Greater Self-Reliance in Health and Wellness - New Website

So I am finally getting to bring together my interests and qualifications and put them to good use! I have started a new project that aims to help people use herbal medicine and wellness tools to increase self-reliance in terms of their health and well-being. A little later I will also be offering herbal consultations, but I will tell you about that a little nearer the time.

This project is great because I get to do what I really love, follow my interests, and (hopefully) really help others! It draws on my experiences of the last several years, the study I have been doing, and the perspectives I have been, and am, developing. I am integrating my interests in herbal medicine, human development and well-being, an integral (or holistic) approach, and sustainability and self-reliance.

Sustainability and self-reliance I think is a really important issue: the signs as I read them are that issues that we are facing across the globe, such as financial instability, environmental problems, and a looming energy crisis, are not going to go away in a hurry. Therefore I believe that what we can do to increase our own self-reliance, and the sustainability of our communities and culture, we should do. This is true in many areas, not least in healthcare. What we can do to improve our health and well-being, and to manage simpler illness ourselves, will decrease the burden on our healthcare system so that it is better able to help us when we really need it. Of course, improving our health and well-being and treating simple conditions naturally is a good thing in its own right, and it is something I highly encourage no matter what the rest of the world is doing!

It is still early days for my project, but part of it is up and running and I am continually developing it. I will be running some online courses in the near future, with the first one being ready in a few weeks. What is up and running already is my blog, and a mailing list through which you can learn a new medicinal plant and practical tool for developing your well-being every month, and as part of that I have just started a free mini-series called Little Acts of Wellness.

Little Acts of Wellness

Often (and I know this from personal experience) it can be quite difficult to find the time or motivation for caring properly for your health and well-being. There can be so much to gain from regular exercise, eating good food, developing your inner self, your spiritual practice, your relationships, and your being in the world, but often life just gets in the way! By using Little Acts of Wellness you can overcome the time and motivation problem by making small changes or designing small activities that support and care for the many aspects of your being (that can then be expanded when time and energy allow). It is a useful way to get doing something rather than nothing, and to open up the possibility of sometimes doing more. Check out my post on Little Acts of Wellness to find out more and to join my mailing list and receive future installments.

Thank you for reading, and if this at all inspires you please join me! 

Do you know of anyone who may also be interested in this? Please click on the share buttons below or on my other post to share it.

Best wishes,

Mark

Ecosia

Good day to you all!

I have just found out about a search engine that donates 80% of its profits to saving the rainforest (working with WWF) and which runs all its servers on renewable energy (servers are hungry and hot beasts to tame). It also, unlike Google, deletes all of your search results in a short space of time and doesn't use them for marketing purposes.

The address is http://ecosia.org/

Pass on the message!

Thanks

Mark

Give a man a fish...

There is a proverb that gets used quite often, especially in relation to charities helping poor countries...

'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime'.

Well for a long time I have disliked that quote, for a start it shows arrogance on the part of the would-be teacher, who seems to be assuming that those that are hungry are so because they are not as cleaver as we. Of course that isn't always the case, and often it is valuable to share skills. But, and this may be the cynic in me, I also dislike it because it doesn't seem to match up well with some of my understanding of how things are and it ignores some fundamental issues. My version of the quote would be...

'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, try and teach him to fish and he will tell you "don't be stupid, I know how to fish, but the fish in the sea have been wiped out due to overfishing by the west, the smaller rivers are drying up due to climate change, and the larger river is polluted because of a factory upstream owned by a western corporation"'

Well today Andy Zaltsman provided me with a new version (on BBC iPlayer currently)...

"Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, but lease him a fishing rod and he will feed you cut-price fish for a life time, and that is a competitively priced labour market you have got there! Plus since you own the rod he better fish and fish hard, otherwise you can take his rod away, no rod means no wages and no wages means no imported tinned fish, which is now all he and his family can afford to eat!"

It seems to me that people, globally, often are not poor because of random chance or due to a lack of effort on their own part, rather, that people are poor largely because we have created a world that requires some to be poor so that others can be rich. This does imply a power to be able to create things differently though.

Thanks for reading!
Mark

P.S. Terry Pratchett has a rather humorous adaptation of this quote 'give a man a fire and he is warm for a day, set a man on fire and he is warm for the rest of his life!'

Dr Seuss's Copenhagen by Marcus Brigstocke

An awesome rhyme about the Copenhagen climate summit from the Now Show...

Dr Seuss's Copenhagen by Marcus Brigstocke

The delegates came and the delegates sat
And they talked and they talked till their bums all went flat
Then a delegate said of the country he knew
"We must do something quick but just what should we do?"
So they sat again thinking and there they stayed seated
Sitting and thinking "the planet's been heated"
"I think" said a delegate there from Peru
"That we all must agree on some things we could do
Like reducing emissions at least CO2"
So they nodded and noted then vetoed and voted
And one of them stood up and suddenly quoted
"It's the science you see, that's the thing that must guide us
When the leaders all get here they're certain to chide us"
So they sat again thinking about what to think
Then decided to ponder what colour of ink
To use on the paper when they’d all agreed
To be selfless not greedy McGreedy McGreed
"But how do we choose just what colour to use?"
Said a delegate there who'd been having a snooze
"We need clear binding targets definitive action
We must all agree clearly without more distraction"
So they sat again thinking of targets for ink
But the ink in their thinking had started to stink
And they started to think that the ink was a kink
In the thinking about real things they should think
"If ze climate needs mending then zis is our chance"
Said the nuclear delegate sent there by France
"We need to agree on one thing to agree on
Something we all want a fixed guarantee on"
"Yes" said another who thought this made sense
Some value for carbon in dollars or pence
But the mention of money and thoughts of expense
Had stifled the progress and things became tense
The fella from China with a smile on his face
Said "Who put the carbon there in the first place?"
"Wasn't us" said the U.S then Europe did too
Then a silence descended and no words were spoken
Till a delegate stood up, voice nervous and broken
"Is there nothing upon which we all can decide?
Because on Wednesday my chicken laid eggs that were fried"
"We all like a sing song" said the bloke from Down Under
But then the great hall was all shouting and thunder
Policemen had entered and were wearing protesters
Who they'd beaten and flattened like bloodied sou'westers
The police had decided to downplay this crime
With prevention detention and beatings in rhyme
The Greenies who'd shouted and asked for a decision
Were now being battered with lethal precision
All sick of inaction and fed up of waiting
All tired of the endless debated placating
They'd risen up grating berating and hating
So the police had commenced the related abating
Ban Ki-moon put his head in another man's lap
And was last heard muttering something like "crap"
But the chap next to him said "It's more like it's poo"
So the great hall debated not what they should do
But how to decide between crap cack and poo
"It is poo" "It is cack" "It is crap" "We agree"
Which was written and labelled as document three
"I think if we all find one thing we agree on
Then maybe Brazil might be left with a tree on"
So they sat again thinking of trees and Brazil
And of glaciers which had retreated uphill
And they thought of the poor folks whose homes were in flood
But less of the protesters covered in blood
They pondered the species so nearly extinct
It's as if they all thought that these things might be linked
"We need a solution we need action please"
Said a lady who'd come from the sinking Maldives
The others all nodded and said it was fact
That the time must be now not to talk but to act
Then Obama arrived and said most rhetorical
"Action is action and not metaphorical"
"Wow" they all thought "he must mean allegorical"
"I love it when Barack goes all oratorical"
"But the problem I have is that Congress won’t pass it
"Bugger" said Ban Ki then "sorry" then "arse it"
Then Brown said "I've got it now how does this strike you?
It's simpler when voters already dislike you"
He suggested the EU should lead from the front
So The Mail and The Telegraph called him something very unpleasant indeed
So the delegates stared at the text with red marks on
Ignoring the gales of laughter from Clarkson
No-one was satisfied nobody won
Except the morons convinced it was really the sun
And they blew it and wasted the greatest of chances
Instead they all frolicked in diplomat dances
And decided decisively right there and then
That the best way to solve it's to meet up again
And decide on a future that's greener and greater
Not with action right now but with something else later

Romania: The Cottage in the Forest on the Mountain

Living up the mountains...

When I walk outside at night there is a very real chance of walking into a bear that has come to raid the apple trees. When I go to bed at night I bolt the door, for although it is extremely unlikely, there is still a tiny possibility that hungry wolves may push open the door and come slinking in to my bedroom in the dark. I am living in a place of childhood dreams, I am in the cottage in the forest where stories happen, adventures take place and archetypes take form.

By the cottage is the well, here I draw my water. The old barn is close by too. The setting is complete. The children's stories of forests and bears, wolves and old cottages contain for me a feeling of power, and although they are written of things no longer experienced in England and elsewhere they inspire emotions that are real and can shape our internal world. The reality may have faded in a lot of the west but the collective memory hasn't. Well here in Transylvania I felt that energy, that power, nothing has faded, it is alive, well, and at night at least a little scary! Having a large staff when walking in the forest, and having a fire lit in the evening both feel reassuring. Again these both seem to have symbolic relevance too, they contain meaning within stories. Something inside me must also remember that fire can bring safety.

So here I feel like I am in a place of power, something stripped from England where we took away the danger and the power left too. To me it feels as if when you take away the wolves, the bears and the forest, with it goes the air, the beauty and the strength. We have tamed nature in the UK and we are left with just that - tame nature. England at best becomes pretty much just one big garden, especially in comparison with here.

Interestingly, when the two women who own the place moved here they hadn't considered their safety with regards to living in a forest, but security soon arrived in the form of three wild dogs who they took in and who now protect them. It would seem that the wild can also protect.

So the place where I am at is called Forest Garden Sanctuary, it is the beginnings of a permaculture garden and a sustainable home in creation, and I am volunteering here. Arriving here was most amazing, it is up in the mountains and there is forest all around. It is several kilometers away from the nearest village. The air smells amazingly fresh, there are mature trees all around, and nature thrives. On a warm day walking along a path many lizards will be scurrying to get out of the way and at night you can hear animals moving around. Although it is late in the season there are many flowers growing in the meadow, and I have seen more different plants growing naturally here than I have seen anywhere before.

At the moment the two women who hold the vision of this place and have been working hard (sometimes in challenging conditions) to create it are focusing on sorting out accommodation, water and sustainable power, and although they have a small garden growing food they are leaving food production on a slightly larger scale until these priorities are dealt with. Jobs I did here this time involved a bit of landscaping including creating car parking space, helping a bit with firewood, cooking, and painting (with homemade organic paints). I will be returning here in a few weeks to help out some more, and I am thoroughly looking forward to it.

P.S. Sorry for the long time without posts, but I have been somewhat preoccupied with finishing uni, recovering from finishing uni, and enjoying my time in Romania. However more posts will come soon. Meanwhile here are a few more pictures from the Forest Garden...

A local lizard...
On the way to the main house...
Sophie and I near the main house...
Sophie and I outside the cottage...
The wood shed...
A veiw of the forest...
A neighboring hut and more forest...
A strange yet interesting plant...
Apples, 100% bearless...
Sophie and two of the dogs near the main house...
Inside the main house...
A veiw of the cottage from the back of the main house...

"fashion is the antithesis of sustainability"

Welcome to a new era in lazy blogging: I find a really good article, I post it!

The Tyranny of Trends by Charty Durrant

Of course I can't resist airing some views of my own on the subject! But really, read the article rather than my stuff, it is better, I just rant and point fingers!

Anyway, it appears to me that many people claim to not follow fashion, while still actually following fashion: buying new clothes every month or couple of months because other clothes are 'old', or because they have been worn too often, or because they 'just don't look good on me anymore', or for the ultimate ignorance 'because I haven't got anything to wear', is following fashion. For I have not met anyone who has said these things who hasn't got at least ten different outfits in their wardrobes that are the right size and are not falling apart. If you don't believe you are following fashion consider any other culture than the western one (even how our culture was not so very long ago) and see how they compare.

The argument that 'I don't buy fashionable clothing' doesn't hold water because there is a fashion in 'ordinary unfashionable clothes' and a fashion in alternative fashions. Styles change, people buy new clothes, it is the same thing. Marketing departments would not be doing a very good job if they only created sales out of those who willingly follow fashions, so they subtly create stuff for the rest of the market too: fashions for the conscientious, fashions for the unfashionable! Oh and buying organic and fairtrade clothing does not get you off the hook while you still have clothes that are in one piece and fit (and buying nothing is so much more environmentally friendly than buying anything).

Basically, the extremes some people go to make a lot of us look very moderate, but compare our moderation to that of other times and other places and you will see how extravagantly we are living

Also, the article makes a very good case for the benefits of weening yourself off fashion, "We may look good, but we feel bad.". But "Once we dismiss the illusion of glamour and wake up to the power and delight in having less stuff and more time, we can embrace being more human."

Finally, a quote from the article: "As the effects of the credit crunch begin to take hold, psychologists have coined a term for heavily addicted shoppers who eschew food in order to afford the clothing they crave: ‘fashionrexic’". Wow! Scary, but still wow! Who would have guessed what us humans are capable of!

Hmm, so much for lazy blogging!

Positive Change II

Today I came across a really great article called The Great Turning by Joanna Macy. It addresses the shift happening within the world, from the "Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization". What I like most about the article is that it incorporates the different aspects of this shift; it has helped me link the jigsaw pieces together and has helped answer some questions I have had for a while. These questions include what is the point of direct action or protests (like stopping someone chop down a woodland) when the problem is so global and there are so many problems that we can't address them all? Or what is the point of trying to change government when it takes so long for any changes to be made? Or what is the role of spiritual change in the changing of the world?

The article lays out the three dimensions to the change that is going on: actions to slow the damage to Earth and its beings; analysis of structural causes and the creation of structural alternatives; and shift in Consciousness. It describes the parts these all play and gives examples of each. It is an article that to me helps create a more whole understanding of part of the change we humans are undergoing, and in doing this it creates more faith in the fact that positive change is happening.

I will leave you with a quote from Joanna Macy's website:

"The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world-we've actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other."

We have got to survive, and we have got to learn.

"NOTHING REVEALS THE thin veneer of civilisation like a threat to its fuel or food supply, or the cracks in society like a major climate-related disaster. But that, increasingly, is what we face: the global decline of oil production; a global food chain in crisis due to multiple stresses including imminent, potentially irreversible global warming. These linked, interacting dynamics are complicated by yet another: a rich-world debt crisis.

In Britain, the first six months of the Second World War became known as the ‘phoney war’ because at that point there was no fighting and the conflict seemed unreal. In spite of all the news reporting, I sense in Britain today a ‘phoney calm’ that belies the seriousness of these inexorable trends." (Article)

My thoughts: we have got to survive, and we have got to learn. Otherwise what is the point? To have got this far, and then to die. Or to survive and then create the same situation some time in the future. A better world is possible, it is also the only option available.

Oh and start a vegetable garden as soon as possible, because it may help protect against experiencing real hunger, hunger not felt in this country for many decades. We are not far from crunch time.

We are nine meals away from anarchy.

This article explains more and explains it well: Planet Crunch

Maybe I should write in a more gentle manner, but there is no point, there will be no more gentle reminders from here on in, the world will not be gentle with us. We must find our positivity in life, find positive ways of living, love is always possible, joy can always be found. But what is the point in tying pretty ribbons on rabid dog. IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS, it is a lack of awareness, and having a lack of awareness not only leads to suffering, it leaves you in a worse place to be able to deal with suffering - which kinda reminds me of a poem...

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
~ Portia Nelson ~

Chapter 1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in ... it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter 5
I walk down another street.

My thoughts: walk down another street
Your thoughts?

Sustainable Eating Challenge Part IV: The Final Day

I'm here, I've done It!

Well pretty much anyway! The couple of days I spent at CAT I ate whatever - people have got used to cooking vegetarian or dairy free food, but specifying the country where you want your food to come from would probably be a bit much for most people! I also couldn't take three days worth of food with me - ok so I could, but I didn't ok, stop judging me!

Oh and one day I ate egg sandwiches of unknown origin! Hmm, also brought some bread who main ingredients were from the UK but other ingredients may not of been. And then there were the crisps that were likewise.

But other than that, all was good! It all became second nature in the end, I became used to it. I guess we become creatures of habit and even when a huge range of food is open to us we tend to stick to a few common dishes, so whether you can eat all foods or only a type of foods the amount of variety in your diet still evens out to about the same.

So what have I learnt? Well, that eating locally is the most environmentally sound option all other things being equal. The problem is, all other things are very rarely equal at all! If you get foods that are locally grown but out of season the energy used in storing them might be greater than transportation cost, also if the foods you get locally were grown in a very energy intensive way (non organically and using much machinery) that may be worse for the environment than transporting more naturally grown food. Most importantly, it may be more difficult to get non-animal sources of protein, oils and fats locally - I couldn't get oils to use in cooking from the UK so had to use butter, and I also ended up using milk and cheese that I rarely normally use.

Lets have a look at the case of animal foods: eating meat is responsible for the largest environmental costs in food production, followed by dairy - this is because vast amounts of resources are taken up just keeping the animals alive. The following facts I found cited in the excellent book 'The Prophet's Way' by Thom Hartmann. I haven't included everything but if you are interested the full list can be found here where the proper author is cited and references given.

(The most relevant bits are in bold)

Distribution of food resources & world hunger

• Amount of soy grown in the United States consumed by livestock: 90%
  
• Amount of corn grown in the United States consumed by livestock: 80%
  
• How frequently a child on Earth dies as a result of malnutrition and starvation: Every 2.3 seconds.
  
• Amount of total US grain production consumed by livestock: 70%
  
• Amount of US grain exports consumed by livestock: 66%
  
• Number of children who die as a result of malnutrition and starvation every day: 38,000
  
• Amount of world grain harvest consumed by livestock throughout the 1980's: Half
  
• Number of people who will die this year as a result of malnutrition and starvation: 20,000,000
  
• Number of people who can be nourished with the nutritional value of the grain and soy used to produce the meat, poultry and dairy products by the average American each year: 7
  
• Number of people who could be fed using the land, water and energy that would be freed up from growing livestock if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100,000,000
  

Resource utilization

• By 1977, the amount of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by the US, devoted to the production of livestock: one-third
  
• Pounds of grain and soy used to produce 1 pound of food from: Beef 16, Pork 6, Turkey 4, Chicken/egg 16
• Amount of nutrient wasted by cycling grain and soy through livestock: Protein 99%, Carbohydrate 99%, Fiber 100%
  

Land utilization

• Amount of Earth's land mass grazed by livestock: one-half
  
• Amount of US cropland producing livestock feed: 64%
  
• Amount of US cropland and producing fruits and vegetables: 2%
• Pounds of edible product that can be produced on one acre of prime land: Cherries 5000, Green beans 10000, Apples 20000, Carrots 30000, Potatoes 40,000, Tomatoes 50000, Celery 60000, Beef 250
  

Energy consumption

• Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78
• Calories of fossil fuel expended to produce 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
  
• Amount of total energy expended in American agriculture devoted to livestock production: almost half
  
• Energy expended to produce one pound of grain-fed beef: equivalent to one gallon of gasoline
  

Water consumption

• Activity that accounts for more than half of all water consumed for all purposes in the United States: livestock production
  
• In California, the number of gallons needed to produce 1 edible pound of: Tomatoes 23, Lettuce 23, Potatoes 24, Wheat 25, Carrots 33, Apples 49, Oranges 65, Grapes 70, Milk 130, Eggs 544, Chicken 815, Pork 1630, Beef 5214
• How long it takes a person to use 5200 gallons of water showering (at 5 showers per week, 5 minutes per shower, with a flow rate of 4 gallons per minute) : One year
  

Soil erosion

• Current annual topsoil loss on agriculture land in the US: Over 5 billion tons
• Amount of original US cropland permanently removed from production due to excessive soil erosion: one third
• Pounds of topsoil lost in the production of one pound of feedlot steak: 35
• Current annual topsoil loss on agriculture land worldwide: 26 billions tons
• Time required for nature to form one inch of topsoil: 200 to 1000 years
• Direct and indirect costs of soil erosion and runoff in the US annually: 44 billion
• Historic cause of demise of many great civilizations: Topsoil depletion
  

Desertification

• Regions most effected by desertification: All cattle-producing areas, including the western half of the United States, Central and South America, Australia and sub-Saharan Africa.
• Amount of Earth's land rendered unproductive by desertification annually: 52 million acres
• Percentage of Earth land mass suffering desertification: 29%
• The five leading causes of desertification: Overgrazing of livestock, over-cultivation of land, improper irrigation techniques, deforestation, prevention of reforestation
  
• Primary contributing factor in all cases: Cattle production.
  

Rainforests

• Estimated area of rainforest destroyed annually: 125,000 square miles.
• Amount of meat imported in 1987 by US from Central and South America: 300 million pounds
• Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests and related habitats: 1,000/year
• Amount of medicines available today that have been derived from plants: one-quarter
• Leading cause of rainforest destruction in Central America: Cattle production
• Amount of Central American rainforests cleared to create pastureland for cattle: 25%
• Monetary value of 50 years harvest from one hectare of naturally occurring rainforest produce: $6,330
• Monetary value of 50 years production of cattle ranching from one hectare of cleared and burned rainforest: $2,960

Carbon dioxide

• Amount of global carbon dioxide emissions created by the burning of fossil fuels: two-thirds
• Amount of fossil fuels burned to produce the beef currently eaten annually by the average US family of four: 200 gallons
• Amount of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere by burning 200 gallons of fossil fuels: 2 tons
• Amount of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere by the average American car in six months: 2.5 tons
• Estimated atmospheric carbon dioxide released in the production of an average steak: The same as a 25-mile drive in a typical American car.
• Amount of global carbon dioxide emissions created by the burning of biomass: one third
• Amount of carbon dioxide released since 1970 from rainforest cleared and burned for cattle pasture: 1.4 billion tons

Water pollution

• Production of excrement by US livestock: 230.000 pounds per second
  
• Amount of waste created by 10.000-head feedlot: Equal to a city of 110.000 people
• Amount of wells and surface streams in the US contaminated by agriculture pollutants: half
• Water pollution attributable to US agriculture, including runoff of soil, pesticides and manure: greater than all municipal and industrial sources combined
  

Pesticides

• Increase in overall pesticide use since 1945 (when petrochemical based agriculture became popular): 3300%
• Increase in overall crop losses due to insects since 1945: 20%
• Increase in the amount of pesticides applied per acre of corn since 1945: 100000%
  
• Increase in corn crop losses since 1945: 400%
• Amount of total herbicides used that are applied to corn and soybeans (primarily feed crops): 61%

Health

• Calcium content in various foods (per 100g): Broccoli 246, Kale 74, Chickpeas 75, Soybeans 131, Sunflower seeds 40, Hazel nuts 60, Cow milk 28, Eggs 27, Cheese 100/350
• Diseases linked to excess animal protein consumption: Osteoporosis and kidney disease
• The average measurable bone loss of female meat-eaters at age 65: 35%
  
• The average measurable bone loss of female vegetarians at age 65: 18%
  

Pesticides

• Major source of pesticide residues in the western diet: meat, poultry and dairy products
• Food most likely to cause cancer from herbicide residue: Beef
• Number of slaughtered animals tested for toxic chemical residues: One in every quarter million
• Amount of US non-vegetarian mother's milk with significant levels of DDT: 99%
• Amount of US vegetarian mother's milk with significant levels of DDT: 8%
  

Antibiotics, Hormones and other Drugs

• Amount of total antibiotics need in US that are fed on livestock: 55%
• Staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13%, in 1988 91%
• Major contributing cause: The breeding of antibiotic resistant bacteria in factory farms due to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock
• Amount of US livestock and poultry receiving drugs during their lifetime: 80%
• Amount of FDA (Federal Drug Administration) that failed to verify the data on the safety of new drugs used on animals to the General Accounting Office (US) : 54%
• Effectiveness of the FDA data review process: highly questionable as it is made to detect fraud in reports on new drugs
• Substances found in 63% to 86% of milk samples in 1991: Sulfa drugs, tetracycline and other antibiotics
• Potential cancer-causing substances detected in recent years in the meat supply: choramphenicol, cabadox, nitrofurazone, dimitridazole, and ipronidazole

Sooooooooooo, it can be be concluded that as I ended up eating more dairy food on this diet that some of the benefits of me eating local food have been offset!

Basically then, the best diet environmentally (and probably also healthwise) is one where meat and dairy are minimised and where local, organic, in season food is consumed and ideally (for health as much as anything) in its least manufactured form.

So where do I go from here? Well, I think I will largely continue with eating UK foods, such as, jacket potatoes and mushy peas, maple peas and barley and homemade apple cake, which are a few of my favorites. But I will use olive oil and oat milk instead of the dairy (which didn't seem to agree with me anyway). I will continue eating organic, local and in season vegetables. Although I will not eat foods from abroad as a major part of my diet I will at times treat myself to some such food, for example, chocolate! In fact, I may just stay up till past midnight tonight to do just that!

The Centre for Alternative Technology

Image of eco-cabins robbed recycled from CAT's website

This weekend, together with a bunch of cool people from Green and Away, I stopped in an eco-cabin at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales.

The place is set in a beautiful wooded valley and the site itself is full of life, with trees and many plants growing up, and a lot of wildlife flying, scurrying, croaking and clucking around. This in itself is quite surprising considering the majority of the site evolved atop a slag heap of waste material from a slate mine!

What is most inspiring about the place is that it has been created by a bunch of committed people, containing many specialists in their field, who find out about or invent technology that may help people live sustainably, build it, try it out and see what works. They then share the knowledge that they gain and train others in using it.

This has resulted in a lush site full of many interesting things: living and working spaces that are beautiful, energy efficient and built in sustainable ways; pollution-free ways of powering everything such as microhydro, wind power and the like; sand filtered water from a reservoir; organic food and herb gardens; amazing ways of treating waste, such as reed beds for a very ornate and healthy way of treating sewage; and many other things. The site works so well that they are actually net exporters of power, providing the rest of the electric grid with more energy. Neither do they require mains water or any help dealing with sewerage. They started out with very, very little money too.

It is quite amazing to see what is possible. Often we live in dull buildings in ugly cities, that are hugely inefficient, very polluting, isolating, harmful to life and just generally not that pleasant to live in. But we could be living in such beautiful places within a happy, supportive community where life could thrive, oh, and accidentally save the world¹ while doing it!

¹ humans' place in the world

Happy Valentine's day, or not! (It all depends where you get your gold)

"The production of one gold ring generates on average, 20 tons of mine waste. Gold mining has been linked to violent conflict, has displaced people off their lands and traditional livelihoods, and poisoned waterways with toxic chemicals" (Earthworks article)

But if you are a traditionalist (if indeed gold rings are traditional) all is not lost, because you can get responsibly sourced gold (the above site will probably tell you more)

Anyway, I now know why Mordor in the Lord of The Rings is so dark, why little grows and the inhabitants are angry and twisted - Sauron did not follow The Golden Rules set out by the No Dirty Gold campaign!

I can just imagine Sauron (or the Eye of Sauron) sat at his laptop in the depths of Mordor peering at the No Dirty Gold website reading "As an industry leader, you have a real opportunity to be at the leading edge of the jewelry industry when it comes assuring..."!

Sustainable Eating Challenge Part III

OK, so far it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. The first day I was pretty ecstatic trying out new recipes, such as the spelt pancake with apple and honey, but when it came to trying out the split peas which I had in a stew in the evening things starting looking a bit bleak. The thought of only being able to eat split peas for a month is something I hope none of you have to consider!

However, things quickly started looking up again when my unleavened bread and my biscuits came out of the oven - I could do this thing! A day or so later things again were not looking good, the excitement of pancakes and biscuits had past and the reality of not being able to eat chocolate for the next few weeks had hit - the North of England sadly isn't known for its cocoa plantations!

Again though, things picked back up - I discovered an unlikely comfort food: mashed potatoes (and other vegetabls) with fried eggs. Quick to make and tasty, it makes all things well again! Added to this is the discovery that maple peas are actually really nice and that they go well with butter, barley and vegetables. My liking of apples has also increased, and today I found some British pears which will make a positive addition to the diet.

I also decided to get some yogurt today. I don't normally have much dairy, but as my diet is quite constricted I thought this would help give me more variety.

It has also been the case that I have had to buy more non-organic food than normal - it would seem that often organic food is imported whereas its non-organic counterpart is more easily available from this country.

NEWS JUST IN: While I have been writing this blog my carrot and honey cake has finished cooking and it has turned out beautifully. The need for chocolate has been staved off for another day! I can make this, one day at a time!

(Part I and Part II are here)

Connecting Through Food: Sustainable Eating Challenge Part II

Tomorrow I begin only eating food grown in the UK. (See original Mark's Sustainable Eating Challenge post).

I was feeling seriously concerned over the lack of UK foods available in the shops, but today things are looking much better. I have found a source of split peas, maple peas and marrowfat peas, all good sources of protein and all grown in the UK. The maple peas were a bit of a find, apparently parched peas made from maple peas is a local traditional dish - with the city I'm living in (Preston) being mentioned repeatedly in the places I was looking for information.

I have also now got UK grown spelt and rye flour. UK honey and UK barley malt.

So I am feeling really excited now, and there is this feeling of naturalness, of power, of connectedness. I have a strong feeling that over the next few weeks my roots are going to grow deep into the ground of where I am, powerful, thick, deep roots, like that of an oak, that is going to ground me and provide me with much nutrients and energy. It is amazing, feeling like this makes me wonder how people cope with eating international food all the time - it must make people, indeed has made me, kind of spread out, weaker, lacking a powerful connection. Well that is how I feel right now, it will be interesting to see how it goes, but wow I'm excited!

A few dishes I am looking forward to trying...

Split pea, barley and vegetable stew.
Unleavened honey rye bread.
Spelt pancakes with stewed apple and barley malt.

Mark's Sustainable Eating Challenge

The challenge:

• To eat nothing but food grown in the UK.

Additional factors:

• Vegetarianism and limiting dairy, eating organic.

Length of challenge:

• Four weeks.

As part of my uni course we have a nutrition module, as part of that we have to put ourselves on a diet. For mine I chose this. I believe learning to live locally is the only sustainable way of living right now and will be the only way of maintaining a secure food supply in the future. However, a large part of the food I eat is from abroad. In the last two days I have eaten food from the UK, Turkey, Swaziland, Spain, Germany, Canada, Italy, Holland, the Dominican Republic and many other countries that were not listed on the food - and this is the norm, or even better than the norm as I do already get all my vegetables locally.

I am really excited about undertaking this challenge, although after looking around my local health food shop and my local supermarket I realise it will not be easy as very, very few of the foods that I looked at were from the UK. I have a good supply of vegetables, as I am a member of an organic box scheme that delivers organic vegetables to me weekly that are all grown in the UK (Abel & Cole), but other than that it will be a real challenge.

I should be reasonably ok with getting grains, as wheat, barley and oats are grown here, but getting enough proteins will be difficult - so far all I have found is local organic eggs. My normal sources of protein such as lentils, chickpeas and many nuts and seeds are all imported and I am yet to find UK equivalents. I will of course have to cook most things from scratch and will not be able to buy snacks or anything like that as all of these food items contain ingredients from various countries, often with them not being listed.

I start next Tuesday and I will keep you updated as to how I'm doing. If you know of any good UK food or have useful recipes please let me know, I need all the help I can get!!

Medicine, Money, Malaria and You!

The production and supply of pharmaceutical products is an entirely commercial venture, or in other words, your medicine is supplied by those who have to put profit before social and environmental costs. In the words of the Director of Roche in Korea "We are not in business to save lives, but to make money. Saving lives is not our business."

I have discussed before the problem of pharmaceutical companies manipulating the medical profession in order to make money (see here), but in this post I will address the issue of the provision of health care, of who gets treatment and who doesn't, of who lives and who dies.

In an article in the Independent today it was stated that the weak value of the pound could lead to a shortage of drugs in the UK as imports become less profitable and exports more profitable (see article). Basically, you may not get the medicines you need on time because the money market dictated otherwise. This situation is, however, a very positive one compared to how it is in some other countries or how it could be here in the future.

I first became aware of this problem a few years back, about the time I was becoming interested in studying herbal medicine, when I went to a seminar on using natural medicines in the tropics. The seminar was run by an amazing charity call Anamed (www.anamed.net), whose basic aim is to educate people who may not have access to medicines, such as in parts of Africa, to be able to treat common conditions, such as malaria, effectively with herbs. It was when reading up on the information for this seminar that I found out about the problems concerning the provision of medical treatment and realised how they might apply to Western countries in the future.

In parts of Africa the reasons for the lack of medicines can be many, though mainly it comes down to money. Often drugs are simply not affordable. In some cases where a person can buy the drugs even simple medication may cost a month's wage. In other cases it is the problem of infrastructure that makes drugs inaccessible - health centers are too far away, roads are too poor, deliveries can't get through. So what is done? well, a lot do the only thing that can be done: die. They may die of a serious case of malaria, or they may just die of diarrhoea. So this is where Anamed comes in - teaching simple things like oral rehydration solution for diarrhoea, herbs for malaria (Artemisia annua) and other things.

The question of poverty in Africa is a topic for a different post, but I will look here at how it relates to a specific case, that of malaria. Artemesinin is (in combination with a few other medicines) the leading drug for the treatment of malaria and it is currently extracted from the plant Artemisia annua. It is grown in huge plantations in some African countries, is purchased by pharmaceutical companies at a very low price, it is shipped over to America or a European country, the artemesinin is extracted and then sold back to the African country at a price most people can't afford - so people die. Where the drug is purchased by those rich enough, the money goes back to the pharmaceutical company, meaning the African country gets poorer. The actual herb Artemisia annua can be drunk as a tea to treat malaria and is just as effective as the drug, though taking slightly longer to have its effect.

So anyway, drugs become scarce if a country becomes poor or the infrastructure breaks down, and pharmaceutical corporations follow where the money leads. Who is to say that our country will always stay rich and function smoothly? When you consider the far reaching effects of financial instability (which is likely to increase in the long term) and the looming problems of both the energy crisis and climate change it seems wishful to think that we are immune to these problems. Pharmaceutical companies are no more stable than other industries, such as the automotive industry, or the money grabbing industry. So as things can't or won't stay the same, and as millions are already dying due to the lack of health care, what needs to happen?

Take the money out of medicine

Pharmaceutical corporations should not be allowed to profit from what they do, health should not correlate with your pay packet, essential medicine should be freely available to all whether an individual has money or not. An option may be nationalising the pharmaceutical industry with the development and production of drugs being paid for by the government. This would be easily funded by the savings gained from the NHS not having to buy drugs from pharmaceutical companies and by the profits from the sale of non-essential over-the-counter drugs. Knowledge of how to manufacture the drugs could be freely shared between countries further increasing benefit. Or maybe there is some other scheme that would work, but however it is done it should not be a profit making business. If this was done it would also have the following benefits:

• Doctors would have less bias information on the effectiveness of drugs.
• Research showing harmful effects of drugs would not be hidden.
• More holistic drugs could be researched (pharmaceutical companies don't want people too healthy, it is bad for business).
• Drugs would be freely accessible to all.
• Drug supply would be more stable.
  
• Government money would provide more medicine instead of making a few rich.
• Effective alternative treatments would not be suppressed.
  

Increase the use of natural medicines

• They can be produced where ever in the world you are.
• They are cheap.
  
• They have been shown to be effective (Artemisia annua can effectively treat malaria, with treatment only lasting a couple more days than treatment with Artemisinin).
• People could easily treat themselves for minor complaints, therefore reducing the pressure on the NHS.
  
• They have limited side-effects and are generally more safe.
  
• They can help the local economy when produced and used locally.
• They are much more environmentally sustainable.
  
• Focusing on a more holistic approach to health would mean less people getting ill in the first place.

As always your comments are welcome.

Greenpeace - genius!

Some of you may of heard of a proposed new runway for Heathrow airport (London, UK). The one that is likely to be accepted by the government this week, at a time when we have a choice between decreasing CO2 emissions or dying.

Well, Greenpeace has just purchased a plot of land right in the middle of the proposed site!

Newspaper article
Greenpeace Airplot website

He he he! Genius! Greenpeace, you have made me very happy today!

Ok, so here goes - death, destruction and rebirth

OK, so here is an issue that I have to address, but it is not an easy one. Those of you who know me will probably have heard me mention these things before because sometimes it just comes out! Still, they are not issues I like to address because it involves human suffering. Still, no harm in starting it off with a cartoon...!


Ok - so it will get positive towards the end, but first, a journey through hell...

So widespread job loss, devaluation of currency, people losing their homes, people going cold and hungry - bad yes? See, this is where it gets difficult, because from much reading, from listening to talks and having discussions I can't help but think that how ever bad that might be, it is possibly better than the main alternative. (There is a third option, a difficult one, but it is there, difficult, but possible). Let me explain.

Economic downturn is causing many problems, however it has some positives: CO2 emissions are set to drop as industry declines (Article - Slump Means EU Industry Carbon Caps No Longer Bite). It is essential that CO2 emissions drop as we are now reaching the point where climate change spirals out of control (Cartoon - Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip), however, industry is dragging its feet because making proper (real, effective) changes would in the short term damage profits. Is, therefore, a major recession the only way to make them change? I hope not, because who could? Who could wish mass job losses and mass homelessness - no one!

And yet if real changes aren't made - and we are talking big changes, major lifestyle, social, political changes - the alternative is so much worse. If climate change continues to worsen and ecosystems (including the soil which grows our food) continue to die humans die too. Estimates have been made as to how many people would survive, different estimates have been made, the most generous I have found is 1.7 billion people surviving, the worst is 100-300 million people surviving (Article - The Silence of the Greens). There are currently 6.8 billion people alive on this planet. If serious positive changes aren't made 3 out of every 4 people dead by the most generous estimates, 59 out of every 60 dead by the worst estimates. Of course all these people would not die instantaneously, I'm guessing it would be over the next 50 to 100 year. I can't even begin to imagine what that would be like, those are just numbers to me, but if I imagine what that means in terms of my family and friends - this is not a pleasant subject. This isn't something that will happen in the future, it has already started: global food supplies are very low and the number of malnourished people is just about to cross the 1 billion point (Article - Food Crisis Could Worsen Next Year).

So things are going to change and are going to do so with or without our will with either industry continuing and the environment dieing or industry dieing and the environment and people not dieing as much.

OR

The third option, thankfull a third option: we stop fighting (personally and globally), we stop dragging our feet, we get to know our neighbours and our local community, we create loving supportive relationships, we develop a joy in living that is independent of what we own, we help each other learn and develop, we learn how to live sustainably, we develop new skills to help ourselves do this and we share them, we reassess what we really need and stop using what we don't need, we buy local organic food, we leave jobs that cause environmental damage and create life-sustaining jobs, we use less energy, start living together in communities so as to use less energy as a whole, we stop buying stuff, we stop most driving and flying, and more. Only two things are needed to do this...

We have to want to change
and
realise that it is not a sacrifice but
that there is much joy in it.

Really - imagine what it would be like living surrounded by your best friends every day, living in beautiful surroundings, having stress free and worthwhile jobs, being safe in the knowledge that violence has all but ceased, to know you are doing right, to feel love more, to feel connected - it is ours if we want it!

Thank you for listening and please leave comments, I need both your support and disagreements in this! Mark

A quick note to the inhabitants of earth...

To those running businesses and corporations: agree to serious CO2 reductions and find new ways of continuing your business in a healthy way because, as many of you seem yet to have realised, YOU CAN'T MAKE MONEY IF YOU ARE DEAD AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU IS DEAD, YOU IDIOTS!

To those thinking corporations are to blame and politicians should step in: YOU BUY THIS SHIT THAT CORPORATIONS SPEW OUT, where do you think your iPod comes from; your car; your new laptop; your new speakers; your new clothes; the plane you flew abroad in; your new electric toothbrush; the servers that support all your online avatars; your new accessories; all that meat you are eating; your processed food and its packaging; that new clock that looks oh-so-good in your newly decorated kitchen; your new carpets and furniture; your updated appliances, because wouldn't life be easier if your iron heated up quicker and the kettle kept itself warm; your new mobile with new bouncing tv around the globe technology; the technology, factories and transport systems that support all the above. WAKE UP AND STOP KIDDING YOURSELF THAT BECAUSE YOU RECYCLE, HAVE BROUGHT AN ORGANIC TOP AND RESISTED HAVING TWO NEW PHONES A YEAR INSTEAD OF ONE THAT YOU ARE DOING YOUR BIT!

Ok, ok, so I am wrong to shout, it is most understandable that the majority of people have gone down this route, it was seen as the way to progress, the way to happiness, the way to health, the way to respect from your peers. I know me shouting is likely to polarise the alternate views even further, that views become more entrenched with people defensively protecting their views and ways of being, so I apologise and I ask you to recognised it is because of the frustration I feel and the threat I perceive to what I hold dear that arouses my anger.

Thank you for listening and I welcome your comments

Mark