Think of no one as “them”
Don’t confuse your comfort with your safety
Talk to strangers
Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels
Listen to music you don’t understand*Dance to it
Act Locally
Notice the workings of power & privilege in your culture
Question consumption
Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up
and smell the exploitation
Look for fair trade and union labels
Help build economies from the bottom up
Acquire few needs
Learn a second(or third) language
Visit people,places, and cultures – not tourist attractions
Learn people’s history*Re-define progress
Know physical and political geography
Play games from other cultures*Watch films with subtitles
Know your heritage
Honor everyone’s holidays
Look at the moon and imagine someone else,
Somewhere else, looking at it too
Read the UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Understand the global economy in terms of
people, land, and water
Know where your bank banks
Never believe you have the right to anyone else’s resources
Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination
Question military/corporate connections
Don’t confuse money with wealth, or time with money
Have a pen/email pal*Honor indigenous cultures
Judge governance by how well it meets all people’s needs
Be skeptical about what you read
Eat adventurously*Enjoy vegetables,
Beans and grains in your diet
Choose curiosity over certainty
Know where your water comesfrom
and where your wastes go
Pledge allegiance to the earth;question nationalism
Think South, Central, and North-
There are many Americans
Assume that many others share your dreams
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard
Work to change this

The New York Times recently reported a story by Malia Wollan about San Francisco's tough recycling laws. Amazingly the state has started fining those who do not adhere to their strict recycling laws by fining residents or business owners of up to $1,000 but the best part is that these laws now include composting.

YEA SAN FRANCISCO!!!

    "The city already diverts 72 percent of the 2.1 million tons of waste it's residents produce each year away from landfills and into recycling and composting programs."

The goal for this inspiring city is to send zero waste to landfills by 2020. Three bins will help the city manage it's goal with help from it's citizens by issuing three bins: one for recycling, one for trash and the new GREEN one for compost.

I remember doing an interview with John Bradford last year where he said "There are two simple things that every citizen in the world can do to make a difference, and that's recycle your plastics, and compost."

He went on to explain that by doing this we close the loop by reusing our packaging,  and replenishing our land with the nutrients it needs to grow nutrient rich foods.  Composting is easy for anyone to do- but just like developing a discipline for recycling can's and bottles- it's now adding that new action into your routine each day. 

Our family keeps our composting bin by the sink. Instead of throwing our veggie peels, and fruit cores and rinds into the sink or trash it goes into the compost bucket and the kids take turns walking it out to the compost pile in the yard at the end of each day or every couple of days.  It's a matter of being conscious as you run through your meal routine that is likely on auto pilot.

Here are a few recommendations to get started:

• Kids are great team players - so enroll their help telling them about composting and it's benefits to the planet. They also make great police so if you want someone to remind you when you go to throw those egg shells in the trash, they can blow the whistle until everyone gets in the habit.
• Make a list of all the items that can be composted- or an image of the veggie or fruit or shell and stick it on the fridge for everyone to reference
• Invest in a compost bucket or ceramic urn with a lid- you can check out other options here.
• If you want additional facts on how to compost or why it's so beneficial you can look here. 
• If you want more info specifically geared toward kids you can go here.

Becky Roque is a hip twenty year old Miami college student who's been making her way through her tuition bills by waitressing.  Look how smart! That college education is paying off!
She pulled out her billfold to pay for her purchase at the register of our consignment store, and I could not help but notice....

"I just love making new designs and seeing a new use for boring or broken things, I especially when I can create wearable art." - Becky Rouque

Materials: Black Waitress Bill Fold
Acrylic Paint
Buttons
Glue

Please send us any images of your recycled items that might qualify for this new area of our blog!
If you have a recycled item that you would like to share we would love to showcase them on NEVER THOUGHT TO RECYCLE THAT!

It's easy:

• Send your email to mrodgers@littlebits.com with a description of your item and how and why you did it- what gave you the inspiration?
  
• your name, any details about yourself you want to share
  
• State or Country where you reside or what company you work for
• An image or several images of your item
  
• and why you think it's important to live green!

Do we ever really forget about the first true best friend we ever had?  I know I won't.
My first real best friend was Marcie Blake, and I would have pretty much would have given her my right arm if she asked me to.  The power of friendship has gotten me through the very worst times in my life, and of course illuminated the very best times in my life as well. There is nothing like sharing an experience with someone and deepening a bond through thick and thin. My friends have taught me so much about myself, and about life, and about what it means to be a true friend. Sometimes you just connect with someone right away, and other times a friendship develops over time.

I watch my daughter now, almost seven as she deepens her relationships to her peers, and when she gravitates toward one particular friend I am always so intrigued. What makes that bond so tight and so strong even at such a young age? It's amazing to me. Today I simply marveled at their antics, giggling fits, fights, makeups, and sadness when it was time to part. They were as thick as thieves, and it truly made for a special day to simply be around them as they joyously played with each other and genuinely and deeply enjoyed each others company, and oh...an ice cream cone never hurts. 

So which of the Earth Savers Gang characters would these fellows take after?  Well, a couple of them for sure, but I'll wager that Penelope Paper Saver and Zach Energy Saver would totally groove on this idea:

Meet Joseph Haskett, Peter Gill Case, and Joshua Brant who are working together as a new brand of architectural and urban development hero's to recycle several of the thousands of shipping containers that sit empty in ports around the country.  These shipping containers were once filled with all of the goods that our global economy thrives on but since the economy has slowed and thankfully the level of awareness rises these guys have taken a new look at the old, and with a little ingenuity conceived another life for the otherwise massive and useless steel boxes.

Read more about the Onlyville Box Office Project and join us at Earth Savers in giving them a huge nod for excellent innovation, green building smarts, and conscious lifestyle alternatives.

Sometimes some of my best thinking is done while driving. Yesterday NPR triggered a series of memories and emotions I was not expecting. When I was a little girl I remember waiting up for my dad to come home from work as I tried to sit patiently - the hum of the dishwasher making me feel sleepy...my footed pajama's whispering on linoleum floors, shadows dancing on flowered walls.

I would wait for him to walk through the door from a long day of surgery, and eat up the attention that the Dr. would finally direct my way.  It's been almost 20 years since he passed of prostate cancer, and I remember that wink and his smile like it was yesterday.  There were things about him that were all his own including his sense of humor, unwavering faith, can do attitude, and his passion for literature and music. The thing I remember most about my Dad was his hunger for intellectually challenging conversation. He loved digging in the trenches of discussions, and challenged me to think and respond accordingly. He was into the "principal" of things and held a high moral standard for himself, and those around him.

He never really treated me like a child, and I think exposed me to issues and problems well before I was actually able to wrap my head around them- but it did make me feel extremely important and boosted my confidence. He certainly taught me never to "hide" out with thoughts unspoken. He told me once that "life was for living, " and so it is.

My Dad's family were Irish Immigrants- and his parents settled in Wakefield MA on Albion Street, and proceeded to have eight children. My Dad was born in 1923. His father was a butcher, and I really no nothing more except that both of his parents died of cancer before he turned twenty. His sisters put him through college and medical school, and he would tell me stories about how he had been a poor student, and failed many classes in math and science before finally "applying himself" and making the marks that finally allowed him to graduate and go on to Georgetown Medical University where he studied Vascular Surgery. He was a pioneer in his field and went on to become Chief Vascular Surgeon at one of the largest hospitals in Detriot Michigan, and held that position for 30 years (I was still in high school when he retired.)

He had been drafted, been through wars, cared for people in WWII, and worked with sick and wounded people from the onset of his career. He had been there through the Detriot Riots, and used to tell me about the many gunshot wounds, and terrible stories of families who's children had needed a surgeon and who could not afford the care, and how he would peform the surgery's anyways. We would always have visits from people who would bring gifts to our home on the weekends to come visit the "Doc" many who said he saved their lives.

In addition to the fact that NPR was always a favored station in his car I heard a poem yesterday entitled "Music" and It was simply beautiful and flooded me with memories I had not even known I still had. I remember how after he retired my dad would drive me to school and we would listen to the classical station and how he would orchestrate the music with his finger in the air, and intermittently pat my knee. He affectionately called me "Moniker" and I had a deep affection for my Dad- we were pretty great together.

I learned yesterday as I was listening to that poem called "Music" that grief can still reach out of the quiet peaceful places of your heart and wash over your memory as you sit remembering the life of someone who deeply touches your soul. I learned that it can still wrack you years later- even when you never see it coming. Life I think, is funny like that. It makes you FEEL when you least expect it, and forces you to have a moment that seems way to big for you to manage, and then will throw you something uneventful and mundane in it's wake - like a flat tire.

When I had finished wiping my tears and cursing the pothole I calmly called AAA and waited until someone came to my assistance. The roadside spot where I had wept so deeply as I recalled such a remarkable piece of my life easily let me move onward as the open road lay before me. AAA finished it's fix and I put the car into drive.