Sunday, March 20, 2011

UNCC Earth Club




For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant. --Martin Luther
This year I have had the awesome experience of being the president of the UNCCharlotte Earth Club.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=2204725905
I just wanted to share some of the awesome events we have going on.


First off, Terracycle.  [outsmart waste]
EARTH Club is collecting writing instruments, yogurt containers, energy/granola bar wrappers and juice puches for TERRACYCLE’s upcycling program.
http://www.terracycle.net/


We are participating in /collecting:





Energy Bar Brigade

Kashi Brigade
 
Candy Bar Brigade



Mars Wrigley and Cadbury Wrappers

Yogurt Brigade

Drink Pouch Brigade

Spreads Brigade
Writing Utensils Brigade


















We just sent another 500 energy bar wrappers to TERRACYCLE and 300 yogurt containers.
Keep bringing these collections to our meetings or give them to me!!!!


Stop throwing money in the trash and throw it at Earth Club instead.


recycled juice pouches made into a fence. : http://www.terracycle.net/products/200?locale=en-US


Earth Club meets in the UNCC greenhouse every Monday @5pm.


Except for this Monday because we are doing a Creek Cleanup at Toby Creek which is our adopted spot on campus.  We are meeting at Toby Creek @5pm!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=182603551784490


3/28/11  Watching the LORAX!!!
4/4/11 Earth Club Meeting @ Greenhouse
4/6/11 CAMPUS CLEANUP 10-2
4/11/11 Meeting @ Greenhouse
4/18/11 Screening for "Deep Green" @6pm
4/19/11 Deep Green and maybe Wall E... Time TBD
4/20/11 Screenings for "Deep Green"
4/20/11 Earth Day Festival
4/25/11 Last Meeting! Collect Boxes, potential Potluck, maybe Elections... : )

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Why I Love Geese.

People have a lot to learn from Geese.  They are wonderful creatures.  I personally enjoy crossing paths with them everyday on my walks to where Im going.  One of my alltime favorite teachers, Terri Matthews, shared with us some lessons people can learn from geese in our practice methods course.  I will never forget such a wonderful lesson! The author is unknown.

Fact 1: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an "uplift" for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
Fact 2: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.
Fact 3: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.
Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each other's skills, capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.
Fact 4: The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Lesson: We need to make sure honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one's heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek.
Fact 5: When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

DUMPSTER BOOKAGE

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face.  It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy.  ~Edward P. Morgan

My apartment complex unfortunately does not have recycling, and I usually make a trip to the park with Nugget and have a running and recycling doggy date.  Theres nothing like human to animal bonding in the outdoors.  A few weeks ago during the snow days my favorite park was closed.  I drove over to a fellow divers apartment complex to drop off some recycling and as I opened the lid of a recycle bin, I was pleasantly surprised.  BOOKS! tons of books.  If you know me at all, you know I adore books.  A bit too much at times.  I am currently hoarding all my favorite childhood books in my room, reading in at least 8 separate books currently, have piles of books all around my bedroom, and I even save books from my classes to reread.  I love to read. 



The book selection in this particular recycling receptacle was pretty impressive I must say.  The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Yoga.  Charlie Wilson's War. Walking Softly in the Wilderness(The Sierra Club Guide To Backpacking) Active Meditation.  Simple Abundance, a Daybook of Comfort and Joy. Gods Little Devotional Book For Couples. The Complete Walker III. Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.  The Essence of Self Realization(The Wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda).  Catch Me If You Can. A Guide to Healing through the human energy field. Diana.  Life Surrendered to God. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil. Movin On(Equipment and Techniques for Winter Hikers).  Movin Out(Equipment and Techniques for Hikers).  Jack & Jackie (Portait of an American Marriage).  Jackson Pollock.  and lots of other Interior Design Books and randoms.  What a great snag.  Hiking, Yoga, Spiritualism, and other fun reads all in one find.  Dear person who recycled your books, Thanks!!  Ive added 20more free books2 my bookcase/reading list, and the ones I wasnt interested made their way to Julias Coffee at Habitat Restore.


Let books be your dining table,
And you shall be full of delights
Let them be your mattress
And you shall sleep restful nights.
~Author Unknown

I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things.  ~George Robert Gissing

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.  ~Chinese Proverb




The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.  ~James Bryce


Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.  ~Author Unknown


A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end.  You live several lives while reading it.  ~William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958


Many people, other than the authors, contribute to the making of a book, from the first person who had the bright idea of alphabetic writing through the inventor of movable type to the lumberjacks who felled the trees that were pulped for its printing.  It is not customary to acknowledge the trees themselves, though their commitment is total.  ~Forsyth and Rada, Machine Learning

 
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.  ~Charles W. Eliot



Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.  ~Groucho Marx


I find television to be very educating.  Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book.  ~Groucho Marx


The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.  ~Mark Twain, attributed

<3

Sunday, February 13, 2011

thats what I love about Sundays...




I love waking up to my best friend
   who is always stoked to be alive,
and chronically thrilled to wake beside me. 
                                                              I relish when the sun shines in through the cracks
                                                          in my blinds as if it was trying to tell me good
                                                       morning and hint at the potential the day ahead holds.
Its my favorite when your human bff calls
 to make sure you are awake, because they knew
how excited you were about the morning
                                                        activities and dont want you to miss it,
                                                even though you know they didnt have to wake up
                                                        that early for any reason except to call you. 
I enjoy washing my hair with baking soda and vinegar,
putting on my favorite, soft, corduroys,
with the pockets just right, that I discovered in the trash from a former roomate. 
                                                I adore slipping into my awesomely broken in,
                                            five year old camo flats, heading into the kitchen to
munch some slices of double chocolate dumpster cake,
sipping some coffee and adding some freegan
cream and sugar that I borrowed from the Flying  Biscuit.
                                                   Its my other favorite driving to Sunday school
                                              to tell some of my favorite tiny people to love God
                                              above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself,
while expressing ourselves through fingerprint art. 
I am so fond of children and their beauty
like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
                                              I am enchanted by a child response that Valentines Day
                                              is about loving your mom and dad. and Jesus.  and that
                                              we should love everybody and everything all the time.
I appreciate childrens books about all of creation,
rocks, streams, and trees, the earth, praying,
reminding us to be silent and listen,
                                          and the brilliant thought that we shouldnt pray to
                                             change the world, but to change ourselves,
                                               which will then change the world.






I cherish childrens sermons about valentines
and sharing Gods love with those who need
it most, and adult sermons that teach us even
                                             Martin Luther was paralyzed at one point,
                                          and thinking of you, that we can overcome this
                                        paralysis together, and having hope that we will
throw our agendas out the window for
Gods agenda. I am glad to have friends
in Gods house, together keeping pews,
                                                  minds and hearts warm for Him.
                                                  I love leaving church to step out into
                                                  glorious weather to go BE the church.
I smile when I recieve boxes of dumpster delicacies
from a beautiful soul, but really from God himself.
I adore that song that comes on the radio at
                                                      just the perfect second and inspires you
                                                         so strongly that you want to scream!  I
                                                       love knowing the power of our love, that we
are blessed with solely because of His Love.
I cherish shelterless neighbors named Ken and
friendships formed at traffic lights, through cardboard signs,
                                                        dumpster rotissery chickens, watermelons,
                                                        apples, smiles, handshakes, and God.
I love gratitude and appreciation and loving a
stranger because you can and it feels right.
I adore when hope for humanity seeps into every
                                                           atom of me through rays of sun and planning
                                                           recycled art classes for kids.  I cherish apple cider
                                                           abandoned in a dumpster to slurp in the afternoon.


Raymond's in his Sunday best,
He's usually up to his chest in oil an' grease.
There's the Martin's walkin' in,
With that mean little freckle-faced kid,
Who broke a window last week.
Sweet Miss Betty likes to sing off key in the pew behind me.


That's what I love about Sunday:
Sing along as the choir sways;
Every verse of Amazin' Grace,
An' then we shake the Preacher's hand.
Go home, into your blue jeans;
Have some chicken an' some baked beans.
Pick a back yard football team,
Not do much of anything:
That's what I love about Sunday.


I stroll to the end of the drive,
Pick up the Sunday Times, grab my coffee cup.
It looks like Sally an' Ron, finally tied the knot,
Well, it's about time.
It's 35 cents off a ground round,
Baby. cut that coupon out!


That's what I love about Sunday:
Cat-napping on the porch swing;
You curled up next to me,
The smell of jasmine wakes us up.
Take a walk down a back road,
Tackle box and a cane pole;
Carve our names in that white oak,
An' steal a kiss as the sun fades,
That's what I love about Sunday,
Oh, yeah.


Ooh, new believers gettin' baptized,
Momma's hands raised up high,
Havin' a Hallelujah good time
A smile on everybody's face.
That's what I love about Sunday,
Oh, yeah.


That's what I love about Sunday,
Oh, yeah.<3

Friday, February 4, 2011

Activism is our rent for living on this planet.


The ENOUGH Project
WHY A CERTIFICATION PROCESS FOR CONFLICT MINERALS IS URGENT: A VIEW FROM NORTH KIVU



42. That’s how many Mexican gray wolves are left in wild… in the entire world.
Campaign to Save Americas Wolves

New USDA Guidelines Praise Vegetarian Diets
The federal government has issued new dietary guidelines that highlight the health benefits of a plant-based diet. "Vegetarian-style eating patterns have been associated with improved health outcomes -- lower levels of obesity, a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and lower total mortality. Several clinical trials have documented that vegetarian eating patterns lower blood pressure."

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Thanks Kate Murphy Hanes for passing this along to me right when I needed it.

A Faithful--or a Fevered--Life

Thomas Kelly


I wish I might emphasize how a life becomes simplified when dominated by faithfulness to a few concerns. Too many of us have too many irons in the fire. We get distracted by the intellectual claim to our interest in a thousand and one good things, and before we know it we are pulled and hauled breathlessly along by an over-burdened program of good committees and good undertakings.

I am persuaded that this fevered life of church workers is not wholesome. Undertakings get plastered on from the outside because we can't turn down a friend. Acceptance of service on a weighty committee should really depend upon an answering imperative within us, not merely upon a rational calculation of the factors involved. The concern-oriented life is ordered and organized from within. And we learn to say No as well as Yes by attending to the guidance of inner responsibility.

Source: c. 1941

Add your thoughts at inward/outward

Sunday, January 30, 2011

A Little Taste of Dehydrated Paradise.



Last weekend was an incredible dive!  I received an amazing dehydrator for Christmas and have been dehydrating lots of dumpster goods for snacks, or to preserve for later.  Even with all the food I give away, donate, and share, I can never eat all of my food and my compost is always overflowing.  This past weekend we dove tons of dehydratable, delish, fruits to snack on, and I have been drying fruits right and left!  We dove:
  • mangos
  • watermelon
  • pineapple
  • apples
  • bananas
  • strawberries
  • cucumbers
  • cantalope
and theres most likely others that I forgot.  All of them are awesome snacks dehydrated and Ive started creating a sort of dumpster trail mix out of dried fruits.  I cannot believe that all of these delicious, exotic edibles are tossed in the trash and that we actually go fetch them out and do creative things to them to put them to use.  It blows my mind that the weekend before last we found a bag of perfectly scrumptious kiwis in January in the dumpster.  I cant even start to imagine when the last time I ate a kiwi was predumpster lifestyle.  I cant remember ever purchasing a kiwi, strawberry, mango or watermelon, ever.  The wallet wasnt heavy enough for all of that.  It wasnt in my college budget.  And I cant remember a time diving where we didnt find apples or oranges.  Probably every single time. 

If I didnt dumpster dive? I would never have anything to dehydrate, the device would be useless to me, and I would probably be attempting to sell it somewhere. But thanks to a lot of waste, I am able to preserve and create nourishment for myself and others, from garbage.  The words trash and garbage have completely different definitions to me now, and my dehydrator is one of my most used appliances, coming in behind the coffeemaker, and microwave.  If you count the amount of hours that I use it, or how much work it does for me, its definately number one no question.  I am munching on dehydrated watermelon as we speak, and who would have thought it would be better than jolly rancherS?  WAY BETTER.  Dont even get me started on how I feel about pineapple chips.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

First Summer of Diving.

      I got back from the annual UCF [ http://campus-ministry.org/  ]mission trip to Mexico last spring break and was bogged down with the typical post-mission trip blues.  You know what I mean, going from the beautiful miraculous week and being merged back into regular society. 

 There, it seemed like everything was Godly and everyone was a beautiful contribution to your life, and then when you get back everything seems dark, dreary, and everyone around you seems to think God is irrelevant.  You sink back into your old habits, resolutions you made on the trip fade away quickly, and life resumes as normal.  This usually puts me in a depressive funk, feeling as if Im searching for something in life that is not there, and as others on the team and myself would say, lets try to bring the Mexico to Charlotte.  Or lets try to inject God into everything here as it was there. 


      The shiny missionary mindset began to fade and my friend Kristen Covington, whom I had bonded with on spring break, and myself began to pray for new opportunities to serve God, and for Dios himself to grant us a new mission to embark on.  The same week I started praying these prayers we went to CharlotteOne, [http://www.charlotteone.org/] to jump into some hard worship with the Big guy.  Sure enough, our prayers were answered, at Charlotte one, Childrens Impact Network [http://www.cinonline.org/] was there, trying to fill some spots on an open team going to serve at an orphanage in Bolivia. I felt the Holy Spirit seep into my heart and demand I go.  Kristen and I looked at eachother and knew we HAD to go.  My heart thumped with joy, but financial doubts creeped into my brain.  "It's impossible", I thought, "How can I do this?"  But just then Andy Cherry and the others in the band, who are phenomenal by the way, started to sing,
"Nothing is Impossible with Him"
And I knew I had to do it.  We squeezed eachother ecstatically.  There would be no more doubting from that point forward.  For the rest of the school year we planned and plotted how to afford this trip.  "If God wants us to go, he will make it happen" was our mindset.  We sold energy drinks and silly bands and went door to door throughout the highrises collecting spare change.  We carried around empty oj and soymilk containers to fill with change. 


 We scoured parking lots for nickels, we applied for a hundred jobs, we started a facebook group to create a network of donors and supporters.  We sent letters and emails and our strategies to get money were endless.  We had billions of ideas.  We collected a few hundred in spare change.  It was a great start.  Kristen moved into my tiny UCLUB bedroom and slept in my twin bed with me and Nugget or in my floor.  Every day we prayed, read scripture, encouraged and inspired eachother, and strategized how to get money from the morning when we woke up until we passed out on top of our books. 

  We worked as much as possible, had car washes and yard sales, and our food situation wasnt the best.  We lived off of apples, bananas, peanut butter, taco bell, and cookout all summer.  Seriously, thats all we ate, that and any free food we could locate.  I wonder now, if I had dumpster dived all summer how different it would have been.  I stole food at my restaurant job right and left, a fry here, a chunk of lettuce there.  I had to do whatever was necessary to get to Bolivia and meet these kids who would forever change my life.
     
 I first heard of diving from one of my good friends Jake.  I went to the pentagon for a typical get together and really needed to know why there was endless amounts of bread covering their wrap around kitchen counters.  He told me they had dumpster dived the delish carbs and that they had dived all kinds of amazing goods and got together for dumpster dinners.  I was intrigued.  This cute, clean, fun guy ate out of trash cans? No freakin way.  And all the friends we have in common do as well?  and they admit it? wow.  I next heard of dumpster diving from facebook pictures of a friend and UCF acquaintance who had also went to Mexico, Dalen,[http://wdalenrice.blogspot.com/] who would put up pictures of various normal looking food items he had found in the grocery store dumpster as he passed by on walks. 



I also heard of diving from a girl Kaitlyn, who I had seen at UCF many times, she seemed strange and always had a huge ridiculous, contageous, smile on her face for no apparent reason.  The girl reeked of Jesus.  We always said hello at events and on campus, we assumed we both loved God, and that was really our only commonality.  One night after Guardian Ad Litem training, I drove around the university area picking up cans off the side of the road and out of garbage cans and recycling bins, to recycle for money.  I was bent over with the top half of my body in a smelly trash can, fishing out cans, in a lace top and red stilletos.  I got a text from my friend Robby, who is the man, informing me that he had a large television I could use in my yardsale the upcoming weekend.  I drove over to his place to grab the set, and there was Kaitlyn on the hood of her car in the driveway , looking exuberant and smelling of chlorine from her job at the Y.  We got the set loaded into my trunk, and I started talking about how excited I was to visit a country that was basically a mystery to me, and found out that Kaitlyn had been there!  She told me all about her travels, and somehow the conversation got around to dumpster diving, I expressed interest in going with her, and saved her number as "Kaitlyn is Amazing!" in  my contacts, stoked at the idea of diving and at the fact that she had been to Bolivia.  My whole life I cant remember ever meeting anyone who had been to Bolivia, and Kaitlyn had been.  : ) 
     Kristen and I scrounged our pennies together and did fundraiser after fundraiser for the rest of the summer and miraculously came up with enough money for the trip.  It was one of the best adventures of my life.  I am forever changed, and that week will drastically effect my future, what I do with it, and who I become. 

      When I got back from such an epic week, reality set in.  I was ABAP. As. Broke. As. Possible.  My bank accounts were still empty, Kristen had moved out and gotten back to her life, rent was due, my job still sucked, and I was starving.  I got a facebook link from Kaitlyn with a link to her blog, The Frugal Dumpster.  http://thefrugaldumpsterdiver.wordpress.com/  It was awesome.  She also sent me a link to watch the documentary " I Love Trash",  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6392356216626641658#  about two guys who move into an empty apartment and live off only dumpster supplies for several months.  I watched the film and was SHOCKED.  Is it really possible to live off of other peoples waste?  And could it really be that pleasant?  and... fun?!  no way.  Definately not in Charlotte.  I immediately texted Kaitlyn to ask if we could dive that night.  If I was gonna end up homeless and broke, with my super-fast-eat-every-hour-metabolism, I definately wasnt gonna be hungry.  I couldnt afford to lose any more weight. 
      We went that night and I was beyond shocked.  We did a few drivebys to scope out the scene, and then pulled our car up to the dumpsters, and Kaitlyn jumped in. 

She was a ninja in the dark handing me amazing edibles.  We didnt use gloves or flashlights, we didnt use hushed voices, and I was so hungry I even took a few samples during the dive. 

The dumpster didnt smell or look as I expected it to, and the massive quantities we dove still surprise me. 


We made dumpster diving our work the rest of the summer.  I ate a lot, and I ate well.  I ate more fruits and  vegetables than I probably ever have. 



I had always eaten poorly in college, and had lost a lot of muscle mass.  That was all about to change. 



My fridge stayed full, and my belly did too. 

 Oh man, I remember eating peaches with the dishwashers at my job for weeks.  Those were good times.  Sometimes all it takes to bring people together are some free delicious dumpster peaches.
 
 We found so much food we started taking it downtown to homeless feedings.  We fed salad to probably a hundred people one day.  That was a great day.
 

It seemed like there wasnt anything we didnt find.
 Energy drinks, soy bologna, you name it. 
We found tons of flowers one night, took them downtown the next day and handed them out to people.  People with homes and people with out homes.  It was awesome to watch the reactions.  Some people looked at us like we had lost it, others took the flowers and gave them to some other stranger passing through, and some seemed as if nobody had ever given them a flower in their life.  It was such a fun experience.



I took hundreds of pictures because it was all so exciting! 

I will definately continue to post evidence of our fun and random diving experiences, and I will NEVER forget my first dive, and the spontaneous summer of ninjaing into trash receptacles and stuffing my face with delicious nutrients.  THANK YOU KAITLYN! & everyone else who nudged  me into this direction purposefuly or unawaredly. (word?!) loves it.  & Especially Gracias to Dios for always providing everything I need and more.  Always.

Monday, January 10, 2011

* What to do inside on a frugal snow day! *

   

Everyone knows what to do OUTSIDE on snow days... But in between the rolling in the snow, snowmen, snowball fights, and snowforts, when you come inside to warm up, here are some festivities to keep you busy.  Or, in my situation I happen to be snowed in alone and my puppy doesnt like to be cold!  He needs a dog snow jacket.  Maybe Ill make him one. On a frugal snow day you should... 


Wear toe socks!


 
Text people you love as soon as you find out its snowing and as soon as you find out its a snow day, no matter what time it is!  Spread the excitement.
 

Call a cute boy and wish him a happy snow day at 6am!!


 
Catch up on your reading.  Right now Im reading:
  • Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis
  • Gorgeously Green-8steps to an EcoFriendly Life by Sophie Uliano
  • God's Blog's by lanny donoho
  • 3 Chicken Soups: for the Sports Fans Soul, Mothers Soul, and Sisters Soul
  • Revolution in World Misisons by K.P. Yohannan
  • My Fathers Secret War by Lucinda Franks
  • and Im rereading Real Sex:The naked truth about Chastity by Lauren F. Winner.

 Drink something hot!  I suggest coffee and hot cocoa mixed, or chai!  Or green tea, or raspberry tea. Any coffee or tea will do the trick as long as its hot! : ) mmmm... coozeeeeee


 
  
I <3 snow.  I never really
considered how its free...
and edible. me gusta! : )
Make dumpster snow cream!
  • 8 cups fresh Snow
  • 2 tbsp Vanilla 
  • 1 cup dumpster Sugar
  • 1 cup dumpster Milk (soymilk works too!)

apparently there are multiple recipes & you can add different ingredients to it and get creative! 
I think snowcream with bananas would be good.  Or if you added nuts.  I would also love to find a way to make coffee snow cream.  But I havent mastered it yet.



I just put a bowl on the backporch and let it fill up with fresh snow. : ) If it snowed, but is not snowing, you can always scrape snow off the tops of everything. 

Scrump. & Frugal.

 









Get all of your holiday pictures off of your phone and onto your facebook!
Make Firestarters!

Accidentally discover that your laptop has a webcam youve never seen before.  Create a Youtube channel and send snowday videos to your friends.
http://www.youtube.com/user/LifeIsDank?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/KXCMCVHoq30





Listen to Cage The Elephant.

I know that youre tired of this cus youre a robot they designed your life

true souls said they know whats right
you can join us
on the other side