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Olive You! 11 Foods for Midlife Women

By wogwpa1358 on August 22, 2012 / Health / Leave a comment

Tags: beans, blueberries, Carolyn Parrs, cauliflower, environment, flax seed, green tea, kale, midlife foods, olives, spinach, tomatoes, turmeric, wild alaskan salmon, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

Famed actress and octogenarian Bette Davis said getting older isn’t for sissies. Those of us over 50 know that, while the second half of our lives can be a time of emotional stability, mental acuity, wisdom and power, the physical fact of aging is undeniable. And the risk of age-related disease increases with each passing year.

There’s not much you can do to stop the inexorable march of time; but you can protect your health, and age more gracefully, with the following foods…

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Awakening

By wogwpa1358 on August 17, 2012 / Heart / 2 Comments

Tags: Buddhist koan, Carolyn Parrs, Christine Kent, environment, H.E.R.S. Foundation, Mary Daly, Nora Coffey, prolapse, Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade, The Real Wealth of Nations, Whole Woman, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

One of the most powerful feminist works of the late 20th century was Gyn/Ecology by Mary Daly. There is nothing fluffy about her perspective. It is a scathing condemnation of the world that men have built. The title itself is provocative and suggests many layers of meaning. Of all those layers, what means the most to me personally is the wonder of nature and the incomprehensibility of what we have done and continue to do to her.

Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade and more recently, The Real Wealth of Nations made a crucial contribution to the feminist literature by showing us that the opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy. In fact, matriarchy is a patriarchal concept. The true opposite is partnership, a harmonious balance between the masculine and feminine, men and women.m Both patriarchy and matriarchy are models in which one group dominates another. This is the antithesis of gyn/ecology.

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Could your garbage be a goldmine?

By wogwpa1358 on August 14, 2012 / Innovation, Leadership / Leave a comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, e-waste, environment, fast company, landfills, waste-to-product, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

There are greater concentrations of precious metals in our e-waste than there are in the ground. And it’s a lot cheaper and cleaner to get things out of e-waste than starting a giant mining operation. Where would you rather get the materials for your next gadget?

The mountain of electronic waste rising around the world is a gold mine–literally. Urban deposits of e-waste (discarded computers, phones and other electronics) contain 40 to 50 times the concentration of precious metals compared to ore mined from the ground at great cost to the environment, human health, and buyers of latest gadgets. We should mine it our e-waste, then, rather than the stuff in the ground.

That’s the message from the “e-Waste Academy” co-organized by the United Nations University and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI). Despite the 21 billion dollars of gold and silver embedded in modern electronics each year, not to mention copper, tin, cobalt, and palladium and other metals, only a fraction of which is ever recovered. For example, 80 to 85% of gold in e-waste is lost due to crude (and dangerous) dismantling processes in developing countries and ineffective collection systems in developed countries (which are the source of most e-waste).

“Rather than looking at e-waste as a burden, we need to see it as an opportunity,” said Alexis Vandendaelen of Umicore Precious Metals Refining at the meeting.

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Turning a Small Company into Something Big

By wogwpa1358 on July 29, 2012 / Arts, Family, Leadership / 1 Comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, environment, organic clothing for kids, Teres Kids, US Olympics, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

It’s funny how starting with a simple idea to make little things can grow to where it bumps up against big things.

When I see something like the recent controversy over the US Olympic team uniforms made overseas, I compare it to my experience with my company, Teres Kids. I started my company to make the world’s most comfortable children’s clothing.

The clearest path to super comfortable clothes led to organic cotton, then to made in America, then to superior quality, incredible durability, and – Presto! – outstanding consumer value.

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How the Collective Power of Women Can Change the World (Part 3 of 3)

By wogwpa1358 on June 14, 2012 / Leadership / 12 Comments

Tags: Big Green Purse, Carolyn Parrs, Dalai Lama, elizabeth lesser, environment, environmental working group, MacEachern, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

At a peace summit in Vancouver, the Dalai Lama made an extraordinary statement when he said that the world will be saved by the western women. This proclamation created a tsunami of responses in cyberspace. Can you imagine? The Dalai Lama saying it will be women that will save the world? As remarkable as this was to many, it was “duh” moment for me. I thought, of course, it’ll be women. We purchase 85% of the consumer goods in the United States. We can do right now by what we buy – and don’t buy. That was my “ah-ha” moment. That’s when I decided to write and speak on this topic.

Let’s look at the numbers. It is estimated that American women spend about five trillion dollars annually. That’s over half of the US GDP. We purchase everything from autos to health care. Here are some quick stats on our purchases:

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How the Collective Power of Women Can Change the World (Part 2 of 3)

By wogwpa1358 on June 6, 2012 / Leadership, Nature / 1 Comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, collective power of women, EcoFabulous, environment, Former UN Secretary-General, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jean Houston, Kofi Annan, Liberty Phoenix, Margarita McClure, Maya Angelou, Nina Simons, social justice, Swaddlebees, Winona LaDuke, women and economics, women entrepreneurs, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership, Zem Joaquin

by Carolyn Parrs

This is Part 2 of 3 on “How the Collective Power of Women Can Change the World”

Read Part 1

QUICKIE QUIZ #2: On April 26, 1777, who rode through the towns of New York and Connecticut warning everyone that the British were coming, and gathered enough volunteers to push back the British army the very next day? Not Paul Revere. It was Sybil Luddington who accomplished this feat at the ripe age of 16. Her ride was twice as long as Paul’s but unfortunately most of us never heard of it — or her.

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” says poet, Maya Angelou. How important it is for us to be invited to the table – especially now. “The fortunes of nations are inextricably tied to the fortunes of women,” says Hillary Rodham Clinton in the foreword to The International Human Rights of Women. “It is this simple: where women flourish, her families flourish. And where families flourish, communities and nations flourish. Issues affecting women and their families are not ‘soft’ issues to be relegated to the sidelines of serious debate, rather, they are among the hardest and most important issues we face.”

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Happy Earth Day!

By wogwpa1358 on April 21, 2012 / Uncategorized / Leave a comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, environment, Happy Earth Day, I love planet earth, women and nature, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

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An interview with Green Drinks founder, Margaret Lydecker

By wogwpa1358 on March 30, 2012 / Leadership / Leave a comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, green business networking, Green Drinks, Margaret Lydecker, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

From Eco-Chick

Before Margaret Lydecker founded Green Drinks NYC in 2002, there wasn’t a place for Manhattan’s like-minded, eco-conscious professionals to get their networking on. Margaret changed that, and now many of us wouldn’t know what to do without her monthly events.

Whether you’re a dedicated monthly green drinker or not, you’ve in all likelihood heard of Green Drinks NYC, even if you don’t live or work in the Big Apple. Over the years, Margaret has aided in the launch of 200-plus chapters globally (there are now 800-plus chapters worldwide). She’s helped build the global Green Drinks brand, in the coolest way imaginable: by connecting green businesses and professionals at the local level.

I went to the most recent Green Drinks NYC, and observed Margaret calmly and graciously working the room. She’s the face of Green Drinks– never letting a name or a face slip her, which is highly impressive considering she has literally met thousands of individuals at her events over the past 10 years. But Margaret also runs the show, delegates to her staff and Green Drinks volunteers, and ensures every minor detail goes off without a hitch.

I wanted to get to know the woman behind Green Drinks NYC who has effectively connected so many people. Margaret revealed the challenges she’s faced, how her passion for sustainability began, her thoughts on greenwashers, and how she manages to keep it all together.

Read an interview with Margaret Lydecker at Eco-Chick

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From Rosie The Riveter to Green Irene: A Plan For Bringing Women Into The Green Revolution, by Shari Shapiro

By wogwpa1358 on October 30, 2010 / Leadership, Uncategorized / 3 Comments

Tags: green building, green law, New Orleans, renewable energy, Shari Shapiro, sustainability, women in green business, women of green

While I was in New Orleans for the Green Matters Conference, I met the most extraordinary woman. Simone Bruni, better known in the Crescent City as the “Demo Diva,” took her personal tragedy from Hurricane Katrina and turned it into a woman-owned and run demolition business, complete with hot pink front loader and giant dumpster. I have written and spoken extensively on the lack of women in green. There are many reasons for it, I suppose. Green, particularly Green Building, is really a version of construction, and women represent only 3-6% of the building trades as a whole. But the lesson from the Demo Diva is that there is nothing really stopping women from becoming involved, even in the male dominated fields like demolition and construction! On the softer side, there is certainly no reason that women cannot be green building lawyers, sustainable investment advisors or involved in the marketing and selling of green products. Given that the economy is in a fragile recovery, green and sustainable businesses are leading the areas of growth. There are many programs specifically designed to help women acquire these skills. (A listing is available here.) Green Business Women is a nice site with resources for women looking to turn […]

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Marcal’s big leap with Small Steps – show 27

By wogwpa1358 on October 7, 2010 / Women Of Green Podcasts with Carolyn / 1 Comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, green, greenwashing, Marcal Small Steps, MJ Jolda, Patagonia, recycled paper, recycling, Sustainable Brands, women in green business, women of green

Did you know 98% of household paper goods are still made by cutting down trees. That means your paper towels, your paper napkins, your toilet paper. All of these are made from 98% virgin fiber from freshly killed trees!. It’s a shame in today’s world of environmental advances that these kind of practices are still taking place. But they are. And it’s time we get informed, women. We make the majority of purchases in the household. We can turn that all around by just not buying into those products.

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