Awesome Stories 393- Holiday Edition

There’s plenty of goodness in the world. Thanks to Brad for keeping hope alive!

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Winter snow from my days in Colorado.

Welcome back to Awesome Stories. I’ve been feeling the pull to do at least one more collection for the holidays. I can’t promise that I will continue this series as it is very time consuming and I started my new part-time job this week. I’m back doing food demos, this time inside Wal-Mart stores. This marketing company seems more professional and I like my manager. Hopefully, this will be a good match, at least until I decide whether to work a few more years or retire in May. It’s important to keep hope alive, especially during our darkest hours. Many of you have helped keep that hope alive for me during my challenging times. I appreciate the love and support so many of you have given me. Thank you! Then we must add some goals and action into the…

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So many possibilities for a better world in these awesome stories. Today is Memorial Day when we remember those who gave their lives. I am thankful for the service of all who who have sacrificed so much to protect. But what if we could shift to a society not so based on money and domination. That’s what the last awesome stories are about, seeing the world “not through the lens of profit, but of social impact.” May we move in the direction of compassion. (The coral art story is pretty cool, too.)

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This week Awesome Stories brings you MUSA, preventing blindness, and reforming our world.

Coral Art

MUSA is a unique art installation meant to further cooperation between the worlds of art and environmental science. MUSA is an underwater museum meant to restore the local habitat by providing a creative foundation to rebuild the sea life in the Cancun Bay. The underwater installation includes over 500 sculptures that serve as coral reefs for marine life to inhabit and grow. The sculptures were made by English sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor of a special material to anchor and encourage sea life to build upon. I find the sculptures a little creepy, but admire the scope of the project and that the materials actually help the marine life.

Healing Hearts and Eyes

Being of service to God and humanity means going well beyond … the best technology, to the humble demonstration of courtesy and compassion to each…

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Mother Earth can heal, but we have to give her a chance with time and medicine (as in compost), and we will dance with gratitude among the trees. Those are some clues about these awesome stories from Brad at “Writing to Freedom.”

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This week Awesome Stories brings you forest regeneration, Medicine Baba, growing gratitude, and dancing.

Forest Regeneration

This story warms my heart and gives me hope for the future. Twenty years ago, a couple donated a forested piece of land in exchange for orange peels and pulp for some deforested land. It turned out to be one of the best things they’ve ever done and a huge boon for climate change. This simple solution might be a game changer for climate change. After the initial shock of how well the forest had regrown, studies showed that not only did the forest grow faster and healthier, but it absorbed CO2 11 times faster than old-growth forests. This simple change of redirecting food waste to deforested land could dramatically reduce both landfill waste and CO2 growth in one simple solution.

Medicine Baba

This is a great story of how one person can make a difference. Touched…

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Brad has a way of collecting the most awesome stories. No rubbish here! But I’m jotting about it for Just Jot It January. 🙂 One more impressive reason to give up beef, a powerful video on peace, increased awareness of food waste and how to stop it, and creativity are all topics dear to my heart. Thanks, Brad!

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Thanks to Wendy at Wendy’s Waffle for today’s prompt: rubbish.  You can read more jots at Linda’s place: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/19/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-19th17/

writing to freedom

This week Awesome Stories brings you less beef, mothers for peace, food waste, and creativity for kids.

Bailing on Beef

I’ve been all over the map on eating meat, from meat lover growing up to vegetarian for 12 years in my 30s, and then in my 40s returning to meat in small quantities. It might be time to completely ditch the beef. From an environmental perspective, growing and eating beef is a disaster, especially modern day methods of feeding them grains instead of natural grasses. Compared to other meats, beef is far worse on land use, water use and emissions from the methane gas they emit. And compared to eating the grains directly instead of feeding them to cattle, the numbers are really bad. Beef uses 160 times more land and produces 11 times more greenhouse gas. Scientists estimate that giving up beef would have a greater environmental impact than giving…

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Thinking about re-blogging Awesome Stories on Sundays. Thanks to Brad at Writing to Freedom for finding these gems!

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This week Awesome Stories brings you deep listening, musical bonding, water diplomacy and prison gardens.

Feeding Body and Soul

Inmates have a challenging time. Too many prisons feature sterile and harsh environments. Fortunately, there is some prison reform happening. Besides the restorative justice I’ve written about before, more prisons are starting to grow their own food. This gives the prisoners a chance to eat better food, learn gardening and bond with nature. Prison administrators are encouraged to find that growing fresh foods improve inmate health and quality of life, reduce carbon footprint, create jobs reduce costs. Read the article on prison gardens to learn how they are feeding body and soul.

Deep Listening

This article offers great tips on how to listen when you disagree. Like the author, I notice how divisive our country and conversations have gotten. Clearly, we would benefit from more listening and connecting. If we…

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