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Archives - January,
2008
New Magazine Baby is Born – January
29, 2008
The last few weeks
have been hectic around the Life Media office, as we added the production
of a third magazine into our schedules and systems. Finally, late Sunday
evening, we sent off the electronic files to the printer for all
three magazines. That includes the first issue of our new Natural Child
magazine. We are very excited about this new bimonthly magazine because
it has been a gleam in Rolf’s
and my eyes for many years...almost since Natural Life’s
launch in 1976. You can have a look at our new baby –
a low-resolution PDF preview is available for viewing at Natural
Child magazine’s website. We should have
copies in our hands by the end of next week. Then the mailing process
begins, and that takes a couple more weeks. Magazine publishing is a lot
of hurry up, then wait!
Please
feel free to share the link with anyone you think would be interested in
this magazine. The interest has been huge so far and we anticipate the
first issue will sell out.
Posted: 2008/01/29 3:10 PM
Finding Our
Tribe – January 16, 2008
I’ve never been comfortable identifying myself as a “homeschooler”
or an “unschooler”…or, for that matter, as a “life learner,”
although I’ve fit the definitions for over three decades and am a bona fide advocate for all of the above.
It’s just that I have a
hard enough time being “the person who’s learning to be human”!
I’ve also never been comfortable with other categories of
self-description like “environmentalist” or “feminist,” although
I probably fit into both of those too…in some ways. And that’s the
problem: Part of being human is having an individual identity and not
slotting oneself into various categories ending in “ist” or “er”
or “ism” and filled with millions of other people. In fact, all that
wearisome slicing, dicing, slotting and labeling is one of the aspects
of school that I’ve ranted against for all these years!
Since we need descriptive words
in order to converse among ourselves and to communicate about our lives
with others, I’ve at least tried to find terminology that is, indeed,
descriptive (such as “life learning”) and positive while not
limiting what is, after all, a very fluid approach to living, learning
and parenting. Still, discussions about the definitions of the myriad
categories – and how one fits into them or not – always leave me
feeling a bit uncomfortable. There will be one in the March/April issue of
Life Learning magazine, which I’m just finalizing: In her “Talking
About Life Learning” conversation with Sandra Rakovac, New Zealand
mother Lishelle de Young talks about the difference between “radical
unschooling” and “unschooling.” When I took this topic of language
to our Reader Advisory Panel, someone pointed out that such terms are
used more or less in various countries, and perhaps even have slightly
different meanings in different places. Aarrgghh.
But as I’ve thought more about
this, I’ve realized that describing ourselves and our families’
lives through the use of such words is not about labeling, one-up-manship
or peer group pressure. It’s about finding our tribe. It’s about
identifying with like-minded people in a world of other-minded ones. In
addition to our strong need to establish a unique persona, we human
beings also have an equally strong desire to be accepted, to be among
people who understand our choices, who accept us as we are, without
reservation, and who support us on our journey.
The need to identify and to be
identified by a supportive community is especially intense when our
journey follows a lightly trodden path, when we are taking risks. The
need for nourishment from such a group of like-minded people is probably
also stronger when we’re living in nuclear families, isolated at home
with very young children or feeling the lack of the status that society
unfortunately gives to those who go to jobs.
The Internet has helped many
people find their tribes. And I’m pleased to know (because so many of
you take the time to tell me) that Life Learning magazine has, over the
last five years, become such a community. It no longer matters to me how
you label it.
Posted: 2008/01/16 8:20 PM
Bleached Green – January 15, 2008
Yesterday I received a press release from the Sierra Club announcing a
new line of “natural” cleaning products produced by Clorox, the
chlorine bleach manufacturer. (Although you’d never know it to hear
Clorox executives talk, chlorine is a highly poisonous gas used in wars
and a devastatingly toxic pollutant that is implicated in a bunch of
nasty environmental problems like depletion of the ozone layer, global
warming and acid rain.)
Now, I have been wondering if this environmentally
unfriendly company was trying to wrap itself in a stylish cloak of green
ever since it bought out uber-eco body care manufacturer Burt’s Bees a
few months ago. And, sure enough, it’s just come out with a line of
“natural cleaning products” called Green Works. But why is Sierra
Club – which has, in the past, joined lawsuits seeking to clean up
chlorine – telling me about Clorox’s new product line?
“The Green Works line will make it easier and
more affordable for Americans to buy eco-friendly products,” according
to Carl Pope, the Sierra Club’s Executive Director. “The Sierra Club
is excited to help influence the buying behavior of millions of
Americans [it will be available in Canada too] who want to do the right thing by purchasing safer products. People
are out there looking for solutions, and we’re eager to give a giant
kick-start to the market for green, affordable household cleaning
products.”
Up until now, says the Sierra Club, “a big
stumbling block for families who want to live a greener lifestyle has
been the high cost of ‘green’ products and the fact that they are
not always easy to find.” Well, I’ve been cleaning quite effectively
with lemon juice, baking soda and vinegar for 35 years and have found
them to be neither expensive nor difficult to find.
According to Sierra Club/Clorox, Green Works is
“99 percent natural and made from ingredients derived from coconuts
and lemon oil, and contains no phosphorus or bleach. The products are
formulated to be biodegradable, non-allergenic, packaged in bottles that
can be recycled [which is no different than any other cleaning product]
and not tested on animals.” There is no word as to whether or not
Clorox is going to stop animal testing its bleach and other toxic
cleaning products, or stop making bleach or remove toxic ingredients
from its other products. But to its credit, the company uses the
relative term “environmentally-preferable” in addition to the
over-used and unregulated “natural” (chlorine is “natural”) and
it does list its ingredients (including the one percent non-natural
ones) on its labels.
I’m happy that one of the major manufacturers is
seriously recognizing the growing market for responsible products (sales
of natural cleaning products rose by 23 percent between 2006 and 2007,
according to SPINS, a market research and consulting firm for the
natural products industry).…and I am even willing to consider the
possibility that this could be an indication of a permanently raised
consciousness on the part of Clorox (although I see no evidence yet).
But – aside from Clorox’s other non-green products, its current
motives and whether or not Green Works is a quality product – I’m
very unhappy that a major environmental organization has compromised its
independence and integrity by entering into this branding partnership:
In exchange for Sierra Club’s endorsement (name and logo on the
label!), Clorox will be providing “support for Sierra Club’s efforts
to preserve and protect the environment,” which translates into an
undisclosed fee based on sales. Now, Sierra Club has always been
pragmatic, encouraging companies that do the right thing, like when they
issued a press release in 2005 congratulating Ford for creating a hybrid
SUV. But unless they’re setting themselves up as a certification
agency with clearly published standards (and I see no evidence of that
either), accepting royalties on sales in exchange for their logo on the
label is selling out big time in the name of greenwash. As a journalist,
I will now be wondering what’s behind every new Sierra Club press
release that I receive. Or maybe I should tell them to stop bothering to
clog up my in box.
Posted: 2008/01/15 11:36 AM
Stuck Going to School – January 14, 2008
A number of people have sent me links to a short news item from last
week about a ten-year-old Mexican boy who tried to prolong his Christmas
break from school by using industrial-strength super glue to attach his
hand to the headboard of his bed. Paramedics and police had to be called
to unstick him. “I thought if I was glued to the bed, they couldn’t
make me go to school,” the boy, Diego, told the Agence France-Press (AFP)
news service, which carried the story worldwide. “I didn’t want to
go; the holidays were so much fun.” His mother, on the other hand, was
quoted as saying, “I don’t know why this happened. He is a very good
boy.”
Most media outlets ran the item as a cute little
story about boys being boys and how silly of this boy to think he
ultimately wouldn’t have to attend school. (Most versions of the piece
ended with him going a few hours late.) But there are a number of
homeschoolers in Mexico
and the boy doesn’t have to go to school. Too bad that he had to go to
such extremes to stay home. Too bad he was ultimately forced to go if he
didn’t want to go. Too bad the media didn’t look into the real
reason why he didn’t want to go. Too bad most people are able to see
just one way – and an antiquated, coercive, largely ineffective one at
that – for kids to learn.
Posted: 2008/01/14 4:47 PM
The
Harm of Not Trusting Children – January 6,
2008
You may have heard the term “helicopter parents.” It refers to those
who hover over their children, worried to an absurd degree about their
welfare as well as making their decisions. These parents are supposedly
motivated by fear that something will harm their kids; it’s a nasty,
violent, competitive world, after all. So they coddle their children,
not letting them play outside without supervision; lobbying for the
removal of playground equipment they feel is unsafe; trying to prevent
every lurking germ known to humankind from entering their homes;
swaddling every body part possible in armor while the kids learn to walk
or ride their tricycles; requiring constant communication from the kids
via cellphone (which has been called the world’s longest umbilical
cord) and overseeing – and often participating in – relationships
and social events. These parents are also involved to an inordinate
degree in their offspring’s high school course choices and career and
post secondary education decisions – this at an age and stage when
said offspring should be able to make their own decisions, seeking
appropriate advice and opinions when desired.
I don’t like war metaphors, but in a perverse
sort of way, I can accept the newly coined term “Black Hawks,” after
the military helicopter of the same name, which is used to describe
those who cross the line to unethical behavior such as writing their
children’s college admission essays. Yes, I’m told it happens. These
are parents do more than hover at a safe distance; they actively
intervene. Now, according to
an article in the Guardian newspaper, helicopter parents are moving
beyond tricycles and college exams to participating in the job market on
behalf of their children. They write the resumes, go along on
interviews, fight with managers about their child’s performance
evaluations and try to participate in salary negotiations.
That’s not caring; it’s meddling in someone
else’s life and taking away their freedom of person! And it does a huge disservice to young people because it
delays maturity, lessens self-esteem, undermines self-confidence and
prevents the development of problem-solving skills. Frank Furedi,
professor of sociology at the University of Kent in the UK
views the rise of the helicopter parent as an indicator of an
infantilization of society and the blurring of the boundaries between
childhood and adulthood. He says we are witnessing the appearance of
“kidults” or “adultescents” – people who are biologically
maturing at an ever early age (which is another issue altogether) but
are treated like semi-children by families and institutions (which are
cancelling recess because it’s too dangerous). Furedi should have
added the billion dollar industry that has developed as marketers
exploit the natural fears of new parents (with money to burn) –
selling everything from those highly questionable Baby Einstein products
to kneepads for crawling babies, bullet-proof backpacks and books with
names like Germ-Proof Your Kids.
We need to think about the result of all this
inappropriate parental control, this lack of trust in and respect for
young people’s ability to learn, grow and act appropriately. These
“kidults” are going to have to solve the serious economic,
environmental and social problems their baby boomer parents have. If
their families and their schools infantilize them in order to keep them
safe – delay their development in order to allay adult anxieties –
they won’t have been provided with the tools to solve those problems.
They won’t even have learned how to keep themselves safe because they
won’t know how to assess danger and make wise decisions.
A
story on this subject in my local newspaper quotes social work
professor Michael Ungar from his book Too Safe for Their Own Good, about
the risk the bubble-wrapping creates for kids. Some teens, he says,
robbed of the inherent need for risk-taking and testing the boundaries,
seek it out in dangerous ways like delinquency, substance abuse or
running away. “Too much risk and we endanger a child,” writes Ungar.
“Too little risk and we fail to provide a child with healthy
opportunities for growth and psychological development.”
Children learn by doing – and that means by
making mistakes, whether the mistake results in a skinned knee or a
wasted semester. The role of parents and the other adults in
children’s lives is to facilitate that learning in developmentally
appropriate ways. Are we helicoptering because we’re afraid to let go
or because we’re living vicariously through our children…or do we
just not know how to teach them to make their own decisions while
keeping themselves safe?
Posted: 2008/01/06 3:42 PM
Lightening My Mood to Match My Footprint – January 1, 2008
The global warming warnings are getting
heavier by the moment now. In response, conscientious people are responding
to the growing sense of urgency by lightening up our respective
footprints. And much of the rest of the world’s population – with
the notable exception of North American political leaders – seems
likewise engaged, if polls are to be believed. A recent BBC poll of
22,000 people in 21 countries found that four out of five people are
ready to make serious changes to their lifestyles to address climate
change – even in the United States and China, the world’s two
biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.
Then why is my biggest problem not
lightening my footprint but my mood? I keep wondering if all the
sacrifices individuals are making really matter if governments and
industry don’t stop dithering. And the greenwash gets me down. A few
months ago, a PR firm sent me a whole case full of water in plastic
bottles sourced from a spring in Fiji…accompanied by a press release
telling me how it is the first bottled water brand to go carbon
negative...quite a trick if they are planning to offset all that plastic
and other packaging, as well as the processing and transportation
involved with providing something I can get from my own kitchen faucet. Then I read about how an eight-passenger SUV won the “Green
Car of the Year” award at the Los Angeles Auto Show. California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was quoted as drooling, “They’ve
proven that they can make beautiful cars, strong cars, keep the size,
keep the safety, and all those kinds of things, and at the same time be
more fuel efficient.” Maybe his heart is in the right place. After
all, it is Hollywood. And Hollywood, says American author, columnist and
blogger Arianna Huffington, “has gone from the capital of conspicuous
consumption to the cutting edge of conspicuous conservation.”
So I’m trying to keep my senses of
humor and perspective. One of the ways I’m doing that is by working on
the launch of Life Media’s third periodical – Natural Child
Magazine, which grew out of the Natural Child column that has been a
feature of Natural Life for so many years. Starting my own family
almost 36 years ago is what got me on this road to a greener, fairer
world, after all. Maybe the “natural children” in my family and
their peers will be able to solve the problems my generation has
created.
Another way that I’m trying to stay
hopeful for the future is by writing and reading. One of the writers
whose books I’ll be exploring more thoroughly this year is a Tibetan
Buddhist nun named Pema Chodron. She is a teacher at Gampo Abbey in Cape
Breton, Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners. Her
books have titles that are well suited to these times, including No Time
to Lose, The Places that Scare You, When Things Fall Apart, and Start
Where You Are. And what better place to begin than with a quote from the
latter title: “The best gift you can give yourself is to lighten up.”
Enjoy 2008 and keep a light heart to
accompany your lightened footprint.
Posted: 2008/01/01 10:25 PM
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