Latest news in cell phone usage: we are now advised to keep our cell phones away when we go to bed. Cell phones should not be left on near you when you’re sleeping, especially not by your head. If you need to set the time, better use an alarm clock.
Recent studies have shown inconsistent results but still point to some potential danger from over-exposure to wireless technology (it should be noted that some studies that find no such correlation are financed by cell phone companies and are, therefore, naturally bias).
Many health organizations around the world have expressed their growing concern with the common use of cell phones and wireless devices. In response to studies that have shown correlation between exposure to radiation and the development of brain tumors, officials advise to reduce daily exposure to electromagnetic radiation as much a possible.
The great threat in this phenomenon is the invisibility of the danger – we can’t see radiation, and as a result, we do not protect ourselves enough or avoid the dangers. How many of us try to reduce our daily exposure to cell phones or even consider it?
Many people have already developed symptoms due to over-exposure to electromagnetic frequency. Diagnosed as “electrically sensitive”, these people complain about headaches, insomnia and even seizures. Their symptoms began to show when they started to work or study in areas with high levels of radiation. The main concern today is that this invisible enemy modern society so widely embraces might turn up to be the next cancer monster.
Trying to find alternative fuels and improving the chances of our plant has become a growing concern with signs of stress showing all over the planet. We try to bring to light some news and clips that provide some alternatives and are hopeful. The field of Algae Fuel is one of those and we found this great clip.
First car powered by algal Biodiesel to demonstrate real-world driving at Sundance Solazyme, Inc., a synthetic biology company unleashing the power of aquatic microbes … More»to create clean and scalable solutions for biofuel, industrial chemical, and health and wellness markets, today revealed the first ever algae-derived biodiesel fuel (Soladiesel™) to have undergone road testing by successfully powering a factory-standard automobile for long distances under typical driving conditions. The car and fuel will make their public debuts at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where they are also featured in Fields of Fuel, Josh Tickell’s documentary about renewable fuels. Soladiesel biodiesel is clean, renewable, environmentally sustainable and scalable.
From extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the “stuff” in our lives affects our world and our communities at home and abroad in ways that are sometimes hard to comprehend. Yet most of this is intentionally hidden from the public view.
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled, behind-the-scenes look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns in today’s society. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental, health, economic and social issues, and calls us together to create a more just and sustainable world.
It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, it will raise your awareness and it just may change the way you look at all the “stuff” in your life forever.
One of the most frequent questions people have is whether it is safe to take medications, whether prescription or over the counter, after the expiration date printed or stamped on the side of the container. Studies made by prominent laboratories have found that not only to medications loose much of their effectiveness after the noted date, but may even be outright dangerous to one’s health. This warning is particularly true for prescription meds such as antibiotics which can change in composition and become dangerous, it not lethal to the person taking them.
Antibiotics, especially those in the penicillin and tetracycline groups can deteriorate as well as change in composition. Expired tetracycline can cause a skin infection that can be deadly, especially to those who are already sensitive to taking antibiotics. It is also recommended not to take iron supplements, multi-vitamins, of antacids with in two hours of taking a tetracycline based medication as its effectiveness will be significantly reduced.
Analgesics such as aspirin and similar medications loose their effectiveness significantly after they have become expired. They can also interact with other medications such as certain antacids, and like antibiotics should never be taken with alcohol.
Many types of medications are also affected by increased temperatures and high humidity in bathrooms; and as such, it is recommended to keep these medications away from exposure to heat and moisture. Even a kitchen cabinet can be too warm to store meds requiring a “cool, dry place”, as kitchen cabinets can absorb heat, as well as moisture from cooking appliances and dishwashers.
As expired medications are sometimes kept in family medicine cabinets along with more current meds, it is recommended to inspect the place where these items are stored at lest twice per year. All expired medicines and related items, including medicinal ointments, should be discarded immediately; and medications should be kept in a place where they are not reachable by small children.
It is also important not to use another person’s medication, especially a prescription one as it may have been prescribed specifically for a particular ailment that is not related to the one someone else takes the medication for.
A safe slogan to remember regarding expired or questionable meds: “when in doubt, throw it out!”
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore may not yet be running again for the Presidency, but his message is definitely clear, unless immediate steps are made to protect the environment and reverse global warming, our continued life on Earth is definitely at risk. Speaking during a recent hour long interview on CNN’s Larry King Live program, Mr. Gore related in depth his opinions on how lack of intense effort on the part of the present U.S. Administration is spelling disaster to our quality of life, if not life itself.
Mr. Gore’s Academy Award winning documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, gave a not very optimistic account on how the worlds’ eco-system has been severely damaged by Man’s obsession with the use of fossil fuels and other dangerous pollutants, which, in Gore’s opinion, is largely responsible for the state of our environment, including melting Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves at an alarming pace. Gore’s concern for world environment problems goes back many years when he became concerned with many species of animals becoming extinct including a small species of owl that used to inhabit the redwood forest regions of Oregon and Washington State. That concern as well as for the decrease in the atmosphere’s ozone layer (that protective layer against the sun’s damaging radiation) gave him the title of “Mr. Ozone” and made him the brunt of jokes by entertainment comedians including NBC’s Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.
Judging from current realities regarding severe changes in our environment, particularly weather patterns, people are laughing less at “Mr. Ozone” and are now beginning to listen to his warning. Gore’s severe criticism of the Bush Administration’s lack of attention to this increasing problem is one the former VP’s main topics these days. That President George Bush has refused to have his country join the global effort to curtail use of fossil fuels “because it would be damaging to the U.S. economy” is most likely due the President’s own family interest in the oil business, as well as that of his Vice President, Dick Chaney, whose long career with the international oil well servicing company Halliburton has been in the news several times. The Bush family also appears to have close relations with the Saudi Royal Family, from whose country the U.S. still receives nearly 20% of its total petroleum supplies. Although some current attention is beginning to filter out of the Oval Office of the White House, especially in the aftermath of American eco-disasters like Hurricane Katrina, this attention is far less than it should be to help reverse what may become an irreversible ecological trend.
America isn’t the only ecological culprit though, as fast developing nations such as China are consuming fossil fuels in alarming amounts with little or no ecological controls. China’s number of private automobiles alone has more than quadrupled in past five years alone; and its heavy industries have become one of the world’s prime consumers of fuels such as coal and fuel oil, and has turned this country housing more than a fifth of the world’s population into one of the worst polluted.
The melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice is expected cause the worlds oceans to rise at least 7 to 10 meters in the next 10 to 20 years. That’s enough to inundate most world coastal towns and cities, in which at least a billion of the world’s population live. Outside of the possible extinction of many varieties of animal species, including polar bears, seals and walruses, and many species of birds, The oceans themselves will be less able to support marine animals and vegetation as they will become too acid in their content, thus killing the marine vegetation on which many marine animals thrive, and reducing the water’s oxygen content by as much as 25%.
Whether of not Gore does decide to throw his hat into the Democratic Party Presidential race, his message is certainly worth listening to and acting upon. Despite the current Administration’s apprehensions, a few years of ecological ‘adjustment’ is paramount, including drastic curtailment of the use of fossil fuels and switching over to more environmentally friendly energy sources, such as solar energy and hydrogen based fuels. If this doesn’t occur, our future on this planet, an “island we cannot leave”, may be very unpleasant indeed.
We simply have to listen before it will be too late.
This is an internesting article about the move from conventional farming to organic farming headed by the leaders of Prince Edward Island in Canada. I like the reference to the shiny new John Deere and the costs associated with conventional farming.
Gary Claudeheid, a long-time organic farmer and Green Party candidate, said people who argue that organic growing is not economically feasible fail to see the failing economics of conventional operations.
“Between 1950 and 1980, the Island lost 80 per cent of its farmers,” he said. “Between 1986 and 2001, it lost another 1,000. In the last five years, we’ve lost another 147. They are never taken into account.
“They like to point to the 750 farms on Prince Edward Island that are grossing over $100,000. But how much of that is left when they have to pay for a shiny, new, green John Deere machines, all the chemical fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, sprout inhibitors and all the other chemicals they are using?”
Labchuk said her party would restore some of the economic sense to organic farming by removing the subsidies that support chemical-based farming and offering money and training to help growers’ transition to organic methods.
They’re around you every day; and in fact you and your family use and consume products that in the long run can be just as deadly as weapons that kill and maim people in the millions. We are not referring to guns, knives, and poisons such as arsenic, cyanide or other kinds of poisons used to eradicate rodents and other kinds of pests. The products referred to here range from detergents and cleaning compounds to deodorants and cosmetics to even seemingly harmless food and beverage items.
Every time people wash their clothing in their washing machine, or their dishes in their dishwasher, they are using chemical compounds which, if used in large enough amounts can cause not only burning and severe skin irritation, but eventual cancers like melanoma. Even though some detergents may claim to be “non-toxic” or “environmentally safe” they still contain such ingredients as sodium or calcium hypocrite, or sodium tri-polyphosphate, which can become very dangerous chemical compounds if used excessively.
Cosmetic items such as lipstick, hand cream, deodorants and anti-perspirants, all contain such chemicals as aluminum chlorhydrate, propylene glycol, or BHA and coal tar dyes (both lipstick preservatives and color enhancers that are said to contain carcinogens or cancer causing compounds). Even that liquid ’soap less soap’ that most people keep in their bathrooms is so full of chemical compounds (ammonium chloride, sodium laurel sulfate, plus a number of color-dyes, fragrances, etc.) that it may be better to use old fashioned home-made hand soap, even if it contains lye and other caustic compounds.
You don’t have to go through the list of cleaning compounds or cosmetic items to find these poisons; but many food products have similar chemical compounds as well. Even that soft tub of margarine has what is called ‘trans-fat’ and is extremely bad for your heart if consumed in large quantities (many nutrition advisors claim it’s better to use pure butter than these so called “safe” cooking and spreading products.
Yes there are alternatives; and by acquiring knowledge of safer, environmental ‘earth-friendly’ products, you can protect yourselves and your families from the long term effects of these ‘lethal weapons’.
They’re around you every day; and in fact you and your family use and consume products that in the long run can be just as deadly as weapons that kill and maim people in the millions. We are not referring to guns, knives, and poisons such as arsenic, cyanide or other kinds of poisons used to eradicate rodents and other kinds of pests. The products referred to here range from detergents and cleaning compounds to deodorants and cosmetics to even seemingly harmless food and beverage items.