Erin Brennan

Is technology producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis?

2009-01-30T14:54:00.002-05:00

Studies shed light on multi-tasking, video games and learning

As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.

Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science.

Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said.

How much should schools use new media, versus older techniques such as reading and classroom discussion?

"No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops."

Schools should make more effort to test students using visual media, she said, by asking them to prepare PowerPoint presentations, for example.

"As students spend more time with visual media and less time with print, evaluation methods that include visual media will give a better picture of what they actually know," said Greenfield, who has been using films in her classes since the 1970s.

"By using more visual media, students will process information better," she said. "However, most visual media are real-time media that do not allow time for reflection, analysis or imagination — those do not get developed by real-time media such as television or video games. Technology is not a panacea in education, because of the skills that are being lost.

"Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary," Greenfield said. "Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills. Students today have more visual literacy and less print literacy. Many students do not read for pleasure and have not for decades."

Parents should encourage their children to read and should read to their young children, she said.

Among the studies Greenfield analyzed was a classroom study showing that students who were given access to the Internet during class and were encouraged to use it during lectures did not process what the speaker said as well as students who did not have Internet access. When students were tested after class lectures, those who did not have Internet access performed better than those who did.

"Wiring classrooms for Internet access does not enhance learning," Greenfield said.

Another study Greenfield analyzed found that college students who watched "CNN Headline News" with just the news anchor on screen and without the "news crawl" across the bottom of the screen remembered significantly more facts from the televised broadcast than those who watched it with the distraction of the crawling text and with additional stock market and weather information on the screen.

These and other studies show that multi-tasking "prevents people from getting a deeper understanding of information," Greenfield said.

Yet, for certain tasks, divided attention is important, she added.

"If you're a pilot, you need to be able to monitor multiple instruments at the same time. If you're a cab driver, you need to pay attention to multiple events at the same time. If you're in the military, you need to multi-task too," she said. "On the other hand, if you're trying to solve a complex problem, you need sustained concentration. If you are doing a task that requires deep and sustained thought, multi-tasking is detrimental."

Do video games strengthen skill in multi-tasking?

New Zealand researcher Paul Kearney measured multi-tasking and found that people who played a realistic video game before engaging in a military computer simulation showed a significant improvement in their ability to multi-task, compared with people in a control group who did not play the video game. In the simulation, the player operates a weapons console, locates targets and reacts quickly to events.

Greenfield wonders, however, whether the tasks in the simulation could have been performed better if done alone.

More than 85 percent of video games contain violence, one study found, and multiple studies of violent media games have shown that they can produce many negative effects, including aggressive behavior and desensitization to real-life violence, Greenfield said in summarizing the findings.

In another study, video game skills were a better predictor of surgeons' success in performing laparoscopic surgery than actual laparoscopic surgery experience. In laparoscopic surgery, a surgeon makes a small incision in a patient and inserts a viewing tube with a small camera. The surgeon examines internal organs on a video monitor connected to the tube and can use the viewing tube to guide the surgery.

"Video game skill predicted laparoscopic surgery skills," Greenfield said. "The best video game players made 47 percent fewer errors and performed 39 percent faster in laparoscopic tasks than the worst video game players."

Visual intelligence has been rising globally for 50 years, Greenfield said. In 1942, people's visual performance, as measured by a visual intelligence test known as Raven's Progressive Matrices, went steadily down with age and declined substantially from age 25 to 65. By 1992, there was a much less significant age-related disparity in visual intelligence, Greenfield said.

"In a 1992 study, visual IQ stayed almost flat from age 25 to 65," she said.

Greenfield believes much of this change is related to our increased use of technology, as well as other factors, including increased levels of formal education, improved nutrition, smaller families and increased societal complexity.

http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/39185

What I Think:

I think we may benefit more as a society from research done on whether what is being taught in schools today is even relevant in the technology-based society that we live in, rather than asking whether technology is "producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis." Whether people like it or not, technology is here to stay. We live in a society built on the use of technology. Information and the web are the furture, yet most of the schools in this country's education system are still opporating under the 1950's model of preparing children for a workforce based on factories and labor jobs (even though many of these jobs have been sent overseas to be filled by cheaper labor.)

Ask children whether they like to learn. They will undoubtedly say yes. The quest for knowledge is hard-wired into humans. Ask children whether they like school, and they will likely say no. When are our school systems going to catch up to our rapidly changing economy and society? When are researchers going to understand that children are bored in schools where they are not taught subjects relevant to the world in which they live, where they are much more advanced and skilled than their teachers when it comes to technology and its uses?

Technology provides us with more opportunities for critical thinking and analysis than ever before as the amount of information available at one's fingertips is larger than any other time in recorded history. Maybe it is not that critical thinking and analysis skills have decline, just that they have shifted as society has shifted.

"Wiring classrooms for Internet access does not enhance learning," Greenfield said.

What kind of learning, I ask. Does teaching out of decades old text books enhance learning? Do we even learn the skills we need to survive and function as a productive member of society in school? Why was I never taught any history that occurred after World War II? (Many events relevant to the formation of today's society and political culture were not taught.) Why was I only taught American and European history when India and China have incredibly rich histories full of scientific, mathematical, and medical discoveries? (We now participate in a global economy in which India and China also participate.) Why was I never taught how to manage money or anything about loans, interest rates, or even balancing a checkbook? (All applications of mathematics relevant to everyday life.)

Wireless classrooms provide educators with the wealth of resources available on the internet to enhance and supplement lessons in a way more suited to today's students. Videos on any subject imaginable can be viewed for free on many sites, most notably, YouTube. Wireless classroooms also provide educators with the chance to interact with other educators across the country, to exchange ideas and teaching methods, and even conduct telelectures. Imagine a sixth grade science classroom watching live streaming video shot inside a greenhouse or on a farm, teaching them about organic farming methods and environmental sustainability. Virtual fieldtrips are just one example of how Internet access in classrooms can and DOES enhance learning. What experience is more memorable in the mind of a child - watching an exciting video in which they actually get to see what they are learning about in action, or listening to a teacher talk for 45 minutes about what is in a dusty text book that was written before the child was born? I'm not saying that we should rid our schools of books and replace them with laptops, but we must be prepared to ask what is more relevant to the society in which we live? The point of establishing an education system is to prepare today's youth to be tomorrow's leaders, is it not? How can we expect children to lead us into the future when our country's education system is stuck in the past? Our children are not failing us with poor test scores and declining critical thinking skills. We are failing them by not properly preparing them for the sometimes harsh and cruel world which they will inheriet from us. By applying technology in the classroom, and by utilising the internet we can ensure that children are better prepared for adulthood.

The Greenhouse Hamburger

2009-01-29T23:04:00.001-05:00

How Meat Contributes to Global Warming

Most of us are aware that our cars, our coal-generated electric power and even our cement factories adversely affect the environment. Until recently, however, the foods we eat had gotten a pass in the discussion. Yet according to a 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), our diets and, specifically, the meat in them cause more greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, and the like to spew into the atmosphere than either transportation or industry. (Greenhouse gases trap solar energy, thereby warming the earth's surface. Because gases vary in greenhouse potency, every greenhouse gas is usually expressed as an amount of CO2 with the same global-warming potential.)

The FAO report found that current production levels of meat contribute between 14 and 22 percent of the 36 billion tons of "CO2-equivalent" greenhouse gases the world produces every year. It turns out that producing half a pound of hamburger for someone's lunch a patty of meat the size of two decks of cards releases as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as driving a 3,000-pound car nearly 10 miles.

In truth, every food we consume, vegetables and fruits included, incurs hidden environmental costs: transportation, refrigeration and fuel for farming, as well as methane emissions from plants and animals, all lead to a buildup of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Take asparagus: in a report prepared for the city of Seattle, Daniel J. Morgan of the University of Washington and his co-workers found that growing just half a pound of the vegetable in Peru emits greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.2 ounces of CO2 as a result of applying insecticide and fertilizer, pumping water and running heavy, gas-guzzling farm equipment. To refrigerate and transport the vegetable to an American dinner table generates another two ounces of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases, for a total CO2 equivalent of 3.2 ounces.

But that is nothing compared to beef. In 1999 Susan Subak, an ecological economist then at the University of East Anglia in England, found that, depending on the production method, cows emit between 2.5 and 4.7 ounces of methane for each pound of beef they produce. Because methane has roughly 23 times the global-warming potential of CO2, those emissions are the equivalent of releasing between 3.6 and 6.8 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere for each pound of beef produced.

Raising animals also requires a large amount of feed per unit of body weight. In 2003 Lucas Reijnders of the University of Amsterdam and Sam Soret of Loma Linda University estimated that producing a pound of beef protein for the table requires more than 10 pounds of plant protein with all the emissions of greenhouse gases that grain farming entails. Finally, farms for raising animals produce numerous wastes that give rise to greenhouse gases.

Taking such factors into account, Subak calculated that producing a pound of beef in a feedlot, or concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) system, generates the equivalent of 14.8 pounds of CO2 pound for pound, more than 36 times the CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emitted by producing asparagus. Even other common meats cannot match the impact of beef; I estimate that producing a pound of pork generates the equivalent of 3.8 pounds of CO2; a pound of chicken generates 1.1 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases. And the economically efficient CAFO system, though certainly not the cleanest production method in terms of CO2-equivalent greenhouse emissions, is far better than most: the FAO data I noted earlier imply that the world average emissions from producing a pound of beef are several times the CAFO amount.

Solutions?
What can be done? Improving waste management and farming practices would certainly reduce the "carbon footprint" of beef production. Methane-capturing systems, for instance, can put cows' waste to use in generating electricity. But those systems remain too costly to be commercially viable.

Individuals, too, can reduce the effects of food production on planetary climate. To some degree, after all, our diets are a choice. By choosing more wisely, we can make a difference. Eating locally produced food, for instance, can reduce the need for transport though food inefficiently shipped in small batches on trucks from nearby farms can turn out to save surprisingly little in greenhouse emissions. And in the U.S. and the rest of the developed world, people could eat less meat, particularly beef.

The graphics on the following pages quantify the links between beef production and greenhouse gases in sobering detail. The take-home lesson is clear: we ought to give careful thought to diet and its consequences for the planet if we are serious about limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Nathan Fiala is a doctoral candidate in economics at the University of California, Irvine, focusing on the environmental impact of dietary habits. He also runs evaluations of development projects for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. In his spare time he enjoys independent movies and sailing. His study of the environmental impact of meat production on which this article is based was recently published in the journal Ecological Economics.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-greenhouse-hamburger&page=2

Seed bank for the world threatened by financial crisis

2009-01-29T22:00:00.002-05:00

By Georgina Cooper

ARDINGLY, England (Reuters) - A seed bank that is trying to collect every type of plant in the world is now under threat from the global financial crisis, its director says.

The Millennium Seed Bank Project aims to house all the 300,000 different plant species known to exist to ensure future biodiversity and protect a vital source of food and medicines, director Paul Smith said.

The project is on track to collect 10 percent of the total by 2010 but the financial crisis is drying up funding, casting serious doubts on future collections, he said.

About half the funding comes from the National Lottery and the rest from corporate donations.

But with businesses tightening their belts in the economic downturn and preparation for the 2012 London Olympics sapping lottery money, the pot is about to run dry.

Smith hopes government money and international groups will come through with the nearly 10 million pounds per year needed to keep the bank going. But if that does not happen, new collections and research will stop, he said.

"We would say that this is an exceptional bank and that the assets within it, the capital that we have built up, is unique and we can't squander this," Smith told Reuters Television during a tour of the facility south of London.

Each seed costs about 2,000 pounds to collect and store.

The Millennium Seed Bank Project is the only project of its kind in the world which aims to collect and conserve all the planet's wild plant diversity, Smith said.

Human activities, such as clearing forests, have put flora and fauna at risk. Because most of the world's food and medicines come from nature, protecting plant species is critical, scientists say.

For example, it was only 30 years ago that Catharanthus roseus, a small pink plant also known as the Madagascan periwinkle, was found to contain compounds used in cancer drugs.

"Thirteen million hectares of forest are cleared every year -- that's an area the size of England -- and of course the plant species which occur there are going the same way," Smith said.

There are 1,400 other seed banks in the world that store about 0.6 percent of the world's plant diversity. The Millennium Project run by Kew Gardens -- one of the world's oldest botanical gardens -- aims to collect the rest, he said.

Managing the deposits involves far more than simply filing them away for safekeeping. Seeds from across the globe arrive at the bank in packets of all sizes, where they are catalogued, tested and experimented on.

They are separated from husks, cleaned and dried again before final storage in an underground vault at minus 20 degrees Celsius, where they can last for up to thousands of years. The vaults are designed to withstand a nuclear accident.

A third of the planet's plants are categorized as threatened with extinction, which could have dramatic effects on human life, trade and the environment, Smith said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE50S4FB20090129?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Sustainable Urban and Vertical Farming

2009-01-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

Urban Agriculture Blooms

Urban Farming Grows Up

DIY Home Gardening Projects

2009-01-28T06:53:00.004-05:00

Build a Rain Barrel
Build a Homemade

Hydroponics System

100 Foot Diet - Freedom Gardens

2009-01-27T13:33:00.007-05:00

Grow what you eat, eat what you grow

With a nod to the 100 mile diet (spearheaded by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon) and other eat local challenges, Freedom Gardens is presenting a challenge to bring food even closer to home. The 100 Foot Diet Challenge reduces the traveling distance from field to table from miles to a few steps—right outside your back or, even, front door.

You don’t even need acreage to be a “farmer.” Use your yard (or balcony or porch steps) not only to grow your diet but also to cultivate a healthier and more fulfilling life.

In the spirit of courage and “we-can-do-it” attitudes of previous generations who planted gardens in their front and back yards to support their countries’ war efforts, today we undertake the challenge to declare independence from corporate food systems and start a living protest right in our own back/front/side yards by planting for freedom!

■The challenge is simple. Begin as soon as you can; prepare a meal at least once a week with only homegrown vegetables, fruit, herbs, eggs, dairy products or meat, using as few store bought ingredients as possible.

■The purpose is plain. The undertaking of an all-out struggle for freedom from the forces that keep you dependent on the system of petroleum fueled food. The degree to which you rely on today’s artificial corporate structure determines the extent of your vulnerability. Resolve to lessen your dependence on outside food sources.

■The result is revolutionary. As you take back responsibility for your food supply, you’ll experience the empowerment and fulfillment that comes from learning the basic skills of providing for yourself and your family.

By planting a Freedom Garden and taking on this challenge, you, your family, and the planet will benefit.

■Eat more nutritious food, which leads to better health
■Reduce your exposure to unwanted, toxic pesticides
■Reduce the number of miles your food travels, lessening your dependence on fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions
■Increased food security
■Improved quality of life through living in harmony with nature and eating with the seasons
■Save money; make money (see DerVaes Gardens)
■Reduce excessive packaging
■Combat global warming
■Get involved in your local food community
■Become independent of corporate food systems

Together, let us declare our independence and sow the seeds of freedom. This is a true revolution!

Visit this site to learn more about Freedom Gardens and to join this revolution!

http://freedomgardens.org/project/100-foot-diet/

I already attempt to eat as much locally produced food as possible, but even for me, this really is a challenge. Especially in the winter in Kentucky. As I mentioned in my last post, I recently bought a grow light to assist with growing sprouts and wheatgrass indoors, and to have my seedlings ready to plant come spring. I also always have at least one jar of sprouts growing at a time, whether alfalfa, lentil, clover, or some kind of bean or pea or grain. I have some potted herbs, but the lack of sunlight in the winter has been hard on them.

I always buy local first (local honey and apples are available pretty much year round, as are local raw cheeses and butter.) If I cannot find local, then I buy organic. I try not to buy things out of season, but I just love avocados and have a hard time going without. I have been buying winter greens, such as kale, which is actually cheaper than other greens this time of year.

This is my challenge for myself:

1. Grow and eat as many sprouts as possible until I can plant my garden.

2. Buy local/organic first, then organic, and seasonal produce as much as possible.

3. Make my own rather than buying (sauerkraut, kim chee, kombucha, mead, yogurt, etc.)

4. Grow the largest garden I can this spring and summer using heirloom and organic seeds.

5. Plant a fall and winter garden and maintain a passive solar greenhouse over the winter.

6. Set up rain barrels, use ocean water, and minerals on all garden plants.

7. Plant wild flowers because they are pretty and they attract bees to pollenate my garden.

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root

2009-01-27T09:22:00.004-05:00

http://www.pathtofreedom.com/

As I watched this video, I suddenly became aware that I had tears running down my face - tears of joy, tears of inspiration. This is my goal - to live self-sufficiently and sustainably. To grow as much of my own food as possible. Since I was very young, I have always felt a calling back to the land, although I was not quite sure until more recent years just what that calling was.

It is radical to grow your own food. To be independent. To put your love and intention into the food you grow and eat. Growing your own food puts you back in control of your life, your health. You control what foods you grow and how they are grown. No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or genetically modified crops. Organic and heirloom variety seeds; seeds which you can save and replant year after year.

I have recently purchased a grow light and will be starting the seedlings for my first large-scale garden as soon as I can. I also grow sprouts indoors year round, and with the light, I will be able to grow pea shoots, sunflower shoots, and wheatgrass in my kitchen. I have plans for building a greenhouse utilising passive solar heating during the cooler months. I have some garden experience (we always had one growing up) and I plan on visiting my grandparents often to learn from them. They have always had a nice sized garden as far back as I can remember. Every year they grow tomatoes, peppers, beans, lettuce, green onions, corn, squashes, cucumbers, and more. And they always have way more than they can eat themselves. I plan on learning the valuable art of canning and jarring from them this year. This is very exciting, but also somewhat overwhelming. I have to build raised beds, till up the soil in my back yard, mix in compost, learn about adding ocean water and minerals, and more. I feel like I am taking on such a challange, but one that will be well worth it in the end.

6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World - Paul Stamets

2009-01-26T19:02:00.002-05:00

100 Benefits of Meditation

2009-01-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11- Helps in post-operative healing.
12- Enhances the immune system.
13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
15- Helps with weight loss
16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20- Decreases the aging process.
21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines
25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care
27- Less energy wasted
28- More inclined to sports, activities
29- Significant relief from asthma
30- improved performance in athletic events
31- Normalizes to your ideal weight
32- harmonizes our endocrine system
33- relaxes our nervous system
34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).

Psychological benefits:
36- Builds self-confidence.
37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
38- Resolve phobias & fears
39- Helps control own thoughts
40- Helps with focus & concentration
41- Increase creativity
42- Increased brain wave coherence.
43- Improved learning ability and memory.
44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
45- Increased emotional stability.
46- improved relationships
47- Mind ages at slower rate
48- Easier to remove bad habits
49- Develops intuition
50- Increased Productivity
51- Improved relations at home & at work
52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation
53- Helps ignore petty issues
54- Increased ability to solve complex problems
55- Purifies your character
56- Develop will power
57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres
58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.
59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance
60- higher intelligence growth rate
61- Increased job satisfaction
62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones
63- decrease in potential mental illness
64- Better, more sociable behaviour
65- Less aggressiveness
66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction
67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals
68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation
69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia
70- Increases sense of responsibility
71- Reduces road rage
72- Decrease in restless thinking
73- Decreased tendency to worry
74- Increases listening skills and empathy
75- Helps make more accurate judgements
76- Greater tolerance
77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways
78- Grows a stable, more balanced personality
79- Develops emotional maturity

Spiritual benefits:
80- Helps keep things in perspective
81- Provides peace of mind, happiness
82- Helps you discover your purpose
83- Increased self-actualization.
84- Increased compassion
85- Growing wisdom
86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others
87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony
88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
89- Increased acceptance of oneself
90- helps learn forgiveness
91- Changes attitude toward life
92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God
93- Attain enlightenment
94- greater inner-directedness
95- Helps living in the present moment
96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego
98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”
99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”
100- Increases the synchronicity in your life

Meditation is also completely FREE! It requires no special equipment, and is not complicated to learn. It can be practiced anywhere, at any given moment, and it is not time consuming (15-20 min. per day is good). Best of all, meditation has NO negative side effects. Bottom line, there is nothing but positive to be gained from it! With such a huge list of benefits, the question you should ask yourself is, “why am I not meditating yet?”

Make sure you meditate, there are quite simply too many positives to just ignore it.

http://www.brandongilbert.info/2009/01/26/100-benefits-of-meditation/

10 Things the Processed Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

2009-01-26T10:42:00.003-05:00

by BodyEcology.com

Processed food is fast and easy, but before you stop at the next vending machine or fast food window, find out what they DON’T want you to know about processed foods.

Okay, they taste good...and they’re easy. In fact, they’re everywhere you look.

Processed foods seem like the answer to today’s busy lives. New fads and fancy advertisements make promises that keep us coming back for more.

But before you hit the vending machine or the fast food window, find out what the processed food industry doesn’t want you to know:

1. Processed foods are addictive and can cause you to overeat. Whole foods are made up of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fiber and water. When foods are processed the components of these foods are modified (for example, fiber, water and nutrients are removed) and in other cases, components are concentrated. In each case, processing changes the way they are digested and assimilated in your body.

Eating highly processed or highly concentrated foods can artificially stimulate dopamine (the pleasure neurotransmitter), which plays a role in addiction. In this way, you are eating foods that lack nutrients and fiber, but create a pleasurable feeling. A food addiction starts because you feel good when you are eating these foods and they make you think they taste better. You crave that pleasurable feeling again and again and viola…this is what starts a food addiction.

2. Processed foods are linked to obesity. Additives in processed foods, like high fructose corn syrup, sugar and MSG have been linked to weight gain and obesity. Dr. Mercola recently reported about a new study that showed childhood obesity could be reduced by 18 percent, simply by cutting out fast food advertisements during children’s programming.3 The Australian government is clearly more concerned about their children’s health as television advertisements to children were banned several years ago.

3. Processed foods often contain ingredients that do not follow the principle of food combining, which can lead to low energy, poor digestion, illness, acidic blood and weight gain. An example would be a frozen meat and cheese pizza. Cheese (a dairy product), meat (an animal protein) and pizza crust (a grain product) make a terrible food combination that can wreak havoc on your digestive health.

4. Processed foods contribute to an imbalanced inner ecosystem, which can lead to digestive problems, cravings, illness and disease. Beneficial microflora cannot survive in your digestive tract when you are poisoning them. Like us they thrive on foods that are made by nature not by man.

5. A diet high in processed foods can lead to depression, memory issues and mood swings. Ingredients in processed foods are often the lowest cost and sub-par, nutritionally. For example, the fats and oils used in processed foods are refined, which means they are stripped of the essential fatty acids necessary for healthy blood sugar levels, moods and memory. Your heart, hormones and brain suffer when you choose to eat these fats and oils. Instead choose the organic, unrefined or “virgin” fats and oils that are recommended on The Body Ecology Diet.

6. Processed foods often go hand in hand with “eating on the run” or multitasking. Most people will choose convenience if they are on the run and in today’s busy lives, who of us isn’t? Unfortunately, multitasking while eating causes people to lose touch with their natural appetite, often leading to weight gain. Additionally, multitasking sends the wrong signals to your digestive system, which needs to be in a restful mode to digest properly.

7. Nutrition labels on processed foods are often misleading and have harmful health effects. Many labels say “sugar free,” but contain other sweeteners like agave, which is like high fructose corn syrup. Additionally, product labeling may hide ingredients like GM (genetically modified) foods and harmful additives like MSG. (These are hidden behind words on the label like “natural flavorings” or “approved spices”).

8. Diets high in processed meats (like hot dogs and deli meats) have been linked to various forms of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer and stomach cancer.

9. Eating too many processed foods can lead to infertility and malnutrition. Processed foods, like cereal, are stripped of important vitamins and nutrients that your body truly needs. You could be eating a large amount of calories and still be malnourished if your diet is high in processed foods.

Animal studies have shown that over three generations, a deficient diet causes reproduction to cease.6 Today, infertility is on the rise, affecting 7.3 million people in America.

10. Processed foods are made for long shelf-life, not long human life! Chemicals, additives and preservatives are added to processed foods so that they will last for a long time without going rancid or affecting the taste of the food. Food manufacturers spend time, money and research on beautiful packaging and strategies to lengthen shelf-life, with little attention on how the foods will lengthen your life or create lasting health.

http://www.bodyecology.com/archive/10-things-processed-food-industry.php

Biodynamic Agriculture

2009-01-24T16:00:00.001-05:00

Biodynamic agriculture, a method of organic farming that has its basis in a spiritual world-view (anthroposophy, first propounded by Rudolf Steiner), treats farms as unified and individual organisms,[1] emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a closed, self-nourishing system.[2] Regarded by some proponents as the first modern ecological farming system,[3] biodynamic farming includes organic agriculture's emphasis on manures and composts and exclusion of the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include the use of fermented herbal and mineral preparations as compost additives and field sprays and the use of an astronomical sowing and planting calendar.[4]

The development of biodynamic agriculture began in 1924 with a series of eight lectures on agriculture given by Rudolf Steiner at Schloss Koberwitz in what was then Silesia, Germany, (now in Poland east of Wrocław). The course was held in response to a request by farmers who noticed degraded soil conditions and a deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers.[5] An agricultural research group was subsequently formed to test the effects of biodynamic methods on the life and health of soil, plants and animals. In the United States, the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association was founded in 1938 as a New York state corporation.

In Australia the first biodynamic preparations were made by Ernesto Genoni in Melbourne in 1927 and by Bob Williams in Sydney in 1939. Since the 1950s research work has continued at the Biodynamic Research Institute (BDRI) in Powelltown, near Melbourne Australia under the direction of Alexei Podolinsky. In 1989 Biodynamic Agriculture Australia was established, as a not for profit association. It has well over 1100 members and has local and regional groups throughout Australia. It publishes the biodynamic journal News Leaf quarterly and is the largest organic growers association in Australia.

Today biodynamics is practiced in more than 50 countries worldwide. The University of Kassel has a dedicated Department of Biodynamic Agriculture.[6]

Biodynamic method of farming

Biodynamic agriculture conceives of the farm as an organism, a self-contained entity with its own individuality. "Emphasis is placed on the integration of crops and livestock, recycling of nutrients, maintenance of soil, and the health and well being of crops and animals; the farmer too is part of the whole."[7] Cover crops, green manures and crop rotations are used extensively. The approach also attempts to consider celestial (i.e., astrological) influences on soil and plant development and to revitalize the farm, its products, and its inhabitants.[8] Seeds are planted at certain lunar phases.[9]

Treatment of pests and weeds

Biodynamic agriculture sees the basis of pest and disease control arising from a strong healthy balanced farm organism. Where this is not yet achieved it uses techniques analogous to fertilization for pest control and weed control. Most of these techniques include using the ashes of a pest or weed that has been trapped or picked from the fields and burnt. A biodynamic farmer perceives weeds and plant vulnerability to pests as a result of imbalances in the soil.
Pests such as insects or field mice (Apodemus) have more complex processes associated with them, depending on what pest is to be targeted. For example field mice are to be countered by deploying ashes prepared from field mice skin when Venus is in

Seed production

Biodynamic agriculture has focused on open pollination of seeds (permitting farmers to grow their own seed) and the development of locally adapted varieties. The seed stock is not controlled by large, multinational seed companies.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture

YET ANOTHER REASON TO EAT RAW AND LOCAL - Counterfeit foods enter the U.S. market

2009-01-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

Some of your favorite foods may be fakes.

Foods masquerading as something else — a more nutritious something else — have been big news in the past two years. Chinese food companies in particular have been blamed for making deadly alterations to dairy, baby and pet foods by adding melamine. The chemical makes it appear that the food or beverage has the required level of protein.

But what about food producers in this country? What fraudulent foods do U.S. consumers have to fear from American companies?

Experts say dangerous U.S.-produced foods are comparatively few, but producers have been known to practice "economic adulteration" — adding a little to their bottom line by padding, thinning or substituting something cheap for something expensive.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration regulate the food industry, but with safety issues to deal with, economic adulteration has "really been back-burnered," says Bruce Silverglade of the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest. So in a caveat emptor world, what should consumers look out for?

Fish is the most frequently faked food Americans buy. In the business, it's called "species adulteration" — selling a cheaper fish such as pen-raised Atlantic salmon as wild Alaska salmon.

When Consumer Reports tested 23 supposedly wild-caught salmon fillets bought nationwide in 2005-2006, only 10 were wild salmon. The rest were farmed. In 2004, University of North Carolina scientists found 77% of fish labeled red snapper was actually something else. Last year, the Chicago Sun-Times tested fish at 17 sushi restaurants and found that fish being sold as red snapper actually was mostly tilapia.

"It's really just fraud, plain and simple," says Gavin Gibbons of the National Fisheries Institute, an industry group.

One thing consumers don't need to worry about is scallops. Tales of skate wings cut into circles and sold as scallops are common. But Spring Randolph, a consumer safety officer at the FDA and an expert on species adulteration, says the FDA has never found an actual case of it.

Salmon is tricky. Randolph does have one tip, though. Farmed salmon gets its coloring from dyes added to food pellets the fish are fed, while wild salmon gets it from the plankton they eat.

"When you cook it, the wild salmon retains its color, and in the aquaculture salmon, the color tends to leak out," she says. Suspicious consumers can call the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition hotline at 1-888-SAFEFOOD.

Olive oil

This luxury oil, touted for its heart-health properties and taste, has become a gourmet must-have. Americans consumed about 575 million pounds of the silky stuff last year, according to the North American Olive Oil Association. Sixty-three percent was the higher-grade extra virgin, which comes from the first pressing of the olives.

It's also one of the most frequently counterfeited food products, says Martin Stutsman, the FDA's consumer safety officer for edible oils.

There are no national figures on olive-oil fakery. But after complaints, Connecticut began testing two years ago. "We were coming across a lot of products labeled as extra-virgin olive oil that contained up to 90% soybean oil," says Jerry Farrell Jr., Connecticut's commissioner of consumer protection.

Most name brands were fine, Farrell says. It was often off-brands sold in discount stores that were the problem.

Connecticut was so concerned that in November, it became the first state in the nation to set standards for olive oil, enabling officials there to levy fines and pull adulterated products off store shelves. California is set to create its own standards this year. Reports from panels of testers have found as much as 60% to 70% of the olive oil sold as extra virgin in the state is a lower-quality olive oil, says Dan Flynn of the Olive Center at the University of California-Davis.

The easiest thing is for fakers to add 10% vegetable oil in extra virgin, says Stutsman. "It will still smell as it should, but you've saved 10% of the cost."

Bob Bauer, president of the North American Olive Oil Association, says it's more of a problem in restaurants than in supermarkets.

Honey

An expensive natural product that's mostly sugar, honey is easily faked. "If you can substitute a less expensive source of sugar for the expensive one, you can save some money and gain market share," says the FDA's Stutsman.

It used to be that cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup was mostly used to thin out honey. But chemically, that was easy to spot. FDA used an isotope test that would easily identify the adulteration.

So counterfeiters got wily and started using beet sugar. Its profile is similar to honey, so the FDA had to switch to a much more complicated, multistep test comparing the sugar profiles to see if the proportions and trace materials match.

"But once we started catching people, they create a moving target. They'll switch to something more difficult (to detect)," says Stutsman.

Maple syrup

Maple syrup is another high-value item that can be adulterated. In these tough economic times, Vermont, the USA's largest supplier to flapjacks everywhere, may up its testing programs.

The boiled-down sap of the sugar maple tree can be diluted with water or sugar by sellers "trying to get more bang for the buck," says Kristin Haas, food safety director in the state's Agency for Agriculture, Food and Markets.

Vermont's testing program has found fraud only three times in the past 17 years, says Haas, but it's not taken lightly. "A couple of years back, there was a gentleman who actually went to prison because of this issue."

When times get tight, the incentive to cheat can rise like sap in the spring, so the state may have to work harder to keep its premier product pure.

Vanilla

A product of the tropics, vanilla pods can be soaked in milk or stored in sugar to impart a delicate vanilla scent to foods. More commonly, they're soaked in alcohol that is then used as a flavoring.

But vanillin (pronounced VAN-ah-lynn), a chemical copy of the richly organic vanilla flavor, was created in the laboratory in the 19th century. When used in foods, it's supposed to be labeled as an artificial flavor and usually is.

One "too good to be true" product to watch out for is really inexpensive vanilla extract sometimes sold in Mexico and Latin America, says the FDA. It's often made with coumarin, a toxic substance that has been banned in U.S. foods since 1954.

Coumarin is chemically related to warfarin, a blood thinner, and can be dangerous. It's "no bargain," the FDA says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-01-19-fake-foods_N.htm

U.S. Green Building Council Helps Builders and Companies Go Green

2009-01-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

More companies are beginning to see the benefits of having energy-efficient buildings and physical plants. Cleaner, more efficient office buildings and work spaces not only help the environment but can save a company money, improving that company's -- as well as all of society's -- bottom line.

One organization helps companies to realize the benefits of greener building.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a nonprofit coalition for "advancing buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work," according to the organization's website. The USGBC operates the "Green Building Rating System" for new buildings and the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System" to grade the sustainable operation of existing buildings.

More than 5,500 companies and organizations are members of the council, which had certified more than 200 million sq. ft. of commercial space as LEED certified.

Companies that are certified by USGBC are then able to tout their environmental stewardship, and also will save money in the long run for having built cleaner operating, more energy-efficient buildings.

For example, recently USGBC certified the new technology and operations campus of KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), outside of Cleveland, with a green certification. The company will realize an energy savings over the years, and the environment will benefit immediately: According to KeyCorp, the new buildings emit 2.7 million pounds less greenhouse gases, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury. This is equal to removing 130 cars from the road or planting 378 acres of trees. The new campus was built on a former "brownfield" site.

KeyCorp is a bank with more than 900 branches in 12 mostly midwestern states, and has nearly 20,000 employees. The company says it plans to use green practices in its branches as well. KeyCorp's sales were more than $5.5 billion in 2004.

Governments are getting in on the act too -- recently the mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona, announced that all public buildings in that city were to be certified "LEED Gold," the USGBC's second-most stringent certification for existing buildings. Certification levels are Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/1500

Green Cleaning Required in LEED for Existing Buildings

2009-01-24T10:26:00.000-05:00

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) first released LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EB) in November 2007. The reference guide for the system is due out in June 2008, and, as of July 1, all projects seeking certification must register under the new version.

Among the many changes are the addition of a green cleaning prerequisite and two points in a green cleaning credit requiring verification of custodial effectiveness. According to David Holly of the Ashkin Group, a green cleaning consulting firm, the prerequisite is a sign that the importance of cleaning is gaining recognition.

The new points, which are awarded for achieving a certain level of cleanliness, also represent a shift away from thinking about green cleaning as a set of products towards thinking about it as a set of best practices that include making a cleaning plan, using less-toxic chemicals, and using energy-efficient equipment.

To achieve the performance-based points, a building must meet standards set by APPA, which provides guidelines for educational facilities. The Ashkin Group is working with APPA and USGBC to adapt the guidelines to other types of facilities; the resulting guidance will appear in the LEED-EB reference guide.

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/37513

Ten Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade

2009-01-22T22:43:00.003-05:00

By: Anya Kamenetz

Massive investments in clean energy promise to keep farmers, urban planners, and green-tech entrepreneurs in business for the next decade. This guide to sustainability focused career paths will help solar-charge your work life.

"It's time to bail out the people and the planet," says Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. We agree, and this guide to to sustainability-focused career paths will help retrofit and solar-charge your work life.

Farmer

America has only two million farmers, and their average age is 55. Since sustainable agriculture requires small-scale, local, organic methods rather than petroleum-based machines and fertilizers, there is a huge need for more farmers -- up to tens of millions of them, according to food guru Michael Pollan. Modern farmers are small businesspeople who must be as skilled in heirloom genetics as marketing.

Schools: University of Vermont: Center for Sustainable Agriculture; Stone Barns Center For Food & Agriculture in New York State; University of Oklahoma: Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture; Evergreen State College: degree in Sustainable Agriculture.

Related careers: urban gardener; farmers market and CSA coordinator; artisanal cheesemakers; and other food producers.

Forester

Modern forestry a complex combination of international project finance, conservation and development. According to the World Bank, a staggering 1.6 billion people depend on the forest for their livelihoods. Foresters help local people transition from slash-and-burn to silviculture--teaching cultivation of higher-value, faster-growing species for fruit, medicine or timber, for examples while carefully documenting the impact on the environment. Deforestation, which causes around a quarter of all global warming, is also likely to be a leading source of carbon credits worth tens of billions of dollars.

Schools: Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Duke University: Nicholas School of the Environment; University of Michigan: School of Natural Resources & Environment.

Companies/organizations: The Nature Conservancy; New Forests Inc.

Solar Power Installer

Making and installing solar power systems already accounts for some 770,000 jobs globally. Installing solar-thermal water heaters and rooftop photovoltaic cells is a relatively high-paying job--$15 to $35 an hour--for those with construction skills. And opportunities are available all over the United States, wherever the sun shines. Currently over 3,400 companies in the solar energy sector employ 25,000 to 35,000 workers. The Solar Energy Industries Association predicts an increase to over 110,000 jobs by 2016â even more if anticipated tax credits are accelerated.

Companies: Akeena Solar; Sungevity; Sunpower; Full list at SEIA.org.

Energy Efficiency Builder Buildings account for up to 48 percent of US energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. LEED, the major green building certification, has over 43,000 accredited professionals. But the cutting edge in efficient buildings goes far beyond LEED. Buildings constructed according to Passivhaus and MINERGIE-P standards in Germany and Switzerland, respectively, use between 75% and 95% less heat energy than a similar building constructed to the latest codes in the US. Greening the US building stock will take not only skilled architects and engineers, but a workforce of retrofitters who can use spray foam insulation and storm windows to massively improve the R-value (thermal resistance) of the draftiest old houses. A study by the Apollo Alliance recommended an $89.9 billion investment in financing to create 827,260 jobs in green buildings -- an initiative supported by the Obama stimulus package, which specifically mentions energy retrofits.

Schools: Arizona State University School of Architecture: Energy Performance Climate-Responsive Architecture; University of Michigan: Alfred A. Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning; The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Wind Turbine Fabricator

Wind is the leading and fastest-growing source of alternative energy with over 300,000 jobs worldwide. Turbines are 90% metal by weight, creating an opportunity for autoworkers and other manufacturers to repurpose their skills. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the industry currently employs some 50,000 Americans and added 10,000 new jobs in 2007. Their job board is an excellent place to start looking for opportunities.

Companies: Vestas; Siemens; GE Energy.

Conservation Biologist

The granddaddy of diversity, E.O. Wilson, famously called conservation biology -- discipline with a deadline. The urgent quest to preserve the integrity of ecosystems around the world -- and to quantify the value of -- ecosystems services -- leads to opportunities in teaching, research and fieldwork for government, nonprofits, and private companies. The forthcoming economic stimulus package from the Obama administration offers the prospect of increased federal support for science and research.

Schools: Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington and the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University. At the small College of the Atlantic every student gets his or her degree in human ecology; it's been called the most sustainable college or university in the world.

Green MBA and Entrepreneur

The concept of the triple bottom line has migrated from the margins to the mainstream of the business world. A recent report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayors Climate Protection Center found that business services like legal, research and consulting account for the majority of all green jobs -- over 400,000. This includes everything from marketing to the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) segment, to serving as a VP of sustainability within a large company, to piloting a green startup like Method or Recyclebank.

Schools: Stanford School of Business; San Francisco's Presidio School of Management; Leeds School of Business; University of Colorado at Boulder -- Deming Center for Entrepreneurship; the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Wash.

Recycler

The total number of recycling jobs in the United States is at more than 1 million, according to recent reports (PDF, right click to save). Although the market for paper and plastic has slowed down recently due to the economic downturn, demand for steel is still strong -- 42 percent of output came from scrap in 2006 -- and recycling remains the economical alternative to high disposal fees. Worldwide more than 200,000 people work in secondary steel production, and the US is a major center of production. New laws and regulations are also creating a need for specialized companies that can close the loop by recycling and repurposing e-waste, clothing, plastic bags, construction waste, and other materials.

Companies: Rumpke; Greenstar North America.

Sustainability Systems Developer

The green economy needs a cadre of specialized software developers and engineers who design, build, and maintain the networks of sensors and stochastic modeling that underpin wind farms, smart energy grids, congestion pricing and other systems substituting intelligence for natural resources. Coders with experience using large scale enterprise resource planning have an edge here, as well as developers familiar with open source and web 2.0 applications.

Companies: IBM, V2Green, WindLogics

Urban Planner

Urban and regional planning is a linchpin of the quest to lower America's carbon footprint. Strengthening mass transit systems, limiting sprawl, encouraging use of bicycles and deemphasizing cars is only part of the job. Equally important is contingency planning, as floods, heat waves and garbage creep become increasingly common problems for metropolises. Employment in this sector is projected to grow 15 percent by 2016, and the jobs are mainly in local governments, which make them a slightly safer bet for the downturn.

Schools: Penn Institute for Urban Research; Harvard: Department of Urban Planning and Design; Portland State University: Nohad A Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning.

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2009/01/best-green-jobs.html?page=0%2C0

Eat Local - Community Supported Agriculture

2009-01-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

Intro to Community Supported Agriculture

CSA - Farmer Shares Info About Her CSA Program

Organic and Biodynamic Farming

2009-01-22T18:00:00.000-05:00

THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN Official Trailer

Biodynamic Farm Montage

Study Says Wild-Harvested Plants and Animals are Now About 20 Percent Smaller

2009-01-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

Honey, we shrunk the food -- really, really fast
by Katherine Harmon

Policymakers may not intend to keep us trim when they're pondering how to manage fisheries and other wild food resources. But a new study indicates that our current food-harvesting practices are making the stuff we eat smaller—very quickly.

The study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that plants and animals being harvested aggressively around the world from the wild (rather than from farms) are changing more than two and a half times faster than would be expected under natural conditions.

"Two and a half times is pretty big," says Stephan Munch, an assistant professor of fisheries ecology at Stony Brook University in Long Island, N.Y.

Scientists have long assumed that humans can—and do—affect the plants and animals that live around us (with pollution and by introducing invasive species). But this new work, which analyzed data from dozens of other studies, found that our intense food-gathering practices have substantially changed the size and breeding schedule of at least 29 species in as few as 20 years.

Unlike, say, wolves or lions, which target the smallest, weakest members of a group, humans tend to select the biggest and juiciest ones—be it caribou or cod—for our meals or trophies. As a result, the study says, plants and animals harvested from the wild are now about 20 percent smaller than they were just generations ago—and, in the case of the bighorn sheep than they were just three decades ago.

These animals are also reproducing at younger and younger ages, because mature individuals are more likely to be caught. When animals reproduce earlier, they often have fewer offspring, which means there will be an even smaller population in the future, according to the study.

Researchers aren't sure whether a change in the genetic pool or plasticity (individual adaptation to the environment) is responsible for these changes. But lead study author, Chris Darimont, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz (who started the research at Canada's University of Victoria), is more concerned about the outcome.

"We’re changing the face of biodiversity at very rapid rates," he says. And any shift in animal size can alter predatory-prey relationships, impacting entire ecosystems.

The next big question, says Munch, is how long it will take for these altered populations to change back.

It's "kind of like this great experiment that hasn't been tried yet," Darimont says, because these species are still being harvested intensively. He hopes that will change soon, though, because as Munch points out, "No one wants to have very, very tiny cod that mature in two years."

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=honey-we-shrunk-the-foodreally-real-2009-01-15

Appeal of 'green products' growing despite recession -- survey

2009-01-22T14:33:00.001-05:00

Greenwire, 21 January 2009 - "Green products" became more popular last year, according to a new survey by researchers who see the trend continuing despite the sharp global economic downturn.

The Boston Consulting Group survey of some 9,000 consumers in East Asia, Europe and North America found that more shoppers deliberately sought and bought green products in 2008 than in the year before. Their research also suggests consumers are becoming more willing to pay higher prices for green products than they were in the past.

Overall, 34 percent of those surveyed said they "systematically look for and purchase green products," up from 32 percent in 2007. And 24 percent said the higher price premium for buying green is acceptable, up from just 20 percent the year before.

The findings, published yesterday in the group's new report, "Capturing the Green Advantage for Consumer Companies," is good news for companies selling eco-friendly products. Seventy-five percent of consumers surveyed said that it is important or very important for companies to provide information on the environmental impacts of their products, and 66 percent said companies should routinely offer green products.

Health and safety concerns still trump the environment with shoppers. Eighty-one percent said companies should spell out their goods' risks and safety issues. But that does not necessarily bode ill for green products, say report co-authors Felix Muennich and Catherine Roche, researchers with BCG offices in Germany.

"Green is also a proxy for health and safety in many products (e.g. foods, skin creams, children's toys) and that will continue to be something that consumers are concerned about when shopping," they said in an e-mail.

The group questioned 9,000 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan and China in face-to-face interviews in major cities. In national comparisons, Europeans ranked among the most environmentally conscious consumers, while East Asians ranked among the least.

About 34 percent of Europeans said last year that they routinely sought green products. Italians topped the chart, with 20 percent saying they actively seek green products, compared to only 15 percent in the United Kingdom, the lowest proportion for the region.

Sixteen percent of U.S. consumers last year reported being "systematic shoppers of green products," compared to just 11 percent of Japanese.

Most popular goods

Worldwide, the most popular green or perceived green products seem to be organic food and environmentally friendly household cleaners. Health concerns may explain why these goods are bought at a greater frequency than other green items.

The report says companies may stand a better chance of marketing green goods, especially food and cosmetics, if they can convince shoppers that their products are of higher quality and better for their health. The survey shows most consumers already believe that green products are generally of better quality than mainstream products.

The report also suggests that households worldwide are taking care to be more environmentally friendly, at least in inexpensive ways. About 75 percent said they shut off appliances that are not in use to save electricity, recycle waste or reuse products as often as possible. A little more than 50 percent reported that they strive to use their cars as little as possible now, but about 80 percent say they will work to do so in the future.

Among the least common consumer green practices today include eco-friendly investing and owning hybrid vehicles. Only about 7 percent report owning a hybrid car, while a little more than 10 percent say they invest in environmentally friendly funds.

Many industry watchers question whether buying for the environment will continue to grow in popularity as the United States, Europe and Japan enter deep recessions. Most past studies of consumer green sentiment found shoppers willing to purchase green products only if it did not cost them much more.

Indeed, this latest study shows that, even though shoppers say they are willing to pay more for green goods, companies can charge only about 5 percent to 10 percent more for such products before their popularity begins to slip fast.

Still, researchers say their overall findings leave them confident that the green product industry should weather the current financial storm nicely.

"We expect appeal to remain strong," they said. "But one caveat -- consumer willingness to pay large price premiums for green products is constrained even in good times and will likely be more so in a downturn climate."

http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MzMxMDM

Valuing the Priceless

2009-01-22T11:31:00.001-05:00

Geneva, 12 December 2008 - Is it true that the service of pollination, provided mainly by bees for free, is estimated to be at least worth US$ 4 billion a year to the agricultural sector in the US alone? Or that coral reefs provide ecosystem services vital to off-shore fisheries and shoreline protection worth as much as US$ 600,000 per square kilometer? Or that the world’s protected areas (accounting for only 12% of total land surface) sustain a rapidly growing eco-tourism sector, support local livelihoods, and overall produce benefits for society in excess of US$ 4,000 billion a year?

The answer is yes, but here is the paradox: 20% of the world’s coral reefs and 35% of all mangroves have been destroyed, and two-thirds of all ecosystem services degraded, some perhaps beyond repair. Surely the economic incentives to sustainably manage and invest in conserving ecosystems and the services they provide, like water, food and fiber, should be well recognized. Unfortunately, the answer to this question is no.

One of the main underlying causes fuelling this paradox is the undervaluation of ecosystems and ecosystem services. For many ecosystems and their services, markets simply do not exist and thus lack convenient price tags. As a consequence, their over-use and degradation appear to carry very low to zero costs.

Such a clear flaw in the current accounting system seriously challenges business and its license to operate, as business can only function if ecosystems and the services they provide are healthy and balanced. Businesses not only impact ecosystems and ecosystem services, but also depend on them, and the implications of their degradation and loss are becoming clearer.

Not only does the loss of ecosystem services pose business risks, for example, through higher input costs, new government regulations, reputational damage, changing consumer preferences, and more rigorous lending policies, it also presents new business opportunities, including demand for new products, services and technology, and new revenue streams from managing and selling natural assets.

Recognizing and accounting for the full value of ecosystems, as well as the potential costs associated with the loss of ecosystem services, is required in order to reach the goals of efficient resource allocation and optimal decision-making.

Economic valuation is one approach that lends its support to this challenge by quantifying ecosystem relationships and expressing them in a monetary unit that is directly linked to a company’s bottom line. There are many ecosystem valuation toolkits and guidelines, but they have been developed for policy-makers and natural resource planners and managers. Geared towards project implementation by the public sector or as part of development assistance, they have limited applicability to business.

The WBCSD is looking to fill this gap through the development of a corporate guide to ecosystem and ecosystem service valuation with the aim of supporting the business license to operate in a changing ecosystems world.

http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MzI5MDM

Spice It Up! Stay Warm This Winter Using Warming Spices

2009-01-20T12:03:00.004-05:00

Cayenne – Improves circulation and can help heal ulcers. Capsicum significantly lowers serum cholesterol and serum triglycerides. Stimulant and digestive aid. Sooths inflammation and helps speed detoxification. Capsicum is a catalyst herb. Its stimulating properties speed the absorption and effectiveness of any herbs taken in combination with it.

Cinnamon – May help to prevent diabetes by balancing blood sugar levels. Reduces blood sugar in people with diabetes. Reduces triglycerides and cholesterol levels in those with type 2 diabetes. In experimental studies, cinnamon was found to prevent cancer in animals. Enhances detoxification of the liver. Stimulates circulation. Used to relieve aching muscles and other symptoms of the common cold. Cinnamon’s volatile oils possess both antiviral and stimulating properties. Classic remedy for digestive problems.

Cloves – Contains eugenol, a potent anti-inflammatory phenolic. Toothache is still effectively treated with cloves, as eugenol has both analgesic and antiseptic qualities. Chinese medicine has used cloves to treat indigestion, diarrhea, hernia, ringworm, and athlete’s foot and other fungal infections. In traditional Indian ayurvedic medicine, the spice is used to treat respiratory and digestive problems.

Nutmeg – In Chinese herbal medicine, used for treating intestinal problems, especially for diarrhea. In India, nutmeg is believed to increase sexual stamina and is known as an aphrodisiac.
Cardamom – Stimulates the digestive system, reduces gas, and counteracts stomach acidity. Considered beneficial to the urinary-tract system and is considered a kidney cleanser. Used to improve the circulation of the lungs and to treat asthma in Ayurvedic medicine. Antiseptic and antimicrobial.

Ginger – Contains some of the most potent anti-inflammatory substances known. Used to treat arthritis, vertigo, migraine headaches, and various digestive problems, especially nausea. Safe treatment for morning sickness during pregnancy.

Curry – A blend of spices that generally includes turmeric, cardamom, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Has a stimulating effect. Coriander is used as an herbal digestive aid; it's a natural diuretic, helps the body detoxify, and it eases nausea. Cumin stimulates circulation and can help relieve abdominal cramping. Fenugreek is used to treat indigestion, intestinal inflammation, and allergies.

Turmeric – Protective effects against inflammation and cancer. Health benefits come from the deep yellow pigment caused by a group of flavonoids called curcuminoids. Medicinal uses of turmeric include healing stomach ulcers and the relief of free-radical stress in patients with inflammation-related diseases. In traditional Indian ayurvedic medicine, the herb is considered a natural antibiotic that strengthens digestion and improves intestinal flora.

Cumin – One of the oldest cultivated spices. A popular spice and medicinal herb in ancient Egypt. Aids digestion. Used to treat coughs and chest colds and to relieve pain, particularly for toothache. Pain-relieving compounds have been found in cumin, along with anti-inflammatory and anti-swelling compounds.

Black Pepper – Improves digestion by stimulating hydrochloric acid production. Rich in antioxidants. Antibacterial. Has diaphoretic (promotes sweating), and diuretic properties.

www.livingblissfoods.com 2009

Living Bliss, LLC

Spice It Up!

2009-01-20T11:58:00.005-05:00

January 2009 Raw Recipe Demonstration
with
Raw Chef Erin Brennan

Butternut Squash Soup
4 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2-2½ cups water
Juice of ½ orange
½ avocado
2 TBSP cold pressed olive oil
1-2 tsp raw local honey
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger powder OR 1 TBSP fresh diced ginger
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp sea salt OR to taste
¼ tsp mustard powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cayenne powder
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend on high until creamy. Serve immediately or warm in dehydrator if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Hemp Chai Latte
2-4 bags of tea of choice (Black, Green, Gynostemma, Darjeeling)
2-3 TBSP raw local honey
½-1 droppers liquid stevia (vanilla)
4 TBSP hempseeds
1-2 TBSP coconut oil
½ tsp ginger powder
¼ tsp cardamom powder
Scant 1/8 tsp cloves powder
½ tsp cinnamon
Dusting fresh grated nutmeg
OPTIONAL:
Vanilla
¼ tsp allspice

Boil water and steep tea. Once tea has steeped, add tea, honey, hempseeds, coconut oil and spices to blender. Blend until creamy. Strain through coffee filter if desired. Enjoy. Makes 4 servings.

www.livingblissfoods.com 2009

Living Bliss, LLC

Could genetically modified crops be killing bees?

2009-01-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

With reports coming in about a scourge affecting honeybees, researchers are launching a drive to find the cause of the destruction. The reasons for rapid colony collapse are not clear. Old diseases, parasites and new diseases are being looked at.

Over the past 100 or so years, beekeepers have experienced colony losses from bacterial agents (foulbrood), mites (varroa and tracheal) and other parasites and pathogens. Beekeepers have dealt with these problems by using antibiotics, miticides or integrated pest management.

While losses, particularly in over-wintering, are a chronic condition, most beekeepers have learned to limit their losses by staying on top of new advice from entomologists. Unlike the more common problems, this new die-off has been virtually instantaneous throughout the country, not spreading at the slower pace of conventional classical disease.

As an interested beekeeper with some background in biology, I think it might be fruitful to investigate the role of genetically modified or transgenic farm crops. Although we are assured by nearly every bit of research that these manipulations of the crop genome are safe for both human consumption and the environment, looking more closely at what is involved here might raise questions about those assumptions.

The most commonly transplanted segment of transgenic DNA involves genes from a well-known bacterium, bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which has been used for decades by farmers and gardeners to control butterflies that damage cole crops such as cabbage and broccoli. Instead of the bacterial solution being sprayed on the plant, where it is eaten by the target insect, the genes that contain the insecticidal traits are incorporated into the genome of the farm crop. As the transformed plant grows, these Bt genes are replicated along with the plant genes so that each cell contains its own poison pill that kills the target insect.

In the case of field corn, these insects are stem- and root-borers, lepidopterans (butterflies) that, in their larval stage, dine on some region of the corn plant, ingesting the bacterial gene, which eventually causes a crystallization effect in the guts of the borer larvae, thus killing them.

What is not generally known to the public is that Bt variants are available that also target coleopterans (beetles) and dipterids (flies and mosquitoes). We are assured that the bee family, hymenopterans, is not affected.

That there is Bt in beehives is not a question. Beekeepers spray Bt under hive lids sometimes to control the wax moth, an insect whose larval forms produce messy webs on honey. Canadian beekeepers have detected the disappearance of the wax moth in untreated hives, apparently a result of worker bees foraging in fields of transgenic canola plants.

Bees forage heavily on corn flowers to obtain pollen for the rearing of young broods, and these pollen grains also contain the Bt gene of the parent plant, because they are present in the cells from which pollen forms.

Is it not possible that while there is no lethal effect directly to the new bees, there might be some sublethal effect, such as immune suppression, acting as a slow killer?

The planting of transgenic corn and soybean has increased exponentially, according to statistics from farm states. Tens of millions of acres of transgenic crops are allowing Bt genes to move off crop fields.

A quick and easy way to get an approximate answer would be to make a comparison of colony losses of bees from regions where no genetically modified crops are grown, and to put test hives in areas where modern farming practices are so distant from the hives that the foraging worker bees would have no exposure to them.

Given that nearly every bite of food that we eat has a pollinator, the seriousness of this emerging problem could dwarf all previous food disruptions.

About the writer:

John McDonald is a beekeeper in Pennsylvania. He welcomes comments or questions about the bee problem at mactheknife70@hotmail.com.

Author’s Postscript:

The e-mail responses to my original article whether genetically modified crops be killing honeybees that had been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, was universally positive from laypeople and beekeepers. Most researchers, however, rejected the idea out of hand.

I concluded the article with the suggestion that matching colonies should be sited in farm and non-farm regions in order to determine whether, indeed, agricultural practices were the basis for the die-off. (The new die-off has been virtually instantaneous throughout the country, not spreading at the slower pace of conventional classic diseases.)

When it appeared that others weren’t interested in this experiment, I undertook to do my own investigation at my own expense. Because my own bees had died the previous winter, it was necessary to establish new colonies. I established eight colonies in new wooden hives in order to prevent disease transfer from the old hives in case there was a pathogen remaining.

The new colonies arrived late in May because of cold weather at the nursery where they are grown and required the feeding of sugar syrup continually until the hives were in their experimental locations on July 6. Two locations were chosen to fill the need for farm and non-farm sites: one here in Centre County, Pa., in a valley with rolling farmland; the other in Forest County, Pa., adjoining the Allegheny National Forest, an area with no agriculture within foraging range of honeybees. I chose the date of placement to avoid any possible exposure of the bees to Centre County corn pollen. Corn flower tasseling started on July 19.

At both sites the flowers of goldenrod provided ample pasturage, with the honey flow commencing in the middle of August and tapering off by the second week in October. Medium-depth empty honey storage supers (a super is the part of the beehive used to collect honey) were put on the hives at this time in addition to the three brood chambers already there. By the simple expedient of lifting the hives from behind, progress could be roughly monitored.

This monitoring showed that the hives of the farmland bees, while numerous, were not gaining weight. Meanwhile, the non-farm colonies steadily gained weight. This part of the experiment was terminated Oct. 14 with the removal of the honey storage supers, with these results: The farmland bees had not even started to work in the honey supers and will require extensive feeding before winter sets in. The non-farm bee colonies produced, in total, nearly 200 pounds of extra honey in addition to about 150 pounds per hive stored in the over-wintering brood supers. These colonies will be left in place to see whether the die-off of last season is repeated. These results should encourage new research to determine what factor or factors are present in farm country to cause such a discrepancy in honey production.

Editor’s note:

John McDonald’s well researched article is an attempt to show that there is enough evidence to warrant investigating the role that genetically modified crops might have played in the large bee die-off observed the previous fall and winter. He also suggests that the role of genetically modified crops be investigated as a possible cause of the collapse.

source: www.agoracosmopolitan.com

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18206234
http://persianoad.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/nvironmental-destruction-and-biotechnology-could-genetically-modified-crops-be-killing-bees/

Three Must-Have Superfoods

2009-01-17T14:00:00.001-05:00

by: Matt Monarch

(NaturalNews) Much research has been done lately on superfoods. There is a lot of buzz about certain foods, and the truth is that it's very hard to decipher the truth behind the buzz; what foods are actually super? Well, the fact is that there are certain foods out there which have very powerful qualities. Some of them are things which you can find in just about any kitchen, like garlic and lemon. Others are things you'd have to order on the internet from a reputable source. The thing that each individual needs to do is to decide whether your body needs a particular superfood. Obviously different foods have different qualities. Here are three superfoods which may really deserve the title.

Chia seeds definitely seem to be what you'd have to deem a 'superfood'. They were once a staple of the Aztecs and were known, and are known, for their ability to increase endurance. For those that exercise a lot, chia is something worth trying out in the future. They have all the essential amino acids (protein), except for taurine, and are also a great source of omega-3 oils, which is not found in so many foods. It's important to get a good balance of omega-3 to omega-6 oils in your diet, and adding these seeds to salads and smoothies is a good way to provide that balance. They also have more antioxidants than blueberries!

Pure, raw chocolate is something which most people are content to read about. We've all heard before that dark chocolate had high levels of antioxidants, which it does. But this is due to the high quantity of pure cacao in it. Cacao beans, when eaten raw, are extra good for the body. It is said that cacao, like chia seeds, has higher levels of antioxidants than blueberries. It also has lots of minerals, like zinc, chromium and magnesium, and plenty of vitamins and beta-carotene too. It also has quite a kick and wakes you up in the same way tea does, but gives a steadier stream of energy. Plus, you can buy it raw in many different forms, like cacao nibs, cacao butter, cacao paste and in powder form, so you can make all kinds of raw deserts.

The last thing on today's list is...Goji berries. As we all know, berries in general are super good for our health, and are very easily added to a smoothie to make it extra healthy. Goji berries, also known as wolfberries, are extra good though; they have 18 kinds of amino acids (the building blocks of protein); a high quantity of calcium, selenium, zinc, vitamin B2 and C, beta-carotene and potassium; and they are also thought to boost your immune system and help you lose weight. So, they seem to do just about everything.

Including all of the above foods in your diet may go a long way to increase your health and stamina, but make sure to try each individually first, so you can figure out which food is giving you the benefits.

http://www.NaturalNews.com/025313.html

Cities May Sprout Vertical Farms

2009-01-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

Proposed high-rise greenhouses could help solve a looming food crisis, professor says.

Farming would seem to be a horizontal occupation. Iowa corn or Kansas wheat pokes up from flat fields that stretch to the horizon.

That’s why the idea of “vertical farms” seems ripe for humor. When its biggest advocate appeared on the faux news show “The Colbert Report” earlier this year, comedian Stephen Colbert prefaced the interview by guessing it would have something to do with corn that grows sideways or perhaps “Chia blimps” that float overhead.

Such teasing hasn’t deterred Dickson Despommier, the Col umbia University professor of public health. He sees putting crops into skyscrapers as a better way to feed a hungry world. Professor Despommier’s website, verticalfarm.com, features architectural concepts of high-rise buildings that could grow fresh produce in urban areas while at the same time being much more environmentally sustainable than conventional agriculture. [Editor’s note: The original story misspelled Dr. Despommier’s first name.]

The trouble is, he concedes, none of the beautiful drawings would work exactly as shown. “They all look pretty,” he says. “[A]t least it means they’re thinking in the right direction.”

What’s needed before millions of dollars are spent to construct or renovate an existing 30-story building into a vertical farm, Despommier says, are prototypes just a few stories high. They should be built at leading agricultural universities and tinkered with until the concept is proved. “Once it does, drive it out of the showroom and take it home,” he says.

While Despommier has won admirers around the world for his innovative thinking, skeptics still wonder how he’s going to handle the problem of solar energy – bringing necessary light to the interior and lower floors of his agri-towers. “As soon as you go vertical, you compound that problem of getting that [solar] energy to the plant,” says Gene Giacomelli, director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Dr. Giacomelli likes the audacity of vertical farms, but says a lot of problems must be solved first. Despommier, he says, “is a forward thinker. He’s challen ging all of us to try to make it happen.”

The challenges also include finding and training indoor “farmers” who can operate what is likely to be a complex system. “There’s nobody at the moment,” Giacomelli says. The technical problems aren’t insurmountable – crops are being grown indoors at the South Pole, albeit at great expense, he says. But, he adds, “There are many more ways to fail [at indoor agriculture] than to grow a crop correctly and succeed.”

The world is going to need vertical farms because conventional agriculture can’t handle what’s to come, Despommier says. By mid century, the world is expected to add another 3 billion people, pushing its population close to 10 billion. Feeding all those extra mouths will require finding an area of agricultural land larger than Brazil – without cutting rain forests needed to stabilize the world’s climate.

Heading skyward, under the controlled conditions of an indoor greenhouse, has many advantages, Despommier says. “You can control nothing outdoors, and you can control everything indoors,” he says. That means no floods, wildfires, hailstorms, tornadoes, or droughts. Plant diseases and pests are more easily controlled, too, meaning less need for herbicides and pesticides.

And indoor agriculture is more efficient. One indoor acre of strawberries can produce as much as 30 outdoor acres can. In general, indoor acreage is four to six times more productive, in part because of the year-round growing season. “Outdoors, you might get one crop [per year]; indoors, you might get four or five crops per year,” Despommier says.

By bringing high-rise agriculture to urban areas, transportation costs are eliminated, and the produce is fresher.

The problem of bringing light to the plants could be solved through artificial lighting, powered by solar, wind, or other methods, Despommier says. All cities have a huge source of unused energy: human sewage. It could be burned to create a significant energy source.

“It’s not a perpetual [motion] machine because you’ll have to supplement from the outside,” he says. But the energy requirements would still be lower than those of conventional farming, with its use of heavy machinery, fertilizers, and long-haul transportation.

Critics remain far from convinced. “The notion of filling a building [with plants] and artificially supplying the light for the plants … from any kind of energy system is one of the weirdest ideas I’ve ever heard of,” says Richard Register, author of “EcoCities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature.” “It’s not serious agriculture. It’s just not…. It’s an intellectual plaything.”

A better answer is to develop, over time, more compact, energy-efficient cities along the European model, he says. That would free up land near urban areas for conventional agriculture with “100-percent-free solar energy” falling on it. Urban community gardens and high-intensity conventional commercial gardens could also supply part of the need.

Despommier’s students, in fact, first looked at using rooftop gardens to feed Manhattan. They found that farming on flat rooftops could supply only about 2 percent of the island’s food needs. That’s when Despommier hit upon using some of the city’s abandoned buildings to create vertical greenhouses.

He received further inspiration from a children’s book his wife gave him. “Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House,” by Judi Barrett, tells the story of an apartment building supervisor who fills his building with vegetable plants and farm animals as tenants. While Despommier doesn’t see cows or pigs moving into vertical farms anytime soon, he thinks aquaculture could be part of the mix.

“You can start with mollusks – mussels and clams,” he says. Shrimp, striped bass, catfish, and flounder are other possibilities – or chickens, ducks, and geese. “This will have to be done in a way that’s agreeable to consumers, so consumers will set the standard,” he says.

The first working vertical farms are likely to be built outside the United States, Despommier says, where the need is greatest. He’s received interest from Shanghai, China, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and is currently on a trip to India to address the Indian Institute for Architecture in Bangalore.

Next spring, a class at the Massa chu setts Institute of Technology will look into the idea. Some 15 to 20 seniors majoring in civil and environmental engineering will form teams and create design projects to see just how vertical farming might be accomplished.

“The potential for doing something is great, but frankly I don’t know yet what’s going to happen,” says Herbert Einstein, the engineering professor who will conduct the class at MIT. “If there’s something viable, hopefully we’ll know more by the end of the spring term.”

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/12/24/cities-may-sprout-vertical-farms

Ashtanga Yoga

2009-01-17T10:20:00.004-05:00

Ashtanga Yoga is an ancient system of Yoga that was taught by Vamana Rishi in the Yoga Korunta. This text was imparted to Sri T. Krishnamacharya in the early 1900's by his Guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari, and was later passed down to Pattabhi Jois during the duration of his studies with Krishnamacharya, beginning in 1927.

The following are aspects that Pattabhi Jois emphasizes as the main components of Ashtanga Yoga.

Vinyasa: Vinyasa means breathing and movement system. For each movement, there is one breath. For example, in Surya Namskar there are nine vinyasas. The first vinyasa is inhaling while raising your arms over your head, and putting your hands together; the second is exhaling while bending forward, placing your hands next to your feet, etc. In this way all asanas are assigned a certain number of vinyasas.

The purpose of vinyasa is for internal cleansing. Breathing and moving together while performing asanas makes the blood hot, or as Pattabhi Jois says, boils the blood. Thick blood is dirty and causes disease in the body. The heat created from yoga cleans the blood and makes it thin, so that it may circulate freely. The combination of the asanas with movement and breath make the blood circulate freely around all the joints, taking away body pains. When there is a lack of circulation, pain occurs. The heated blood also moves through all the internal organs removing impurities and disease, which are brought out of the body by the sweat that occurs during practice.

Sweat is an important by product of vinyasa, because it is only through sweat that disease leaves the body and purification occurs. In the same way that gold is melted in a pot to remove its impurities, by the virtue of the dirt rising to the surface as the gold boils, and the dirt then being removed, yoga boils the blood and brings all our toxins to the surface, which are removed through sweat. If the method of vinyasa is followed, the body becomes healthy and strong, and pure like gold.

After the body is purified, it is possible to purify the nervous system, and then the sense organs. These first steps are very difficult and require many years of practice. The sense organs are always looking outside, and the body is always giving into laziness. However, through determination and diligent practice, these can be controlled. After this is accomplished, mind control comes automatically. Vinyasa creates the foundation for this to occur.

Tristhana: This means the three places of attention or action: posture, breathing system and looking place. These three are very important for yoga practice, and cover three levels of purification: the body, nervous system and mind. They are always performed in conjunction with each other.

Asanas purify, strengthen and give flexibility to the body.Breathing is rechaka and puraka, that means inhale and exhale. Both the inhale and exhale should be steady and even, the length of the inhale should be the same length as the exhale. Breathing in this manner purifies the nervous system. Dristhi is the place where you look while in the asana. There are nine dristhis: the nose, between the eyebrows, navel, thumb, hands, feet, up, right side and left side. Dristhi purifies and stabilizes the functioning of the mind.

For cleaning the body internally two factors are necessary, air and fire. The place of fire in our bodies is four inches below the navel. This is the standing place of our life force. In order for fire to burn, air is necessary, hence the necessity of the breath. If you stoke a fire with a blower, evenness is required so that the flame is not smothered out, or blown out of control.

The same method stands for the breath. Long even breaths will strengthen our internal fire, increasing heat in the body which in turn heats the blood for physical purification, and burns away impurities in the nervous system as well. Long even breathing increases the internal fire and strengthens the nervous system in a controlled manner and at an even pace. When this fire is strengthened, our digestion, health and life span all increase. Uneven inhalation and exhalation, or breathing too rapidly, will imbalance the beating of the heart, throwing off both the physical body and autonomic nervous system.

An important component of the breathing system is mula and uddiyana bandha. These are the anal and lower abdominal locks which seal in energy, give lightness, strength and health to the body, and help to build a strong internal fire. Without bandhas, breathing will not be correct, and the asanas will give no benefit. When mula bandha is perfect, mind control is automatic.

The six poisons: A vital aspect of internal purification that Pattabhi Jois teaches relates to the six poisons that surround the spiritual heart. In the yoga shastra it is said that God dwells in our heart in the form of light, but this light is covered by six poisons; kama, krodha, moha, lobha, matsarya, and mada. These are desire, anger, delusion, greed, envy and sloth. When yoga practice is sustained with great diligence and dedication over a long period of time, the heat generated from it burns away these poisons, and the light of our inner nature shines forth.

This forms the practical and philosophic basis of Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

http://www.kpjayi.org/method.htm

How You Can Start a Farm in Heart of the City

2009-01-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

By Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, Process Media. Posted January 9, 2009.

Sick of flavorless, genetically modified, pesticide-drenched frankenvegetables? It's time to start growing food in your back yard.

Imagine sitting down to a salad of peppery arugula and heirloom tomatoes that you grew yourself. Or a Sunday omelet of eggs laid that morning, served with a thick slice of fresh sourdough, butter and apricot jam -- all homemade, of course. Or imagine toasting your friends with a mead made from local honey. Where would you have to move to live like this? A commune in Vermont? A villa in Italy?

My husband Erik and I have done all of this in our little bungalow in Los Angeles, two blocks off of Sunset Boulevard. We grow food and preserve it, recycle water, forage the neighborhood, and build community. We're urban homesteaders.

Though we have fantasies about one day moving to the country, the city holds things that are more important to us than any parcel of open land. We have friends and family here, great neighbors, and all the cultural amenities and stimulation of a city. It made more sense for us to become self-reliant in our urban environment. There was no need for us to wait to become farmers. We grow plenty of food in our backyard in Echo Park and even raise chickens. Once you taste lettuce that actually has a distinct flavor, or eat a sweet tomato still warm from the sun, or an orange-yolked egg from your own hen, you will never be satisfied with the pre-packaged and the factory-farmed again. Our next step down the homesteading path was learning to use the old home arts to preserve what we grew: pickling, fermenting, drying and brewing. A jar of jam that you make of wild blackberries holds memories of the summer, and not the air of the Smucker's factory.

When you grow some of your own food, you start to care more about all of your food. "Just where did this come from?" we'd find ourselves asking when we went shopping. What's in it? At the same time, we began to learn about cultured and fermented foods, which have beneficial bacteria in them. Few of these wonder-foods are available in stores. The supermarket started to look like a wasteland.

A little history

The idea of urban farming is nothing new. Back in the days before freeways and refrigerated trucks, cities depended on urban farmers for the majority of their fresh food. This included small farms around the city, as well as kitchen gardens. Even today, there are places that hold to this tradition. The citizens of Shanghai produce 85% of their vegetables within the city, and that's just one example of a long Asian tradition of intense urban gardening. Or consider Cuba. Cubans practiced centralized, industrial agriculture, just as we do, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Overnight, Cubans were forced to shift from a large, petroleum-based system to small-scale farming, much of it in cities. Today, urban organic gardens produce half of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed by Cubans.

The United States once was a nation of independent farmers. Today most of us do not know one end of a hoe from the other. In the last half of the 20th century, a cultural shift unique in human history came to pass. We convinced ourselves that we didn't need to have anything to do with our own food. Food, the very stuff of life, became just another commodity, an anonymous transaction. In making this transition, we sacrificed quality for convenience, and then we learned to forget the value of what we gave up.

Large agribusiness concerns offer us flavorless, genetically modified, irradiated, pesticide-drenched frankenvegetables. They are grown in such poor soil -- the result of short-sighted profit-based agricultural practices -- that they actually contain fewer nutrients than food grown in healthy soil. Our packaged foods are nutritionally bankrupt, and our livestock is raised in squalid conditions. The fact is that we live in an appalling time when it comes to food. True, we have a great abundance of inexpensive food in supermarkets, but the disturbing truth is that in terms of flavor, quality and nutrition, our greatgrandparents ate better than we do.

There is a hidden cost behind our increasingly costly supermarket food. The French have a term, malbouffe, referring to junk food, but with broader, more sinister implications. Radical farmer José Bové, who was imprisoned for dismantling a McDonald's restaurant, explains the concept of malbouffe:

I initially used the word 'shit-food', but quickly changed it to malbouffe to avoid giving offense. The word just clicked -- perhaps because when you're dealing with food, quite apart from any health concerns, you're also dealing with taste and what we feed ourselves with. Malbouffe implies eating any old thing, prepared in any old way. For me, the term means both the standardization of food like McDonald's -- the same taste from one end of the world to the other -- and the choice of food associated with the use of hormones and Genetically Modified Organisms as well as the residues of pesticides and other things that can endanger health. -- The World is Not for Sale by José Bové and Franois Dufour

So what are the strategies urban homesteaders can follow to avoid malbouffe? Farmers' markets, co-ops and natural food stores serve as good supplements to the urban homestead, but we've found that growing our own food, even just a little of it, rather than buying it, not only results in better quality food, it has changed our fundamental relationship to food and to the act of eating itself. Now, now not only do we know our crops are free of pesticides and GMOs but we discovered an entirely new world of taste and flavor that big agribusiness had stolen away from us. Growing your own food is an act of resistance. We can all join with José Bové in dismantling the corporations that feed us shit.

We've also shifted from being consumers to being producers. Sure we still buy stuff. Olive oil. Parmigiano reggiano. Wine. Flour. Chocolate. And we're no strangers to consumer culture, not above experiencing a little shiver of desire when walking into an Apple computer store. But still, we do not accept that spending is our only form of power. There is more power in creating than in spending. We are producers, neighbors, and friends. Think you don't have enough land to grow your food?

Change the way you see land.

Before you start thinking that you have to move somewhere else to grow your own food, take another look around. With a couple of notable exceptions, American cities sprawl. They are full of wasted space. As a homesteader, you will begin to see any open space as a place to grow food. This includes front yards as well as backyards, vacant lots, parkways, alleyways, patios, balconies, window boxes, fire escapes and rooftops. Once you break out of the mental box that makes you imagine a vegetable garden as a fenced-off parcel of land with a scarecrow in it, you'll start to see the possibilities. Think jungle, not prairie. The truth is that you can grow a hell of a lot of food on a small amount of real estate. You can grow food whether you're in an apartment or a house, whether you rent or own.

Do you have 4' ? 8' feet of open ground? If you don't have a yard, do you have room on a patio or balcony for two or three plastic storage tubs? If you don't have that, then you could get a space in a community garden, a relative or neighbor's house, or become a pirate gardener, or an expert forager -- some of the tastiest greens and berries are wild and free for the taking.

Think you don't have time? Think again.

We homestead at our own pace, to suit ourselves. Some things, like bread baking, have become part of our regular routine. Other kitchen experiments, like making pickles, come and go as time allows. More ambitious projects, like installing a greywater system, take time up front, but save time once implemented. It's unlikely that we spend any more time on our food-producing yard than we would on a traditional lawn-and-roses-type yard. You can set up your urban (or suburban) farm so that it takes minimal time to keep it going -- we talk about ways to do that in this book.

Sometimes, when life gets too crazy, we don't do anything beyond the barest maintenance, and eat a lot of pizza. Nothing wrong with that.

Besides saving time, with the exception of a few ambitious projects, like converting to solar, everything we talk about in this book is also cost-effective. Homesteading is all about reusing, recycling, foraging and building things yourself. Seeds are cheap, composting is free. Nature is standing by, waiting to help. And as oil prices continue to rise along with the cost of food, learning to grow your own may be one of the wisest investments you can make.

The paradigm shift

Urban homesteading is an affirmation of the simple pleasures of life. When you spend a Saturday morning making a loaf of bread, or go out on a summer evening after work to sit with your chickens, or take a deep breath of fresh-cut basil, you unplug yourself from the madness. Many of us spend a lot of each day in front of a computer. Homesteading hooks us into the natural world and the passing of the seasons, and reminds us of our place within the greater cycle of life.

Our style of homesteading is about desire. We bake our own bread because it is better than what we can buy. We raise our own hens because we like chickens, and we think their eggs are worth the trouble. Erik bicycles everywhere because that's a thrill for him. There's mead brewing in our guest bedroom because you can't buy mead at the corner liquor store -- and because fermentation is the closest thing to magic that we know.

Maybe you aren't so into gardening, but would like to brew your own beer. Maybe you'd like to tinker with a greywater system for your house. Maybe you want to make your own non-toxic cleaning products. Try it! Start by doing just one project, one experiment, and you may well unleash the homesteader within.

The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen

http://www.alternet.org/story/118483/?page=2

*I have added italics.

Hair of Tasmanian tiger yields genes of extinct species

2009-01-13T11:36:00.003-05:00

All the genes that the exotic Tasmanian Tiger inherited only from its mother will be revealed by an international team of scientists in a research paper to be published on 13 January 2009 in the online edition of Genome Research. The research marks the first successful sequencing of genes from this carnivorous marsupial, which looked like a large tiger-striped dog and became extinct in 1936. The research also opens the door to the widespread, nondestructive use of museum specimens to learn why mammals become extinct and how extinctions might be prevented.

"Our goal is to learn how to prevent endangered species from going extinct," said Webb Miller, a Penn State professor of biology and of computer science and engineering and a member of the research team that includes scientists from the United States, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Germany. "I want to learn as much as I can about why large mammals become extinct because all my friends are large mammals," Miller said. "However, I am expecting that publication of this paper also will reinvigorate discussions about possibly bringing the extinct Tasmanian Tiger back to life."

The team's research relies on new gene-sequencing technology and computational methods developed by Miller and Stephan C. Schuster, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. The new methods involve extracting DNA from the hair of extinct specimens, not from bone, which has been used in previous studies of extinct species. The team's work reveals that hair is a powerful time capsule for preserving DNA over long periods and under a wide range of conditions. "I think of hair as a shrine for ancient DNA," Schuster said. "It is sealed so well that not even air or water are able to penetrate the DNA stored inside. Most importantly, bacteria cannot reach the DNA as long as the structure of the hair remains sound."

"Tasmanian Tiger" is a common name of the extinct thylacine species (Thylacinus cynocephalus), which is more closely related to kangaroos and koalas than to dogs or tigers. The last known specimen died in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936. Thylacines have played a central role in discussions about the possibility of bringing extinct species back to life, but despite the availability of many bones and other remains, previous attempts to read thylacine DNA had been unsuccessful.

Miller, Schuster, and their colleagues were the first to report the genome-wide sequence of an extinct animal, the woolly mammoth, in November 2008. They next collaborated with Anders Goetherstroem, at Uppsala University in Sweden, to target the Tasmanian Tiger because, like the mammoth, it was a coveted goal of ancient-DNA researchers, who considered its sequencing unfeasable due to the inadequate quality of the DNA available from specimens. "The speculation was that the only reason we were able to extract DNA from mammoth hair is that the mammoths had remained frozen in the Arctic permafrost, but our success with the Tasmanian Tiger shows that hair can protect DNA for long periods under a variety of environmental conditions," Schuster said.

In their new paper in Genome Research, Miller, Schuster, and their colleagues describe the completion of the mitochondrial genome sequences of two Tasmanian Tigers, one at the Smithsonian Museum and the other at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. One specimen was prepared by a taxidermist as a skin and the other one was submerged in ethanol. The team extracted DNA from small amounts of the hair of both specimens, then used their methods to sequence independent copies of each region of the DNA molecule from many different fragments of DNA in the hairs. The scientists assured the high fidelity of their results by independently determining each position in the sequences an average of 50 times.

The scientists sequenced all the DNA in the hair samples from the two Tasmanian Tigers, including mitochondrial DNA, which is the focus of the Genome Research paper, and nuclear DNA, which the team plans to analyze in future work. "This study, in which we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of the thylacine species, also shows that it is feasible to sequence its complete nuclear genome," Schuster said.

The new gene sequences permitted the team to accurately determine how the Tasmanian Tiger is related to other marsupials. They compared the sequences to a mitochondrial genome sequence they determined from a living reference species, a marsupial called a numbat. "The two thylacine sequences were extremely similar to each other, with only 5 differences in 15,492 nucleotides," Miller reports. The researchers say this similarity suggests that, as the species neared extinction, there was too little genetic diversity to resist bacterial and other environmental stresses. "Low genetic diversity is appearing as a common theme in the extinct species being studied by our team," Schuster said.

The research also revealed that two previous sequences in public databases, both labeled as Tasmanian Tiger mitochondrial genes, were incorrect. "Our Smithsonian specimen was the male offspring of the female animal named as the source of the earlier data, so the mitochondrial sequences, which are inherited only from the mother, should have been identical, but our analyses showed they are over 10 percent different," Schuster said.

The new study shows that the methods pioneered at Penn State are potentially useful for a new discipline involving the genome analysis of samples originating from museum archives, which Schuster calls "Museomics." "The collections dating back several hundred years and now housed in the world's museums of natural history are the treasure troves of science," Schuster said. "We hope to add DNA-sequence data to the taxonomic data provided by many of the important specimens that define the species we know today."

The team's experience in this study indicates that museum directors can be enthusiastic collaborators with genome scientists because the analysis of a specimen's hair does not damage the appearance of the museum's collections. "Whatever hairs fall off a specimen provide enough material for sequencing the animal's DNA," Schuster said. In contrast, sampling bone involves drilling holes in the museum's collection, which curators are understandably reluctant to permit. "The advantages of obtaining DNA from hair makes Museomics possible on a wide scale," Schuster said.

Miller and Schuster said their future research plans include studies of the world's only remaining large marsupial carnivore, the Tasmanian Devil. "Our preliminary genetic research with the Tasmanian Devil indicates that its genome may have alarmingly less genetic diversity than did the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian Tiger when they became extinct, so we now have directed a portion of our research program to studying the Tasmanian Devil in the hope of preventing this magnificent mammalian species from becoming extinct."

From: Barbara K. Kennedy, Penn State

http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/39066

Real Estate Investors benefit from Green Building Momentum

2009-01-12T10:00:00.001-05:00

by JEFF SIEGEL

Every year around this time, I get the itch to move far away from the cold, gray streets of Baltimore. It's not that I dislike Charm City, but when the mercury falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the lure of warmer climates becomes overwhelming. So to ease the pain of last week's cold snap, I decided to browse the real estate listings in California. What I found blew me away.

I ran a search for a few select zip codes in and around the Los Angeles area. About 90 percent of the listings were foreclosures! Here in Baltimore, where folks still believe their $80,000 rowhomes built in the 1920s are worth $250,000, it's easy to forget what's going on in the real world. Though look back at the charts of what were at one time some very profitable REITs, and it'll quickly come rushing back to you.

The fact is, 2008 was an absolute blood bath for real estate investors. Though the green building sector did manage to gain ground last year.

According to McGraw Hill Construction, green building has actually grown in spite of the market meltdown. In its 2009 Green Building Outlook, the company noted that the value of green construction increased from $10 billion in 2005 to almost $50 billion in 2008. The study also suggested that by 2013, green construction could be valued at nearly $150 billion.
Of course, even with that bit of positive news, there are still those who argue that green buildings carry a heftier price tag. And in most cases, they're right.

In 2003, California's Sustainable Building Task Force reported on the costs associated with its green buildings. That report found the cost premium averaged less than 1 percent for basic LEED certification, 2.1 percent for Silver certification, 1.8 percent for Gold, and 6.5 percent for Platinum. And in a separate 2008 report, which included contributors from Boston College, The Brookings Institution, and PNC Financial Services group, researchers found that green buildings cost less than 4 percent more than conventional buildings, with the highest premium concentrations being no more than 1 percent.

Still, when you realize the cost advantages over the life of the building, it's really a no-brainer. The green California EPA Headquarters Building is a perfect example.

With systems calibration, monitoring, and maintenance for energy performance, the building delivers annual savings of nearly $200,000. After-hours heating and lighting controls as well as the building's exterior lighting systems add another $110,000 of yearly savings.

Just these few efficiency upgrades resulted in savings of more than a quarter of a million dollars per year for that building. And those don't even include the annual savings from grounds management, water-efficient landscaping, elimination of garbage can liners, collection of recyclables, occupant recycling, reduced landfill disposal costs, and entryway cleaning to prevent particle and dirt buildup. Overall, $500,000 was invested in efficiency upgrades, operations, and employee practices, which generated a total of $610,000 in annual savings. That initial investment was recovered in less than a year. And according to the building's USGBC project profile, using an 8 percent capitalization rate, the annual cost savings have increased the asset value of the building by nearly $12 million.

While there isn't enough room in these pages to quote every green building study ever conducted, there is certainly little doubt that the economic benefits of green building are very real. And as we move forward, digging ourselves out of one of the worst economic meltdowns in recorded history, investors would be wise to follow this trend – as it really does represent what will one day be the status quo of building and construction.

This is not some random, green niche. This is the future.

http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/real-estate-investors-benefit-from-green.php

No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’

2009-01-11T22:07:00.003-05:00

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

DARMSTADT, Germany — From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.

In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.

“You don’t think about temperature — the house just adjusts,” said Mr. Kaufmann, watching his 2-year-old daughter, dressed in a T-shirt, tuck into her sausage in the spacious living room, whose glass doors open to a patio. His new home uses about one-twentieth the heating energy of his parents’ home of roughly the same size, he said.

Architects in many countries, in attempts to meet new energy efficiency standards like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard in the United States, are designing homes with better insulation and high-efficiency appliances, as well as tapping into alternative sources of power, like solar panels and wind turbines.

The concept of the passive house, pioneered in this city of 140,000 outside Frankfurt, approaches the challenge from a different angle. Using ultrathick insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants’ bodies.

And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more to build than conventional houses.

Decades ago, attempts at creating sealed solar-heated homes failed, because of stagnant air and mold. But new passive houses use an ingenious central ventilation system. The warm air going out passes side by side with clean, cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent efficiency.
“The myth before was that to be warm you had to have heating. Our goal is to create a warm house without energy demand,” said Wolfgang Hasper, an engineer at the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt. “This is not about wearing thick pullovers, turning the thermostat down and putting up with drafts. It’s about being comfortable with less energy input, and we do this by recycling heating.”

There are now an estimated 15,000 passive houses around the world, the vast majority built in the past few years in German-speaking countries or Scandinavia.

The first passive home was built here in 1991 by Wolfgang Feist, a local physicist, but diffusion of the idea was slowed by language. The courses and literature were mostly in German, and even now the components are mass-produced only in this part of the world.

The industry is thriving in Germany, however — for example, schools in Frankfurt are built with the technique.

Moreover, its popularity is spreading. The European Commission is promoting passive-house building, and the European Parliament has proposed that new buildings meet passive-house standards by 2011.

The United States Army, long a presence in this part of Germany, is considering passive-house barracks.

“Awareness is skyrocketing; it’s hard for us to keep up with requests,” Mr. Hasper said.

Nabih Tahan, a California architect who worked in Austria for 11 years, is completing one of the first passive houses in the United States for his family in Berkeley. He heads a group of 70 Bay Area architects and engineers working to encourage wider acceptance of the standards. “This is a recipe for energy that makes sense to people,” Mr. Tahan said. “Why not reuse this heat you get for free?”

Ironically, however, when California inspectors were examining the Berkeley home to determine whether it met “green” building codes (it did), he could not get credit for the heat exchanger, a device that is still uncommon in the United States. “When you think about passive-house standards, you start looking at buildings in a different way,” he said.

Buildings that are certified hermetically sealed may sound suffocating. (To meet the standard, a building must pass a “blow test” showing that it loses minimal air under pressure.) In fact, passive houses have plenty of windows — though far more face south than north — and all can be opened.

Inside, a passive home does have a slightly different gestalt from conventional houses, just as an electric car drives differently from its gas-using cousin. There is a kind of spaceship-like uniformity of air and temperature. The air from outside all goes through HEPA filters before entering the rooms. The cement floor of the basement isn’t cold. The walls and the air are basically the same temperature.

Look closer and there are technical differences: When the windows are swung open, you see their layers of glass and gas, as well as the elaborate seals around the edges. A small, grated duct near the ceiling in the living room brings in clean air. In the basement there is no furnace, but instead what looks like a giant Styrofoam cooler, containing the heat exchanger.

Passive houses need no human tinkering, but most architects put in a switch with three settings, which can be turned down for vacations, or up to circulate air for a party (though you can also just open the windows). “We’ve found it’s very important to people that they feel they can influence the system,” Mr. Hasper said.

The houses may be too radical for those who treasure an experience like drinking hot chocolate in a cold kitchen. But not for others. “I grew up in a great old house that was always 10 degrees too cold, so I knew I wanted to make something different,” said Georg W. Zielke, who built his first passive house here, for his family, in 2003 and now designs no other kinds of buildings.

In Germany the added construction costs of passive houses are modest and, because of their growing popularity and an ever larger array of attractive off-the-shelf components, are shrinking.

But the sophisticated windows and heat-exchange ventilation systems needed to make passive houses work properly are not readily available in the United States. So the construction of passive houses in the United States, at least initially, is likely to entail a higher price differential.

Moreover, the kinds of home construction popular in the United States are more difficult to adapt to the standard: residential buildings tend not to have built-in ventilation systems of any kind, and sliding windows are hard to seal.

Dr. Feist’s original passive house — a boxy white building with four apartments — looks like the science project that it was intended to be. But new passive houses come in many shapes and styles. The Passivhaus Institut, which he founded a decade ago, continues to conduct research, teaches architects, and tests homes to make sure they meet standards. It now has affiliates in Britain and the United States.

Still, there are challenges to broader adoption even in Europe.

Because a successful passive house requires the interplay of the building, the sun and the climate, architects need to be careful about site selection. Passive-house heating might not work in a shady valley in Switzerland, or on an urban street with no south-facing wall. Researchers are looking into whether the concept will work in warmer climates — where a heat exchanger could be used in reverse, to keep cool air in and warm air out.

And those who want passive-house mansions may be disappointed. Compact shapes are simpler to seal, while sprawling homes are difficult to insulate and heat.

Most passive houses allow about 500 square feet per person, a comfortable though not expansive living space. Mr. Hasper said people who wanted thousands of square feet per person should look for another design.

“Anyone who feels they need that much space to live,” he said, “well, that’s a different discussion.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=world

California Scientists Create E.Coli-based Fuel That's Much More Efficient Than Ethanol

2009-01-11T22:04:00.002-05:00

U.S. scientists say they can turn E.coli, a strain of bacteria present in the human digestive tract, into a fuel that is twice or three times more efficient than ethanol. The scientists, attached to theUniversity of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) managed to create a strain for the first time that generates alcohol with five carbon atoms per molecule instead of the regular two or three. That´s important because the larger, longer chain molecules contain more energy, something of a "holy grail" for the fuel industry.

The scientists published the results of their studies in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). They speculated that in the near future they might be able to create alcohol molecules with eight carbon atoms.

E.coli, which is mostly found in dangerous quantities on polluted beaches, can be altered so that each cell can generate "long-chain alcohol". The bacteria that result from this process excrete a type of fuel that can be used in the airline industry. Gas and other petroleum products also stand to benefit from the excretion process.

This energy efficiency in turn is a significant factor in helping reducing global warming. "We wanted to create larger, longer-chain molecules because they contain more energy," the researchers comment in their study, adding that they proved that humans are not limited by what nature creates.The researchers point out that they believe E.coli is best suited to be used with organic materials in the same way that ethanol is extracted from an organic (food) product like corn. "This is significant in the production of gasoline and even jet fuel," the scientists assert. By comparison, ethanol has only two carbon atoms per molecule.

The E.coli´s genetic system is relatively well known. The authors of the study said they also liked it in particular because it grows quickly and can be engineered easily. But the scientists added that their method opens the door to many more possibilities because it can be used on many different organisms. That means that manufacturers of polymers for instance gain from the insights produced, as does the drug manufacturing industry.

http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/39036

Text Message Price Fixing - How Wireless Providers Rip You Off

2009-01-05T19:00:00.002-05:00

In response to growing concerns over the increased text messaging costs, US Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, sent a letter to the heads of each of the four major wireless providers requesting information about the 100% price increase per text. He asked for justification for these increases, such as proof of increased cost to the companies. He asserted that the increases seemed to be more the result of a "decrease in competition, and an increase in market power" rather than an actual increase in costs to the providers (1). Each of the companies responded with explanations of the pricing of their text messaging plans, but failed to address the reasoning for increased cost to customers.

The four major companies, TMobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have all instead chosen to side-step the issue and have made excuses for the price increases. They have identified the increasing numbers of text messages sent in recent years as reason for increasing per text charges. However, when the issue is explored a little deeper, we find that costs to the providers have not increased due to larger text volumes. In fact, text messages are a "free-rider" tucked into control channels, which is space reserved for operation of the wireless network (2).

Text messages are very small, and are limited to 160 characters to qualify them as free-riders. Despite costing the provider virtually nothing to transmit, customers are charged an incredible amount to send very little data. According to Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, "600 text messages contain as much data as a one minute phone conversation. At 20 cents a pop, 600 text messages would cost $120.00," (3). This is just one example of the gross overcharging of customers at the hands of the major wireless providers.

According to physorg.com, "texting is four times more expensive than receiving scientific data from space," (4). So it costs four times more to send and receive texts than it does to receive information from the Hubble Telescope! According to Techcrunch.com, AT&T's text messages cost $1,310 per megabyte. This means that texting for TMobile, Verizon, and Sprint also cost $1,310 per megabyte, as each of the four major companies charge twenty cents to send and receive texts (5). At this rate, downloading one 4MB song would cost over $5,000. I recently saw calculations someone had done on an AT&T forum (of all places) - if broadband internet cost as much to transmit data as texting, it would cost about $1.2 million per month. All of these calculations further prove what I have been claiming for years - that texting is a major rip-off!

KOHL CALLS ON CELL PHONE COMPANIES TO JUSTIFY RISING TEXTING RATES

What Carriers Aren’t Eager to Tell You About Texting

Do Text Messages Cost Too Much?

Text Rip-Off? Pricey Messages 'Cost Virtually Nothing' to Carriers

1. http://kohl.senate.gov/~kohl/press/08/09/2008909B29.html
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/business/28digi.html?_r=4&adxnnl=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1230562967-KaKhYQ8CqVqcN%20nGFnNASg
3. http://jetl.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/all-major-cell-phone-companies-double-the-price-of-text-messages/
4. http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html
5. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/01/atts-text-messages-cost-1310-per-megabyte/

The Eight Limbs of Raja Yoga

2009-01-05T12:01:00.002-05:00

Compiled by the Sage Patanjali Maharishi in the Yoga Sutras, the Eight Limbs are a progressive series of steps or disciplines which purify the body and mind, ultimately leading the yogi to enlightenment. These 8 limbs are:

1. Yamas - The Yamas or restraints (Don'ts) are divided into five moral injuctions, aimed at destroying the lower nature. They should all be practiced and developped by the letter but also more importantly in the spirit. They should all be practiced in word, thought and deed.
* Ahimsa or non-violence
* Satyam or truthfulness
* Brahmacharya or moderation in all things (control of all senses). Also refers to celibacy
* Asteya or non-stealing
* Aparigraha or non-covetousness

2. Niyamas - The Niyamas or observances (Do's) are also divided into five and complete the ethical precepts started with the Yama.. These qualities are:
* Saucha or purity - this internal and external cleanliness.

* Santosha or contentment
* Tapas or austerity
* Swadhyaya or study of the sacred texts
* Ishwara Pranidhana which is constantly living with an awareness of the divine Presence (surrender to God's Will)

3. Asanas - Postures

4. Pranayama - regulation or control of the breath. Asanas and Pranayama form the sub-division of Raja Yoga known as Hatha-Yoga

5. Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses in order to still the mind.

6. Dharana - concentration. The last 3 steps constitute the internal practice of Raja Yoga. When Dharana is achieved, it leads to the next step:

7. Dhyana - meditation is that state of pure thought and absorption in the object of meditation. There is still duality in Dhyana. When mastered Dhyana leads to the last step:

8. Samadhi - the superconscious state. In Samadhi non-duality or oneness is experienced. This is the deepest and highest state of consciousness where body and mind have been transcended and the Yogi is one with the Self or God.

http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/philosophy/eightlimbs.html

Schizandra - The Quintessential Full Spectrum Tonic Herb

2009-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

The very name of Schizandra in Chinese, Wu Wei Zi, tells us a great deal about the qualities of this herb. Wu Wei Zi means Fruit of Five Flavors." Due to the fact that Schizandra possesses all five of the classical "tastes" (sour, bitter, sweet, spicy and salty) and thus possesses the essence of all five of the elemental energies (wood, fire, earth, metal and water), Schizandra is respected as a health-providing tonic in the same class with Ginseng and Reishi Mushroom.

Schizandra has been used since the dawn of Chinese civilization as a tonic herb. From the beginning it has been revered, and remains one of the elite herbs of the Chinese system of herbalism.

It was first written about in Shen Nong's Pharmacopoeia (between first and second century A.D.) where it was listed as a Superior herb.

The Taoists especially revered Schizandra. This is because Schizandra tonifies all 3 treasures, enters all 12 meridians and nurtures all 5 elements. Master Park considered it to be the quintessential herbal substance.

Though Schizandra is believed to benefit all the functions of the body, it has traditionally been considered to have the most influence on the Kidney, Lung and Liver functions.

A Famous Beauty Herb

Schizandra is widely used to beautify the skin and to protect the skin from the damaging effects of the sun and wind. Due to the astringent quality of Schizandra, the skin tends to hold its moisture and becomes full and beautiful. It has always been veryPopular with the wealthy men and women of China, especially the women of the imperial court, because of its youth preserving and rejuvenating effects. It is said that those who use Schizandra consistently will remain youthful in both appearance and physiology.

I have seen the benefits of this herb with my own eyes hundreds of times in my life. People who start taking Schizandra regularly all change for the better. Their skin virtually glows and becomes clear and fine after several months.

An Excellent Mind Tonic With Double-Direction Regulation on The Central Nervous System

This herb is considered to be one of the premium mind tonics of herbalism. It is used to sharpen concentration, improve memory and increase alertness. Yet, unlike caffeine-like stimulants, Schizandra does not produce nervousness. In fact, some people consider Schizandra mildly "calming" while producing wakefulness and improved focus.

The ability of the dried fruit to increase mental and physical activity in humans was reported in numerous studies conducted in the 1950s. It has been demonstrated that human intellectual activity can be enhanced and work efficiency increased by consuming Schizandra. Various tests have shown that moderate therapeutic doses of Schizandra can improve various activities requiring con-Centration, fine coordination, sensitivity and endurance. The tests in humans confirming Schizandra's efficacy in these areas range from threading needles to running marathons.

Schizandra has been demonstrated in laboratory animals and in humans to have a stimulant action on the central nervous system.

The herb works directly on the nervous tissue.

Conversely and paradoxically, schizandra also promotes sound sleep when combined with yin herbs or sedative ("Shen stabilizing") herbs. Schizandra does not make people sleepy, but when it is time to sleep its action on the brain results in deeper, more satisfying sleep.

Many studies now indicate that Schizandra actually has a powerful balancing, or regulating, action on the central nervous system. It can result in accurate and optimal balancing between the excitatory and inhibitory control functions of the cerebral cortex.

Schizandra, The Perfect Liver Herb: Detoxifying, healing, regenerative and protective

Schizandra stands along with Reishi as the primary liver cleansing agents used in tonic programs. Schizandra does not have the side effects that are associated with many of the "medicinal," or "inferior" liver cleansing herbs. Schizandra, especially alcohol extracts, are widely believed to protect the liver from damage due to poisons, as well as the by-products of living.

Phase I and Phase II of detoxification

Schizandra has been shown to strengthen and protect the liver.

It does this by detoxifying and rejuvenating this critical organ.

There are two critical stages to the process of liver detoxification, known as Phase I and Phase II. In Phase I, a detoxifying agent goes into the liver and binds with toxins, releasing them from the liver and taking them into the bloodstream. Almost always, this newly bound toxic bundle is more toxic than the original toxin.

This increased toxicity is known as bioactivation. It is obvious that this process can be dangerous. It's similar to the removal of asbestos from an old house. It needs to be safely removed from the walls and from the building without exposing anyone to it again.

Re-exposure to old toxins in their new bioactivated form can make you sick – and much of this material will end up back in the liver again, or stored in other tissues.

During phase II of detoxification, the bioactivated toxins, which may be highly active, are safely cleared out of the body.

This, of course, is the part we all want to happen in quick and efficient order. If the phase II process is weak, faulty or absent, all we've done is re-poison ourselves.

Many substances can go into the liver and release old toxins into the bloodstream, but that is all they do, and as a result the person goes through an increased toxic period. The so-called cleansing crisis experienced by many people who go through various types of cleanses, is largely the result of bioactivated toxins wreaking havoc in the body. It is therefore very important that agents which boost phase I activity also have significant effects on enhancing the phase II clearance of the reactive intermediate.

Schizandra appears to be very effective in boosting both Phase I detoxification and Phase II clearance of activated toxins.

Tion, often tested by doctors to evaluate liver damage. In a clinical study conducted in China, more than 5000 people suffering from various types of hepatitis were given Schizandra and the results were very good. The aggregate effective rate was 84-97.9%. SGPT was normalized in about 75% of the cases.

A Powerful SEX Tonic

Schizandra is said to increase the Water Qi in the Kidney. In particular, it is said to vastly increase the "water of the genital organs," referring to the sexual fluids. Schizandra is said to promote the production of semen. It is famous for its ability to relieve sexual fatigue and for increasing the sexual staying-power in men.

It is thus an ingredient in the vast majority of men's sexual tonics in Asian herbalism.

Women benefit from the same capacity to increase Water Qi of the Kidney. Schizandra is said to increase circulation and sensitivity in the female genitals. Many women claim increased genital warmth and sensation after using Schizandra for a period of time. The Chinese sexual classics claim that continuous use by a woman will increase the amount of "female elixir," a euphemism for vaginal secretions, during intercourse. On the other hand, Schizandra is used clinically to help counteract excessive vaginal discharge.

For both men and women, Schizandra is considered to have "aphrodisiac" qualities, especially when combined with other Kidney tonifying herbs like Lycium, Cistanche, deer antler, Epimedium, etc. Furthermore, Schizandra is one of the most important astringent herbs used in Chinese herbalism. An astringent herb conserves fluids, and in the case of Schizandra, it tends to contain sexual fluids until the appropriate time of release. Thus, consuming Schizandra for a period of time, one tends to build up sexual fluids. Schizandra is used in sexual formulations to prevent premature ejaculation and to help promote incredible endurance.

Article submitted by Brandon Gilbert, Owner of Jing Masters, a tonic bar based out of Louisville, KY specializing in delicious elixiers using adaptogenic and tonic herbs of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Ayurveda, and South American systems, superfoods, and raw, organic chocolate. Visit the Jing Masters at: www.jingmasters.com

Schizandra is one of my favorite tonic herbs. I have experienced first hand its benefits and tonifying effects.

Schizandra, when taken on a regular basis, is most definately a beautifying herb. My skin has become more clear as a result of taking schizandra. My skin no longer has dry patches - it has become smooth and my complection even.

When I need a lift, but do not want to be overstimulated (as can happen easily if I consume caffiene), I take some schizandra tincture. It gives me focus and sustained energy without making me jittery or agitated.

As a yin jing tonic, Schizandra has an amazing feminine energy - which is why I recommend it to all women. Because of its ability to increase sexual fluids in females and retain moisture in the skin, I recommend that all women experiencing any stage of menopause take Schizandra daily. Men can benefit greatly from this herb too, as it increases semen production and sexual function.

Schizandra is the quintessential herb. It tonifies all 3 treasures (jing, chi, and shen), enters all 12 meridians and nurtures all 5 elements. Schizandra is known as the Five Flavor Fruit as it contains all 5 tastes - sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty.

To purchase an amazing Schizandra-Goji Berry tincture, visit: Jing Masters Shop

We Are Each Responsible for the Thoughts We Think. . .

2009-01-04T17:45:00.004-05:00

Abraham-Hicks on the Power of Thoughts

"When you are in alignment with who-you-really-are, you cannot help but uplift those with whom you come into contact. Your value to those around you hinges upon only one thing: your personal alignment with Source. And the only thing you have to give to another is an example of that alignment—which they may observe, then desire, and then work to achieve—but you cannot give it to them. Everyone is responsible for the thoughts they think and the things that they choose as their objects of attention."

"You don't have to worry about what their vibration is if your vibration is one of connection. Because if your vibration is one of connection -- you're going to dominate the vibration. This is the way you learn your relationships. The thing that most people do not understand, is that you get to control the way you feel, because you get to choose the thoughts you think. Most people think that they only have the option of responding to the circumstances that surround them. And that's what makes them attempt the impossible, which is to control the circumstances around them, which only feeds their feeling of frustration and vulnerability, because it doesn't take very much life experience to discover you can't control all of those circumstances. But you can control your vibration. And when you control your vibration, you've controlled everything that has anything to do with you."

"You are on the leading edge of thought, taking thought beyond that which it has been before. Who cares what thoughts have led up to this. You're standing in the fresh now, and many of the thoughts that you vehemently oppose are the very thoughts that have given you the desire that has attracted the clarity of where you now stand. No matter how awful you think they might be, all were of value in the evolution forward. Every one of them."

"What 'moving thought forward' is, is about being a nucleus that attracts different components of thought so that when they actualize around you -- it is different than it has ever been before! 'As I stand in my focused, human, leading-edge experience, and I choose this combination of thoughts and feelings, I am offering a signal that has never been offered before. And so, the Universe must uniquely yield to me, which causes me to offer a vibration that maybe someone somewhere else is matching. If they are, they will certainly come into my experience for the time that we are matching it.' That is the way you affect the world. Most think in terms of thought affecting the world: You think about transmitting outward: 'I'm going to affect the world from my outgoing signal.' That isn't the way it works. You affect the world by achieving the vibration that brings the signals to you. You create a nucleus that Universe has to respond around. That is how you are the creator."

All Is Well

http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

Solving Nutritional Challenges for Ethical Omnivores, Vegetarians, Vegans, and Raw Foodists

2009-01-04T14:00:00.000-05:00

by David Wolfe, JD

Over the last 20 years I have experienced various dietary lifestyles, including being a junk foodist, an ethical omnivore, then a vegetarian, then a vegan, a raw-foodist, and now a superfoodist. After years of dietary repair, I feel that I have completely recovered from my first 18 years of the "anything goes" Standard American Diet as well as completely healed myself of all past physical injuries.

My dietary transformation happened when I was 18 or 19 and was living at a University away from my family home. For the first time ever, I began purchasing my own food. I realized through the process of elimination that something I was buying was not agreeing with my digestion. That "something" turned out to be "milk, cheese, and eggs" - in essence - dairy products. Due to the discovery of this food allergy (which affects millions of people), I stopped consuming dairy products completely. After a few weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to begin to read about nutrition in order to be sure to have enough "calcium and protein" which I was no longer getting from dairy products. I began reading nutrition books: dozens of them. This led to the discovery of a deep, all-consuming passion I have for the subject of nutrition and eventually led to the creation of www.sunfood.com and my career.

After reading nearly every book I could find on nutrition, vegetarianism, veganism, raw foods, superfoods, and herbs, and after over 1500 public presentations on the subject of ideal diets and human health as well as interacting with tens of thousands of people specifically on this subject, I have concluded (as have most others in our field) that the moral ethics of vegetarianism, veganism, and raw-foodism are wonderful and an intrinsic part of creating peace and health on Earth for all beings as well as a clean and sustainable future for all.

However, I have concluded, as have many others, that serious health conditions can develop as a result of improper nutrition due to unbalanced omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, and raw-food diets.

Dozens of factors are involved in creating nutritional imbalances as well as nutritional deficiencies including: daily stress levels, pregnancy, candida, disease conditions, special needs due to age-related nutritional requirements, metabolic differences in human genetics, the uniqueness of the human soul as it expresses itself through the physical body, physical injury recovery, drug addictions, etc. All of these factors must be accounted for and sufficient nutrition must be provided to meet these factors. On top of this, I believe that these challenges can and should be solved with high moral and ethical considerations. That is the basis of this report. By reading this report and maintaining a "solution oriented" perspective you will be able to greatly benefit from years of research by simply adding into your diet some of the foods, herbs, and superfoods mentioned. In fact, I know that by taking action on the information found here and the foods recommended, you will have the best day ever.

The key nutrients that standard American food consumers, as well as conscious omnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and raw-foodists may be missing and how I (and my company www.sunfood.com) ethically solve these deficiencies are as follows:

Challenge: Long-chain omega 3 fatty acid (DHA, EPA) deficiencies.
Information: The omega 3 fatty acids found in most plants (hemp, flax) are not long chain. They are medium chain. The conversion of medium chain omega 3 fatty acids to long chain fatty acids is not easy. In some metabolisms, it does not happen at all. Many individuals are suffering from long-chain omega 3 fatty acid (DHA, EPA) deficiencies. These deficiencies inhibit proper brain and nervous system development as well as impair cognitive abilities. Traditionally, the DHA, EPA nutrition requirements had been solved using cod liver oil or other fish oils. Fish oils are not a long-term sustainable option due to the â€œfishing outâ€ of cod in the Atlantic and the increasing presence of mercury, heavy metals, and pollutants in fish oils. Long-chain omega 3 fatty acids (DHA, EPA) are extremely important for growing infants and children.

Ethical Solutions: Klamath Lake Blue-Green Algae: Sunfood.com distributes blue-green algae in various forms due to its extraordinary nutrition profile. Blue-green algae contains DHA.

Algae Oil: Sunfood.com was one of the first internet sites to make algae oil, a clean source of DHA, available. However, algae oil does not contain the equally important long-chain omega 3 fatty acid known as EPA.

Oceans Alive Liquid Marine Phytoplankton: This is a plant-based solution to the DHA and EPA problem that can work for most people. This is a phenomenal, vegan solution to meeting DHA and EPA nutritional requirements. Our company Sunfood.com pioneered this living vegan product and has made it available to the public for the first time.

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Challenge: Protein deficiencies.
Information: Contrary to some vegetarian and vegan propaganda, some individuals do need plenty of protein to retain mental and emotional stability as well as muscular size.

The Max Planck Institute discovered that cooking destroys 50% of the protein in food. It is likely, that due to the bad habit of cooking food, the amount of protein actually required by the human body per day is closer to 25 grams (or even less) than the average prescribed 50 grams a day. Additionally, due to the danger of consuming animal products created by poor quality control, antibiotics, growth hormones, animal diseases (Mad Cow, Hoof and Mouth, Blue Tongue, chicken cancers, etc.) as well as greed, animal products are becoming less and less reliable sources of protein or any nutrition at all.

However, an ancient-old, brand-new re-emerging class of foods is able to meet our requirement of a clean, highly-usable form of complete protein (as well as many, many other nutrients) and that ancient-old, brand-new class of foods is superfoods.

Ethical Solutions:Superfoods appear to completely solve the protein problem. The most important complete protein superfoods are as follows:

1. Hempseed and Hempseed protein.

2. Goji berries and goji berry powders: Beware of "Wildcrafted" goji berries. They are not wildcrafted. They are domestically grown and often fertilized and sprayed with chemicals. Nearly all "wildcrafted" goji berries we have tested are heavily sprayed with sulfur dioxide. Some "organic" brands of goji berries failed the sulfur dioxide text (they were sprayed with sulfur dioxide). Sunfood.com's organic goji berries and Tibet Authentic goji berries are tested to be free of all chemicals, artificial fertilizers, and sulfur dioxide.

3. Bee pollen (organic): Very few foods even compare to bee pollen in overall nutrition. Bee pollen is arguably the most complete food found in nature. Take bee pollen samples and sample them in your mouth for 20 minutes without swallowing in order to detect if you are allergic to the pollen. Itchiness, swelling, internal mouth reactions, etc. are all signs of an allergic response. If you are allergic to a batch of bee pollen do not eat it. You may still be able to eat other batches of bee pollen from different sources.

4. Sunfood Nutrition Marine Phytoplankton (liquid): This living phytoplankton product is unparalleled in the world. Not only a complete source of living protein, but also arguably the most nutritious food on Earth. One drop of this product is enough to feel some effects.

5. Spirulina: Spirulina contains the highest concentration of protein of any food on Earth. This food fed Mexico City and met all protein requirements for millions of people for 5,000 years.

6. Blue-Green Algae and Chlorella: These are both complete protein sources. Blue-green algae and chlorella are found in superfood formulas such as Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy. These formulas can be added to foods, beverages, or even water and consumed daily to meet protein needs.

7. Maca: Although maca is not a complete protein it is such a great source of hormone precursors and amino acids, that it provides many of the same effects created by a high-protein diet.

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Challenge: Mineral deficiencies, Bone loss, Teeth problems.
Information: Mineral deficiencies affect nearly everybody across the entire planet. Minerals deficiencies have been found to contribute to nearly all conditions of illness. Increasing and improving mineralization has been found to help in practically all cases of illness. Mineralization has been scientifically associated with longevity. Dr. Maynard Murray discovered that proper mineralization was able to help plants, animals, and humans with genetic disorders.

Bone density improves when rich, mineralized foods are eaten, especially food and supplements rich in magnesium, silicon, calcium, ormus minerals, and trace minerals. Bone density improves when hormone levels are sufficient and/or abundant. Improvement is also seen when proper weight-bearing or vibrational exercise is practiced regularly. Additionally some exposure of the skin to direct sunlight improves mineralization.

Excessive sugar and cooked starch (potato, bread, grain) intake (even natural fruit and honey sugars) may contribute to mineral deficiencies in some people. Excessive acid-forming diets filled with meat and chemical sodas also contribute to bone and mineral loss.

Mineral and organic salt deficiencies are common when one has been dealing with digestive disturbances, especially if they have continued for some time.

Ethical Solutions:Seaweeds: Including sea lettuce, dulse, nori, and especially kelp powder are outstanding sources of minerals.

Cacao: (an unrivaled source of magnesium, iron, and chromium) Magnesium is critical for the proper formation and repair of bones and teeth.

Powdered green superfoods: Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy lead the field in helping to remineralize our bones and body. These green superfoods contain nearly ever trace mineral and are a great place to start with a remineralization program.

Sunfood.com's Oceans Alive Marine Phytoplankton (liquid): This product contains perhaps the most nutritious living food in the world - marine phytoplankton. A complete source of immediately usable living minerals. Actually, this product contains over 90 different minerals! One drop of this product is enough to feel some effects.

Olives: Olives provide the best fat-soluble calcium in the entire plant kingdom.

Maca: A powdered superfood root that helps the human body produce more hormone precursors. Sufficient hormone precursor levels help improve bone and tissue mineralization. Maca is also known to contain up to 20 trace minerals.

Wild rice (raw and sprouted or cooked): An excellent source of minerals, especially for growing children.

Celtic Sea Salt: A great source of natural, living, ocean minerals and salts. This may be very helpful for improving trace mineral availability.

Ocean-grown agriculture (ocean-grown wheatgrass, sprouts, and vegetables): What is ocean-grown agriculture? The ocean contains all known minerals. If you dilute ocean water at a ratio of at least 20 parts pure water or rain water to one part ocean water and then water your plants, fruit trees, garden, sprouts, and/or wheatgrass with it, all minerals become available to them. With this one trick, you can grow extraordinarily mineral-rich food right on your window sill.

Vegetables (raw, organic): Although we cannot rely on simple vegetables for all our mineral needs, we can say with certainty that organic vegetables are rich in alkalinity and are superior to conventional vegetables in mineral content. Organic raw vegetables provide energy with no calories. Chewing green vegetables is great for mechanically cleaning the teeth and supplying the minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and silicon that nourish our bones and teeth with minerals.

Orgono Living Liquid Silica: An ideal source of one of our most important, yet neglected minerals - silicon. Orgono represents a technological breakthrough in arthritic pain relief and bone remineralization.

Flora's Horsetail Extract: This product is a great bone remineralizer and is the premier product of Professor Kervran's life's work including five books and 5,000 pages of scientific notes focusing on the science of mineralization.

Ormus gold (in Miron glass): This is a member of the class of minerals known as Ormus. This product also contains bone-building silicon. David Radius Hudson, the discoverer of Ormus minerals, estimated that as much as 5% of the dry matter weight of our nervous system could be Ormus minerals (formerly mistaken as carbon, iron, and other minerals).

Angstrom liquid minerals (especially: calcium, zinc, chromium, vanadium, selenium, magnesium, and manganese): These liquid minerals lead the field. They are highly absorbable, orally active, and easy to travel with. Sunfood.com pioneered the distribution of the angstrom minerals by placing their availability on the internet in 2002.

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Challenge: Sugar sensitivity, hypoglycemia, candida.
Information: In conjunction with mineral deficiencies, many individuals in the western world are afflicted with hypoglycemia. Estimates range as high as 40% of the population is suffering with hypoglycemia, but do not know it. The explosion of adult-onset diabetes also points to chronic mineral deficiencies as well as the overconsumption of hydrogenated oils and refined sugar. Nearly everyone with digestive disturbances is suffering from some level of candida.

Ethical Solutions:
Coconut butter: Sunfood.com pioneered raw, organic coconut butter on the Internet in 1999. Coconut butter is a candida fighting, skin friendly, super oil. Coconut butter is a great clean source of vital energy. Coconut butter helps the body produce the pre-cursors to hormones.

Hempseeds and hempseed protein: The extraordinary content of protein in hempseeds can help stabilize blood sugar in those individuals with high-protein requirements.

Spirulina: The extraordinary content of protein in spirulina can help stabilize blood sugar in those individuals with high-protein requirements. Mixing hempseeds and spirulina together in a hempseed bag with pinches of Celtic Sea Salt is a valuable snack recipe for those with high protein requirements who need some low sugar, high-protein snack that is simple, easy, and that travels well.

Cacao nibs (beans): The magnesium and chromium content of cacao and cacao products has been demonstrated by Dr. Gabriel Cousens to clinically help type 2 diabetics lower their insulin requirements. That's right...natural raw chocolate (cacao) actually improves the health of diabetics.

Yacon Root Syrup and yacon products: Our yacon root syrup has been specifically standardized to have at least a 30% FOS (fructo-oligosaccharide) count. This means that yacon is food for our friendly bacteria like acidophilus and bifidus. It also means that even though yacon syrup has a sweet taste, it does not significantly increase blood sugar levels. It can actually lower blood sugar levels. Yacon root syrup is a technological breakthrough in non-glycemic sweeteners. And yacon tastes better than stevia, xylitol, and other "no sugar" sweeteners.

Pau D'Arco (herb) tea: Pau D'Arco is a Central American and Amazonian tree bark that makes a delicious tea. Pau D'Arco is one of the best destroyers of candida known to humankind. Three to eight cups of Pau D'Arco tea each day are recommended for individuals suffering from candida or chronic digestive disturbances.

Probiotic bacteria: Friendly bacteria, especially acidophilus, are the natural enemies of candida. Sun Is Shining superfood formula contains friendly bacteria.

Aloe vera: Aloe vera is highly anti-fungal. Not only does aloe vera kill candida, but it stops digestive inflammation. The aloe must be raw, fresh, and the skin removed to have its entire medicinal effects. Fresh, raw aloe can be blended into teas or other beverages or consumed straight. Also, the long-chain sugars in aloe (called polysaccharides) provide long-term, even energy and therefore normalize blood sugar. Our company www.sunfood.com pioneered shipping raw, fresh aloe vera on the Internet in 2003. This is still one of our most loved products.

Kelp powder: An unrivaled source of minerals. As blood-sugar disorders are usually mineral deficiency syndromes, kelp helps to heal the problem at its root cause.

Low sugar fruits (cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, okra, etc.): Ingesting more low-sugar, raw, organic fruits in one's diet can help blood sugar disorders as well as substantially influence a more balanced and positive demeanor with less moodiness. Eating a low-sugar diet (even low in natural sugars such as fruit, honey, etc.) creates a feeling of calmness and "lightness."

Cinnamon: A great natural source of blood-sugar balancing chromium.

Seaweeds (especially kelp powder): The mineral value of kelp continues to surprise everyone in the nutrition field.

Powdered green superfoods: Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy lead the field in helping to remineralize our bones and body. As previously mentioned, Sun Is Shining also contains friendly bacteria.

Olives: Olives provide some of the best fat-soluble alkaline minerals in the entire plant kingdom.

Wild rice (raw and sprouted or cooked): An excellent source of minerals and protein. Wild rice is great for those needing more protein and slow-burning fuel.

Ocean-grown agriculture (ocean-grown wheatgrass, sprouts, and vegetables): By improving the mineralization of our soil and food with dilute ocean water (twenty parts pure water to one part ocean water), we improve our own mineralization as we eat that food. When plants and animals are deficient in minerals they become ill. When the required minerals are available, plants and animals become healthy. Mineralized food provides more balanced long-term energy.

Angstrom liquid minerals (especially: zinc, chromium, vanadium, selenium, manganese, and calcium): These liquid minerals lead the field. They are highly absorbable, orally active, and easy to travel with. www.sunfood.com pioneered the distribution of these minerals by placing their availability on the internet in 2002.

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Challenge: Pollution, toxins, industrial byproducts, solvents, glues, antibiotics, pesticides, petrochemicals, depleted uranium, etc. are, more and more, being found in the food supply and in the human body.
Information: Pure, clean, mineral-rich, organic food is perhaps the future's most important commodity. However, clean food alone is not enough to reverse the toxic load acquired during a lifetime of toxic exposure. Certain superfoods, herbs, and minerals have a specific ability to help us alleviate our toxic load.

Ethical Solutions:
Liquid Activated Zeolites: This product is perhaps the greatest detoxifier ever discovered. Liquid Activated Zeolites are scientifically known to safely draw out heavy metals (e.g. mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, uranium 238, etc.) and volatile organic compounds (formaldehyde, o-Dichlorobenzene, toluene, methylene chloride, benzene, tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, p-Dichlorobenzene, tetrachlorodibenzofuran, xylene, hexachlorobiphenyl). Liquid Activated Zeolites are also scientifically known to normalize pH and help stop viral replication.

MSM products: Methyl-sulfonyl-methane (MSM) and the products containing it have a known ability to remove mercury from the system. MSM also helps the liver detoxify a wide range of toxins. MSM detoxifies because sulfur (the primary mineral in MSM) is a primary liver detoxification mineral along with iron and zinc.

Angstrom Zinc: Heavy metal poisoning can displace zinc from the cells. Angstrom liquid zinc helps to restore difficult zinc deficiency syndromes. Zinc aids in assisting the liver to cleanse. Zinc assists the immune system in removing unwanted toxins â€” especially viral toxins. Zinc is also required from the adrenals to function properly. Long-term zinc deficiencies are associated with adrenal exhaustion.

Natural Vitamin C products (Camu Camu berry powder, Pure Radiance C, etc.): The Vitamin C complex has a tremendous research history suggesting its effectiveness in healing connective tissue, improving the immune system as well as detoxifying the liver, brain, and kidneys.

Chanca Piedra (herb) tea: This extraordinary herb helps the body rid itself of microscopic "bad calcium," "stone" formations that have been implicated in nearly all conditions of chronic illness from gall stones to arterial plaque to arthritis. "Bad calcium" or microscopic "stones" are toxic to the body and are a primary cause of aging.

Medicinal Mushrooms (Reishi, Cordyceps, Maitake, Lion's Mane, Immune Builder, Host Defense): The medicinal mushrooms contain dozens of compounds that help increase the weapons and cleansing agents available to the immune system. The medicinal mushrooms also detoxify the body of certain synthetic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) found in plastics.

Kelp powder: The iodine in kelp helps restore thyroid function allowing one to lose weight swiftly. The iodine and other minerals in kelp help to increase the mineral content of all the organs allowing them to function more effectively. The better our organs function the more readily they are able to throw off toxins and rejuvenate. Also, kelp helps displace toxic minerals with healthy minerals (e.g. radioactive iodine with healthy iodine). This is called "chelation by replacement."

EJUVA Organic Cleansing products: EJUVA is a brand of gentle organic herb cleansing systems. EJUVA products help one to lose weight, eliminate cellular waste toxins, inhibit and reverse candida, improve digestive health, eliminate poisons in the blood, and more. The EJUVA systems come with instructions and are done in a step-by-step way.

Chlorophyll (green, organic vegetable juice): Chlorophyll is a detoxifier of heavy metals and blood toxins.

Cilantro and Chlorella: This combination has been known to detoxify the brain and nervous system of mercury.

Coconut oil: This oil assists in helping to displace toxic hydrogenated trans fatty acids (e.g. partially hydrogenated soybean oil). Coconut oil restores natural saturated fat levels to the skin, subcutaneous fat layers, as well as to the individual cell membranes. Coconut oil speeds up metabolism allowing the body to drop excess weight and toxins accumulated by an underactive thyroid. Coconut oil is also valuable for the immune system as it contains healthy anti-viral saturated fatty acids such as lauric acid.

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Challenge: Being a dogmatic, serious, dry, mean, moody, mental, judgmental person that nobody wants to be around.
Information: Cacao (raw chocolate nuts) takes dogmatic, serious, dry, mean, moody, judgmental individuals and helps illuminate for them a pathway towards becoming an ecstatic being, filled with laughter, heart energy, compassion, and appreciation. This part of the article, although funny, is important. I have met thousands of dogmatic, judgmental omnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and raw foodists over the years. I have been left with the impression that these types of individuals are subconsciously acting from a belief that "everybody must be miserable like me." The energy of dogmatism and judgment repels prosperity and charisma.

Ethical Solutions:
Cacao and Cacao products are happy foods. Cacao (the food all chocolate is made from) is the best natural source of magnesium (alkalinity), iron (circulatory system support), and chromium (blood sugar normalizer). Blood sugar irregularity has been linked to every psychological disturbance from moodiness to schizophrenia. Mean, aggressive behavior has been identified by alternative medicine practitioners and herbalists for decades as indicative of being biologically too acidic. Alkaline minerals like magnesium help alkalize our tissues, thus creating more calm and relaxed behavior. Cacao contains the minerals that assist with normalized blood sugar as well as alkalinity. Cacao is a rich source of anandamide (the bliss chemical). Anandamide makes us feel euphoric and happy. Cacao also contains PEA compounds that are similar to those chemicals we release when we fall in love. Cacao is also the highest natural source of antioxidants. In addition, cacao has the highest content of vitamin C of any known nut or seed (cacao is a tropical nut).

Superfoods beyond cacao such as goji berries, maca, bee pollen, marine phytoplankton, spirulina, blue-green algae, hemp seeds, etc. and aloe vera as well as superfood formulas such as Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy, go a long way to towards making judgmental vegans and raw foodists more well balanced in behavior and demeanor. I believe this is due to mineralization and the superior well-rounded nutrition that superfoods provide.

Kelp powder: One of the things you may notice is that if kelp powder is finely ground into a powder, it will (like cacao powder and cacao butter) magnetize when exposed to a magnetic field. This is because kelp (like cacao) is extraordinarily rich in minerals including alkaline minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Sufficient mineralization (from proper nutrition) has been known to normalize and calm behavior. A lack of proper mineral nutrition has been implicated in practically every symptom of poor health and emotionally extreme behavior.

Minerals: Several liquid angstrom minerals in particular are important in influencing behavior: chromium, vanadium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. Chromium and vanadium for supporting more balanced blood-sugar, and calcium, magnesium, and zinc for their alkalinity.

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As much I support the ethics of vegetarianism, veganism, and raw foodism, I am bound by an equally great or even greater moral obligation to give people the complete truth as best as I understand it as a health professional with all my years of direct, personal experience.

Please keep in mind that I have been a raw-foodist since 1994. My company Sunfood.com (www.rawfood.com) pioneered enormous advances in vegetarian and vegan nutrition over the last 13 years. I currently run four companies and directly employ over 30 people. In addition to that my team and I still conduct over 80 educational events each year. I have written four books (The Sunfood Diet Success System, Eating For Beauty, Naked Chocolate, and Amazing Grace). I run two new sophisticated farming projects in remote regions of the world. I have traveled the world constantly for over 13 years and have not been in one place for more than four weeks in all that time.

From all this you have probably concluded that I am under a tremendous amount of responsibility and stress. In spite of all this, I am in perfect physical health. I never get tired, worn out, sick, etc. Sometimes I stay up for 2 or 3 days in a row without sleeping more than an hour a night. My immune system has never been stronger, My reflexes are as fast or faster than when I was 16 years old. I am more flexible than ever before. I am never in pain.

My commitment to ethical solutions to the world's food challenges is not a joke. Review my track record and decide for yourself. I believe we can find moral and ethical solutions to every challenge we face including those surrounding food and diet. I believe that we must eat more plants in the food chain and let our bird, reptile, amphibian, and mammal friends pursue life, liberty, and happiness without our wholesale slaughter of their beauty. I believe we must discover and implement real solutions as quickly as possible so that we may all enjoy a healthy and prosperous future. Most importantly, I believe that these issues must be discussed openly and clearly so all confusion is removed.

Sunfood Nutrition

For more on dogmatic diets, please read: Diet or Dogma? By Brandon Gilbert and Addendum: Diet or Dogma? by Erin Brennan

Why Raw?

2009-01-04T11:26:00.003-05:00

by David Wolfe

Many have spent lifetimes wondering what caused humanity's "fall from grace." What has caused humanity's disconnection from living in a natural paradise? Why is civilization out of balance with Nature? These thoughts are often triggered by a study of the classical, legendary, or religious stories of a former perfect age.

Every culture seems to have a story about how human life began on Earth. Most describe a place where people lived in harmony with the plants and animals. While living this way, the stories indicate that, people experienced happiness and peace.

These stories often indicate that everything was in harmony until something happened. Some stories tell of a great flood, others tell of humans gaining an understanding of good and evil, still others tell of a shift in Earth's alignment, a few even tell of some godly or spiritual powers that drastically changed the state of life on Earth.

Those of us who follow a balanced, thoughtful raw-food diet, believe that we have found the major piece of the answer to humanity's obvious disconnection with Nature. A multifaceted collection of scientists, spiritual leaders, researchers, and grassroots raw-food enthusiasts, have come to understand through experience, that the great change in human life occurred after humans discovered fire, and then began cooking food.

The obvious separation created by putting fire between our food and our mouth, the tremendous amount of time and energy people spend to cook food, the use of massive resources to create today's cooked-food culture (with its billions of kitchens and restaurants), the construction of factories and shops all churning out cooked and processed foods, the packaging and wrappers involved in the whole cooked-food process, and the lack of life energy in cooked food are all major contributing factors in humanity's fall from paradise. Subconsciously, we know this, as our picture of paradise usually involves sun, beaches, mangoes, and coconuts; not gloomy cities, restaurants, and cooked animals for dinner.

All animals living in the wild eat their food raw and, almost always, fresh. Raw is one of nature's most basic laws. Only humans and domesticated animals eat cooked and processed foods.
The cooking and processing of foods has become so common that most of us do not even question it. The assumption that cooked and processed foods are as good as raw foods is just an assumption. Most people do not know for sure, because they have never tried a balanced raw-food approach. Einstein once said: "The essential is to get rid of deeply rooted prejudices, which we often repeat without examining them."

Here is a visual experiment to consider: Feed a tribe of gorillas a diet of coffee, donuts, and other processed human foods for a few years. Let us watch what happens. Or consider, a herd of deer who, instead of eating their grass raw, decide to collect it and boil it in a giant cauldron. Picture what would happen in that situation!

What is it that constitutes the basis of human nourishment? Is it refined sugar flowing out of the roaring jaws of factories? Is it the flesh of animals being churned out by combinations of torturous factory farms and horrific slaughterhouses? Is it the milk of factory-farmed cows naturally intended for baby calves? Is it cooked and processed foods containing dyes, flavors, and preservatives?

No.

The basis of human nourishment is obvious: it is raw plant foods. And Nature presents this to us in abundance. Raw plant foods are simple, easy to find, fun to eat, enjoyable, contain thousands of health-giving nutrients, and conform to the biological design of the human digestive system. The sun is the source of all life and raw plant foods represent the purest form of transformed sun energy.

When one eats an orange, the wrapper (peel) becomes compost. When one follows a raw-plant-food lifestyle, the amount of trash produced by that individual decreases to almost nothing. Test for yourself and see.

An individual who eats the typical foods found in so-called "civilized society" who then changes to a raw-plant-food diet can discover energy they have never known. Eating a balanced mix of raw plant foods restores the body on a molecular level, building strong cells, radically naturalizing the body, raising alkalinity, and grounding the person in the natural world. Of course, the body resists shocking changes and everyone should ease into the raw-food approach at an appropriate pace. Also, everyone should educate themselves on this amazing subject (by further exploring this website, reading raw-food books, chatting on-line with other raw-foodists, and attending lectures), so that the common mistakes are avoided.

As the months and years pass, a person switching to a raw-plant-food approach may notice a greater awareness of the spiritual world, become more intuitive, and feel natural powers they have never experienced (or did not know they had). One will find oneself having more fun in a garden than a movie theatre. A profound new connection will arise with plants and animals.
Every person is a work of art in progress. Either one can become progressively more beautiful, or one can follow the fate civilization has set out (miseducation, wage slavery, decay, illness, and an untimely death). Each action one takes determines which of these two destinies will be achieved.

What we eat helps to guide our path. Eating determines what level of health our body will experience. Every bite of food put into the body should add to our strength, spirituality, and beauty. Each meal becomes part of who we are at the deepest level.

"You are what you eat" is a cosmic law. Everybody knows that saying: everybody! It is a concept that has been known in every culture and civilization throughout history. It is written into the fabric of the universe. It is a simple law of Nature that should be remembered each day, and at each meal. Those who wish to heal themselves and the planet, should eat the most healing foods.
"Healing foods" means quality, organic, homegrown, or wild foods and/or superfoods in their raw natural state. Following this principle is not only the simplest way to choose what to eat, but is simply the best way to bring about good health and spiritual transformation. Because of this, this website is dedicated to helping as many people as possible succeed and prosper with the raw-food lifestyle.

We encourage anyone who wishes to experience the bounties of Nature to delve into eating what Nature provides to us. That is: raw plant foods. We encourage people to learn about superfoods, garden foods, and wild plants (herbs), to learn a new way of living, to experience the incredible energy Nature will give to you by accepting the foods she provides, and to live life in a melody with the plants and animals. By doing so, you may experience and reclaim your own little bit of paradise!

Sunfood Nutrition

B.K.S. Iyengar

2009-01-04T00:16:00.003-05:00

Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar is the founder of Iyengar Yoga. He is considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world [1] and has been practicing and teaching yoga for more than 75 years. He has written many books on yogic practice and philosophy, and is best known for his books Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, and Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. He has also written several definitive yoga texts. Iyengar yoga centers are located throughout the world, and it is believed that millions of students practice Iyengar Yoga.

B.K.S. Iyengar demonstrating yoga in this silent film shot in 1938. From the same newsreel as the Krishnamacharya video in the previous post.

Part 2

Pranayama demonstration. One incredibly long breath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.K.S._Iyengar

Krishnamacharya Yoga Demonstration

2009-01-04T00:08:00.001-05:00

Krishnamacharya, one of the great yoga masters, demonstrates asanas in this silent film shot in 1938.

Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya (1888–1989) was an influential Indian Yoga teacher, healer and scholar. His students include many of today’s most influential teachers: Sri BKS Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the late Indra Devi and Krishnamacharya’s own sons T.K.V. Desikachar and T.K. Sribhashyam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Tirumalai_Krishnamacharya

Why Take Tonic Herbs?

2009-01-04T00:02:00.001-05:00

Food needs 'fundamental rethink'

2009-01-02T19:11:00.010-05:00

A sustainable global food system in the 21st Century needs to be built on a series of "new fundamentals", according to a leading food expert.

Tim Lang warned that the current system, designed in the 1940s, was showing "structural failures", such as "astronomic" environmental costs.

The new approach needed to address key fundamentals like biodiversity, energy, water and urbanisation, he added.

Professor Lang is a member of the UK government's newly formed Food Council.

"Essentially, what we are dealing with at the moment is a food system that was laid down in the 1940s," he told BBC News.

"It followed on from the dust bowl in the US, the collapse of food production in Europe and starvation in Asia.

"At the time, there was clear evidence showing that there was a mismatch between producers and the need of consumers."

Professor Lang, from City University, London, added that during the post-war period, food scientists and policymakers also thought increasing production would reduce the cost of food, while improving people's diets and public health.

"But by the 1970s, evidence was beginning to emerge that the public health outcomes were not quite as expected," he explained.

"Secondly, there were a whole new set of problems associated with the environment."

Thirty years on and the world was now facing an even more complex situation, he added.

"The level of growth in food production per capita is dropping off, even dropping, and we have got huge problems ahead with an explosion in human population."

Fussy eaters

Professor Lang lists a series of "new fundamentals", which he outlined during a speech he made as the president-elect of charity Garden Organic, which will shape future food production, including:

•Oil and energy: "We have an entirely oil-based food economy, and yet oil is running out. The impact of that on agriculture is one of the drivers of the volatility in the world food commodity markets."

•Water scarcity: "One of the key things that I have been pushing is to get the UK government to start auditing food by water," Professor Lang said, adding that 50% of the UK's vegetables are imported, many from water-stressed nations.

•Biodiversity: "Biodiversity must not just be protected, it must be replaced and enhanced; but that is going to require a very different way growing food and using the land."

•Urbanisation: "Probably the most important thing within the social sphere. More people now live in towns than in the countryside. In which case, where do they get their food?"

Professor Lang said that in order to feed a projected nine billion people by 2050, policymakers and scientists face a fundamental challenge: how can food systems work with the planet and biodiversity, rather than raiding and pillaging it?

The UK's Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, recently set up a Council of Food Policy Advisers in order to address the growing concern of food security and rising prices.

Mr Benn, speaking at the council's launch, warned: "Global food production will need to double just to meet demand.

"We have the knowledge and the technology to do this, as things stand, but the perfect storm of climate change, environmental degradation and water and oil scarcity, threatens our ability to succeed."

Professor Lang, who is a member of the council, offered a suggestion: "We are going to have to get biodiversity into gardens and fields, and then eat it.

"We have to do this rather than saying that biodiversity is what is on the edge of the field or just outside my garden."

Michelin-starred chef and long-time food campaigner Raymond Blanc agrees with Professor Lang, adding that there is a need for people, especially in the UK, to reconnect with their food.

He is heading a campaign called Dig for Your Dinner, which he hopes will help people reconnect with their food and how, where and when it is grown.

"Food culture is a whole series of steps," he told BBC News.

"Whatever amount of space you have in your backyard, it is possible to create a fantastic little garden that will allow you to reconnect with the real value of gardening, which is knowing how to grow food.

"And once you know how to grow food, it would be very nice to be able to cook it. If you are growing food, then it only makes sense that you know how to cook it as well.

"And cooking food will introduce you to the basic knowledge of nutrition. So you can see how this can slowly reintroduce food back into our culture."

Waste not...

Mr Blanc warned that food prices were likely to continue to rise in the future, which was likely to prompt more people to start growing their own food.

He was also hopeful that the food sector would become less wasteful.

"We all know that waste is everywhere; it is immoral what is happening in the world of food.

"In Europe, 30% of the food grown did not appear on the shelves of the retailers because it was a funny shape or odd colour.

"At least the amendment to European rules means that we can now have some odd-shaped carrots on our shelves. This is fantastic news, but why was it not done before?"

He suggested that the problem was down to people choosing food based on sight alone, not smell and touch.

"The way that seeds are selected is about immunity to any known disease; they have also got to grow big and fast, and have a fantastic shelf life.

"Never mind taste, texture or nutrition, it is all about how it looks.

"The British consumer today has got to understand that when they make a choice, let's say an apple - either Chinese, French or English one - they are making a political choice, a socio-economic choice, as well as an environmental one.

"They are making a statement about what sort of society and farming they are supporting."

Growing appetite

The latest estimates from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that another 40 million people have been pushed into hunger in 2008 as a result of higher food prices.

This brings the overall number of undernourished people in the world to 963 million, compared to 923 million in 2007.

The FAO warned that the ongoing financial and economic crisis could tip even more people into hunger and poverty.

"World food prices have dropped since early 2008, but lower prices have not ended the food crisis in many poor countries," said FAO assistant director-general Hafez Ghanem at the launch of the agency's State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008 report.

"The structural problems of hunger, like the lack of access to land, credit and employment, combined with high food prices remain a dire reality," he added.

Professor Lang outlined the challenges facing the global food supply system: "The 21st Century is going to have to produce a new diet for people, more sustainably, and in a way that feeds more people more equitably using less land."

My Personal Development for 2009

2009-01-01T16:07:00.004-05:00

I am welcoming the new year by working on some personal development - mental and physical. I want to share my experiences, not only for my readers, but also so that I can examine my progress.

Juice Feasting
To start the New Year in great health, I am juice feasting. I don't usually set a specific time frame in which to do this. Rather, I listen to my body and I'm finished when I'm finished. I have experienced a lot of physical changes over the last 1-2 years, and every so often, the time comes for me to let my body rest by not feeding it anything more it has to digest. By juicing, I am still getting all of the nutrients I need without the fiber to digest and breakdown. I have been feeling slightly tired and run down lately - most likely a result of my desire to hibernate all winter and the stress of finishing school and running my own business.

I feel great so far. I had a large salad and an apple right before midnight last night and have not eaten since. I had some citrus juice this morning made of grapefruit, orange, lemon, and lime. I have also had some Holy Basil tea. I plan on having a large green juice for dinner with celery, cucumber, parsley, cilantro, and mint. Most likely, more tea tonight too.

Creative Expression
I love expressing myself creatively, whether painting, writing, or making delicous and original raw food. Building my raw food business brought me back in touch with my creative self. It helped me to realize that I am creating in everything I do, and that art is not limited to one agreed upon definition. My food is my art, as is my love of sharing health and wellness.

My goal for this year is to express myself creatively in a myraid of ways. I love to write, which is a verbal expression of myself. I love to paint, which is a visual expression of myself. I love to share yoga, which is a physical and spiritual expression of myself. And, I love to make raw food and help people find their way back to health and happiness, which is an expression of my love. Through these acts, and many more, I hope to be creating most of the day and night, as I sleep.

I plan to paint everyday, if only for a little while. Painting helps me to focus my creativity, and calms my mind. It is as if I go into a trance and am allowing this expression of beauty to flow through me. For me, painting has similar emotional effects as seated meditation.

Meditation
I plan to meditate everyday, even if only for a short period of time. I meditate quite often, most days in fact, but usually only for a short time. Even ten minutes gives me a sense of calm and wellbeing. Often, my mind is awhirl, thoughts of everything I need to get done in the next week and ideas for new recipes and paintings fight for my attention.

This morning as soon as I woke up, I meditated for maybe fifteen minutes. I would have gone longer, but was very excited to begin juicing and just could not clear my head. Oh well, this is why I will practice seated meditation everyday.

Goal Setting
I have always been a goal setter. I find that things I put into writing often happen much faster than things which I do not put into writing. All of the leaders in the field of personal development talk about the importance of goal setting and writing things down. By writing something, it is as if you are affirming it, rather than allowing to to exist only as a fleeting thought.

I have a Vision Book, in which I write goals and dreams, paste pictures of places I want to visit, and write mantras and inspirational quotes. For a while, I was writing in this book daily, and I would love to get back into that habit. I accomplish more if I write out clear goals and ideas, and then record the steps necessary reach each one.

Gardening
My resolution for this year is to eat as much LOCAL organic produce as possible. This means that in addition to frequenting farmers markets every week, I am going to have to plant quite a large garden this year. I had only a few heirloom tomato plants last year, but they produced enough fruit that I had garden fresh tomatoes all summer long. I also had pepper plants which produced so much that I am still eating dried cayennes and jalepenos in January! I enjoyed gardening so immensely that I plan to at least triple the size of my garden this year.

Gardening is yet form of creation, except rather than working alone, one works harmoniously with Mother Nature to produce new life and nourishment. I feel more at peace when interacting with nature. Gardening is a way of helping the Earth do what she was meant to do - give life. By caring for seedlings which later become fruiting plants, we are giving love, and then receiving love in the form of fruits and flowers, vegetables, and more seeds.

I have already begun planning my spring garden. I am carefully choosing the heirloom variety seeds which I will plant with love and intention. I am also designing a small greenhouse to go up as soon as possible so that my seedlings will be ready to plant at the first possible date.

I will continue to post on my progress in all of these areas in the days and weeks to come.

The 4 Paths of Yoga

2009-01-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

There are four main paths of Yoga - Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga. Each is suited to a different temperament or approach to life. All the paths lead ultimately to the same destination - to union with Brahman or God - and the lessons of each of them need to be integrated if true wisdom is to be attained.

Karma Yoga, The Yoga of Action

It is the path chosen primarily by those of an outgoing nature. It purifies the heart by teaching you to act selflessly, without thought of gain or reward. By detaching yourself from the fruits of your actions and offering them up to God, you learn to sublimate the ego. To achieve this, it is helpful to keep your mind focused by repeating a mantra while engaged in any activity.

Bhakti Yoga, The Path of Devotion or Divine Love

This path appeals particularly to those of an emotional nature. The Bhakti Yogi is motivated chiefly by the power of love and sees God as the embodiment of love. Through prayer, worship and ritual he surrenders himself to God, channelling and transmuting his emotions into unconditional love or devotion. Chanting or singing the praises of God form a substantial part of Bhakti Yoga.

Jnana Yoga, The Yoga of Knowledge or Wisdom

This is the most difficult path, requiring tremendous strength of will and intellect. Taking the philosophy of Vedanta the Jnana Yogi uses his mind to inquire into its own nature. We perceive the space inside and outside a glass as different, just as we see ourselves as separate from God. Jnana Yoga leads the devotee to experience his unity with God directly by breaking the glass, dissolving the veils of ignorance. Before practicing Jnana Yoga, the aspirant needs to have integrated the lessons of the other yogic paths - for without selflessness and love of God, strength of body and mind, the search for self-realization can become mere idle speculation.

Raja Yoga, The Science of Physical and Mental Control

Often called the "royal road" it offers a comprehensive method for controlling the waves of thought by turning our mental and physical energy into spiritual energy. Raja Yoga is also called Ahtanga Yoga referring to the eight limbs leading to absolute mental control. The chief practice of Raja Yoga is meditation. It also includes all other methods which helps one to control body, energy, senses and mind. The Hatha-Yogi u ses Relaxation and other practices such as Yamas, Niyamas, Mudras, Bandhas etc.. to gain control of the physical body and the subtle life force called Prana. When body and energy are under control meditation comes naturally.

http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/philosophy/fourpaths.html

The 5 Points of Yoga

2009-01-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

These 5 principles constitute the essence of the teachings of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers.

To clarify the science of Yoga and make it accessible to the majority of seekers, Swami Vishnu-devananda extracted its essence and presented it in these universal principles for physical and mental health as well as spiritual growth.

1. Proper Exercise (Asanas)
Our physical body is meant to move and exercise. If our lifestyle does not provide natural motion of muscles and joints, then disease and great discomfort will ensue with time. Proper exercise should be pleasant to the practitioner while beneficial to the body, mind and spiritual life.

2. Proper Breathing (Pranayama)
Yoga teaches us how to use the lungs to their maximum capacity and how to control the breath. Proper breathing should be deep, slow and rhythmical. This increases vitality and mental clarity.

3. Proper Relaxation (Savasana)
Long before the invention of cars, planes, telephones, computers, freeways and other modern triggers of stress, the Rishis (sages or seers) and Yogis of yore devised very powerful techniques of deep relaxation. As a matter of fact, many modern stress-management and relaxation methods borrow heavily from this tradition. By relaxing deeply all the muscles the Yogi can thoroughly rejuvenate his nervous system and attain a deep sense of inner peace.

4. Proper Diet (Vegetarian)
Besides being responsible for building our physical body, the foods we eat profoundly affect our mind. For maximum body-mind efficiency and complete spiritual awareness, Yoga advocates a lacto-vegetarian diet. This is an integral part of the Yogic lifestyle.

5. Meditation (Dhyana)
Here is the most important point of all, we become what we think. Thus we should exert to entertain positive and creative thoughts as these will contribute to vibrant health and a peaceful, joyful mind. A positive outlook on life can be developed by learning and practicing the teachings of the philosophy of Vedanta. The mind will be brought under perfect control by regular practice of meditation.

Further reading:
The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda and The Sivananda Companion Book of Yoga by the Sivananda Yoga Centers.

http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/philosophy/fivepoints.html

Celestial Show Set for New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T19:47:00.003-05:00

by Robert Roy Britt

space.com – A delightful display of planets and the moon will occur on New Year's Eve for anyone wishing to step outside and look up just after sunset.

Venus, brighter than all other planets and stars, will dangle just below the thin crescent moon in the southwestern sky. It'll be visible -- impossible to miss, in fact -- just as the sun goes down, assuming skies are cloud-free.

Soon thereafter, Mercury and Jupiter will show up hugging the south-southwestern horizon (just above where the sun went down) and extremely close to each other. Jupiter is very bright and easy to spot; Mercury is faint and harder to see, but it'll be apparent by its location just to the left of Jupiter.

Jupiter and Mercury will set less than an hour after the sun, so timing your viewing just after sunset is crucial. You'll also need a location with a clear view of the western horizon, unobstructed by buildings, trees or mountains.

All the planets, along with the moon and sun, traverse an arc across our sky called the ecliptic, which corresponds to the plane in space that they all roughly share. For this reason, you could draw an imaginary line from the general location of Venus and the moon, down through the other two planets, and the line would point to where the sun went down. This line could also initially help you find Jupiter and Mercury.

Weather permitting, you can get a preview of the sky show on Tuesday, Dec. 30. On this evening, the planets will be in nearly the same place they'll be on Dec. 31, but the moon will be midway between Venus and the Mercury-Jupiter pairing.

One last trick:

Venus is so bright you can see it during daylight if you know where to look. Given Venus' proximity to the moon on New Year's Eve, this would be an excellent moment -- just before sunset -- to use the moon to help you find Venus and gain bragging rights for being one of the few people to be able to claim seeing more than one planet during the daytime (Earth being the other one).

What Is Yoga?

2008-12-31T19:18:00.003-05:00

Yoga Means Union

Although many people think this term refers to union between body and mind or body, mind and spirit, the traditional acceptance is union between the Jivatman and Paramatman that is between one's individual consciousness and the Universal Consciousness. Therefore Yoga refers to a certain state of consciousness as well as to methods that help one reach that goal or state of union with the divine.

The 5 Points of Yoga

There are hundreds or more of such techniques and therefore as many different Yogas. In order to simplify and clarify the topic, Swami Vishnu-devananda summarized the vast science of Yoga into 5 principles of Yoga which are easy to understand and to include in one's daily life. These five points are: Proper Exercise; Proper Breathing; Proper Relaxation; Proper Die; and Positive Thinking & Meditation.

The Four Paths of Yoga

The various Yogic practices have been traditionally classified into the four Margas (paths).

These four paths are:

Jnana Yoga or Jnana Marga which is the Yoga of wisdom and develops the Intellect or will
Bhakti Yoga, the Yoga of devotion, opens the heart
Karma Yoga, the path of action of selfless service.
Raja Yoga, the royal or psychological which involves the mind. A branch of Raja Yoga which is Hatha Yoga which prepares the Yogi for the higher stages of Raja Yoga. Sivananda Yoga, the Yoga of Synthesis

Swami Sivananda recognised that every Yogi, or human being for that matter, possesses and identifies with each of these elements: Intellect, heart, body and mind. He therefore advocated everyone to practice certain techniques from each path. This came to be known as the Yoga of Synthesis. He also taught that in accordance with individual temperament and taste one can emphasize the practice of certain Yogas over others.

Further reading: The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda, Meditation and Mantras by the same author, Bliss Divine by Swami Sivananda.

http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/yoga.html

Responses to plastic pollution

2008-12-31T11:39:00.007-05:00

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/12/29/news0424.htm

After seeing through the dreadful negative effects, movements have already been launched against plastic pollution. For instance, a United States law, implementing an international agreement called MARPOL Annex V, became effective on December 31, 1988. It prohibits the disposal of plastics into the marine environment and requires ports to provide reception facilities for ship-generated plastic wastes. More recently, in response to increasing public concern over environmental hazards caused by plastic, many countries are conducting various solid waste management programmes including plastic waste reduction by development of bio-degradable plastic materials. Intensive research is going on for making the bio-degradable plastic. Some bio-degradable plastic materials which are under development include: 1. PHAs 2.Polylactdes 3.Alipahatic polyesters 4. Polysaccharides 5. Co- polymers. PHB is an example of 100% bio-degradable plastic. Approximately a dozen of inherently bio-degradable plastics are now in the market, with range of properties suitable for various consumer products. Besides, biotechnological processes are also being developed as an alternative to existing route or to get new bio-degradable biopolymers. In the mean time, a number of developed and developing countries across the world have formulated land enforced law banning on plastic bag use and other plastic products, such as plastic bag use in Bangladesh from 1st March 2002, plastic bags and other non-reusable plastic products in India, plastic bags in Somalia from 2005, free distribution of single-use plastic bags and disposable cutlery and dishes in Taiwan from January 2003. To discourage the use of plastic products, some countries have already raised increased tax on plastic products including Denmark from 1994, Germany from January 2002, Ireland from March 2002, South Africa from May 2003, and Switzerland from 2002 while some other countries are highly considering a plus tax on plastic products including United Kingdom, Kenya and Australia (Monir and Ahmed, 2005).

Reduction Strategies:Reducing plastic pollution is a little bit complicated job. It needs to make wide sense and awareness of the problem even to the individual level and to act to counter it accordingly. However, here are some control strategies that we can take to reverse the tide of toxic, non-biodegradable pollution so that it will not overtake our planet, the only home of living beings.

Personal Level:
- Take no plastic bags from the grocer's self.
- Refuse plastic bags at the check-out counter.
- Don't buy plastic sandwich bags.
- Buy beverages in sustainable containers like glass bottles or cans.
- Use water purifying device rather than to use plastic water bottle.
- Make a habit of thinking about what comes with each thing that you buy.
- Look for and reward Earth-friendly packaging choices, such as- buy greeting cards in paper boxes instead of clear plastic shells. Use pens that refill instead of landfill.
- Remove plastics from your office and business farms.
- Building the habit of keeping plastic out of water ways. - In case of shopping, use own bags or recycled paper bags.
- Always remember litter generates litter. We should not dispose of plastic in the sewerage system.
- At the beach dispose of plastic and other litter in the bins provided. If these facilities are inadequate, contact the local authority responsible and lodge a complaint. Take your litter back home with you if there are no receptacles on the beach. Pick up any plastic litter you may see on the beach or in the rock pools in the vicinity in which you are sitting or walking.
- In the street never throw plastic or other litter out of your car or drop it on the pavement or in the gutter.

Organizational and Institutional level:
- The plastic that can't be recycled not to be produced in the first place.
- Plastic wrappings and bags should carry a warning label stating the dangers of plastic pollution.
- Reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging which is usually immediately thrown away.
- The Fishing community should not throw away waste lines, net or plastic litter in water.
- Building a better recycling infrastructure. Only about three percent of plastics are recycled according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
- Recycled plastic can be used to make things like trash cans, park benches, playground equipments, decks and kayaks.
- Special fleece-like fabrics used in clothes and blankets can be made out of recycled plastic bottles.
- Practice and promote proper disposal of plastics in home and at the beach.

National (Government) level:
- All nations should adopt a "zero plastic waste" policy.v Govt. should accelerate research into alternatives.
- To subsidize the makers of bio-plastics.
- Support and promote support for recycling schemes.
- Draft a law to control the use of plastic products. Ban the use of single-use disposable plastic products (cup, plate, bottle, box and cutely etc.).
- Raise plus tax on plastic products.v Reduce tax on environment-friendly alternatives to plastic products.
- In special areas, completely ban the use of polythene and plastic products, for instance in parks, by the sides of lakes, government offices and institutions.
- Raise public awareness concerning the harmful effects of plastic products and the benefits of their alternatives through the use of TV, radio and newspapers.Role of Media and Environ concerned

NGOs:
- Launch public awareness building programs against plastic products including seminars, symposium, human chain and workshop etc.
- Re-use of plastics should be encouraged.
- Through the mass media and directly inform of the members of the public and government about the harmful effects of the use of one time disposable plastic products.
- Work with the government to ensure enactment and enforcement of a law banning the use of one-time disposable plastic products, all polythene bags and the increase of taxes on the raw materials imported and used for plastic products.

Concluding Remarks:

To size up, plastic pollution is one of the worth-mentioning concerning environmental issues of today to the outside world and a potential threat to Bangladesh as well. Toxic plastic pollutes air, water and soil, kills wildlife, poisons seafood and sea floor, poses serious health hazards and could even exacerbate global warming. Even it could be creating new habitats that don't virtually suit living beings down to the ground. Under these circumstances, the problem of plastic pollution is serious and requires further urgent study. Yet, we should not go without realizing the eternal truth that plastic is not itself a problem. Rather it is more useful, popular and really fantastic because of its some appealing qualities which can be produced with relatively little damage to the environment. But truly problems are with us; problems are improper production process, uses and careless and unthoughtfully disposal of plastics and plastic products to the environment. Now, we all should build up a habit of thinking more in general as conscious consumption is not only good for the Earth but also for us and take necessary steps for plastic waste reduction, reuse and recycling. So let us brood over the issue in our own ways, do the duties and discharge responsibilities normally and ethically bestowed on us from our respective platforms towards a plastic pollution free environment and launch a campaign essential to a green and peaceful future in non-violent way.

(Muhammad Selim Hossain is B.Sc. (Hon's) final year student of the Dept. of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka.)
http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/38956

Commentary by: Erin Brennan

When I look at the amount of plastic all around me, I sometimes shutter. I purposely avoid purchasing products that are prepackaged or come wrapped in plastic if at all possible, but still, it is everywhere. I have gotten rid of most of the plastic in my house, replacing it with ceramic or glass and even stainless steel. I do not buy water in plastic bottles, not only because of the plastic problem, but also due to the fact that plastics leech nasty xenoestrogens that I just do not want to consume.

I am appalled though, when I go to the grocery and people are still taking plastic bags and still asking for things to be double bagged. Some stores have begun offering biodegradable plastic bags, but even these are likely made from non-organic or even genertically modified corn. Most large grocery chains offer reusable grocery bags for about $1, many of them made from recycled plastic bottles. I wonder when the US is going to get with it and ban plastic bags, and paper bags, for that matter. For less than $1, anyone can purchase a large bag that can be used again and again. We are lagging behing the rest of the world on this matter. It is time for the leaders of the US to step up and admit that plastics are harmful - to humans and the environment - and to institute use reduction strategies.

This is no longer an issue that concerns only hippies and out-of-the-loop environmentalists. This concerns the general public and the world at large. We are faced not only with the problem of what to do with the mountains of plastic waste that we have created, but now we must also deal with the environmental and HEALTH ramifications of our actions. Plastics release chemicals and xenoestrogens into ecosystems and are causing birth defects and reproductive problems. This is not limited to only lowly animals on the food chain, easy for us to forget about. No, worldwide, birth defects to the genitals of male HUMAN babies have risen sharply. Plastics, and harsh chemical fertilizers are the cause of this. For more on this, read: Concern for the Male Population.

Get reusable grocery bags here:

http://www.rawganique.com/HAhsb3.htm (Hemp Bags)

http://www.reusablebags.com/ (Variety)

http://www.chicobag.com/ (Nylon ultra durable, attaches to keys)

Get stainless steel water bottles here:

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Genetically Modified Crops Reach 9 Percent of Global Primary Crop Production

2008-12-31T11:29:00.001-05:00

From: Worldwatch Institute
Published December 5, 2008 12:04 PM

Washington, D.C. - Genetically modified crops reached 9 percent of global primary crop production in 2007, bringing the total GM land area up to 114.3 million hectares, according to Worldwatch Institute estimates published in the latest Vital Signs Update. The United States continues to be the global leader in production, accounting for half of all GM crop area.
GM production has been on the rise since the crops were first introduced more than a decade ago, and it now includes 23 countries. But controversy over the benefits of genetic modification continues, including questions about the technology's ability to deliver on promises of enhanced yields and nutrition.

"GM crops are definitely not a silver bullet," said Alice McKeown, a researcher for the Worldwatch Institute. "They sound good on paper, but we have yet to see glowing results."
Even as GM crop area expands, tensions are building. The European Union is expected to offer new guidance on the crops by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a new scientific study funded by the Austrian government suggests that a popular variety of GM corn reduces fertility in mice, raising questions about the technology's safety.

"There are still many unanswered questions about GM crops," said McKeown. "But the good news is that we have solutions to food security and other problems available today that we know work and are safe for humans and the environment, including organic farming."

Bush's Environmental Legacy on GMOs

2008-12-31T11:23:00.001-05:00

From: Organic Consumers Association
Published December 8, 2008 10:25 AM

In a few hundred thousand years, after all weather effects of 21st century climate change have disappeared from the earth's surface, after our quietly smoldering nuclear waste has been extinguished, two destructive impacts traceable to George Bush's policies will yet remain.
The first is extinctions. Species that have died out, including the subset resulting from Bush's environmental policies, will forever deprive our evolving biosphere of their contribution.
The second is genetically modified organisms (GMOs) -- animals, plants, bacteria, and viruses, who's DNA have been mixed and mangled by insertions from foreign species. Once released into the ecosystem, by intention or accident, the genetic pollution self-propagates. No recall by the Obama administration can clean up Mexico's indigenous corn varieties, now contaminated by our genetically modified (GM) corn. No executive order can remove or even identify the wild mustard plants now carrying altered genes bestowed on it by the pollen from its cousin, GM canola.

We all know stories that illustrate the exponential effects of invasive species. Here's my favorite, recalled in my book Genetic Roulette:

"On Christmas Day 1859, the Victorian Acclimatization Society released 24 rabbits into the Australian countryside so that settlers could hunt them for sport and feel more 'at home.' The rabbits multiplied to well over 200 million, spreading out over 4 million square kilometers. That Christmas present now costs Australian agriculture about $600 million per year." http://geneticroulette.com/
Will GMOs of today show up as the "Australian rabbits" of the future? While their impact on our ecosystem and diet is largely unstudied, that has not stopped the current and past administrations from presiding over the release of millions of acres of GM crops. Not only does each plant carry a gene from bacteria or viruses, its DNA has hundreds or thousands of mutations resulting from the disruptive process of genetic engineering. Reports suggest that the side effects of GMOs are quite dangerous. http://geneticroulette.com/

Bush policies institutionalize GMO contamination

If we were to ban GMOs today, as is more than justified, some contamination from commercialized GM food crops will nonetheless carry forward in the gene pool of those (and related) species. This includes contaminants from our largest farmed GM crops, including soybeans, yellow corn, cotton, and canola, as well as the smaller crops: Hawaiian papaya, zucchini, and crookneck squash. Newly added--in this year's harvest--are GM sugar beets and white corn. There are also GM tomatoes and potatoes no longer on the market, but whose genes and seeds, to some degree, continue to persist "out there." But the dirty laundry list actually includes over 100 different experimental GM crops, field trialed at more than 50,000 sites in the US since 1986.

Although the government is supposed to make sure that these trials won't contaminate the surrounding environment, a 2005 report by the USDA Office of Inspector General harshly condemned the USDA's abominable oversight. "Current regulations, policies, and procedures," said the report, "do not go far enough to ensure the safe introduction of agricultural biotechnology." The agency's weaknesses "increase the risk that regulated genetically engineered organisms will inadvertently persist in the environment."
But George Bush's pro-biotech response was to further weaken the agency's GMO oversight--and he's trying to do it quickly, before Obama steps in. The proposed ruling makes gene escape more likely, even from GM crops designed to produce pharmaceutical drugs and industrial chemicals.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/www.aphis.usd...

Monsanto admits more contamination

As a backdrop to Bush's rushed proposal, Monsanto just admitted that an acre of its field trialed, not-yet-approved GM cottonseeds, was inadvertently harvested and mixed with approved cotton. It then entered our food chain as animal feed and cottonseed oil. Oops.
But the FDA, EPA, and USDA employed another of the Bush administration's institutionalized abdications of GMO oversight. They declared the cottonseed contamination safe, in spite of insufficient data to support their claim.
If Bush gets his new USDA rule into effect, let's hope Obama heeds the advice of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which "recommends that the new administration make revocation, revision and strengthening a top priority." http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/GE-contamination...

No that won't fully clean up our altered gene pool. But it will start to contain the runaway long-term genetic pollution that is now out of control.

Beijing's New Year resolution: Scrap Polluting Cars

2008-12-31T11:07:00.003-05:00

Published December 31, 2008 09:09 AM

(Reuters) - Beijing, beset by choking traffic and heavy air pollution, will take more than 350,000 high-polluting vehicles off inner city streets from Thursday, local media reported.
China's capital has banned cars from the roads on one out of five weekdays based on the number of license plates as part of a six-month trial in the wake of broader restrictions during the Olympic Games in August that cleared skies and eased congestion.
Drivers of high-emissions vehicles, known as "yellow-label" cars, would be fined 100 yuan ($15) if found to be driving within the city's Fifth Ring Road, a highway on Beijing's outskirts, after a three-month grace period, the Beijing News said.

The measure stands to take about 10 percent of the city's cars off the road. Beijing currently has about 3.5 million registered cars.
The government had also drafted a compensation scheme that will give drivers up to 25,000 yuan ($3,600) if they proactively give up their cars during 2009, the paper said.
The city would also provide preferential loans to shipping and transport companies to upgrade their vehicle fleets to meet low-emission standards, the paper said, citing the city's traffic bureau.

Beijing authorities have credited cleaner skies above the capital in recent months in part due to the traffic restrictions, as well as decreased emissions from shuttered factories in the city's outskirts.

Car ownership along with rising incomes has skyrocketed in Chinese cities in recent years, posing head-aches for town planners already struggling to build roads and public transport to meet burgeoning urban populations.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Ian Ransom)

The 5 Step Beginner's Guide to Eating Raw Food

2008-12-28T17:53:00.006-05:00

2009 is upon us. With the New Year almost here, many people are making resolutions to get healthy. The quickest and easiest path to health, in my opinion, is by changing one’s diet. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ and it holds true. Your body- your cells- are comprised of the foods you eat. If you eat healthy, fresh foods, you will have healthy cells; therefore, your overall health will be greater. If you eat nothing but junk food, your cells will be made up of junk food, and your health will surely decrease as will your ability to fight disease and infection. Many people ask me what they can do to improve their health and quality of life. My response is always the same: eat raw foods.

I am not insinuating that I think that everyone should become a vegan and eat 100% raw food. But I believe that anyone can benefit from implementing more raw foods into his or her daily diet. The 5 steps below are easy to follow and can help anyone desiring to switch to a raw foods diet.

1. Eat at least 50% raw foods.

I always tell people who are interested in eating raw to begin by making 50% of their diet raw plant foods. This includes vegetables, fruits (mostly low glycemic), nuts, seeds, and cold pressed unrefined oils. By starting with 50% raw rather than jumping to 75% or 100% raw immediately, one can get used to eating raw while still eating some cooked foods, hopefully healthy ones.

Rather than trying to quit cooked food cold turkey, gradually increase the amount of raw foods consumed. This allows for more time to adjust mentally and physically. A lot of mental stamina is involved in making any lifestyle change. There can be a lot of physical changes that occur when switching to a much healthier diet such as weight loss or weight gain (if underweight to start), changes in skin and hair, cravings, changes in digestion, etc. You do not want to overwhelm yourself too early on and end up giving up. Give yourself time to adjust to your new lifestyle.

2. Cut out refined sugar, bleached white flour, and table salt.

Refined sugar and table salt are essentially drugs. At the very least, they are processed much in the same way as drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Refined sugar and white flour both start out as grasses. Sugar cane can be very nutrient dense if grown in the right way. Both start off healthy enough, but after being refined many times, the end product does not even come close to resembling the original. Sugar is produced by cooking raw cane juice down to make molasses, then cooking the molasses down to make brown sugar, then by bleaching the brown sugar to make refined white sugar – which contains no nutrients and not only causes cavities, but feeds candida and cancer as well. Sea salt is full of vital minerals, but table salt is refined similarly to sugar and in the process loses its minerals. To make up for that, iodine is added back into the salt, but that does not make up for all of the other valuable trace minerals lost. Table salt can dehydrate, irritate edema and increase high blood pressure, but sea salt will not.

White flour does not contain the whole grain, only a fraction of it, and has once again, been bleached of all its nutrients. Often, the bleached white flour is then “enriched” with synthetic vitamins to supposedly make it healthier. All pre-ground flour is rancid. Seeds and grains contain volatile oils and should never be ground and then left to sit on a shelf and go bad. Gluten intolerances and celiac disease are becoming increasingly more common as a result of years of eating white bread or pastas made from bleached flour, which essentially turn to glue inside of the intestines.

3. Cut out meat and dairy.

If you are a meat eater and want to stay that way, drastically cut back on the amount of meat you consume. Eat pasture fed meat if any. Or learn to hunt. Factory farmed animals are corn rather than grass fed and are often very sickly and given multiple rounds of antibiotics, hormones, even steroids. I don’t know about you, but I certainly would not want to eat that!

Meat should never be the focal point of the meal, nor should you eat meat with every meal. I am not saying this for the sake of my little furry friends, rather for your health. Years of eating meat can increase cholesterol (which is actually necessary in the small amounts that your body makes), clog arteries, and cause heart attacks. Just ask my grandfather who has had multiple heart attacks, a quadruple by-pass surgery, and an angioplasty what his diet consisted of most of his life. And he even ate vegetables! (Granted they were cooked in lard.)

Cow’s milk is for baby cows. Period. It is not made for humans to consume. I do not understand why people find this so hard to grasp. No sane adult would ever think of drinking milk from a nursing human mother, so why do people think it is ‘natural’ to drink cow’s milk? Most people are actually (biologically) lactose intolerant to some extend. Dairy is difficult to digest, causes mucus, and like wheat, can become thick and gluey in the intestines. Dairy is full of hormones and antibiotics too, along with a lot of other nasty things that come out of the cow when it is milked. Commercial dairy is pasteurized, killing any enzymes that would enable you to properly digest the milk, cheese or yogurt.

The practice of taking milk from animals developed during a time when it was hard to find and grow enough food to feed the family, tribe, or village. The animals were well taken care of and loved, and the milk products were consumed raw. If you choose to eat dairy, then eat local, raw cheese or milk. In many states, raw milk cannot be sold in stores, so you may have to visit an actual farm to get the milk, but many health food stores sell local raw milk cheeses. The raw dairy still contains lactase, the enzyme which digests lactose, and usually the small time farmers do not give their cows antibiotics or hormones and they may even be free range or pastured.

4. Find your support group.

There are raw food potlucks popping up all over the country. A raw potluck is a great place to meet new raw friends, to share recipes, and to try new dishes. It helps to be able to talk to others who are going through the same lifestyle change as you, or to get advice from people who have gone before you. If you cannot find a raw potluck in your area, you can always start one yourself or at the very least, attend a vegetarian or vegan potluck, especially if you are transitioning to raw foods from SAD (Standard American Diet).

5. Do NOT give up.

You may not be able to be all raw right away, or ever. Everyone is different, and everyone transitions at a different pace. Be patient with yourself. If you slip up and eat something you know you shouldn’t have or are trying to avoid, the worst thing you can do is to get upset with yourself. Guilt and shame can be just as unhealthy as poor diet and lack of exercise. Instead, resolve to stay strong.

Keep healthy, raw snacks on hand at all times to help you fight cravings. It is much easier to resist junk food or cooked comfort foods if you already have something healthy in your stomach. Learn to listen to your body and give it what it needs nutritionally, and in time, you will be able to overcome cravings and stay in control.

Photo: http://healthwellnesspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/raw-food.jpg

5 Ways to Stay Raw for the Holidays

2008-12-23T17:11:00.005-05:00

Staying raw during the holiday season can be difficult. We are surronded by many tempting foods, the smells of which send us into a nostalgic state of longing for cooked comfort foods. Even though we know we don't really want to eat those foods, and even though we know we will just be tired and sluggish afterward, the temptation still exists. On top of all that, we are surrounded by friends and family who "just don't understand why you don't eat like a normal person." While often loving people, family can be very unsupportive of your "abnormal" eating habbits. While they may mean well, only having your best interests in mind, spending time around family and friends who are not exactly open to the world of raw foods can be disheartening. The holidays are stressful enough without having to deal with being poked and prodded by family memebers. I have discovered, the hard way, that openly airing my differences in lifestyle and eating habbits is not always the best thing to do at a holiday get together. The holidays used to be very hard to survive - I spent most of my time explaining over and over again to each new person who walked through the door what "weird" diet thing I was doing that year. I have gotten a little wiser, and have figured out how to survive the holidays with my nerves and diet intact. Here are five easy steps to follow to stay raw this holiday season.

1. Bring a raw dish with you.

Don't expect the host or hostess to provide a separate meal to fit your specific dietary needs. He or she may not fully understand the terms vegetarian, vegan, or raw. Many times I went to parties under the assumption that there would be vegan food for me only to discover that all of the dishes contained chicken broth or beef bullion (while some cooks mean well, to them, no meat or dairy did not include broth).

If you bring a dish with you, you ensure that you will have plenty to eat and some to share if anyone is interested. Don't push your food on anyone unwilling to try it though. That brings me to my next point.

2. Do NOT push your beliefs about diet and lifestyle onto anyone else.

No matter how passionate you are about something, some people will always be resistant to things that they do not understand. This does not mean that they are bad people, they are just missing out. Not everyone will welcome your damnation of the meat and dairy industies, and I'm sure Mom or Grandma will not appreciate you talking bad about cooked food after she spent three days making a delicious and possibly very unhealthy meal for the entire family.

If someone happens to ask, and shows genuine interest, then by all means, explain away. It is probably best in this case if you stick to the health benefits of eating raw rather than sliming other ways of eating. People generally respond better to information about how your health has improved and your skin has cleared up than condemnations of their particular lifestyle. The more you push, the more others will resist.

If negative attention is not what you wish to attract from your family during the holidays, I suggest avoiding standing on your soap box. While we all want to share our amazing way of healthful eating with everyone we love, not everyone is open to or ready to receive that information.

3. Have your own raw holiday celebration.

Having a celebration at your house and inviting all of your vegetarian, vegan, and raw friends is a great way to enjoy raw versions of all of your favorite holiday dishes. A holiday themed raw potluck is sure to be a lot of fun, include many delicious dishes, and provide support during the time when you need it most - when the temptation to eat cooked holiday food is strong.

4. Keep snacks with you at all times.

Whether out shopping or at Grandma's, the smell of baking cookies and sugar cookie scented candles are enough to drive any sworn raw foodist mad. To fight off any temptation you might have, keep a variety of snacks with you at all times. I don't have a single raw friend who shows up at a party or social event empty handed. We get pretty used to not having the option of buying a biscotti at the coffee shop or munching on the finger food at a party. I always have a variety of fruit, nuts, and trail mix of some sort in my bag.

I suggest carrying a few different snacks. You never know what kind of craving will hit you. I like to have options too. I prefer to have something salty to snack on before the big dinner. It's also nice to have something sweet to munch on when everyone else at the holiday gathering is eating pie or cookies for dessert.

5. Don't give up if you fall off the wagon.

Eating raw should not cause so much stress in your life that you beat yourself up over a little slip up. The negative effects of guilt and shame felt as a result of eating some cooked food are just as bad, of not worse for you than the food itself. If you eat some cooked food, no big deal. Don't worry about it. Pop some digestive enzymes, drink some kombucha, and at least enjoy it. Don't let something little ruin your entire holiday celebration.

If you happen to not be able to stay raw during the holidays, just pick up where you left off at the start of the new year. New Years is a time of new beginings, and putting the past behind us.

Follow these simple steps this holiday season, and you are sure to survive the holidays, raw diet intact.

If you need some ideas for holiday-themed raw recipes, visit:
http://www.livingblissfoods.com
or email:
info@livingblissfoods.com

A Little Bit About Raw Food

2008-12-23T12:35:00.004-05:00

Deciding to make a positive change in your health and wellbeing can be difficult in the fast-food, convenience store filled world that we live in, but it can also be one of the most life-changing, rewarding decisions you will ever make. Choose to look at eating raw not as a diet, but as a lifestyle. The more often and longer you eat raw and living food, the more that you will find your life has been transformed in ways you never imagined possible.

Raw food and living food includes whole, unprocessed, and unheated foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, cold-pressed oils, and often sprouted seeds and grains. Generally, foods are not heated above 105 to 115 degrees. Past this point, enzymes necessary for the proper digestion of the food are destoyed and the nutritional profile of the food is compromised.

When you eat raw foods, you eat food that:

Is in its most delicious, healthy, and natural state!
Contains no preservatives
Contains no artificial flavoring, coloring, or dyes
Contains no processed ingredients, refined sugar, or table salt
Is gluten, dairy, and meat free

Raw foodists are not alone in their desire to eat healthy, fresh, unprocessed food. Raw food guru and author, David Wolfe, estimates that "at least 1 million people in the USA embrace some aspect of the raw-food diet, based upon traffic at various Web sites and the 100,000-plus copies of his book, The Sunfood Diet Success System, that have been sold since 1999," (1).

1. "Healthful, Raw-food Trend is Picking Up Steam", Jerry Shriver, USA TODAY

For more information about raw food and the raw food lifestyle, visit:
Living Bliss Raw and Living Whole Foods

Sunfood Nutrition

The Winter Solstice

2008-12-21T12:52:00.004-05:00

Today, December 21, 2008, is the day of the Winter Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere. The actual Soltice event occured at 12:04 AM (UTC - Coordinated Universal Time). Today is the official beginning of winter.

A solstice is an Astronomical event that occurs twice a year - once in the summer, the longest day of the year, and once in the winter, the shortest day of the year. This is due to the fact that the tilt of the Earth on its axis is either greatest or least toward the sun, causing the sun to reach the northern or southern hemisphere. The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun's apparent movement north or south comes to a standstill.

In another sense, the solstices along with the eqinoxes (which occur in the Spring and Fall) are representative of the seasons. In some languages, the solstices and exinoxes represent the changing of seasons, and in others they are said to be the center or midpoint of the season. It is also important to note that the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is Winter Soltice in the Southern, and that the Summer Soltice in the Southern Hemisphere would be the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

2009 Equinox and Solstice Days and Times
Equinox (Spring) March 20 11:44
Solstice (Summer) June 21 5:45
Equinox (Autumn) September 22 21:18
Solstice(Winter) December 21 17:47

LEED Certification and Green Design

2008-12-19T17:43:00.007-05:00

LEED Certification and Green Design
by Erin Brennan

LEED Certification is a Green Building Rating System developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

LEED buildings are third-party independently certified and are "the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings," (1). LEED offers certification for new building designed to meet green standards. LEED also certifies older buildings which have been redesigned or remodeled to meet certain criteria making them more energy efficient. LEED offers certification standards for commercial interiors, schools, healthcare facilities, and retail outlets, as well as homes, apartment buildings, and condominiums. Through the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED offers neighborhood development, design, and planning focused on sustainability and smart growth (1).

LEED certification indicates a property’s sustainability by awarding points for almost any different element of 'green design'. Sustainable features such as energy-efficient lighting and low-flow plumbing fixtures, rainwater collection and reuse systems, and even bicycle racks are all given points. The points are then totaled to award different levels of LEED certification ranging from Silver and Gold to Platinum, the highest (2).

LEED programs are used by "architects, real estate professionals, facility managers, engineers, interior designers, landscape architects, construction managers, lenders and government officials," (1). Municipal and State Governments are beginning to use LEED to plan and construct public buildings from libraries to police stations. Government agencies at the federal level are using LEED as well. LEED projects are in progress in 41 countries around the world (1).

LEED certification provides third-party verification that a building or project meets both green building and performance criteria. The benefits to LEED certification are both environmental and financial in nature(1).

According to the U.S. Green Building Council,
LEED-certified buildings:
•Lower operating costs and increased asset value.
•Reduce waste sent to landfills.
•Conserve energy and water.
•Healthier and safer for occupants.
•Reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
•Qualify for tax rebates, zoning allowances and other incentives in hundreds of cities.
•Demonstrate an owner's commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

According to a study done by the CoStar Group, a Commercial Real Estate Information Group, LEED certified buildings outperform similar non-green buildings in not only energy efficiency, but sale price, rental rates, and even occupancy. Sometimes the margins are pretty large. According to the CoStar study, LEED building have rent premiums on average $11.33 higher per square food than non-green buildings and have over 4% higher occupancy rates. Additionally, buildings certified by EnergyStar (another energy efficiency rating system) sell for an average of $61 more per square foot than non-green buildings. However, LEED certified buildings astonishingly sell for an average of $171 more per square foot than non-green buildings (2). According to Andrew Florance, president and CEO of CoStar, "Green buildings are clearly achieving higher rents and higher occupancy, they have lower operating costs, and they’re achieving higher sale prices," (2).

LEED has emerged as the building industry’s top sustainability rating system above the possibly better know EnergyStar, and has become virtually synonymous with the term 'green building'. For this reason, "There’s a bit of urgency now that the value of buildings could be affected if they are not LEED-certified," says Mark Bennett, a senior attorney with the Miller Canfield law firm which specializes in green building and climate change issues (2). According to the National Green Building Finance and Investment Forum, a conference involving financial sector and property investment leaders, "If you’re building today without LEED, you’re building in obsolescence," (2).

1. U.S. Green Building Council, http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19
2. CoStar Group, http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=D968F1E0DCF73712B03A099E0E99C679

The MOST important Yoga Pose you are NOT doing

2008-12-18T19:25:00.005-05:00

by Brandon Gilbert

Headstand, or shirsasana, is the King of Yogic asanas. Simply put, an asana is a yogic posture or body position.

When doing headstand the body is completely inverted and held upright supported by the forearms, while the crown of the head rests lightly on the floor.

This process of inversion is what makes headstand so powerful, particularly because it reverses the flow of gravity. Usually gravity is pulling us down and compressing our bodies, yet when we do inversions this process is completely reversed. So instead of working against us, gravity is working for us by decompressing our bodies and reversing the flow of the circulatory and lymphatic system.

What are the benefits of headstand?

Regardless of the style or level of yoga your practice, inversions revitalize and rejuvenate your whole system. Turning your body upside down reverses the effects of gravity and floods your vital organs and brain with nourishment. The pineal and pituitary glands are activated, balancing the hormones. By elevating the legs, circulation, venous return, and lymph drainage are improved, and strain and fatigue are relieved. Inversions also aid in sleep, evoke calm, quiet, and soothe the nerves.

Doing inversions and spending some time upside down everyday is one of the best things you could possibly do for yourself. Inversions are basically an elixir of life.

Gravity's effects

Gravity slowly but surely weighs us down and saps our strength. We stand, sit, or walk with head above the heart, legs and pelvis underneath. As the years rack up, so do the damages. Subcutaneous fat sags. Varicose veins and hemorrhoids erupt. Weary of incessantly pumping blood through its vast circulatory network, the heart falters. According to Payne, the ancient yogis called gravity "the silent enemy." The yogi performs a martial-arts sleight-of-hand: Upend oneself and enlist gravity's power to arrest the ravages of that self-same force.

The human body is sensitive to the fluctuations of gravity because it consists of more than 60 percent water. From the skin in, the body is dense with cells, floating in a bath of intercellular fluid. A complex network of vessels weaves in and around every cell, steadily moving fluids through valves, pumps, and porous membranes, dedicated to transporting, nourishing, washing, and cleansing.

According to David Coulter, Ph.D., who taught anatomy at the University of Minnesota for 18 years, when one inverts, tissue fluids of the lower extremities drain—far more effectively than when one is asleep. Areas of congestion clear. In a 1992 Yoga International article on Headstand and the circulatory system, Coulter wrote: "If you can remain in an inverted posture for just 3 to 5 minutes, the blood will not only drain quickly to the heart, but tissue fluids will flow more efficiently into the veins and lymph channels of the lower extremities and of the abdominal and pelvic organs, facilitating a healthier exchange of nutrients and wastes between cells and capillaries."

According to Sivananda “Sirshasana(headstand) is really a blessing and a nectar. Words will fail to adequately describe its beneficial results and effects. In this Asana alone, the brain can draw plenty of Prana and blood. Memory increases admirably. Lawyers, occultists and thinkers will highly appreciate this Asana. This leads to natural Pranayama and Samadhi by itself. No other effort is necessary. If you watch the breath, you will notice it becoming finer and finer. In the beginning of practice there will be a slight difficulty in breathing. As you advance in practice, this vanishes entirely. You will find real pleasure and exhilaration of spirit in this Asana.”

The Four Systems

Endocrine System

The headstand a favorable reconditioning effect on endocrine gland secretion (Copeland, 1975), to enable it to withstand greater stress and strain (Kuvalyananda & Vinekar, 1963). Inversions done accurately are always relaxing and reduce stress and strain. The blood circulation to the brain is improved in Sirsasana; the sluggish cells are rejuvenated and the brain being the seat of intelligence is stimulated. It also stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands on which the growth, health and vital strength of a person depends.

Nourishes and stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands. In particular, Headstand provides refreshed blood and bathes and nourishes the hypothalamus, pineal gland and the pituitary gland. These glands play an important role in the endocrine system. The endocrine system uses hormones to regulate the metabolism of the cells. Our growth, health and vitality depend on the proper functioning of these two glands that control the chemical balance of the body. The secretions of the pituitary regulate sexual characteristics and growth of the reproductive organs. It also regulates the function of adrenal, thyroid and the ovaries. It is the hormone which stimulates the production of milk in nursing mothers. Thus, pituitary is the master gland which plays a very important role in regulating menstruation and pregnancy. The inverted postures in turn regulate the functioning of this master gland.

Circulatory System

Inversion exercises the heart and encourages venous return. Inversions do much the same for the body that aerobic exercise does. According to author Elaine N. Marieb, "The important factor stretching cardiac muscle is the amount of blood returning to the heart (venous return) and distending its ventricles"(Human Anatomy & Physiology 4th edition, Benjamin/Cummings Science Publishing, 1998 p 679.) Inversions use gravity to bring more blood to the heart - turning yourself upside down encourages venous return (Iyengar, 1991; Werner, 2004; Raman, 2004). .

Reduces heart strain. Normally, your heart works against gravity; inverting your entire body in the headstand lessens the strain on your heart. The heart works persistently to ensure that freshly oxygenated blood makes its way up to the brain and its sensory organs. When inverting, the pressure differential across the body is reversed, and blood floods to the brain with little work from the heart (Iyengar, 1991; Werner, 2004; Raman, 2004).

Minimise fatigue and brain tissue degeneration. Headstand allows a plentiful supply of oxygen-rich blood to reach your head and brain (Sivananda, 2004) - Increasing the blood flow through the brain cells increases your thinking power, clarity, memory, concentration, and the sensory faculties (Iyengar, 1991, pg 190) and moreover minimises brain tissues do not degeneration (Raman, 2004). Fatigue of the brain cells which occurs as part of everyday life will not occur with regular daily practice of Head stand. This is due to the rejuvenation of the brain cells with fresh blood and O2 (Raman, 2004).

Lymphatic System

The headstand also importantly increases circulation and drainage of lymphatic fluid.

Fluid build up reduced. Lymph, like the blood returning to your heart via the veins, is dependent upon muscular movement and gravity to facilitate its return. Thus, in the headstand, lymph fluid is relieved from the legs and ankles and with regular practice prevents the buildup of fluid in the legs and feet.

Because the lymphatic system is a closed pressure system and has one-way valves that keep lymph moving towards the heart, when one turns upside down, the entire lymphatic system is stimulated, thus strengthening your immune system.

Nervous System

Headstand stimulates the nervous system.

Headstand increases mental alertness and clarity. The immediate change felt after performing this pose is an enhanced alertness which lasts through the day.

Soak brain fresh blood. The most important aspect of inverted poses is to soak the brain with blood for a fixed period of time which never happens in other systems of exercises. According to Dr Raman (Raman, 2004):

“This rejuvenates the brain cells and prevents age related cerebral atrophy. Senile changes in brain are prevented. And as mentioned before ischemic strokes can be completely prevented as the blood supply is enhanced without pressure.”

Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression. It is a centering, calming and soothing pose. A cooling effect is felt on the face in the pose.

Respiratory System

Inversions also ensure healthier and more effective lung tissue. When standing or sitting upright, gravity pulls our fluids earthward, and blood "perfuses" or saturates the lower lungs more thoroughly. The lower lung tissue is thus more compressed than the upper lungs. As a result, the air we inhale moves naturally into the open alveoli of the upper lungs. Unless we take a good, deep breath, we do not raise the ration of air to blood in the lower lungs. When we invert, blood perfuses the well-ventilated upper lobes of the lungs, thus ensuring more efficient oxygen-to-blood exchange and healthier lung tissue, oxygen consumption and blood flow (Jevning et al, 1983).

When done properly, headstand helps the spine become properly aligned, improving posture, facilitating good breathing and reducing muscular stress. The inversion rests the lungs which feel refreshed. The vital capacity increases as the lungs learn to breathe against the strain of the body organs resting on it in the posture (Raman, 2004).

Digestive System

Increase heat and improves digestion. Headstand increases gastric fire and produces heat in the body.

Tones and cleans digestive organs. The weight of the abdominal organs on the diaphragm encourages deep breathing, which gently massages the internal organs. By reversing the pull of gravity on the organs, especially the intestines, it helps to cleanse them by releasing congested blood in the jejunum and colon. Fresh warm blood invigorates the cells and overcome problems of the liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines and reproductive system (Raman, 2004).

Constipation eliminated. The change in posture enhances peristaltic contractions and aids good elimination. Constipation is eliminated provided the water and fiber content of the diet are normal (Raman, 2004).

A note of caution

When trying headstand it is important to be properly prepared. By preparing properly and being extremely mindful of proper body alignment, you can significantly reduce your risk of injury. Other things to keep in mind when trying inversions are the strength of the neck, pre-existing injuries or conditions such as high blood pressure, glaucoma or detached retina. Women who are pregnant or menstruating should not practice these poses. If you're new to inversions, I'd recommend practicing them under the guidance of an experienced yoga teacher.

In closing

If you find headstand too daunting then follow this link to learn about some simpler yoga inversions.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3417110/Yoga-Inversions

References:

http://www.nshouseofyoga.com/Article-Inversions.htm

http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Yoga-Inversions/591088

http://www.yoga.net.au/benefits2/

To read more from Brandon Gilbert, visit: http://brandon-gilbert.blogspot.com/

The Failing U.S. Economy is Not a Financial Problem, It's a Health Problem

2008-12-18T16:34:00.010-05:00

by: Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor
Thursday, December 18, 2008

(NaturalNews) The shutdown of the American economy has begun. Today Chrysler announced it would shutter 100% of its factories for one month as it seeks bailout money from the Federal Reserve. The Fed, meanwhile, slashes its interest rates to zero, even while promising to print unlimited trillions of new dollars in order to "save" the U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, the state of California has announced it would halt all infrastructure projects (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/us/18...), meaning that the construction and maintenance of bridges, roads and schools will be abandoned until new money can be found.

On the same day, the U.S. dollar plummeted to a 13-year low against the Yen. Investors around the world are realizing the dollar is doomed, and they're increasingly betting against it. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=...)
Earlier this week, an important international meeting of heads of state was held in Latin America. The most notable fact about this meeting is that the USA was not invited.

The power and influence of the United States of America is rapidly plummeting, and the closing down of Chrysler's factories is a major warning sign that the U.S. economy, which has long operated on financial vapor, has begun an unprecedented reconfiguration that could mean the end of the dollar as a world currency and the final gutting of America's long-doomed manufacturing industry.

Why the health of the People determines the fate of the economy

In other countries, workers are willing to work for less money, executives are aggressive and well educated, and companies aren't burdened with out-of-control health care costs that have been enforced by the Big Pharma / FDA conspiracy that seeks to keep Americans diseased and medicated.

The upshot is that, in many ways, America can no longer compete on the world stage, and it is now suffering the predictable effects of an economy built on mass consumer poisoning and the continuation of disease...

To read the rest of "The Failing U.S. Economy is Not a Financial Problem, It's a Health Problem", please visit: http://www.naturalnews.com/025120.html

Commentary by Erin Brennan

Thank you, Mike Adams, for another provocative and thrilling article. While I agree with many points that Adams makes in this article, I think that he is forgetting one key point, which I will discuss a little later. I agree that the pharmaceutical industry's reign needs to come to an end. We live in an over-medicated society, and the FDA is more than willing to push through even the most deadly drugs without proper testing (see my article "Avoiding Animal Cloning" for a great example). I agree that as a society, we are purposely kept diseased. Keeping the masses sick and medicated is a genius way for doctors and pharmaceutical companies to ensure a constant revenue flow. I also agree that healthy workers will be much more productive in the workplace and will cost companies far less in healthcare costs and sick days. I agree that more money would be available in our unstable economy if the rates of cancer and chronic disease in this country went down.

The part of this that I do not agree with however, is Adams' suggestion of how to go about making changes in the overall health of our society. I think that education is key here - along with ending the corruption of the FDA and the pharmeceudical industry. However, we can NOT force people to make healthier food choices. We can make healthier food choices more available and more affordable. We can NOT make people stop taking pharmeceutical drugs and over the counter medications. We can make alternative, holistic care and natural medicine more widely accepteded and supported, by our govenment and insurance companies alike. History has proven that you cannot take away the right of the people to choose to injest substances that are harmful to their health and well-being. Just look at the prohibition of alcohol at the turn of the last century and the current "War on Drugs" that has cost billions upon billions of dollars; Dollars which could have been spent ensuring that all Americans have access to nutritious and healthy food choices rather than soft drinks, french fries, and burgers. People seems to always resist what is forced onto them, whether it is in their own best interest or not.

We cannot expect our govenment to make an about face and suddenly start pushing natural and healthly choices in the faces of Americans, just as they have for many years with the pharmeceutical industy and modern medical care. We cannot expect that, in a short period of time, grocery stores will just rearrange their shelves, with healthy items on display and not-so-healthy items at the bottoms of the shelves. Grocery stores will begin to do so when natural, healthy food items start selling as well as oreos and cheetoes. That means that is up to us to become educated consumers. I always tell people to vote with their dollar. The dollar always seems to win in the end, and as long as Americans continue to buy into the advertisements from the junk food and pharmaceutical industries, that is what will continue to be made available.

I think that a major part of the problem is that many people operate under the misconception that eating healthier and/or taking herbs and supplements is more expensive that eating the way they currently do. Maybe this is true when you only look at the short-term cost. It costs less right now, in this moment, to buy junk food and processed food items, but when you factor in the long term costs of health care for diet and lifestyle related disease, it becomes very apparent that is not, in fact, more expensive to lead a healthier lifestyle.

I have to admit, though, even though I am a strong supporter of freedom of speech and think that everyone has the duty to educate him or herself enough to make wise decisions regarding health, etc. - I think that advertising junk foods and medications during children’s programs and allowing junk and soda machines in schools is outrageous and needs to stop. Children are very influential and may not necessarily understand why, physiologically, junk food and sodas can harm them. Adults should care enough about themselves and their children to make healthy decisions, but I think that it is safe to say that no one wants to live in a world where they are forced to eat health food. Healthier food choices should be made more affordable and available, but dramatically changing from one extreme of junk food and pharmaceutical drugs to another of naturopathic medicine and health food is not likely. The FDA has done its best to ensure that Americans believe that herbs and natural supplements are either unsafe or will not make them any healthier, despite research done in other parts of the world to the contrary. Gradual change made through education, awareness, and making better food choices available is more likely to work.

While I am hopeful, like Adams, that our government will begin to support more natural health initiatives, sadly, I lost faith long ago. I am fearful that the corruption of the FDA, the pharmaceutical corporations, and our government run so deep that the only way to recover from their virtual monopoly on "healthcare" is for the system to completely crumble before being rebuilt anew. They own the healthcare system in this country and they are not going to go down without a fight.

Holy Basil: The Incomparable One

2008-12-18T02:14:00.005-05:00

Holy Basil, the sacred herb...

Holy Basil, also known as Tulsi, is sacred and a principle herb in the Indian system of Ayurvedic medicine. In the ancient scriptures the Padma purana and the Tulsi Kavacham, Tulsi is described as a protector of life (1). Tulsi is also called "The Queen of Herbs" in India.

Holy Basil is held in such high esteem in Ayurveda that everyday use is encouraged. The ancient rishis integrated the use of Tulsi into daily life by incorporating it in religious rituals (1). The holy basil plant is sacred in India and is venerated daily by Hindus who usually have a potted plant in the home.

From ancient teaching to modern science...

Holy Basil is said to balance the chakras, or the energy vortexes of the body. The chakra system of Ayurveda, an idea similar to the meridian system of Tradtional Chinese Medicine, can become unbalanced or contain blockages which prevent the flow of energy from chakra to chakra. When blockages exist, mental, physical, and spiritual health is diminished. Tulsi is also said to calm the mind and body(1).

Scientific research is proving what the ancients knew to be true about this amazing herb. Holy Basil is classified as an adaptogen. "An adaptogen is an herb that is used to increase the body's resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue," (2). Holy Basil, and other adaptogens, are "nontoxic in normal doses, produce a general defensive response against stress, and have a normalizing influence on the body. Adaptogens balance the systems of the body (maintain homeostasis)," (2). Just as the ancients recongnized the ability of Tulsi to balance the charkas, scientists are now recognizing the ability of the herb to balance the systems of the body represented by the chakras.

Holy Basil has been shown to reduce cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol is a stress hormone. Elevated cortisol levels result from stress, whether physical or mental in nature as the body does not physiologically differentiate stress. Just as the ancients knew that Tulsi calms the mind and body, scientists now know that by lowering cortisol levels in the body, that Holy Basil can help to relieve stress and anxiety.

The Incomparable One…

Holy Basil is a cure-all of sorts in Ayurveda. Tulsi is used to treat everything from colds and flu to digestive upset and bloating (3). The plant is cleansing to the respiratory tract and protects cells from radiation. The oil of the plant has antiseptic qualities and protects against disease caused by bacteria, fungi, and parasites (3).

I agree that Holy Basil is the incomparable one. Of all of the herbs used in Ayurveda, Tulsi is my favorite. I drink Tulsi tea on a daily basis and take a holy basil tincture when I am under great stress. I notice a calming, normalizing effect on my physical body and over my emotions. Holy basil makes me feel balanced and uplifted in the face of stress and anxiety. I recommend dinking holy basil tea daily. Organic India makes a wonderful line of Tulsi teas. They are all organic and come in many delicious flavors. I also recommend taking a high quality tincture. Two excellent formulas containing holy basil are Shen Formula and Ganges Dream, both by Jing Masters.

1. "Holy Basil", http://www.organicindia.com/tulsi-holy-basil.php
2. "Lost Secrets of the Ancients: Adaptogens", Brennan, Erin, http://erinbrennan.blogspot.com/2008/12/lost-secret-of-ancients-adaptogens.html
3. "Tulsi (Holy Basil)", http://www.chopra.com/tulsi

Increasing Energy Efficiency - Winterizing the House

2008-12-17T23:48:00.010-05:00

A simple way to go green at home and to save money on expensive heating bills this winter is to insulate your windows. Most older, single pane glass windows are incredibly energy inefficient. Windows can either leak heat to the outside or, due to poor seals, allow cold air to blow inside.

We have recently taken up the task of weather-proofing our house for the winter. Once the weather turned cold, we realized how poorly insulated our home is and how drafty our windows are. We moved into this house at the end of the summer, so we rarely used our air conditioning and did not turn on our heat until it was absolutely necessary. Once we did, however, we realized that our house was being bombarded by cold drafts coming from the windows - which are probably from 1970 or earlier. Many of the windows do not even seal properly.

We found some cheap and easy to install supplies at the hardware store and sealed our windows to keep the warm in and the cold out. We bought foam piping to plug the area between the window sill and the frame and we got weather stripping for our doors. We also bought plastic sheeting to tape over our windows. Window insulating kits are available, but are much more expensive as you have to buy one for each window. We probably spent about $10 total on supplies which, by this point, I'm sure have paid for themselves in savings to our energy bill.

We researched thermal curtains, which are essentially very thick double layered curtains meant to keep heat or cold from penetrating. The cheapest we could find a panel for was about $20 each. At this price, it would have cost us upwards of $400 to purchase curtains for every window in our house. Instead, I visited the fabric store and found double layered upholstery fabric in many different styles and patterns in the clearance area. I chose some nice, neutral colors, and for about $130 I bought enough fabric to make curtains for each window in our house - and a slipcover for our couch.

So far, it seems that our winterizing efforts have paid off. Our house is much warmer than before and now I don't have to wear my coat inside to be comfortable. Thanks to the insulation and the thick curtains, our windows are no longer drafty. I feel certain that our investment of about $150 total (window insulation, fabric, and curtain rods) will pay for itself in savings to our winter heating bills.

Concern for the Male Population

2008-12-17T20:26:00.007-05:00

by Susanne Morrone, C.N.C.

(NaturalNews) Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, reports something is happening to men and boys which concerns scientists and researchers: fewer boys are being born than girls. How far-reaching is this problem? In a study by Dr. Devra Davis of the University of Pittsburgh, the combined figures for U.S. and Japan is a “staggering tally of 262,000 ‘missing boys’ from 1970 to about 2000 because of a decline in the sex ratio at birth.”Scientists are also puzzled why there is a lopsided ratio of girls to boys being born in the Canada's Aamjiwnaang First Nation. Interestingly enough, this community is almost surrounded by petrochemical plants. In Canadian babies, hypospadiasis has increased by 60% since the mid-1970’s. This is a disfiguring defect, where the urinary opening is on the underside of the penis rather than its normal anatomical position. Other countries are seeing an increase in this condition as well.From 1983 to 2005, young Canadian males in the 20 to 44 age bracket have seen a 54 per cent rise in testicular cancer. Testosterone levels in U.S. men have declined by nearly 20% over the past two decades. Both fertility and virility rates are down, including the shrinking size of male gonads.There’s a definite parallel in the animal kingdom. Man-made chemical toxins frequently assault males of different species with fiercer effects. Amphibians such as male toads are being feminized.University of Florida zoologist, Dr. Theo Colborn, author of “Our Stolen Future” and president of the Colorado-based Endocrine Disruption Exchange, offered her expert opinion. She fears some chemicals are impeding normal brain development, with greater impact on males. As an example, she cites attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as two to four times greater in boys than girls. She also feels chemical exposures could explain why enrollment at U.S. and Canadian universities favors females, currently at 60 to 40 per cent.The environmental impacts of phthalates in plastic inhibit testosterone production and possibly may cause irregular genital development. Brominated flame-retardants may block the thyroid hormone critical to proper development of both the testes and the brain. University of Missouri professor, Dr. vom Saal, said, “This mishmash of synthetic hormones - leading to too much estrogen and too little testosterone and thyroid hormone - is making "a mess of sexual development in males." He conducted studies relative to sperm health comparing various geographic locations. A markedly lower sperm count in males from farming areas verses urban areas suggests pesticides are to blame.Of the world’s 100,000 registered chemicals, many are endocrine disruptors, exhibiting toxic hormonal effects along with carcinogenicity. Even in mere parts per million, these chemicals can upset the intricate working of human hormones. Xenoestrogens are found in DDT and other organophosphate pesticides, PCB’s, plastics, bisphenol A, DES, as well as mercury and uranium. They’re in our food and the air we breathe. This continuing chemical assault from pesticide applications is taking a serious health toll. There is good reason to be pro-active in lessening these assaults as much as possible, and the effects upon men and boys is obviously a major one.

Source for this story:
Canada’s National Newspaper, The Globe and Mail
“Humanity at Risk: Are The Males Going First?” September 20, 2008

http://www.naturalnews.com/025076.html

Commentary by Erin Brennan

This article highlights the scary reality that plastics and chemical waste products are endangering not only the environment and the lives of animals, but the human species as well. Plastics, waste and by-products from processing plants, and chemical pesticides all contain chemicals similar in nature to the human hormone estrogen. While we all need estrogen, some of us more than others, the xenoestrogens that can be absorbed into our bodies by exposure to plastics and chemicals can cause significant health concern. Xenoestrogens act like estrogen inside the body and can cause hormonal imbalance and a whole slew of other nasty problems. Fertility problems are common in men with elevated estrogen levels. The size of the male gonads are shrinking and many male babies are now born with birth defects of the genitals - all because of the assalt of xenoestrogens present in our environment. Similar yet more severe birth defects are threatening many species of amphibians. Amphibians, who spend a great portion of their lives in water, have skin which is very porous and allows for easy absorption of xenoestrogens which make it to the water supply. The birth defects are often so bad that whole populations are at risk because the males are unable to mate and produce offspring.

I would also like to point out that xenoestrogens are not the only culprut at work here. Phytoestrogens are present in many foods that humans regularily consume. Soy is becoming increasingly more popular in the west as processed meat and dairy substitutes, and as filler for many processed food products, including meats. Soy and soy byproducts are rich in phytoestrogens, which, like xenoestrogens, behave the same way as estrogen in the human body. I am not in favor of the consumption of soy or its byproducts, unless fermented in the case of miso, tempeh, or nama shoyu (an unpasturized soy sauce). It is also important to note that much of the soy grown today, like corn, is genetically modified. If one does choose to consume soy products, it should be only organic, fermented products. The fermentation process seems to change soy into a form more suitable for human consumption. Men and boys especially should avoid soy products.

Another issue to raise is that of the incredible amount of hormone treatments used today. The very birth control pills that so many women I know unfortunately take are showing up in measureable levels in our water supplies. Menopausal women often also take hormone replacement therapy. Animals raised in factory farms are given hormones to increase their growth rate, size, or milk production. We are surrounding ourselves with hormones and their synthetic counterparts at the detriment to our own health and well-being. This is not only an issue of environmental protection, but an issue of ensuring the future propagation of our species.

Diesel, Made Simply From Coffee Grounds (Ah, the Exhaust Aroma)

2008-12-17T19:49:00.008-05:00

By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: December 15, 2008

In research that touches on two of Americans’ great obsessions — coffee and cars — scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, have made diesel fuel from used coffee grounds.
The technique is not difficult, they report in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, and there is so much coffee around that several hundred million gallons of biodiesel could potentially be made annually.

Mano Misra, a professor of engineering who conducted the research with Narasimharao Kondamudi and Susanta K. Mohapatra, said it was by accident that he realized coffee beans contained a significant amount of oil. “I made a coffee one night but forgot to drink it,” he said. “The next morning I saw a layer of oil floating on it.” He and his team thought there might be a useful amount of oil in used grounds, so they went to several Starbucks stores and picked up about 50 pounds of them.

Analysis showed that even the grounds contained about 10 to 15 percent oil by weight. The researchers then used standard chemistry techniques to extract the oil and convert it to biodiesel. The processes are not particularly energy intensive, Dr. Misra said, and the researchers estimated that biodiesel could be produced for about a dollar a gallon.
One hurdle, Dr. Misra said, is in collecting grounds efficiently — there are few centralized sources of coffee grounds. But the researchers plan to set up a small pilot operation next year using waste from a local bulk roaster.

Even if all the coffee grounds in the world were used to make fuel, the amount produced would be less than 1 percent of the diesel used in the United States annually. “It won’t solve the world’s energy problem,” Dr. Misra said of his work. “But our objective is to take waste material and convert it to fuel.” And biodiesel made from grounds has one other advantage, he said: the exhaust smells like coffee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/science/16objava.html?_r=1&ref=earth

Commentary by Erin Brennan

While this solution will not solve all of the energy problems the world might have, I think that this kind of innovation is a good step in the right direction. Rather than filling up our landfills, food waste such as coffee grounds can be converted into fuel. This is exactly the lines of thinking we should be headed toward in the future - turning previously unuseable waste products into something useful and even profitable.

Living sustainably and in harmony with the planet needs to become priority. There are so many green options available today - from green design, to composting, biodegradable containers and recycling programs, to solar, wind, and geothermal energy - that everyone is given the opportunity to live more ecofriendly. Daily, we are presented with new and increasingly more innovative ideas as to how we can integrate modern technology with compassion and care for the ecological wonders around us. It is becoming increasingly more profitable for companies to "go green," and with energy costs on the rise, more individuals are seeking out ways to lower costs and increasing energy efficiency at home and on the road.

And of course, when sitting in traffic, I would rather smell the rich aroma of coffee than noxious chemical fumes coming from the car in front of me!

The Benefits of Eating a Plant-Based Diet: Avoiding Animal Cloning

2008-12-14T12:52:00.004-05:00

One of the top news stories from 2008 was the FDA approval of “food” from cloned animals. I usually only attempt to show the health benefits of eating a diet free from animal products and generally avoid lecturing on the moral and ethical reasons to avoid meat and dairy. This time, however, I seriously doubt that I am alone in my outrage over this, which not only brings up animal cruelty issues, but religious and moral questions, along with a vast array of safety concerns. This is just another sad display of the FDA’s willingness to approve anything in order to line its pockets with money from the USDA and pharmaceutical lobbies. Time and time again, the FDA has proven how inept it is at enforcing proper research and testing into pharmaceutical drugs, and in many cases, thousands upon thousands of deaths have been the result. Rather than protecting the American public from cloned and genetically modified foods, which are being banned or at the very least, labeled in other countries, the FDA has given the factory farm industry the go ahead to sell meat and dairy products from animals cloned and/or possibly genetically engineered by humans.

Barbara Glenn of the Biotechnology Industry Organization calls cloning “a breeding technique that will improve the quality and consistency of food” (1). However, Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union, says that “data supporting the FDA decision are based on just a few cloned animals and include little information about their offspring.” Hmm. Imagine that. The FDA making the decision to approve something based on little to no scientific evidence rather than on extensive research into its safety. Michael Hansen goes on to say that “The vast majority of clones don’t make it to adulthood…There are a lot of sickly animals.” Such health problems among clones raise concerns about animal welfare and food safety (1). I’m not sure that I understand how sickly cloned animals will “improve the quality” of food, but I guess we won’t have to wait long to find out. According to The Wall Street Journal, some farmers have reported that the offspring of cloned animals have already entered the marketplace (3). But you would never know whether the meat you are eating is coming from a traditionally bred animal or a cloned version because the FDA determined that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring would not be labeled because it was “the same as conventional food and did not pose a safety risk,” (2).

Despite the FDA’s assurance, some companies have declared that they will not sell milk or meat from cloned animals or their offspring for fear over the safety of such foods, and to spearhead a possible consumer backlash fueled by religious and moral opposition to cloning. During a public comment period that ended in 2007, the FDA heard from more than 150,000 consumers who rejected the Agency's plan to introduce cloned animals into the U.S. food supply (4). Many polls show that the public's opposition to food from clones is incredibly high. A national survey conducted in 2007 by Consumers Union reported that 89% of Americans want cloned foods to be labeled. Additionally, 69% said that they have concerns about the safety of cloned meat and dairy products. A Gallup Poll from December 2007 reported that more than 60% of Americans believe that cloning animals is immoral. A Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology from the same time found that a similar percentage say, despite FDA approval, they will not buy milk from cloned animals (4).

There is concern from animal advocacy groups that the use of cloning may contribute to creating even harsher factory farm conditions than presently exist. "The surveys show that the public is morally opposed to cloning. Animals suffer terribly in the cloning process, and the FDA has ignored these issues," said Tracie Letterman, Executive Director of the American Anti-Vivisection Society (2). There is also concern that introducing cloned animals and the offspring of clones into the US market could have economic ramifications in the global marketplace (2).

According to Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety, "The FDA's flawed and cavalier approach to cloned food and its potential impacts called for a truly rigorous scientific assessment,” (4). While the FDA repeatedly claimed that it conducted extensive, peer reviewed studies on the safety of “food” from cloned animals, it turns out that the agency’s assessment only referenced three peer-reviewed food safety studies, all of which focus only on the issue of milk from cloned cows (4). The most disturbing part of the lack of objective research on the part of the FDA is that the studies the Agency sited were funded in part by the very biotech firms that produce clones for profit (4). Not one of the studies focused on the safety of meat from cloned cows or pigs, or milk or meat from the offspring of cloned animals, and there was absolutely no data on milk or meat from cloned goats (4).

Behavior like this is what we, as Americans, have come to expect from the FDA. What is supposed to be a consumer advocacy and safety watchdog, in actuality, is unethical and time and time again shows little real concern for the safety and well-being of the American public. The issue of unlabeled food products from cloned animals being introduced into the US market place is not only an issue of animal rights, but an issue of religious freedom, as those who oppose cloning for moral or religious reasons should have the right to know if the foods they choose to consume are from cloned animals. This is also an issue of economic stability as the decision to allow foods from cloned animals and their offspring into the market could very well create issues in the global marketplace. And then, there is the issue of the safety of foods from cloned animals, which we are still unsure of due to the FDA’s lack of genuine and long-term research.

What can you do about this issue? Well, if you like the political route, you can contact your legislators and tell them that you do not support allowing meat and dairy from cloned animals or their offspring to be sold as food. Or demand that food from cloned animals be labeled as such. I believe that the best and most vital way to make your voice heard every single day is to vote with your dollar. By choosing to avoid purchasing and consuming animal products, you are sending a message. Remember, those with the money make the decisions. If you don’t support what they are doing, do not give them your money! By eating a plant-based diet, you can avoid unknowingly consuming "food" from cloned animals. I really don’t have much else to say about this, except that cancerous, diseased, pus-filled, antibiotic-filled, hormone-filled, steroid-filled, and now cloned “food” is what you can expect to consume if you choose to eat animal products from a typical American factory farm.

1. “FDA Approves Food From Cloned Animals”, Webb, Sarah, Discover Magazine
2. “F.D.A. Says Food From Cloned Animals Is Safe”, Martin, Andrew and Andrew Pollack, The New York Times
3. “FDA Is Set To Approve Milk, Meat From Clones”, Weiss, Rick, The Washington Post
4. “FDA Approval of Clones Stalled by Passage of Milulski-Specter Amendment in Farm Bill”, http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/cloning

Addendum: Diet or Dogma?

2008-12-12T04:34:00.012-05:00

"Diet or Dogma?" is an impressively honest article recently written by blogger Brandon Gilbert, herbalist and co-owner of Jing Masters. This is my follow up and response to the issues addressed in "Diet or Dogma?" To read the article and Brandon's other thoughtful and provacative works, visit his blog.

I used to proudly wear the title vegetarian or vegan like a badge. I, like many others, defined myself in part by my diet. It was part of my identity, what separated me from all of the unsympathetic meat-eaters out there. It was not until I inadvertently submersed myself in the world of raw foods that I realized how dogmatic and impractical adhering to a strictly regimented attitude about diet is.

The more I opened myself up and the more I learned, the more I began to shed my formerly strongly held beliefs and ideals. I began to look at my way of eating not as a diet, but as a lifestyle. In a sense, not only do the foods I eat affect my health and well-being, the belief systems I hold myself to have a very real and lasting affect on my mental, spiritual, social, and physical health. Additionally, I began to realize that clinging so desperately to a belief system with rules and values defined by someone other than me was actually counter productive to creating my own health and vitality. I understood that in order to live the healthiest lifestyle for me, I myself had to learn to define what is best for me.

I am not suggesting that you discard the teachings of those at the forefront of the fields of raw food and health and nutrition. Rather, I am urging you to listen to the information they provide and the advice they give, process it, analyze it, and decide how it can best be utilized in your life. I urge you to listen to the way the experts are presenting the information to you. If they are offering nothing but fear and dogma and prescription, you might want to look elsewhere for advice. Someone who is truly in it for the common good, to educate and inspire, will offer information objectively and honestly without attachment.

This leads me back to the idea of diet and dogma. In my work as a raw chef and wellness coach, I have come across many people who, although well meaning, are preventing themselves from advancing to states of higher health and vibration because of dogmatic beliefs regarding what their diet should be. These people get so wrapped up in what they cannot eat, that they forget to enjoy eating at all. What they eat becomes all about what they read in books and what they hear from gurus rather than what their body needs at that moment in their transition. Granted, there is a huge learning curve when it comes to eating raw, but as a community we need to be encouraging and inspiring to one another rather than perpetuating this cycle of competition and guilt and shame. We need to help one another learn to listen to our bodies and eat what we need, rather than worry about maintaining a certain raw percentage or breaking from our raw diet. Everyone will move at a different pace and 100% raw is not best or even reasonable for some.

There is a lot of confusion surrounding the raw food lifestyle that, in my opinion, comes from the subtle percentage-related raw food competition. Many people feel pressured to be “all raw” or 100% raw before they are ready physically or emotionally. Transitioning from a junk-food vegan diet to raw can be difficult, but transitioning from SAD (Standard American Diet) to raw can be utterly overwhelming to some. Many people get lost in the mix, lose hope, or give up because they have fallen off the wagon. They are discouraged because they are lead to believe that in order to be healthy they have to conform to a 75% or 90% or 100% raw diet. All the while, the stress that these people feel to live up to this standard is flooding their bodies with cortisol and the guilt that they feel over their cooked food “slip-ups” is leaving them unable to feel the joy that eating pure, natural food can bring.

I have heard many ridiculously stringent things from people regarding what is and is not acceptable when it comes to raw foods. Many times, I have heard people say that they cannot or will not drink tea because it is not raw. In order to clear this one up, let me point out that many herbs are much more beneficial when steeped or even decocted or boiled than when raw. You cannot eat dried roots or a tea bag and expect to get much out of either. Herbal teas can be a very important part of a transition diet as they can provide nutritional support and aid in detoxification. They also make an amazing base for superfood smoothies. Just ask raw food guru and nutrition expert David Wolfe! He does not shy from making hot teas just because they are “not raw.”

Another shockingly ridiculous idea that I have come across is that you can never have warm soups. I have talked to many people who felt that, due to the discouragement of others, they were faltering on their raw journey because they had eaten some warmed soup. Some simply gave up on eating raw as they could not stay warm in the winter. They had been led to believe that eating a strict raw food diet was more important than their comfort, happiness, or peace of mind.

I believe that we, as a community, need to be more mindful of accepting everyone, regardless of where they are in their journey. No matter how far each of us has come, there is always more work to be done. Clinging to a title and pushing it in others’ faces does less to improve one’s health than learning acceptance and appreciation. I am not saying this to down anyone. Rather, I am speaking from experience. Often times, we mean well, but are misinformed. Yet, due to dogmatic belief systems, we refuse to allow ourselves to partake in something which may actually be of benefit. For many years, I refused to eat honey and I discouraged everyone I knew from doing so. This was truly out of the goodness of my heart because I was worried about the bees. Honey bees are disappearing from many parts of the country due to pesticides, disease, and the gassing of bees by inhumane companies that seek to profit from stealing their honey. It was also partly because I considered myself vegan, and was proud that I did not consume any animal (or insect) products. Little did I know that I could get delicious local raw honey from beekeepers who love and care for their bees. Little did I know that buy consuming local honey I was contributing to the local ecosystem by supporting the pollination of plants. By consuming local, raw honey, now one of my favorite foods, I was also inoculating myself against pollen, the very thing which caused me the most seasonal allergies. Looking back, I realize how silly it was that I let someone else define for me what it meant to be vegan, or that I was even concerned with a title.

Titles are like clothing. We wear them not only to protect ourselves physically and emotionally, but also to dress ourselves up – to make us look more impressive to others. If we are constantly concerning ourselves with what we are wearing, rather than what we truly are on the inside, then it will be difficult to move toward healthier and happier states of being. But if we can begin to love ourselves for who we are, if we can begin to move past the need to define ourselves by arbitrary titles like vegetarian, vegan, raw foodist, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, American, "foreign," black, white, and begin to see ourselves as human, we will inevitably be more happy, open, and accepting of peace, love, and radiant health.

Green Gifting Guide

2008-12-10T12:59:00.007-05:00

It is that time of year again. Time for wanton commercialism, energy wasting strings of lights, and ceiling high piles of used boxes and wrapping paper. Let's face it. The holidays are typically not a very environmentally friendly time of year. But this year can be different. Here is a simple guide to green gifting that can help you turn your holiday habits around.

1. Participate in a single gift exchange.

Instead of giving gifts to every family member, choose to draw names so each member of the family gives only one gift. There are many gift games that can be played as well. In order to do so, each participant must bring one general, unisex gift that anyone would be happy to take home.

Both ideas for gifting cut down on the rampant commercialism present during the holiday season, packaging waste that comes with gifts, and the amount of wrapping paper used. A solution like this also keeps more money in everyones wallets, something I know we can all be happy about this year.

2. Give environmentally friendly gifts this year.

Gifts from local artisans and shops are not only thoughtful, but keep more money in your local economy than buying something from a chain store or mall would. Fair trade, cruelty-free, and green gifts are available from many online retailers and usually from your local health food store.
You can also give healthy services rather than products. A membership to a local yoga studio is a great gift for that health conscious person on your list. A gift card for a massage with a local massage therapist is wonderful for that stressed to the max friend of yours. There are also many charitable organizations worldwide which will allow you to make a donation in someones name.

3. Think green when wrapping gifts.

Instead of using rolls and rolls of wrapping paper this year, use pretty gift bags. You can find recycled gift bags to place gifts in, and when the gift is opened, fold the bag up and put it away for next year.

I like to use patterned cloth and ribbons to wrap gifts in. You can purchase seasonal cloth and matching ribbon at your local fabric store for pretty cheap. You can either reuse the cloth yourself, or encourage the receiver of the gift to wrap the next gift he or she gives in it. Another great green wrapping idea is to purchase a pretty fair-trade scarf or hemp shaw to go with the gift and wrap the gift in the scarf. The scarf substitutes beautifully for wrapping paper, and whoever you give the gift to will be thrilled to get two great gifts in one.

4. Hand make a gift.

I have friends who swear they are not creative enough to do this, but I promise you, we all are. A handmade gift can be anything from a painting, to a craft item, to a card or collage, to a poem or story. A handmade gift shows that you put real thought into your gift giving, rather than just grabbing something generic off of a store shelf and swiping your credit card.

A handmade gift means infinitely more than something store-bought. This brings us back to the holiday spirit of truly giving of yourself to another. I have to admit, one of my cousins is an amazing artist, and I secretly always hope that he pulls my name for the gift exchange. He always gifts beautiful, handmade gifts that really mean so much. Everyone in my extended family knows now that if I get their name, that they will probably get a hand knit scarf or a crocheted hat or a painting of some sort, but I have never gotten a single complaint. In fact, every year, my cousins say things like, "I love the scarf you gave me insert # of years ago. I still wear it all the time."

5. Decide not to participate in gift exchanges.

I have unsuccessfully attempted this one myself, multiple times. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet and participate in gift giving so that feelings are not hurt. How can I tell my sweet little old Mammaw that she can't give me gifts this year? She saves up all year and it gives her such great joy.

However, you are in a situation where this is acceptable and you don't mind not coming home with more stuff to clutter your already cluttered existence, then I suggest opting out of gift giving all together. It is a radical step toward stopping the out of control commercialization of what is supposed to be a time of love, peace, togetherness, and unity with nature (remember the solstice, the changing of seasons and the pagan rites that many holiday traditions are based on?)

I hope that this easy to follow Green Gifting Guide has given you some good ideas and inspired you to go green this holiday season. Staying green during the holidays is not difficult, but it does require some thoughtfulness. Remain mindful of where your gifts are coming from and what they are being wrapped in. Ask yourself if you could give a thoughtful used or handmade gift in place of a new store-bought one. Best of all, give the gift of love.

Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1

2008-12-09T12:13:00.017-05:00

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps are at the top of my list of favorite products. The soaps are made from organic oils such as coconut, hemp, jojoba, and olive and are now certified fair trade. The soaps are vegan and are not tested on animals. All of Dr. Bronner's soaps are biodegradable and friendly to the environment. Dr. Bronner's soaps come in both liquid and bars, and are available in a wide variety of lovely scents.

Dr. Bronner's soaps have many uses! The soaps can be used to wash your body and your hair (if diluted), as they are gentle and do not strip your skin or hair of natural oils. I have also used these soaps as bath oil and massage oil (diluted with a carrier). Because the soaps contain no sudding agents, which can come in the form of harsh chemicals, they will not foam up when you wash yourself or massage with them. You can also shave with Dr. Bronner's soaps!

I have used the peppermint liquid soap with essential oils to make a wonderful, non-toxic bug spray for my home. In my backpacking days, I carried a small bottle of peppermint soap with me everywhere. It served as not only my soap and shampoo, but my toothpaste too!

I love the tea tree oil soap for cleaning my home. Tea tree oil is naturally antifungal and antibacterial, and has a fresh, clean scent. I refuse to bring harsh chemicals into my home, so Dr. Bronner's tea tree oil soap mixed in a spray bottle with white vinegar is my favorite non-toxic, biodegradable, kid and pet friendly cleaner.

As far as scent is concerned, Lavender and Rose are my favorites. Lavendar is great to use before bed or any time you need a calming and relaxing warm bath. Rose is one of the newest additions to the liquid soap arnenal, but has been available as a bar for quite a while. I find rose to be a very feminine scent and love to wash with it before going out.

If you are looking for a more masculine scent, try eucalyptus. I find the eucalyptus to be invigorating and skin-tingly. I love the newest Dr. Bronner's soap, Citrus Orange. It's fresh scent is delicious, as is that of the Almond soap.

If you love the idea of using organic, fair trade, cruelty free, 100% biodegadable soap but don't want to smell of anything other than yourself, try the Baby Mild. This soap is fragrance-free and is great for the sensitive skin of babies (but be careful because it is not tear-free).

I have a love affair with Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. If you look in my shower at any given time, you are likely to find at least five different bottles of Dr. Bronner's liquid soaps. I usually keep at least one bar of Dr. Bronner's on hand as well. I use these soaps daily, in a variety of ways. Dr. Bronner's soaps are not only incredibly versital, but for being organic and fair trade, they are priced pretty cheaply. I recommend buying the largest size bottle you can, usually a half-gallon to a gallon, and refilling your smaller bottles to keep in the shower. Not only is it much cheaper to do it this way, but you won't be wasting countless 16 oz plastic bottles in the process. Some health food stores even give you the option of bringing in your empty bottle and refilling it at their Dr. Bronner's station.

Not only are Dr. Bronner's soaps amazingly clean, organic, vegan, and eco-friendly, the bottles are printed with interesting quotes and stories to provide wash-time entertainment. I highly recommend Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps to everyone!

For more information on all 18-in-1 uses or to try Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, visit: Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps

Living Bliss Raw Food Launch Celebration!

2008-12-08T01:17:00.002-05:00

Living Bliss Raw and Living Whole Foods has finally launched a website! Visit http://www.livingblissfoods.com/ to learn about the multitude of services Living Bliss has made available and check out the full menu of delicious raw food and living food creations Raw Chef Erin Brennan is currently offering.

Living Bliss is offering a special menu of delightful holiday inspired meal items now through January 1. Take advantage of the Living Bliss catering service for your holiday celebration needs. Serve delicious, colorful, fresh, and healthy raw food to your friends and familiy this holiday season!

As we are approaching that special gift-giving time of the year, don’t forget that Living Bliss can help you give the gift of health to your loved ones! Living Bliss is currently offering specially priced gift packages and discounted gift certificates.* Visit http://www.livingblissfoods.com/ to take advantage of this limited time offer and give a delicious and healthy raw food gift to that special someone this year!

*Gift certificate valid ONLY directly through Living Bliss, LLC.

The Benefits of Eating a Plant-Based Diet: The Vitamin B12 Deficiency Myth

2008-12-08T01:13:00.004-05:00

I have been vegan for many years now, and have been forced, like many other vegetarians and vegans, to deal with the many falsehoods and myths surrounding plant-based diets. The first question I usually get is "But where do you get your protein?" The idea of a vegetarian not getting enough protein or having to combine proteins has been outdated for many years! Plant foods are incredibly high in amino acids, the building blocks of all proteins. Some plant foods, such as hemp seeds, are even complete proteins and contain the all essential amino acids needed by humans. The proteins found in meat and dairy products are often indigestible after being cooked and can sit inside of the intestines and putrefy. A diet too high in animal proteins can also prevent the absorption and assimilation of necessary vitamins and minerals, including Calcium (1). It seems paradoxical then, that we are led to believe that cow's milk is a good source of calcium. This also explains why the countries with the highest levels of dairy consumption - the United States, Denmark, Norway, Holland and Sweden - also have the highest rates of osteoporosis, bone disease, heart disease, and breast cancer while in the countries with the lowest dairy consumption, rates of these diseases are much lower (1).

The next question I get from people is "What about vitamin B12?" I have to admit, when I first decided to be vegan, this one got to me a little. So I did some research into vitamin B12 deficiencies, and I was very surprised with what I found. On the surface, everything you find is about vegans and how if you don't eat any animal products, you won't get any B12. But if you look a little deeper (or happen to take a college level anatomy class) you learn a little more about B12, what it is, and where it actually comes from. "Many people say that the only foods which contain vitamin B12 are animal-derived foods. This also is untrue. No foods naturally contain vitamin B12 - neither animal or plant foods. Vitamin B12 is a microbe - a bacteria - it is produced by microorganisms," (2). So there you have it, you don't have to eat animal products to get vitamin B12, only have good intestinal health, which unfortunately, most Americans are severely lacking. The bacteria that live inside of your intestines produce B12, which is then absorbed through your digestive tract. However, this cannot happen if your gastro-intestinal tract is not a conducive environment to the growth and spread of friendly flora (probiotics)...or if it is clogged with a thick, sludgy layer of undigested proteins from meat, dairy, and gluten-containing wheat products.

I still wondered how someone like myself, who was eating a very healthy diet of whole, unprocessed raw fruits and vegetables, could in some way be deficient in any vitamin when compared to a SAD (Standard American Diet) meat-eater guzzling french-fries, burgers, and soda. Then I came across this: "The author does not believe that a vitamin B12 deficiency is more widespread in vegans or vegetarians - this is probably just another marketing lie...In fact, contrary to meat and dairy industry propaganda, meat-eaters are known to be more likely to have a vitamin B12 deficiency - this has been known since 1959!" (3). Studies have shown that those on a SAD meat-eating diet actually require more B12 than those eating a plant-based diet (3). As vitamin B12 actually comes from a microbe living on the foods we eat that would be killed when a product is cooked/irradiated, then a person eating cooked meat and ultra pasteurized dairy products will actually be consuming very little to no B12, while a raw food vegan, consuming fresh, organic raw produce will inevitable be consuming higher amounts of B12. "Animal and dairy produce is a poor source of Vitamin B12 since they are normally cooked and therefore the vitamin is contained in nutrient-deranged foodstuffs which will inevitably destroy the usability of the vitamin," (2). A raw food vegan, vegan, or even a vegetarian will also have a much cleaner digestive tract than a SAD meat-eater, resulting in higher levels of probiotics residing in the intestines and increased B12 absorption and reabsorption.

It is also helpful to understand that "vitamin B12 can be destroyed by...highly acid conditions," (4). This means that the B12 in meat would be destroyed by the increased levels of hydrochloric acid needed in the stomach to digest meat products (4). That is, if the B12 microbes were not already killed by the several rounds of antibiotics given to animals in factory farms. Vegan and raw food vegans, especially, generally have a much more balanced alkaline internal environment than do SAD meat-eaters and vegetarians who consume dairy (both meat and dairy are highly acid forming).

So how can you ensure that your body is getting the Vitamin B12 it needs? Eat a plant-based diet rich in raw foods (at least 50%) to ensure proper digestion. "It has also been reported that vitamin B12 is present in wild fruits and wild and home-grown plant foods," (2). Raw food guru and author, David Wolfe, believes that the natural soil microbes and bacteria found on wild plant foods and unwashed garden plants are typically adequate to supply our B12 requirements (5). Also, avoid meat, dairy, and gluten containing products which create an acidic internal environment and effectively line the intestinal walls with a thick layer of mucus, preventing absorption of B12. Buy raw and organic to avoid foods that have been pasteurized, ultra-pasteurized, or irradiated. Include nutrient dense algae, such as Spirulina and Marine Phytoplankton, into your daily diet. Both are part plant, part microbe and may contain vitamin B12. Marine phytoplankton also happens to be the original source of omega 3-6-9, is sustainably harvested, and runs no risk of mercury contamination, unlike fish oil. I hope that this has cleared up some of the confusion regarding a popular vegetarian myth, that of B12 deficiency.

1. "Milk, the Deadly Poison", Robert Cohen
2. 'The Vitamin B12 Issue', Dr. Gena Shaw
3. 'Fit for Life', Diamond, H. and M., 1987
4. 'Human Anatomy and Physiology', Marieb
5. Sunfood Diet Success System, Wolfe, David

For more information or to purchase Marine Phytoplankton, visit: Elements For Life

Erin Brennan is a Raw Foods Chef and the owner of Living Bliss, a company based out of Louisville, Kentucky which provides fresh and delicious raw and living whole foods, event catering, uncooking classes and workshops, nutritional consultations, and wellness coaching.
http://www.livingblissfoods.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erin_Brennan

What is Elements For Life

2008-12-08T01:10:00.003-05:00

What is Elements For Life?

Elements For Life is a sustainably minded company which provides high quality superfoods, herbs, and mineral products. Elements For Life is also a multi-level marketing company (MLM). This means that rather than spending millions of dollars on advertizing campaigns, Elements For Life passes wholesale pricing on to its independent representatives and relies instead on grassroots efforts and word of mouth to advertize.

Why should I become involved with Elements For Life?

Elements For Life not only provides the very best in superfood products like maca and cacao, herbs, and raw chocolate, but also offers unique products such as Gold Rush Colloidal Gold and Revitaphi Green Powder. All of these products can be purchased at discounted wholesale prices simply by joining the Elements For Life team. You can also turn your membership into a successful home-based business providing you with extra income each month. The compensation plan Elements For Life offers was developed with care and generously and fairly provides commissions each month. Elements For Life operates under the principles of sustainability, integrity, and responsibility for the environment and the community.

Who can join Elements For Life?

Anyone can join Elements For Life, from the aspiring entrepreneur to the individual interested in adding healthy, high quality superfoods into his or her arsenal. Membership starts at just $59 and includes your own website. Fast start business builder packages start at $300, $500, $800 and up for those interested in starting a home-based business.

Where can I find more information about Elements For Life products?

Right here: Elements For Life

Erin Brennan is a Raw Foods Chef and the owner of Living Bliss, a company based out of Louisville, Kentucky, which provides fresh and delicious raw and living whole foods, event catering, uncooking classes and workshops, nutritional consultations, and wellness coaching.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erin_Brennan

Lost Secret of the Ancients - Adaptogens

2008-12-08T01:07:00.003-05:00

An adaptogen is an herb that is used to increase the body's resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue. The concept of adaptogens dates back thousands of years to ancient India and China, but modern study of this amazing class of herbs did not begin until the late 1940s. In 1947, adaptogens were defined as agents that allow the body to counter adverse physical, chemical, or biological stressors by raising nonspecific resistance toward such stress. This nonspecific response in the body allows the organism to "adapt" to stressful circumstances. Adaptogens are nontoxic in normal doses, produce a general defensive response against stress, and have a normalizing influence on the body. Adaptogens balance the systems of the body (maintain homeostasis), irrespective of the direction of change from physiological norms caused by the stressor.

In addition to protecting the body from the harmful effects of stress, adaptogens can help to decrease the feeling of being stressed-out and increase the feeling of well-being. Adaptogens can increase stamina and strength, and also help to shorten recovery period after physical exertion. One might notice an increased level of concentration and work capacity resulting from taking adaptogenic herbs. Due to the antioxidant content, adaptogens are anti-inflammatory, and improve circulation. Adaptogens can even increase sexual potency!

Adaptogens used in Traditional Chinese Medicine include: Cordyceps, Reishi, Gynostemma, Goji berries, and Schizandra Berries. Those used in the Ayurveda Medical System of India include Holy Basil and Ashwaghanda. Gotu kola has been used for thousands of years in both systems. Other adaptogenic substances include Siberian ginseng, also known as eleuthero, rhodiola, and maca, a South American root vegetable. The list of herbs with adaptogenic qualities is incredible. This is just a small sampling of the most widely used and studied adaptogens available.

Goji berries are not only adaptogenic, but also incredibly delicious, and an amazing longevity food. Gojis are loaded with nutrients and powerful Antioxidants. Goji berries are 13 % protein and contain 18 Amino Acids. They contain more Beta Carotene than carrots and more Iron than spinach. Goji berries contain 21 trace minerals essential to human health and contain 500 times more Vitamin C by weight than oranges. They are also loaded with Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamins B1, B2, B6, and Vitamin E.

Maca is a root vegetable similar to a radish that has a long history of use in South America. As an adaptogen, maca improves the user's sense of physical and emotional well being. Maca provides increased physical energy, and stamina without being over-stimulating and continued use increases mental clarity and focus. This superfood balances hormones by supporting the endocrine system and has been shown to aid in the treatment of symptoms associated with menopause. Maca is known to provide nutritional support for healthy fertility and can even increase libido and sexual functioning in both men and women.

Cordyceps mushrooms are a prized tonic herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine used for increasing longevity and improving endurance, stamina, and reducing fatigue. Taking cordyceps can strengthen the immune system, increase cellular energy, and increase nutrient absorption. Cordyceps can strengthen and tonify the cardiovascular and respiratory systems of the body. Taking codyceps can increase cellular detoxification, improve memory, and even increase libido and sexual performance.

Recommended reading: Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress by David Winston and Steven Maimes

For more information on maca, goji berries, and cordyceps, visit: Elements For Life

For more information regarding Chinese traditional Medicine, Ayurveda, and tonic and/or adaptogenic herbs, visit: http://www.jingmasters.com/

Erin Brennan is a Raw Foods Chef and the owner of Living Bliss, a company based out of Louisville, KY providing fresh and delicious raw and living whole foods, event catering, uncooking classes and workshops, nutritional consultations, wellness coaching, and yoga instruction.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erin_Brennan

Tonic Herbs For Immune Defense

2008-12-08T01:04:00.004-05:00

Although the doctors of modern western medicine would have you believe that herbs cannot have any healing effects on you (read "Media Censorship at Olympics in China Mirrors FDA Censorship of Health Product Claims in America" by Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com), in other parts of the world, herbs are highly revered. Western herbs do have some healing qualities, but the herbs I am referring to are the tonic herbs of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Ayurvedic system, and the healing traditions of some South American countries. Tonic herbs do exactly what their name implies. They tonify the systems of the body. Tonic herbs are an elite class of herbs which can and should be taken on a daily basis, with little to no risk, and no side effects.

Reishi: Ganoderma Lucidum, commonly known as reishi, is considered a "superior" tonic in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has been sought after for thousands of years, and to find it in the wild is truly rare. It is known as "The Mushroom of Immortality" and "The herb of spiritually potency." Reishi is antiviral, antifungal, anti-parasitic, and anti-inflammatory. Reishi has many bioactive polysaccharides, which are long-chain carbohydrates with medicinal qualities. It possesses anti-tumor qualities due to these polysaccharides. The extract of this amazing mushroom is hailed for effectively regressing tumors. Reishi can also help to lessen or negate the harmful and unpleasant side effects of treatments such as chemotherapy. For this reason, it is widely given to cancer victims in China. Reishi also possesses immunomodulating qualities. It strengthens the immune system with double ended action: it raises (or lowers) the immune defense to the proper levels without overstimulating the immune system thereby preventing autoimmune dis-eases. Autoimmune dis-eases result when the immune system can no longer distinguish its own cells from invading harmful cells and begins to attack itself. HIV/AIDS is a severe autoimmune dis-ease, but the very allergies which most of us suffer from are the result of autoimmune dysfunction as well. Reishi is adaptogenic, meaning it assists the body in adapting to internal and external stressors, thereby balancing bodily systems and maintaining homeostasis (balance).

I take reishi everyday. It has enhanced my life in so many ways, most notably, the way I interact with the world around me. There are less stressors and agitations, and I have more of a spiritual understanding of my place and purpose. Since I began taking reishi, I have not suffered from the severe seasonal allergies which plagued me my entire life. I encourage you to do your own internet research on reishi. There is so much information available about this that I simply cannot condense it any further for you...but it is out there. It works.

Agaricus: Agaricus, known as "God's mushroom" is another amazing medicinal mushroom. It too has immunomodulting effects, and is extremely potent. It is the richest known source of the polysaccharide-proteins known as Beta-Glucans (Beta-1,6-D-glucan and Beta-1,3-D-glucan). These polysaccharides are macrophage activators. Macrophages are the first line of immune defense in our bodies, the cells which seek out and destroy harmful foreign substances like viruses, fungi, yeast, and even heavy metals and pollutants. Anytime the viral load of the human body reaches a level which is no longer maintainable by macrophage activity, dis-ease results. Agaricus can be taken safely, everyday, without side effects, and like reishi, will not over stimulate the immune system. These tonic herbs are intelligent, and once you begin taking them, you will understand how they work with your individual chemical-molecular make up.

Holy Basil: Holy basil, also known as Tulsi, is one of the most highly revered herbs in the Auyurvedic Medical system of India. Traditionally, it is said that Tulsi balances the chakras (wheels or energy centers within the body), thereby balancing the flow of energy to all the systems of the body. Like reishi, holy basil is an adaptogen, and assists the body in lowering stress and fatigue levels. Holy basil has been scientifically proven to reduce the level of cortisol (a stress causing hormore) in the body. It can help to calm the body and the mind and reduces anxiety levels. It has also been shown to protect the cells from the harmful effects of radiation exposure. Holy basil has many health enhancing qualities and can be taken daily.

For more information or to purchase Tonic Herbs, visit: http://www.jingmasters.com/

To read "Media Censorship at Olympics in China Mirrors FDA Censorship of Health Product Claims in America," visit: http://www.naturalnews.com/023779.html

Erin Brennan is a Raw Foods Chef and the owner of Living Bliss, a company based out of Louisville, KY providing fresh and delicious raw and living whole foods, event catering, uncooking classes and workshops, nutritional consultations, and wellness coaching.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erin_Brennan

Yoga is for Every Body

2008-12-08T00:55:00.006-05:00

Yoga is becoming increasingly more common and widely available in the West. It is not uncommon to find a yoga studio in nearly every neighborhood even in smaller, Midwestern towns far from the bustling fast-paced coastal cities like NYC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Not only are yoga studios becoming increasingly more common, but the yoga modalities available in many of these studios are incredible. It seems that today, there is a yoga class to fit just about anyone from any walk of life at any fitness level.

I am an avid studio hopper, never wanting to commit to just one studio. I would rather learn from as many talented instructors as possible, assimilating bits and pieces from the many branches of yoga taught in the West today. I sought yoga as a technique to integrate mind, body, and soul. My path to yoga was a very spiritual one, so I tend to gravitate toward modalities such as traditional hatha yoga, and kundalini which focus not only on the body, but calming the mind and nurturing the spirit.

But for those who are simply interested in the physical and health benefits that yoga can bring to one's life, there are many options available as well.

Vinyasa is a style of yoga that was originally developed for children, who typically have more energy and would want a more fast-paced practice than older, more seasoned yogis. In a vinyasa practice, asanas, or postures, are linked rhythmically through the breath and are typically held for about five breaths. Vinyasa classes are great for those looking for something energizing and uplifiting and aren't afraid to sweat. Look for classes titled "vinyasa," "soft vinyasa," "power vinyasa," and "hatha flow" if this is a style of yoga that interests you.

Bikram yoga is quite the craze these days, at least that seems to be the case in my hometown. Bikram is a series of twenty-six postures done in a heated room, usually 95° to 105° F. Bikram classes are a cardio workout, and require strength, flexibility and focus on the part of the practitioner. Think practicing yoga in a sauna. Birkam is great for building strength and toning muscles, and is excellent for rehabilitation. In fact, the series was designed by Bikram Choudhury after a debilitating knee injury, which he was told he would never recover from and would likely never walk again. By practicing this series of asanas, he fully recovered from his injury in only six months. If you are interested in this style of yoga, look for a studio that offers "Bikram yoga" or "hot yoga." The series can be practiced at home, but not every yoga studio will offer this style as the studio room must be heated.

Pre-natal and post-natal yoga are commonly offered as well. While some prenatal classes are merely "gentle" pregnancy yoga, other prenatal classes are focused on preparing a mother's body for the stress and strain that giving birth will place on her. These classes focus on strengthening and helping the mother-to-be learn to calm and control the mind, as she will need to do during the birthing process. Postnatal and "Mommy and Baby" classes help a mother rebuild her body after giving birth, regain flexibility and muscle tone and can help alleviate the aches, pains, and stresses of new motherhood. Many classes integrate bonding time for mother and baby, and even stretching and massage for the little one. Such classes can serve as great support groups for the incredible life changes bringing a child into the world can have on one's life.

Yin yoga is an offshoot of Taoist yoga as developed by Master Paulie Zink. Yin yoga focuses on stretching and building flexibility of the connective tissue and fascia found throughout our bodies, and surrounding the joints. Most hatha yoga practiced, especially in the West, in considered yang in nature - its focus lies in stretching and strengthening the muscles only. In a Yin yoga practice, asanas are held for extended periods of time, usually three to five minutes and up to fifteen minutes, and are centered primarily on opening the hips and releasing tension in the lower back (the very areas which most people suffer from tightness and soreness). Yin classes, although much slower paced, can leave the practitioner feeling invigorated and renewed. Attending a yin class is a great way to balance one's yoga practice, and develop one's meditation practice.

Gentle and restorative yoga classes are both excellent choices for anyone requiring a slower-paced class or recovering from illness or injury. These classes are great for those who would like to practice yoga but have limited strength, flexibility or range or motion. Such classes often use props such as blocks, bolsters, and blankets for support to facilitate practitioners in their ability to do different postures. Most classes will keep to beginner level poses.

I love yoga and encourage everyone I come in contact with to at least try it. I know it can be intimidating to look at a list of classes and not know where you fit in to the equation. Almost every studio offers beginner level classes, at the very least mixed-levels. A good yoga instructor will make you feel comfortable and welcome. Do not be afraid to ask questions, and be sure to tell your instructor of any injuries or physical limitations you may have. Don't ever feel embarrassed about your abilities or level of knowledge. We are all on a personal journey, and go down our path at a different pace. Yoga is not about competition with yourself or your neighbor. It is about personal growth and development whether physical, mental, or spiritual.

For private yoga instruction, email: info@livingblissfoods.com

Erin Brennan is a Raw Foods Chef and the owner of Living Bliss, a company based out of Louisville, KY providing fresh and delicious raw and living whole foods, event catering, uncooking classes and workshops, nutritional consultations, wellness coaching, and yoga instruction.

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