Brummet's Conscious Blog

Environmental And Social Standards In The Fashion Industry * Today's article was written by: Dylan Tanner - an eco-entrepreneur and writer who founded the newsletters Asia and China Environmental Reviews and has been writing about environmental and social trends within a business context for fifteen years. His latest venture is a www.ekobai.com " B2B directory of SA 8000 certified companies and other certified suppliers. Environmental, social and ethical pressures on the global textiles and fashion sector emerged in Europe in the early 1980s. The main driver was consumer concern over the safety of the materials. However in parallel with this trend, a minority group of ethical consumers demanded “chemical-free” and low environmental impact clothing and fashion goods. This resulted in the European and later the US organic labeling system being extended to include criteria for clothing and textiles, such as organic cotton. As of 2007, the sector w...

-- Quote of the Day --    "The tulip and the butterfly Appear in gayer coats than I: Let me be dressed fine as I will, Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still." ~ Isaac Watts  Ah the joy of viewing nature. One of the things about gardening that keeps me going is simply watching things grow. Plants constantly amaze me with starting out as one little brown hard lumpy seed, to producing an amazing array of colors, leaves, heights, textures, flowers - each providing the earth with a service: each feeding and nurturing other life, each giving back even at the end of their lives to help improve the quality of the soil.  I love watching the different colored insects that come along throughout different times of the day - and birds too. Butterflies of different sizes, amazing color displays... iridescent bees and so on. I often discover a life form I haven't heard of or seen before and that sends me running to the book shelf ...

 This is the 2nd installment of a 2-part article offering resources for people looking for new careers or help for their intended career in the realm of green jobs. Part 1 was published on September 1st .  So here is Part 2 of: 50 Awesome Scholarships For Eco-minded Students * Written by Raj Prince   26. Blade Your Ride Scholarship - Offered to full-time undergrad and grad students at an accredited university or college in the US. One student will get $15,000, and two will get $5,000. 27. American Fisheries Society 28. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation - Called the Wildlife Leadership Awards, it covers a $2,000 scholarship, plus a one-year membership to the Elk Foundation . 29. American Ground Water Trust - Offers opportunities to college eco-students who wish to get into ground water studies 30. The Explorers Club - Awards $500 to $1500 to high school students and college undergrads. 31. National Wild Turkey Federation - Awards $250...

-- Quote of the Day --  "Sometimes in tragedy we find our life's purpose ; the eye sheds a tear to find its focus."  ~Robert Brault  Today's quote sends me to gratitude... I'm grateful for the tragedy, the grief, the hardships I've encountered so far in my 44 years on this earth in this life. Without them I wouldn't be where I am, with the people I love or the location that feeds my soul each day. I wouldn't have the skills I do, the passion I have to make a difference and live consciously with every moment I am given. I know what poverty is and how to deal with it without going crazy. When things go horribly wrong, when we loose someone, when life takes a bad turn we often realize just how resourceful we are, that we are stronger than we realized.  Each challenge is an opportunity - so when something pops up that you have to face, try changing your perception of it to being a chance to learn, to grow, to change. ...

OK - here is a 2-part discussion on environmental or green jobs that may interest people looking for a career change toward something that makes a difference in the world. Check out the resources and feel free to pass on the link to these 2 posts. Part 2 will be published on September 3rd .  50 Awesome Scholarships For Eco-minded Students * Written by Raj Prince    For an aspiring university entrant who is also as passionate about environmental issues, obtaining a scholarship that is aligned with an organization that shares your personal advocacy can be quite a challenge. The more popular scholarship grants nowadays usually come from huge multinational corporations whose ecological advocacies are not wholly exercised. But that's where the misconception ends. In fact, there are thousands of eco-friendly organizations that also offer college scholarships. So if you're one of this crowd and would like some assistance to finish a rather expensive unive...

-- Innovative Use For Compost --  Many of our loyal blog readers and former radio show listeners may remember the many times I've highlighted the benefits of composting, composting organizations and companies, how-to compost, compost systems, and how some companies have high-tech set ups where they are able to encourage and collect gasses released from the composting process that are used as fuel to heat buildings, create electricity and so on. Today I'd like to talk a little about one really interesting way for at-homer's to use their compost in yet another way. As most gardeners know, composts can generate a lot of heat. Some gardeners place a compost pile next to their greenhouse for the winter months, others will put a compost inside the greenhouse with a pipe for ventilation. The heat from the compost will help the greenhouse compete with the colder days of winter, and I suppose it would be pleasant to venture into a warm greenhouse to dump the kitchen compost...

-- World of Writing --  Neal James began writing in 2007 when a series of short stories found favor on a number of international writing sites. Since then, he has released five novels and one anthology. He has appeared in both the national and local press, and has also been a regular at branches of Waterstones and local reading groups and libraries in his home counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Find out more about Neal James and all of his writing on his website:  www.nealjames.webs.com Q: How have your books gotten published? After self-publishing a selection of my short stories using Lulu, I began looking around, in 2007, for a publishing house prepared to launch my first novel. I came across Pneuma Springs after failing to grab the attention of any of the usual literary agencies and publishing houses, and have remained with them ever since. Pneuma are a publishing company operating in Kent, in the south east of Eng...