The social justice side of sustainable organism/system means that not only do we need to be “eco-green,” but we need to be even-handed and provide work/life balance for all participants. Unfortunately, if you born female social justice is still a work in progress. This week’s Equal Time podcast hosted by Martha Burk covers some of those issues when she interviews Joan Blades of Mom’s Rising.

Martha Burk is an activist since the 60s for women’s rights and Joan Blades is an activist for women’s rights in the workplace — both are trying to restore balance in the work/life equation. In doing so the rights that they address benefit men as well as women. When the corporate work playing field is fair, everyone thrives.

If you’re one of the 11 million women in the National Council for Women’s Organizations (NCWO) you know Martha Burk as the NCWO’s Director for Corporate Accountability. Martha tackles the big issues still embedded into the corporate culture; the “Mad Men” may be gone, but many of their policies and mindsets are still in place.

Joan Blades and her husband Wes Boyd started the uber effective social change machine called MoveOn.org. Joan then partnered with Kristen-Rowe Finkbeiner to start MomsRising.org. Ironically, while more women than men are graduating from college and joining the workforce as highly-trained contributors, once women go to work they meet the walls of resistance along with the glass ceiling, i.e. the “Mad Men” policies. Joan, Kristen and their team of 1 million MomsRising members address this old-thinking with viable solutions that create work/life balance for families.

This week Martha brought Joan to the mic on her Equal Time podcast on women and politics.  Along with Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland who explores how women in high office can make a difference for women and children, and discusses her current work as head of the Mary Robinson Foundation, Climate Change.

Would you like a seat at their table and hear what ladies at this level discuss? Pull up the podcast at lunch and sit in.

The next time you’re feeling like you can’t make a difference, check out what they are doing in Africa whereby 11 nations are merging their efforts to stop the Sahara from creeping further south and turning all of Africa into a desert. They aren’t doing it to lower Green House Gases, they are doing it to survive, but at the same time, it is helping to lower GHG levels. Even the most die-hard denier can’t argue with the saving of a continent – especially when it’s producing such quickly appreciated results.

The orange strip is the Sahel, the grassland transition zone between the desert and the forest. In the ultimate green thumb act, millions and millions of diverse trees are being planted to anchor the soil. The first seed was planted in 2008 and is called “The Great Green Wall.” The fast results are due to planting a diverse type of trees, which also brings in a diverse group of animals.  Watch the first EarthRise video (this section begins near the 8 minute mark)

This project is SO BIG and affects millions of people. Oddly enough, it is the opposite of what South America is doing — on one continent, thousands of people are making it their job to plant trees and just across the ocean millions of acres are being destroyed. Can someone call up South America and show them this video?

What’s our Great Green Wall?

Here in the United States, we could do something equally challenging, planting gardens on every open space found  on rooftops, old parking lots, train tracks… it doesn’t take much space  to food. We’re converting a grassy area behind a church in Santa Ana, CA into a community garden. The amount of butterflies and bees I see there is amazing.

Just like the EarthRise movie is bringing attention to The Great Green Wall project, Below is a kickstarter program looking to document the Growing Cities movement. It’s still in donation gathering mode, so if you feel the love…

What’s your personal  ”Great Green Wall,” what are you doing that reverses a major problem, but at the same time lowers Green House Gases? Are you part of a monster project already? What is it?

This post is part of the Green Mom Carnival held this month by the queen of the Big Green Purse  - Diane MacEachern.

We need more smart programming like this. See the entire show below on  how business and social justice goes hand-in-hand  below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Earth Day is on April 22, let’s celebrate what makes our world(s) turn.

After seeing The Daily Show’s send up on how women aren’t heard, I’m posting what’s on our speaker’s minds. What issues on HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT, or SOCIAL JUSTICE are important to women? What is so compelling that we want to write, speak, or promote it?

HEALTH

CAROLYN PARRS – every single week Carolyn brings the voices of women forward on her site, Women of Green. This month she tackled the affect of green economy on women.

“Women usually provide their families with key resources for their livelihoods, such as fuel wood, medicinal plants, fodder, food, nuts, they collect seeds, so biodiversity means everything to them, as they depend on the non-monetary benefits of biodiversity.”  Catch the full story.

TAIHA WAGNER - Taiha doesn’t write posts, instead she pours her bandwidth into teaching others and last week hosted a Detox Lunch and Learn at Healthy Living Chiropractic. Catch her next event on JustOneBite.net.

MICAELA PRESTON - Our Mindful Momma, gave a steller review on a snack pack alternative. If it passes the Micaela test, it must be good.

KAREN HANRAHAN has been under the inspiration weather in April, but offered Three Natural Shifts to No More Asthma, in March. Karen also uses her blog as a showcase for her photography – it’s so easy to take a picture, but not with Karen’s eye for color and balance.

LORI POPKEWITZ ALPER squarely took on P&G starting a petition and asked, “Since when is cancer free and gentle.” At this point, “Procter & Gamble (makers of Tide Free & Gentle®) has blatantly ignored the 75,000 people who’ve contacted them to remove the cancer-causing chemical 1,4-dioxane from Tide Free & Gentle®. Lori isn’t resting. “Now it’s time to turn up the volume.”  

ENVIRONMENT

HARRIET SHUGARMAN our Climate Mama keeps us tethered to the reason we all started down this path — climate change –and what we need to do to stop it. She posts a report from the top of Mauna Lao Observatory, 14,000 feet above sea level. She’s the one who pointed out that we had 15,000 record heat days for March across the US.

AMBER KEENOY – is writing up case studies on the green buildings.

BETH TERRY found a great flash mob thing to do if you’re in San Francisco on April 20th from 11-1, bring your own container to lunch and eliminate lunchtime waste. She’s also offering a lunch box giveaway, check it out. Imagine how much LESS trash we would have if each of us carried our our lunch box picnic supplies. Such an easy thing to do and it would instantly raise your personal cool factor.

LISA BORDEN of Borden Communications spends her time blogging and tweeting on behalf of her green client’s, but she has such an impressive list of “must haves’ on her site that you need to check it out. She calls it The Big List. Save the list for the next time you want to give a really useful gift.

DIANE MACEACHERN was who Al Jazerra called they needed an expert to round out their panel on an oil spill near Brazil. This is a very thoughtful news segment, with no soundbites. Diane gives out the facts on why this is such a serious issue and today there is more on our own Gulf Coast Oil spill’s longterm kill off of species. (I’m now a huge fan of Al Jazerra — their deep dive reporting is a refreshing change from sound bite land.)

LYNN ANNE MILLER – PR specialst and marketer, is also off working hard for her green clients, but her monthly contribution to the world in the form of Green Mom Carnival lives on. With over 72,000 followers, Green Moms carry their own clout factor for eco and social fixes.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

MARTHA BURK who has been fighting for women’s rights and social justice for  decades, offers a timely interview with Lilly Ledbetter during Equal Pay day. Catch the full story…

But plain old sex discrimination plays a big part. Lilly Ledbetter found out the hard way after 19 years at Goodyear, when she learned she had been underpaid all along compared to men doing the same job. She sued — and won in lower courts. But the Supreme Court overturned 40 years of precedent when it ruled against her in the now-infamous Ledbetter v. Goodyear case, saying she should have complained earlier — even though she didn’t know about the discrimination.

JOAN BLADES  has been shifting her time between Moms Rising and Custom Fit Workplace. She shares
an insight on what it’s like to work in a High Performance Workplace.

I had lunch with a half dozen of the managers and asked them how things have changed since HPWP training began last year. I was told the plant is completely different: Employees are coming in with solutions instead of complaining. There is dramatically less shrinkage (product being taken). More information is being shared with employees. Driver meetings include guests speakers, taste tests, and quarterly reports. “Folks now believe management will fix things when they bring up problems.” Turnover has gone down. They are finding more talent in the company and also have better options when hiring.

Why isn’t everyone doing this?

KATY FARBER is taking a more artful approach to Earth Day by entering a poetry contest.  As a teacher and author of several books, Katy uses her teaching and social media platform to mainstream green.

MARCIA G. YERMAN summed up perhaps best what this Earth Day Post is about – citizen leadership as posted on Moms Clear Air Force.

“I recently picked up a book by Peter Alduino called The Citizen Leader. Alduino’s biography describes him as having twenty years of experience in the field of leadership development, personal growth, and executive coaching…. Alduino’s “core belief” is that we are “co-creators of the world we live in,” thereby contributing to the character of the society around us. Catch the full story…

Thank you ladies, for your continued work to change the conversation in our homes, offices, and our global community.

Because of Lilly, the next generation of women will have a fair “paying” field. Two writers from women 2.0 interviewed Lilly with a fresh point of view. Thank you, Connie Guglielmo and  Kimberly Weisul for recapping this event so clearly.

After working 19 years as a supervisor at a Goodyear tire factory in Gadsden, Alabama, Lilly Ledbetter received an anonymous note telling her she was being paid much less than her male co-workers. She made $3,727 a month; the lowest-paid man in that same position was making $4,286.  For the full story go here.

 

 

Last month, former Planned Parenthood President, Gloria Feldt launched her new book, No Excuses to inspire women to keep moving their ideas forward and/or fight for the ground already gained.  I’m pretty fearless as activism goes, yet I found myself underlining sections and coming away with ideas I had never considered.

If you’re afraid to get started, this book will get you unstuck. If you’re burnt out, No Excuses will relight the flames and with Earth Day approaching, we have much work left to do. 

No Excuses is a must-read for young women who have no idea of hard it was to achieve the rights they take for granted, such as voting, eating safe food, or breathing clean air… the list is endless.

This past month, Wisconsin Govenor Scott Walker repealed that equal pay law in Wisconsin.  The original equal pay for equal work law was put into place by President Kennedy. How do you feel about that? Does it tick you off? Get involved.

Around the same time, the Feds ruled that BPA in our can liners and food is perfectly ok. Katy Faber posted her concerns on that along with other moms on her popular blog Non-Toxic Kids.  The Feds who at one time sided with Mayo Clinic that this was a concern, now have gone the other direction. What mother with a choice, would ever expose her child to a danger ?  How do you feel about that? Start voicing your opinion online.

How about the chemicals in your detergents? Lori Alper has a petition circulating to inspire Tide to get the 1,4 dioxane, a known breast carcinogen, out of their formulation. With the help of Mom’s Rising and Women’s Voices she now has over 72,000 ticked off signers. How do you feel about that? Write P&G, and change the Tide…

How do you feel about politicians and companies taking away your rights or selling you junk that can harm you and your family? Who is speaking up for women and children? How about you!?!

The best part, the more you speak up, the more your voice is measured online and heard with thousands, maybe millions of other women. In today’s online world, to not speak up is right up there with giving up your right to vote. With so many decisions being made outside of the field of politics and inside of corporations, the only way to make changes is to speak up, post up, tweet up, facebook up… often!

Over a million people petitioned to have GMO labeling. But one company, Monsanto, with millions in lobby money is holding progress back. If a million constituents mean less than one company’s profits, and lobbyist to congress, then only public humiliation will get companies to change.

In NO EXCUSES, Gloria identifies one very big change – we are going from a “Power-over society to a Power-to society.”  Power-over is about accumulating as much as you can and then holding that power over others — it’s the creation of corporate kingdoms or political parties for the sake of power, not for on-the-ground change.

A “Power-to Society is about leverage — by lending/giving your power away in exchange for accomplishing more with the many. Think of it as economic love, the more you give away, the more you get back.

“The Women Moving Millions story, for example, mirrors a prevalent pattern in the use of finanical power: While well-heeled men often go into polictics or start businesses, women are more likely to start social movements or give money to charities. And while men seem to give money to charity to advertise their wealth and generosity, wome often deploy it for social good–and they tend to keep a low profile.”  Gloria Feldt, No Excuses

If the above is true, then women owe it to the world to be more vocal and go after the higher profiles. Not only will it change the conversation from sports to reports, but it will set off a new wave of competition of who can be move giving, tolerant, helpful, respectful… that the other guy.

Spring is a time for renewal, read No Excuses, feel your personal power and put your passions to work.

Women are the will, corporations are the way and sustainable standards will keep us all honest – globally.

TREND ONE: Women are the majority buyers of consumer goods and the majority rules. Tethered to that is another fun fact — that the more women a company has on their board and has as  employees, the higher the profits are for that business. (It takes one to know one…)

TREND TWO: Corporations are the ruling class. Over 1 million people signed a petition from Just Label It to require GMO labeling and yet the money that one company (Monsanto) is using on lobbyists to influence Congress is having more impact than voting citizens. Just saying…

TREND THREE: The Standardization of Sustainability Rules. The Sustainability Consortium is getting closer to providing that all-inclusive sustainable measurement and reporting system (SMRS) that companies and citizens will abide by. Companies will abide by it because Wal Mart and their top vendors who control the consumer product world are creating it. Whatever the big boys want, the small kids will follow.  Citizens will follow because we have no choice, whatever is served up by Wal Mart and their vendors…

The Sustainability Consortium may not set the highest bar, but at least it provides a common playing field for multinational corporate players with borderless products. With SMRS better and better products will compete and rise to the top because that’s where competition always lives – at the top.

Check out their latest roll out below. Whether this is good or bad has yet to be decided, but the three drivers are in place and ready to play off of each other.

The discovery of vast reserves of pre-salt oil – some 50 billion barrels of it – off the coast of Brazil is supposed to create a boom for the nation as Western oil companies, together with their vast cash stockpiles and superior technology, rushed in to take their slice of the pie.

But now the Brazilian authorities are pitting themselves against two US oil companies, Chevron and Transocean, following a relatively small oil spill last November at the Frade field some 360km from Rio de Janeiro’s coast.

Go here for the full interview.