Category Archives: environment

They’re killing environmentalists

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DN! had a piece up yesterday on environmentalists being killed for trying to protect the land, air, and water…for all of us.

147 killed in 2012, compared with 51 in 2002…nearly three times as many.

Jose DeSilva (sp?) says what Joe Kane said in Savages— that some poor person will accept the dinero of the corporations and aid in the destruction of the forest.  This is how they divided tribe members in Savages–they picked a few vulnerable ones and split the loyalties. Divide and Conquer in action….

As you listen to the video, it is really shocking how this is going on and not being reported.  I mean, how obvious is it that these are deliberate acts…an axe in the head of an environmentalist…Penetra being murdered right after speaking out for the environment…and we never hear of this in the lame media?  Yet…they are right there to label environmentalists as nuts and whackos who should be condemned.

 

 

 

 

What if you would rather not have WiFi at the beach?

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In what seems like a positive–having wifi in public spaces–perhaps is not so great…?

What if you’re going to the beach to get the hell away from “civilization” and find yet another intrusion of technology in a natural space…??

What if, like me, you’re heavy metal poisoned and react negatively to Electro-Magnetic Fields (EMF) to the point of zapping your strength (think kryptonite), zapping the adrenals,  and making you nauseous to the point of wanting to throw up?  What if you’re prone to seizures?

I’m sitting here typing this, and the radio keeps giving me feedback….and I’m wondering why the hell is it doing that?  Is there a surge of EMF? If so, where is it coming from??

If you’re concerned about this, there are measures you can take to protect yourself from EMF’s.

 

 

Diet, Allergies, and Mental Health ** edited

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I found this article to be one of the best I’ve read so far about the connection between diet, allergies, and mental health.

They explore the connection between behavior and diet–something that has been known since the 1940s.   They observed during WWII that schizophrenia cases went down in Germany and Holland because grains were scarce.

It is disgraceful that Big Pharma was allowed to trump diet in the treatment of schizophrenia….especially when one realizes the drugs that they have foisted on the hapless mental patient contained antihistamines–an indicator that they knew brain allergies were at the heart of the problem.

I disagree with the concept of neutralizing doses of allergens…it just doesn’t make sense to me to give the allergens to people to help them overcome it.  The fact that they don’t have symptoms does not mean they aren’t allergic anymore.  In my experience, I didn’t have symptoms of celiac or gluten intolerance that were noticeable–yet I was eating wheat every day.  This didn’t mean I wasn’t allergic–it meant that I wasn’t reacting to it because my immune system was not functioning and could not muster a response in the traditional sense.  My response after beginning the GAPS diet and now when I am accidentally exposed to gluten proves that allergy.

I’m pretty sure I was tested for wheat allergy by an ear, nose, and throat doctor who looked in my nose, and said I had the tell-tale blue veins of allergies.  He knew I was allergic to something…but he couldn’t determine what that allergy was–the traditional tests did not reveal allergies.  And yet, here I am, some twenty years later, figuring it out.  My immune system was compromised and did not respond to allergens appropriately, even though I appeared healthy.  At that point, I had had one dental amalgam in baby teeth, and had been exposed to mercury, lead, and arsenic through coal dust.  I had also had mercury exposure through Rho-Gam shots.  Plus the toxins from pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers in my food–all known to compromise the immune system.

As the article states, I don’t think mental patients should be given drugs until they are put on an elimination diet.  It is nothing short of a miracle how a good diet can restore health and it’s nothing short of criminal to give them drugs that are questionable in their efficacy and many times cause harm.

The article also mentions salicylates.  They have popped up on my radar lately, so I thought I’d post a link to a pretty good website on what they are, what they do, and foods that are high in salicylates.  **edited to add:  here’s the link to the website’s guide to foods that contain salicylates.

Senate asks Canadian residents for testimony

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The U.S. Senate has asked residents that were forced out of their homes by tarsands in Alberta, Canada, to testify about their experience.

They say in the report that they don’t want to be used for political gain.  I can’t blame them for that–enough evidence of people being used by politicians for them to be wary.

But it is no secret that petroleum is toxic and tarsands are much, much more toxic. 

From the second link:

Tailings ponds which now cover an area the sized of Washington DC contain multiple toxic chemicals including arsenic, benzene, lead, mercury, naphthenic acid, and ammonia.  As much as 2.9 million gallons of toxic tailings leak into the environment every day.  A 2014 study showed that extreme concentrations of PAHs present in tailings may be evaporating into the air and then deposited into water.  New federal research by Environment Canada released in February 2014 confirms that leaking tailings ponds are leaching into groundwater and then into the Athabasca River.

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As someone whom has suffered from mercury toxicity, this is particularly alarming to me.  I can be a witness to how devastating this heavy metal is and how difficult it is to get it out of your system and get well again.

Meanwhile, the Enbridge pipeline project is due to get underway in Indiana.  Yet, there are *crickets* from the environmental groups, media, etc.  This is our “XL”…and no one gives a sh*t.

As a side note~ I know there are folks in the oil industry who read my blog–this is not meant to offend, but I can’t be silent on the destruction of the environment for humans, animals, plants, water, and soil.

 

 

 

Vancouver peaceful pipeline protests

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A problem that plagues peaceful protestors are those that wish to cause trouble.

The problem is in knowing if they are bad actors looking to stir things up for their own amusement or agent provocateurs–sent in by agencies or the oil companies themselves to give the non-violent activists a bad name.  The next problem is banishing them from the movement.

The person calling himself “james Moore” in the piece is typical.  Not knowing the writer of the piece, it’s hard to know if this person said those things or whether it is fabricated to make them look bad.  Or worse–to put this out there to justify police crackdown.

Like I’ve said before, I won’t support violence and many folks who would otherwise support environmentalists will back away from violent protests.

Setting police vehicles on fire is not violence in that it hurts a human being, but it is destructive…and is counterproductive if you think about all the toxins you’re sending into that very environment you’re trying to protect.  You might feel a release of frustration for a moment or two, but in the end, it doesn’t further your cause.

 

 

Growing enough food to feed a family

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Farmer’s Almanac has a helpful video up on garden planning…how much do you need?

It’s not an in-depth video, but a good start especially for beginners.

They also have many more videos here.The first video, on gardening mistakes, mentions companion planning.  We’ve used that with the tomatoes–planting marigolds around them and around the garden to discourage pests.

They briefly discuss composting in the video 7 ways to use leaves in your garden: mix greens with browns to get rich earthy compost.  It doesn’t tell folks, however, that it will take several months for the matter to break down into “black gold”.  How fast it breaks down depends on rainfall and the heat of the pile.  And how often one turns it.  The piles need to be turned regularly to aerate and aid the decomposition.

 

 

 

Water-harvesting towers

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Creation Assistance has a post up on Water Harvesting towers in Ethiopia.  They had me until I read that the material is made from polythylene textile.  I read a couple of websites on polythylene, and they claim that it is not toxic although it is made from petroleum.  I don’t buy it.  How many times have they claimed that there are certain plastics that are safe….only to be told many years or decades later that they were, in fact, toxic?  Meanwhile, we poison ourselves and our kids…

So. although I think it’s a great idea, there has to be a natural material that can be used to collect the water…perhaps hemp fabric woven with bamboo?

 

On giving up belief…

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(This post is on spirituality, so if it’s not your thing….)

Eli Glasman has a heartfelt post up on his struggles with losing faith in God.

The sense of loss he feels is apparent.  It’s hard to believe in a Supreme Being when you’ve been taught a certain way and that way conflicts with how you feel inside.  It must have been so hard for him to feel that he had to choose between religion and how he felt intrinsically.

As I said in my comment, I understand his sentiments. I went through a period of not believing, but that actually made my faith stronger. Our paths lead us in directions that don’t always make sense at the time, but as we move along, we see how things are connected and how struggle helps us to grow, as in the butterfly that struggles out of the cocoon.

I had to learn to stand up for myself and not let others define who I am.  Not letting others define who I am also means not letting others define my connection to God.  Spirituality is as personal as it gets.  We are unique individuals with our own paths to follow and no one has a right to impose their beliefs upon another.

I don’t think being an atheist automatically means condemnation.  If one follows “Do unto others….” –I see that as spiritual, whether the person claims it or not.  I think we will be judged more on how we treat others and conduct ourselves here on Earth, rather than if we went to Church every Sunday.

 

 

 

 

Eye Candy

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Okay, I’m wondering how the guy in #3 got there?  Is that a raft that he pushed out there?  Because I don’t see any paddle to push it out there.  And I hope he’s going to eat what he catches and not just catch and throw them back.  It seems rather cruel to hook them for the fun of it.

Of course, I love the rainbows in #6 and #13…

And #1 is sooo serene…wish I were there…Bless nature for the comfort it offers us…

 

 

 

Mi’kmaq Warrior Trial

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Warrior Publications has this up on the Mi’kmaq Warrior Trial.  This is the first I have read of someone on the First Nations side having  a gun.  In the reports that I read, no one mentioned this…so this destroys some of the credibility of the reporting.

Because I am not down with bringing guns….you may not have the intention of using it, but bringing it makes it easier for someone to get hurt.  You may only intend on using it in self-defense, but the other side does not know your intentions.  If you live by the sword, you die by the sword, as they say.

If you are doing this for your children, be an example to them.  Show them how to stand up for your rights without violence.

And the other side?  Only an unethical coward would shoot someone whom is unarmed.

People have a right to protest, especially when their rights to their land are being pushed aside for dirty fracking, but I will not support violence on either side.