garbage, planting trees, being a hero

-- Quote of the Day --

“…Individual heroes never start out their lives or careers by saying – ‘I want to be a hero’. They saw a problem, or had an experience they wanted to change; an area that they wanted to make a difference. …They just said ‘I want to make a difference – I want to help this group of people’ – and they did it. I think that often we look to people with money or people with ‘power’ - but really the people with the ‘power’ are us. You know, if we all said here’s this problem in my community I’m going to get my neighbors or family together and we are going to do something about it. …If everyone said I’m going to spend an hour a week going to the church or the community center or going to read to a child – having you in their lives can make such a big difference. Anyone can make a difference, it is a matter of deciding what you can do. Can you spare one hour a week or ten hours a week? Do you want to work with children? …You just have to have a belief that you can do something about a particular problem.”

~ Darius Graham – Feb 26, 2009

The quote above was taken from a Conscious Discussions interview with Darius Graham that aired on Feb 26, 2009 - In this interview we focused on the topic: "Celebrating Heroes In our Midst". To access this archived episode simply click on the hyperlinks here or look to the right to find a link to the radio show.

-- Chatter --

This is a very busy time of month for me as this is when I concentrate on getting all the outlines & final details together for the following month's schedule. In May, we have 9 featured authors appearing on Authors Read radio - 9 featured guests & 1-3 prizes offered for our weekly prize give-away on Conscious Discussions radio. So far I'm about 1/2 way through the completion of all these details. -- Whew!

I'm so pleased and honored to have had a rash of new interest from radio shows (& some print media as well) that we have not yet had a chance to appear on as guests... without really trying. I've been holding off on heavy marketing the last few months due to schedule constraints & a changing publishing schedule for the 2nd, revised, edition of Purple Snowflake Marketing. Yet these opportunities still come in to us... & I am so grateful for that.

From the 18th to the 20th I’ll be out of the office on a vacation of sorts… a vacation from the office. So any emails or messages will be dealt with after Tuesday next week. Thanks for your patience in this regard.

-- Earth Week's Coming Up! --

In honor of Earth Week (April 19-25) - Dave & I plan on purchasing between 2 & 4 trees to "donate" to the city. What we are doing is planting them outside our property along the boulevard, keeping in mind the future of the city by accommodating room for sidewalks, etc. The holes were dug last year & the soil was replaced with good garden soil, then let to sit fallow for a season. Planting trees or increasing green space in a community is one very positive way to provide shade & mediate moisture in the air around the immediate area & provide homes for the wild-critters. We are choosing varieties carefully so that as they mature they will not infringe on possible future city infrastructure or existing power lines.

-- Garbage Day???--

Please, please put your garbage out in secure containers only an hour or so before the garbage truck comes through your region. Way too many people put out their garbage the night before, or even several days in advance of the garbage pick-up scheduled time, & this leads to all kinds of pollution & health issues.

Restless humans & wandering animals (both domestic & wildlife) will tear into the garbage & drag it around the neighborhood where the wind picks up light plastics & continues the migration of the trash for miles & miles - often ending up in our precious water-ways (streams, bogs, lakes, etc). Few of us realize that 80% of the waste in water-ways is carried there from natural & traffic wind.

This horrible human habit entices innocent animals & birds to neighborhoods, habituating them to harvesting meals from our waste & encouraging them to hang out where vehicle traffic can easily destroy life. These additional "road-kill" animals - everything from skunks to raccoons and domestic cats or dogs - is a horrible waste of life... but it also increases the chance of scavengers coming to the "feast".

Sadly, many humans see this increased animal activity as "cute" & some people will actually encourage it purposely by placing cut up fruit, compost and even bales of hay for the animals to eat or bed down in. This is a great way to attract disease carrying rats and mice to your homes and offices, increasing traffic accidents & loss of life - all for the joy of seeing the pretty deer or raccoons... It really is sad, isn't it?

So Please Please PLEASE keep your garbage sealed & kept in containers - and only put the bags on the curb JUST BEFORE the garbage truck comes through your area.

Find Dave & Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, information about their radio shows & free resources & articles at www.brummet.ca