Beazer's Garden Body, Bath & Home Journal

We need to set aside more time for celebrating. We are an industrious and busy people; going to school, working, making plans for our future lives. We tend to get caught up in the race, creating conditions that alienate us from each other socially, economically...experiential- y.  We need to stop, breathe and look around.  See all we have done negatively, learn and fix it. See all that we have done positively, enjoy, learn and do more of it. One of the things I love most about being a human being is our ability to rally  for a good cause.  Celebrating our strengths, accomplishments, and goals as a group gives fuel to a collective passionate fire to create more positive conditions for happiness. Ignoring that collective bond has its own effect and is no fun. Last weekend I went to the Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival , an annual festival in Croton on Hudson started by Pete Seeger over 40 years ago.  Its mission to provide "environmental r...

So I have a worm-bin in my kitchen and would never have thought that worms were such voracious eaters! A few years ago I decided to change a few things in my life in order to live a greener lifestyle.  I called it "The Beazer Challenge", and I attempted to tackle issues related to energy efficiency, toxic chemical in the home, eating healthier, and consumer habits. These were things I thought were easy to manage on a small scale but that would add up to benefits for myself and community on whole. I will post more on these topics soon. But back to the worms...I decided to learn about indoor composting as a result of my attempt to eat healthy. Buying and eating more fruits and veggies was great, wasting them due to over stocking my fridge was not. I was wasting food and money in my green mission. At the time I had turtles who helped me consume my produce, but after they left it was just me with tons of greens. then I heard about worm composting which is a way ...

To those who know me, you understand that I've always had goals of wanting to help make the world a better place. Those lofty, idealistic thoughts from my youth led to the honing of my skills, academically, professionally and socially to better bring those ideals into reality. To those who don't know me that well, I've worked and volunteered with many environmental, educational and community based organizations most of my adult life. But in every job I've had, I felt as if I were in service to the community. This project idea has been brewing in my head for many years and winning this grant would be an opportunity for me to directly give something to my community.   Remember to vote daily! Vote by texting 106910 to Pepsi (73774) to vote from your mobile phone, by using the mobile site, m.refresheverything.com, and by power voting with special codes from select Pepsi products that enables up to 100 votes a day on Pepsi Refresh page: http://www.refreshe...

The heat of Summer is upon us... Time to go to the beach with a big umbrella, floppy hat and ice filled cooler, or to a tree- filled, shady park with a blanket or to a cool indoor venue for something fun. Otherwise, I'm indoors until evening time. It's too darn hot! Sometimes it's even warmer inside than it is out! So here are a few simple things to do: 1-Keep lights off during the day.  Your eyes are perfectly fine to maneuver indoors during the day without them.  The electricity used generates tons of heat adding to what's coming in from outside. 2-Stay hydrated!! Always have a water bottle with you outdoors. Especially kids and elderly! This is so important, dehydration happens quickly in this weather so be prepared. Water or light juices are best. Have an iced coffee instead of hot when you need your fix. 3-Open the windows but draw the shades. Keep out the hot rays, let in the breeze, especially at night when the air is cooler. 4-Fans are better then air ...

Hello friends! So I told you that I will be posting some topics from my Masters program in Public Administration. My final class of the program is called Seminar with the topic on innovation which asked students to come up with an idea for a nonprofit that they know or work with. I choose to write about a project that some colleagues and I have been discussing for the past few years in how to bring needed services to our communities in the Bronx. Just a bit of background on me and why I’m doing this…growing up in the Bronx in the 70′s and 80′s was so different from what is now. Sure it had it rough spots, like what is still broadcast as stereotypical images that I won’t repeat, but it was still the time where neighbors all knew each other and looked out for each other, my friends' parents would look out for me and all of the kids in the neighborhood and treat us as communal responsibility (with the ability to scold and report back to our respective parents , people...

VOTE DAILY through June for my community project idea and enter your favorite Bronx school for a chance to win free workshops and site upgrades! Leave a comment on the Pepsi Refresh page with the name of your school choice and get the students and staff involved to increase our chances to win $50k! Vote on the Pepsi Refresh website ( http://pep.si/k8F37e ), by texting 106910 to Pepsi (73774) to vote from your mobile phone, by using the mobile site, m.refresheverything.com, and by power voting with special codes from select Pepsi products that enables up to 100 votes a day! Help me to help my community! Read the Pepsi grant Press Release …