We are the 19%

Driving my daughter to school early one morning, I was thinking about suffering. Real suffering. I was thinking about a story I recently heard about mothers in Somalia who embark upon a two-week trek to reach food and water. Along the way, a child becomes too weak to walk any further. The mother is forced to make a decision between 1 child and her remaining six. Does she stay with the 1 child, a decision that will ultimately result in the death of all her children? Or does she leave that one child behind, to die alone, sparing the lives of the other six? This story is stuck in my head. It doesn’t go away. Sometimes, I’ll just be watching my kids eat breakfast

and get overwhelmed with gratitude for being born into a life so abundant with food, water, and shelter. I’m grateful that I am not one of those mothers, yet pained by the fact that I feel absolutely helpless and powerless to change their circumstances.

How is it that we can extract oil from the other side the world, transport it across an ocean to refineries that turn it into a substance that can power millions of vehicles, yet we cannot get these starving children food and water?  Why can’t we get transportation for these mothers and their children who are walking for two weeks and dying along the way?  How is it that we can land on the moon and travel through space, but not get food and water to a country here on our very own planet?

How can we look at ourselves in the mirror and still want more, knowing that there are people in this world whose basic needs are not being met? As a mother, how can I want more, knowing that another mother has to leave her child behind to die to save her other children?

We are occupying Wall Street by the thousands. We are occupying Wall Street because our way of life has become threatened. We have lost our jobs. We have lost our homes. Our cars have been repossessed. We can’t afford to shop at Hollister; we have to settle for Target instead. We scrape the bottom of our purses looking for change to purchase our $2.45 cup of coffee from Starbucks; no more venti caramel macchiatos. We are not the 99%. We are the 19%. The majority, 80%, live in varying degrees of starvation, malnourishment, and extreme poverty, while 1% keep the 19% drunk on material wealth and gorged on stuff, stuff, and more stuff. The 80% are out of sight and out of mind. Industrialized agriculture has stolen their food and killed their soil. Manufacturers in search of cheap labor have polluted their air and water. Corrupt governments have raped their land of natural resources. ALL OF THIS is done so you and I can have more stuff. WE, the consumers, are the problem. WE, the consumers, have ALL THE POWER. If tomorrow, everyone in support of occupy Wall Street spent NO MONEY, and demanded that somebody, somewhere get those mothers and their babies in Somalia some food and water before we will spend another penny, we would see change happen fast. Yes, we might have to get a little uncomfortable. We might even have to get a little hungry for a few days, but WE would know our power and we would never forget it, nor would the corporations or the 1% whose very existence relies on the certainty that tomorrow you and I will wake up and at some point throughout the day, we will spend money.

Consumption Awareness with Moms and their Kids

As a mom of three young children, I think mothers lead the pack when it comes to excessive consumption. Just look at what we buy! Moms, I promise you, your children will not shrivel up and dehydrate if they don’t have a drink every 15 minutes– enough with the juiceboxes! In fact, drop the juice addiction altogether. Water’s what they really need. And the prepackaged snacks? Even the organic kind? Not healthy! You know what’s healthy and sustainable? An apple. From a tree.

I brought a whole new consumption awareness with me to the grocery store. I now buy very little that comes in plastic packaging. Kids need snacks for lunch?  It’s raw fruits and veggies all the way… and I put the produce in my own canvas bags, not the plastic produce bags. We didn’t produce a lot of garbage before I went hardcore on my grocery habits, but now we use one small bag and it takes two weeks to fill it. So next time you go grocery shopping, ask yourself, “Do I really need this?  Does the nutritional content of this product warrant its packaging?”

What about the toys and the clothes slick marketing schemes try to brainwash us into believing we need? What does that new baby really need? I promise you, the latest Pack and Play Portable Playard or the Fisher-Price Power Plus Swing and all the other crap that sits in a landfill six months after we bought it can’t be considered a necessity.

What about the brand new baby clothes dipped in flame retardant? Do you really want that stuff on your baby? My last child was born in June. I went to the Salvation Army and bought a bunch of onesies. It was hot. That was all she needed. The only other thing I bought was an Ergo (a baby carrier). That’s it. You don’t NEED all the plastic junk and the brand new clothes that you’re led to believe you can’t do without. All our babies need is a boob and a means to be tied to us—nothing more, nothing less.

The next time you get the impulse to buy something for your child, stop and think. Is your need just to connect? Do something with your child instead. Give your child your time, not more stuff. You’ll both feel more fulfilled.

I’ve had a coffee addiction for most of my adult life. When I say addiction, I mean ADDICTION! Once I start my first cup in the morning, I can’t stop. And I can’t drink weak coffee. I like high octane, dark roast, light a fire under your bum coffee. I’m not one of those people who can have a cup of coffee and then lay down for a nap. In fact I can’t drink coffee past 2 pm, or I’m up all night. This is a problem, since I already said once I start drinking coffee, I can’t stop.

I’m very committed to being healthy and consuming healthy foods. I tried to convince myself that since I drank organic coffee, it was healthy. I loved reading those studies about how coffee is good for you because it’s high in antioxidants. But, in the back of my mind, I knew better. Any health benefits were canceled out by the stress it caused my adrenals and kidneys. That all too familiar shaky feeling, the need to remind myself to breathe, the irritability.  While I can completely blame all of my irritation on my husband, the short temper with my kids was inexcusable.

So I finally hit rock bottom.  Coffee was making me way too manic, and my body way too acidic. My jaw was always clenched and my neck tight. I knew what I had to do. It took me months to finally make the attempt. I really didn’t think it was possible, not for me anyways. I had tried to stop in the past and it just didn’t work. It didn’t matter if I replaced my morning cup of coffee with tea or juice, I just wanted COFFEE!

Then I tried Teeccino. Teeccino is a non caffeinated coffee alternative made from roasted herbs. I had tried it in the past and it didn’t work for me. This time I was a little more committed and Teeccino had come out with different flavors. I tried their Maya CafféHerbal Coffee and after my first sip, I knew kicking my coffee habit was possible.

I weaned myself off the caffeine. I started out doing 3/4 coffee, 1/4 Teecino for about 3 days. Then I went down to half coffee, half Teeccino and so on and for 2 weeks until I had completely eliminated coffee. No headaches, no mood changes.  I had a little bit of brain fog for the first couple of weeks but it eventually subsided. I probably could have avoided the brain fog if I had weaned myself off the caffeine slower. It’s been about 2 months since have kicked my coffee addiction. When I get up in the morning my head is clear and I feel great. I still go straight to the coffee maker to brew my Teeccino, but that’s just psychological. My body is thanking me.