Ginger Garner now CEC Blogger!

Hi everyone,

There are many great reasons for all Conversation Leaders to tune into the CEC blog, which is really starting to take off - but here's a new one:  Ginger Garner (Cohort L) is now blogging regularly for the CEC site!

Check out her recent post on why we need a Mother's Bill of Rights.

If you are interested in Healing through music, movement, and meditation, you will also love Ginger's home website at www.gingergarner.com.

Ginger also visited Whidbey Island in August, where she met up with Dorothy Baumgartner (Facilitator, Cohort L), Rumi Keast (Cohort L) and Ann Amberg (Program Administrator and member of Cohort N) for a sushi feast and a caring economy conversation.

Here's Rumi's description of that fun gathering:

Rumi presents her beautiful
sushi  to Dorothy's daughter
Annika and a friend

Guess what happened. Ginger visited Whidbey Island yesterday and Dorothy and I met her!

We had a sushi class at Dorothy's husband church, watched a Riane's Tedx talk and had a conversation for caring economics and health care issues - poor communication between health care providers and recipients, and among health care providers in different fields. At the conversation,  Dorothy, her husband, a yoga instructor, Ann (new program coordinator) were present.  We were glad Ginger was there.  She is respectable, friendly, helpful, intellectual, and beautiful!

Rumi and Ginger

It was interesting for me to hear Ginger say sand on a Whidbey's beach is different from her area and the vegetation is similar to the one in North Carolina's mountain areas. She is my very first person from North Carolina whom I got to know.  

Thanks to Ginger for representing Caring Economics so beautifully, and to Rumi, Dorothy, and Ann for pulling off such a lovely gathering.  (Seeing these sushi pictures makes me doubly sorry to have missed it!)

-SS

A collection of resources on economy and environment

Greetings all, 

The dashing Paul Swann (Cohort L) sent the following note to his cohort - it was so full of great resources I just had to share with you all!

Paul writes from Wales:

I thought you might be interested in a chapter by David Korten in "Gaian Economics", the "Economic Key" of this freely downloadable series:

http://www.gaiaeducation.org/index.php/en/publications/4-keys.html

Titled "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community", it references Dr Eisler's work and draws upon her domination-partnership continuum. 

In the past few weeks I've been looking into climate change, prompted by the weird weather we've been having. Naomi Klein's next book on this subject may re-vitalise the issue. Meanwhile, she wrote this article last November: 

http://www.thenation.com/article/164497/capitalism-vs-climate

And Bill McKibben has written this disturbing article: 

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719

It's not looking good. But as we know, every crisis is an opportunity...

Best wishes,

Paul

Data Galore

Hi everyone,

Get it?  Data?

So often as Caring Economy Conversation Leaders we wish we had just the right example or data point at our fingertips to help make tangible the "big picture" ideas of a caring economy.  But who among us really wants to wade through statistics and policy reports?  (Maybe I should speak for myself on that, but I suspect I'm not alone...)

Those of you in the US will be happy to have these wonderful new fact sheets put together by the Center for American Progress.  I've already used some of the facts that popped off the page to me in the slides for the new Caring Economy Starter Course that we launched last week.  I think you'll find them useful in a similar way.


For example, did you know that only 55.9 percent of workers have the flexibility to adjust their work schedules to care for a child or elderly parent? Because of the danger of losing a job or missing a promotion because of illness, pregnancy, or taking care of a sick loved one, many parents are left to choose between their jobs and their families.  That's just crazy!  We can do better.

Check out these fact sheets here:

• Paid Sick Days by Jane Farrell and Joanna Venator
• Paid Family and Medical Leave by Sarah Jane Glynn
• Workplace Flexibility by Sarah Jane Gynn and Joanna Venator
• The Wage Gap for Women by Sarah Jane Glynn
• Child Care by Sarah Jane Glynn

Also, learn more about the need for paid sick leave from policy analyst Sarah Jane Glynn in this video. 

Let us know which facts you find most incredible, and which you'll be most likely to share with others!

- SS