Peaceful Spirits Living Spiritual Laws in Prison


Living the Power, an organization formed by Marie Jackson in 2010, is piloting its Living the Power Behind Bars program in the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, in New Jersey, with encouraging results. Jackson supplies recommended course and resource materials for workshops aimed to help guide inmates to new ways of thinking and approaching everyday decisions using kindness and self-reflection. Through understanding spiritual laws of attraction and intention, participants learn to deepen and redirect their perceptions of themselves, others, events and circumstances to live a life of increased peace, balance and personal fulfillment, while positively influencing their greater environ- ment.


“I’ve learned as much from the women in the program as they have from me,”


says Jackson. “Keeping our spirit free is at the heart of peace no matter where we are.” Source: LivingThePower.com/EdnaMahan.html


Friend Me Civic Engagement Linked to Social Media


The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has revealed that the use of social media is becoming an important feature of political and civic engagement. Approximately 60 percent of U.S. adults use social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, and 66 percent of those—or 39 percent in total—have participated in at least one civic or political activity using social media. In a three-week survey conducted last summer, two-thirds of the 2,253 adult respondents ages 18 and older said they had used social media platforms to post their thoughts about civic and political issues; respond to other postings; press friends to act on issues; follow candidates and vote; “like” and link to other con- tent; and join groups formed on social networking sites.


Source: PewForum.org ecotip


Creative Reuse New Life for Old Bedding


Reusing, recycling or repurposing a worn-out mattress is a far better solution than adding another to the 20 million or so that annually end up in landfills. Before discarding, first check with family members, friends or coworkers, or post a note on a community bulletin board or on the Internet (Freecycle.org) about the availability of a free, gently used mat- tress.


Next, offer to donate the mattress


to The Salvation Army, Goodwill Indus- tries or a local consignment or thrift shop, church, shelter or disaster relief organization. Note that this option may require professional cleaning prior to donation. Many nonprofit outlets pro- vide free home pickup of items, which can be claimed as a charitable tax deduction. Crafty individuals may want to disassemble the mattress and make use of buttons, tabs and fabric for sewing pillowcases, reupholstering indoor furniture, covering outdoor furniture or as stuffing for pillows. Check with local artist centers too, because one or more of their members may wish to use recy- clable materials like the metal springs in their works. The wooden frame and the stuffing


of the mattress can be used to create a backyard compost pile. The wood slats become the compost bin’s architecture, while the foam padding or cotton stuff- ing serves to shelter compost from the elements and keep the pile warm, which accelerates the composting process. The same stuffing also can be used as land- scape fabric to help control the growth of weeds in the garden, and springs make a serviceable trellis to support growing plants.


Some recycling centers do not accept mattresses. Find local resources and policies at Earth911.com.


Sources: Home.HowStuffWorks.com, Tinyurl.com/RadicalRecycling Mattresses


natural awakenings February 2013 11


Safer Cells Mobile Phones Becoming Less Toxic


The Ecology Center, in Ann Arbor, Michi- gan, in con- junction with technicians at IFixIt.com, has published a list of toxic chemicals found in 36 cell phones from a range of manufacturers. The good news is that companies are responding to consumer and regulatory pressure and these trou- blesome components are on the decline. The Motorola Citrus, Apple iPhone 4S and LE Remarq were the least toxic cell phones in the analysis. Two of the bestselling models, the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III, ranked fifth and ninth, respectively. Among earlier mod- els, the 2007 iPhone 2G was found to contain the most toxic materials. Jeff Gearhart, research director at the Ecology Center, concludes, “The takeaway is that mobile phones are chemically intensive and full of chemi- cal hazards, but they’ve been getting a lot better.” The center reported that every phone sampled in the study con- tained lead, bromine, chlorine, mercury or cadmium.


Source: Tinyurl.com/MobileRisk


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