Diet Mind Spirit

A Zero Waste Town

Very inspiring story about a place in Japan with zero waste. Can you imagine? Read about it here.

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What Do Prescription Drugs REALLY Do to You?

Did you know that many of the drugs you’re prescribed, can actually HARM you? It is so shocking that these things are supposed to be helping us but in most cases, they don’t. They simply feed the greedy pockets of big pharmaceutical companies. How do we know which drugs do damage?

The 24-Hour Pharmacist- is the perfect pill for anyone seeking insight on overall health from a resource that is thorough and fun to read. With chapter titles such as “Frazzled, Frustrated and Freaked Out: Coping with Anxiety and Stress” to “More Jiggle, Less Joint Pain: What You Can Do About Arthritis” you get the sense that the author well knows what course to recommend but also truly enjoys educating others. One feature I found especially enlightening were the sections in each chapter entitled “Suzy’s Secrets From Behind The Counter”. Here is where she (Suzy) offers great little insights to live by with a perspective that only a pharmacist can give. One good example of this is in the chapter about weight loss where she explains that some drugs can make you hungry. Included in her list are sedatives and tranquilizers, antidepressants, allergy pills, female hormones and diuretics. Wow, who knew?

Read more about it here: The 24-Hour Pharmacist

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Earth Day – Why Bother?

On this day paying hommage to the Earth, let’s read something by the awesome Michael Pollan:

“Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it’s not an easy one to answer. I don’t know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in “An Inconvenient Truth” came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That’s when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink your heart.

But the drop-in-the-bucket issue is not the only problem lurking behind the “why bother” question. Let’s say I do bother, big time. I turn my life upside-down, start biking to work, plant a big garden, turn down the thermostat so low I need the Jimmy Carter signature cardigan, forsake the clothes dryer for a laundry line across the yard, trade in the station wagon for a hybrid, get off the beef, go completely local. I could theoretically do all that, but what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelgänger in Shanghai or Chongqing who has just bought his first car (Chinese car ownership is where ours was back in 1918), is eager to swallow every bite of meat I forswear and who’s positively itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I’m struggling no longer to emit. So what exactly would I have to show for all my trouble?

A sense of personal virtue, you might suggest, somewhat sheepishly. But what good is that when virtue itself is quickly becoming a term of derision? And not just on the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal or on the lips of the vice president, who famously dismissed energy conservation as a “sign of personal virtue.” No, even in the pages of The New York Times and The New Yorker, it seems the epithet “virtuous,” when applied to an act of personal environmental responsibility, may be used only ironically. Tell me: How did it come to pass that virtue — a quality that for most of history has generally been deemed, well, a virtue — became a mark of liberal softheadedness? How peculiar, that doing the right thing by the environment — buying the hybrid, eating like a locavore — should now set you up for the Ed Begley Jr. treatment.

And even if in the face of this derision I decide I am going to bother, there arises the whole vexed question of…”

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The World’s Best Water

From discovery:

“How long has it been since you really enjoyed a glass of water?

Odds are, any number of things in your H2O (both better and worse for you than just regular water in its unspoiled state) have tainted your chance to experience this life-giving liquid at its best.

I recently had the chance to taste water at its most pure – straight from an iceberg – and it changed my outlook on it forever.

Inspired by that eye-opening glass, here – in my opinion – are the five best glasses of water on Earth:

5. Waste water never tasted so good

Folks in Sweden are so into water purification that Stockholm even has an annual water wastewater reclamation prize, offered up to the most deserving innovators. The city boasts a global reputation for doing things right when it comes to the environment.

From an area of the city that gets rid of its garbage and recycling through giant vacuum tubes and incinerators, to systems that recycle waste water to drink (from sinks, not the other place waste water comes from) the city has made some tough decisions to stick to a green agenda.

Having tasted this water (in regular and snazzy “sparkling” form), I can tell you it’s tastier than anything I’ve ever had out of a tap before – Hints of charcoal, but that’s maybe my reaction to a complete lack of fluoride or the bottled water I usually drink in Europe.

4. Tap water that doesn’t offend

According to the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Awards (legitimately acknowledged as an authority on water taste), Clearbrook (near Abbotsford), British Columbia has the best-tasting tap water on Earth.

The BC town won the Virginia spa’s annual world-wide water taste-off for 2008, along with the water district of Southern California.

3. Best spring water on Earth

Though some die-hard environmentalists consider bottled water a big no-no, we’re talking taste here – and I can tell you that U.S.-based Tumai bottled water is the best-tasting liquid I have ever guzzled from a 500 ml prison of polycarbonate…

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Under 18? Show the world how to save the planet

From the Whole Earth Generation Contect (Whole Foods):

Now’s your chance to inspire the world and make the planet a greener place.

Are you under 18 and thinking green? Show us what you’re doing to be a part of the Whole Earth Generation. Are you recycling at your school? Planting trees? Forcing your parents to go green? Get in front of the camera and tell us about it.

Sing a song, rap, shoot a documentary, whatever – just send us a short video response showing how you’re making a difference. If we pick yours it’ll be featured leading up to Earth Day. You might even get to co-host one of our Whole Earth Generation Podcasts sponsored by Whole Foods.

Whole Earth Generation Details:
* Keep your video under two minutes.
* Be original and express your green self – we just want to see you being you.
* Keep it clean. No violence, profanity or direct attacks on individuals.
* Your video must be original and cannot infringe on any third party rights.
* Your video cannot have been previously published, broadcast, or otherwise publicly distributed.
* Winners will become “Green Ambassadors” and be featured as hosts in upcoming Whole Earth Generation podcasts.
* Make sure you follow YouTube’s Terms Of Service: http://www.youtube.com/t/terms

How to submit your video:
* Log in to YouTube. If you don’t have an account already, it’s easy and only takes a minute or so.
* Go to the YouTube video where our host is introducing the contest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpGoOwRC1uU
* Under “Comments and Responses” click on “Post a video response”.
* If you haven’t uploaded the video you’d like to submit for the contest to YouTube yet, do so by going to “Upload a Video”.
* If you have uploaded the video already, select it by going to “Choose a Video”.

OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

ELIGIBILITY
Contestants must be between 8 years and 17 years of age and a legal resident of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia or Canada at the time of their audition to be eligible. All submissions become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. Officers and employees of Whole Foods Market, their respective affiliates, subsidiaries and agents, and the immediate family members of the foregoing, are not eligible to enter. Sponsor is not responsible for late, lost, destroyed or misdirected entries. Odds of winning will depend on the total number of eligible entries received. Each entry must be submitted with a Submission Agreement to be eligible.

Full rules and regulations:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/weg_rules.html

To see a video about what you need to do to enter the contest, click here.

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