Category Archives: healthcare

My environmental journey

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The critics of environmentalists claim that we’re phonies…okay, well, here is my journey…

…my advocating for the environment has been a slow evolving process that includes my experience with mercury poisoning, growing awareness of what we’re doing to the atmosphere, and a spiritual component of realizing everything is connected.

Here are some of the things I do:

–use cloth bags when going to the grocery.  I might use plastic for meat, but I re-use those bags, too, bringing them to the grocery along with the cloth bags.  If you use the cloth bags for meat, be sure to launder them before using again, to avoid contamination.

–avoid plastic packaging. …well, plastic *everything*.   This has been much easier following the GAPS diet because you don’t eat the processed food in packaging, but real food.  If I am given an option, I will buy something in glass packaging before plastic.

—re-use the glass containers for drinking glasses, food storage, plants, etc. I try to avoid ziploc bags when possible.

—don’t purchase synthetic materials like nylon and other materials requiring petroleum.  The list I think is a catch-all, because I think some of the things listed are made with petroleum if plastic or manufactured cloth such as nylon, so some of the products listed could be okay if not using those materials.  Here’s a website on organic cotton, fyi.

–When I had my home, I made a conscious decision not to pave the driveway–it was gravel.  I didn’t spray for weeds, either.  I let my grass grow to 3 inches so that the roots could grow deeply enough to avoid having to water the lawn, especially during the dry time in July–this also helped keep the weeds down. Meanwhile, my neighbors practically shaved the grass off and…wait for it…had to waste precious water to keep the grass from dying in July.    I let a patch of ground that was the former owner’s garden, grow its natural way, without my interference.  Yeah, I was the neighborhood hippie…

—use baking soda, borax, and vinegar for cleaning.  A formula I found in a natural health mag goes like this:  Bathroom cleaner:  6 T vinegar, 2 T borax mixed with a cup– of warm water.  Put this in a 1 qt. spray bottle and fill the rest with water.  Works great, especially if used every day.

—I would like to use non-toxic natural cleaners for laundry, dish washing, etc., but with my finances, this isn’t doable right now. Oh, and fyi, avoid dishwashers–the detergent used in them is highly toxic.

—ride a bike or walk when going somewhere.  This was easier for me when I lived in Fort Wayne, where everything was within walking distance.  I could get to the downtown in 45 minutes to an hour.  There is something to be said for walking or riding–you are much more connected to what is going on around you.  You hear the birds sing.  Feel the breeze.  Hear the ripple of water along the river…driving a vehicle cuts you off from so much, besides polluting.

—use flannel cloths instead of toilet paper and re-wash them.  I know, I know, some of you are going “ick” right now.  No. 1 is fine…No. 2 still requires paper. So there.

—cloth pads instead of chemically manufactured pads.

—use less.  I just use less.  This was part of the learning process of being poor–you just learn how to manage on less.  Not easy, for sure.  I became much more adept at planning meals and using food up before it went to waste.  I didn’t buy as much at the grocery until I needed it.  This is easier if the grocery is within walking distance….which is becoming harder as the independents are being forced out while big box stores are situated out in no-man’s-land, forcing people to drive there.

—garden organically, using compost from kitchen waste, and if you’re really adventurous, pee and poo.   This is not for sissies…so come with your brain in active mode and your determination to get away from petroleum and chemicals.  You will succeed, but you can’t give up when challenged.  Nature does challenge you, but also gives such splendid rewards. 😉

This is an ongoing process, for sure.  I didn’t just wake up one day and start doing all of this.  It was a gradual endeavor with every new discovery of my own contribution to pollution.

So…there you have it…my efforts towards helping instead of hurting the environment.

I think if we all took those first steps, and built on that, we would greatly reduce our dependency on petroleum.  Everything helps and every bit matters.

 

 

 

Eye Candy, but not for long if XL Pipeline goes in… **edited

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This week’s pics of beautiful Canada.  So gorgeous.  I wonder if #17 is a rock formation by the First Nations ancestors?  Perhaps a marker to show the way?

I look at this in awe of it….and then the horrible pictures of the destruction of the land by the oil and gas companies…and my heart sinks.

Thanks to those of you who signed the petition against XL pipeline.  Blessings to all of you for speaking out and making your voice heard.

I think I might have featured this video before, but definitely bears repeating:

It’s disturbing in the first few minutes a woman stands there and says “keep this stuff in Indiana, where it belongs….”

Excuse me?  It belongs in my state…because…?  The attitude is that we deserve it.  WTH?  We don’t want it here any more than you do.  Stop making Indiana the freaking garbage can for the Koch brothers!

…and Rahm Emanuel allows up to 2 years for the Kochs to comply to an order to enclose the petcoke.  What a joke.

Here’s the MSDS data sheet on petcoke. Note how BP gets out of updating the MSDS by a hole in the law that allows them to get out of updating it every three years.

Just look at the handling of this stuff, and one can see how toxic it is:

Handling

Contact with hot product may cause burns. Avoid contact with eyes. Avoid breathing dust.

Use only with adequate ventilation.

Avoid the creation of dust when handling and avoid all possible

sources of ignition (spark or flame).

To avoid fire or explosion, dissipate static electricity during

transfer by grounding and bonding containers and equipment before transferring material.

Use explosion-proof electrical (ventilating, lighting and material handling) equipment.

Wash thoroughly after handling.

When using do not eat, drink or smoke.

Regular periodic self inspection of the skin is recommended, especially those areas subject to contamination.

In the event of any localized changes in appearance or texture of the skin being noticed, medical advice should be sought without delay.

Storage

Keep container tightly closed. Keep container in a cool, well-ventilated area.

Empty containers may contain harmful, flammable/combustible or explosive residue or vapors.

Do not cut, grind, drill, weld, reuse or dispose of containers unless adequate precautions are taken against these hazards.

Not suitable

Prolonged exposure to elevated temperature

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It goes on to say the air purifying respirators are limited in their ability to protect one from this toxic stuff.  It also recommends gloves that cannot be penetrated by chemicals or oil. Heavy-duty.

Lastly, we have this bit:

Overexposure to dust may cause mechanical irritation.

Repeated or prolonged inhalation of dust may lead to chronic respiratory irritation.

Repeated and prolonged inhalation of any respirable dust may result in changes in lung function.

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They always want long term studies to evaluate toxins…but do we really have to poison people long term when something is obviously this toxic?

Here’s a good piece on petcoke.  They’ve been burning it in Nova Scotia.  Burning it releases mercury, lead, and arsenic…just like coal.  But it is said to be more toxic.

“The carbon intensity of petcoke is higher than the carbon intensity of most conventional coal so when you burn petcoke, you’re likely going to release more toxic emissions than you will when you burn traditional coal so it has a higher carbon dioxide content, it also has a higher sulphur content and by contrast, the carbon intensity of natural gas is about a third that of coal. And this is when we’re talking about fossil fuels, we’re choosing the best of evils,” said Abreu, adding that they would prefer to see an electrical system that relies on a diverse mix of renewable fuels.

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This stuff needs to stay in the ground. Absolutely.

**edited:  to take out the part of the scientist.  He was saying the same thing I was saying…can you tell that this upsets me? Oy.

Back

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Okay, back from a bout of the flu.  Gah, it’s been at least six years and probably ten years since I’ve had the flu.  Seriously. The last time I felt this bad, I had it in the lungs (probably walking pneumonia) and it was one of the times I woke up gasping for breath.

Mercury interferes with your immune system so much that even though we know we are exposed to viruses, we don’t “get sick”.

The theory is that the virus is there, but the immune system cannot muster the usual attack response that shows up as vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, fever, headache.  I think it’s another wonderful testament that my immune system is healing and starting to respond to viruses.  I don’t know if this particular virus was dormant…but I’m kind of leaning that way because it usually takes three days to incubate before symptoms show up…at least that was how it was with my kids and I when they were young.  With this flu, I was only in the public the day before, which would have been the best time to be exposed.  My sis could have brought the virus home, I suppose, but nobody else got sick.

Anyway, I’m actually happy that I had the flu….and I lived to tell about it!  I should alert the CDC.  /just a little snarky

I think the fact that I had a quick recovery is testament to eating good organic non-gluten food….the best medicine, along with proper herbs (dandelion and rose hips tea).

 

Aboriginal rights a threat to Canada’s resource development

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Warrior Publications has this up on what we already knew, but yeah, putting it in writing that Harper and the rest see the land rights of the First Nations folks being problematic.

See…it’s so much harder to get the oil out when you have to ask permission by folks who see it as violating the Earth.  They aren’t as easily swayed by $$ because the Earth is sacred to them.

It’s even more of a problem when those folks have the law on their side.

Honor the Treaties, Canada.

 

 

Ryan continues war on poor

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Paul Ryan has not been swayed from his austerity measures, as he still advocates for the rich while seeking to starve people…

I started to watch a link to a Newseum piece hosted by Brian Williams, but five minutes of listening to Paul Ryan and I couldn’t stand any more.  Him being a toadie of Kochs and Peterson just turns my stomach.

More from Mother Jones here.

I followed the link to Paul Ryan’s False Advertising Photo Op at a soup kitchen.  What an opportunist.

It seems that the answer to poverty is pretty basic:  jobs with livable wages; affordable housing; healthcare.  That’s it.  With those factors, you can’t lose, because those are the three factors that keep people off of food stamps, off the streets, and free of financial disaster when an illness hits.

My previous post on Ryan here.

 

 

 

It’s Cloud Illusions I Recall…

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I really don’t know clouds at all…

(from Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now)

City Jackdaw inspired this with his post.

You can still see with the imagination…as long as those aren’t chemtrail clouds**, which invariably are shapeless flat expanses… that you really should not be under after sprayed…your health depends on it.

**brought to you buy Bill Gates and his two, count that, two, scientists who have all knowledge of all the universe to control weather and kill us in the meantime….

 

Let’s Move…? **edited

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Really?  In ties and hard shoes instead of workout clothes and good sports shoes?  Once a week?

I mean, really, if you’re going to be an example, you might try to act the part. And it is recommended that 30-45 min. at least three times a week for exercise benefits health.

As I posted in the Grain Brain blog, aerobic exercise is best because it not only benefits the body, but the brain, as well.

My favorite tape to workout is by the National Aerobic Champions (NAC) Interval Challenge.  It has been one of the most thorough workouts that I enjoyed doing over and over.  It takes a few workouts before getting coordinated, but then you get in the groove.

They have two instructors on the left of the screen for low impact or you can do the more intense, which is pretty much jumping through all the moves.  Here’s another website review.

They offered this tape in combination with two others —Body Parts, another good toning workout, and Measured Intensity, which personally I found ho-hum and too mild.  I bought them in the 90s, way back in the old days of VHS …so I went to see if they had a DVD out–unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they transferred it to DVD.  Oy.  Tough luck when the VCR eventually breaks (thanks for cheap plastic crap,  Milton Friedman!! /snark)

I found more reviews here...one of them is from a 66 year old woman *still* doing them. Woot!! Go grey hairs! :p

**edited to add:  I wanted to note that as I got sicker with mercury poisoning, it became more difficult to exercise.  I grew tired more easily. I got migraines after exercising.  I also started yawning during exercise–this is a warning sign that you’re not getting enough oxygen, which is what mercury does–deprive your body of oxygen.

Removing the Dust

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Warrior Publications has this up from John Kane on relearning what our ancestors knew…

Some folks are so far removed from nature that they don’t have even the very basic knowledge of…living.  Living in harmony, that is…

We’ve been fed this false belief that technology is superior to nature…when nothing trumps nature.  Just look at the powerful force of nature during any storm…and how technology takes a hit every time.

Technology has put up a wall between us and nature.  We lose that connection.  We lose the talent of our senses without engaging them daily. (Think of folks walking into water fountains or walking into traffic while talking on cell phones.)

…and when we lose that connection, we lose the ability to value nature–to understand nature.  And as the post says–we lose the ability to know our place within nature and our time here.

Being poor helps with that–washing clothes by scrubbing them on a washboard gave me a sense of accomplishment–I knew that I could do a decent job of it; learning how to manage on so little helps one really learn how to prioritize on what is important–you learn what is fluff and what is substance;  and the biggest re-connect with nature is your own sense of self-worth and pride in that you made it.  You survived.  And nature is better for it because the balance of give-and-take is restored.  You no longer take and take, but realize you must give, too.  Not easy…but ohhh so worth it, in the end.  You gain something so much more valuable.

 

 

Keystone Pipeline Exposed **updated

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PRESS RELEASE: Tuesday, February 25, 2014
CONTACT: Nick Surgey, nick@prwatch.org, (608) 260-9713

KEYSTONE PIPELINES EXPOSED: NEW FILM REFUTES JOBS, SECURITY, GAS PRICE, TAX, SAFETY, AND CLIMATE CLAIMS

MADISON — Today, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new short film and launched a series of major investigative reports debunking key claims of proponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline, as the State Department solicits comments from the public on its controversial environmental impact assessment.

Over the past seven months, CMD has interviewed experts and activists in Port Arthur, Texas; Detroit; and Washington, DC; and examined detailed tax, safety, economic, environmental, and campaign finance studies in assessing the claims made by proponents of the pipeline, which would carry more than 3/4 million barrels of tar sands oil a day from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries.

“We made this film and investigated the public relations campaign for the Keystone XL pipeline because the fake ‘facts’ about jobs and energy security peddled by industry-funded politicians and uncritical pundits has left too many Americans deeply misinformed,” said Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy. CMD is the publisher of the award-winning “ALEC Exposed” investigative reporting project about the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The film, “Keystone PipeLIES Exposed,” highlights little known facts about the KXL pipeline project such as the corporate exemption for tar sands oil from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and the limits on taxes due for foreign oil imported to foreign trade zones like Port Arthur. The film also includes footage from major tar sands oil spills in the U.S. and Canada that were only briefly in the headlines despite the enormous damages they caused. A short excerpt of the film is available at: https://vimeo.com/87520545

CMD’s short film documents that, despite the claims of politicians and others backing KXL:

—  KXL will not directly create 100,000+ jobs but 3,900 short-term and 50 long-term ones.

— KXL will not produce billions in corporate tax revenues, due to tax loopholes most Americans have never heard of.

— KXL will not be safe from disastrous leaks, but it will be exempt from corporations paying into a key disaster insurance fund because it is “unconventional oil,” which puts taxpayers on the hook for billions.

— KXL will not make America energy independent; and, in fact, most of the tar sands oil is planned for export from the Gulf of Mexico via tankers to foreign countries.

— KXL will not be climate neutral — in spite of that suggestion made in an assessment prepared by an industry-linked group — but it will speed climate change and global instability.

Dave Saldana, the Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and producer of the film, commented: “The Keystone XL pipeline is a phenomenally bad idea. I looked at the claims as a lawyer; what did the evidence show me? The evidence shows that its job creation claims are grossly inflated; that better, greener alternatives would aid America’s energy independence and put more Americans to work for a longer time than the pipeline; and that the pumping of tar sands oil across the U.S. primarily for export to foreign countries poses enormous risks to America’s water supply, food supply, and air quality. And that’s before you even get to what it does to climate change.”

CMD’s film and related documentation are being released in advance of the March 7 deadline the State Department has set for public comments on the government’s recently released environmental impact assessment, which critics believe signals that the State Department is poised to give a green light to the pipeline’s expansion across the U.S.-Canadian border and to the Texas shores. On March 2, activists are preparing for KXL protests across the nation.

NEW RESOURCES FOR THE PRESS AND PUBLIC ON KXL

The production package for “Keystone PipeLIES Exposed” includes a 22-minute film, a fact sheet debunking the main myths about the KXL, seven 3-minute short videos for easy sharing, and other materials about the the experts cited in the film, which you can find at our new website http://www.pipeLIESexposed.org. Follow the conversation at #pipelies.

In addition, five in-depth investigative pieces will be published — each day this week — at CMD’s original reporting site, http://www.prwatch.org. Follow us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/CenterforMediaandDemocracy and Twitter https://twitter.com/PRWatch

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**UPDATED:  Please sign the petition against XL here.