Wonderful Spring Gala!

We had a wonderful evening at the Lake Hickory Country Club, celebrating the community we have created over the years here in Hickory.

As a new volunteer, it was great to meet so many supporters of The Women's Resource Center and to get know the board members, past and present. So many helping hands were there making the event a great success.

Lisa Miller, the Executive Director and our fearless leader, gave a great speech tonight, expressing some thought provoking ideas. She spoke about the difficulties we are all facing these days, how our community is changing and that the kind of support The Women's Resource Center provides will become even more crucial as we head into the future.

One of the things I love about The Women's Resource Center is the mingling of youth and maturity and the celebration of all of the talents we have to offer, young and old. We all have so much to learn from each other and its wonderful to be in a community that values all of the insights and energy each of us can give.

Terri Bennett, our keynote speaker, gave us wonderful food for thought regarding what we all could do to not just reduce our carbon footprint, but our eco footprint. I learned many facts about lightbulbs and recycling that have inspired me to do even more to reduce, recycle and reuse. Go to her site to see the many simple things you can do to create a more sustainable life that helps protect the planet.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make the gala such a lovely event, especially Susan Huttman, WRC Outreach Coordinator, who spent the evening managing the logistics, making it all run so smoothly. It was a pleasure to volunteer with so many warm and dedicated people.

I am sure we will have pictures to share soon - hope to see even more of you there at next year's event!

Posted by K ate Tinnan, WRC volunteer

Terri Bennett's Prescription for Making our World Cleaner and Safer

Terri Bennett, a nationally recognized earth scientist, is the keynote speaker for the Women's Resource Center 2009 Gala on May 7. Here is a recent article she published on her blog that provides practical advice for those of us interested in keeping it clean without harming the environment with toxic chemicals.

Cleaning with Less Waste

Most of us have that under the sink cabinet or pantry closet overflowing with cleaners of all varieties. We think we need all of these cleaners to cut through grease and grime and provide a cleaner, less germy environment for our families. I certainly fall into this category...or at least I used to. That's before I discovered vinegar and baking soda. Now my cleaning cabinet has a 2 gallon jug of vinegar, a couple of spray bottles that I recycled from other commercial cleaners and several boxes of baking soda.

There are many benefits to cleaning with fewer chemical cleaners. Of course there is the obvious health benefit. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the air inside our homes is on average two to five times more polluted than the air outside, largely due to household cleaners. The EPA has also found that toxic chemicals in household cleaners are three times more likely to cause cancer than other air pollutants. And it's not just the air that we are polluting with these chemical cleaners. The Clean Water Fund estimates that the average American uses 40 pounds of toxic cleaners every year and much of that finds it way into the water supply where we spend billions of dollars trying to remove the toxins from our drinking water.

But there is another benefit, you'll also be creating less waste when you clean with fewer chemicals. In 2006, the United States generated about 14 million TONS of plastic waste. A large portion of that is from plastic containers and packaging including all of those cleaners in plastic bottles. It's estimated that on average we each generate 190 pounds of plastic trash every year and the recycling rate for plastics are around 20 percent, at best.

When you choose to clean with fewer chemical products, you create a healthier environment in your home or business. You will also buy fewer products, so naturally you'll create less waste. One two gallon jug of vinegar mixed with two gallons of water can fill one spray bottle about eight times! And a two gallon jug of vinegar costs about 2 bucks. That's what I call a savings! I'm also keeping harmful chemicals out of my house and creating less plastic waste by buying one jug instead of eight.

Finally, you're all wondering "But does it really work?" The answer is YES! I now use a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water to clean everything except marble. It's great on glass, countertops and undiluted vinegar cuts grease too (just let the vinegar sit for a few minutes). Vinegar also naturally kills germs, bacteria and mold so you don't have to worry that you're not really cleaning. Baking soda works great anyplace you need an abrasive to remove dirt (do not use it on stainless steel) or to remove odors in shoes, carpets, even pets and pet beds! You can find many more uses for vinegar and baking soda by checking out the Do Your Part section of our website.

So finish up those plastic bottles of chemical cleaners, rinse them out, and reuse them when you can for a natural solution of vinegar or vinegar and water (I keep a spray bottle of each under the sink). And remember to recycle those plastic containers when you can. The energy saved making one plastic bottle from recycled content rather than virgin materials can power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours!

Published with permission from Terri Bennett.

Posted by Kate Tinnan, WRC volunteer

Rachel Carson’s Timely and Timeless Message

Rachel Carson was a very brave woman at a time when being a woman and standing up to a major American industry was, well, something maybe only a handful of women did.

Selected by the National Women's History Project to serve as the iconic model for this year's theme, "Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet," Rachel Carson is often credited with inspiring the modern environmental movement.

Cover via Amazon

She had been a naturalist and environmentalist all her life, getting a MA in Zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932. But it was her challenge to the manufacturers of pesticides like DDT that put her in the national spotlight. I am not only struck by her courage to challenge male-dominated agribusiness in 1962 but her forethought in so meticulously documenting her findings so that it would be virtually impossible to silence her. What she wrote became a substantial mainstay to the environmental movement. Just eight years after Silent Spring was published, the first Clean Air Act was passed.

Being the parents of a 15 year old naturalist, we often have conversations in our house about the environment, and we never miss a nature documentary if we can help it.

I was asked to write this post at the same time that Rachel Carson’s work came up in a vocabulary lesson my son was studying. I confess I did not know much about her from my school years but having a son so interested in nature, I have been exposed to a great deal of scientific information that I don’t believe I would have sought out on my own.

This pioneer named Rachel Carson has inspired us to visit the library this week to find her books and read them. She is a great American, a great woman and a pioneering environmentalist to whom many of us owe gratitude for her courage and tenacity. I wonder how she would feel if she were alive today – discouraged that some big industries are still plundering our natural resources, polluting our air, pouring filth into our water, or would she be encouraged by so many citizens advocating for the health of our environment, buying local and organic food, educating ourselves about what needs to be done to protect our planet, and voting for leaders who support science and environmental protection. And would she wonder who will win.

For more information on Rachel Carson, visit these websites:

http://www.rachelcarson.org

http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/carson.html

Posted by Kate Tinnan, WRC volunteer

Obama pays tribute to women who helped preserve, protect the environment

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
March 3, 2009


WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH, 2009
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

With passion and courage, women have taught us that when we band together to advocate for our highest ideals, we can advance our common well-being and
strengthen the fabric of our Nation. Each year during Women's History Month, we remember and celebrate women from all walks of life who have shaped this
great Nation. This year, in accordance with the theme, "Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet," we pay particular tribute to the efforts of women in preserving and protecting the environment for present and future generations.

Ellen Swallow Richards is known to have been the first woman in the United States to be accepted at a scientific school. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1873 and went on to become a prominent chemist. In 1887, she conducted a survey of water quality in Massachusetts. This study, the first of its kind in America, led to the Nation's first state water-quality standards.

Women have also taken the lead throughout our history in preserving our natural environment. In 1900, Maria Sanford led the Minnesota Federation of Women's Groups in their efforts to protect forestland near the Mississippi River, which eventually became the Chippewa National Forest, the first Congressionally mandated national forest. Marjory Stoneman Douglas dedicated
her life to protecting and restoring the Florida Everglades. Her book, The Everglades: Rivers of Grass, published in 1947, led to the preservation of the Everglades as a National Park. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.

Rachel Carson brought even greater attention to the environment by exposing the dangers of certain pesticides to the environment and to human health. Her landmark 1962 book, Silent Spring, was fiercely criticized for its unconventional perspective. As early as 1963, however, President Kennedy acknowledged its importance and appointed a panel to investigate the book's
findings. Silent Spring has emerged as a seminal work in environmental studies. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1980.

Grace Thorpe, another leading environmental advocate, also connected environmental protection with human well-being by emphasizing the vulnerability of certain populations to environmental hazards. In 1992, she launched a successful campaign to organize Native Americans to oppose the storage of nuclear waste on their reservations, which she said contradicted Native American principles of stewardship of the earth. She also proposed
that Americans invest in alternative energy sources such as hydroelectricity, solar power, and wind power.

These women helped protect our environment and our people while challenging the status quo and breaking social barriers. Their achievements inspired generations of American women and men not only to save our planet, but also to overcome obstacles and pursue their interests and talents. They join a long and proud history of American women leaders, and this month we honor
the contributions of all women to our Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2009 as Women's History Month. I call upon all our citizens to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that honor the history, accomplishments, and contributions of American women.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.


BARACK OBAMA