League of Maternal Justice

Because Vigilante Super Hero Moms Deserve A Treat Now And Then

I could write volumes on the number of bad-slash-inappropriate-slash-downright-startling gifts that I've received over the years. The case of beer from a (very short-term) boyfriend one not so memorable Valentine's Day. The denim overalls - way too big for me, which was irrelevant, because I was never, EVER going to where them anyway - from my mother one birthday. The completely unsexy full-body footy pajamas from my husband that Christmas that his mother stayed with us. The hairnet he shoved in my stocking that same year.

All of those gifts? Trashed. (Except the beer. I drank that.) Well, the hairnet got trashed. The overalls and the pajamas went to Goodwill, I think, in some giant bags filled with other assorted undesirable miscellany. But they might have gone to the landfill, or into the atmosphere to destroy the ozone, had I been upset enough to dramatically throw them in the trash or burn them.

It's for this reason that I consider it to be a public and environmental service that any and all persons purchasing gifts for women like myself give due care and consideration to both the desirability of the gift and the eco-friendliness of the gift - to reduce the chances that the gift will be turfed, and to reduce the impact of the gift upon the environment if it is turfed.

To assist in that service in advance of Mother's Day - and in honor of Earth Week - I have compiled a short list of gifts that are likely to meet that criteria of 'due care and consideration' (I'M TALKING TO YOU, HUSBAND-MAN. READ CAREFULLY):

Turn Out The Lights

Tonight is - dum da da dum! - Earth Hour.

Which means - as Nelly Furtado would say, and will say, at a free concert tonight in Toronto - TURN OUT THE LIGHTS. For one hour. Tonight, starting at eight. The objective is to get as many communities and people around the world reducing their power-use, for just a little while, to what a difference it makes.

Which, cool (and dark, but in the best possible way.)

And as I hinted above, Nelly Furtado is going to kick off the hour with a free! concert! in Toronto:

The partners of Toronto’s Earth Hour today announced that multi-platinum Grammy and Juno Award-winner, and Canada’s own, Nelly Furtado will join Earth Hour as the first Canadian Earth Hour Ambassador. She will also perform a free concert at Nathan Phillips Square on March 29 to celebrate Earth Hour.

As an Earth Hour Ambassador and an advocate for the environment, Nelly Furtado will play an unplugged concert at the Earth Hour community event, starting at 7:30 p.m. The organizers are taking steps to make the event as carbon-neutral as possible - including powering the event with green, renewable energy from Bullfrog Power. People from across the GTA are invited to attend.

As I've said elsewhere, it really is awesome that they're making it carbon-neutral and unplugged and all, but I still don't get how it's going to be a particularly effective concert with all the lights out. I mean, will there be candles? Isn't that a fire hazard? Or will Nelly just light everything up with the glow of her own fabulousness?

Whatever. Wherever you are, bust out the candles and the organic wine and make this your night for eco-friendly romance.

Do it for the children.

More details on Earth Hour HERE. Earth Hour Canada: HERE.

(Cross-posted at BlogHers Act Canada)

Source

Purge!

blog blast post by motherbumper

For the past three weekends, I've been meaning to do what seems for me to be harder than attaining Hanna freakin' Montana tickets - I've been trying to start that so called "Spring Cleaning" and purging.  My new tune is "Simplify my Life" (sung to Madonna's "Justify my love" because I'm totally stuck in the 80's).  But seriously - for me, there is no spring in this cleaning but there's lots of purge - it's like a big ol' heap of nauseatingly overwhelming frustration mixed with lots of sneeze-inducing dust.