Okay, they were phonebooks. Remember those? You used to have to use them to look up information about businesses in your area. They were loaded with great information like phone numbers, addresses, maps sometimes, pictures of the businesses and even listings of services they provided.

You’d grab this big, heavy book of paper and thumb through it looking for what you needed, then you’d make a phone call.

When was the last time you used a phone book? What do we use these days instead? The computer! Or even phones themselves to get the information we need.

Why are they still printing these beasts? How many trees are cut down for these? Do we just use recycled paper for them? I sure hope we do.

I understand that there are probably a small percentage of people that still want and use phonebooks, but do they have to print millions of them and deliver them unrequested to our doorsteps?

Why can’t I opt out of this analog spam that shows up at my house at least once a year?

Image: kamaru on flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Dead Sea Scrolls of Information

This brings me to the topic of my post today. I’m happy about the fact that Apple has shown a lot of responsibility towards the environment and going green. As evidenced by their current line of products plus how they build them. It’s explained in their environment section of their web site.

Apple is explaining their environmental footprint and the breakdown. According to their site, 38% of their footprint is on caused by manufacturing, 5% by transportation, 1% by recycling, 3% by facilities and the biggest is product use which comprises of 53%.

Over the past few years Apple has tried to lessen the amount of materials they use for their products. Achieving this through better design and engineering. The current generation of iMacs uses 55% less materials than the 1st 15 inch iMac launched years ago. They’ve also tried to keep their packaging as compact as possible in order to use less materials and ship more products per container, thus saving on transportation costs.

The materials used on the products have been taken into consideration as well. Apple is leading the way in reducing or in some cases eliminating toxic substances in their products. Limiting the use of plastics and other materials that are not recyclable.

And because the biggest part of the environmental foot print comes from the usage of the products, Apple has tried as much as possible to make their products energy efficient. Quoting from their web site.

Take Mac mini, for example. It uses as little as a quarter of the power consumed by a typical lightbulb,⁴ making it the most energy-efficient desktop computer in the world.⁵

As we’re now feeling the effects of our actions, we should be more responsible in conversing energy and our natural resources. I’m just glad that the company that manufacturers the computer I’m using is doing it’s part. Learn more about Apple’s environmental program here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hooray For Green Apples!

Regardless of what level your practice is at–beginner, intermediate, exploratory or advanced–the eight limbs of yoga (ashtanga) are vitally important stops along the way to the ultimate goal of transformation.

My last post focused on sustainability, and living a simpler, more beautiful life.

To continue along that thread, I wanted to talk a little bit about purity, or saucha, one of the observances belonging to the second limb.

Saucha is purity that operates on many levels. And it’s this purity of thought and action that can lead us to a more sustainable, contented lifestyle.

On a daily basis, we aspire to cleanliness for our bodies by washing ourselves, maintaining clean, organized homes, eating well and drinking clean water. Even more importantly, we must also aspire to an intellectual “cleanliness,” by not polluting our minds or speech with negativity, or clinging to emotional and physical obsessions. In other words, we must strive to find a balance that will provide us with a prescription to helps us keep ourselves clean, inside and out. This is such an important concept, as saucha is itself a pre-condition for experiencing the fullness of yoga and enlightenment.

It is believed–and true–that cleanliness and order within our minds and our lives helps lift our self-esteem and reinforces our knowledge that we are in fact deserving of good experiences. It helps improve our personalities, so we can experience the ultimate proposition of our practices–balanced self-awareness. And on a very practical level, when we feel pure and clean, we can be clear and precise about our intentions, unfettered by the imbalances that can often plague our bodies and our minds.

Every day we can practice purification in a variety of ways. In addition to the basics like bathing and taking care of our teeth, there are some less obvious ways we can achieve purification. I like to take mindfulness walks in nature (yes, all year round), singing, chanting my own personal mantras, burning incense and other natural oils, brushing my tongue (I know, but it does help), fasting from sleep or food for a day, and much to my friends’ delight, mona, which means refraining from talking for a day. I have all but removed watching television (haven‘t quite been able to remove it entirely J ) on a daily basis, religiously clear out clutter and excess, recycle, and laugh–a lot. These are all great and practical ways to purify your mind and your environment.

In yoga, there are several methods that are used to purify energies. My very favorite is the practice of tarka, which is a daily reflection on our activities and how we respond to them, done at the end of each day. Or you can use your own creativity to incorporate new purification techniques into your life to bring you more joy. The rituals themselves are important, but it is the acts and the intentions that are crucial.

I know this seems like another layer to add to your very busy lives and days. However, incorporating some of these techniques will move you much closer to achieving the purity of mind, spirit and body we are all trying to strive for with our own practices.

Once you move closer to that purity of mind through daily, prescriptive actions, you’ll see your own transformation begin to take place, with an enhanced clarity of thought and awareness.  New, comforting and pure.

Peace.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Pure Bliss of Yoga