I carry around a cardboard cup sleeve for my Starbucks Chai tea latte habit rather than using a new one every time. It's a tiny thing and sometimes feels pointless, but then I think of my friend Monica Rodgers and I know she would reassure me that every little bit counts. Monica started her company, Little Bits, a stylish children's boutique with an emphasis on environmental responsibility, long before it was trendy to be environmentally responsible. It started with the greatest car seat covers made from designer fabric remnants, and has grown into much more. I talked with her recently about her latest project, the Earth Savers Gang.beU: Tell me about the Earth Savers gang.
MR: It's a storybook series and online social network for kids. The first book will introduce kids to six characters who help save the planet, learning that the power to make a difference is on the inside. They are ordinary heroes vs. extraordinary superheros. The goal was then to inspire kids to become their own hero, create their own character and get on-line, almost like facebook for kids, to build their own profile and share in their learning. We will create an educational curriculum, a rewards system and a community of parents, educators and corporations who were willing to reward kids with points for making a difference. Kids could redeem points in the real world for merchandise, gifts or donations to other countries, animal shelters, and corporations could match with dollars or products.
Zach, our energy saver, is going to teach kids about alternative energy, what energy is, how it’s applied, but also about things like energy in the body - spiritual energy. Like you are doing with "the be line" it’s about what’s on the inside and we’re all made of energy. He’s actually going to go there and talk about those things. He’s also a lover of music, so he’s going to teach about the vibrations in the world and teach the value of community and how when your vibration combines with someone else's this whole creative thing happens.
beU: It‘s really layered.
MR: It’s going to be so fun when it actually comes to fruition. Penelope is our paper saver and she is going to teach kids the value of giving things a second chance and the value of looking at things differently, the value of creativity - she is the artist of the group. What she does is look at ways to express herself so she’ll be recycling, reusing, reconfiguring other worn old objects into new pieces or new ways of looking at things so she'll get into a lot of the visuals and aesthetics of the world.
beU: I love her, I love Penelope. As I’m hearing about the gang as a whole, together they represent totality. (Note: there's also Alison the Atmosphere saver, Ernie the soil saver and Olivia the water saver.)
MR: They do and really, if you boiled the essence of what we’re doing with the gang down, it’s a journey of consciousness and consciousness is about being present in the moment and to be creativity or to be love or be energy, community, teamwork...
beU: And to be your unique expression of it.
MR: Exactly, because that is the beauty of life, none of us are the same and that’s what I want kids to learn, that they all have a unique gift to bring to the world. What we want at the end of the day is a world full of vibrant, vital people, adults and kids who are empowered by each other to be the best people they can be.
beU: I'm 41 years old and working on connecting to my true self and creating my life from that place. If you’re taking a child who doesn’t have the layers and layers of conditioning that someone my age might have, there’s much more potential and it could be so much easier and more natural for them.
MR: Their access to it is so easy, it comes as second nature. Actually, part of the story that I tell in the books is called “The Story of the Great Forgetting.” It’s the story of how and when kids start to forget.
beU: The story of the great forgetting …it’s giving me goosebumps. We forget who we really are.
MR: In the story, it starts around age 7. At age 7 they start to see themselves as separate from the world and start to forget. That’s documented by anybody who looks at childhood development. Isn't the idea of being separated when we’re really all interconnected the Achilles heel of humanity in a way? Although it is necessary to see see yourself as separate, it’s an “and” and not a “but” right?
beU: Right. I'm an individual AND I am a part of everything.
MR: To think that I could, through the storybook series or any of it, could sink that message in at any level is worth giving my life purpose to, you know?
beU: What could be more important than that? And it brings it back up to the level of earth saving, because when you understand that since you’re connected to everything, the choices you’re making and things your doing are effecting the environment. What you do, you do to yourself and to everyone you know.
MR: Right. It’s no accident that our world looks the way it does right now. But the word "save" is so martyristic, but it's also a cool superhero word, so I’ve chosen to use it. I’ve often thought “do I really want to use the word save?” For kids, I don’t want there to be anything wrong, really. One of the biggest things I’ve realized about why adults don’t take a step forward to make a difference is because they are overwhelmed in the face of it, so where would they even start? They don’t really believe at the end of the day that to take one step actually does make a difference where you can show a child that easily. I keep going back to the tag line that we’re going to use - “rediscover the power in you” - and the two don’t operate separately.
beU: Your meta message of "little bits" - which I’ve always loved so much - is about understanding that not only does every little choice make a difference, but every little choice is creating something.
MR: Every little bit counts, yep.
beU: When you were interviewed by Planet Green, they asked you "What green thing do you do everyday?" and your answer was "I am always thinking about how I can make a difference. It's my life's work, but it's a huge part of my consciousness now. As far as what I do, it's more in the 'being' for me. If I can 'be' conscious then I naturally make green choices." Everyone is talking about how there is a shift happening, consciousness is being elevated, etc...people are calling it a lot of different things. The focus on "being green" has reached a tipping point and is so much more a part of everybody’s awareness but it seems clear to me that is a part of, or goes hand-in-hand with, the raising of consciousness in general. Does that make sense?
MR: Yes, it does.
beU: It’s definitely not separate. I’m promoting a lifestyle of being more, which doesn’t mean just sitting around meditating, inactive, being still and getting your zen on all the time. It’s getting to that place so that you can go out and do from that place of being where you’re more intuitive, you have more faith and trust in yourself, you’ve taken the time to get to know yourself -who you really are and what you have to contribute to the world - that then all those actions will come from you so much more easily and naturally. Those will be actions from higher consciousness which are more environmentally conscious, socially conscious...
MR: Like being on purpose. It’s like the doing just becomes a natural extension of your purpose.
beU: Again, it comes back to the earth savers and what these young superhero kids naturally embody.
MR: Yes, my goal is to show kids that you’re fine just the way you are and it’s normal to feel all these things you’re feeling and be different and be listening for who you really are and be awakening at the same time that you’re going through the great forgetting. You have to forget to remember…does that make sense?
beU: You are creating this on so many levels. I’m impressed with the thoughtfulness and scope of the character development. How are you synthesizing all of this information? Is this coinciding with your own journey of consciousness? Is this mostly from things you’ve read?
MR: I think it’s happening simultaneously and I always say, in my journal anyway, if I thought that I was going to ever write about a journey of consciousness without looking at my own life, I don’t know who I’m kidding. You can’t look good on the journey of consciousness.
(At this point I laugh, hard, because, it's so true and because Monica's delivery of the line was perfect)
MR: For me, it's watching my kids, it’s feeling what I want them to inherit and who I want their role models to be. It's who am I as a parent, an individual, a human being and what am I bringing to the world and what do I want the message to my kids to be? I want the message to be creativity, courage, inspiration and appreciation. There’s so much to be grateful for and there’s so much to wonder about.
The 1st epidode of the Earth Savers Gang, to come out in 2009 ends with a call to action for kids to get on the website, create their own earth saver avatar, and start the adventure.
Related Links:
www.littlebits.com
www.earthsavers.typepad.com
