Re-occupy your body or accept the 3 reasons to die for

Veggies on Wheels is the newsletter that comes with Pfenning's organic box and this time it reports on Pfenning's participation at the Guelph Organic Conference (which I did not go to because it's in Guelp and I don't have a car to get there). One of the biggest issues were GMO, courtesy of Monsanto. Apparently the majority of Canadians still don't know anything about GMO (which box do they live in?). The reader is then referred to the article Re-occupy your body and a pamphlet has been enclosed from Cban.ca (Canadian Biotechnology Action Network) with info on GMO but I talk about that in another post.   


I have not read the whole article yet because it's long but I'm sure it's good. The three reasons that are most threatening to our health, and according to the newsletter make up the primary causes of disease and death nowadays, are: 
- bad food 
- most prescription drugs
- a poisoned environment

Which one disturbs you most and which one can you influence the best? Go figure. 
I am not concerned with the second point (yet) as I don't take any drugs. The first one is half-concerning to me. I know we still do not eat completely organic.  I am not feeling great about our daughter drinking non-organic milk but she drinks lots and the non-organic costs enough. Also, I am sure we'd eat a bit more meat if the organic stuff did not cost a fortune. But it's not actually that difficult to eat healthy and decent food. You do the shopping, you decide what's in your cart, it's in your hands. And by the way, buying non-organic produce and peeling it in the hope to get rid of the bad stuff does not seem the best idea. You are still supporting the farmers who contaminate our environment and the bad stuff will go through the skin of some fruits and vegetables. 

The poisoned environment is a huge concern, especially with this government that's big on setting up environmental disasters. You can't really "un-poison" the environment and get rid of all the harm that has been done but we can slow down the add-on of chemicals and toxic substances to our air, water and soil. Looking around me it still doesn't happen enough. For example, when I cycle or walk I probably breathe in more greenhouse gases than the car drivers. That's nuts! I'm the victim of other people's polluting habits. I noticed that most people are happy to give me a ride (if I ask) but carpooling is still not very common. That's nuts too! Driving is just one issue, but you scan make up the list yourself of activities that harm our environment. And then start ticking off the bad habits you give up. This should become a mandatory, annual exercise for everyone. I wonder how slowly or quickly things would change and how big the procrastination rate is.  

Tools for change

I found this Canadian website (you can tell by the maple leave) that focuses on Tools for Change. I looked particularly at the Topic Resources and there at the first column called Environment. http://www.toolsofchange.com/en/topic-resources/
Seems like there's a lot of initiative out there to reduce waste, improve public transit, remove mercury from old cars, stop the use of pesticides on public land, electric vehicles ...   I have not found an initiative happening especially in Edmonton but I got a story to share. 


Edmonton actually tried to reduce the use of chemicals on parkland. They figured that to apply alternative ways to deal with weeds and insect pests they would have to spend double the current amount on park land maintenance. It has not been said if the city will go ahead with this. Obviously, this money has to come from tax payers but there are always lots of other issues that require this money and Canadians are paranoid about taxes too. Maybe municipal park land one day is handled like provincial and national parks - with user fees. You use it, you pay. You don't use it, you don't pay. Funny enough people complain about the user fees here too. There's a fee for entrance, for camping, for making a fire, for parking ... well, the money to run the parks does not rain from the sky. It's either taxes or user fees. In Germany we have a tax based system more so than user fees. People get used to taxes, the complaints don't last long. I bet almost nobody remembers the time when GST was 16% (now it's 19% - yes, they did that in one raise and it did not kill anybody!)           


Cars - recently I read an article about Manitoba's car insurer. It's a monopoly and the plan is to force people to recycle their old car with legislation. The article pointed out the impact on poorer people who depend on old cheap cars to keep or get a job. It also pointed out that lots of cars build before 1995 were more fuel efficient than new ones and therefore should not be replaced. Last but not least the retired cars need to be recycled and new ones are needed as replacement which puts unnecessary strain on resources, material. The Canadian government, though not forcing it, also advertises their retire your ride campaign where you can trade your pre-1996 car in for money or transit passes. Deadline is March 31, 2011. European countries have done similar things. I believe Germany requires car manufacturers to take their old vehicles back for recycling. Generally, there's nothing wrong with these retire-your-rides initiatives but it would be better if their were more selective - get the polluters off the road independent from the age of the car. 

home sweet home - good to know

Here a few more things from the same book, Restore, Recycle, Repurpose – Create a beautiful home, by  Randy Florke with Nancy J. Becker. Some of these issues I will write more about eventually:  

-         According to American Water Works Association 26.7 % of the water used daily in a single-family home is flushed down the toilet. --- How terrible is that! In Germany dual-flush toilets or toilets where one can stop the flow of water any time as desired are standard, meaning almost everywhere. In Edmonton and you guess how much further geographically they are still RARE and the old water tanks are huge. We do it the old fashioned way, not with a brick in the tank but a 2-litre jar to save some water. And as long as you are well-hydrated and alone at home you don't have to flush every time.     

-         According to Howtocompost.org, home composting can “divert 700 lbs of material per household annually from the waste stream”.  --- Impressive number isn't it. Half of Edmonton's residential waste is organic matter despite the fact that if composting is done properly it will not smell or attract rodents. And with worm composting it can be done quickly and easily in any apartment. No, we have not got the worm box yet but I am thinking about it. Still trying to figure out how to keep it out of baby's reach and within my reach.     

-         According to the Aluminum Association, Americans throw away enough aluminium every three months to rebuild the commercial air fleet. Randy suggest the logical, to stop using aluminium foil or buy 100% recycled foil. Rinse off after use and put it in with your recycling. --- I have tin foil at home but we only use it for the BBQ which we should properly clean instead and put the food right on it.   

-         Wood-burning fireplaces and stoves are not always energy-efficient, the burning of wood is considered carbon neutral, since no more CO2 is released than if the wood were to degrade naturally. Learn more at www.woodheat.org

-         Mattresses: may contain petrochemical-laced vinyl coverings, softeners such as Phthalates (carcinogen), polyurethane foam that emits VOCs, and potentially toxic chemical fire retardants like Polybromenated diphenyl etners (PBDEs), according to Healthy child, Healthy world. Look for mattresses without PBDEs, without foam interior that contain petroleum products, coverings made of organic cotton or wool instead of vinyl. Flame-resistant barriers made of fibre are better than sprayed-on-fire-resistant chemicals. Consider an organic encasement to put a layer between you and potential toxins in the mattress.  ---- very interesting indeed. Maybe an air mattress and sleeping bag are the healthier alternative. But I better find out first what the air mattress is made of.   

-        High-efficiency tank-less water heaters, though considerably more expensive, eventually pay for themselves in energy costs, which are up to 20% lower than those of traditional storage tank models. It might take up to 22 years to break even though.    --- We had one in Edinburgh for the shower and loved it. We did not bother switching the storage tank on at all, heated the water for washing the dishes in a kettle. The toughest part was for Dave to shave with cold water.

-         According to multiple sources, laptops use 25-45 watts of electricity when running, while the average desktop computer uses 60-250.

Almost done, only a few more no-brainers, just in case: 

-         Refill printer cartridges, unplug what you don’t need, use multi-purpose appliances (printer, scanner etc. in one appliance), print only if absolutely necessary, print on both sides and on recycled paper

-         Do not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers in your garden, there are organic options 

-         Use push lawn mowers and hedge clippers – does not cause as much noise either

-         Donate stuff you don't need any longer, try not to add on to the landfill, buy used

-         Buy a Christmas tree with the root ball on and plant afterwards, mulch or compost a live cut tree otherwise

It's all killing us

Have you ever noticed that almost everything we produce nowadays and the way we live actually harm us, are making us sick! – There are toxins in cosmetics, toxins in electronics, pesticides & herbicides in foods, greenhouse gases in the air from the use of fossil fuels, antibiotics and heavy metals in water, ... we produce tons and tons of waste and it's wrong how it's dealt with … the list is endless. Most of these things are somehow connected to human greediness and corporate profit-seeking, to people losing contact with nature and to the loss of community spirit.  Marketing, glossy magazines and TV shows suggest we better go shopping frequently, indicate what we must have, who we are when we own or not own this or that item, wear this or that brand, and so on. They reinforce thinking in status symbols, too. For our own sanity and the functioning of this planet we have to get away from that!

I’m afraid my child will be an outsider at school because I don’t take her to junk food restaurants, I don’t let her watch TV and play for hours in the internet, I buy her clothes at Value Village, I don't drive her everywhere … Do I want to do this to my child or will I have to give up on my values and give in to all the consumer frenzy that causes more damage than benefits? 

The green rule of consumption, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, is not going to work until we get back to basics and remember what we really need to be happy in live. Uhm, we might have to become one big bunch of hippies - without the drugs, please.  Love's a nice thing, if not the greatest thing ever.

Unfortunately the environment as an argument does not seem to cause much change in the behaviour of our society so I think that we have to argue with “your health is at stake” in order to make people rethink their actions. It's not even a lie! I am afraid though that some people have a bigger problem to believe this argument than to believe what marketing tells them and what politicians tell them. One solution would be to introduce a school subject called "Ecology" or "Environmental thinking" and brainwash kids right from the start. They would grow up to be the healthiest generation ever.