“Air pollution isn’t just dirty, it’s poison for our children!” ~ actress, Julianne Moore

It is beyond gratifying to me that an actress I admire so much has lent her celebrity and advocacy to the Moms Clean Air Force. Julianne Moore has joined the Force.

She gets it.

Julianne gets that we ALL need clean air to breathe. She gets that clean air isn’t about politics or jobs, it’s about our health…and she’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.

Go Julianne!

Read Julianne’s post about why she joined Moms Clean Air Force HERE.

Photo: Dominique Browning

Have to keep drumming…

Like/Love

If you like Econesting, you’ll just love the Econesting Facebook page. Where else would you find repurposed drums made from wine barrels?

…and no, I did not contribute to emptying those drums (…maybe just a sip)

You’d rather tweet? Head over to the Econesting Twitter page @econester and say hi.

Pinning

Have you also discovered my latest obsession? Pinterest!!! I just started a page (will get the button up here soon)…the photos are dreamy. I’m pinning absolutley incredible images on my Pinterest page. Prepare to be hooked.

It would be so nice if you would like/love Econesting on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Almost forgot to mention that signing up for Econesting’s RSS Feed/Newsletter is the best way to get Econesting posts delivered right to your Inbox. Yay! Go to the right side of this page and enter your email address.

Inspiring posts are updated daily by me. And just in case you’re thinking that this is just one big shameless plug…well, ok…BUT I do not make money from Econesting. I don’t sell anything here. It is my pleasure connecting to a community of eco-lovin’ friends. Please keep in touch! xoRonnie

Photo: from Facebook

In my last post, I rode the New York Times yoga wave, which is now drowned out by opposing sides duking it out. Of course, I’m not anti-yoga. As my kids can attest to when we were skiing a few weeks ago, I’m just a lot more cautious with my body as I get older.

Did you know I won a Nastar ski race the year I turned 50? It was my first (and only) official wind in your face, slippery, downhill ski race. At the time, I was in pretty good physical shape. I won a gold medal and never had to don any spandex. Yay!

Fessing up…a friend told me there were no women over 50 that had entered the race that day and I would get a huge handicap if I signed up. I’ve never been so scared in my life. But I did finish the race (without falling and killing myself), and I cherish my little gold pin.

I thought I would never be in racing shape (ha!) again until I saw this video on the Lines Of Beauty blog. The video of a 95 year old ballet dancer, shot on Fire Island, captures the secret and beauty of staying fit.

My friend Maia from julia warr on Vimeo.

Photo: Vintage Ski Poster

Bad Back

A few years ago, I developed a twinge in my back. The twinge turned into a sharp pain deep in my left side that radiated down my left leg. It felt like I had a basketball with a knife blade lodged into it sitting next to my hipbone. Then my left foot went numb. I knew this was a bad sign. I went to my gynecologist thinking I was a goner. My gyno, Dean is a friend, and I always go to him first if I think I’m dying. I wouldn’t want a stranger delivering the bad news. Anyway, Dean sent me straight to the hospital for a whole shebang of tests (MRI’s, CAT scans, blood tests etc.) I wasn’t going to die. Whew. Instead, I was going to be in the worst pain of my life. I had a herniated disk sitting on a nerve in my back…!@#$}(%^&*){

I could not walk, lie down, sleep or live. But I was determined not to have back surgery. I heard too many horror stories about back surgeries gone wrong. Nightmarish dreams invaded the little sleep I managed to get. So, I downed the drugs the doc prescribed. I don’t like drugs and these were bad drugs. Really bad drugs. Finally, the only thing that helped was a spinal injection that alleviated the inflammation. I know, TMI. But I wanted to give you a context of why I don’t do yoga anymore.

Yoga Done Wrong

I was reminded of this dreadful health experience when I read the New York Times article last week, How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. Like the Times author, William J. Broad, I believed, “yoga was a source only of healing and never harm.” The yoga teacher Broad interviewed for the article, Glenn Black claims that “the vast majority of people should give up yoga altogether. It’s simply too likely to cause harm.”

According to Black, those of us who sit in chairs all day strain ourselves when we try to be like the yoga Indian practitioners who typically squat and sit cross-legged in their daily lives. The yoga poses, or asanas, are an outgrowth of these types of sitting postures. Not the sitting in chairs in front of the computer type of postures.

When yoga teachers come to Black for bodywork after suffering major traumas, he tells them, “Don’t do yoga.”

The article is truly fascinating. It includes supporting medical evidence and bad, bad stories like mine.

Yoga Done Right

This was just my little story of why I don’t take yoga classes anymore. I do a few yoga postures with the guidance of a highly trained bodywork teacher.

So, let me be clear, I’m not advocating not doing yoga if it makes your body and heart sing, especially if you can do this…

Credits: Thank you, Liza Donnelly for the cartoon from When Do They Serve The Wine?, Elaine Colandrea for Moving For Health, and Jordyn Cormier for the video inspiration.

Photo used with permission: Juliet R. Harrison Photography, design: Lainey Fink

As we flip the calendar page to a new year, it’s nice to mark its beginnings in a meaningful way. Each time I sit down to write a New Year’s post, I bump up against what I am beginning to consider a highly overused word, Resolutions. Believe me, I’ve used and abused the “r” word, and its derivative, resolve, many times. In my mind, committing to resolutions seems…well, so 2011ish.

What’s the issue with resolutions? For one, I poked around and have not found any insightful end of the year round-up type articles about whether or not we fulfilled our resolutions from last year.

New Old Resolutions

I did find a lot of lists. This list from Earthshare includes simple rrrrresolutions (see, it’s not even rolling off my tongue comfortably).

Resolve to eat healthier.
Resolve to lose weight and get in shape.
Resolve to spend more quality time with my family and loved ones.
Resolve to manage my money and spend less.
Resolve to give back.

Don’t you think those were some nice New Year resolutions for our pristine new year? I do, but they leave me asking…

Who holds whom accountable for resolutions?

I guess it is the person making the resolutions. That seems like a set up…for failure.

Old New Rulin’s

The second list comes from Woody Guthrie. Yes, you read that right. This land is your land, this land is my land, and this land was made for making rulin’s (as Woody calls ‘em). In 1942, Woody Guthrie penned this list (click here to view list larger):

Wake Up And Fight

To me, Woody’s rulin’s are not resolutions. They are intentions. Number 33: Wake Up And Fight seems like it could have been written today about so many burning issues. The 99%ers are waking up the masses to inequalities in our social financial system. And many of us are waking up to climate change, food safety issues, how we educate our children and how best to protect our environment against polluters.

So, I’m turning away from resolutions that are made and broken, and moving on to intentions that are positive and hopeful. As new agey as this may seem, an intention embodies a feeling of noticing a new purpose. My hope is that my finest intentions will continue to lead to action.

I hold no ill will towards those who make remarkable resolutions. I’m all for a demarcation and promise of a fabulous year ahead with its vast amount of newness and wonder. I’m just dropping the “r” word from my New Year’s vocabulary, and diving into 2012 with intention…and maybe a few rulin’s.

Where will the New Year lead you?

Photo Credits: ffffound, Boing Boing

Did you think I was going to go all Scrooge on you and not extend my deep well of holiday DIY projects this year? Maybe you thought the holiday’s predictability with its earlier and earlier seasonal creep, and obsessive waste had taken over my good will and peace towards the blogosphere? Or, could it be you remember last year’s A-Z Holiday DIY Gift-Guide burnout?

The truth is I’ve been collecting and squirreling away these three project ideas.

One of my greatest pleasures is gift-giving. While I may have ditched the mall and mostly shopped local with some online purchases sprinkled in, the bottom line on the greenest holiday gifts and decorations are still the ones that don’t consume our planet’s resources. They contribute in ways that bring beauty, sustainability and meaning…and they can’t hold a candle to those that roll off assembly the line.

So, you have a choice: grab your keys and make that last mad dash to the mall, or make meaning.

Favorite Hanukkah Project of the Season

Twig Menorah: For a Hanukkah centerpiece, you just can’t go wrong with a twig and a candle…or 8.

Favorite Christmas DIY Project of the Season

Crystal Chandelier Ornament (main image): I have a box of mix-matched crystals that my father-in-law gave me years ago. Just attach Christmas tree hooks to the crystals for a sparkling holiday reuse.

Favorite Food Project of the Season

After teaching young kids…and raising a few, I thought I was over playing with food, but sappiness took over and these Black Olive Penguins (cute, huh?) almost got the better of me. But I’ll spare you such silliness and instead share these Good For You Whoopie Pies. Apparently, I’ve been living under a Whoopie Pie rock because I never had one of these compact morsels of sweet goodness until this past Thanksgiving. My daughter’s college roommate visited and brought pumpkin Whoopie Pies from the Whoopie Pie capital of NY…Brooklyn. Enjoy!

Photo credits: HomeShoppingSpy, Shelterness, Eating Well

Can I just say right here, right now that if given a choice, I would always choose cashmere. Always. Sounds so snooty…and I am not, but cashmere trumps all…especially to knit with. Jade Sapphire cashmere is spectacularly soft and toasty. It is the cashmere du jour. If you are looking for a present for a sophisticated knitter, these Jade Sapphire Kits are equivalent to most elegant holiday tree toppers. Each of the kits comes with seven incredible stitch pattern designs for scarves and 350 yards of sumptuous worsted weight (no tiny needles required) cashmere.

Are these scarves irresistible or what?

Photo: Manly Scarf Kits via Purl Bee

Coal is filthy. It pollutes our air, water and land. If we shut down, abandon or upgrade the most destructive mercury-spewing coal plants, will Dirty Coal CEO’s and their Chicken Little political lobbyists come out in flocks screaming?

“The sky is falling!!“

Sure. They already have.

But as writer, David Roberts from Grist points out:

“It’s helpful to have some historical perspective. Dirty utilities have forecast economic doom and blackouts every time the EPA has ever issued an air or water regulation. Every time! And every single time, they’ve been wrong. As EPA chief Lisa Jackson is fond of pointing out, in its 40-year history, the Clean Air Act has never yet caused an electric reliability problem…The fact is, defenders of clean air have analysis and history on their side…We can stop poisoning people with ancient, filthy coal plants without shivering in the dark.”

Why is it so important at this very moment to talk rationally about coal in a non-partisan, pro-save our children from mercury poisoning kind of way?

Because the new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards are due to be posted at the end of this week. Mercury is a terrible neurotoxin. Fetuses, infants, toddlers and even our pets are especially vulnerable to mercury poisoning, which harms hearts, lungs, and brains. The rule to eliminate this poison has been in the making for 21 years.

You say, “OK, Mother Goose, if Moms are so smart how will I power my world?”

Invest in real clean and endless energy—renewable energy. It’s clean, it’s local and it’s inexhaustible. Think this an impossible task to do in our children’s lifetime? It’s not. This infographic from the Rocky Mountain Institute shows us how to light the way with solar, wind and other renewables. Meantime, let’s clean up the coal we are using–and make sure natural gas doesn’t turn into another big polluter.

So, will the sky fall with the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards?

No. Now is the time to send Old King Coal and his no-soul political cronies packing.

Please join me in telling President Obama that you support the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

Let’s put that merry but cynical Old King Coal where he belongs…up on the wall with Humpty Dumpty.

Illustration: Steve Morrison

This post was cross-posted on Moms Clean Air Force.

Life is so busy right now that posting has succumbed to “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Can you tell that from my last post? There’s so many posts in my head that I would like to grab a cup of tea (or wine), sit by the fire and write and write for hours. That time will come, but not now.

Both my kids are artists. My daughter is a graphic designer and my son is a musician. When I saw this poster, I could not contain my hysterics.

My dad would have gotten a kick out of this. He was an artist too.