Brummet's Conscious Blog

Recommended Resources For Calgary (AB, Canada) residents mainly, this site offers ways to volunteer and live more sustainably within the city. However, you'll also find quite a few kid-friendly resources and great information anyone can use around the office or home.    https://www.greencalgary.org/   Have kids? Here's a great link from the website just for them:  https://www.greencalgary.org/green-kids/online-activities Youth may also enjoy the  Earth Challenge Project designed to empower children to be responsible stewards of the earth via active, thoughtful participation. ~~ Visit the Brummet's @:  http://BrummetMedia.ca ~~

-- Getting Involved --  I have often been asked what I felt was the best way to start having a greater positive impact. I believe it starts with looking inside at the Self  first... becoming more aware, speak with a more positive voice, looking at daily activities such as shopping, food and waste disposal. Once you feel that you have a good handle on that (and perhaps you already do) the next step is to look around your home and yard to see what you can do there - i.e. eco-upgrades, growing more plants, start composting, etc.  Beyond that we can begin to influence our circles at work and socially as well (online too) - just by doing, by providing an example, we can influence them. We don't have to preach it or nag them, just show them by doing.   What is really exciting now is that all of us around the planet have all kinds of opportunities to have a greater impact by participating in all kinds of free or frugal activities already available to us....

-- Quote of the Day --    " Nature is man’s teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence."  ~ Alfred Billings Street -- Positive Living --  Nature is such a powerful entity, one that rejuvenates us and makes us whole. We can give back to nature and help protect sensitive living beings with some very simple steps. Fall is here and it is time to plant trees... That is always a good place to start. Planting a few trees on your property, donating some to the city park or local schools is always helpful to the community - or join some of the non-profits out there that plant trees for your with your donation. Starting a garden and landscaping your property, encouraging your apartment or condo building to start balcony and roof top gardens, creating more diversity in the gardens and land...

Earlier this year we created several posts offering tips for eco-friendly activities for your family that you may want to scroll back in the archives to find... in particular here are 2 that I think you'd find most interesting:  http://consciousdiscussions.blogspot.ca/2014/03/we-really-do-matter.html and  http://consciousdiscussions.blogspot.ca/2014/01/green-family-activities.html We are thrilled to provide yet another option for you to consider that was submitted by Abel Cane:  Find Dave and Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, their radio program, blog, and more at: http://brummet.ca * Support the Brummets by telling your friends, clicking those social networking buttons, or visiting the Brummet's Store - and help raise funds for charity as well!

-- Green and Educational Family Activities --  Plan now to find ways of creating educational and green living activities with your children and youth this summer.  Over the summer, kids often forget how to learn, their minds become more sluggish and they become bored easily.  A lot of parents are concerned with the increased use of the TV and online games. Adults are concerned too about finding ways to instill conscious living skills in the youth, while finding activities that increase physical ability and help create stronger bonds within the family. We have some great ideas to help you with this. Perhaps you can involve other family members, neighbors, coworkers or other parents who are adept at wood working for some of the projects listed below. Discuss with the youth what they'd like to get involved in to make the world a better place. The best place to start is in your own back yard or on your own balcony, but you can also get i...

Fun and Eco-friendly Crafty Gift Ideas The joy of the holidays is making its way into our homes and offices, but there are a lot of people out there on constrained budgets, while others want to instill conscious living patterns in their children. Families are aching to spend time together, but sometimes, they just don't know what to do that would be fun for everyone. Here are some tips that could help you accomplish all of these things: Save all of your old birthday or other holiday cards - these are great craft items! Consider all the cards you've received or those that you've made wrong entries in and don't want to send it out with a big scribble in the inside ... they are all useful. Gather the family, youth group or craft-loving friends, around a sturdy table to create puzzles, ornaments, gift tags, bookmarks or fridge magnets for their own homes or as gifts to their friends, class mates or loved ones. These can also make wonderful projects ...

-- Quote of the Day --  " Man, being the servant and interpreter of nature, can do and understand so much - and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature. "  ~ Sir Francis Bacon -- Green Youth -- What a cool life today’s kids must have with all the programs and information at their fingertips – we sure didn’t have fossil finding, days in nature or extra adventures – although Dave did, he remembers going on ski trips and going on an archeological trip once. You know, I was really jazzed up after reading about thea program going on with Brent Kennedy Elementary school where students and instructors from the local college met with more than 40 grade 2 & 3 students to learn about rocks and bones. How cool is that?! In several local papers I've seen announcements about wild kid programs, wildlife programs, gardening programs... lots of extra curricular activities to get involved in this Summer - most of th...

-- Quote of the Day -- “ …There are so many ways to go green, one of the tenancies for going green is reusing and for the holidays there are so many ways to reuse whether its decor or cloth wrapping – we don’t feel it is boring to reuse – we call it ‘tradition’. …One of the most beloved piece of décor was kind of like an advent calendar, but was a cloth and felt calendar that my mom made with 25 pockets. And behind each pocket she put in little activities that the family would do together each day leading up to the holidays. Whether it was baking gingerbread cookies or going ice skating – it now hangs on my wall and I bet my girls would say it is their favorite thing about the holidays .” ~ Corey Colwell-Lipson Oct 15, 2009 The quote today originates from the Greening Holidays & Events interview that aired on the Conscious Discussions Talk Radio show back on Oct 15th, 2009. Check out the archived interview by clicking on the hyperlinks here or look to the right to find other rece...

-- Quote of the Day -- “ Writing for me started with letters to the editor – I discovered that I was rather unusual in that most of my letters were accepted where as there was a rejection rate of about 90% of the time… so that had me thinking… Hmmm maybe there is something to my writing. …The thing about traditional publishing, you quickly realize that it is not yours - you no longer own the book. …I found that nonfiction writing is very comfortable, very easy for me. …And is a venue in which I can promote all the things I believe in .” ~ Debbie Jordan - May 12, ’09 Today's quote was chosen from an interview that aired on the May 12th broadcast of Conscious Discussions radio this year. This discussion on Ending Poverty & Building Peace was really quite inspiring - check it out by clicking on the hyperlinks here or look to the right of this blog page for a link to the Conscious Discussions talk radio show. **Don't forget to enter this week's prize draw for Rick Neice...

-- Innovative Green Technology -- An article by Trey Granger at earth911.com site shared interesting recycling endeavors by the city of San Diego. Apparently they are offering free surfboard recycling to keep obsolete surf-boards out of landfills. The city will sort the surf-boards and any that are reusable are donated to various Los Angeles nonprofit organizations - while broken boards will be ground up and used in mixing concrete. According to the article: “ Over 750,000 surfboards are produced each year. Because modern surfboards are made of polystyrene (which you may know as #6 plastic), finding recycling options can be a challenge. ” Now of course there may be concerns with this new innovation such as the possibility of contaminating the concrete, a relatively benign material. Leaching pollutants into the air or water table could be another concern. However, I found this innovative approach to a growing landfill problem quite interesting and it is possible that these concerns hav...