Green is Good--Last 6 Postings (newest-oldest)

• Now that you’ve cleaned out the garage, how will you get rid of all those piles?  Find out where to recycle specific items (batteries, paint, cardboard, etc.) by going to www.earth911.org.  Type in your zip code and the item and learn where to recycle it locally.
  

• If you didn't dump motor oil onto the ground or into the sewers or drains, what would you save besides ground- and water-pollution?  Each gallon of recycled oil can produce enough energy to watch 60 football games on TV or dry your hair 216 times.

• When taking the family dog on a walk, pick up his "gifts" with biodegradable poop bags.  To be even kinder to the environment, bring the bag home and flush the contents.

• This summer, plan family recreational activities that use renewable rather than non- renewable energy. Hike one of the trails around San Jose. Take a rowboat out on a nearby lake. Bike around to neighborhood garage sales. Play board games stretched out on your lawn.  Talk to each other.
  

• Those “How’s My Driving?” signs are there for a reason. Complain to trucking and cab companies whose vehicles spew black smoke. That obnoxious smoke usually means their vehicles are not burning fuel completely, thereby costing them money and making our air harder to breathe.
  

• Avoid aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and baggies. Use reusable containers with lids for sandwiches and leftovers. Glass ones are best, since plastic is made with oil, but at least you’ll be reusing those plastic ones again and again.

For additional ideas, go to the Book Previews page of this website and learn how to download a FREE copy of the e-book Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget.

Worth Considering--Last 6 Postings (newest-oldest)

• "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong—because someday you will have been all of these." -- George Washington Carver

• "Man can see his reflection in water only when he bends down close to it, and the heart of man, too, must lean down to the heart of his fellow; then it will see itself within his heart." -- Hannah Moore

• "May every soul that touches mine -- be it the slightest contact -- get there from some good; some little grace; one kindly thought; one aspiration yet unfelt; one bit of courage for the darkening sky; one gleam of faith to brave the thickening ills of life; one glimpse of brighter skies beyond the gathering mists -- to make this life worthwhile." -- George Eliot

• "Not until we can refuse to take without giving can we create a society in which the chief activity is the common good."  (Helen Keller )

• "There is a destiny that makes us brothers/No one goes his way alone;/All that we send into the lives of others/Comes back into our own."  (Dorothy Day)

• "We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. "  (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

What Does it Mean to Us?--Last 6 Postings (newest-oldest)

Cyber-bullying is a growing problem. It has led to suicide (e.g., Phoebe Prince, age 15, in Jan. of 2010) and a great deal of anguish among our youth. 80% of the girls and 53% of the boys surveyed for a recent study said they had been victims of cyber-bullies in high school.

Despite having the highest national income among major economically advanced countries, the child poverty rate in the United States (20.6%) is among the highest. Finland (4.2%), Sweden (4.0%), Austria (6.2%), and Denmark (2.7%), among others, have low child poverty rates.

[Source: Society at a Glance 2009. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.]

Our justice system focuses on punishment, therefore, on retribution. Opposite to that is Restorative Justice, commonly found in more traditional societies. This is the concept that a person who does wrong must try to restore the situation--lessen the effect of the harm he has done to others--starting with confronting what he has done, then by making amends to the victims, if possible, and to other people, families, and communities affected.

[From http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html]

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Nearly half of U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the recession could push those numbers higher, researchers say.  The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk.  --  S.J. Mercury 11/3/09

In 2008, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services survey on drug use revealed that

~50% of high school teenagers drink some alcohol.

~An estimated 12.4% of people aged 12 or older (meaning 30.9 million people) drove under the influence of alcohol at least once in the preceding year.

~33% of high school teens have ridden with a driver who has been drinking alcohol.

~Each day, three teens die from drinking and driving accidents in the U.S.

As for the “designated driver,” he’s chosen because he has had the least to drink rather than not drinking at all.  According to the Center for Disease Control, 30% of teenagers pick a driver who has already been drinking.

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Elder abuse is common in our society, affecting somewhere between one and two million people aged 65 or older.  The very people they count on to protect or care for them, or simply to respect them as people, are the ones who hurt, exploit, or neglect them.  In fact, according to the Santa Clara County Dept. of Mental Health, neglect is the most prevalent form of abuse suffered by older adults.