My son thinks human beings are human beams :)

One Step at a Time

I think it was when I became a mother that I realised the importance of making changes one at a time. Motherhood can seem so overwhelming. There is so much information out there, so many people who want to give you advice. Sometimes I felt completely snowed under and I didn't know how to dig myself out nor did I even feel like trying.

Some days I was thrilled to have been able to have a shower!

I eventually figured out that all of the things I was worried about - nutrition, sleep, education etc for my baby (and myself) couldn't be addressed all at once. I started being kinder to myself and congratulating myself with each new achievement no matter how small.

I feel that this is a life long necessity. I cannot make all of the changes that I want to today but I can make one, maybe even two. Or maybe today I won't change anything but I will enjoy my time with my family and then feel motivated again tomorrow to give some of that love back to the earth.

Say No to Plastic

Remember the 3 R's... Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? Well here is an excellent website and blog that will get you thinking about those R's again. 5 Gyres website 5 Gyres blog

I didn't know anything about Gyres. What are they? Well from Wiki -

A gyrein oceanography is any large system of rotating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis Effect; planetaryvorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction, which determine the circulation patterns from the wind curl (torque).^[1] The term gyre can be used to refer to any type ofvortex in the air or the sea, even one that is man-made, but it is most commonly used in oceanography, to refer to the major ocean systems.

The world's 5 Major Gyres are shown above.

The problem...Our problem:

The North Pacific sub-tropical gyre covers an area of the Pacific in which the water circulates clockwise in a slow spiral. Winds are light. The currents tend to force any floating material into the low energy central area of the gyre. There are few islands on which the floating material can beach. So it stays there in the gyre, in astounding quantities estimated at six kilos of plastic for every kilo of naturally occurring plankton. The equivalent of an area the size of Texas swirling slowly around like a clock. This gyre has also been dubbed “the Asian Trash Trail” the “Trash Vortex” or the “Eastern Garbage Patch”.Greenpeace

Check out this video

What can we do?

Reduce

(Use less plastic):

Use fabric shopping bags.

Remember to put those shopping bags in your car (took me some getting used to!).

Use paper or fabric to wrap sandwiches.

Use stainless steel lunch boxes.

Stainless steel water bottles.

Look for sauces, drinks etc, in glass bottles rather than plastic when at the supermarket.

Buy/make toys made from natural fibres, your children will love them! (I love searching the stores for eco-friendly toys, a bit of a challenge!)

Recycle!

Reuse!

What ideas do you have to reduce our reliance on plastic?

SKIN - show some

When I was a teenager I remember dressing quite frumpy. I was self conscious of my figure and didn't want to reveal too much skin or have clinging clothes. I think part of this was that I felt overweight (looking back in photos I was nowhere near fat! I want that figure now). Another part of it I believe was the constant messages at church about dressing modestly. We were taught that if we dressed immodestly then boys would not be able to control themselves!

"We are responsible for the effect our dress standards have on others. Anything that causes improper thoughts or sets a bad example before others is not modest. It is especially important that we teach young girls not to wear clothes that would encourage young men to have improper thoughts."

(Read more here and here Dress Code )

That is just the start of it though. I expect that some mormons would say that the above statement is quite tame and that they believe that it is a true statement. Well I have a lot of problems with the above statement and I will get to that. Before I do though, I think it is important to say that at lot more gets said in a classroom situation. I have been present in Young Women's lessons (12-18 year olds taught by older women) as a teenager and later as a teacher where much worse has been said. I have been told that my boyfriend would be unable to control himself sexually if I dressed inappropriately. Now this is a lot further than just 'causing' him to think 'bad' thoughts.

Later, when I was the teacher, I still had to update the lessons (with the help of a fantastic blog for responsible leaders who want to encourage respect between the sexes!) and then tackle the inappropriate comments from other teachers. I could not believe that the young women were still being taught that it was their responsibility to dress modestly to help the young men behave properly!!

As if that weren't enough one youth leader (in an adult mtg with no teenagers around thank God!!) said that Rhianna deserved what she got because she dressed and behaved like such a slut. OMG! and this is the kind of person that the church wants teaching its youth, aaaaaaah!

Mormons take note! Everyone is responsible for their own thoughts and actions. The church is behaving very irresponsibly by confusing young people about who is to blame for sexual and physical abuse. The church needs to look at this issue very seriously.

Even today I still feel uncomfortable about male attention. Even though I do not follow the church's restrictions on dress anymore I have found that I feel quite bare in a singlet (not to mention that blackbikini that I'm negotiating with!). I still cover up quite a bit and feel vulnerable when in male company. These are personal issues of course but I do know that the multitude of negative messages that I received about my sexuality throughout my childhood has played havoc with my mind.

Changes. They may be small but over time...

I want to live the best life that I can and I want to encourage harmony between humans and the earth that sustains us. I want to do all that I can to improve the health of the earth for the enjoyment of my children and their children...

Baby steps...

Today:

I will by fresh tomatoes instead of tinned.

I will buy organic potatoes.

Source a better brand of milk for my family.

Buy organic apples, or wash/peel them if organic is super expensive.

Why?

In my eco-friendly future:

Grow my own tomatoes.

Grow my own potatoes.

Have a cow man!

Ooh, an orchard.

By their fruit ye shall know them

Recently I have been thinking about why it is that I feel compelled to write about the mormon church. Well, at first I think I just needed to vent. Now that the dust is settling though I am beginning to see some glaring problems. In my opinion the church has harmed a lot of people since its inception in the 1830s.

I think about the women (and men) hurt by the pointless practice of polygamy. I think about the black men who were told that they were from a cursed blood line and hence could not hold the priesthood. I think about the GLBT community in California who had their rights stripped from them, thanks in part to the efforts of the mormon church. I think about all of these people and I see some real BIG problems with a church that claims to have the monopoly on truth and uses that belief to interfere in peoples lives.

I read this post by crazywomancreek at fMh recently. It is well worth a read, especially by anyone who still thinks that the mormon church is sweet and innocent.

During the time that I was struggling with my membership in the church I received a few interesting emails. Emails that encouraged me very strongly to follow a link and then vote to protect the laws that say marriage is between a man and woman only. The senders would have assumed that I would vote with them. I took great pleasure in following the links and voting the exact opposite!

A New Way

After leaving the Mormon church I must say that I felt more than a little bit lost as to all those big questions, you know... the existential crisis and all that. All of a sudden everything was called into question (including my own sanity). What does my marriage mean do me? Was it a mistake to stay out of the workforce while raising my children? Do people think that I am ridiculous? Was I in a bloody cult all this time? Am I really in a giant rat-race? Are environmentalists doomsayers? When I die am I just dead and that 's it?? Am I scared of death now? ..... and the questions go on.

Mentor said somewhere here on blackbikini that "...dealing with our mortality is one of the jobs of adulthood, and Christianity prevents people from ever mastering that task."

So the questions are a good thing then. I know that when I was teaching high school I was so happy when the students would ask questions because then I knew that they were learning (or at least open to learning). It made the day so much more interesting and I usually learned something myself from their inquisitiveness.

So where am I going with all of this?

I have heard somewhere that in order to remove something undesirable from your life that you need (or at least it helps) to replace it with something positive. Rockstar and I recently watched some Zeitgeist movies. Now, whilst I am wary of pretty much any movement or group in my fragile post cult condition; I was also very affected by what I saw. The Venus Project (check out this interesting blog for a more objective view) was talked about as a possible solution for harmonising human interests with the earths own health. There is certainly a lot to consider when looking at ideas such as these but I was motivated to make some changes of my own. I am going to use my other blog greenbikini to explore this new journey. So visit me there if you like...I would love to hear all of your suggestions, comments, ideas about the kinds of things you are doing or would like to do for our planet and our children.