Sustainable Living Tips by Lee Leffler

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.

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.

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…)