All posts by ariah

Money & Stewardship

My Secret Goal is to have a 4.5 Acre Footprint

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Global Footprint
I’m not special. I happen to be just one of the six billion people that live on this planet. Whether your religious or not, the way I see it, we are all part of the human family, one great big, interconnected, multi-generational, inter-cultural, spread out, and fairly dysfunctional family. But, I’m not special, I’m just one more member of the family. It’s only fair that I share equally with the rest of the family, this great big planet that we live on. Above is a picture of my ecological footprint. It’s an improvement from how I was living last year, but still double what I’d like it to be.

I know it’s not right to make laws about things like this, but I don’t see why we as people aren’t a little more shameful of the way that we live? I mean if I took the 4.5 acres that were for my brother and hogged his plus mine, and a little of my sisters land all to myself, just so I could eat as I please and travel as I wanted to. People would scoff at me. Why is it then that nobody will probably ever call me out on my choices regarding this?

(ht: Josh) By the way there is a great conversation in the comment’s section over at Josh’s blog.

How Big is your Eco-Footprint?

YouTubesday

Video Wednesdays? Maybe.

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Well, one thing I’ve done a lot more of lately is watching videos online. It’s about the most engaging thing to do late at night with a baby in one hand, the lights out and access to a mouse with the other. I’m finding video and the powers of technology are set to be an incredibly powerful tool in the years to come. Awareness can be raised about issues by anyone with access to a camera and a computer with the internet. I figure it would be nice for me to share some of the media I’ve come across, so you don’t have to waste your time browsing along. Possibly a weekly thing, I’ll try and post at least one or two videos I’ve come across that I found interesting and engaging. And, sometimes I’ll post one I just thought was funny. I might post some political bits, but just know, it’s only cause I found it interesting, not intending to brain wash you to one political side or the other, I don’t necessarily hold the same values or political leanings as the videos I’ll post links to. So, here’s a few for you to enjoy today.

Since we are advocates of breastfeeding around here, I thought this was an interesting PSA (Public Service Announcement) on the topic.

I’ve mentioned Shane Claiborne quite a few times on here recently, so maybe you won’t mind hearing him again. This video is actually put out by Zondervan, the publishers of Shane’s book and others. I’ll post some of their other videos later. For now I thought an audio piece of Shane’s book read by him might be worth a listen.

Money & Stewardship

June Comment Love: New Mom and Baby Kit

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Mother and ChildI’m not sure how much money was raised through Comment Love in the month of June, I do think it was close to $30, which is worth an applause for you. If you don’t know what Comment Love is, basically it’s an opportunity for you to raise (out of my pocket) $0.25 for every comment you make at Trying to Follow. Each month we’ll decide on a charity to give the money to and every comment will earn a quarter toward that cause (up to $40 normally).

Since June involved a new Mom and Baby in my life, I thought I should spread the joy and excitement to another mom and baby through World Visions Gift Catalog. Here’s what your comments are donating to:

Many mothers in countries like Angola, Romania, and East Timor lack the basic supplies they need to properly care for their newborns. Your gift will give a child a safer and healthier start in life — and help his or her mother breathe easier. You’ll provide essentials such as a bassinet, diapers and diaper pins, a blanket, a storage container for clean water, a baby bathtub, and soap. Pregnant women attending prenatal classes will also be trained in hygiene and how to properly use these supplies.

The donation was a little more then what we raised, but I figure it’s worth it. I’m definitely thinking in baby mode now, which might influence future posts, and donations as well. Please continue to comment, and encourage conversation on all the topics we discuss here.

I had a poll going for were to donate and it was a dead tie between Kiva and World Vision, so will let it be the deciding factor for July. Vote Now:
[poll=3]

Money & Stewardship

I’m a Guest on the Nick and Josh Podcast

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The Nick and Josh Podcast

Remember Josh, the guy I did the CRM (Corporate Responsibility Mondays) with a little while back? Well, him and his buddy Nick host a pretty popular podcast aimed at the “emerging” crowd. They’ve been on again off again, but always enjoyable, and with lot’s of interviews with “popular” folk. Anyways, Nick is heading to join an intentional community in Geneva called Shema, and is hoping to garner support through the podcast listeners, thus desiring to make the show a regular weekly event. Here’s were I come in.

As long as I can quit mumbling, I might have a chance at a regular monthly gig on the Nick and Josh Podcast, sort of a weekly exclusive were Josh and I will continue our conversations on Corporate Responsibility and discuss ways we are changing our lives to fall more in line with our values.

The first episode (that I’m in) mostly just involved us both chatting a little about what brought us to the point we are currently at and what we’d like to see happen through the podcast in the months to come. I’m not sure what it will end up like, maybe it will one day become the Nick and Josh (and some guy named Ariah) Podcast, but for now I’m happy with the honor of an occasional guest spot.

Enjoy the Show…

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Devotional thoughts

Things that Made me Happy This Weekend

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This won’t be a long post, nor will it be all-inclusive. There are a lot of things to be happy about, my beautiful wife, beautiful community, friends, food, family, the list goes on. Two, though I thought worth of touching on this late evening.

I might be biased, being a married person myself, but there is something very beautiful about weddings. I don’t think it’s the pretty dresses, fancy tux or sparklers, it’s something about the commitment being made. It’s true, are society (Christian and not) doesn’t seem to take the marriage commitment too seriously, with such a high divorce rate, but it shouldn’t diminish from those that make that commitment.

I’ve been married four years and 17 days. It’s not that long, so I don’t have grand experience or wisdom to speak from. I just know that life without the willingness or opportunity to commit to someone seems, well, selfish. Our friends, Curt and Beth were married this weekend, they committed their lives to one another and that is a powerful thing.

I can’t even begin to describe both the joy and heaviness I’ve felt spending time with my 11 day old child. It’s joy and awe to look at her and think that I have some how played a small role in her being here, and I will continue to play a role raising her. At the same time I feel a heaviness at the thought of the responsibility of raising another human being, teaching her, loving her, caring for her.  It’s a task I believe, with grace, I will be able to handle, but I pray I don’t lose sight of the seriousness of that task. I’m so grateful for a community of friends and family around me to support me in raising my daughter.

Blog

Flashback: What Would You Do if?

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It’s the age old question of pacifist, last January I gave my spin on it:

It’s the typical question that get’s asked of anyone who declares themselves a “pacifist.”

What would you do if someone was attacking your family (loved ones)?

It’s the magic card up someones sleeve to stump that said pacifist into agreeing that sometimes violence, and war, is okay and necessary. I’ll be honest this was a difficult question to handle when I first started thinking about pacifism. What made it difficult was the passage we talked about previously, “Love your enemies…” What suddenly happened was that now both the attacker and the victim are my loved ones. It’s like having to change the question to:

What would you do if your wife was attacking your father?
(or pick the two people closest to you)

Now I’m not so sure killing the attacker would be my pat answer. If I love that person I certainly wouldn’t want their death. I love the victim though as well and I don’t want them to die, so the situation is now far more complex then the original question presented.

For me, this question simply confirms to me that thinking as a pacifist, or rather, thinking about what to do with ‘killing’ not being one of the options.

So, What would you do if…

See the discussion that ensued here.

Being Dad

The Research Institute of Mother and Child Care is a SCAM

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(Long specific title in hopes of landing high on a google search for the The Research Institute of Mother and Child Care)

Today, Mindy and I received a fairly plain letter in the mail from The Research Institute of Mother and Child Care asking us to fill out a few page survey about ‘feeding methods.’ In my initial glance it struck me as a small non-profit research group gathering data to benefit mother’s and children. So, Mindy and I decided to take a few minutes and fill out the survey.

About five minutes into the survey I start thinking about the questions, they are way to specific about infant formula marketing. Questions like, “Check the brands of free infant formula samples you received” and if formula was used “how was the brand fed chosen”? It sounded fishy, so I looked all over the letter and survey to find contact info. Nothing listed but a P.O. Box in Columbus Ohio, and a google business listings showed nothing in Columbus by that name either. So, I did a google search and found a few other websites and parents that had similar suspicions. Sure enough, The Research Institute of Mother and Child Care is a division of Abbott Labs, a pharmaceutical company, that makes Similac and Isomil (Infant Formulas).

This type of deceptive market research should be illegal, Absolutely illegal. First of all, It’s extremely deceptive. The title of the ‘Institute’, the way they frame what they are doing and even their logo, convey to me that I’m doing something important for the health and well being of children and mothers. My impression was that the institute was pro-breastfeeding or at the least an un-bias research group. Secondly, This survey is gathering extremely in-depth market research about mother’s and their choices for feeding their children. Though, the survey isn’t convincing them of anything, the information they gather from the survey will better prepare them to convince you to buy their formula. This survey also helps Abbott Labs gather detailed information about their competitors. The Bottom Line is that the end motivation for a company like Abbott Labs to put out a survey like this is to make money and figure out how to make more money. They aren’t looking out for the best interest of babies, they are looking to fatten their wallets.

I’m terribly bothered by this and the thought that millions of other new parents are receiving the same letter nation wide. So, I figure we need to do something about it. I decided to start a petition. I’m not sure this is the best way to get things started, but it ‘s something. I haven’t finished editing the Petition, but I gave a basic explanation of what it’s about. I’ll add a video later.

(hat tip: hipMama, mothering.com, and kellyMom)