Hi - We're going to get passionate about the environment; so, grab a beverage, take your shoes off, sit down and get comfy. If global warming is an interest of yours - add your comments, subscribe to the feed and/or become a follower. Don't forget to check out the ads to the right side of the column. There is some very interesting material to be had there. Read, comment, enjoy!!!
Corn is one of the popular vegetables eaten today. What would a good movie at a theatre be without popcorn? Here are a few fun facts about corn.
There are, on average, 600 - 800 kernels of corn on each ear, arranged in 16 rows. That can vary depending on the type of corn; but, one thing is always the same, there is always an even number of rows on an ear of corn.
For each kernel, there is a strand of silk. When choosing corn, chose ears with a substantial amount of silk. This helps to find the ears with the kernels developed along the entire length of the cob.
A bushel of corn contains around 30,000 kernels of corn. (Who counted this?)
You'll eat (and drink) the equivalent of more than 3 pounds of corn each day. Cut out high-fructose corn syrup; and, reduce this amount drastically.
Corn is a great source of Vitamin C.
One large ear of corn (no butter or salt) has about 120 calories.
Corn is grown on every continent except Antarctica; however, with global warming that could change at any time.
Rizwan Bashirullah, a University of Florida assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, holds a pill capsule designed to signal when a patient has swallowed it in this photo taken March 19, 2010. The pill is needed because many patients fail to take their medication, exacerbating medical problems, causing unneeded hospitalizations and leading to an estimated 217,000 deaths annually. Consisting of an antenna made with nontoxic silver nanoparticles and a tiny microchip about the size of a period, the pill works by communicating from inside the body with a stand-alone device worn by the patient. Photo courtesy: Ray Carson, UF News Bureau
There are those who would consider this the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to Big Brother knowing our whereabouts at every minute. Get us to willingly swallow something by telling us it's good for us; and, before we know it, we're a moving dot on a blinking screen monitored by people wearing black suits.
I have to admit that maybe I've inhaled our polluted air once too often; but, I have some serious doubts about this "tattletale pill". Why would I willingly swallow something that's going to rat me out?
In the case of persons with a mental disorder that makes them forgetful, it would a blessing for the doctors and loved ones to receive an alert if the patient has forgotten to take their medications. This way, it becomes possible to make a phone call to remind the patient. I agree.
In the case of patients participating in trials, taking the pills on time is necessary to accurately record the results. Again; if a pill is forgotten, a reminder phone call can be made. Again, I agree.
Sensing a need to confirm that some patients have taken their medications, University of Florida engineering researchers have added a tiny microchip and digestible antenna to a standard pill capsule.
"It is a way to monitor whether your patient is taking their medication in a timely manner," said Rizwan Bashirullah, UF assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering.
The reason put forth for this type of pill being needed is that many patients forget, refuse or make mistakes when taking their medications. This causes or exacerbates their existing medical condition; spurs hospitalizations or expensive medical procedures; and, undercuts clinical trials of new drugs.
The American Heart Association calls patients' failure to follow prescription regimens "the number one problem in treating illness today". Studies have found that patients with chronic diseases normally take about 50% of their prescribed medications. The American Heart Association has found that approximately 10% of hospital admissions result from patients not following the guidelines on their prescriptions. Other studies have found that not taking medication properly results in 218,000 deaths annually.
Failure to comply with medication guidelines is one of the biggest problems facing those running the clinical trials. Bashirullah points out that failure to take the experimental drugs properly usually skews studies' results or renders them meaningless. To keep the results accurate, researchers often require visual confirmation that the pills have been taken. If the study is a large one consisting of hundreds or even thousands of participants, this can become a tremendous expense.
"The idea is to use technology to do this in a more seamless, much less expensive way," Bashirullah said.
The first part of the project is the actual pill itself. The capsule is coated with a label embossed with silvery lines. These lines comprise the antenna which are printed on the capsule using ink made of nontoxic, conductive silver nanoparticles. Inside the pill is the tiny microchip about the size of a period.
The second part of the project is a small electronic device carried or worn by the patient. In its present incarnation, it is a stand-alone device; but, eventually it is hoped that that it can built into a watch or cell phone. The device then signals a cell phone or laptop when the pill has been ingested. The cell phone or laptop then sends a signal to doctors and family members confirming that the pill has been taken.
Bashirullah tells us that the pill needs no battery because the stand-alone device sends the pill power via imperceptible bursts of extremely low-voltage electricity. These bursts of electricity energize the microchip inside the capsule to send signals via the antenna printed on the outside of the capsule. Eventually the patients stomach acid breaks down the antenna (is this really the same as digestible?); and, the microchip passes along with all the other waste your body doesn't want.
"The vision of this project has always been that you have an antenna that is biocompatible, and that essentially dissolves a little while after entering the body," Bashirullah said.
The team is said to have successfully tested the pill system in artificial human models as well as cadavers. I have to wonder how well the artificial human models and cadavers did at dissolving the antenna and microchip in stomach acid before passing the microchip through the digestive tract. However, it would seem the scientists are ahead of me.
Apparently, these researchers have simulated stomach acids in order to watch the progress of the breaking down of the antenna in an effort to determine what traces are left behind. Bashirullah said those tests had determined the amount of silver retained in the body is tiny, less than what people often receive from common tap water. So, what exactly was the role of the artificial human models and cadavers?
The researchers presented their findings at a conference in Japan last year and are currently at work on a scholarly paper about their research. They have applied for patents, and Bashirullah said a UF spinoff company is seeking to develop the next generation of the pill for FDA testing and commercial development. The research was funded by grants totaling about $700,000 from the National Science Foundation, Convergent Engineering and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.
As anyone who reads my blog regularly knows, I try to eat only environmentally-friendly foods; and, that includes my eggs. I have found an egg company in Canada that sells eggs from hens that have access to the outside, are NOT feed antibiotics or other poisons; and, are treated humanely. I refer to Rabbit River Farms.
I know not everyone has access to eggs from Rabbit River; and, that's a shame in my mind. The eggs are absolutely delicious and so nutritious. So how does a dazed consumer navigate their way through the various labelling claims to find eggs from humanely-treated, truly free-run, organic chickens if they haven't found an outlet already? The claims all sound so wonderful and chicken-friendly; but, what do they really mean?
Here's a short guide to what the labelling claims mean in the USA. Guidelines in Canada and various European countries will be similar if not the same.
"Cage-Free", "Free-Range", "Free-Roaming" The terms "Free Range" and "Free Roaming" mean that hens have "been allowed access to the outside", according to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). There are some third-party verification programs, too (see below). "Free Range" usually means the laying hens are raised in large flocks in big, open warehouses rather than in stacked cages. They can walk around, flap their wings and preen their feathers. Outdoor access is not clearly defined - it is probably very limited; and, on dirt or concrete rather than pasture. "Cage Free" does not mean outdoor access.
"Certified Humane" Humane Farm Animal Care operates a certification program specifying that laying hens are uncaged with access to perches, nest boxes and dust-bathing areas. There are stocking-density maximums; but, outdoor access is not required. Beak trimming (but not debeaking) is allowed; starvation to induce molting is prohibited.
"Certified Organic" Production methods must comply with the USDA National Organic Program including organic, vegetarian feed; no use of antibiotics; and, no cages. Debeaking and forced molting by starvation are allowed. Organic standards require producers to "maintain livestock living conditions which accommodate the health and natural behaviour of the animals". How much access to the outdoors this requires for chickens is still being debated. On large organic chicken farms, it may mean nothing more than a small door opening onto a concrete yard.
"Omega-3" All eggs contain small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids which are thought to be beneficial to human health. Omega-3 levels in eggs can be raised by supplementing the birds' diet with fish oil, flax seed or alfalfa meal (or by simply allowing the birds to forage on lawn or pasture).
Want to determine the freshness of your eggs? Compare your carton end to the one in the picture to determine Julian Dates for your carton. Access a "Julian Date Converter" to calculate the day/month pack date from the Julian Date by clicking this USDA link.
Animal pests don't like strong-smelling plants. Surround your garden with marigolds, zinnias or wormwood. To keep small animals out of your garden, cut an old hose in 3' lengths. Place the pieces randomly around the garden. These fake "snakes" will scare away small animals.
Peat moss is a good summer mulch for keeping moisture in the ground and discouraging weed growth. Now is a good time to plant a succession of vegetables. The main work in June will be fighting the bugs and weeds.
Do you have a television? Radio? Cell phone? Digital camera?
Chances are pretty good that at least one of these appliances is made by Samsung. If you don't own a Samsung appliance now, you've probably owned one in the past; or, will in the future.
With taglines like "Turn on Tomorrow", Samsung has gone from a little electronics company to the conglomerate that's seen everywhere. Although Samsung's products might be on the cutting edge of technology, most people are unaware of its crude and unfair attitudes toward worker health.
Family members and friends of these workers at Samsung in Korea believe that they have discovered a cancer cluster among young workers exposed to toxic chemicals.
USA Today reported that the company is desperately trying to reassure the public that its products are safe after a January lawsuit involving six people. All six developed leukemia and lymphoma they claim was caused by exposure to radiation and benzene, a carcinogen, in Samsung chip factories.
Last month was the 3rd anniversary of the death of Yu-mi Hwang, a Samsung semiconductor factory worker, who died from leukemia at age 22, but despite public concerns, Samsung has stonewalled.
The company says that Yu-mi's rare episode of cancer, the miscarriage in the worker that came next and the leukemia in the worker that came after that, all from the same work station, and all the other leukemia sufferers, 10 deaths total- are all still unrelated to conditions inside the Samsung factory, but the families aren't buying this line- and neither should you.
Despite its public commitment to eliminate PVC and BFRs from new models of all its products by 2010, Samsung has only offered up two phones which don't contain these toxic substances (Blue Earth GT-S7550 and Reclaim M560).
Yu-mi’s family, co-workers, friends and other concerned people have formed SHARPS (Supporters for the Health And Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry) to demand justice for the dead and safer conditions for the workers who make our electronic gadgets.
Care2 (an online community of caring individuals who use the internet to help others) has joined with SHARPS, The Center for Environmental Health, and the Electronics Take Back Coalition to demand that Samsung:
1) accept responsibility for the hazards of semiconductor manufacturing; 2) compensate those harmed; and 3) prevent future suffering and mistreatment of workers by making Samsung a toxics-free model workplace where workers are treated with dignity and respect.
Join us in asking Samsung to come clean regarding the chemical hazards of working in their factories. Click here to go to the page which contains contact info.
The following video was made by the workers and families of Samsung employees.
Note: No one is sure what actually takes place on Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing lines (because Samsung doesn't allow photographs in its semiconductor unit); but, it is known that too many workers are dying.
Consider this: over half a million women die each and every year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Over forty percent of these deaths are the result of obstetric hemorrhage – in fact, a new mother can bleed to death in as little as two hours if she doesn’t get help. It may come as no surprise that the majority of these deaths occur in the developing world, so common, in fact, that a woman dies every four minutes from obstetric hemorrhage.
Here’s what may be surprising: most of these deaths are preventable. The real problem is that so many women in the developing world deliver their babies at home or at primary health centers with no real emergency medical facilities. If a mother starts to hemorrhage she may be days, or even crucial hours, away from a real hospital. And by then it’s simply too late.
Dr. Suellen Miller, Director of the Safe Motherhood Program at the Bixby Centre for Global Reproductive Health out of the University of California, San Francisco, has dedicated her career to combating maternal mortality. Right now, she is focusing on the LifeWrap.
The LifeWrap, which resembles a segmented wetsuit, has its roots in an inflatable pressure suit developed by a doctor, George Crile, in the 1900’s to maintain blood pressure during surgery. Today, it’s on the cutting edge of saving mothers' lives.
“It works by providing compression on the lower body, and that compression on the lower body of a woman who’s hemorrhaging will reverse the shock that she’s in so we make sure that blood is now going to her brain, and her heart, and her lungs,” Dr Miller explains.
“It’s not treating the cause of the bleeding. And it’s not replacing the blood. She still needs those really major efforts which can only be done at most sites at a very large hospital we call a comprehensive emergency obstetric care facility.” In short, the LifeWrap buys time so that a woman can get to a hospital and get treated.
“It’s really an ideal device for low resource settings. It doesn’t require a lot of training. It empowers people both at the community level and at the lowest level of the healthcare system to be really able to do something,” Dr. Miller says. “It’s so, so simple, and so intuitive. People see it and they understand that it works.” It’s also reusable, Dr. Miller estimates by at least fifty times. “It’s bleached and washed and then put back to use again.”
Watch this remarkable video narrated by Dr. Miller that shows how a LifeWrap saved one woman’s life.
Dr. Miller and her team have used the LifeWrap in Egypt, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and India to date. She’s working right now on getting World Health Organization approval so that the LifeWrap can be used by U.N. agencies and be donated to governments – and applied on a large scale.
“We’ve used the LifeWrap on over three thousand women. And the women who have used the LifeWrap have had decreased bleeding and vastly improved survival rates over women with the same conditions who haven’t had it. We’ve saved 50% of women who would have otherwise died,” Dr. Miller claims. “This is my work. It’s just amazing to be able to save these many women and just make a big difference.” That’s some Mother’s Day gift.
I have previously written about Bundanoon, Australia, the first place in the world to ban bottled water. The vote took place in July, 2009 with the city getting full implementation by October, 2009.
Now, just last week, Concord, Massachusetts voted to ban the sale of all bottled water by January 2011. This makes it the first USA town to take such action and the second known town worldwide to ban all bottled water.
The effort was lead by Jean Hill who lobbied neighbors and officials alike on the consequences of plastic bottles filling landfills and polluting local waters. This 82-year-old activist used the Pacific Gyre aka The Great Garbage Patch to help demonstrate the damage floating plastic is causing to the marine ecosystems and their inhabitants.
She pointed out that there is an estimated 100 million tons of flotsam floating aimlessly in the Plastic Vortex. This nightmare of floating plastic and other debris has been named "the eighth continent" by environmentalists.
Armed with a study by the Container Recycling Institute which found that 88% of plastic water bottles are not recycled to the tune of 30 million bottles a day, Hill pointed to the alarming amount of waste and environmental damage caused. In the US alone, 60 million plastic bottles a day are manufactured at the environmental cost of producing massive amounts of greenhouse gases. Then, as if that environmental damage is not sufficient, it is transported (more pollution) somewhere else to end up thrown away leaching synthetic chemicals into the earth.
She also pointed out that bottled water containers are not redeemable although they are recyclable; and, unlike soda or other drink bottles she feels the lack of deposit refund may discourage people from recycling them.
Hill states: "All these discarded bottles are damaging our planet causing clumps of garbage in the oceans that hurt fish; and, are creating more pollution on our streets. This is a great achievement to be the first in the country to do this. This is about addressing an injustice."
Of course, the $10 billion bottled water industry is not happy with the ban and has threatened a legal challenge. Their arguement is that singling out bottled water is unfair when "thousands of food, medicinal, beauty and cleaning products are packaged in plastic." But this isn't the first time bottled water has been targeted.
More than 100 towns across the United States already prohibit spending city dollars on bottled water.
Photo courtesy: TreeHugger Click on picture and use zoom feature for enlargements.
"We obviously don't think highly of the vote in Concord," said Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association. "Any efforts to discourage consumers from drinking water, whether tap water or bottled water, is not in the best interests of consumers. Bottled water is a very healthy, safe, convenient product that consumers use to stay hydrated."
But is bottled water safe as claimed?
As the NRDC reports, water stored in plastic bottles for just 10 short weeks showed signs of phthalate-leaching. Studies indicate that phthalates block testosterone and other hormones. Keep in mind, no regulations exist governing the levels of phthalates in bottled water; and, it costs 10,000 times more than tap water. The irony here being that 40% of the water used comes straight from the tap.
The Concord ordinance is part of a statewide effort to implement new laws regarding redemption and deposit refund for a larger variety of bottles. Massachusetts' 29-year-old law only allows monetary redemption on bottles and cans from soda and beer. Bottles from non-carbonated water, iced tea, juices or energy drinks are not redeemable; although, they account for one-third of all beverages sold in the state.
Now, they are hoping to raise the redemption rate to 10 cents per container on a greater number of bottles. Go Concord! Go Jean Hill!!
Hopefully, more towns will take heed and ban plastic bottles.
Losses of managed honey bee colonies across the USA totalled 33.8% from all causes last winter (October 2009 to April 2010), according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Beekeepers identified starvation, poor weather, and weak colonies going into winter as the top reasons for mortality in their operations.
This is an increase from overall losses of 29% reported from a similar survey covering the winter of 2008-2009, and similar to the 35.8% losses for the winter of 2007-2008.
The researchers said that continued losses of this magnitude are not economically sustainable for commercial beekeepers. The continued high rate of losses are worrying, especially considering losses occurring over the summer months were not being captured, notes Jeffrey Pettis, research leader of ARS' Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's principal intramural scientific research agency. The survey was conducted by Pettis and past AIA presidents Dennis van Engelsdorp and Jerry Hayes.
The 28% of beekeeping operations that reported some of their colonies perished without dead bees present--a sign of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)--lost 44% of their colonies. This compares to 26% of beekeepers reporting such dead colonies in the 2008-2009 winter and 32% in the 2007-2008 winter. Beekeepers that did not report their colonies having CCD lost 25% of their colonies.
As this was an interview-based survey, it was not possible to differentiate between verifiable cases of CCD and colonies lost as the result of other causes that share the "absence of dead bees" as a symptom. The cause of CCD is still unknown.
The survey checked on about 22.4% of the country's estimated 2.46 million colonies. The survey reports only winter losses and does not capture colony losses that occur throughout the summer when queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced. Those summer losses can be significant.
Few of us give our liver a second thought. Yet this overworked organ is responsible for over 500 different functions, including: detoxifying environmental chemicals, storing certain vitamins, controlling cholesterol levels, metabolizing fat, and even regulating hormones. Now, more than ever, your liver may need cleansing to help it detoxify alcohol, tobacco smoke, environmental pollutants, food additives, pesticides, and hidden chemicals in your personal care products. Here are some of my top food and herb picks for liver cleansing:
1. Drink plenty of water with the juice of one-half to one lemon squeezed into it. Your body needs water to flush out toxins in your bowel movements and urine. The addition of fresh lemon juice helps to stimulate your liver to produce bile that helps flush out toxins.
2. Eat lots of garlic and onions. Your friends might stay away but your liver will love you for it. Garlic and Onions contain important phytonutrients that break down fatty deposits in the body. As a bonus: they kill viruses, bacteria, and fungi and protect against heart disease too.
3. Supplement with milk thistle extract. Milk thistle contains a potent substance called silymarin that protects the liver by inhibiting damaging substances that can cause liver cell damage. Silymarin also prevents the depletion of the nutrient glutathione–one of the most critical nutrients for liver detoxification. Both alcohol consumption and exposure to various types of synthetic chemicals can deplete glutathione in the liver. A typical dose for liver cleansing is about 140 mg of silymarin.
4. Take 1000 mg of vitamin C. While glutathione supplements are available, the best way to boost this important nutrient is to supplement with vitamin C. Give your liver an extra boost of glutathione by supplementing with vitamin C.
5. Take dandelion extract. Most people are obsessed with removing one of Nature’s medicinal powerhouses–dandelion–from their lawns. The Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism cites research supporting the liver-regenerating properties of dandelion. Due to pesticides and pollutants I don’t recommend picking dandelion root from your lawn. You can take one to two teaspoons of dandelion root extract or supplement with 500 to 2000 mg daily in capsules for two weeks to help cleanse your liver.
6. Eat Indian curries. Turmeric, one of the main spices used in Indian cuisine, adds a yellow-orange color to curry dishes along with a potent healing boost. Turmeric decreases cholesterol levels, lowers inflammation in the body, and protects the liver from free radical damage. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that can damage healthy cells. Add turmeric powder to soups, stews, and curries or supplement with 50 mg of curcumin, turmeric’s active ingredient to bolster your liver’s cleansing abilities.
I'm fortunate to have several passions in my life. I am absolutely an eco-nut. I am always trying to find new ways to reduce, reuse, recycle. We, as a species, have done more harm to this planet in the short time we have been here, than any other catastrophe or happening ever has. It's up to us to fix it.
I care about the environment whether it is as small as a single cell or as large as the universe.
I adore creativity and think we can all do more with much less. This earth has enough resources for us all to live comfortably if we all learn to share. Wasn't that a lesson we were supposed to learn in kindergarten?
I also love the bizarre, unusual, the weird and the strange. Be prepared for the odd "different" blog.
Photo courtesy: Bing 
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