The 2010 Fresh Water Summit resulted in a petition proposing a Canadian Charter of Water Rights and Responsibilities. From the opening letter:

“We the undersigned recognize that water is fundamental to life. Without it all living things perish, some within a few minutes, most within a few days. We understand the essential role of water to life, to the ecosystem around us, and ultimately to our own well-being. We have a reverence for life, and a reverence for water.”

View/sign the Petition

I understood from the program that the communique from the summit is being delivered to leaders at the G20 but I couldn’t find any info online about that.

Little bits from the panel are swimming around in my brain right now. Things like:

• Pollution and other issues with bottled water. Barlow said something like if you take all the small bottles from water we drink, globally, annually, and lined them up, they would go to the moon and back 65 times. The vast majority are not recycled.
• The environment cannot be separated from health. When a child has to go to emergency with asthma, or people need treatment for cancers that can be caused by pollutants, people will talk about health care being a priority for them because that’s the urgent need at that time for that person. But at the root of it is an unhealthy ecosystem causing such health concerns.
• Incredibly wise words from so many of the speakers there. Henry Lickers in particular said some things that really resonated for me. And of course Maude Barlow was brilliant and inspiring as usual.

It doesn’t seem like the CBC makes this program very accessible online (from what I could find anyway) but if you do find it it’s well worth a listen.

Photo by Kimberlyfaye on Flickr

An open letter to clothing designers & retailers

Dear fashion folk,

I want to give you money. If only you would let me.

(Did that get your attention?)

Recently I went shopping for new clothes: I’d heard about some great jeans available on Main Street in Vancouver. Unfortunately, like so many other occasions, the store was out of stock in anything resembling a size large enough to fit me. In itself this is not so tragic of course. But, we’re talking fashion here, so please bear with me.

Main St., if you’re unfamiliar, has a stretch of stores selling wonderful indie designers’ fashions and vintage stuff. Stuff I really, really like in many cases.

Unfortunately, that store with the skinny-only jeans was not unique among it’s competitors. None of these stores had much in a size Large. Most had no designs in Extra Large. Don’t even get me started on how many of the designs were styled for twiggy bodies to begin with, as if flat-chested women with narrow hips are the only ones who want interesting clothes.

Did I mention that I want to give you money? I’m not alone.

According to a report on the plus-size apparel industry in Canada:

• roughly 30% of women in Canada wear size 14 and over, and
• we are one of the most under-served markets in the fashion industry.

My experience that day was, sadly, not unusual. At size 14 I am continually frustrated while seeking clothes that fit. Many “normal” lines do not go large enough, or are not cut to flatter a curvy figure. (Like, if I can get a shirt or jacket zipped up at all, it’s “Hello, monoboob!”)

Yet if I do find a section of “plus” sized clothes, these are typically too big or cut to hide figures more than I’d like.

So, I keep heading back to Reitmans who are in the minority of Canadian retailers who understand there’s both an underserved and (with the aging of the boomers) a growing market in plus-sized fashions. They have it so figured out, in fact, that their regular line has sizes large enough to accommodate me with room to spare. Their website is even useful (gasp!) with a sizing chart that goes so far as to include bicep measurements. (Since I’ve been lifting weights, biceps are another problem area for jackets. *sigh*)

There is a point, and that is this:

Get away from the runways. Leave your studios. SQUISH whatever it is that’s making you design as if women will look like teenagers throughout adulthood until they suddenly fit the grandmother niche (oh, excepting of course the profitable maternity phase of course). Have a look around. Notice all the beautiful, curvy women who want to give you money. Design cool, flattering clothes for us. Get ‘em out there. Then tell me about them. I’ll not only buy some, I will sing your praises from the rooftops and help you spread the word.

And I promise you, I’m not alone in that.

Thanks for reading.

- Tzaddi

In my case, to some degree, “Why should I blog?” is a rhetorical question. As someone who pretty much lives and breathes WordPress development & design these days, I shouldn’t even be uttering this question aloud.

“It’s good promotion.” “It’s good for SEO.” “It allows potential clients to become more comfortable with you.” All of these things are true. But.

I admit it, I’ve been stuck. I’ve been self-editing before I speak, to the point of not speaking (both here and on twitter). I’ve been having conversations in my head about where to take this blog, “finding my voice”, beating myself up about how sadly neglected my websites are in content, design, structure, the whole shebang. (What does shebang mean anyway?)

This blog was started in 2003, before blogging was cool, before there were 10 million sites telling you to “define your niche” and “create a publishing schedule” and “have a commenting strategy”. Before most people knew what a blog even was. I started it because I could, and because it was a way to learn (Movable Type at the time), and because I was inspired by the blog of a brilliant programmer I worked with. At that point I could talk about whatever randomness inspired me in whatever way I felt because pretty much nobody read blogs. Essentially blogging was just for me.

Fast forward some years and I’m fumbling my way through a new life of being a full-time freelance designer, and becoming more self conscious about what I publish in the blogosphere. Not that I was ever raunchy or overly personal, despite the porn-worthy words of my first post, but I began to feel like I have to present myself as An Expert. That I have to be writing for My Audience (which one?).  That I should be writing more and more for my clients. Trouble is, that’s not what this site is about.

In the beginning of my freelance adventures I threw together a quick portfolio site. It does the job, barely, but enough that I’ve hobbled along for far too long. I don’t much like it so I rarely update it and cringe when I hear new clients say they’ve been reading my site. Of course they have. And to them, it’s probably fine – they contact me, after all. But to me, it’s a sorely dissatisfying representation of what I can do. It runs on WordPress too, but I blog over here. The silliness of this does not escape me.

And here is where I often find myself when I write: wondering how I can get to the end of the post with a nice ribbon tied up around it. *sigh*

Before I wrap up I will say that there’s some clarity at the end of the tunnel. I’ll be relaunching with a new webdesign portfolio soon. Then I will be able to blog with my different hats in different places and feel so much more comfortable in them. Maybe I’ll wear a silly hat here more often. Maybe I’ll get over my self-editing a bit more. We’ll see.

Wondering why YOU should blog, and how not to make an ass of yourself in the process?

…she says, putting her Expert Hat on.

You’re not alone. Here are some links I recommend on the subject.

• Blogging Therapy series by Havi Brooks (see bottom of the post for links to topics like mean comments, what if nobody reads my blog, etc.)
• Why you blogging? and Why you hiding? by Karen J Lloyd
• Sonia Simone’s Remarkable Communication – perhaps Slow Blogging or The Sweeney Todd Guide to Blogging.
• Skellie. Especially this recent a-niche-isn’t-required post… there’s hope for me yet.

If you have any thoughts or related links to share on this, I’d love to hear them in the comments. Fire away!

You’re invited to join her for The Ivy Project this Saturday Feb 28th (and the last Saturday of each month until Nov/09) at the Stanley Park Nature House. There’ll be much weaving of ivy and joining of previously woven pieces.

This project is in cooperation with The Ivy Busters. Sharon says:

Since 2004, Ivy Busters have removed over 3.95 hectares of invasive plant material from Stanley Park. Now the public is invited to work with me in exploring English ivy as an art material, re-purposing this invasive weed into sculptures that will be returned to the forest as artificial nurse logs, bird habitats and crocheted anti-erosion bio netting.

The Ivy Buster’s efforts have turned Ivy deserts into a more natural forest state. I have a patch of Ivy desert in my property… wonder if I could convince them to come over?

If you’re interested in other works like this, check out MOPARRC. Sharon, Lois Klassen, and Madam Beespeaker are an artists’ collective working in the Means of Production Garden in Vancouver. It’s a communal garden with the aim of growing materials for artists to work with. Cool stuff!

Here’s some quick fun for a good cause. Build yourself a beard, and the kind folks at Atto will loan a dollar to Kiva. You can even print one out instead of being a lazy git like me who photoshopped the thing onto my face.

The beard I chose is called Poseidon, apparently god of the sea, a.k.a. Neptune. Fitting considering I grew up on a boat, don’t ya think?

Also pictured: my shiny new oh-so-short boy haircut. Please, somebody remind me how good this feels next time I let a mop grow on my head.

The Vote For Environment site makes a great point: the majority of Canadians support action on the environment. Harper does not. The folks at Avaaz put it even more strongly: Save the planet: stop Harper!.

If we want to prevent Harper getting the majority he’s looking for, (and I certainly do, for multiple reasons) we need to vote strategically. There’s a great tool on the Vote For Environment site that reveals polls and projections for every riding. Unfortunately my riding is quite a tough call. I was thinking the incumbent might have a good chance, but then I looked at the poll results and they all have the Liberal and Conservative candidates in the top 2 spots – switching back and forth from poll to poll.  In the last election the seat was won by only 976 votes.  Seems like it will be very close. Aack! What’s a girl to do?

(*Though, as a Canadian, I do cringe at the part where a big fat NOTHING is displayed over my beloved homeland. )

So without further ado, I present their current wishlist in the hopes that someone in my network can help them out.

Quest Food Exchange’s Wishlist

For the Kitchen:

• commercial veggie peeler
• commercial electric can opener
• quality knives
• commercial sized pots
• wheeled carts

For the Store:

• glass cooler
• glass freezer
• shelving
• shelving cart

For the Warehouse:

• power washer
• floor scale
• dollies (as my husband would call them, handtrucks)

I’m happy to see the list has been steadily shrinking.

If you’re looking to support them in other ways, they accept cash donations (who doesn’t )and turn $1 into $12.51 worth of food to feed six people! Sounds kinda like magic to me.

Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books…

The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

The pictures might take a while to load, but they’re worth it. I would love to see these in person.

On a related note, I recently watched 11th Hour. As I watched the opening scenes – a bunch of quick flashes of extreme weather, disaster, and so on – I thought “Oh god, another environmental shock pitch. I can’t bear it.” But thankfully, it shifted from that into really interesting interviews. No, they weren’t all sunny, but they did give me some hope.

Take for instance Ray Anderson, who is on “Mission Zero” for his company to have nil impact on the environment by 2020. For a company that produces carpet, that’s quite a mission. For instance he’s working with local municipalities to fuel his factories using methane from local landfills. (I’ve seen him before, in The Corporation I think it was, and I tell you, I could listen to him all day. What a lovely speaking voice and nice energy on-screen.)

There were varying, interesting perspectives on the roots of the environmental crisis: spiritual (more interest in consumption of the earth than protection of it), legal (waters, ecosystems have no rights), etc.

I also watched Manufactured Landscapes recently, so all of this has me thinking a lot about my choices and purpose. I sometimes struggle with fatalistic ideas, like “what’s the point of worrying much about my own little impact when there are so many worse crimes against the environment, every day, around the world. What’s the point?” On the other hand, watching these images of rural Chinese families making their living by hammering bits of metal out of our computers’ wasted parts, or young men wading in the crude oil left in beached freighter ships they are dismantling… It was a very visceral connection for me. Those things I buy from far off lands require oil to transport them across the oceans. Many of the new electronics we all covet, with their built-in obsolescence, are shipped back over the oceans to pollute the homes of others.

In short, our choices do matter, and if you’re struggling to remember that as I was, you could do worse than see these works of art.

P.S. I’d love to hear what you think…

We’ll have Colin’s other site in WordPress shortly — can’t wait to see what he does with that one!