A Take on the “State of Nutrition”
January 20, 2010 by cheryl
Filed under Body, Editor's Pick, • Headline
“Today the greatest single source of wealth is between your ears.”
Brian Tracy: Self-help author and speaker
What you do and do not know may mirror your state of nutrition… How can you eat an optimum diet if what you see is fast food restaurants and processed foods on the shelves at the grocery stores, the schools are promoting dairy consumption and many with credentials are promoting the Canada’s Food Guide? How can you eat an optimum diet if you do not know what it should be?
The planet isn’t as clean as it used to be. Manufacturing and farming do not guarantee that are foods are whole or raw or fresh or organic. We do not know all the laws well enough to read the packaging labels and understand what is in the packages, if listed at all.
Labeling laws do not mean what you think they mean and reading ingredients can be tricky. When I read glucose, I have no idea what source it comes from, nor do I know if there were chemicals used in the gathering or processing (likely to be from corn, pesticides used, GMO-genetically modified). I recently found out that hexane chemicals (which are highly flammable) are in used in the processing of soybeans and fish oils (molecular distilled process to remove heavy metals, etc.). Chemicals are used in the decaffeinated process. And much more is happening behind the scenes because we are so disconnected with the food source.
Recently, I bumped into a fellow holistic nutritionist only to find out that farmers are not likely to eat their own crops. Her uncle, a farmer, would not eat his own potato crops because the potatoes are soaked in chemicals so that they would not seed or sprout. This would make sense considering that baby carrots are soaked in chlorine/bleach.
The two roots causes of disease are toxins and chemicals, and nutritional deficiencies…the former has surely increased (stay tuned for my articles on toxins, including the silent toxins, EMFs).
For the longest time and still today many of the restaurants do not show you a nutritional panel on the meal you have just eaten. David A. Kessler, the Harvard-trained doctor, lawyer, medical school dean and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration writes an article which was published in the Washington Post April 27, 2009. He decides to go dumpster digging and along with his knowledge finds out the following:
“The ingredient list for Southwestern Eggrolls mentioned salt eight different times; sugars showed up five times. The “egg rolls,” which are deep-fried in fat, contain chicken that has been chopped up like meatloaf to give it a “melt in the mouth” quality that also makes it faster to eat. By the time a diner has finished this appetizer, she has consumed 910 calories, 57 grams of fat and 1,960 milligrams of sodium.”
Wow! Kessler goes on to describe how unhealthy fats, salts and sugar affect our brain chemistry…the brain craves more of it.
All you have to do is read the “The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell, PhD to know that the food industry, particularly the food industry lobbyists have a strong hold on the food promoted via food guides and marketing in general. They rally the government and the World Health Organization.
Consider this…the Canada’s Food Guide is funded by the Dairy Board. Review my blog and other articles for your healthy lifestyle!
Best of health for 2010 and beyond!
Cheryl
VividLife.me Contributor
Cheryl Millett biography:
Cheryl Millett BSc RNCP CCIr has a degree in Holistic Nutrition and a diploma in Iridology with a specialty interest in digestion. For over 19 years, Cheryl worked for one of Canada’s largest grocery retailers in finance & risk management with experience in agricultural commodities and therefore the food processing area, so she has seen first hand the sugar refinery process, flour milling, and oil refining. For the past two years, Cheryl has practiced nutritional consulting with a belief in raw foods, omega 3s, enzymes, nutritional cleansing and minerals for optimum health. Her goals are to give her clients and others the education and tools to create a better quality of life. Recommendations are personalize based on the person’s level of motivation and current lifestyle in order to achieve optimum results. Cheryl has successfully coached hundreds to improve their health.
When Courage and Conscience Collide
December 17, 2009 by vividlife
Filed under Body, Editor's Pick, Growth, Parents, • Headline
I was raised on capitalism and the Wall Street Journal.
As a child, my family celebrated the birth of Reaganomics the way one would have celebrated the birth of a child. There was prosperity to be had by all — if only we believed.
My father, like so many of his era, fully supported deregulation and the notion of trickle down economics. If we loosen the regulatory purse strings that government tightly controls, we will all prosper. The system works.
As a family, we were fortunate to have more than most, and we were Republican to the core. I was genetically Republican, the way that someone is genetically programmed to have brown hair or blue eyes — every cell in my body had been programmed with the GOP gene.
And I trusted that the political values that my family had instilled in me would serve me well. I believed in the system.
And then one of my children got sick. With a blood condition that no one could pronounce and a pediatric mandate requiring immediate enrollment at a children’s hospital. And I awoke.
Suddenly, everywhere I turned, there were sick children. Children with diabetes, children with cancer, children with obesity, children with asthma and children with allergies. What had happened?
As headlines in the paper warned me of environmental dangers, I began to pay attention. What was in the food? Wasn’t organics a left-leaning thing? And what about the plastics and the baby bottles and the vaccines? Should I worry? Doesn’t our system protect us from these dangers?
And without realizing it, an internal battle had silently begun.
I lay awake at night after conversations with my father, who dismissed my concerns and growing awareness of our system’s shortcomings. Had a generation of grandfathers failed to recognize the health risks associated with capitalism’s profits, unintentionally jeopardizing the well being of their grandchildren?
I had been raised to support the system, to believe in it, to never question it, and certainly to never speak out. Activism was something that “radicals” did, certainly not conservative, Republican soccer moms.
But I couldn’t shake the internal dialogue. Armed with an MBA in finance and my four children, I began to investigate the expanding role that corporations had taken in the system in which I was raised to believe. And I was stunned.
There were insecticidal toxins in crops to increase profitability for the world’s largest agrichemical corporation — a company whose former employees included Donald Rumsfeld and Clarence Thomas. There were petroleum-based chemicals in my children’s toys and shampoos that were a product of an oil corporation that had recruited me in business school. How had this happened? Had we forsaken our physical health for financial wealth?
As I struggled with the responsibility that I felt for betraying my own children, I realized that it was my responsibility to act. But the internal battle raged on — as the call from my conscience collided with the familiar comfort of conformity — and I was paralyzed.
But with sick children, paralysis was not an option.
I realized that I had to find the courage, on behalf of my children and others, to speak out against the very system in which my family believed.
And I reluctantly stepped forward.
With the words of another crusader in hand, I found my voice: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls” (Robert F. Kennedy).
It is with that hope, and holding the hands of my four children, that I took a stand.
It is our turn to engage, to help our fathers re-create the world that their grandchildren deserve. We must not be daunted by the enormity of the task at hand.
If we dare to dream that it is possible to affect this change for our children, we will be inspired by hope and find the courage and capacity to act. Together.
It is not too late. And “remember, during those times of doubt and frustration, that there is nothing naïve about your impulse to change the world.”
For the sake of our children, we have to.
VividLife.me Contributor
Robyn O’Brien
According to the New York Times, Robyn O’Brien is “food’s Erin Brockovich”. As the founder of AllergyKids, an organization designed to protect the 1 in 3 American children with autism, allergies, ADHD and asthma, Robyn has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and CNNhighlighting the role that chemicals in our food supply are having on our health. Born and raised in a conservative Texas family on supply side economics and the Wall Street Journal, Robyn earned a Fulbright Fellowship, an MBA and served as an equity analyst on a multibillion dollar fund prior to moving to Boulder, Colorado with her husband and four children. Additional articles can be found on her blog, FOOD POLITICS, at www.allergykids.com
GM Food Discussion: Why Your Input Is Important
November 18, 2009 by Gavin
Filed under Earth, Editor's Pick, • Headline
Hi, I´m Gavin Venn: Organic farmer with business background. Started more-than-organic.com, a resource for developing creative strategies to drive transition to Sustainable Food.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of yesterday´s Twitter discussion on Genetically Modified (GM) foods, was the general apathy towards the subject.
Those people sharing their views helped the conversation to develop and bloom, but considering we are now instantly connected with hundreds of others tweeters, involvement was disappointing. Our discussion was an opportunity when many different views could have been expressed. To hear more pro-GM views and those in-between would have been very useful. If we´re not connecting and talking how can we begin to understand different perspectives? By embracing Web 2.0, we have a collective opportunity to go beyond the limited space of a two sided debate. Through connection and discussion we can come together to develop creative strategies based on simple, common sense truth.
Especially concerning is that yesterday´s apathy may be a symptom of our dis-connection with food and nature. This works in a similar way to the alarming trend of young people not bothering to vote in elections, because they don´t connect with politics and politicians. Farming and food production are viewed as topics that don´t directly affect people, because we don´t see and understand how our food is grown and produced. For many people the closest connection they have with the origin of their food, is when they buy it from the supermarket.
Is our dis-connection from nature so severe that we´re blinded from considering the view that the latest generation of GM crops, as the forefront of intensive agriculture´s march, pose a considerable threat to the long term food security of our nations?
Genetically manipulating plants with material from animals for the purpose of improving hardiness, productivity and drought tolerance, symbolizes the progress of intensive farming techniques. Whether you applaud, are repulsed or simply dont give a damn, depends how you view the situation. Interestingly, our views on this may well be significantly influenced by the severity of our disconnection from nature. With this in mind, please forgive my crude, finger painting view of nature that follows:
(Nature is the limitless inter-related causes and conditions resulting in the process of continually restoring balance)
Wild plants springing up on your nicely dug flower bed, are an example of this process of continually restoring balance. Naked earth is vunerable to erosion, so nature strives to cover it. There isn´t anyone in charge of this process, but it´s happening all the time.
Of course, where farming is concerned, there has to be some disruption to this state of balance. I´m not proposing we set sail towards an unrealistic view of farming as some Utopian paradise. But, it´s important to understand that the closer we adhere to working with the natural balance of nature, the more sustainable our agriculture will become.
There is no doubt, that the advances in agricultural science made in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, helped feed many millions of people. This is a very wonderful result of the research and focus of many people. Indeed, our modern society of today, would look very different if we had not gone through these changes, changes that were implemented through the hard work of farmers. However, the unfavourable results of relentless progress are now smacking us in the face:
1. Arguably long term decrease in crop quality. Based on the living vitality of crops.
2. Severe environmental pollution, through leaching of chemically produced nitrogen fertilizers.
3. Increasing reliance on chemical products and systems controlled by big corporations.
By disecting nature to focus on small pieces of it, science, in response to our society´s relentless pursuit of progress, has pushed intensive farming to develop in the direction of operating independantly of the bigger picture of nature. Again, depending on your view, you may applaud this progress. You might say, wow, what a phenomenal achievement, as humans, we´ve used our intelligence to distance ourselves from nature. You might think that somehow humans are now superior to nature. The problem with this view, is that nature is constantly at work to restore balance to everything. Vast monoculture farming operations have to rely on ever increasing sophisticated approaches like GM crops, to deliver the necessary yield because new viruses, pests, soil exhaustion and other conditions have to be contended with. These so called ´adverse´ conditions are nature at work to restore balance. Until we can begin to view and connect with this bigger picture of nature, our intensive farming will have to continue to develop more and more complex approaches to counter the ´adverse´ conditions of nature restoring balance.
This situation is indeed a precarious one for farmers, consumers and societies in general. Especially when we consider the power to continue developing intensive farming techniques lies in the hands of big corporations. Corporations that patent their GM seed.
Fortunately, there is a way we (consumers, farmers & societies), can win back control of our food security. This way is intimately tied to our re-connection with the bigger picture of nature to create sustainable food production.
You are a part of this bigger picture of nature, your actions, no matter how insignificant, affect everyone else on this planet and further. This is your land, your society, your Earth, your children´s future: please make sure you have your say.
Contributor
Gavin Venn
MorethanOrganic is a small certified organic farm in North Spain. As I´m committed to maintaining a workable balance between nature and myself, I maintain a mix of cultivated and non-cultivated areas of land.
www.twitter.com/morethanorganic
Keeping Life Simple – “I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS!”
November 4, 2009 by Lorraine
Filed under Editor's Pick, Growth, • Headline
My experience in life has been that when we live in the moment and remain conscious of our thoughts, feelings and actions, there is a natural flow to our life.
We have been conditioned to believe in everything our thoughts tell us – our mind is a very useful tool for helping us to live the practical parts of our life each day. The thoughts that fill our mind throughout any given day about who we are, or who we will become or cannot become, are just not true. Did you know the human brain produces approximately 70,000 thoughts on average per day? (ref: www.wiki.answers.com) Imagine if we attached ourselves and believed in every thought we had, we’d be exhausted.
More about our thoughts!
Thoughts are just thoughts, they come and go and there is no need for us to get on the thought train and actually become the thought, but it does take a certain vigilance to be conscious of not becoming the thought.
Wake up each day and make a commitment not to jump on the ‘train of thought’. Instead, make a choice to begin watching the stories your mind tells you and become the observer of your thoughts. When you begin to let these stories be present without action, they will come and go just like the moment they arrived.
As you become the observer of your life you’ll begin to discover and honour what rings true for you. Start making a conscious effort to let go of the judgements and the expectations not only of yourself, but also of others. It takes so much energy when we resist what is present in our lives. Have you ever heard of the saying ‘ what we resist persists, and what we embrace we erase’ ? When we welcome everything into our heart and let it be, there is no struggle. John Lennon said it beautifully, ‘when I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be’. Everyone can have their own interpretation of what these words mean, but it’s the ‘let it be’ that brings about the peace. Try this next time your faced with a challenging situation in your life, and see what happens. It may be uncomfortable to begin with because we are used to taking control towards an outcome, but it is very interesting to watch what happens when you just let go, and let be, before reacting.
Discovering freedom
We can also discover more freedom in our lives when we start taking responsibility for who we are and stop holding others accountable for our behaviour, including our words and our actions. If anyone makes a comment or judgement about our lives and it triggers a reaction in us, it is our responsibility to go within and investigate what is wanting our attention. We all have the ability to choose how we will engage in any given situation and we have the ability to choose compassion over conflict.
Words of Wisdom
The Dalai Lama says “we all share an identical need for love, and that it is possible to feel that anybody we meet in whatever circumstances is a brother or sister. It is foolish to dwell on external differences, because our basic natures are the same. The key to a happy and more successful world is the growth of compassion”.
How do I begin to keep my life simple?
Our hearts are filled with enormous potential, there is no end to the love that is available to all. Where there is love, there is freedom. Make a conscious decision today to Keep Life Simple ~
Always in love,
Lorraine
Contributor
Lorraine Wilson
(C) 604-351-9205
www.callmediaworks.com
Mayan Prophecy 2012: Entering Our Galactic Day
October 15, 2009 by shayne
Filed under Earth, Editor's Pick, Spirit, • Headline
Many of us are aware of the Mayan calendar but not many people truly understand what it means and how it works. Yes the calendar does end on December 21, 2012, but what does that mean? How does it come to that? What is their calendar based off of?
The Mayans had a very precise understanding of our solar system’s cycles and believed that these cycles coincided with our spiritual and collective consciousness. The most significant of which has much to do with the 2012 prophecies. In the following writing, we will walk through the main details of their prophecies surrounding the 2012 transition. How the transition takes place (from an astronomical perspective), what it means for us, and when the cycles take place. We’ll start with the basic prophecies and later move deeper into the explanation of the cycles.
The Mayans prophesied that from 1999 we have 13 years to realize the changes in our conscious attitude to stray from the path of self-destruction and instead move onto a path that opens our consciousness to integrate us with all that exists.
The Mayans knew that our Sun, or Kinich-Ahau, every so often synchronized with the enormous central galaxy. And from this central galaxy received a ’spark’ of light which causes the Sun to shine more intensely producing what our scientists call ’solar flares’ as well as changes in the Sun’s magnetic field. The Mayans say that this happens every 5,125 years. But also that this causes a displacement in the earths rotation, and because of this movement great catastrophes would be produced.
The Mayans believed the universal processes, like the ‘breathing’ of the galaxy, are cycles that never change. What changes is the consciousness of man that passes through it. Always in a process toward more perfection. Based on their observations, the Mayans predicted that from the initial date of the start of their civilization, 4 Ahau, 8 Cumku which is 3113 B.C., after one cycle being completed 5,125 years in their future, December 21st, 2012. The Sun, having received a powerful ray of synchronizing light from the center of the galaxy, would change its polarity which would produce a great cosmic event that would propel human kind to be ready to cross into a new era, The Golden Age. It is after this, that the Mayans say we will be ready to go through the door that was left by them, transforming our civilization based on fear to a vibration much higher in harmony.
Only from our individual efforts could we avoid the path to great cataclysm that our planet will suffer to start a new era, the sixth cycle of the Sun. The Mayan civilization was in the fifth cycle of the Sun, and there were four other great civilizations before them that were destroyed by great natural disasters. They believed that each cycle was just one stage in the collective consciousness of humanity.
In the last cataclysm of the Mayans, the civilization was destroyed by a great flood that left little survivors of which were their descendants. They believed that having known the end of their cycle, mankind would prepare for what is to come in the future and it is because of this that they would have preserved the dominant species; the human race. They say that coming changes will permit us to make a quantum leap forward in the evolution of our consciousness to create a new civilization that would manifest great harmony and compassion to all humankind.
Their first prophecy talks about ‘The Time of No-Time’. A period of 20 years, which they call a Katún. The last 20 years of the Sun’s cycle of 5,125 years. This cycle is from 1992 – 2012. I’ll explain this in greater detail later. They predicted that during these times, solar winds would become more intense and could be seen on the Sun. This would be a time of great realization and great change for mankind. And it would be our own lack of preservation and contamination of the planet that would contribute to these changes. According to the Mayans, these changes would happen so that mankind comprehends how the universe works so we could advance to superior levels, leaving behind superficial materialism and liberating ourselves from suffering.
The Mayans say, that seven years after the start of Katún, which is to say 1999, we would enter a time of darkness which would force us to confront our own conduct. The say that this is the time when mankind will enter ‘The Sacred Hall of Mirrors’. Where we will look at ourselves and analyze our behaviors with ourselves, with others, with nature and with the planet in which we live. A time in which all of humanity, by individual conscious decisions, decides to change and eliminate fear and lack of respect from all of our relationships. The Mayans prophesied that the start of this period would be marked by a solar eclipse on August 11, 1999, known to them as 13 Ahau, 8 Cauac. And would coincide with an unprecedented planetary alignment, the ‘Grand Cross’ alignment. This would be the last 13 years of the Katón period. The last opportunity for our civilization to realize the changes that are coming at the moment of our spiritual regeneration.
For the Mayans, everything is numbers and the time of the 13 sacred numbers started in August 1999. They predicted that along with the eclipse, the forces of nature would act like a catalyst of changes so accelerated and with such magnitude that mankind would be powerless against them. Also, that our technologies in which we rely on so much would begin to fail us. We would no longer be able to learn from our civilization in the way that we are organized as a society. They said that our internal, spiritual development would require a better place along with a better way to interact with more respect and compassion.
The first prophecies were attained by their study of our Sun. The Mayans discovered that the entire solar system moved. That even our universe has its own cycles. Repetitive periods which begin and end like our day and night. These discoveries lead to the understanding that our solar system rotates on an ellipse that brings our solar system closer and further from the center of the galaxy. In other words, according to the Mayans, our Sun and all of its planets rotate in cycles in relation to the center of the galaxy or Hunab-Kú, the central light of the galaxy. It takes 25,625 years for our solar system to make one cycle on this ellipse. One complete cycle is called a galactic day. The cycle is divided into two halves similar to our day and night. The half closest to the central light, is our solar system’s ‘day’ and the half furthest away is its ‘night’. Each day and each night lasts 12,800 years. Which is to say, the central galaxy is the Sun for our entire solar system.
The Mayans discovered that every grand cycle has its minor cycles, that carry the same characteristics. One galactic day of 25,625 years is divided into five cycles of 5,125 years. The first cycle is the galactic morning. When our solar system is just coming out of the darkness to enter the light. The second cycle is the mid-day. When our solar system is closest to the central light. The third cycle is the afternoon. When our solar system begins to come out of the light. The fourth cycle is the late-night. When our solar system has entered its furthest cycle from the central light. And the fifth and last cycle is night before dawn. When are solar system is in its last cycle of darkness before starting again. This is the cycle we are currently coming out of.
The Mayan prophecy tells us that in 1999, our solar system began to leave the end of the fifth cycle which started in 3113 B.C. and that we find ourselves in the morning of our galactic day, exiting darkness and on the verge of being in plain day of our central galaxy in 2012. They say that at the beginning and end of these cycles, which is to say, every 5,125 years, the central sun or light of the galaxy emits a ray of light so intense and so brilliant that it illuminates the entire universe. It is from this burst of light that all of the Suns and planets sync. The Mayans compare this burst to the pulse of the universe, beating once every 5,125 years. It is these pulses that mark the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next. Each pulse lasting 20 years, a Katún.
So we come back to what they call ‘The Time of No Time’. It is an evolutionary period, short but intense, inside the grand cycles where great changes take place to thrust us into a new age of evolution as individuals and as mankind.
As individuals we will have to make decisions that will affect us all. If we continue on this negative path of hate, an eye for an eye, destruction of nature, of fear and egoism, we will enter straight into the time of destruction and chaos, and we will disappear as the dominant race of this planet. If we become conscious and realize that we all form part of a great organism, and that we should respect one another and be grateful to our planet, then we will move directly into positive growth, our Golden Age. Our planet, the Sun and the Galaxy are awaiting our decision. It is up to us what will happen in this time of change. Whether we go through a time of suffering and destruction or we find ourselves united in one positive consciousness moving closer to our next stage.
Please notice the events of our planet as evidence that the Mayan prophecies are worth listening to and learning from. Share this information and help us all move toward a better future, where we can thrive in a new era of positivity. It has never been so important.
21st Century Pilgrimages Make Travel More Meaningful
September 2, 2009 by admin
Filed under Editor's Pick, Journeys, • Headline
A growing number of travelers are rejecting the old “sun, sand and suds” style of vacation in favor of more meaningful experiences. “The act of making pilgrimages to certain special or sacred places is probably the most popular of all world tourist motives,” said Lester Borley, Director of the National Trust for Scotland.
A Vancouver travel company, Sacred Earth Journeys, has been offering pilgrimage travel experiences since 2003. Its president, Helen Tomei says “people want more from a holiday than simply lying on a beach. They want to change their lives for the better.”
“The purpose of the pilgrimage is to make life more meaningful,” wrote Phil Cousineau in The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred (Conari Press, 1998). “A journey without challenge has no meaning; one without purpose has no soul.”
Phil Cousineau will be leading a group tour of Ireland in September, 2010. Dubbed “Land of Myth and Mystery – A Pilgrimage Into the Heart of Sacred Ireland,” the 12-day tour will include a walk on Croagh Patrick, the mountain where Saint Patrick is said to have fasted and prayed for 40-days. There will also be visits to Irish pubs, concerts of traditional Celtic music, a trip to the monastery of Clomacnoise, founded in 545 by Saint Ciaran, and the most famous prehistoric site in Ireland, the UNESCO World Heritage site of Newgrange.
People with a passion for yoga can visit its birth place. Sacred Earth Journeys is offering a “Yoga & Spirituality Tour of South India” February 13 through 28, 2010. One of the tour leaders, Michele Labelle, is a Certified Hatha Yoga Teacher based in Vancouver. She will be joined by Tour Guide Aman Singh, a follower of India’s ancient spiritual practices with a deep interest in philosophy and culture. In addition to yoga and meditation sessions, the group will explore ancient Hindu temples, witness herds of wild elephants, take a boat ride in a tiger reserve, shop in a 600-year-old marketplace, attend a colorful, traditional dance show, travel by train to a fishing village and possibly meet with Mother Amma “the Hugging Saint” in her ashram.
Information about other pilgrimage travel opportunities is available online at http://www.sacredearthjourneys.ca/
Contact:
Helen Tomei, President
Sacred Earth Journeys Ltd.
Phone: (604) 874-7922
Fax: (604) 909-1717
Toll-free: 1-877-874-7922
Email: helen@sacredearthjourneys.ca
Website: http://www.sacredearthjourneys.ca/
Stay tuned for our blog entries about VividLife Editor-in-Chief, Rose-Anne Kumpunen’s spritual journey to Macchu Picchu with Sacred Earth Journeys, September 16th to 23rd.
Space junk
August 12, 2009 by shayne
Filed under Earth, Editor's Pick, • Headline
Space debris – from lost tools to dirty underwear
There’s certainly far more satellites up there than 30 years ago, but not everything we’re seeing traversing the skies are satellites, nor are the streaks of light always meteors – some of it’s other junk from man; everything to bits of satellites, to tools to underwear.
Yes, underwear.
Astronauts have to change clothes and there’s no washing machine on board craft such as the International Space Station, they just put their dirty laundry into Russian cargo modules and push them towards the Earth where they burn up when re-entering our atmosphere.
Bearing in mind that most meteoroids that cause meteors are about the size of a pebble, the next shooting star you see may not be of extra-terrestrial origins, but just a pile of flaming boxers 
.
While space junk isn’t high up on the scale in terms of environmental issues, it is a reminder of just how much we leave our mark on this planet – and beyond.. and space junk does pose somewhat of a threat.
In 2008, the US Navy fired a missile to take out a spy satellite that had spun out of control to prevent its toxic fuel tank from crashing to Earth. The fuel, hydrazine, would have posed a potential health hazard if it had crashed in a populated area.
There are more than 600,000 objects larger than 1 cm in our orbit already – that’s accumulated in just 50 or so years. There’s over 2,000 satellites out there, with many more to come; particularly now that a company is offering to launch mini-satellites for under ten thousand bucks a pop.
According to Space.com, a 1999 study estimated there are some 4 million pounds of space junk in low-Earth orbit – and some of this rubbish is travelling at over 17,000 miles per hour. At that speed, even small objects can pose a threat to satellites and astronauts. For example, a speck of paint from a satellite gouged a quarter-inch pit in a space shuttle window.
Probably the biggest threat to those of us on earth relatively recently was a new form of space junk – advertising. In the early 90’s an American company had its sights set on creating a 1 square kilometer illuminated billboard that would have been visible from Earth – around the same size and light intensity as the full moon. Thankfully, a bill was introduced that banned all U.S. advertising in space.
So, while we no longer have an unsullied view of space due to space junk and increasingly, light pollution, it could have been much worse. Imagine looking up at the night sky and seeing an ad.
While the space advertising ban is only applicable to companies in the USA, I think much of humanity would vigorously object to such a monstrosity.
I hope..
Michael Bloch
Green Living Tips.com
Green Living Tips is an online resource powered by renewable energy offering a wide variety of earth friendly tips, green guides, advice and environment related news to help consumers and business reduce costs, consumption and environmental impact .
Three Simple Steps to Gratitude
July 21, 2009 by shayne
Filed under Editor's Pick, Growth, • Headline
1. Take Inventory
In taking inventory, the first things to remember is this; there’s ALWAYS SOMETHING to be grateful for. It’s just true. There always is.
Start with the basics. I’m grateful for my children. I’m grateful for my breath. I’m grateful for my wellbeing. I’m grateful for my home. I’m grateful for my dog.
When that’s not enough, remember that every complaint is a request. Where you voice a complaint, or someone else voices one to you (“The financial news is so bad!”) there’s a request underneath it (“I want to feel more secure about my finances.”) Find the request, and let the complaint go. The more completely you’re able to release the complaint, the more easily you can move into responding to the request.
This next tactic for taking inventory is a drastic and potentially dangerous step, which can sometimes call up guilt or pain for some of us compassionate types. But it’s a good reminder; when all else fails, think of what others don’t have. And then count your blessings for the abundance you have in your own life.
You could consider this a version of the Tibetan Tonglen meditation – breath in pain, transform it within, and breathe out peace.
Release your own suffering. Remember; it’s so minuscule in the larger scale. Then perhaps we can move on to creating more abundance in the world.
See How to Grow a Grateful World for more on how to go about moving our own gratitude practice into the world. That article is available in the Gratitude Games Pro Package (http://cli.gs/ggpp), but you can also get it by signing up for my E-Zine at www.lasarafirefox.com.
2. Make a Gratitude List
You can make your list clean and pragmatic – I do one in my text edit program sometimes, just to shift my mood in the middle of a work project – or you can make it pretty, and put it up somewhere visible as a constant reminder of the things you’re grateful for. You can also create a gratitude list that’s a work-in-progress, pin it up on your fridge or cork-board, and add to it whenever something grand comes to mind.
If you like a public aspect, you can add your own Gratitude Blog to the quickly growing on-line gratitude presence- the electronic webs of interconnectivity that are rapidly creating networks and nexus of gratitude sharing and witnessing.
Whatever type (or types) of gratitude list you choose, enjoy the process of watching the list grow as you remember more and more things you’re grateful for.
Always state your gratitude in the positive. Turn “I’m grateful it’s not raining today” into “I’m grateful for this sunny day.” Turn “I’m glad we didn’t get kicked out this month” to “I’m glad we have this home.”
Why? Because focus is everything. If you say “I’m glad we didn’t get kicked out this month,” you’re thinking about the possibility of being kicked out…next month? This is likely to create a stress response – the opposite of what we trying for here!
If you say “I’m grateful for this home,” you get the feeling of gratitude, not only for the fact that you have a roof over your head, but this very roof! See? There! How much better does that feel? That’s what you want to achieve – that feeling of safety, gratitude, warmth, grace.
3. Commit to Action!
Choose at least three of the things on your list, and make plans – ones that you’re able to immediately implement – that will increase the experience or presence of those three things in your life.
The plan can be directly related to the list item; like, if you’re thankful for running, schedule in running.
Or, the plan can be more loosely related. If you’re grateful for your kids, you can schedule some quality time, or you could write them a gratitude note, or you could give them some sort of special gift.
Whatever your action plans are, a) make them easily within reach, and b) things that make you happy when you think about them.
If you follow those two basic guidelines, you’re sure to follow through. And according to science, completion of tasks increases the happy-chemicals in our brains. So, you get rewarded over and over again, for taking just a few simple, and ideally joyous, steps into a more grateful life.
BIO:
LaSara Firefox, MPNLP, is a coach, author, and educator. Her latest project, Gratitude Games, has been featured in media internationally. LaSara Firefox helps her clients find balance in their lives, and alignment with their personal and family-held values. If you’d like a fun and easy way to cultivate your gratitude, get Gratitude Games! More info at www.gratitudegames.com, or www.lasarafirefox.com.LaSara Firefox, MPNLP, is a coach, author, and educator. Her latest project, Gratitude Games, has been featured in media internationally. LaSara Firefox helps her clients find balance in their lives, and alignment with their personal and family-held values. If you’d like a fun and easy way to cultivate your gratitude, get Gratitude Games! More info at http://www.gratitudegames.com, or www.lasarafirefox.com.
Permaculture food systems: environmentally and economically friendly solutions for today
July 10, 2009 by admin
Filed under Earth, Editor's Pick, • Headline
Taken at Shepherd Farms, Clifton Hill, Mo. Hay and pecan trees.
I’ve been growing food for about five years now, all the while heavily researching food and energy issues, and I’ll tell you one thing: I didn’t get into growing food because I wanted to have tomatoes that actually had taste, or fruit that didn’t smell like chemicals. I got into it for survival reasons, and only stumbled upon a deeper meaning, along with these other benefits, along the way.
It’s almost old news now. Geologists in the oil industry, economic leaders, and many others have openly admitted the reality of declining oil and natural gas supplies, or peak oil/natural gas.
“Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is not the whacky proclamation of a doomsday cult, apocalypse bible prophecy sect, or conspiracy theory society. Rather, it is the scientific conclusion of the best paid, most widely-respected geologists, physicists, and investment bankers in the world.”
So wrote Californian lawyer Matt Savinar sometime in 2007 on his website about surviving the coming economic collapse that he and many others knew would result from an emerging energy crisis. It was reading things like this that got me interested in growing food, in the beginning.
Whether this energy crisis has a political aspect to it or not, the fact remains that our food system isn’t only environmentally unsustainable, it also suffers from severe economic instability.
Unfortunately, modern agriculture relies heavily on fossil fuels (like oil and natural gas), and the price and availability of food is highly dependent on uncertain fossil fuel reserves. We need to remember that our lives, before everything else, are based on food. If, by definition, our food system isn’t sustainable, then human life isn’t sustainable, even in (no, especially in!) so-called “rich” countries.
Nature’s answers
Taken at Shepherd Farms, Clifton Hill, Mo. Hay and pecan trees.
Designer and architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart noted in their book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, that we are accustomed to thinking of industry (e.g. industrial agriculture) and the environment as being at odds with one another.
But McDonough asks, “What if humans designed products and systems that celebrate an abundance of human creativity, culture, and productivity? That are so intelligent and safe, our species leaves an ecological footprint to delight in, not lament?”
McDonough has designed many completely non-toxic, infinitely recyclable and biodegradable products, from chairs to whole buildings, which back up his optimism of such a society being possible.
The problem, when it comes to food, is that we don’t think of a farm as an ecosystem, and we don’t design them as such. Sure, organic farmers and many traditional farmers will say they do, but have you ever seen a farm that had the diversity and self-sufficiency of an actual living ecosystem, like a forest or healthy grassland?
They are around, but there aren’t many (if any) of them in Ontario.
What is a permanent culture?
Taken at Sho-Neff Plantation, Stockton, Mo. Black walnut and soybeans.
The word permaculture, a term referring to a truly sustainable and permanent culture, was coined in the mid 1970s to describe “the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems.”
This description is from ecologist and designer Bill Mollison, who coined the term, and who later, with the help of another ecologist and fellow Australian, David Holmgren, developed an ecological design system around the concept.
Permaculture design, which can be applied to any field, has since taken on a life of its own and spread across the globe assimilating ancient and modern agricultural and ecological knowledge.
Soil is life
Although climate change and unpredictable oil and natural gas supplies are a huge concern in maintaining our food systems, the issue of soil erosion in modern agriculture goes largely unnoticed. To create a permanent food system, however, we need soil. Permanently.
Our current system’s reliance on a fragile, fossil fuel-centered supply chain to fertilize, toxify (with pesticides and herbicides), transport, store, and package food is the least of our concerns.
How about the fact that about 40 per cent of the world’s agricultural land is now seriously degraded? According to the UN, an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of poor farming practices. And it’s happening in Canada too.
To put it bluntly, a new system of agriculture is needed to prevent mass starvation.
Imagine a different food scenario, for a moment. Imagine a system that uses vertical space, like a forest, to achieve higher yields. Imagine all of the species in the system, from forest canopy, to understory, to shrubs, vines, smaller plants, ground covers and roots, all yielding food and/or medicine.
Then, imagine your favourite foods interspersed among garden clearings in this edible wilderness, receiving nutrients, protection from wind and pests, mulch, minerals, and everything else they need from the companion trees and plants around them. Imagine a food forest. These forests exist.
Natural forests build organic matter very quickly, not only protecting soil from erosion, but actually building it. Their biomass yields are far beyond a modern farm system, and what’s more, we can (and do) mimic them, but with species yielding edibles and medicinals.
There are even options for large scale industrial systems, which can employ alley cropping techniques that are being researched at the University of Guelph and many other places around the world. This involves planting valuable tree and other perennial crops in rows, with traditional or new crop choices in the alleys between.
How it works
Taken at Hugh Pence’s planting, Lafayette, Ind. Black walnut and corn.
Permaculture food systems typically use a diversity of perennial tree and non-woody crops, which provide permanent cover and protection from erosive wind and water forces.
At the same time, this diversity leads to many root depths, shapes and sizes, which stabilizes the soil and improve its structure, while minimizing competition. This fosters better water penetration (which prevents erosive runoff), and allows more oxygen into the soil, both of which feed the life of the soil, which in turn feeds the life of the plants.
Woody and non-woody perennials also have deeper root systems than annuals, which means they have a lot more potential for capturing and recycling nutrients.
Their litter contribution to the soil’s surface is also much greater than traditional crops (which still have a place). This free mulch is then slowly broken down by decomposers (insects, worms, bacteria, fungus) into soluble plant nutrients.
Other management practices in a permaculture food system that decrease the erodibility of the soil include no-till practices and the absence of heavy machinery, especially when the soil is wet. This lessens compaction (which decreases water infiltration and increases erosive runoff), and helps maintain ideal soil structure.
Creating a balance
The concepts and principles outlined here are only a glimpse of the complex interactions and forces at play in a permaculture system, and permaculture principles can be used on any scale.
Given that resources are not infinite, and many are quickly running out (like our soil, and our main energy sources), it might be wise for us to think about learning to design systems to grow at least some of our own food. And while we’re at it, we’ll be creating a world that not only supports life, but gives meaning to it.
Our goal, as McDonough puts it, should be “a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed.”
— By Trent Rhode
Trent Rhode is a permaculture gardener, designer, teacher, and researcher living in Peterborough, Ontario. He has a background and education in communications and sustainable land use practices, and has been studying ecology and natural farming since 2004.
