I know i should not be blogging, i’ve got the hardest task to do, which is to dig in and work on my own project. A project laying on the shelves since more than 5 years, a cherished one. The kind of project you so want to see real, the one you want to hold in your hands – and at the same time you just cant start, because of the possibility of failure.
Only this afternoon i was sharing with someone about how i long to find and read vibrant blogs, the ones you can relate to, where entries are meant to share someone’s creative process, written from an open heart. Often these blogs put me back on track, make me feel understood by others who are on a similar path. I do cherish these blogs, and the creatives behind the keyboard!
Here is one of them, Swirlygirl, as to remember me that i should share more of these addresses in the next weeks.
Surprisingly, i found myself in love with winter. I walked about an hour and a half today, just to see the snow over the grass, over the threes.
Thinking of the complex design and beauty of each of these snowflake is just amazing – brings you back to the magic of life, magic behind this planet we are on.
Let’s dig and see the wide variety of beautiful crystal shapes we miss to see each day. Here is a little guide to snowflakes from which i took the pictures below:
A little more inspiring, the researches that have been made, showing that thoughts can influence the patterns of snowflakes…
“Using high-speed photography, Dr. Masaru Emoto discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them. He found that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts, forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors. The implications of this research create a new awareness of how we can positively impact the earth and our personal health.”
I’ve been talking lately of the web as being a tool for us to share and communicate from Soul to Soul. This is for me the most interesting aspect of the web – a tool we can use to grow and expand our creativity with, and not just a tool to serve entertainment, marketing, and advertising purposes.
Here is a project called the 1000 Journals Project, an ongoing collaborative experiment started in 2000, attempting to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels. The goal of the project was to provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among friends and strangers.
If i would ask among you dear readers, Who is an artist?, would you raise your hand?
On my todo list is written, and this since last october, that i’ve been tagged by Luce and must write what i am doing to introduce environmental sustainability into my daily life – i know it’s been a while, but i could not end my list before now.
I’ve been scanning through the changes i’ve done over the last years to participate in the healing of our planet, and re-reading what i wrote, i see that i sound quite pessimistic, and i’m sorry for that, it’s just really hard not to get confronted to issues which are really pushing my buttons. I love our planet, and when i look at what was done over the last 100 years, i feel hurt and saddened by how quick we destroyed what we should cherish. Our planet, the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms, and of course ourselves.
Still, i hope my answers can inspire some of you to move on, make changes, share and help other changes – and most of all, stay positive and joyful about the great opportunity of change that lays before us!!
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I support local agriculture
Since a year now, i get my fruits and vegetables delivered by Le Jardin des Anges – this way i support local organic agriculture, and get my food delivered with love and care by a friendly human being.
You can do the same, and either get your basket delivered or you pick it by yourself. You can find a listing of organic agriculture producers here;
I buy organic
Yes it is not the least expensive choice, but local and organic products are often much healthier.
Think that what you buy in food chains and so called groceries might be cheap, but you’ll pay of your health sooner or later. Nature is already paying the price for each and every mass produced food that you buy in the average grocery chains, so do humans wondering why cancer is now an epidemic.
A good rule of thumb i use before buying goods or food is asking myself if LOVE, meaning a careful and passionate human touch, was put into what i am about to buy – more than often the answer is pretty clear about if i should or not buy!;
I do not consume meat
I am vegetarian since 2000, i love animals and i do not wear fashionable animal skin, might it be shoes, clothes, bags, belt, and so on. Thus, i am not contributing to a system which exploit and slaughter animals in savage ways, in the same way that it is destroying our environment.
If you are thinking about becoming vegetarian, the web is full of resources about why we do not need to consume animal products anymore, here are some highlights:
A major 2006 report by the United Nations summarized the devastation caused by the meat industry. Raising animals for food, the report said, is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. The findings of this report suggest that it should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution and loss of biodiversity. Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale ….”
Growing all the crops to feed farmed animals requires massive amounts of water and land—in fact, nearly half of the water and 80 percent of the agricultural land in the United States are used to raise animals for food.6,7 Our taste for meat is also taking a toll on our supply of fuel and other nonrenewable resources—about one-third of the raw materials used in America each year is consumed by the farmed animal industry.
Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States, and since factory farms don’t have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air.9 And meat-eaters are responsible for the production of 100 percent of this waste—about 86,000 pounds per second!
You can read the complete article here and also ask google.
I try to inform myself and be a responsible consumer
We heavily research on finding ways to be independent from a system which makes each of us consumers participating in exploiting the planet.
More than ever, i think before i buy – who created this product, at which cost, in which conditions?
My wish is to get out of a system who made us dependent on energy, unworthy goods and most of all, a system that industrialized the alimentary chain, not for our good health, but for profit – this, at a terrible cost. Also, we respect water and dont over-use it.
Word of mouth
I think the best way to change our world is little by little, and by word of mouth, sharing with family and friends what i know about sustainable practices, changes in our way to consume, eat and live. I know they trust and love me, so my words have much more impact than those of any politician;
Diva Cup
I’ve made the switch to the Diva Cup a year ago – so i’m not part of this ‘feminine care product’ industry anymore.
If you are not aware of it, please know that in 1998, 7 billion tampons and 13 billion sanitary pads and their packaging made their way into landfills and sewage systems in the USA alone – so for each women making this change, we’ll all benefit, and nature too;
I ride my bike and walk
I do not own a car, i rent one if i need it and i am really careful with my use of this vehicle. I ride my bike and walk from april to november;
I recycle everything that can be recycled
and have lately gave up on the green recycling basket, switching it for huge transparent recycling bags, this to stop polluting with recycling goods flying around our streets on recycling days;
I carry my own reusable bag
I refuse the bags offered when i shop;
Composting
Unfortunately, we are not yet composting. We tried last year, but not owning a garden makes it impossible to compost on a balcony. But the experience we had with composting was really uplifting – and i advise you to do it if you have a small square meter of grass on which can land a composting box. To see organic waist turn out as super healthy earth was a magical experience, so was it to reduce our trash waist at half a plastic bag per month!
I have a short resource post on how to do your Urban Composting, read it here.
I am supposed to tag some other people, but i wont, i suggest you just go on and post your own green challenge – and let me know so i can read it!
We opted for the New York style transparent recycling bags, available at your local PJC for about 3$ a box of 15 (i think the box should cover the year, at a rate of 1 bag per month).
Whatever your beliefs are, i hope you wont be shocked the first time you’ll see an ufo, because it might be soon.
I must admit openly that i am a strong believer in stuff which have been categorized by many as metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, things i felt shy to openly share about.
If the image of the ‘New age’ person you had in mind is that of an illuminated, white dressed person, you were wrong. As a women who identify herself as being into metaphysics and new age stuff, i do not wear white. Maybe underwear but that’s it.
As i child i knew that i was not here for the first time, and i have memories of stuff a child could not make up. I always believed in karma and in reincarnation. I do believe i am surrounded by lower frequencies which keep me away from remembering my past lifes, and using the healing and manifesting powers i have. I do believe i had many lifes on this planet before the current one, and i do not believe in us being the only intelligent beings in the universe. I believe, as Einstein and many other historical figures have publicly claimed, that our thoughts are creating our reality – Imagination is more important than knowledge. All this is up to you to believe, please make your own researches, dig a little outside of your television and what your government wants you to hear.
Many believe our governments are trying to keep the situation in control, and hide the UFO files (see why there was a gathering about the topic last November, asking USA to open their UFO files, this for national security – some reads about this topic: BBC, the Gardian, Washington post).
I believe stories like what happened yesterday will soon be impossible to hide. So store your scifi books, ‘caus your local newspaper will soon be more entertaining.
Everyone is again all W-O-W about Apple. When will Apple develop durable and eco-friendly products, in sustainable working environments?
Anyone really care? Can hype make you blind?
My first ipod did not even last half the lifetime of my portable cd player. And there was no way to have it repaired, no way to recycle it.
Most Apple buyers (see the iPhone owner, using the latest and trendiest apple powerbook, designing cool websites for Greenpeace, browsing Treehugger, eating bio and living the green life) dont even want to think about, or see, under which conditions Apple products are produced, and at which cost.
There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Michel, en fesant sa sortie publique, fait preuve d’un immense courage, mais aussi de respect envers et pour la personne qu’il est vraiment.
Il vous donne ici une belle opportunité, soit celle d’ouvrir votre esprit à de nouveaux concepts.
L’apport de gens comme lui, ceux que la médecine compte dans ses plus infimes statistiques, est gigantesque pour une société qui manque encore d’ouverture face aux nouveaux modèles, à la différence et au changement.
Les outils web nous permettent aujourd’hui de communiquer d’humain à humain, d’êtres isolés qui forment ensemble des communautés fortes et bien vivantes.
Alors pour aujourd’hui, ne voyez pas les blogues comme étant seulement des outils de marketing, mais appréciez-les pour ce qu’ils sont à la base: des outils qui nous permettent de communiquer from soul to soul.
The Austrian philosopher and writer Rudolf Steiner (born 1861) was one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth century. His writings cover a wide range of subjects, and he made valuable and influential contributions in many fields, including education, science, medicine, and social reform.
The foundation of his researches was the “science of the spirit” that he called anthroposophy. He maintained that material science could never comprehend the whole of nature, as it excluded the realm of the spirit. Bridging the physical and spiritual worlds, anthroposophy would show the way toward a true understanding of humanity and its relation to the universe.
Rudolf Steiner’s legacy is remarkable. Around the world, thousands of programs have been built up around his inspiration and ideas. These include Waldorf schools, centers for special education, medical clinics, biodynamic farms, centers for various arts, and much more.
Both sites are interactive platforms where people can explore social issues through films, photography, articles, blogs and podcasts – spaces for everyone to engage with other activists and creative people, and to share media content. Meïdia was responsible for creating the concept along with CITIZENShift and Parole Citoyenne’s team, graphic design, development and integration of the backend, testing and quality assurance of both platforms.
We are now back from a trip in Berlin, a trip in which we explored what was happening technology wise in Europe, so that we can better perform in the projects we create here. About what 2008 will bring our way, we can’t predict exactly (we still do not have this talent!), but as Meïdia will be 3 years old soon, we feel like our business is entering a more adult stage, one for which we feel better equipped to start on new ventures. You’ll get to hear about this on our respective blogs.
On this, looking forward to meet you on our new adventures!
Artiste, globe-trotter et communicatrice vivant entre Mérindol, petit village du sud de la France, et Montréal, au Canada. Ce blogue est un collage de mes pensées, idées et explorations, et ce depuis avril 2002. Au cours des 10 dernières années, j'ai habité Montréal, Hambourg en Allemagne, et Paris. Je suis à la tête du studio de création meïdia, et suis disponible pour différents projets. Mon travail a été souligné par différents médias dont le Huffingtonpost, Elle, Glamour et le magazine Spin.
Hello! i am m-c, an artist living between the small village of Mérindol, in the south of France, and Montréal, Canada. This blog is a collection of my thoughts, travels and explorations, online since april 2002. I have in the last 10 years moved from Montréal, to Hamburg Germany, then Paris, and now the south of France.
My work has appeared in the Huffingtonpost, Elle, Glamour and Spin Magazine. My other projects are meïdia Studio and Creacamp. I can be hired for art/illustration assignments, conferences and workshops.
« Creative expression requires an ability to work with feelings and channel them. Frustration, dissatisfaction, and even a sense of desperation may help you access an eloquence you never knew existed. »
Je suis co-auteure de Pourquoi bloguer. Mon chapitre, Bloguer pour réseauter, a été rédigé dans le but d'inspirer les gens intéressés par le potentiel de réseautage des outils de blogues : étudiants, artistes, gestionnaires d'entreprise, curieux et patenteux de tout genres.
