As Rebecca Hains, a childrens media expert and Christian Science Monitor blogger, pointed out, it’s also a chance to reset often deeply engrained media habits.

As the father of a five-year-old Caillou and Berenstain Bears fan, I know just how engrained those habits can be. Daddy has to shower? How about a video?! Got to run Mom to the airport? Grab the iPad! Need a little more sleep? Let’s turn on a cartoon!

The harmful affects of too much screen time—childhood obesity, poor school performance and attention problems—are not a mystery to me. And I know the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under the age of two, and a maximum of two hours daily for preschool children.

That said, while we’ve largely observed those rules in our house, its easy to slip into bad habits.

Enter Screen Free Week, which my daughter’s elementary school is observing this week. Last weekend we broached the subject of our participation with her and she responded, with a bit of a scowl, “I don’t want to participate.”

But we persevered, she agreed, and it has been a revelation. The last several mornings she’s used her free time to draw cards (it turns out Teacher Appreciation Day was also this week) and work on her Lego creations. And in the evenings, we’ve spent more time outside hitting balls and inside building forts with blankets and cushions from the couch. Sure, these activities took more planning or time on our part, but they’ve been a lot of fun and really fulfilling, for her and us.

I won’t say that we’ll never turn the television on again. We will. But just a week without screen time has helped me understand how reflexively I acquiesce to my daughter’s requests for a quick Caillou fix. I feel better prepared now to guide her in a more creative direction, thanks in no small part to the resources offered on CCFC’s site, including this downloadable list of things to do instead of turning on the TV, from another blog. You can even print it and post it on the fridge!

How about you? Did your family observe Screen Free Week? Either way, we’d love to hear any additional ideas for screen free activities in the comments below!

I’m a total sucker for videos of people using their bodies to make shapes and words for aerial photography. Never gets old.

Check it out:

If you’re feeling particularly inspired, check out Resolutions Week and get involved with people all across the country who are getting together this summer to take a stand against the disastrous Citizens United decision.

Hat tip to Good Magazine for the post.

Despite a number of technological hurdles, I left feeling inspired. I came away bolstered by the great efforts being made across the country to ensure that how we invest our money works for us and not against us.

If you missed us online or are looking for ways to plug into bank accountability efforts and want to move your money, there are tons of great resources available online.

To get started:

Take a look at The New Bottom Line and their fabulous Move Our Money USA site.

Also, Green America has a great site that’s filled with resourced dedicated to breaking up with your mega bank which you can find here.

For those of you looking to change the way your place of worship invests their money, take a look at PICO’s “Our Money, Our Values” campaign.

And for the college campus folks, check out the Responsible Endowments Coalition.

]]> http://www.storyofstuff.org/2012/04/05/move-your-money-resources/feed/ 0 http://www.storyofstuff.org/2012/04/05/move-your-money-resources/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/storyofstuff/~3/ZhutByk2O8I/ http://www.storyofstuff.org/2012/04/03/4000-v-7000000000/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:59:57 +0000 C. M. Samala http://www.storyofstuff.org/?p=4452 If you think corporations have too much power in our democracy (or yours), we need you to keep reading.

Last March, our Project released The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, a look at the disastrous 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that permits corporations to spend unlimited funds to influence how Americans vote.

If you’ve been following this year’s U.S. Presidential race, you know what I mean by disastrous:  out of control fundraising by unaccountable Super PACs, dirty attack ads funded by shadowy corporate front groups and total combined spending on the Presidential and Congressional elections estimated to reach as much as 6 or 7 billion dollars.

That’s right, $7,000,000,000.

And believe you me, if you’re a corporation pumping millions into an election, you’re expecting more than a bumper sticker in return! (Maybe a pipeline permit?)

Over the past year, The Story of Citizens United v. FEC has attracted over 400,000 views. The petitions for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United have garnered hundreds of thousands of signers, and cities and states from coast to coast have expressed their support as well. That’s a great start, but we’ve got to reach far more people.

You can help today by supporting our partnership with LoudSauce to buy online ad space for a 30-second teaser for The Story of Citizens United v. FEC.

Watch the teaser here.

For only $2,000, we’ll be able to get this teaser in front of 200,000 potential viewers, with a specific focus on reaching young voters.

While $2,000 probably wouldn’t buy us a tax break or Ambassador appointment, it may reach enough of ‘We the People’ to keep our fight to overturn Citizens United on a roll.

So if you’ve got $5 or $20 or $100 to contribute, please help out.

Many thanks for all the things you do to build a more sustainable, just and fulfilling world.

Take action today and support World Water Day. Thanks for all you do!

Last week I spoke with five separate people who have been personally affected by cancer. Then last night I opened the National Geographic to unwind and learned that black rhinos are being poached to the point of extinction, mostly for their horns’ use in medicinal powders, including a “cure” for cancer.

Then there’s fracking in Appalachia, lifeless rivers in China, elections poisoned by dirty energy dollars, and as Annie said in a recent interview (LILIPOH, Winter 2012, pp. 15-20), “Many scientists say we have less than 10 years to take serious action on the climate if we want life to continue on this planet as we know it. “

Whoa.

Ever wonder if it might be better to just soak in a tub of denial and pretend it’s all going to be okay?

Mercy, I have. But I don’t think any of us really wants to marinate in stagnant denial. At our deepest cores we know the truth about our situation: What we and our ancestors have done and are doing in the name of progress has bumped up against the earth’s natural limits. If we continue in this manner, things look bleak.

But where do we go once we’ve admitted this inconvenient excruciating truth?

For me it always comes down to this: the choice. Do I choose Denial or Faith? Despair or Hope? Paralysis or Action? It’s my jumping-off place. And when I get to this place I cannot do it alone. I need a community. I need to hear from others who refuse to be beaten down by this harsh reality.

So I make my choice. I call up a good friend. I meditate, listening to these truths in my body. And it comes to me, “Oh, you are just thoughts, my monkey mind. You are not reality. Yes, there is terror, destruction, absolute darkness – but they coexist with serenity, love beyond understanding, miraculous healing, light without end.”

Then I remember:
Bless all beings around the world that are suffering. May all be filled with love, joy and peace. Help me let go of fear, grief, control – all negativity. Help me be of service, part of the solution. Show me opportunities today to work with others to increase impact. And remind me to ask for help when I fall.

We hear it every day from people who are concerned about what’s happening to the environment: “What can I do? I’m just one person!” What if you were just one 8-year-old boy? Cole Rasenberger didn’t let that stop him from taking on one of the world’s largest fast-food chains over its packaging. In this episode of The Good Stuff, Annie learns how Cole rallied other kids at his school to join him in challenging KFC. And Danna Smith of the Dogwood Alliance tells us about the threat to Southern coastal forests from wasteful fast-food packaging

_ Guests_
Cole Rasenberger
Danna Smith

_Learn More_
Cole on YouTube
Occupy KFC!
Dogwood Alliance’s KFC campaign

_Suggest a Story!_
Click here and fill out our form to suggest a story for The Good Stuff

_Download_
Episode 2 — One Cool Kid

For holidays tainted by commercialism, Valentine’s Day gives Christmas a run for the money – big money. The National Retail Federation estimates Americans will spend $17.6 billion on Valentine’s gifts this year, including $4.1 billion on jewelry, $1.8 billion on flowers and $1.5 billion on candy. But for consumers with a conscience, the very things Madison Avenue markets as expressions of love are some of the worst stuff you can buy.

Chocolate: A heart-shaped box of truffles may be a sweet dream for chocolate lovers, but it’s a nightmare for many workers. Most of the world’s cocoa beans come from plantations in Ghana and Ivory Coast, where a 2010 BBC investigation exposed the widespread use of child labor, human trafficking and even slavery to harvest cocoa.

Flowers: Most roses and other flowers sold in the United States are imported from Colombia, where the cut flower industry is also known to use child workers and forced labor. Because the flowers have to look perfect, they’re treated with immense amounts of toxic pesticides, which contributes to high rates of lung and nerve disease in a workforce dominated by women and children.

Jewelry: Child labor, forced labor and dangerous conditions are well-documented in the mining industry. Gold mining uses mercury and cyanide to separate the metal from ore, and leaves behind mountains of toxic waste – more than 20 tons of waste to make one gold ring. The film Blood Diamonds dramatized the role that diamond mining plays in fueling and funding brutal wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola and other African nations that have killed and displaced millions of people.

So should you boycott Valentine’s Day? I’m not. I’m all for showing my loved ones how much I care, on Valentine’s Day tomorrow and every day. A hand-crafted card, a heartfelt note, a home-cooked meal or (ahem) a special favor are all ways to express your love. And for a gift that keeps on giving you can get involved in efforts to change the way these destructive industries do business. Joining a campaign not only amplifies your voice but brings you together with others who share your concerns.

Last February, Change.org mounted a petition drive that persuaded 1-800-Flowers to add Fair Trade-certified bouquets to its collection and create a code of conduct that prohibits its suppliers from using forced and child labor. Now the Fairness in Flowers campaign is asking consumers to write other major florists urging them to ensure their flowers are not grown and processed with the use of exploited labor or child labor.

More than 100,000 consumers have joined the No Dirty Gold campaign, which works to get jewelers to promise to use only gold mined responsibly. To date, 80 leading jewelry retailers worldwide have signed the pledge. Global Witness, a human rights group that helped bring attention to the bloody truth about the diamond trade, recently pulled out of a flawed United Nations-backed program to certify conflict-free diamonds, but remains active in the campaign to reform the industry.

OK, here’s the toughest one to pass by (at least for me) — chocolate. Global Exchange is among the groupsworking with schools, churches and community groups to get leading chocolate companies to promise that their sweet treats don’t exploit or endanger workers on African cocoa plantations.

Real love doesn’t trash the planet or force children to work in dangerous mines or pesticide-drenched fields. There’s no reason that jewelry, chocolates and flowers have to take such a heavy toll. This Valentine’s Day, let’s show our love not only to our sweethearts, friends and family, but to the Earth and people around the world.

Your emails, blog and FB comments, often serve as sparkly, internet reminders that all across the globe there are tons of people hard at work to make this world more healthy, sustainable, and just. Yay!

Just yesterday this note came in from our new friend Alex who was traveling in Ayacucho, Peru:

…[I] was delighted to come upon the scene in the attached photo, a youth environmental group screening ‘la historia de las cosas’ [The Story of Stuff] in public (on the side of a church no less, along a very heavily used pedestrian lane).

Apparently, the name of the group hosting the event was Allpanchikrayku which is a Quechua word for “For Our Earth.” Pretty freakin’ cool, right?!

I certainly feel less daunted about trying to change the world when I know that I’m part of a big, bold, awesome, international community.

What are you doing “for our earth” these days? Tell us about it!

PS. If you’re hosting a screening of any of “The Story of…” movies be sure to put it on our Community Screenings Map! 

The past couple of days, all over the social media universe, I’ve seen a lot of posts expressing strong emotions towards what’s happening with Komen, Planned Parenthood and, of course, our favorite reoccurring character, money. While clicking around from link to link, I happened to come across this trailer for Pink Ribbons, Inc.

It’s timing is uncanny. It comes out tomorrow in Canada. Just out of curiosity, any of you fine folks in Canada in a position to get The Story of Cosmetics screened with it in theaters?

Either way, I though you’d all appreciate the heads up on Pink Ribbons, Inc., if you haven’t come across it already

If any of you end up watching the movie, would be curious to know what you thought. Please feel free to share your thoughts as comments below.