Conscious Capitalism

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Elizabeth

Two things wake me up on a workday morning: a good cup of coffee and MSNBC’s Morning Joe news program. Today was no exception. I had never heard the term “conscious capitalism” before this morning’s show. The hosts interviewed Whole Foods Market’s co-CEO John Mackey, who was there to promote a book he co-authored: Conscious Capitalism. The segment piqued my interest.

What is conscious capitalism? Simply put, it means that corporations must have a higher purpose than just making money. Corporations that have embraced conscious capitalism pursue more transcendent goals like responsibility to the community and the environment and employee and customer satisfaction. Conscious capitalism includes developing relationships with vendors that follow sustainable practices and severing ties with those that do not. A good example is that of a food chain that refuses to transact business with a company that sells seafood sourced from over fished waterways. Or how about banks that lend collateral-free funds to poor women so they can start their own businesses and achieve financial independence?

I will think of these companies the next time I hear a news report about record corporate profits and obscene bonus payouts. To paraphrase a line from the 1980s movie Wall Street: How many yachts can a CEO water ski behind? Must it always have to be about the money?

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Have We Forgotten our Relationship with Nature?

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Elizabeth

Traditional societies have long harmonized their lives with the patterns and processes of Nature, building a spiritual relationship with the Earth that acknowledges the interconnectedness of all things. Nothing exists in a vacuum, after all.

We in the commercialized world have lost touch with this relationship. Does it feel right? Don’t we try to fill that disconnect with our inner selves with material goods that, in the end, give nothing back? With a nod to the 80s movie Wall Street, how many yachts can we water ski behind?

Look at what happened to the Plains during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Greed that arose out of inflated wheat prices caused excess cultivation, destroying the soil and threatening to turn the nation’s bread basket into another Sahara Desert. The Earth was exhausted by the get rich quick fever. I’m certainly no expert in agriculture, but I do wonder whether the crisis would have been so severe if fewer people had jumped on the wheat bandwagon and not cultivated en masse and so heavily.

I sincerely hope that we can learn to slow down and reconnect with Nature. I’d like to believe that we’ll feel more fulfilled and do less harm to the Earth if we respect her and her gifts and structure our lives around a more measured consumption of her resources.

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Thanksgiving

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Elizabeth

My life is full of blessings, and not of the material kind. Mine are of the kind that truly matter: love, friendship, family (two- and four-legged members), a roof over my head, the sun in the sky … These are worth more to me than a Lexus in the driveway ever could.

My darling husband, the love of my life, is the angel on my shoulder. Who knows how my life would have unfolded if not for him? He makes me want to be a better person, and I am eternally grateful to him for that, in this life and the next. Don’t know what I’d do without him.

My kids are my greatest accomplishment in this life. My pride in them is unwavering, as is my amusement at their foibles so lovingly endured by their wonderful spouses. Sometimes, when the light catches their profiles just so, or I see their heads locked in conversation, I catch a glimpse of their two- and three-year-old selves once more.

My three adorable granddaughters do their best to keep me active, even on my worst days. Their smiles and hugs chase the aches away as soon as they run through the door. May I live long enough to dance at each of their weddings. They are treasures.

I cannot neglect to mention my extended Irish family of sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, aunts, cousins, with love in their hearts and arms wide open to welcome this Scottish girl. I had the privilege of meeting the New York/Long Island branch of the family this summer. The afterglow lasted for weeks.

And friends. My dear, dear friends there to share a laugh and a hug. What would I do without them? My days would be empty indeed if they were no longer at the other end of an e-mail or a phone call. My four-legged friends never fail to give me a cuddle when I need it most. They brighten my life just by being in it.

I’m glad, so glad, for my life and hope to do my best to show my loved ones just how important they are to me, not just tomorrow but every day.

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Walkability

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Elizabeth

I’ve been reading the chapter on walkable communities in HRH The Prince of Wales’ book Harmony. In it, he talks about the town of Poundbury in SW England, which planners designed in a spiral pattern of individual mixed-use mini villages containing schools, shops, and private homes within walking distance of each other. Automobiles are almost unnecessary. In fact, the thoroughfares were constructed more as wide walking paths than roadways. Cars are allowed but don’t rule the streets.

Personally, I’d love to be able to get to the places I need to get to by foot, if for nothing else than the exercise and social contact with my neighbors. I’ve noticed more people in my neighborhood walking their dogs on the street and in the park. My own dogs, usually so suspicious of everyone they encounter on our walks, have fallen in love with a woman who lives a few doors down from me. How great is that? I didn’t think they liked anybody! Walking brings people together. While walking through New York City’s Upper West Side this past July, my husband and I witnessed two people walking their dogs toward each other from opposite directions. It was clear from the few snippets of conversation that I overheard that the dogs and people had never met before. The dogs, in a way that only dogs can, introduced themselves and became instant friends. Their people struck up a conversation, and who knows? At that moment a human friendship may have been born. You can’t do that while driving in your car to the grocery store.

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I Remember

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Elizabeth

 

the beautiful fall morning as I rode the bus to work.

the ordinariness of the day.

the disbelief and horror at the news. How could that be? Planes crashing into the World Trade Center? the Pentagon? One hijacked plane still airborne? Where was it going?

the numbness and sense of otherworld-ness at the sight of those mighty towers falling.

the need to be home, with my family, safe and sound.

the horror, always the horror.

the horror still.

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Please Don’t Hurt the Elephants

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Elizabeth

I’ve been researching elephant tourism for a client for the past few months. What an eye opening experience! I never knew how brutally elephants are treated in Southeast Asia. Mothers and babies are routinely separated so their owners can sell the babies to purveyors of elephant-back tourism, i.e., individuals who profit from forcing their elephants to spend long, hot days on the streets giving rides (which severely injure an elephant’s spine) or performing tricks for money, or those who turn their farms into so-called sanctuaries that promote elephant-back safaris, elephant painting, and elephant performances. The methods that elephant owners employ to train their animals are harsh and inhumane. I won’t go into detail.

Thankfully, though, some ethical elephant lovers have stepped up to draw attention to these practices by opening sanctuaries that do exactly what unethical elephant owners do not. They offer human/elephant contact in a wild environment in which the elephants are allowed plenty of space to roam free and interact with each other naturally.

One such place, Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary, was established in Thailand by Katherine Conner in memory of Boon Lott, a baby elephant that Katherine nursed back to health from calcium deficiency and other weaknesses attributed to his premature birth. She went so far as to launch a successful international campaign to keep mother and baby together when Boon Lott’s owner decided to sell him to an elephant tourism company. The little guy had touched her heart that deeply. Katherine’s sanctuary promotes survival and growth of the elephant species through application of her three goals: protection, expansion, and education. She also provides financial support to local elephant owners to prevent them from selling their animals to the tourist industry.

The world needs more people willing to fight for ethical elephant tourism free from back-breaking trekking and performance activities that only serve to demean these gentle giants.

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Summer’s Waning …

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Elizabeth

During the middle of last week, I noticed a subtle shift in the weather. Not much, mind you, but it felt as though someone had flipped a switch. There was something in the air … The lowering angle of the sun keeps it from warming my pool with as much intensity as it did even two weeks ago. That water is chilly! Nighttime temperatures flirt with the 50s. One doesn’t have to look at the calendar to sense that fall is just around the corner. Where did this summer go? Wasn’t it just last week that we celebrated the Fourth of July or the joy in renewing connections with family and friends in Manhattan and on Long Island? What a great trip that was! Was it really already a month ago?

It won’t be long before we close the pool for another season and settle indoors to watch football while the outside world prepares for winter. Indications are that we won’t escape harsh conditions this time around. Mother Nature spoiled us last year. But, fall (especially fall!) in Western New York State is simply spectacular, and I look forward to its vibrant colors, pumpkin harvests, and the scent of apple cider and fresh-from-the-oven donuts beckoning me to the local farm market, all interwoven with the family birthdays and holidays that come with this time of year.

It’s wonderful!

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I Love New York

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Elizabeth

Until this week, I had not been back to New York City since 1990. That’s pre-Law & Order, believe it or not. I can barely remember a time without Jerry Orbach or Sam Waterston gracing my TV screen. My husband and I were in Manhattan to see old friends before heading out to Long Island for a family reunion. I truthfully did not know what to expect.

Here’s what I found: a vibrant, exciting city full of voices chattering in dozens of different languages, friendly natives willing to give up a subway seat for a miserably hot visitor (me), clean streets, and beautiful parks. I felt safe! You don’t go far in NYC without seeing evidence of the new reality, i.e., Coast Guard gunboats accompanying the Staten Island Ferry back and forth between Manhattan and Staten Island, NYPD officers with automatic weapons stationed across the street from the 911 Memorial, and reminders everywhere that that piece of unclaimed baggage could be a bomb. Be alert!

I had forgotten how much fun subways are. I’ve always loved trains anyway and could get used to that form of travel. Everyone either walks or uses public transportation to reach their destinations. Who’d want to drive in Manhattan anyway? It’s nuts.

My two goals for this trip were met: visits to both Ground Zero and Strawberry Fields. The atmosphere at the 911 Memorial was solemn, respectful, and immensely peaceful. I got the sense that the victims themselves are at peace. That is truly sacred ground.  Strawberry Fields, on the other hand, was joyous. Someone left a glass vase of red roses on the Imagine disc. That gesture touched my heart. Two vastly different memorials erected in honor of two vastly different, yet emotionally wrenching, events.

What an amazing city. It’s on the upswing, you can see the evidence wherever you look. I’ve fallen back in love with Manhattan. Didn’t expect that.

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Summer Memories

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Elizabeth

Today is the type of summer day that I long for during our cold and snowy Western New York winters (the winter just past notwithstanding): hot and humid and a strong breeze with the promise of heat-generated thunderstorms in the afternoon. I am reminded of the days I spent spread out on a beach towel on the deck of my parents’ pool, covered in baby oil, listening to the latest hits on my transistor radio. The DJ announced “Turn Over and Tan Time” every 15 minutes. At the age of 14, I had no cares in the world beyond fulfilling my summer reading list, so often I’d bring my required reading outside with me to while away the afternoon.

Decades and one brush with skin cancer later, I still remember those days with a certain measure of nostalgia. There’s something magical about believing in your own invincibility and the possibility that all your days could be so tranquil.

Life rushes in all too soon, so today and this long holiday weekend, I will do my best to remember and relive, for a couple of short hours, the pleasure of having nothing to do but sit by the pool and read.

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Portland Protests Coal Exports

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Elizabeth

I rarely gave coal a thought or regarded it as anything more than a resource that miners extract from the mountains of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. With no miners or power plant operators in my family tree, coal was merely an abstract something that powered the electricity that kept my lights burning and my furnace and appliances running. However, yesterday’s protest against U.S. coal exports to China, held in Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon, has caught my attention.

Please click on this link to an OregonLive.com article about the May 7, 2012 rally. I’m going to research the dangers of coal pollution, and I urge you to do the same.  We shouldn’t create more opportunities for contamination of our precious environment.  

 

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