Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Good Grass Roots Idea

This is something anyone can do—and the impact could be huge:

My friend LaRa recently send me a copy of this great letter she had sent to Wal-Mart executives. My sister pointed out that it also needs to be sent to Sears, Best Buy and anyone else selling electronics. Please feel free to personalize and make this your own. Thank you LaRa for sharing this and for all you are doing to stop mountaintop removal and other gross indignities to the planet.

*PLEASE join in this campaign with LaRa and contact Walmart regarding this gross waste of energy. Please send this email far and wide.
Thank you.

Take talking points from the letter below.
Mailing Address Below
Phone # 1-479-273-4000 - leave message for Mr. Walton
FAX: 1-479- 273-4329
website: walmartstores.com
(Could not get an email address.)
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Walmart Senior Management December 7, 2009
Walmart Board of Directors
Attention: S. Robson Walton
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

Dear Mr. Walton,

The staff of your stores has been very willing to reach out to the local communities to assist with worthwhile projects. Thank you. Here I want to challenge you to a project that covers six southeastern states as well as all of the areas where your 8,150 Walmart stores are located.

Are you aware that the demand for coal to create electricity has resulted in blasting the tops off of over 500 mountains and covered 2,000 miles of stream with toxic soil in the states of VA, W.VA, KY, TN, OH and PA? The blasting goes on daily and whole communities, animal life, and vegetation are being destroyed as I write to you.

So how does this relate to Walmart? In the last two weeks I have visited three Walmart stores in three different states to find that there are 30 to 40 TV’s turned on 24/7 in each store.
Multiply that by 8,150 stores; that is enough electricity to serve a whole community.

PLEASE CONSIDER LIMITING THE NUMBER OF TV’S THAT ARE EMPOWERED IN EACH WALMART STORE!

On your website under walmartstores.com you state,”Sustainability- Our aspirational goals are being supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, creating zero waste and selling products that sustain people and the environment.”

This is a grand challenge for you to work toward these goals and bring forth renewed resolutions and solutions for 2010 to waste less electrical energy and save the mountains and the people and the communities of Appalachia as well as other communities where your stores are located around the globe.

I plan to follow up on the results of this request in 2010 and I plan to send this letter to people who share these concerns with me.

Thank you most sincerely for your action on this very important world project.


Martha LaRa Gibson
2098 Chestnut Grove
Mouth of Wilson, VA 24363
Email: larag@localnet.com
Phone: 276-579-4374*

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Simplicity, Santa and Small Towns

Last Thursday morning was busy. I dashed into the post office for mail then on the way back to my office I was pulled unexpectedly to our little public library. I was looking for a book on Claude Monet, but it could have waited. Something kept directing me to the library. So I went, found my Monet book and a video. As I was checking out I saw Santa Claus, just about to make his appearance at the pre-school story hour in the children’s section.

He looked rather like one of the town cops in a Santa suit. He was fabulous. Right on cue, he BECAME Santa and strutted jolly style to center stage (or chair). He chatted with a crowd of about 40 kids and parents, There was music and fun, crafts and treats,
decorations and a sizzle of holiday joy. Then the children took turns sitting on his lap and he TALKED with each of them about Christmas, life, family, food. He may have even asked them what they hoped for under the tree on Christmas morning, but that was not the focus.

There were no professional photographers selling photos of the Santa visit. No long lines of harried impatient shoppers, children with candy cane induced fits, just a big circle where kids waited politely until the Santa lap was empty and the spirit moved them to join the relaxed fun. It made my week and re-oriented me to the Community Christmas Spirit.

I couldn’t help contrast it with the typical Santa mall experience. You see, the closest mall or big shopping center is about an hour and a half away from us here in the mountains. Getting there is a big deal, not a three-time-a-week experience as was common for most kids from the suburb in which I used to live.
Some of these kids have never been to the Mall Santa event. They don’t even know that this is an opportunity for commerce. And promoting plastic toys. Yet. Don’t get me wrong— I know there are some wonderful, dedicated, caring professional Santas out there. But this is one more reminder of the value of community and how we nurture our children. For me, that is easier to find in a small town.

Simple Living is a good solid step toward a sustainable lifestyle. My mantra is carved in a rock given to me as a Christmas gift a while back: Simplify
It's easier to simplify going forward. It's tough to go back and simplify major choices you have already committed to—home or car purchase, how we raise our children, investments. But we have small choices every day, so just “keep on simplifying.”

So thank you small town libraries, for the amazing events you plan. Thank you librarians for the way-more-hours-than-you-get-paid-for. Thank you volunteer town, church and association Santas who keep the fun and spirit in Christmas by sharing the experience minus the stuff, simply.

Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho.

PS. Wythe-Grayson Regional Library in Independence, VA is staffed by angels. Please ask your representatives to keep libraries open and fully staffed!

Winning Wounded Women Warriors

On the Winter Solstice I had a day of forced centering. It was sublime. I was snowed in and one of the necessary high priority needs was to shovel a path to the wood pile. Thich Na Hahn reminds us in many of his writing about the value of toil. It frees up the brain (while the body and muscles are otherwise engaged) to just BE, and be Mindful. I found it energizing to let my brain just BE while I shoveled heavy wet snow. Mindfulness led me to gratitude—for many things, but I would like to share one special item from the long list.

I have heard from four women friends this season (close in heart, but distant by miles) about their recoveries from cancer—diagnosis and treatment within the last two years. Each of them is doing exceptionally well. Exceptionally well is relative here, depending on YOUR outlook. Exceptionally well for me is about their making this experience their own, using their personal power to work within whatever healing/treatment system they have chosen, to embrace the experience. Each has boldly stepped forward and made choices base on the Inner Wise Woman they have become.

They have each used their own extraordinary creativity, spiritual depth, personal power, and lifetime of expertise in some field to find their own path to healing. I noticed that each of them went into a period of seclusion, limiting their communication from even closest friends, to summon all energy and focus for conducting the orchestra of their recovery. I liken it to them choosing a Winter Solstice of their own timing, going deep into the rich darkness of Earth Time to dream and prepare for their respective treatment plans. I am grateful for the stunning symphony of recovery that each is living. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Snow—lots of it— kept me from attending a Winter Solstice Yoga experience I had been looking forward to, but I imagine that part of the evening was spent in Warrior pose. I was there in spirit, as were my four brave friends.