Build for Life

 

Great talk on design for health and the real world, where "away" is here. Cradle to Cradle on TED, presented by William McDonnough

Works much like the de-abstraction of the word "now" as in the context that now is all we really have and is where change must manifest. Therefore i try to inhabit the vision of that which i wish to manifest as often as possible. .

Framed by a quantum window, sending this TED talk forward makes for a meaningful now and that counts.

Create intentionally, now. 

".... reimagine conventions in design .....create safe objects of long-term value, eliminate waste, and recognize the interdependence of humans and nature as well as the right of each to co-exist. " 

As taken from YES magazine -William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

Clothes are for people

sweet video for ANANDA PASCUAL
http://vimeo.com/49713437

Cotton and Forced Labor

Another reason to question "our way of life" and the cost of maintaining a worn out, violent set of beliefs. Another case of the absurdity and wrong mindedness of "market rule" -forcing excess on one hand (update your home, your clothing and be a good consumer) and forced production on the other.

We can and must do better than this.

Levi's Dirty Tags

 

Is the Levi plan to Detox connected to this scandal?

"Levi Strauss may have pioneered the “Water and “Waste lines of denim, but the jean icon is far from a paragon of sustainability, according to a new report from Greenpeace. In its first investigation of textile manufacturers in Mexico, one of the largest producers of denim in the world, the environmental nonprofit discovered a wide range of hazardous chemicals in the wastewater of two of the nation’s biggest factories" (Ecouterre)

Now it's time for the next conversation. How many jeans does anyone need? How much water can we afford to contaminate? How much longer are we going to play this idiots game of russian roulette?  We can just stop.

This culture of violence against nature, other people against our own spiritual and emotional selves needs to be seen for the monster it is.  When Bradley Manning is tortured for letting the truth of nations speak for themselves -"we" are condoning violence. When a young man opens up and fires killing 28, most of them children, "we" want to find something to blame, "we" want to scapegoat the victims of our own creation.

The USA has aligned with monetary power to systemically rape and pillage around the world (Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Africa, USA, more) Headlines now proclaim the violence at home. Sandy, suicides, dead "food" and killing sprees - Karma?

This old story is beyond sad, beyond disgusting and ignorant. Lets get real. We can create a world of meaning and well being. We have the tools, the technology, the information we need to stop the pillager and focus on that which is our greater possibility.

Piles of material wealth just scream narcissism and that says ego on steroids aka personality development on hold. In this age of resource insanity it just says "wrong." We are no longer impressed, the cover is blown. (PS Hiding under a Foundation won't heal the heart it only pacifies the wounds)

We can be heroes, for more than one day,
Though nothing can drive them away We can beat them forever and ever, yes we can be heroes, (if only) just for one day.

Levis Detox

Graphic from WaterRIP the Flow

now until Jan 1 2013 at the Kerf International Gallery

 

Greenpeace met Levi's and Levis said yes to detoxifying their production lines.

This is a good step forwards not only as enevironmental issue but is a large plus for social and human health meausures.

There is no over there, no other, we are one planet. This is a sign of a maturing species, moviong from its all about me to wow, others matter!

"But rather than use hazardous chemicals in the first place, Levi's will look for non-hazardous alternatives. This is a bold move away from its previous position, which was focused on managing rather than eliminating hazardous chemicals."

Levi's shapes up to become a Detox leader

Feature story - December 13, 2012

Levi's shapes up to become a Detox leader.

Recycling Chemicals





 Baby cotton flannel pj topper, early 50s.

 I bought vintage for my son because i like the little prints, now i am grateful for exposing him to less toxins. Following the heart can have intersting rewards.

Lets play fool the public!

You are a business. You make chemicals. You are doing great; selling flame retardants to clothing and fabric manufacturers. You are raking in profits because back in the 50s you helped frame the stories about kids being burned because their pajamas caught on fire. You put this ad on TV and asked America to protect their kids.

It worked, America got up and voted to protect children from space heaters and cigarettes.  This problem was magnified to sell more chemicals to a public already hyped with ads like the one i found in a 1940s National Geographic "Living Better Through Chemistry." 

This emotional hype was needed because of the growth story. To grow you needed to sell more. How better to sell things than to make the public believe they needed them. You became a great storyteller.

To be fair, there is good chemistry but a lot of bad applications. Like synthetic vitamins are not a replacement for real food, household cleaners can harm your lungs, scents are full of endocrine disruptors..ai yi yi ...we have a mess on our hands.

So the we try to make amends and the we cleaned up this pj problem back in 1977 when Tris was banned from children's clothing. That was when it was found out to be an agent of cancer and perhaps not that great a fire retardant.

So now you start freaking out about lost sales and investors pulling out and your stock prices diving. This is bad ju ju, how will you live? How will your employees fare if you fail? CEO knows to get that bottom line straightened out or off with "the head." Loss of title, failure, spouse is alarmed, bills pile up- no this cannot happen.

So in survival mode the you pull together and find another way to sell Tris. You succeed by forming an alliance with cigarette companies who want to blame sofas and pillows for burns. You brilliantly change the story.

You succeed!!
& now :

85% of U.S. couches tested contained toxic or untested flame retardant chemicals.

• The newer the couch, the more likely it is to contain toxic chemicals.

• 41% of the couches contained cancer-causing chlorinated Tris, which was removed from children’s pajamas back in 1977!  (thank you Women's Voices for the Earth, WVE)

So when i say it is time to write the new stories...i mean it..enough of this nonsense.
(and i am working on it, please see the WaterRIP stories posted to FashionRIP blog)

The above story is not alone, our economic system enables, supports even protects this battle of the tall tales.

 I am embarassed by this lack of understanding, angry at this lack of foresight and insight, and amused that the enablers do not see that they too are being exposed to ever higher risk of disease. Are they suicidal?

Well anyway, now you know.

Safe Chemicals Act information is on the WVE site. Together we will change the stories.

Toxic Threads

 

graphics fro Toxic Threads PDF, download it from Greenpeace site and spread a story we need to know, thnx

 

The "Toxic Threads"report from Greenpeace is a downloadable pdf that you can get on their website.

This report has visual appeal and a lot of information . This is the stuff that can help us make those better choices and is an easy one to point out to others. (Some people just won't wade through data and peer reviewed reseach papers)

What we all contribute to the world comes in many forms. Good deeds and helping others makes us feel good, healthy living makes us feel good, putting it together makes good sense. The emotional, spiritual and physical well being of organisms are interrelated. This is whole systems thinking.

There is such a simple truth in life. Too bad our economic construct is built from thousands of years of false beliefs. We let it roll along, going along with the notion that  a few wealthy, privileged humans had the right to extract what they wanted from this planet. Really, isn't it time to move along. We are witnessing the effects of their delusions.


As we help each other learn, we help understand the alliances that really impact our well being. Relationships matter, between persons, animals, ecosystems, everything. Together we will overcome the ignorant patterns of the past.

Bonk: Creative Financing

photo courtesy of

http://qanmag.blogspot.com/2010/05/suited-and-booted.html?showComment=1352117046110#c1967121993766133110

Bonk is the name for an investment plan that Pants to Poverty is establishing as a means to expand it's operation . They say it will "impact"  farmers and factory workers and provide a return on the investment.
http://www.mswandas.co.uk/2012/10/09/bonk-of-pants-investing-in-ethical/

I am leery of the word " impact" being used rather than the word help or will stabilize, improve, add to the farmer's and worker's plus columns...something that explains the impact.

In fact this bonk thing seems just another crowdfunding raise the capital drive. The difference is the return on investment rather than a weeks worth of britches and the like. Interesting idea.

Financial regulations (bankers making their own rules) create the restrictions that keep just "anyone" from opening a bank. This "in crowd" thinking in the banking industry has created a monster and as it fails to reign it in, then bonks might be new generative banking entity that can help it return to reason.

Bonks might be forerunners of currency flow where systems support local economics that jive with quantum reality, connections, people over profit and a slew of other bennies that support the rainbow of human potentials, not just that bankers grey.

Beautiful Soul and the English Rose

This video is a delightful stroll in ethical, sustainable, beautiful garments designed by Beautiful Soul. Enjoy!!

Letter to "Coach"

 

 

Sacred Economics is a real re-think of resource distribution and relationships. Imagine the possibility!

Hello,
"Making Life Work in Tough Financial Times: Fully Understanding Abundance, Prosperity and Money",

"There Comes a Time When You Must
Realize That You Are the Only Source There Is

And so it bears repeating: NO one is going to give to you what you have not already given yourself."

Neale D Walsch

This set up in "law of attraction' is irksome, as it is a version of "blame the victim" I understand how much of this works, as i practice dancing with the universe. However, if the above doesn't include synchronistic practices that enable local empowerment, pooling resources and decentralizing power; than the "I've got mine" old skool nonsense is still being shoveled.

It is not untrue, it is just not fully true. If family,  society, the whole human species, all life is one, then limiting this to "isolated" self work isn't enough. We are all reflecting each others emotions, therefore helping everyone heal is as much a self interest as it is for an "others" interest.

Moving into new definitions of resources and abundance helps a person manifest that which is in discovery or aligned with one's "gift to the world" - however to not work to change the outward "manmade superimposition" that has been deemed the "real world' is socially, environmentally and emotionally unethical aka unhealthy. Check out "Catastroika" for a little manmade meltdown.

Why is it that this group of Shift , Attraction etc people fail to look into how the money is made and controlled because that is the pimp in the midst of the mess and no matter how we deck the system out; it still has, at its center a wrongminded win/lose construct designed like a game of musical chairs. (The Money Fix, Sacred Economics, Gar Alperovitz  )

You can't fix a problem using the same thinking that created said problem. -loose Einstein....so how do we face this question of built in inequity?

Seems the whole reason we are at this catalytic time is to act with the courage of our faith. To work on all issues at once (acknowledged yet sequentiated), allows one to see the interrelated connections and then understand what is helpful without causing greater harm elsewhere. And as we are emo reflective creatures, to rise in abundance while others do not,  is bad juju. These are two of the  concepts that help form the quantum visibility mesh, i "use" to see multidisciplinary patterns, connections, interrelations. This allows for a fractal , organic sensibility  that welcomes linear trajectories and chaos alike- words are poor messengers here, doing my best..

UPSIDE: We can now utilize all the world's brilliance towards that better good that enhances life, appreciates its creative diversity, and will move us beyond procreation into the amazing possibilites that will open as we evolve. 

DOWNSIDE and UPSIDE The dis-ease at the heart of the old premise, the old construct -must be recognized, dealt with and redesigned for better flow.

Will ignoring the dis-ease make it go away? Yes, some truth there, however accepting the benefits (monetary reward) of the dis-ease isn't ignoring it..or is it?

sincerely deborah j barnes

PS if one can siphon off the flow and recirculate the money into the reconstructive economic cycle...that makes sense.

GOTS News

 

 

Goodwill Outlet bin with Ice Queen materials in foreground.

 

"The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed through collaboration by leading standard setters with the aim to define world-wide recognised requirements that ensure organic status of textiles, from harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up to labelling in order to provide credible assurance to the consumer.

 

Since its introduction in 2006 the Global Organic Textile Standard has already demonstrated its practical feasibility. Supported by the growth in consumption of organic fibres and by the remarkable demand for unified processing criteria from the industry and retail sector it has gained universal recognition, enabling processors and manufacturers to supply their organic textiles with one certification accepted in all major markets. With the introduction of the logo and labelling system the GOTS has already visually entered not only the shelves of natural textile shops but also of the largest retailers and brand dealers. This is a milestone in consumer recognition and a strong acknowledgement of this reliable quality assurance concept."

 

As this organization doesn't mention the post consumer phase; i have my concerns.

 

When setting up production standards, the afterlife of textiles needs to be factored  into the equation; else it is in effect another, albeit greener, form of privatize the benefits and socialize the problems and risks.

 

Leaving the responsibility of demand (force fed by an industry that preys on our suseptible, egos, preaches "keeping up appearances" and how best to follow fast moving trends while hoisting the faux esteem building banners,  "you are worth it," "you desrve the best" ya-da, ya-da, is as old skool as the issues that created the problems this agenda is apparently trying to remedy. Without digging up the roots, the weed returns, sometimes bigger than ever.

 

As long as "not my department, job description, mission focus," are accepted cultural mantra these and other similar quaint phrases, will continue to limit our capacities to generate change. The construct defines the beliefs which define the outputs. Ta-da we did good, as defined and restricted by our "reality," therefore we can feel good and not take too big a risk. As this equates with personal development plateaus and that usually means being stuck in the drama we have yet to  understand, then it is time to learn and get over the hump.  We can do this!

 

Because really, isn't this just negligence of another form?  Overt production processes that endanger the planets hosting capacities are not "more evil"" than the post consumer waste damages. Full product lifecycle measures need reconciling with what we agree to be present or not in the new economic models.

 

Changing the whole of "business as usual" upsets some people, so i am guessing we aren't as heroic as we wish we were. (I know we wish for heroism because we tell those stories- a lot)

 

 Or do we take small bites because we have been conditioned to think and act small because (swallow hard, my dears) "Change Takes a Long Time."  (Yup, long enough for the "industry leaders" to gobble the pioneers and prophets and then resurrect them under their own logo or LOGOS)

 

 FYI: Recycling will not "fix" this problem. Without changing the means (banking system) and ways, of the standard western economic model, we will not outrun the monster.

 

FYI: Technology is nowhere nearly as efficient as the natural services. History tells us our "fixes," especially when generated by the need to profit, have resulted in horrid side effects. We have enough evidence to understand that if we pursue this "warfare" approach any longer, we all will lose. Even "winners" are losers here - think psychopathic karma (Social Intelligence by D. Goleman) 

 

It is time to open up and embrace our place in the whole of life. Embrace the quantum field of energy and realize how we, each of us, are truly unique and yet just a part of something bigger. We are a part of an amazing living universe..and more.

 

 

.

No Sweats Day

My friend Anna Herman (eco) posted this. Must do a "something more" to support ethical fashion on this day. Please visit her Anna Herman Fashion Design.
I don't know if this is directly related to the UK organization  I first connected with No Sweat, but is related. Clothes are a huge environmental issue.