Sustainable Living Tips by Lee Leffler

Want to live a green, sustainable lifestyle without breaking the bank? Live it up at this new website by my friend Leanne, Green on a Shoestring. Find resources and tips for eating, shopping, composting, DIY and more! Visit the site now.

Leanne is a student in the Sustainable Living Program at a university in the Mid-West. This website is part her life-long desire to help the environment and help people.

Do you want a clean, healthy home? Tired of your current cleaning system? Clean House, Clean Planet is a the bible on cleaning your home without toxic chemicals.

Published by Simon & Schuster, Clean House, Clean Planet has a rank in the 60K’s on Amazon.com.

I spoke with author Karen N. Logan, and quizzed her about Clorox Wipes vs. natural cleansers for the bathroom counter. She explained how using a spray bottle of scented vinegar, a simple baking soda paste and a wash cloth could get the counter shiny-clean, free of soap scum and dry, without leaving a gritty baking soda mess!

Now I don’t need disposable wipes that clog up landfills and could harm my family’s health.

I ordered this book, and I hope you will too.

Mark Your Calendar!

Join us for Iowa’s Fifth Annual Natural Living Expo on March 27-28, 2010. We are the first Iowa expo to showcase natural, healthy and green living. We are enthusiastic about Connecting the Community! If you are looking for a fun way to promote your business, sign up to be an exhibitor. Visit the Natural Living Expo website to sign up to exhibit. Feel free to call any of our sales team with questions: Laurie 515-276-6971 / Tizzy 515-681-6781 / Angela 515-205-5494.

The Natural Living Expo is actively seeking volunteers! Volunteers are a vital role in making the Natural Living Expo a fantastic and fun-filled event for everyone. We have many options for service:

• Flier and poster distribution beginning February 25, 2010.
• Set up on Friday, March 26, 2010 at the Polk County Convention Complex. Assist vendors in the unloading and set up of their booth.
• Expo weekend – we need greeters, ticket takers, vendor relations, stage crew, and more.

To sign up, please email tizzy@naturallivingexpo.org or call Tizzy at 515-681-6781.

The *cool* volunteer t-shirt will be available mid-March.

The Green Dragon is a 45 minute documentary including interviews with Chinese people about building sustainably in the world’s most populace country. “Before making this film,” says Max Perelman, American Environmental & Agricultural, Inc., “I had no idea of what an amazing journey I was embarking on. I had been told that over half the world’s construction takes place in this one country, but only when you see it do you believe it.”

The Green Dragon website includes a trailer and a more in-depth multi-media project. http://www.greendragonfilm.com/

Max Perelman will be speaking at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, IA on Monday, January 11 at 8 PM at the Argiro Student Center. Mr. Perelman is the president of American Environmental & Agricultural, Inc., an import/export and trade consulting firm specializing in environmental technologies and focused on trade between Asia and North America. He is also an advisor to the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy. Max speaks and reads Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. He has presented at a number of green building conferences including the USGBC’s Greenbuild 2007 in Chicago and WestCoastGreen 2008 in Silicon Valley.

Carbon Trading and Carbon Offsets could be the worst thing to happen to the planet, according to Annie Leonard’s (The Story of Stuff) new video. Watch it today.

Click this picture to see The Story of Cap & Trade

By Hope Leffler, Age 7

The polar bears the threatened by global warming. Their ice is melting. Their habitat is shrinking. They must hunt on thick ice, so they are going hungry. Sometimes, there is too much distance between the ice burgs, so they can drown.

We can help by reducing consumption – don’t buy things that you don’t really need, because “stuff” creates pollution that contributes to global warming. Also, don’t use too much energy, and use clean energy.

My mom, dad and I sold Certificates of Polar Protection at the Dharma Foundation Holiday Trade Fair on Saturday, December 5, 2009. It was at my school’s gymnasium. For a minimum $5 donation to Natural Resources Defense Council, people bought a little certificate. They can fill in the recipient’s name, and sign it, and give it as a gift. We wrapped them with red ribbon. (For more information about the polar bears, please go to www.savebiogems.org and find out how to get involved.)

I brought my 6 stuffed polar bears. The big polar bear is Ruth, my mom’s bear. (We put some of the bears under the table because people thought we were selling stuffed bears!)

We raised $130.87 for the Natural Resources Defense Council. They help the government make laws to protect the polar bears and reduce global climate change. We had a great day! And we raised awareness about the polar bears and global warming.

People feel better about bad stuff if they do something about it. We did something, and we helped others do something, too. We helped 30 people give certificates instead of gifts that the recipients might not really want or need. Reducing consumption helps with global warming.

The Lefflers and Dharma Foundation are not affiliated in any manner with the Natural Resources Defense Council or any of its programs, projects or websites.

My daughter and I will have a booth at the Holiday Trade Fair in Fairfield, Iowa on Saturday, with a totally sustainable gift: Polar Bear Donation Certificates. Customers can make a donation in their friend’s name and get a certificate to give to them. This booth is for the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the polar bears, whose habitat is greatly threatened by global warming. Did you know some are drowning because there is too much distance between icebergs? I hope you can come! Please tell your friends. If you cannot come, you can still make a donation and get a certificate online.

On Saturday December 5, the Dharma Foundation will hold a Holiday Trade Fair at the Field House on the MUM campus, next to MSAE, from 10-4. Admission is free. There will be local artisans, local companies and lots of incredible food!

By Lee Leffler

Lynne Twist

On Sunday, November 1, 2009, Lynne Twist lead a symposium in Fairfield, Iowa called ”Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream.”

My husband David and I joined at least 100 other caretakers of planet earth to experience how we can change our mindset to change – and save – the planet.

I read Lynne Twist’s book “The Soul of Money” about 8 months ago, recommended by one of my students in a computer class I taught. I discovered that while poverty is a trap, so is wealth! The real point was to not let money be a trap. Wow!

Lynne came to Fairfield in the summer and I saw her get an award and speak about the Pachamama Alliance. This is an alliance between a tribe in the rain forest of Ecuador and the western world.

The talk on Sunday was a longer version of this message:

To save the environment, the Western world needs to start making decisions less from the mind, and more from the heart.

Read more about these ideas on the Pachamama Alliance website.

I signed an agreement that said,” I am committed to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on this planet as the guiding principle of our times.”

You can participate, too. Visit the Awakening the Dreamer Website to get started.

I started by contacting fellow moms and the mayor of our city, to ask how we can pool our knowledge on running our households sustainably. Stay tuned for updates!

By Lee Leffler

Published in Maharishi University of Management’s The Review Vol. 25, #3, October 14, 2009

The Department of Communications and Media is adding faculty, a new lab, new equipment, and additional classes — a move that became necessary because of the long waiting lists for digital media classes in this popular new major. It launched two years ago with 12 students, and last year more than tripled to 37 students.

The major recently added two new faculty, Gabriel Romero and Susan McGuire Romero, experts in graphic design with a special interest in sustainable design. (more…)

By Michael Scheinbaum, M.S., Natural Health Practitioner

We think of the skin as an impervious outer layer that protects us. However, the pores in your skin are like a million tiny little mouths, absorbing lotions, shampoos, and soaps,1 which can promote or adversely affect your health.

The scalp and underarms absorb more readily than other areas of your skin. You can view your skin as the largest organ that you have and thus it can absorb more toxins than anywhere else in your body.

Did you know that if 70% of the ingredients are organic, personal care products can be labeled as such? So if 70% of the product is water and the rest of the ingredients are chemicals, you can see an organic label on the product. In the shower, your shampoo and conditioner are mixed (more…)