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It’s time for lunch at Hampshire Dining Commons, known affectionately by students at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst by its nickname “Hamp.” There may be essays to stress over, majors to choose and friends to catch up with later but for now, the most difficult decision for students is choosing whether to fill their stomachs with hand-rolled sushi or vegetarian tacos with fresh guacamole before their next class.
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Have you ever felt the vice grip of anxiety squeeze out your breath as you stand in front of the organic and non-organic apples – which type do I choose? … Are the non-organic really that bad? … How can one little apple make a difference? … What can I safely feed my kids?!? Making supposedly simple shopping decisions when you’re a somewhat savvy, somewhat skeptical, eco-living-learner can make any trip to the store a head-spinning experience.
Author Paige Wolf knows that first-hand …
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This is the second in a series of four video from our annual Talk Savvy To Me event where we celebrated volunteers while sharing hot topics from powerful speakers.
Next Stop? Adventure!
From young breast cancer survivor and mainstream mom to national protector-and-educator of women’s “eco- health,” Kristi Marsh is the founder of the Savvy Women's Alliance and Choose Wiser. Here she weaves real life emotions and humor into a meaty, must-know mesmerizing climate of environmental health - and what is ahead for all of us.
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CALL FOR WRITERS
Our Writing Team is a key piece of the Savvy Women's Alliance; it gives us our voice a "friendly face" as we simplify the nontoxic living learning curve. Our volunteers writers love to write, they are valued, and deep down, they know their heart's work is making a difference.
We're Looking For:
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Soon after taking a position as Director of Food Services for Framingham Public Schools in Massachusetts, Brendan Ryan stood in the courtyard of the high school and had an idea. It had recently come to his attention that many students had no idea where food came from; “most suburban youth have no idea how a vegetable grows!” he says.
Ryan looked out across the nearly two-acre courtyard and envisioned a garden that would not only teach students where their food comes from but highlight the importance and deliciousness of healthy eating.
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"I want to congratulate you, Julia, on your outstanding achievements in writing and volunteer work in the Savvy Women's Alliance. To balance a college course load and still find the time to give back to the community is truly re
markable. I encourage you to keep up the good work and continue to inspire others in your path. Congratulations!" ~ Jeff Kinney, Diary of A Wimpy Kid
The Savvy Women's Alliance blog wouldn’t be possible without the talents of a group of volunteer writers, who use their wordsmithing capabilities to give you the blog posts you read each month. Although all of our writers are rock stars, this year we chose one writer to celebrate at our Talk Savvy to Me event that was held in June.
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This is the first of four videos from our annual Talk Savvy To Me event where we celebrated our volunteers and shared hot topics from powerful speakers. We hope you can attend our next Talk Savvy To Me in late 2018.
Making Real Healthy Food Cool For Kids:
Donna Morin, M.Ed, is a nutrition and lifestyle coach trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction. She began her practice after diet and lifestyle changes resolved her own health troubles, but her biggest lesson so far has been recognizing that good, lasting health is about so much more than food.
Get ready to go on an amazing learning adventure as Donna makes food cool for kids and us as well. Watch for the brilliant way Donna uses analogies with a garden hose, a zoo and a circle of Barbies to bring microbiomes to light.
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By the time your child finishes high school, he or she will have eaten around 2,340 school lunches. That's a lot of baggies and other pieces of plastic thrown in the trash. A more earth friendly lunch is definitely possible, and in the long run it can save you money, too.
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"I want to congratulate you, Julia, on your outstanding achievements in writing and volunteer work in the Savvy Women's Alliance. To balance a college course load and still find the time to give back to the community is truly remarkable. I encourage you to keep up the good work and continue to inspire others in your path. Congratulations!"–Jeff Kinney, Diary of A Wimpy Kid
- Expanding Our Team
- Monthly Topic: Kids, Food and Schools
- New Chapter Locations
To be honest, when I heard about Bee’s Wrap, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. A food storage product made of sweet-smelling, honey and cotton? How does this alternative to plastic wrap work? Did it work?
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Most of us are familiar with the water cycle and the food web, cycles in nature that move substances in a never-ending loop, each stage vital. Think of it like a clock. Each hour, each minute, belongs just where it is. But what if 2:00 disappeared? Eight o’clock wouldn’t happen at the right time and as each cycle with a missing 2:00 progressed, eventually the whole concept would be so off kilter that chaos would be a likely ending.
The Pollination Cycle
There’s another cycle out there in nature that’s just as important and garnering more attention these days and that’s the pollination cycle.
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Psst. Over here. We need to talk about those products in your nightstand: Lube. Feminine wash. Sexual well being. Actually, forget the whisper. The taboo around talking about products like lube and feminine wash is likely what’s allowed the industry to get away with using toxic chemicals for so long. So let’s raise our voices, huh?
Specifically, let’s talk about a woman who is breaking the taboos. Wendy Strgar has been making safer products for women, talking openly about healthy sex lives, and teaching women to be advocates for their sexual well being for years. Wendy Strgar - a loveologist and a pioneer in the organic personal care product industry - conceived of (pardon the pun) Good Clean Love after 16 years of marriage and the birth of her fourth child out of determination to enjoy her sex life again. She tried the big-name lubricants on the shelves, but they all left her in pain.
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In celebration of the tenth anniversary of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the Savvy Women's Alliance recommends this book for it's summer chapter Gatherings.
Envision: you are entering your local chain grocery store. The glass doors slide open and the produce aisle greets you. On your right are avocados from Mexico, bananas from Colombia, and peppers from Israel. You walk further through the market, snatching some rice from Vietnam and beans from India that you plan to throw together into a meal that you will later wash down with Vermont milk.
Now imagine the items sourced from over 100 miles away vanishing. Bye-bye Mexican romaine lettuce and beef sourced from Brazilian cows. What would be left in your shopping cart? Would you panic?
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Do you feel overwhelmed when trying to read labels while shopping for personal care or cleaning products--or any products, for that matter? Maybe you spend inordinate amounts of time parked in the aisle turning over bottles, puzzling over words like "green," "eco," or "natural," thinking what do those words even mean, anyway?! You pull out your smartphone to check through your apps, and discover that some products aren't even on apps. You go back home and do research on your laptop. Maybe you give up - you would be far from the first.
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“I’ve always loved nature and being outdoors, and the sense that humans were doing more harm than good seeped into me like so many others and, though not an activist by any means, I began to take those many small steps to tread lightly on this Earth, live by example, and help wherever I could.
Four years ago, I became a beekeeper and the learning curve shot up. Watching and learning about my bees gave me a holistic view of our world and how one small change – good or bad – can have such a ripple effect.”
– Janice Sina, New Savvy Women's Alliance Member and Volunteer
Here’s what we’re talking about this month:
- Announcing: Talk Savvy To Me Event
- Monthly Topic: Girl Talk
- Seven New Chapter Locations
