Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wheatgrass: King of Alkaline Foods (From Earthmother - in the raw)
Source (an excellent website):
http://earthmother-intheraw.blogspot.com/2010/06/wheatgrass-king-of-alkaline-foods.html
http://earthmother-intheraw.blogspot.com/2010/06/wheatgrass-king-of-alkaline-foods.html
Whether or not you've ever held the title of Fast Food Queen as I once did, you've likely ingested your fair share of highly processed and chemical laden foods. Let's face it, in this day and age, it's increasingly more challenging to eat a diet rich in whole foods that aren't filled with chemical preservatives, additives and pesticides. Just take a look at the Dirty Dozen list – even fresh fruits and veggies aren't immune.
Unfortunately, most processed foods are acidic and when we consume too many of them, our body's acidity-alkalinity balance is upset. Prolonged acidity is very taxing on our cells and organs, and ultimately leads to illness and disease.
The King of Alkaline Foods
Wheat grass has a high alkalizing effect, which helps restore the balance between acidity and alkalinity in the body. When your body’s pH levels are balanced, you'll begin to notice an increase in energy, stamina and less need for sleep.
Ann Wigmore, author of The Wheatgrass Book
, writes:
Wheatgrass contains an abundance of chlorophyll. The structure of chlorophyll is very similar to that of hemoglobin – the protein molecule in red blood cells – which makes it possible for our body to transform chlorophyll into hemoglobin. How cool is that? Drink your wheatgrass and increase your red blood cell count!
Scientists have found chlorophyll strengthens liver functions, neutralizes toxic compounds, as well as eliminates toxins in the blood. Take that, nasty chemical additives and preservatives!
Rejuvenate Your Body
Studies and tests of wheatgrass have concluded that it:
I've tried combining it with coconut water as well as adding it to various juices and smoothies to make it more palatable. Ann Wigmore strongly advises against this. Great. So what's a girl to do?
Well, a couple of months ago, I was introduced to the Best Organic Wheatgrass. The company name says it all. Really.
I've been drinking their wheatgrass daily for the last month, and no gag reflex. In fact, I rather like the taste! It reminds me of green tea.
So, here's the scoop. Their Easy Pha-max wheatgrass is 100% organic and uses no artificial chemicals, preservatives or other ingredients. It is the only wheatgrass powder in the world grown Aeroponically in 100% oxygen – soil free, fungus free and pollution free.
Unfortunately, most processed foods are acidic and when we consume too many of them, our body's acidity-alkalinity balance is upset. Prolonged acidity is very taxing on our cells and organs, and ultimately leads to illness and disease.
The King of Alkaline Foods
Wheat grass has a high alkalizing effect, which helps restore the balance between acidity and alkalinity in the body. When your body’s pH levels are balanced, you'll begin to notice an increase in energy, stamina and less need for sleep.
Ann Wigmore, author of The Wheatgrass Book
, writes:“Each of us is the keeper of ten trillion little batteries called cells. Like flashlight batteries, our cells hold a charge of electricity. In order for this charge to be strong and steady we need to have a steady supply of proper nutrients. With the addition of wheatgrass and raw foods to your diet, your cells will store a maximum electrical charge, and you will have plenty of energy.”Rich In Chlorophyll
Wheatgrass contains an abundance of chlorophyll. The structure of chlorophyll is very similar to that of hemoglobin – the protein molecule in red blood cells – which makes it possible for our body to transform chlorophyll into hemoglobin. How cool is that? Drink your wheatgrass and increase your red blood cell count!
Scientists have found chlorophyll strengthens liver functions, neutralizes toxic compounds, as well as eliminates toxins in the blood. Take that, nasty chemical additives and preservatives!
Rejuvenate Your Body
Studies and tests of wheatgrass have concluded that it:
- Stimulates the repair of damaged DNA
- Neutralizes infections
- Assists in wound healing
- Promotes healthy bowel function
- Inhibits the activity of carcinogens
- Reduces or eliminates offensive body & breath odors
- Has a more potent anti-inflamatory effect than aspirin
I've tried combining it with coconut water as well as adding it to various juices and smoothies to make it more palatable. Ann Wigmore strongly advises against this. Great. So what's a girl to do?
Well, a couple of months ago, I was introduced to the Best Organic Wheatgrass. The company name says it all. Really.
I've been drinking their wheatgrass daily for the last month, and no gag reflex. In fact, I rather like the taste! It reminds me of green tea.
So, here's the scoop. Their Easy Pha-max wheatgrass is 100% organic and uses no artificial chemicals, preservatives or other ingredients. It is the only wheatgrass powder in the world grown Aeroponically in 100% oxygen – soil free, fungus free and pollution free.
Wheatgrass is lifted out of its tray with the roots.
One pound or 1/4 tray of wheatgrass = 1 sachet of powder
Why Is The Root So Important?
From the perspective of Chinese medicine, the leaves of wheatgrass have a cooling effect, whereas the roots produce a heating effect. Combining both characteristics neutralizes the effect produced by each individually.
The active ingredients found in the root of wheatgrass, especially cancer fighting agents and 13 amino acids not found in the blades, stimulate damaged cells to undergo cellular repair.
Bonus: by combining the roots with the blades, the taste is not as strong and nauseous as juiced wheatgrass. Score!
After harvesting, the aeroponically-grown wheatgrass is cold dried to maintain its live enzymes and nutrients when combined with water. One Easy Pha-max wheatgrass sachet has the equivalent nutrients of 17 pounds of vegetables. Four packets are equivalent to one tray of wheatgrass. Yowza!
What About Folks Who Have A Wheat Allergy?
Wheat allergies are usually a reaction to the gluten found in the wheat berry. Wheatgrass is a vegetable, cut before the wheat plant forms the grain (berry). Easy Pha-max wheatgrass has no gluten.
Dark Green Leafy Vegetables are the best source of calcium
According to this article from the Harvard School of Public Health, one cup of collard greens contains 357 milligrams of calcium, but a cup of milk has 306. Collard greens also are one of the leafy greens with calcium that is more absorbable. (Some greens like spinach contain oxalic acid which interferes with absorption of calcium).
In addition to calcium, Collard greens contain Vitamin K which plays a role with calcium in keeping bones healthy and strong. Three proteins in bone depend upon Vitamin K to function. Collard greens are a member of the cabbage family. The leafy vegetable has been a regular part of American cooking in the South, aka ’soul’ food for decades. (They were also popular with the ancient Greeks and Romans).
Other Calcium-Rich, Non-Dairy Foods
1. Fortified beverages like O.J and soymilk. A six oz. serving of calcium fortified orange juice can provide as much as 20-25 percent of your daily value (DV). An eight oz. cup of soymilk can contain as much as 50 percent of your DV. Make sure to check the labels as different brands can vary in their nutritional content!
My tasty tip: Avoid the brands with added sugars. I always opt for unsweetened soymilk to shave out the hidden calories!
2. Dark Leafy Greens. Turnip greens, kale and spinach pack the greatest calcium punch. Try not to overcook to avoid losing the nutrients.
My tasty tip: Saute it up with some minced garlic. Garlic is loaded with anti-oxidants and anti-viral properties.
3. Salmon — canned, that is. Wild caught salmon is great for all of its omegas but three ounces of canned salmon locks in 18 percent of your DV of calcium. The trick? Eating the bones. The canning process softens them up making them more edible and palatable.
4. Raw broccoli. A half-cup serves up two percent of your DV.
My tasty tip: Dress it up or dip in an organic dressing like vegan tahini and lemon-based Annie’s Naturals Goddess dressing.
5. Tofu. It contains 20 percent of your DV! The versatile meat substitute can be prepared to sate any taste preference.
Fruit Harvesting Timetable
Fruit Harvesting Timetable
Know When to Expect to Start Harvesting Fruit
By Vanessa Richins, About.com Guide
http://treesandshrubs.about.
The best part about growing fruit trees and shrubs is, of course, harvesting the fruit! Learn when you can generally expect to harvest the different types of fruits with this handy time line. The exact times will vary depending on the variety you choose and your climate.
Apples: July-early November
Apricots: May-June for most varieties
Avocados: Guatemalan varieties: summer-autumn. Mexican varieties: autumn-spring in California, summer-winter in Florida
Bananas: Late summer-fall in mild climates
Blueberries: 60-80 days after blooming
Cherries: May-July
Citrus: Year round in mild climates
Currants: Late spring-summer
Figs: First crop June & July; second crop in August except in California, where it is in September
Gooseberries: Late spring-summer
Guavas: Autumn in California; June-October in Florida
Loquats: February-May in Florida; March-June in California
Mangoes: May-September in Florida; autumn-winter in California
Nectarines: June-September (as early as April in milder climates)
Olives: Fall in mild climates
Papayas: In California, approximately 8 months after flowering; 3-4 months after flowering in Florida
Peaches: June-September (as early as April in milder climates)
Pears: July-late October
Persimmons: Late autumn-winter
Plums: June-August
Pomegranates: Whenever fully colored
Raspberries: Early summer; everbearers can produce into autumn
Quince:Autumn
Eat less meat to save the planet - UN
Eat less meat to save the planet - UN
The world needs to change to a more vegetarian diet to stand a chance of tackling climate change, according to a major new United Nations report.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
02 Jun 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7797594/Eat-less-meat-to-save-the-planet-UN.html
The group of international scientists said the greatest cause of greenhouse gas emissions is food production and the use of fossil fuels.
But while the use of coal and oil could be gradually replaced by renewable energy sources like wind and solar, the world will always need to eat.
As the world population increases it is feared that the production of food will become the main cause of climate change and environmental degradation.
The International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management pointed out that agricultural production accounts for 70 per cent of global freshwater production, 38 per cent of land use and 19 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
The report, that will be presented to world governments, said the only way to feed the world while reducing climate change is to switch to more a more vegetarian diet.
"A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change," it read.
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said ordinary consumers can help fight climate change by eating less meat.
"The Panel have reviewed all the available science and conclude that two broad areas are currently having a disproportionately high impact on people and the planet's life support systems—these are energy in the form of fossil fuels and agriculture, especially the raising of livestock for meat and dairy products," he said.
Mr Steiner said governments could encourage people to eat less meat by reforming the system of taxes and subsidies so vegetarian food is cheaper.
"Smart market mechanisms, more intelligent fiscal policies and creative policy-making are among the options for internalising the costs of unsustainable patterns. Some tough choices are signalled in this report, but it may prove even more challenging for everyone if the current paths continue into the coming decades," he added.
Lord Stern of Brentford, the author of the influential Stern Review that first argued for economic measures to fight climate change, also believes the world needs to eat less meat.
He has already warned that the price of meat and other "carbon intensive" goods will need to go up to fight climate change.
The world needs to change to a more vegetarian diet to stand a chance of tackling climate change, according to a major new United Nations report.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
02 Jun 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
The group of international scientists said the greatest cause of greenhouse gas emissions is food production and the use of fossil fuels.
But while the use of coal and oil could be gradually replaced by renewable energy sources like wind and solar, the world will always need to eat.
As the world population increases it is feared that the production of food will become the main cause of climate change and environmental degradation.
The International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management pointed out that agricultural production accounts for 70 per cent of global freshwater production, 38 per cent of land use and 19 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
The report, that will be presented to world governments, said the only way to feed the world while reducing climate change is to switch to more a more vegetarian diet.
"A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change," it read.
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said ordinary consumers can help fight climate change by eating less meat.
"The Panel have reviewed all the available science and conclude that two broad areas are currently having a disproportionately high impact on people and the planet's life support systems—these are energy in the form of fossil fuels and agriculture, especially the raising of livestock for meat and dairy products," he said.
Mr Steiner said governments could encourage people to eat less meat by reforming the system of taxes and subsidies so vegetarian food is cheaper.
"Smart market mechanisms, more intelligent fiscal policies and creative policy-making are among the options for internalising the costs of unsustainable patterns. Some tough choices are signalled in this report, but it may prove even more challenging for everyone if the current paths continue into the coming decades," he added.
Lord Stern of Brentford, the author of the influential Stern Review that first argued for economic measures to fight climate change, also believes the world needs to eat less meat.
He has already warned that the price of meat and other "carbon intensive" goods will need to go up to fight climate change.
A few healthy foods
Cherries
Nutritionist Jonny Bowden notes that cherries are packed with anti-inflammatory properties. They contain antioxidants, thought to help the body protect against the damaging effects of free radicals and the chronic diseases associated with the aging process.
Blueberries
Like cherries, blueberries contain antioxidants found to promote heart health. A 2009 study showed that rats fed blueberries lost belly fat, the kind of fat linked to diabetes and heart disease.
Kiwifruit
This tart little green fruit, with its soft, hairy skin and seeds you can swallow, is chock full of vitamin C--a whopping 115% of what you need to eat in a day. It's also low in calories--just 45 per fruit sans skin.
Flax Seed
Also a tremendous source of omega-3 fatty acids, flax seed has been shown to contain powerful anti-cancer compounds called lignans. Flax is also a great source of fiber, which enhances digestion. Try throwing it into your next smoothie or sprinkling on a salad.
Kale
A member of the cabbage family, which Bowden dubs "vegetable royalty," kale contains indoles, a compound found to fight cancer. Kale is also full of sulforaphane, another cancer-prevention agent. Plus, Kale contains calcium, iron and vitamins A, C and K, and two nutrients that are great for the eyes, including zeaxanthin.
Dark Chocolate
Rich with a phytochemical called flavanol, found by a 2005 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology to improve cardiovascular health. Look for chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content.
Eat Mediterranean
For some, sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet is the healthiest way to eat. That means plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and lots of olive and nut oils. The Mediterranean diet has indeed been proved by study after study to have multiple healthful properties.
Nutritionist Jonny Bowden notes that cherries are packed with anti-inflammatory properties. They contain antioxidants, thought to help the body protect against the damaging effects of free radicals and the chronic diseases associated with the aging process.
Blueberries
Like cherries, blueberries contain antioxidants found to promote heart health. A 2009 study showed that rats fed blueberries lost belly fat, the kind of fat linked to diabetes and heart disease.
Kiwifruit
This tart little green fruit, with its soft, hairy skin and seeds you can swallow, is chock full of vitamin C--a whopping 115% of what you need to eat in a day. It's also low in calories--just 45 per fruit sans skin.
Flax Seed
Also a tremendous source of omega-3 fatty acids, flax seed has been shown to contain powerful anti-cancer compounds called lignans. Flax is also a great source of fiber, which enhances digestion. Try throwing it into your next smoothie or sprinkling on a salad.
Kale
A member of the cabbage family, which Bowden dubs "vegetable royalty," kale contains indoles, a compound found to fight cancer. Kale is also full of sulforaphane, another cancer-prevention agent. Plus, Kale contains calcium, iron and vitamins A, C and K, and two nutrients that are great for the eyes, including zeaxanthin.
Dark Chocolate
Rich with a phytochemical called flavanol, found by a 2005 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology to improve cardiovascular health. Look for chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content.
Eat Mediterranean
For some, sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet is the healthiest way to eat. That means plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and lots of olive and nut oils. The Mediterranean diet has indeed been proved by study after study to have multiple healthful properties.
EVEREST WOMEN'S SEVEN SUMMITS ECO-ACTION
PRESS RELEASE:
EVEREST WOMEN'S SEVEN SUMMITS ECO-ACTION
In July 2010 a team of nine Nepali women will begin the first international leg of a tour that will see them climb seven of the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. On successfully climbing all seven summits they will be setting a world record for being the largest team to do so.
The team will be using their expedition to highlight the urgent issue of
climate change, and as part of this focus the ***whole team has now adopted a vegan diet for the entire tour***. This decision was made in response to the wealth of information regarding the overwhelming impact human food choices have on climate change, including the recent UN study which indicates that a global shift towards plant based eating is one of the best ways to alleviate most significant environmental damage, including climate
change.
Further to this personal commitment, the project will be made carbon neutral
via carbon offsetting. The team have partnered with a local Nepali NGO,
Clean Energy Nepal, for that. They are focusing on solar lanterns, bio-gas,
and tree plantations in the Himalayan villages to offset the carbon emission
resulting from the project.
In May 2008 this team of inspiring young women became the most successful
women's expedition ever to Summit Mt Everest. Against all kinds of
socio-economic odds the team succeeded in doing what none thought possible.
All of them reached the summit and spread the message of 'Unity in Diversity'
from the top of the world.
During that expedition the issue of climate change struck the members
deeply, and subsequent travels across the country motivating students
allowed them to witness further instances of the serious effects of climate
change. So with the first, and arguably the most challenging summit behind
them the climbers have now taken up a mission that is both meaningful and
helpful not just in Nepal but globally.
The members of the team are Asha Kumari Singh, Chunu Shrestha, Maya Gurung,
Ngabhang Phuti Sherpa, Nimdoma Sherpa, Pema Diki Sherpa, Pujan Acharya,
Shailee Basnet and Usha Bist. Each of these young women has her own
compelling story of struggle, challenges, hope and determination. Born of
poor parents, one started supporting her family when she was in the sixth
grade. Another ran away from home to unknown destination to escape forced
marriage at the age of fourteen. Their backgrounds combined with the
previous success and a new vision makes this global expedition, led by such
intrepid young women quite unique.
The Seven Summits Eco-Action kick-starts in Australia on the 29th of June.
The team fly into Sydney and travel down to the south coast of NSW and then
up to the alpine region, to climb Mt Kosciuszko/ Targangil in early July.
They will be meeting with schools, environment groups, famous climbers,
environmentalists, scientists and politicians during their tour, as well as
speaking at several public events in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
2010 marks the tenth anniversary of diplomatic relations being established
between Australia and Nepal and a ceremony to celebrate this will be held in
Canberra where the team will present token of commemoration to the
Australian Government
The next peak in the challenge, Mt Elbrus in Europe, will be followed by
Kilimanjaro (Africa), Vinson Massif (Antarctica), Aconcagua (South America),
Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania) and Denali (North America). The team will be
raising funds during their Australian trip to support future climbs.
The Australian part of the project is supported by Government of Nepal,
Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal Tourism Year 2011, The North Face,
The Crossing Land Education Trust, Outdoor Education Group, and the 'Be
Vegan, Go Green-Save the Planet' campaign, Non-Residential Nepalis and Nari
Nikunja.
The team has made the following vision and mission statements:
Vision: Providing hope to people and empowering them by sharing knowledge
about tools for mitigation and adaptation through education and cross
cultural learning in order to promote sustainable co-existence of nature and
human beings.
Mission: Climb the seven summits, conduct educational exchange programmes on
climate change in each continent and finally compile the global knowledge in
educational materials including a book, animations and posters which will
be distributed in schools and libraries in various languages worldwide.
Everest Women's Seven Summits
Eco-Action Web site:
www.sevensummitswomen.org
Australian contact:
Jenny McCracken,
Darebin Climate Action Network,
Phone: 0431 587830
Email; jam2arts@...
Summary of Group Itinerary
29th June-4th July: arrive Sydney, travel to The Crossing Land Education
Trust, Bermagui.
5th July-8th July: In Jindabyne and Thredbo, climbing Mt Kosciuszko with
Outdoor Education Group
9th-10th July: In Sydney with Nepali community
11th-12th July: In Canberra with Nepali Embassy
13th July onwards: In Victoria.
Mt Arapiles, then Melbourne with local climate action networks and Nepali
community
18th July depart Australia, Melbourne.
EVEREST WOMEN'S SEVEN SUMMITS ECO-ACTION
In July 2010 a team of nine Nepali women will begin the first international leg of a tour that will see them climb seven of the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. On successfully climbing all seven summits they will be setting a world record for being the largest team to do so.
The team will be using their expedition to highlight the urgent issue of
climate change, and as part of this focus the ***whole team has now adopted a vegan diet for the entire tour***. This decision was made in response to the wealth of information regarding the overwhelming impact human food choices have on climate change, including the recent UN study which indicates that a global shift towards plant based eating is one of the best ways to alleviate most significant environmental damage, including climate
change.
Further to this personal commitment, the project will be made carbon neutral
via carbon offsetting. The team have partnered with a local Nepali NGO,
Clean Energy Nepal, for that. They are focusing on solar lanterns, bio-gas,
and tree plantations in the Himalayan villages to offset the carbon emission
resulting from the project.
In May 2008 this team of inspiring young women became the most successful
women's expedition ever to Summit Mt Everest. Against all kinds of
socio-economic odds the team succeeded in doing what none thought possible.
All of them reached the summit and spread the message of 'Unity in Diversity'
from the top of the world.
During that expedition the issue of climate change struck the members
deeply, and subsequent travels across the country motivating students
allowed them to witness further instances of the serious effects of climate
change. So with the first, and arguably the most challenging summit behind
them the climbers have now taken up a mission that is both meaningful and
helpful not just in Nepal but globally.
The members of the team are Asha Kumari Singh, Chunu Shrestha, Maya Gurung,
Ngabhang Phuti Sherpa, Nimdoma Sherpa, Pema Diki Sherpa, Pujan Acharya,
Shailee Basnet and Usha Bist. Each of these young women has her own
compelling story of struggle, challenges, hope and determination. Born of
poor parents, one started supporting her family when she was in the sixth
grade. Another ran away from home to unknown destination to escape forced
marriage at the age of fourteen. Their backgrounds combined with the
previous success and a new vision makes this global expedition, led by such
intrepid young women quite unique.
The Seven Summits Eco-Action kick-starts in Australia on the 29th of June.
The team fly into Sydney and travel down to the south coast of NSW and then
up to the alpine region, to climb Mt Kosciuszko/ Targangil in early July.
They will be meeting with schools, environment groups, famous climbers,
environmentalists, scientists and politicians during their tour, as well as
speaking at several public events in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
2010 marks the tenth anniversary of diplomatic relations being established
between Australia and Nepal and a ceremony to celebrate this will be held in
Canberra where the team will present token of commemoration to the
Australian Government
The next peak in the challenge, Mt Elbrus in Europe, will be followed by
Kilimanjaro (Africa), Vinson Massif (Antarctica), Aconcagua (South America),
Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania) and Denali (North America). The team will be
raising funds during their Australian trip to support future climbs.
The Australian part of the project is supported by Government of Nepal,
Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal Tourism Year 2011, The North Face,
The Crossing Land Education Trust, Outdoor Education Group, and the 'Be
Vegan, Go Green-Save the Planet' campaign, Non-Residential Nepalis and Nari
Nikunja.
The team has made the following vision and mission statements:
Vision: Providing hope to people and empowering them by sharing knowledge
about tools for mitigation and adaptation through education and cross
cultural learning in order to promote sustainable co-existence of nature and
human beings.
Mission: Climb the seven summits, conduct educational exchange programmes on
climate change in each continent and finally compile the global knowledge in
educational materials including a book, animations and posters which will
be distributed in schools and libraries in various languages worldwide.
Everest Women's Seven Summits
Eco-Action Web site:
www.sevensummitswomen.org
Australian contact:
Jenny McCracken,
Darebin Climate Action Network,
Phone: 0431 587830
Email; jam2arts@...
Summary of Group Itinerary
29th June-4th July: arrive Sydney, travel to The Crossing Land Education
Trust, Bermagui.
5th July-8th July: In Jindabyne and Thredbo, climbing Mt Kosciuszko with
Outdoor Education Group
9th-10th July: In Sydney with Nepali community
11th-12th July: In Canberra with Nepali Embassy
13th July onwards: In Victoria.
Mt Arapiles, then Melbourne with local climate action networks and Nepali
community
18th July depart Australia, Melbourne.
How Your Endocrine System is Being Harmed by the Top 5 Home Toxins
How Your Endocrine System is Being Harmed by the Top 5 Home Toxins
by SixWise.com
The jury is in: American homes are contaminated with an array of toxic chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting pesticides and many others.
The average American spends 65 percent of his or her time at home, says John Spengler of the Harvard School of Public Health. Other experts put the amount of time at 90%. This means that for the majority of our days - and of our lives -- we're spending our time in toxic environments. (As most readers of the SixWise.com have heard, toxic pollution inside the home is an average 2-5 times higher than outside, and in some homes up to 100 times!)
The most recent study, led by researchers with the Silent Spring Institute (a nonprofit organization, as part of its Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study), found that, on average, dust in homes contained 26 different toxic compounds and the air contained 19 different compounds.
Most Abundant Toxins in Homes
The following toxins appeared most often in the 120 participating homes.
Phthalates:
READ THE ARTICLE:
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/04/05/how-your-endocrine-system-is-being-harmed-by-the-top-5-home-toxins.htm?source=nl
by SixWise.com
The jury is in: American homes are contaminated with an array of toxic chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting pesticides and many others.
The average American spends 65 percent of his or her time at home, says John Spengler of the Harvard School of Public Health. Other experts put the amount of time at 90%. This means that for the majority of our days - and of our lives -- we're spending our time in toxic environments. (As most readers of the SixWise.com have heard, toxic pollution inside the home is an average 2-5 times higher than outside, and in some homes up to 100 times!)
The most recent study, led by researchers with the Silent Spring Institute (a nonprofit organization, as part of its Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study), found that, on average, dust in homes contained 26 different toxic compounds and the air contained 19 different compounds.
Most Abundant Toxins in Homes
The following toxins appeared most often in the 120 participating homes.
Phthalates:
READ THE ARTICLE:
http://www.sixwise.com/
Alert: FL sport of penning fox/coyotes & letting dogs murder them
I attended the meeting today of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission on fox and coyote penning. At the meeting, Commissioners would
decide on the vote to whether regulate or prohibit fox and coyote penning-a
cruel activity in which trapped foxes and coyotes reside inside fenced
enclosures to be chased by packs of dogs, who kill the captive animals.
It's hard to believe that for more than 20 years this "sport" has been going
on in FL
In his column ("Let's put an end to pens for coyotes and foxes", 6.18.10)
Eric Ernst of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune writes,
"They may call it hunting, but that's an insult to real hunters. In this
case, wild coyotes or foxes are trapped, packed and shipped to fenced areas
where they are turned loose to run for their lives, day after day, from a
pack of dogs. If the dogs don't maul them to death, the wild animals die of
disease. Incredibly, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, an agency
entrusted with managing the state's natural resources, has sanctioned the
practice for more than 20 years
Over a hundred people signed up to speak and testify.
The FFWCC voted to BAN the penning of foxes and coyotes in the state of Florida !!!
http://www.orlandosentinel.
MSG is POISON - makes you fat, messes up brain/nerve function, much more
Additives that always contain MSG:
- Monosodium Glutamate
- Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
- Hydrolyzed Protein
- Hydrolyzed Plant Protein
- Plant Protein Extract
- Sodium Caseinate
- Calcium Caseinate
- Yeast Extract
- Textured Protein
- Autolyzed Yeast
- Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
Additives that frequently contain MSG:
- Malt extract
- Malt Flavoring
- Bouillon
- Broth
- Stock
- Flavoring
- Natural Flavoring
- Natural Beef or Chicken Flavoring
- Seasoning
Additives that may contain MSG or excitotoxins:
- Carrageenan
- Enzymes
- Soy Protein Concentrate
- Soy Protein Isolate
- Whey Protein Concentrate
Dogs Used as Shark Bait on French Island
Dogs Used as Shark Bait on French Island
By Maryann Mott
As Far back as Oct. 19 2005 it was reported by Maryann Mott that live and dead dogs and cats were being used as shark bait by amateur fishers on the French-controlled island of Réunion, according toanimal-welfare organizations and local authorities.
At The time the small volcanic island off Africa's east coast was bursting with stray dogs—upward of 150,000, says Reha Hutin, president of the Paris-based Fondation 30 Millions d'Amis (the Thirty Million Friends Foundation).
Hutin sent a film crew to Réunion this summer to obtain proof that live animals were being used as shark bait. The goal was to expose the practice on the animal rights group's weekly television show.
It didn't take long for the film crew to find three separate cases, she said.
A videotape and photographs show the dogs with multiple hooks sunk deep into their paws and snouts.
"From then on everyone started to take the whole story seriously and realized it was true," Hutin said.
Photographic Evidence
PLEASE READ:
http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-20100526-10.html
By Maryann Mott
As Far back as Oct. 19 2005 it was reported by Maryann Mott that live and dead dogs and cats were being used as shark bait by amateur fishers on the French-controlled island of Réunion, according toanimal-welfare organizations and local authorities.
At The time the small volcanic island off Africa's east coast was bursting with stray dogs—upward of 150,000, says Reha Hutin, president of the Paris-based Fondation 30 Millions d'Amis (the Thirty Million Friends Foundation).
Hutin sent a film crew to Réunion this summer to obtain proof that live animals were being used as shark bait. The goal was to expose the practice on the animal rights group's weekly television show.
It didn't take long for the film crew to find three separate cases, she said.
A videotape and photographs show the dogs with multiple hooks sunk deep into their paws and snouts.
"From then on everyone started to take the whole story seriously and realized it was true," Hutin said.
Photographic Evidence
PLEASE READ:
http://www.all-creatures.org/
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Oil plumes invade a dark, mysterious world at Gulf's floor
Oil plumes invade a dark, mysterious world at Gulf's floor
By ANDRES VIGLUCCI
McClatchy Newspapers
Deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico lies a dark and frigid world surprisingly abundant in otherworldly forms of life, much of it fed by gases and oil that seep out of fissures in the sea floor. Here on the sea floor, at near-freezing temperatures and crushing depths that can reach 9,000 feet, are methane-munching bacterial mats; mussels the size of a big man's foot; tube-shaped animals that grow 10 feet long and live more than 250 years, and expansive beds of coral that thrive in total darkness. Much of this life was utterly unknown until the dawn of deep-sea oil exploration in the early 1980s, which led the federal government - and in particular the Minerals Management Service, the agency now under fire for lax supervision of deepwater rigs - to finance extensive scientific investigation of the bottom of the Gulf.
Since then, scientists who deploy robots to the sea floor or plunge into the depths in miniature subs have documented the existence of dozens of scattered communities of tentacle-like, hydrocarbon- sucking tubeworms and giant mussels and clams clustered around seep sites, as well as dramatic coral habitats some believe may be feeding grounds for deepwater grouper and other large species of fish.
"Most of the Gulf of Mexico is muddy bottom. If you go down to the sea floor in a submarine, what you will often see is mud, with the occasional crustacean," said Charles "Chuck" Fisher, a marine biologist at Penn State who has conducted pioneering research into the Gulf's deepwater ecosystems. "When you come up on a seep site or a coral site, it's spectacular. There are literally thousands to hundreds of thousands of animals at one time."
Much about these strange animals and their relationships remains unclear, including the function of the iceworms Fisher discovered encrusted in frozen methane mounds on the sea bottom in the late 1990s. New species are discovered on nearly every dive.
But the scientists who study the Gulf bottom are alarmed over the potential for catastrophic effects on the fragile seafloor ecosystems from the underwater oil plumes billowing for miles from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.
"Unfortunately, there's really no place for this oil to go where it won't have a negative impact," said James Cowan, a professor of oceanography at Louisiana State University who has recorded plumes of oil 400 feet beneath the Gulf's surface. At this point, the scientists can offer little more than reasoned speculation. No one has yet gone deep to test for the effects of the oil spill because deep-sea ventures are expensive and must be planned well in advance.
Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute hopes to send out its four-person submersible, the Johnson-Sea- Link, to examine deepwater coral communities off the Florida coast by the end of the month.
The deepwater corals, which live in depths from a few hundred to thousands of feet, may be particularly vulnerable, Cowan and others say. Given the lack of light, those corals do not use photosynthesis to produce their food like their shallow-water cousins do. The deepwater coral instead rely for nutrition on organic material that drops like snow from the water column, including tiny shrimp and copepods, as well as dead matter and crabs, fish and corals in their larval stages, said John Reed, a research scientist at Harbor Branch who has made scores of dives to the Gulf seafloor. Some researchers suggest the deep-sea coral may have adapted to the oil that naturally flows across Gulf waters from the natural seeps deep below.
But Reed and Cowan, among others, fear the plumes from the Deepwater Horizon could smother them. Tiny globules of toxic oil could also enter the food chain, contaminating it as the material falls on the reefs, Reed said.
"It would kill them. It would essentially be food poisoning," he said.
Chemical dispersants mixed in with the oil in the plumes could make matters worse, although no one has any idea what the precise effects will be. The government has not funded any studies on the impact of dispersants on the Gulf ecology.
"We don't know toxic how those dispersants are," said Gregor Eberli, a marine geologist at the University of Miami. "We know absolutely nothing." In the worst case, miles of deepwater coral - and the habitats and biological diversity they represent - could be wiped out, scientists say.
"They grow very very slowly, less than a half-inch a year, so if they get destroyed they may never come back, or it could be centuries before they do," Reed said.
Less obvious is what might happen to the complex communities of inter-dependent tubeworms, bacteria, shellfish and crustaceans that live around cracks in the ocean floor through which oil and other energy-rich fluids bubble up from underground petroleum deposits. Most are strung along the northern Gulf, in areas where oil-drilling platforms have proliferated.
Here the fauna survive thanks to co-dependent, or symbiotic, relationships: The tubeworms, which are anchored to sediment on the bottom, suck up gases like methane and hydrogen sulfide from the cold seeps, where temperatures are just a few degrees above freezing. Bacteria living inside the tubeworms - and in the gills of mussels - consume the gases, producing carbon to feed their hosts and also themselves. The process is called chemosynthesis.
Free-living bacteria, meanwhile, process the hydrocarbons to produce rock on which other species can proliferate, some feeding on the bacteria. The communities, Penn State's Fisher said, are long-lived, probably lasting centuries.
"There's literally 100 other species feeding on bacteria as well as each other, like shrimps and snails," he said.
The particular species vary by depth, with a complete turnover occurring below 3,000 feet, he said.
Scientists say the cold-seep communities are similar in many ways to those found at hot, or hydrothermal, vents discovered in the 1970s in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, where the earth's tectonic plates meet, releasing superheated gases. But no one thought anyone would find much of anything when the start of oil exploration in the Gulf sent scientists to find out what might live beneath. In 1984, Texas A&M scientists on an exploration cruise in the central Gulf trawled the bottom with a net, expecting little to come up, Fisher said.
Instead, Fisher said, "the net was so full of animals they had a hard time getting it on board the ship." By then, the manned submersible DSV Alvin had discovered numerous such communities in the eastern Gulf, and as finds multiplied, the MMS enacted some basic protections, though scientists fear those may now prove inadequate.
Under the rules, no drilling is allowed directly over deepwater seep and coral communities, and rig anchors and activity is kept at least 1,500 feet away.
One of the best-known cold-seep communities, named Bush Hill by researchers because of its thickets of tubeworms, sits 500 yards from a deepwater well.
But extensive environmental impact studies prepared by MMS indicate the agency never seriously considered the potential impact of explosions or oil gushing out of deepwater wells on such habitats.
"Impacts to chemosynthetic communities from any accidental release of oil would be a remote possibility. The rarer, widely scattered, high-density, Bush Hill-type chemosynthetic communities could experience very minor (if any) impacts from drilling discharges or resuspended sediments located at more than 1,500 feet away," the MMS concluded.
What MMS failed to account for, scientists say, are the oil plumes, some of them miles long, that have been documented drifting across the Gulf from the Deepwater Horizon site.
Last month, University of Southern Mississippi scientists aboard a research vessel found oil plumes as long as 10 miles long and three miles wide. The shallowest plume was at 2,300 feet deep, while the deepest plume was near the seafloor at about 4,200 feet - prime cold-seep depth.
Although the tubeworms and other creatures in cold-seep communities do consume oil and hydrocarbons, they do so in a delicate balance and may be unable to absorb a spike in the supply. As to the effect of dispersants on seep communities, those are totally unknown as well, scientists say.
Almost certainly, Fisher said, the tubeworms at the center of cold-seep ecologies will not benefit from a sudden increase in hydrocarbons in the water. He fears oil globules could clog tubeworm feeding appendages.
"Whether the concentrations are high enough to hurt them is another question," Fisher said. "But as a general rule deep sea animals are adapted to a stable environment ... a certain temperature, a certain flow of hydrocarbons. In some ways, they are less adapted to insults. There are certainly scenarios that could lead to serious effects."
What could be lost: A set of diverse and unique species, and possibly important clues to the origin of life on earth, said LSU's Cowan. "A lot of people now believe this is the place where life first formed on earth, and we're just in the process of cracking that egg," Cowan said.
McClatchy Newspapers reporters Scott Hiaasen and Stephanie Genuardi contributed to this article.
How to Make a Backyard Bird Garden
How to Make a Backyard Bird Garden
15 ways to attract beautiful birds and songs to your yard, and 10+ more bird conservation tips from the National Audubon Society.
Source:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/
Give Your Hummingbird a Sugar Fix
Cost: $13 for a basic hummingbird feeder.
Hummingbirds (like the Anna's hummingbird pictured here) have an enormous appetite -- greater than any other bird, relative to their size. You can help them by putting up and maintaining a hummingbird feeder filled with fresh sugar water. (Recipe: Take one part sugar to four parts water, bring barely to a boil then simmer for about two minutes. Cool and serve.) This solution can spoil rapidly in hot weather, so feeders should be cleaned thoroughly and refilled every two days when the temperature rises. (And don't use soap when you clean your feeder -- it can make birds sick.)
Invest in Beauty: Attract Hummingbirds With Native Plants
Cost: Pack of five different hummingbird plants: about $40. (The moment the first hummingbird appears in your yard: priceless.)
Hummingbirds -- like this gorgeous ruby-throated hummingbird -- are tiny, but boast the fastest wingbeat and the largest appetites of all birds. Suffering from habitat loss and pesticide use, hummingbirds can use a hand. You can help make your yard a sanctuary for them by planting native and noninvasive flowering plants that they like, such as hummingbird mint, columbine, hummingbird trumpet, and beardtongue.
To learn more about hummingbirds and how to get them in your yard, check out Attracting Hummingbirds and Orioles, by Dr. Stephen W. Kress, Audubon's Vice President for Bird Conservation.
Garden in Layers
Cost: Depends on what plants and trees cost in your area. Find sources of native plants through the North American Native Plant Society.
Create multilayered communities of plants to mimic natural habitats: provide canopy trees, mid and understory shrubs, grasses and annuals. Many birds forage and nest high in the branches of native trees. Thick, shrubs provide cover for birds that stay closer to the ground such as quail, sparrows and thrashers.
Make Your Garden into a Bird Cafe
Cost: You might save some money by decreasing the amount you spend on fertilizer and pest control.
Nothing beats native vegetation to feed the birds of your area. If you plant a variety of native plants, they can provide birds with food at different times of the year in the form of fruit and seeds. Native plants also are home to tasty invertebrates like bugs and spiders.
Save a Hawk (With Your Hands)
Cost: This will save you money if you choose elbow grease over chemicals.
Choose nontoxic alternatives to pesticides and herbicides to keep your lawn, garden and local ecosystems healthy.
An estimated seven million birds die each year because of exposure to lawn pesticides. (In 1995, nearly 6,000 Swainsons hawks -- like the one pictured here -- died from pesticide poisoning!) Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers all have harmful effects on people and the environment. Consider planting native species (which are less likely to succumb to pests than exotics) and using natural and less-toxic gardening methods, such as traps, lures, soap and oil sprays, microbes, botanical insecticides and perhaps the best tool of all ... your hands.
Plant a Native Shade Tree
Cost: Depends on the size of tree sapling you buy. Trees can cost anywhere from nothing (look for community sapling giveaways) to $250 or more (for nursery ornamentals).
Ah, shade trees. Their benefits are innumerable. (Shade, for example.) Not only can they help absorb greenhouse gases, keep a home cooler in the summer, and provide climbing fun, but they also are also excellent perching spots for many bird species. Eastern screech owls and great-crested flycatchers use them as hunting perches. Northern flickers will roost in them. And Carolina chickadees will feast on insects on them.
Do your research before buying or planting a tree to find out what species are native to your area, and where and how to plant your sapling. See this USDA tree planting guide for more information.
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/
Clean the Dirty Birds
Cost: $20 or so -- or cheaper if you make your own.
Putting seed in your yard will attract only seed-eating birds, but most birds are attracted to bird baths. Birds drink and bathe in shallow water, sometimes more than once a day. For the thrill of seeing a baby robin taking its first bath in your backyard, provide a bird bath or shallow pond away from cover, so birds can see if they’re in danger. Keep water clean and free of mosquito larvae by changing it every few days.
Attack Aliens With Your Hands
Cost: Depends on how you remove the aliens. The best method is also free: your hands!
Chances are you have alien -- non-native -- invasive plant species in your yard. Maybe it's Japanese honeysuckle, or a patch of garlic mustard. The increase of non-native plants has been linked to the decline of songbirds; robin and thrush nests located in non-native shrubs and trees appear to be preyed upon more than those that nest in native habitat.
Old-fashioned hand-pulling may be the most effective way to remove invasive plants. You’ll have most success in eliminating your invasive infestation if you pull the plants before they set seed. Take care to try and remove the entire root system; several species can sprout simply from pieces of root left behind.
Make Good Neighbors
Cost: Free!
When you and your neighbors join together to create habitat, the impact of your individual efforts will be multiplied many times over. Work with neighbors to encourage habitat protection across property lines. Screen fence lines with native shrubs to create wildlife corridors. Work with local water protection agencies to maintain streamside vegetation. Your combined efforts can create a healthy refuge for wildlife and people by connecting isolated patches of habitat.
Make Your Yard More Musical: Feed a Sparrow
Cost: One 2.5lb bag of organic millet seed is about $10.
Song sparrows, with their range of songs and pips, are wonderful birds to hear. To attract them, scatter millet or other small commercial seed on ground near bushes or other cover (to stay safe, they won’t forage more than 30 feet from cover). You can also encourage them by planting or maintaining native forbs (like smartweed, ragweed, pigweed, and knotweed) and grasses under and around bushes and shrubs.
Leave a Mess
Cost: Free! And easy!
Birds love snags and brush! Leave snags for nesting places (birds like northern flickers make their nest cavities in dead or diseased tree trunks or large branches) and stack downed tree limbs to create a brush pile, which is a great source of cover for birds during bad weather. Let the flowers of annuals dry so that birds can find the seeds, and drop dead flower heads in the garden where they remain available to birds and provide mulch.
Stop the Decline of Bewick's Wren
Cost: A ready-made nest box will set you back around $30, but you can make your own.
Bewick’s wrens were once common across the United States, but have dramatically declined in the east. You can help keep their populations in the west healthy by providing nest boxes mounted 5-10 feet high on a tree in or near a brushy area. (Note that this will only work in areas where house wrens are not found; house wrens will almost always out-compete Bewick’s wrens.) Nest boxes should be at least 4 x 4 inches wide and 10 inches deep with a 1-1/8 inch entrance hole.
Keep Water Clean With Native Grasses
Cost: $7-$16 per pound of native grass seed.
The pollution that flows out of your yard and neighborhood into local streams and rivers can harm birds, such as the endangered whooping crane. Patch bare soil areas in your yard with native grasses to prevent erosion, sweep sidewalks and driveways instead of hosing them down, and use a funnel when you fill your lawnmower.
Make Your Windows Visible to Birds
Cost: Free
Windows, of all things, are one of the greatest threats to migratory birds like cedar waxwings. Up to a billion birds, from hummingbirds to hawks, die every year when they mistake glass windows for open space and fly into them.
To prevent that ominous thud! at your house, put up screen windows and close drapes and blinds when you leave the house. Don’t rely on decals; they are only useful if they are spaced close to each other to be effective -- at most two inches apart horizontally, and four inches apart vertically. If you have bird feeders, place them either within three feet of the house (so birds can't pick up enough speed to hurt themselves), or more than 30 feet away (so birds can see that the window is part of the house).
Keep Kitty Contained
Cost: Free! In fact, you’ll probably save on vet bills.
They’re excellent companions to humans, but cats roaming outdoors can be blamed for over 500 million bird deaths a year. Catbirds may sound like cats, but they don’t like cats. Keeping cats indoors not only spares birds but can benefit the cats, too, as they’re protected from disease, parasites, poison, and accidents. According to the American Humane Society, cats that are allowed to roam outside live an average of just three years, while indoor cats on average reach 15 years.
Make a Little Gravel Go a Long Way for a Nighthawk
Cost: Will vary depending on gravel or peastone costs in your area.
Nighthawks, those lovely birds that swoop around city skies at night, flashing the white bands under their wings, have declined in numbers by about 50 percent over the last 40 years. Since their decline has coincided with a decline in gravel roofs, on which nighthawks often nest, wildlife biologists have been experimenting with creating gravel nest pads on roofs. You can do it, too! Create a 9' x 9' gravel pad on your roof (around 14 bucketfuls), or encourage local builders to install them.
Be a Landlord to Birds of Prey: Build a Nest Box
Cost: Around $10-$20 for the materials
Several birds of prey will nest in boxes given the chance. To attract kestrels, our smallest falcons, place a nest box at least 10 feet high on a tree or pole in the middle of an open space like a field or park (with permission!). Boxes should be about 17 x 8 x 10 inches with a 3-inch diameter entrance hole. The bottom of the nest box should be covered with wood shavings to cushion and insulate eggs. The American kestral chicks shown here are just 24 days old!
To attract barn owls, which will keep small rodent populations down, install nest boxes in rafters of open barns, on or in other open out-buildings, or on poles in open areas. The boxes should be much bigger -- 36 x 24 x 24 inches, with a 10 x 8-inch square opening, and an adjacent ledge for young to roost on as they mature.
Become Important to an Important Bird Area
Cost: Free!
Important Bird Areas are sites that provide essential habitat for one or more species of bird. They include sites for breeding, wintering, and/or migrating birds, and they may be a few acres or thousands of acres. (Audubon Connecticut, for example, helped convert a 10-acre undeveloped area in the city of Stamford into an Important Bird Area for purple martins -- pictured here -- and eastern screech owls.) Every state has Important Bird Areas, and they need your help removing invasive species, restoring native plants, and monitoring bird populations.
Contact your state’s Important Bird Area coordinator to see how you can help out in a beautiful spot.
http://www.audubon.org/bird/
Root for the Orioles (Even if You're a Yankee Fan)
Cost: A standard oriole nectar feeder costs around $16; one made from recycled plastic costs around $30.
The bright orange and black uniforms -- sorry, feathers! -- sported by Baltimore orioles (in the east) and Bullock’s orioles (in the west) make them an absolute delight to spot in your yard. Attract orioles with a fruit, jelly and nectar feeder. You might also consider planting fruit-bearing trees and shrubs like mulberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries and figs –- delicious for you and for orioles
Sign the Birds and Climate Petition
Cost: Free!
Of course, protecting birds is just one of many reasons to take action on global warming. But birds have given us one of the earliest indications that global warming is happening and that it’s serious. Audubon found that over half of the bird species found in winter in North America have shifted significantly northward in the past 40 years. Purple finches have moved their wintering grounds north by an extraordinary 433 miles in the past four decades.
It’s time to take a stand! Sign the petition at birdsandclimate.org to ask your lawmakers to take a stand to reduce global warming by 80 percent by 2050.
Keep Bobwhites Bobbing: Maintain Open Fields
Cost: Free!
Northern bobwhites, once common in the grasslands of the south and southeast, have declined by a shocking 82% in the last 40 years, mostly because of a decline in habitat. You can help by maintaining fields or meadows of native warm summer grasses. Manage grasslands with fire, grazing, or mowing every few years so that they don’t become overgrown.
You can also find a U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center in your area and work with them to help protect bobwhites and other grassland birds.
http://offices.sc.egov.usda.
Become a Citizen Scientist
Cost: Free!
Help scientists keep tabs on the status of birds by monitoring the birds in your neighborhood and submitting what you find to eBird. You may not think your observations of the cardinals in your area can add up to much, but just recently, Audubon released the results of a 40-year study conducted by citizen scientists just like you! The study indicated that climate change is already affecting over half of North American bird species.
Submit your bird watching observations at ebird.org any time, or join thousands of others taking part in the annual Christmas Bird Count, February’s Great Backyard Bird Count, or other fun citizen science projects.
Recycle (It's Easier Than Performing the Heimlich on an Arctic Tern)
Cost: Free!
Each year, hundreds of thousands of birds become poisoned or have their digestive tracts obstructed after eating small pieces of plastic. Discarded pieces of plastic wash down drains, into rivers and out to sea, where terns, puffins and gulls can eat them. Make sure you recycle plastic whenever possible, and otherwise properly dispose of plastic items after you’re done with them. (Better yet: avoid buying things that use unnecessary plastic.)
Make Your Chimney Hospitable to Chimney Swifts
Cost: Will vary with the cost of cleaning your chimney.
Chimney swifts -- excellent birds to have around because they consume one-third of their weight in insects like mosquitoes daily -- are on the decline. You can help by making your chimney as habitable as possible for them.
Clean your chimney in March, and leave masonry or clay flue-tile chimneys uncapped from March through October to allow entrance by nesting and roosting swifts. Keep the damper closed so nestlings don’t wind up in your fireplace. (If you have a metal roof, you should cap it permanently -- they’re too slippery for chimney swifts or any other wildlife to use.)
Fight Acid Rain With Your Pen (This Wood Thrush Will Thank You)
Cost: Free!
Many birds -- like wood thrushes -- are affected by acid rain, which indirectly weakens the birds’ egg shells. Ask your representatives to support tougher air pollution controls, to oppose the development of new coal-fired power plants (which produce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, leading in turn to acid rain), and to support the development of cleaner alternatives to coal. (Of course, in addition to bird conservation there are many other good reasons to demand air pollution controls, including public health.)
Turn Out the Lights, and Save a Songbird (or Several Million)
Cost: Free! And you’ll save money on energy costs.
This tip applies to anyone, but it’s especially relevant to those living or working in tall buildings. Turn out the lights at night! Songbirds like bobolinks and hermit thrushes use constellations to guide them on their annual migrations, but bright lights in urban areas short-circuit their ability to steer. Every year millions crash into buildings and die. Close your curtains and blinds at night, turn out lights, and get your building manager to turn out lights that aren’t being used. Of course, this also helps reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.
Caffeinate With Shade-Grown Coffee
Cost: $8.75 a pound, or so
Drink shade-grown coffee! Each time you purchase shade-grown coffee, you're putting in a word for healthy growing practices.
Shade-grown coffee plantations of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia provide critical habitat for birds that have lost their tropical forest homes. They also provide winter habitat for some neotropical migrant birds like hummingbirds, orioles, tanagers, and barn swallows, which breed in summer in North America.
Look for shade-grown coffee in markets, ask for it at your local café, and shop for it online. (Audubon sells its own Premium Shade Grown Coffee.)
5 of The World's 7 Sea Turtles are Threatened by the BP Gulf Oil Spill
5 of The World's 7 Sea Turtles are Threatened by the BP Gulf Oil Spill
Some migrate more than 1,000 miles. Some wait 50 years to mate for the first time. Some grow to the size of a small car. From the most abundant sea turtle in the world, to the world's only vegetarian sea turtle, five threatened and endangered turtles are in peril, thanks to the BP Gulf oil spill.
By Dan Shapley
The BP Gulf oil spill is threatening not only fish (and fishermen), birds and marine mammals, but sea turtles. As both the slick on the surface and the plumes deep underwater spread across the Gulf of Mexico, and the duration of the spill extends from days into weeks into months, more and more turtles are put at risk. For sea turtles in the Gulf, it's a threat they can't necessarily survive. All of the five species that live out some portion of their lives in the Gulf are endangered or threatened species. There are only seven species of sea turtle worldwide, making the Gulf's habitat critically important for the conservation of the world's turtles.
"Sea turtles can suffer both internal and external injuries from contact with oil or chemical dispersants," said Elizabeth Wilson, a marine scientist who is the fisheries campaign manager at Oceana, the world's largest ocean conservation organization. "In addition to regulating bycatch in commercial fisheries and protecting critical habitat areas, the U.S. government can now add 'preventing future oil spills' to its list of essential sea turtle protections."
Oceana is urging President Obama and Congress to permanently ban further offshore oil drilling, not only in the Gulf of Mexico, but along the Atlantic Coast and in the Arctic off Alaska as well.
PLEASE READ ABOUT THE TURTLES: http://www.thedailygreen.com/
Four Possible BP-Style Extreme Energy Nightmares to Come
Four Possible BP-Style Extreme Energy Nightmares to Come
By Michael T. Klare, Tomdispatch.com
June 22, 2010
On June 15th, in their testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the chief executives of America’s leading oil companies argued that BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was an aberration -- something that would not have occurred with proper corporate oversight and will not happen again once proper safeguards are put in place. This is fallacious, if not an outright lie. The Deep Horizon explosion was the inevitable result of a relentless effort to extract oil from ever deeper and more hazardous locations. In fact, as long as the industry continues its relentless, reckless pursuit of “extreme energy” -- oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium obtained from geologically, environmentally, and politically unsafe areas -- more such calamities are destined to occur.
READ THE ARTICLE: http://www.alternet.org/story/
The Health Benefits of Lycopene
The Health Benefits of Lycopene
Lycopene is the pigment that gives certain fruits their red coloring. This carotenoid is believed to have strong antioxidant powers, with some studies showing a reduced risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. There is no established Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for lycopene, but there's evidence that phytonutrients like lycopene are an important part of disease prevention.
Here are the top foods sources of lycopene according to the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR21/nutrlist/sr21w337.pdf
Tomatoes
Pretty much anything with tomatoes in it is rich in lycopene. That includes not only includes whole tomatoes, tomato-based soups, sauces and salsas, but also ketchup, baked beans, BBQ sauce and salad dressings derived from tomatoes. One cup of canned tomato sauce has 34 mg of lycopene.
Watermelon
Watermelon gets its red color from lycopene, and one wedge has about 13 mg of the antioxidant. Watermelon is also a great choice because it's one of the clean 15 fruits and vegetables low in pesticide residue.
Grapefruit
This vitamin C-rich fruit has its reddish pink color due to lycopene. Half a grapefruit has 17 mg of this red carotenoid.
Asparagus
Leaving the realm of red-colored fruits, the lycopene content plummets by orders of magnitude. Still, one cup of asparagus has 43 μg of lycopene. Asparagus is also a great choice because it's one of the clean 15 fruits and vegetables low in pesticide residue.
Red Cabbage
A cup of raw red cabbage has 14 μg of lycopene, so add some to your salad topped with tomatoes for a lycopene-full meal.
Parsley
Whether you grow it yourself or buy from your local farmers’ market, this garnish has a vibrant flavor with 5 μg of lycopene per tablespoon.
Lycopene is the pigment that gives certain fruits their red coloring. This carotenoid is believed to have strong antioxidant powers, with some studies showing a reduced risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. There is no established Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for lycopene, but there's evidence that phytonutrients like lycopene are an important part of disease prevention.
Here are the top foods sources of lycopene according to the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/
Tomatoes
Pretty much anything with tomatoes in it is rich in lycopene. That includes not only includes whole tomatoes, tomato-based soups, sauces and salsas, but also ketchup, baked beans, BBQ sauce and salad dressings derived from tomatoes. One cup of canned tomato sauce has 34 mg of lycopene.
Watermelon
Watermelon gets its red color from lycopene, and one wedge has about 13 mg of the antioxidant. Watermelon is also a great choice because it's one of the clean 15 fruits and vegetables low in pesticide residue.
Grapefruit
This vitamin C-rich fruit has its reddish pink color due to lycopene. Half a grapefruit has 17 mg of this red carotenoid.
Asparagus
Leaving the realm of red-colored fruits, the lycopene content plummets by orders of magnitude. Still, one cup of asparagus has 43 μg of lycopene. Asparagus is also a great choice because it's one of the clean 15 fruits and vegetables low in pesticide residue.
Red Cabbage
A cup of raw red cabbage has 14 μg of lycopene, so add some to your salad topped with tomatoes for a lycopene-full meal.
Parsley
Whether you grow it yourself or buy from your local farmers’ market, this garnish has a vibrant flavor with 5 μg of lycopene per tablespoon.
The Freegan Establishment
The Freegan Establishment
By JAKE HALPERN
May 31, 2010
I cruised through the West Side of Buffalo last summer with a young man named Kit who was looking to acquire a house. Kit was a 20-year-old Las Vegas native who had just arrived in Buffalo. He had the look of a mountain man fresh off the trail: his face was tanned, his brow was covered in sweat and his hair was pulled back haphazardly in a ponytail. He wore a bandanna around his neck, and his shorts and T-shirt looked as if they were his only set of clothes. He was also barefoot. Kit looked poor — destitute, even — but he was very excited about a grand, old house that he had his eye on.
“It has a beautiful backyard with a lot of blackberry bushes!” Kit told me. It was a three-story house, he explained, and the first floor alone had 1,224 square feet. Kit had researched the house online, and he knew that the place had four bedrooms, two full bathrooms and two kitchens. “It’s totally stunning,” he gushed.
The house had one other outstanding feature: It was just across the street from a convenience store, and behind the store was a Dumpster, which Kit said he hoped would provide an endless source of meals.
READ THE ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/
Conventional Strawberries Can Give You Cancer? Poison Gases Being Used to Grow Crops
Strawberries Can Give You Cancer? Poison Gases Being Used to Grow Crops
By Jill Richardson
June 22, 2010
Mmm, fresh, red, plump, juicy strawberries. You know what tastes really great with them? It’s a secret I learned as a kid. Dip them in sour cream and then dip them in brown sugar. Delish. Or dip them in homemade whipped cream, or chocolate, or both. Or, if they are fresh picked, just eat them plain. But you know what doesn’t taste good with strawberries? Cancer.
Today, the scientists at Pesticide Action Network released a document called Poison Gases in the Field: Pesticides put California families in danger. It’s about tests done with a device called a Drift Catcher that monitors the air for fumigant pesticides. They gave it a try in the California town of Sisquoc to see how well local residents were protected from airborne, carcinogenic pesticides. The answer? Not well.
READ THE ARTICLE: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/06/22/would-you-like-cancer-with-that/
Certain Plastics May Hurt Male Sexual Functioning
Certain Plastics May Hurt Male Sexual Functioning
The more you’re exposed to the bisphenol A (BPA), the more trouble you’ll have getting erections and enjoying your sex life, suggests new research.
By Adam Bean
Protect yourself from unhealthy BPA effects by keeping the chemical out of your food and drink.
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The chemcial bisphenol A, or BPA, has been widely used in plastic products for more than 50 years. It's found in countless items we come in contact with every day, including water bottles, sports equipment, medical devices, dental fillings and sealants, eyeglass lenses, even CDs and DVDs. But the chemical has been getting a lot more attention lately as research points to BPA's unhealthy effects—so much so that both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have expressed concern. Now male sexual functioning can be added to the list of health problems linked to BPA exposure, a list that already includes cancer, diabetes, liver problems, and developmental problems and aggressive behavior in children.
READ THE ARTICLE: http://www.rodale.com/bpa-
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Very cool Example: Vietnamese gardeners in New Orleans offer much food for thought
On Chef Menteur clings Village de l’Est, a neighborhood of vinyl-sided or light-colored brick ranch houses in a perfectly mid-century suburban layout with sidewalks, a few main avenues, and a couple shopping centers. A low mound on the north side of town, covered in tangled weeds and shrubs, marks the levee that holds in the Pontchartrain overflow.
Six thousand Vietnamese people live in this American village. The Vietnamese moved here with the Catholic Church in 1975 following the Vietnam War. Many were fishermen, and the nearby Gulf offered a work environment similar to their homeland. They also went to work in factories, hotels, and restaurants throughout New Orleans. Everyone, especially the elderly, knew how to grow things -- that’s what they did back home. In their little square suburban backyards, they grew vegetables and fruits from seeds brought over from Vietnam. Some even crossed the levee and planted in that no-man’s-land. The wet fields, Delta soils, and thick, heavy air accommodated the same plants they grew in Vietnam.
PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE: http://www.grist.org/article/food-elderly-Vietnamese-gardeners-in-New-Orleans-/Very cool organic farm: Fairview Gardens
The Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens is a California non-profit organization that was established in 1997 to preserve and operate Fairview Gardens, the historic farm where our products are grown. Founded in 1895, Fairview Gardens is considered by some to be the oldest organic farm in southern California, and is now preserved in perpetuity through an agricultural conservation easement.
Fairview Gardens is situated in the midst of a growing suburban community in coastal southern California, surrounded on all sides by tract homes, shopping malls, and suburban thoroughfares. As a highly visible agricultural parcel in a dense suburban environment, Fairview Gardens plays a unique role in the community, providing its neighbors with food, educational and cultural events, open space and a connection to the land. The farm also demonstrates the economic viability of small farm operations, and the potential of small, regional farms to feed their communities.
"Fairview Gardens is a landmark, a source of comfort to all of us who love good farming and good food." --Wendell Berry
The Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens mission is to preserve the agricultural heritage of this 100-year-old farm
http://www.fairviewgardens.org/
Very Cool Nonprofit: Homeless Garden Project
A group of volunteers created the Homeless Garden Project in 1990 to provide a place of safety, beauty, and work opportunities for people who were homeless. Today, we provide a bounty of activities at our 2.5 acre organic garden, attracting a wide variety of individuals living in Santa Cruz County.http://www.homelessgardenproject.org/
California considers mandating energy storage
by Todd Woody.
The California Assembly has passed legislation [PDF] that takes the first step to requiring that a percentage of electricity generated in the state be stored.
Electricity, of course, is the ultimate perishable commodity. If the bill is approved by the California Senate and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it would apparently be the first time a state will move toward mandating that electricity generated by wind farms, solar power plants, and other intermittent sources be stored for use during peak demand.
That’s key if California is to meet its ambitious mandates to obtain 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
“Electric energy storage is an emerging industry that offers the possibility to solve a number of major obstacles to the achievement of a sustainable electricity future,” according to an analysis [PDF] of the legislation prepared by the California Public Utilities Commission in May. “It can effectively address problems such as the integration of intermittent renewables.”
PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE:
http://www.grist.org/article/california-considers-mandating-energy-storage/
Real worst case scenario for Gulf of Mexico: Exploding Methane Tsunamis
If one faction of the deepwater drilling debate continues to deny any serious risk of more exploratory drilling - an example of this denial would be the court injunction, just now successfully obtained by oil industry attorneys, overturning the Federal exploratory drilling moratorium in the deepwater Gulf - it is fair and appropriate to state the ultimate potential danger of expanded drilling. And this is one serious worst case.
From the Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance, viaMi2g.com, a work-in-progress worst-case risk description concludes with this paragraph: "The danger of loss of buoyancy and cascading tsunamis in the Gulf of Mexico -- caused by the release of the massive methane and poisonous gas bubble -- has been a much lower probability in the early period of the crisis, which began on April 20th. However, as time goes by and the risk increases, this low probability high impact scenario ought not to be ignored, given that the safety and security of the personnel involved remains paramount. Could this be how nature eventually seals the hole created by the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher?"
PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE:http://www.grist.org/article/series/2010-06-21-breaking-through-concrete-american-urban-farm
Monday, June 21, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Our greed is destroying the world. Make better choices. Think of nature, and others.
If we go on the way we have, the fault is
our greed; and if we are not willing to change,
we will disappear from the face of the globe,
to be replaced by the insect.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French naval officer
and oceanographer, born on this date, 1910
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Recipe: Strawberry Arugula Salad
Strawberry-Arugula Salad
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 bunch arugula
Vinaigrette:
1/4 C fresh lime juice
1 tsp local raw honey
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
handful of freshly torn mint leaves
freshly ground pepper to taste
To prepare the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a jar. Close tightly and shake vigorously to combine. Of course, you can whisk the ingredients in a small bowl, but I think it's much more fun to shake it up, baby.
Toss arugula and the red springtime jewels in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over top.
bananas are good for you
Top 10 Goodies about Bananas!
1) Bananas are the best choice for top performing athletes and long-distance runners because they contain 3 natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose. When combined with fiber, they give a super boost to energy levels and stamina.
2) Bananas make us happy! Bananas contain tryptophan, which the body converts into serotonin. This natural chemical helps us to relax and puts us back into balance.
3) Bananas are a great alternative to pain killers for PMS. This is due to the B6 it contains – which helps regulates glucose levels. So ladies, standby a bunch of bananas when it is appropriate!
4) Bananas are Nature’s best aid for anemia because of the high iron content. The body needs iron for haemoglobin production.
5) FDA has just allowed the banana industry to announce an official claim that this fruit can help in reducing blood pressure and stroke. This ability arises mainly from the high potassium content despite low salt levels.
6) Do you know that bananas make the best Hangover Antidote? Bananas have properties which calms the stomach, restores the stomach lining, and balances the system after a night of decadence. For the perfect hangover cure, make a smoothie with bananas, oranges and some mint leaves. Tried, tested and proven!
7) Constipation? Fret not! The mighty banana is here to save the day! Packed with fiber, bananas help move the bowels, restore the elimination ability and beat constipation naturally without laxatives!
8)Bananas have a natural antacid effect on our bodies. So when we experience heart burn from inappropriate food combining, just pop a banana to help settle down the gut. Brings immediate soothing relief!
9) Potassium rich foods boost brain power! Studies have shown improvements in concentration when they eat bananas during lunch breaks.
10) Feeling anxious or mentally nervous? Have a banana! The high B vitamins will help to calm the moods and soothe the nerves.
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