I'm doing my first-ever guest post today, at We Only Do This Once, which is a super-inspiring blog about down-sizing your life so it contains minimal stuff and only your most passionate pursuits. Please meet me over there right now, where I'm discussing The Path to Fewer (and Better) Toys (Spoiler Alert: Talking Elmo does NOT make the cut.)
If you're visiting for the first time today, below are a few recent posts that might be right up your alley:
(c) 2013 by Joy Sussman/JoyfullyGreen.com. All rights reserved. Photo and text digitally fingerprinted and protected by MyFreeCopyright.com. Site licensed by Creative Commons.
As a mom, of course I'm proud of my children, but I love those little sparkling moments when I'm also genuinely surprised by their thoughtful words and actions. Yesterday, I experienced one of those moments, when my nine-year-old son said, rather out of the blue, "Memorial Day is not about the 50% off sales." While I'd like to think that our current non-consumerist mindset is really rubbing off on him, I have to give credit to one of his teachers, Bella Levkovich. Before school let out for the Memorial Day break, she discussed with the students the true meaning of Memorial Day and how people in some other countries literally come to a standstill for a few minutes. To pay tribute, to be mindful, to remember, to be thankful for all that we have today, to memorialize those who are no longer among us...
(c) 2013 by Joy Sussman/JoyfullyGreen.com. All rights reserved. Photo and text digitally fingerprinted and protected by MyFreeCopyright.com. Site licensed by Creative Commons.
Isn't it funny how much children love dandelions? They can spend a whole afternoon blowing the seeds off into the wind, making wishes and chasing after them. For many adults, though, dandelions are The Enemy of The Perfect Lawn, and that enemy must be stopped with weed-killers.
Here's the (really) bad news, though: In our efforts to have the greenest, weed-free lawns possible, we're also releasing poisonous chemicals into the air we breathe and the water we drink--chemicals that have already been banned in Canada and Europe because they can lead to various forms of cancer, birth defects, liver damage, kidney damage and more. There are very good reasons why you, your children, and your pets are not supposed to set foot on lawns with the little signs warning you they've been sprayed. The problem is that the signs warn you to stay off the lawn for 48 hours, but you're far from "in the clear" after that time period is up.
Years ago, I watched environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on TV, talking about how we all live in a closed system--how you can't just wash things down the drain and expect them to magically disappear. As Kennedy explained, if you spray chemicals on your lawn, the rain washes them into the gutters, which carries them to your local drinking water system, and guess what? Those poisons come right back to you when you turn on your tap. Every year, my town issues the required report from the EPA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on our drinking water, and I'm always shocked by the allowable percentages of chemicals in our tap water.
I recently interviewed Dr. Claire Gervais, Associate Professor at the Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Gervais co-founded the Healthy Lawn Team in Madison, a group of concerned citizens out to spread the word about the harmfulness of lawn chemicals. Said Dr. Gervais, "When I was pregnant with my second child, I couldn't help but notice the lawn care pesticide signs that were up at the family practice clinic, where I was getting my prenatal care. I had read about endocrine disruptors in Theo Colborn's book, Our Stolen Future, and was acutely aware of the contradiction between our health care organization's mission to do no harm and the business mission to attract patients by having a weed-free lawn."
When I asked Dr. Gervais what surprised her most in her research, she replied, "First, that cumulative exposures of very small amounts of herbicides over time increases the risk of cancers and other diseases, contradicting the theory that the dose makes the poison. Secondly, there is no regulation for mixtures of pesticides that have several herbicides mixed together, increasing the efficacy and toxicity by as much as 1000-fold!" Dr. Gervais recommends Environmental Health Perspectives and Beyond Pesticides for further reading on the web; at the latter I found this eye-opening fact: "Of the 30 most common lawn pesticides, 17 are detected in groundwater, 23 have the ability to leach into drinking water sources, 24 are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms vital to our ecosystem, 11 are toxic to bees, and 16 are toxic to birds."
Anthony Pascale, President of Natural Turf, a green lawn care company serving Northern New Jersey since 2001 (we've been customers for the past seven years) said, "So many people aren't aware that walking barefoot on a chemically-treated lawn means they're absorbing those toxins through their feet. Even if you wear shoes, those toxins are brought indoors and then are deposited in your carpet or rugs." Pascale told me that when breastfeeding mothers come into contact with these chemicals, the chemicals can end up in their breast milk. He also added, "Children are four to six times more likely to get leukemia after being overexposed to lawn chemicals (from Beyond Pesticides: Children and Pesticides Don't Mix). Every other country in the world has banned these chemicals. Even Kuwait banned them in 1984."
It's easy to prevent these toxins from entering your home: Stop spraying your lawn with them. Just google "safe lawn care" or "green lawn companies" in your area--you have more options than you might think. And by the way, if you need any proof that chemical-free lawn care works, that's our 100% organic lawn pictured below. Green and clean!
How do you keep your lawn and garden green? (No lawn? Please pass on the health and safety risks to your suburban friends!)
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Most of us will never have the opportunity to travel to Antarctica, although we are seeing more and more images of it with the urgent message of climate change. I was happy to make the acquaintance--across the blogosphere--of photographer Tatiana Botton (raised in Barcelona, now based in Los Angeles and Maui, with work that has appeared in Vogue and GQ, among other international publications), who traveled to Antarctica on a photographic expedition. Tatiana was kind enough to grant me an exclusive interview about her amazing experience there and to share some images with us here at Joyfully Green.
Tatiana, what was your personal inspiration for making the trip to Antarctica?
A few years back, my partner and I were watching the news and saw a boat with passengers being rescued off the coast of Antarctica by the National Geographic Expedition boat. Instead of being freaked out by what we saw, we were actually inspired to go there! Once we had decided to organize the trip, it is quite a long process, as you are planning a year in advance. This gave us plenty of time to plan, and for me to make this a photo expedition.
Can you tell me about the logisitcs of getting to and staying in Antarctica?
So we planned about a year in advance and decided to use the National Geographic Expedition boat. That selection was based on what the boat had to offer--not in amenities but in scientists on board. We departed out of Santiago de Chile and took a chartered flight to Ushuaia, Argentina. We were able to spend the day visiting Ushuaia prior to boarding. Once we boarded, the journey began. We had to cross the Drake Passage. This is the roughest sea in the world! It is a body of water located between the Southern tip of South America at Cape Horn and the South Shetland Island of Antarctica. The passage can take anywhere from 48 hours to over 72 hours, depending on if you get the "Drake Lake" or the "Drake Quake." Well, they said we got the "Drake Lake" on our way down there, but I can assure you that the next morning, the dining room was pretty empty! Everyone stayed inside and hoped for the best, with the help of Dramamine, ginger, or any other natural remedy you could find. Once we got to the Antarctic Peninsula, things were a lot calmer. We spent about 12 days total on the boat, including the passage there and back.
What was the temperature range while you were there, and what were you told to bring to be ready for it?
The temperatures were very frigid. National Geographic provides a list of required items to wear and bring for the trip, like special arctic boots, waterproof pants, under layers, and so on. My partner and I were some of the few to bring ski goggles--they came very much in handy for hanging out on the deck of the boat while moving and being hit by a full snow blizzard!
How close could you get to the penguins to photograph them?
We were able to get respectfully close to them. You do not want to disturb their habits and routine, but you can place yourself close enough to photograph them and allow them to come to you if they are interested. We were able to see a variety of different penguins in their natural habitat. Our trip was in the beginning of the season, so the snow around the penguins was still very white. We have been told that a later trip would not be as pleasant--there would be a lot of very fishy, smelly, red snow around them--as the penguins eat krill and they are not very clean! But our experience was fantastic. I have included here some of the penguins shots I took where I try to give the penguins some human personality.
You have an interesting photograph called "Taking Control" in which the penguins are marching up the hill where humans have set up some sort of operation. What business is happening at this location?
This is an old Argentinian abandoned base in Antarctica. As you can see in the image, the Argentinian Flag is on the left side of the image. This was very interesting to me, as we are talking about the Antarctic Peninsula, so there is actually soil under the ice! The coloring for this image is completely different than the usual Antarctica or blue iceberg images. I was very pleased to see Nature taking things back. It is a very warm image and the penguins feel right at home.
What sort of sounds do you hear in Antarctica? The way you have photographed the icebergs, it seems like it would be either eerily silent or a mysterious, chilling wind would be howling.
Yes, there is a sound while traveling through Antarctica. First when you are on the boat, there is for sure the sound of the wind and the large snowflakes falling. Then there is the sound of the ice when travelling through passages where the ice is still thick and not melted. Then, when you do go on land, usually there are penguins, so it can be quite noisy!
I noticed that for one of your gallery showings, you donated the proceeds to "non-profit nature organizations." Which nature organizations do you personally support and why?
I think it is important to get involved. Locally, I like to donate proceeds from sales to Heal the Bay. Cleaning our local ocean is very necessary and Heal the Bay also provides a good deal of ocean education to local schools. I am also active in the The Nature Conservancy in trying to protect our parks. Lastly, the World Wildlife Fund--I have been a supporter since childhood and I continue to donate to their efforts to protect endangered animals around the world.
Your icebergs reminded me of rare jewels. But sometimes they seemed like portraits of lonely, regal, elderly people with many wrinkles. I can see how you have a history with portrait photography! What is your own artistic impression of the icebergs?
This is an interesting commentary people have been doing with the icebergs. It has come to my attention and I now call them the "Portraits of Icebergs." Each one seems to have an identity and people are attracted to them depending on what they represent: contentment, danger, sexiness, old age. I was just trying to show what was in front of me and while processing the work--it took me more than 6 months--they just appeared in front of me. There is very little retouching in my work and there is absolutely no cropping. This is how I shot them. I was given the opportunity to show the work for the first time at a solo show in Santa Monica, California, and since then, there has been a lot of interest in them.
I loved what you said in your biography of unstable ice sculptures and moving sand dunes: "They are here now, always changing, like the continuous passage of time and our human influence on nature." Do you think you'll ever go back to these places (desert or polar regions) in the future to see how they have changed with time since you last saw them? For me, they are magical. This is what attracted me the most to the trip to Antarctica. I would go again and will never be able to shoot the same iceberg ever. This is a direct representation of the passage of time. Same thing with the sand dunes I shot in the Namibian Desert. These are two places in the world I need to go back to. Though the Drake Passage to get to Antarctica really makes be doubt I will do it again!
What's next for you to photograph? Any travel planned?
Well, I have a few "secret" projects planned! They are secret because I am not sure when I will be able to do them, but I can assure you there will be a bit more ice involved in them. I am looking for representation in New York, and in the meantime, I am busy promoting other artists as I have created an event: WOMEN MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND, where we showcase women artists based in Los Angeles with a fun, multi-art event twice a year. I am also about to open a small gallery in Paia, Maui, where I spend part of the year.
Tatiana, I just want to say that I've really enjoyed studying your mesmerizing photographs--they are so beautiful and evocative. Thank you for the privilege of interviewing you and sharing your work with the readers of Joyfully Green!
Please show your appreciation to Tatiana for giving her time so thoughtfully to this exclusive interview--kindly share her interview on Facebook and beyond. Also, I'd love to hear from readers with recommendations for other nature photographers and artists to interview for Joyfully Green.
To see more of Tatiana Botton's extraordinary work (available for purchase), please visit www.tatianabotton.com
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe to this blog via email or RSS reader (righthand column). Already subscribed? Please connect with me on Facebook and Twitter. To comment (and please do!): If you're a subscriber, click on the blue title at the top of the post to get to the main site. Then you will see the comments section at the end of the post. Thanks for reading Joyfully Green!
This morning--sunny outside but hazy in my brain, which even the mighty powers of caffeine could not clear up--I just could not write. It wasn't that I was at a loss for ideas; it was exactly the opposite. All kinds of ideas were begging for my attention, sort of like when each of your family members has something "very important" to tell you ("I just drew a mouse!"; "Evan threw up during class today!"; "I can't find the receipt for the underpants!"), but they're all within inches of your face and telling you at once.
Then, just by chance, I gazed out the window and saw the weeds in my garden. They were calling to me, too. So, out I went, Delilah (darling dog) trotting along behind me. I fetched my gardening gloves and a big bucket, and I began to yank out the weeds. Almost instantly, my mind began to clear, and I knew exactly what to write about today: Pulling up the weeds. Because when you're mentally stuck, sometimes the best therapy is to go outside and do something that's simultaneously productive and mindless.
Before long, my bucket was full. Delilah was blissed-out in the grass after running high-speed laps around the yard. I was happy to have aerated my brain. As we headed back inside together, we were refreshed and ready to face the day.
Have you ever found that gardening heals your state of mind? What other outdoor activities help you with "mental weeding"?
On principle alone, let me say that I have never watched (nor will I ever watch) "Jersey Shore" or "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." I like to think that I have a good sense of humor, but when it comes to New Jersey, I just can't join the pile-up. Even before Joe Piscopo made it a running joke years ago on SNL, New Jersey has been the punchline of countless jokes, and at the risk of sounding overly defensive, I'm here to tell you that after living here for nearly seven years, New Jersey's bad rap is largely undeserved.
I've spent more years of my life in Connecticut, New York (the long-time "enemy" of New Jersey), and Pennsylvania (like any other state, they all have their good and bad points), but as it looks like I'm here to stay, I'm going to defend my adopted home state. Every state has its negative stereotype, and yes, there may be slivers of truth in them. However, here are 10 things about New Jersey to celebrate:
1. Farms like Sun High Orchards. We live within 15 minutes of (at least) five really wonderful farms that spare us the generic blandness of supermarkets.
3. We get all four seasons distinctly, in pretty equal measure. Not too hot in spring, not too cold in fall, and the quiet beauty of snow when it's supposed to snow (for the most part).
6. Meryl Streep (Summit and Bernardsville), Anne Hathaway (Millburn), and Jack Nicholson (Neptune City and Spring Lake) all grew up here. Snooki did not.
7. Quaint towns with smart, un-Snooki-ish people, like Princeton, Mendham, and Chester.
8. Summertime means the very fattest blueberries, juiciest peaches, and super-sweet corn, grown at the local farms I mentioned in point #1.
9. Coming across deer, sheep, horses, goats, wild turkeys, pheasants, cows, llamas, and more wildlife than you can shake a stick at is a routine occurrence--as is going to a bustling town like Montclair or Morristown.
10. That's my back yard in the opening shot. Although I loved many things about my eleven years in New York City, having no yard and waking up to barred gates on my windows weren't two of them. So yes, I'm very grateful to have a beautiful, spacious yard with this view.
New Jersey pleasantly surprises me almost every day with its grace and beauty, and on that note, I just joined Pinterest last night, so I can continue to share images of "The Real New Jersey." To join me on Pinterest, click here. If the link doesn't work for you, you can search Pinterest for "JoyfullyGreener." (Joyfully Green was already taken...grrrr...) As a Pinterest newbie, I'm on a steep learning curve, but I hope to add my very favorite nature images there and I hope you'll join me.
Although my little Italian grandmother died decades ago when I was fourteen, I still remember her vividly: always scurrying about, cleaning every nook and cranny, with the scent of chlorine bleach wafting along behind her. (To this day, whenever I'm near a swimming pool, I think of her.) And whenever I find myself scrubbing away in my house (a lot lately, due to Spring Cleaning Fever), she comes to mind.
Since you're reading a green blog right now, you've probably guessed that I try to choose household cleaners that are the most environmentally responsible, but because I'm asthmatic, I also choose ones that are sensitive to people with respiratory issues (i.e., no bleach--sorry, Grandma). These ten products fit the bill:
1) Apple cider vinegar. Great for disinfecting stainless steel sinks and kids' thermoses (with those pesky straws and caps). Until recently, I used distilled white vinegar, but apple cider vinegar smells so much better. (My long-time friend Alex gave me the tip for soaking thermoses in a vinegar/water solution--thanks, A the K!)
2) Baking soda. Mix it with water for mildly abrasive cleaning (for example, on stovetops and teakettles that have built-up grease).
3) Microfiber cloths(or even regular facecloths, in a pinch) for dusting. No extra products needed--most of them just add waxy build-up to your furniture. The cloths are also absorbent and can scrub, so they can really cut down on your paper towel consumption.
4) Murphy's Oil Soap. For cleaning wooden kitchen tables, chairs, and other pieces of furniture that have food or grit on them, not just dust.
5) Seventh Generation Disinfecting Bathroom Cleaner (Lemongrass Citrus Scent). Spray it on, let it sit, wipe it away later. Doesn't smell like heavy chemicals--just fresh and clean.
8) Citrus Magic Veggie Wash. Not technically a house cleaner, but essential in our home for removing dirt, waxes, and pesticides from any produce. (Yes, we try to buy organic whenever possible.) Unlike other produce sprays, we can't taste it, and that's crucial.
9) Natural Choices Orange 100 Cleaner/Degreaser. Best counter cleaner ever--smells amazing and lasts for ages because you add just a splash of it to your own spray bottle filled with water.
10) ECOS Magnolia & Lily Laundry Detergent. This is expensive, so we don't buy it all the time, but it's my favorite scent for a laundry detergent and works great to freshen up clothes.
And one more of my favorite green cleaning methods:
Open all of the windows in the house regularly for cross-ventilation. How free and easy is that? No room sprays necessary, and now that it's spring, the fresh air is blossom-scented!
What earth-friendly cleaning products and methods do you usein your home? Please share in the comments section.
Three weekends ago, to officially kick off the spring cleaning season, we had a multi-house yard sale with two of our neighbors. Whenever friends hear that we had a yard sale, the first thing all of them invariably ask is, "Did you make a lot of money?" Frankly, they're missing the point. It wasn't a get-rich-quick scheme; it was a get-rid-of-the-clutter plan (and an environmentally responsible plan, instead of sending the stuff to a landfill, which is my big pet peeve). Guess what? The plan worked. (But yes, we made a good chunk of change, especially considering that we were selling things we didn't want, use, or need anymore.) Even better, we learned some valuable lessons:
Just let it go already. I'm all for clearing out and cleaning up, but letting go of some things was harder than others. In particular, I had to part with the crib both of my babies (now 9 and almost 6) had taken their turns sleeping in. I'm already at the point where I can pass on their baby clothes to Goodwill or a consignment shop without dissolving into tears (that's a future post), but the crib? That was HARD. In fact, even though nobody had slept in the crib for years, I'd been using it in our guestroom to store extra blankets, just so I wouldn't have to part with it. (See below--this is not what a crib is intended for.)
So, yes, I let it go (sniffle, sniff...). I will admit that the guestroom looks a lot more welcoming now, with a bistro table and a couple of chairs in place of the crib. (No, I didn't buy those items--they were hold-outs from one of my old apartments, just sitting in our basement until the yard sale weekend.)
"The Thing is not the Person." This lesson comes courtesy of the organizing genius Peter Walsh, from his old days on the TLC show "Clean Sweep." When he told his clients, "The Thing is NOT the Person", he meant "take a long, hard look at the sentimental thing you won't part with, and decide if you really need it to remind you of the person. Also, if you really, truly value something that reminds you of someone, its place is not in the attic, the basement, or the back of a closet. If you can't use it, can't frame or display it, or can't otherwise pay worthy tribute to it, let it go to somebody who actually will use it and appreciate it on a daily basis." Chances are pretty good that you have other, much better ways of remembering the person, such as photos, which brings me to the next point...
Take a picture of it. Especially in the digital age, a photo takes up virtually no space, so you can still gaze at the thing you got rid of and sigh dramatically at it.
Get the kids on-board. At first, our children were a bit skeptical about thinning out their toy collections, so we had to resort to offering them one special new toy each if they would part with all of the toys they'd outgrown (which was A LOT). However, they're at the stage now when they want to be viewed as "big kids", so getting rid of "baby stuff" turned out to be easier for them than for us. A couple of weeks before the sale, we gave them an empty box for yard sale items, and we were surprised at how quickly they filled it up.
One sticking point was that my daughter didn't want to part with her teddy bear toddler bed, because she "wanted to save it for her own kids someday." She was in tears about it, so I told her she could keep it. (I may be on a minimalism jag, but I do have a heart.) She soon realized, all on her own, that the bed was just gathering cobwebs in the basement (and she does NOT like spiders). It gave her comfort to think the bed would go to a good home with a child who would sleep in it again.
Never underestimate the power of "free"-dom. We had a whole table of stuff with a big "FREE" sign on it, and it was the most popular spot at the sale. If people weren't going to buy anything, at least they were still going to take something away with them. Good items for a "free" table: cheap party favors and prizes, plastic toys of poor quality, and items a bit too worn-out to sell. I even put out a few products that I used once and didn't like (hair products, household cleaners), and they disappeared in a flash.
Don't let anything back into the house. If somebody is interested in something, he or she might be the only one who will be interested in it. Strike a fair deal and let it go. Anything you can't sell, donate.
Enjoy the fringe benefits. Aside from earning a little cash and a lot of space, our whole family was outdoors for an entire weekend, enjoying fresh air and sunshine. All of the kids from each of the three participating households were running from yard to yard, thoroughly happy and engaged with each other. As for us parents, we enjoyed a few cold beers together afterwards and some "decompression therapy."
Relish the new space. I'm not talking about NASA here. Once you get rid of stuff, don't fill the space back up. Let it breathe. Our basement and garage have never been cleaner. Ever. It's mentally and physically liberating. And that leads me to my last point--something I'm always telling my children when they ask me, yet again, "Mommy, whyyyyyyyy do we need to clean up?"
"Clean House, Clear Mind." Enough said.
When you see a yard sale, do you stop to shop or keep on driving? Have you ever had a yard sale of your own? If so, what did you learn from it?
In our front yard, there's a pear tree that has battled through harsh Northeastern winters, a hurricane that uprooted mighty oaks like a giant pulling up dandelions, an October snowstorm that felled its leaf-laden branches, and even the freakish loss of one of its longest limbs on a perfectly windless summer day. From time to time, landscapers or a tree removal company will see us out in the yard and stop their truck to ask if we'd like them to take down the tree. We always answer, "No, thanks." This beleaguered tree is positively inspiring. Fragile and vulnerable, yet strong and resilient. Right now, it looks like a big, lopsided Valentine.
Because I lived for many years in Manhattan, from time to time, my path would cross with a movie star or world-famous model. I still remember briefly meeting Paulina Porizkova at a department store appearance when she was the spokesmodel for Estee Lauder, at the height of her career, and thinking she was like an alien from a distant planet--stunningly beautiful beyond description, in a way not quite real. As she was representing a major cosmetics company, of course she was in full make-up, but I'm sure she would have been just as beautiful, if not more so, without the "mask." I see photos of her now, at age 48, and find her beautiful in an entirely different way. Not alien, but of this earth.
It's funny how we say we like things to be "100% natural", but then we bristle if they're not "perfect." People often like their trees shaped like gigantic lollipops, their lawns a uniform green, and their gardens meticulously manicured. My dentist was complaining to me recently that too many of his patients want their teeth to look like perfect picket fences, and how he has to convince them to go for a more natural look. "Natural" comes from "nature", of course, and nature is not perfect--yet it's beautiful nonetheless.
At this very moment, I can hear the loud buzzing of industrial-strength saws mowing down other trees in the neighborhood--still cleaning up from a hurricane seven months ago--and I'm gazing out the window at our pear tree. It's standing tall in the sunlight, in full, glorious bloom.
Do you find yourself striving for perfection or are you able to embrace how things really are? Do you routinely look for beauty in the everyday world? What's the last beautiful, 100-percent natural thing you remember seeing? Please share!
Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing (righthand column). Or connect with me on Facebook and Twitter. To comment (and please do!): If you're a subscriber, click on the blue title at the top of the post to get to the main site. Then you will see the comments section at the end of the post. Thanks for reading Joyfully Green!
