Joan Jett

A couple of weeks ago, Joan Jett (the pig) was Sanctuary Tail's Animal-of-the-Week! (Sanctuary Tails is a Farm Sanctuary blog written by the Farm's shelter directors.) I was so happy to see Joan featured. Not only is she adorable (she's the spotted pig), she is the pig that I sponsor through Farm Sanctuary's "Adopt-an-Animal" program.

Mosaic Monday: Graffiti

Graffiti fascinates me. Some of it is so interesting, provocative, and at times beautiful. It's also so fleeting. In Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle Is Redefining Green Business, Tom Szaky includes an interesting discussion of graffiti. TerraCycle  is located in Trenton, New Jersey, a city with high crime rates, gang problems, and a number of other challenges. To make peace with local residents, TerraCycle invites graffiti artists to paint their walls. Some of the early pieces are included here. It's evolved into an annual graffiti jam, which you can look up on youtube.

TerraCycle's mission is to take material that would otherwise go into landfills and create useful (and profitable) consumer products. Szaky often refers to trash as the things people will pay to get rid of. In his book, he compares graffiti to the raw materials in TerraCycle's products. Cities and individuals are willing to pay to get rid of graffiti. Beyond the urban art that decorates their facility, TerraCycle sells Urban Art Flower Pots that are constructed from plastic waste and decorated by local graffiti artists.

As much as I love some of the graffiti I see, I realize it is disrespectful of property owned by cities or private businesses or individuals. I love that TerraCycle provides a legitimate outlet for the craft.

Thanks to Mary at the Little Red House for hosting Mosaic Monday!

Quotation of the Day

"Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible."

~George Claude Lorimer

Yummmmm!

Amy's Kitchen Rice Macaroni with Non-Dairy Cheeze is without a doubt my favorite new vegan product of the year. It is very convenient - just four minutes to microwave - and very tasty. The dish is creamy and delicious, though not exactly health conscious at 500 calories a serving. It has been so long since I've eaten cheese, I don't even remember what it tastes like, but this seems very cheesy to me, and I think even non-vegans would find it appealing.

Farm Sanctuary Piglets at Play

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