collective, small change for the positive could make?
It’s the little things that make a difference.
on purpose…
This morning I was taking my Friday morning Facebook stroll and ran across this quote posted first by Sycamore Street Press, an amazing letterpress business in Columbus Ohio, then by Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store in Brooklyn New York, who carries Sycamore products:
On purpose. Thanks for the reminder Dolly… it’s the “on purpose” part that I tend to forget. It was the perfect end-of-week lesson for me and a great thought to share with others.
Sycamore and Annie’s both have blogs as well, so check them out for lots of goodies to come in future posts!
the water, the web and the wise
Photo: Drew Buchanan, cnn.com
I came across a quote today:
At the very same time, I was reading about “The Gulf oil disaster” on CNN.com.
It made me stop in my net-surfing tracks and think.
It made me think pretty darn hard about the wisdom in the Duwamish Chief’s comment that has managed to survive in our social consciousness for over 150 years. It made me think about how we (I’m talking about the entire human race here) just sit back and watch on TV (I’m as guilty as any) as what is now estimated as 1.47 million to 2.52 million gallons of oil spew into the world’s waters every day. At the low end of the estimate that’s what… 61,000 gallons per hour? 1,021 gallons per minute? 17 gallons per second. Every day. For 59 days and counting.
I’m a slow calculator, but isn’t that 86,730,000 gallons of oil now floating around in the water that is not only the home to thousands of animals and the livelihood of thousands of people, but the water that evaporates and then becomes the rain that makes our food grow, quenches our thirst, and sustains our bodies?
That thought honestly makes me not able to breathe.
Chief Seattle’s quote made me think about how for hundreds of years now, we human beings just haven’t been listening at all. We’re not paying attention. For some reason, we have chosen to not see how every action is connected and how every being on this earth is eventually somehow affected by the choices we make.
The Chief was right. Why haven’t we been listening?
More importantly, why haven’t we been doing something to make things right? Why haven’t we loved and cared for the one thing that really matters to us all?
Is it really about money? Is our nation’s reliance on fossil fuels linked to someone’s well-padded pocket? I know it’s certainly not linked to mine.
Is it convenience? Can’t we be pulled away from American Idol long enough to put our plastic in the recycling bin? We can’t buy the product that uses no plastic at all? We can’t bike the 2 miles down the street to the market instead of jumping in the Hummer pumped chock-full of BP fuel?
Oh wait… it’s not in the Hummer. It’s all in the ocean.
I’m being facetious of course, but seriously folks: What affect will this spill alone — not counting the countless other thoughtless wounds we as human beings do to the earth —really have on the web of life down the line?
Aristotle studied cause and effect in 335BC. He also studied the whole of existence in his treatises: Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, Politics, Poetics and the nature of the Human Soul. 335BC and he had it figured out. The man looked at the entire picture. He knew it was all connected.
Now, when I watch oil still billowing out into the waters that we all share, the waters that sustain every system, ecosystem and eventually every living creature on this earth, I can’t help but wonder how life as we know it will eventually change.
Because it will. It has to. This is just too much of an enormous shift in the normality of the environment. It’s cause and effect. Something’s eventually gonna give.
And we (the human beings sitting in front of our computers and televisions watching this all go down), are doing just that: Watching.
There is only so much we can do as individuals of course. I don’t know about you, but I have NO idea how to cap a well gushing goop from the depths of the earth at 5,000 feet down with water pressure at over 2,500 per square inch, but I’m sure somebody does. At least I hope somebody does.
I can, however, make changes right now in my own life. And I can speak out.
I can speak about how the human race — EVERY PERSON, young and old, mom and pop, children of the future, and behemoth oil-pumping corporate entity— needs to stop and really listen to the wisdom of those who came before us. Then they need to think with conscious purpose and focused intention about how every action in what seems to be a normal, every day moment of their lives has a direct consequence on this earth and the web of life that it sustains (thankyouverymuch Chief Seattle).
I can speak out. You can speak out. Together, our voices can make a difference. Words can make a real, fundamental change in the way human beings treat the world in which we live. Forget the terms “tree-hugger” and “environmentalist” and you know what… even forget the term “green.” Things are getting way too serious around planet earth to add more labels that separate the “us” from the “thems.”
We’re in this mess together now, whether we wanted to be or not. All of us net-surfing, TV watching, car-driving, earth-living beings around the globe have to step up hand-in-hand and actually do something to change the path down our planet has been taking down this dark, oil-lined, trash-ridden rabbit hole. Because folks, I’m quite sure Wonderland isn’t what we’re going to find on the other side.
So this is us speaking out: Step up. Love what matters. Make a change. Today.
The health of the planet matters… to everyone in this great big, interconnected web of humanity.
wear your love on a chain
Isn’t this a good way to remind yourself and your loved ones to love what matters? Pretty cool huh?
Stay tuned for more info!
Okay, we know we just posted about graduation, but we have a very special reason to give just one more shout out to those in the Class of 2010. Our very own 2010love girl Coreena graduated just days ago from Piqua High School! You’ll see Cor in some of our 2010love t-shirt images on the blog and Etsy store, and since she is a journalist-to-be, maybe we can even talk her into writing a post or two.
Congrats to Cor and all of her classmates. We wish you lots of love and success as you step into your collective futures. Our only advice to you: always love what matters!
And check out this “car-window love” we happened upon at graduation… Very, very cool.
Hey all you 2010 graduates, congratulations! You are now on your way to make a difference in the world. We’re so proud of your accomplishment!
This past weekend, in fact, jewelry artist Sima Gilady from Boulder, Colorado celebrated her daughter’s graduation… and lookie who was part of the big event. Younger sibs sported 2010love tees to show their support for sis, and commemmorate her special day. Don’t you just feel the love oozing from this photo??
Thanks Sima, for your support and for sharing such a wonderful photo. We congratulate you and your family!
Check out Sima’s beautiful, handmade jewelry on her website or at her etsy shop, and become a fan on Facebook too!
There are lots of other designer-creative folk out there using their art to give back. One of our favorite design publications, PRINT magazine, recently began a project called Carry Hope in which they invited 12 accomplished designers to submit tote designs to be sold in support of their chosen charities. 100% of the proceeds go to charity! In addition to the selected designers, they also announced a contest in which readers could submit a design and win a slot in the Carry Hope project (we submitted, but didn’t win, btw…)
BUT thats ok! The winning reader design, along with the other awesomely designed totes are available at My Design Shop … a great place for all things graphic design including products, books, podcasts and more.
These totes are wonderful (and sustainable) gifts for grads, hefty beach bags or just sweet carry-alls for every day. Carry your groceries home while helping out the environment and a charity like Doctors Without Borders.
Have you ever thought about what happened to the worn-out jeans you gave to Salvation Army last year… or the poofy skirt that went out of style six months after purchase, and was tossed into your local dumpster labeled CLOTHES? No? It’s ok, not many of us do. Most of us are just happy to finally clean out our closets and be able to fit in next seasons’ new fashions.
I suppose in the back of our minds we also feel better knowing that our clothes may somehow help out another person or family… but do we really think about how interconnected this makes us? What happens to that article of clothing when the next person is done with it? Whose backs are being clothed by our old t-shirt, or sweater in one year, five years… ten?
Well, Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of The Acumen Fund and author of the New York Times Best-Selling book, “The Blue Sweater” amazingly found out who received one of her ‘goodwill donations’… 10 years after she gave it away… in Africa. If you haven’t heard about this story, take just three minutes to watch her video or even better, buy the book whose paperback royalties are donated to the Acumen Fund and other organizations tackling social change.
What is the Acumen Fund? From their website:
Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. We seek to prove that small amounts of philanthropic capital, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Our investments focus on delivering affordable, critical goods and services – like health, water, housing and energy – through innovative,
market-oriented approaches.
Jacqueline and her organization have helped companies like WaterHealth International bring safe drinking water to people living in rural India, a task long thought nearly impossible.
This is a truly inspiring story and wonderful reminder of how interconnected we all are. Check it out.
–”We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.” – Herman Melville
