And the Winner Is...

Here is the name my lovely assistant, Aaron, selected at 10 PM last night. So Brady email me or leave a comment and let me know what you'd like a painting of. 

Thanks for all the participation! I had a good time reading everyone's comments. There are several things that I want to do a better job at - like remembering our cloth bags when I go to the supermarket.  

By the way, I'm curious - if you had won, what would you have wanted a painting of?

Warms My Heart

When I was feeding Reuben the other night things got a little messy. Reuben noticed the spilled food on his tray and spent more than ten minutes "drawing" patterns with his fingers in the goop. He became so preoccupied that he stopped eating and Reuben loves eating. It warms my heart. 

Ouch.

So everyone and their dog has heard by now that "human lactation" is better and healthier than formula for infants. But what about the "human lactators"? (Does that term sound lame to anyone else?) 

A recent study "Is Breastfeeding Really Free: The Economic Consequences of Breastfeeding for Mothers" reveals that within a year, mothers who choose to breast feed are more likely to see a dramatic decline in their income, a decline that ten years later they are unlikely to recover from. 

SOOO Depressing! Hmm, which to choose: a sick baby or a sick pay check? Reuben comes first. But realistically Reuben depends on me for economic as well as physical well being. Both disadvantages are disadvantages to him.

I'm getting most of this off Slate's XX Factor which I enjoy quite a bit. It'll fill you in on all the juicy details. You can see the study here. 

Let Someone Else Do Your Clean Work

Disney's movie Earth came out on Wednesday. I am a fan of natural history films of all types -though my heart rests in the more aged variety- but this one looks pretty spectacular. It follows three families -humpback whale, polar bear and elephant. As a bonus, for every ticket you purchase opening week they will plant a tree. 

Threadless has a similar offer. Buy a "green" t-shirt and they will donate a dollar to the nature conservancy to plant a tree.

If you want to cut out the middle man you can buy yourself a dollar tree here. 

Happy Earth Day

I will draw the name Friday at 10 PM. 

Happy Earth Day!

Copper mining section between Ducktown and Copperhill], Tennessee. Fumes from smelting copper for sulfuric acid have destroyed all vegetation and eroded the land (LOC 1944)

I had a lot I wanted to write about today. I've been looking forward to Earth Day for weeks. But I find myself swamped with work to do. So here is five minutes of my Earth Day thoughts:

A couple of weeks ago I went to the local libraries book group. The book up for discussion was Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I had enjoyed the book and was very curious to see what others had to say about it. 

Aaron and I live in an area where million dollar condos are not unusual and all the attendees appeared to be from the local area and more than a little well off. I was consequently surprised that the most frequent complaint against the book was against the suggestion that people use their purchasing power to support more sustainable practices.

 Several people said, I liked the idea but doing this or buying that is so expensive/inconvenient.  These are people that I expect  have a much bigger budget than most Americans. And I thought if not you, than who? Who is going to start supporting sustainable practices? 

It was a good reminder that we will never have enough money to do the right thing. You have to decide what is right and then find a way to do it. How many of us Mormons really have enough money to pay a tithe? But it works because we have made the decision to be tithe payers. 

I believe the same thing about turning to Environmental practices. It is a moral decision because poor environmental practices, unsustainable living doesn't just hurt the big generalized "planet" It hurts people. It means chemicals in our drinking water, poison in our food, eroded land, deforestation, starvation. It means inequality. If you are rich you can escape the consequences and live where it is still pretty but if you are poor you live where it is dirty and unhealthy.

So there's my five minutes. In the next couple weeks I'll try to talk a little more about what Aaron Reuben and I are trying to do to live a little greener. We're not great at it but we've decided to try.

And if you made it to the end of this post, here's an offer that I've never tried before. In honor of Earth Day if you leave a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you get picked I will make you a 5x7 painting of the person or animal of your choice. Happy Earth Day!

A Day's Labor

I love the Library of Congress Photostream on Flikr. So many amazing images, like this one, "Day Laborers Picking Cotton Near Clarksdale Mississippi Delta - 1940." (1940!!) Can you believe how that cotton field stretches on FOREVER? And look at that little guy tagging along. It makes me appreciate how easy I have it.