Live Real Life

I don't have a cell phone but do find it very distracting/rude when people continue to use their cell phones when I'm in the room. My kids mostly. How are you ever going to see what's there with you if your face is in a screen?

"Real" World Experience - Making Peace

I hope we have millions of teachers like him. The World Peace Game is wonderful.

The Story of Solutions

Love this.

What would you add to the new story?

Kindness, inclusion, happiness, gentle action. These are all things I'm acting on lately.

"What did you do once you knew?"

Watch this. Take action. Vote. Join other's who are part of the solution.

Those perfectly ordinary moments........

What a beautiful piece and so true. Love you Dorothy. Love you Kevin.

A New Paradigm

Loved this.

Think before you buy plastic.........

There are so many other things we can use besides plastic that aren't as harmful to our planet. Do your part!

Listen fast so you don't miss anything!

Wow, the information I do in an hour with slides!

Choice is a BIG thing

Climate Change 101

I Am Only A Child

...but I understand what it takes to save our planet.

This is what passion looks like!

I want some of that!!!!!!!!!

One Song. One Planet. One Future

I want to sing along.

The History of Fossel Fuels

What you do in your own life is the only thing that will help our world.

Do it for your planet, do it for your yard

Get Out and VOTE!

In the October issue of Rolling Stone, Jann S. Wenner interviewed President Obama. In closing, the President said:

“It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in the midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we’ve got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, that has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.

The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.

Everybody out there has to be thinking about what’s at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we’d better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527’s that the Roberts court says can spend the impunity without disclosing where their money’s coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one.

We have t get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard – that’s what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we’ve got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place.

If you’re serious, now’s exactly the time that people have to step up.”

Choose to be kind.........

Trash-Off Volunteers Were Amazing

On Saturday, it was a beautiful day and Keep Carrollton Beautiful volunteers made sure our streets, parks, greenbelts, streams and lakes are even more beautiful now! Spending their own free time in community service, 270 volunteers collected 9,740 pounds of litter and debris from 34 sites in Carrollton. “We had individual volunteers and scouts and schools and churches and neighborhoods this year. They focused their amazing ‘can do’ attitudes to plan, set up, collect trash and break down our event. We could do nothing without their beautiful spirits.” said Sharon Goddard.

The Don’t Mess With Texas Trash-Off event was a grassroots partnership with Keep America Beautiful, Keep Texas Beautiful and the Texas Department of Transportation - with 340 affiliates cleaning all over Texas. All of America should be looking pretty good today!

Locally, the Trash-Off was Keep Carrollton Beautiful’s sixth annual participation. The event is just one of many activities they host or empower during the three month Great American Cleanup. Keep Carrollton Beautiful is working with many schools, neighborhoods and corporate teams to supply smaller events during this time.

Thanks to Albertsons at Josey and Keller Springs and at Old Denton and Hebron the volunteers didn’t go away hungry. Albertsons thinks that “it’s important to be good neighbors and give back to our communities…..to improve all of our lives”. As a great corporate citizen, they have supported Keep Carrollton Beautiful since its inception in 2004. “I hope that the citizens of Carrollton won’t let this valuable asset get pushed out of our community by stiff competition” said the director of Keep Carrollton Beautiful.

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group’s representative, Bill Kirkland, has also been supporting Keep Carrollton Beautiful since its beginning. “We (DPSG) have a proud, longstanding heritage of caring ... for our consumers, our customers, our employees and our neighbors in the communities where we live and do business across the United States… caring is at the heart of our business, shaping our values and the importance we place on corporate social responsibility…” Dr. Pepper really helped out at the Trash-Off making sure none of the hard working volunteers went thirsty.

Keep Carrollton Beautiful could never accommodate so many volunteers without the loyal and enthusiastic support of the Carrollton Evening Lions Club. These Lions are some of the community’s most steadfast local servants. Their website says “When it comes to meeting challenges, our response is simple: We serve…in regions battered by natural disaster, in schools and in eyeglass recycling centers, Lions are at work, helping, leading, planning and supporting…We want everyone to see a better tomorrow…we support vision screenings, eye banks and eyeglass recycling…We believe everyone deserves a healthy life…providing health programs for hearing loss, diabetes prevention and improving the health of children and adults around the world.” “Our Carrollton Evening Lions Club lovingly cooks the best hot dogs in Texas! And always with a smile.” said Sharon Goddard.

Thanks to the many volunteers, this year’s Trash-Off was a roaring success. The people involved know who they are and are very much appreciated. If you’d like to help Keep Carrollton Beautiful, go to their website www.KeepCaroolltonBeautiful.org and join.

Another fun way you can help is by bidding on their Don’t Mess With Texas Trash-Off On-Line Auction. The auction will raise funds for their programs and you can still bid through April 8.
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Enthusiasm is Building for November 15th Texas Recycles Day

Literally building, piles of recyclables already received on the wrong date! Okay, mark your calendar. Keep Carrollton Beautiful’s Texas Recycles Day is Saturday,November 15th from 9:00 to 1:00 in Newman Smith’s parking lot.

Boy Scout Troop 787 has already pitched in to properly dispose of the dumped recyclables. Even on Sunday, they were there, willing to help using their troop’s trailer to transport all the stuff to the proper recycler. “I don’t know what I would have done with all the stuff if they hadn’t volunteered. Every time we work with Troop 787, they show us what wonderful scouts they are”, said Sharon Goddard.

Help yourself have more space and a clear conscious; dispose of all your stuff in the proper way. Clean out your closets – any old electronics hiding there or clothes you no longer wear? What about your drawers – any cell phones or eye glasses no longer in use? Clear out your bookshelves – any unwanted, outgrown or already read books you could donate? Clean out your garage, shed, backyard – get rid of old tires, scrap metal, appliances!

Bring it all to Texas Recycles Day and breathe a sigh of relief in all the new space you have! Their vendors will be recycle: computers, electronics, monitors, fax machines, printers (no TV’s); car tires, car batteries; cell phones and lap tops ( all year long); knitting yarn; eye glasses and accessories; durable medical equipment – braces, crutches, canes, chairs, beds; gently used clothes for children and adults; gently used books, used athletic shoes for refurbishing or reuse; “white metal” (appliances without Freon), scrap metal, etc.; personal document shredding; and office paper. Keep Carrollton Beautiful will make sure none of it goes to the landfill.

Just think how much energy and resources we’ll save. Recycling steel each year saves enough energy to power Los Angeles for eight years. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. Each ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. Let’s all be part of the environmental solution.

Since they are only using high school volunteers for this event, please register your group at www.KeepCarrolltonBeautiful.org. If you’d like to circulate a flier at your workplace or neighborhood, email sharon@KeepCarrolltonBeautiful.org or go to the Forms section of the website.

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Keep Carrollton Beautiful is a catalyst and community liaison making Carrollton a cleaner and more beautiful place. Keep Carrollton Beautiful is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, dedicated to engage Carrollton to enhance our community environment.
Since 2004, we have held 49 public events utilizing 5,400 volunteers. Our programs funnel energy and money into community improvement in partnership with Carrollton’s public, private and civic groups. Our leadership is a volunteer Board who work in all aspects of the community.

Sharon is a third generation Carrolltonite who has spent the last five years creating community in Carrollton. She believes:
“America is in a crisis. We're in a very Un-American jam. We are doing a very poor job educating all our children; the drop-out rate is very high -- with the weather changing in much of the world to flood and/or drought; the devastation of global warming is getting clearer -- the unemployment rate is raising the numbers of "working poor".
All the change we need is in the average citizens' hands. Historically, citizen leadership is the only way anything in America has ever changed. Everyone needs to do their part at home and at work. It's up to all of us to be the best of America.”