Nourishing the Planet » Nourishing the Planet TV: Concrete Solutions for Urban Agriculture » Print

May 31, 2011 at 10:16 pm (Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Nourishing the Planet » Nourishing the Planet TV: Concrete Solutions for Urban Agriculture » Print.

May
25

Nourishing the Planet TV: Concrete Solutions for Urban Agriculture

Nourishing the Planet Africa, Agriculture, Conservation, Education, Extension, Hunger, Income, Land, Nourishing the Planet, South Africa, Wildlife

In this week’s episode, research fellow Supriya Kumar discusses Nazeer Ahmed Sonday and his work at the Philippi Horticulture Area (PHA). This piece of farmland, enclosed in concrete, not only produces fresh produce for the residents of Cape Town, South Africa, but it is also home to hundreds of species of migratory birds in the winter.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgYKc5lli3A

To read more about the Philippi Horticulture Area, see: Agriculture as a Concrete Solution: Cape Town’s Food Garden

To purchase your own copy of State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

Africa, Agriculture, Cape Town, Conservation, Education, extension, Hunger, Income, Land, livelihoods, Nourishing the Planet, PHA, Philippi, Philippi Horticulture Area, South Africa, Wildlife

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Stop the Granny Bashing! | AlterNet

May 31, 2011 at 8:03 pm (Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Stop the Granny Bashing: Despite What You May Think, Our Seniors Are in Trouble | | AlterNet.

AlterNet / By Joshua Holland

Stop the Granny Bashing: Despite What You May Think, Our Seniors Are in Trouble

We must fight the deficit hysterics’ relentless granny-bashing. Most people don’t grasp that this group has already been hit hard by budget cuts and the recession.
May 30, 2011  |

Photo Credit: Rosie O’Beirne
TAKE ACTIO
“We lived very well,” said Norma Hair, 71, over a shaky table at the small pizzeria she runs in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with 68-year-old Carol Schmidt, her wife and partner of over 30 years. “In 1979, Carol was making $33,000 per year, which was a lot of money back then. Then I rose to the position of supervisor of accounting in a company. So, our combined income [in the early-1980s] was probably about $60,000.”  (Read more)

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Cell Phones and SmartMeters. :

May 31, 2011 at 7:50 pm (Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Cell phones and SmartMeters. : Fossils & Photons – Energy and Clean Tech.

If you’ve checked the top of SFGate today, you will have seen a story about the World Health Organization reclassifying cell-phone radiation as a “possible carcinogen.”

To opponents of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s SmartMeters, this is very big news.

Many of them consider wireless devices to be a health risk, capable of causing cancer. They also blame SmartMeters for triggering nausea, migraines, sleeplessness and depression among people who suffer from “electrosensitivity,” a condition whose very existence remains the subject of angry debate.

San Francisco Chronicle

SmartMeter critics want PG&E to stop installing the devices until the possible health effects can be thoroughly studied and understood. They haven’t been able to convince the California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees PG&E. But they seized on Tuesday’s WHO news as vindication.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/energy/detail?entry_id=90082#ixzz1NzMIaurE

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Study Found Toxin from GM Crops is Showing up in Human Blood

May 30, 2011 at 10:58 pm (Food and drink, Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Study Found Toxin from GM Crops is Showing up in Human Blood.

Study Found Toxins Showing up in Human Blood

Posted By Dr. Mercola | May 31 2011

A new study is causing fresh doubts about the safety of genetically modified crops. The research found Bt toxin, which is present in many GM crops, in human blood.

Bt toxin makes crops toxic to pests, but it has been claimed that the toxin poses no danger to the environment and human health; the argument was that the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of the toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen.

India Today reports:

“Scientists … have detected the insecticidal protein …  circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women. They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation.”

Sources:

  India Today May 11, 2011
  Reproductive Toxicology February 18, 2011

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Is Your Sunscreen More Harmful Than Being in the Sun? « SpeakEasy

May 30, 2011 at 7:44 pm (Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Is Your Sunscreen More Harmful Than Being in the Sun? « SpeakEasy.

Is Your Sunscreen More Harmful Than Being in the Sun?

Most people have enough fear of skin cancer and photo-aging to give tanning salons wide berth, pun intended. But how safe are sunscreens themselves? Weeks after the New York Times exposed the caprice in assignment of sun protection factors (SPF) last year, Sen. Charles Schumer (D- New York) called on the FDA to investigate reports that an ingredient in most sunscreens — retinyl palmitate –  actually causes cancer.

In one FDA study on animals, dismissed by a dermatologist consultant to sunscreen companies as “very premature to even cast doubt about the safety of this chemical,” retinyl palmitate accelerated tumors and lesions in the sun by 21 percent! (Similar studies on humans not animals would be “unethical” say scientists)

And there are other sunscreen doubts. Many people don’t apply the needed amount of sunscreen to protect themselves from UVA and UVB sunrays because the products are expensive (and no one wants to be a goo monster).  But when they do, they still may not be safe since ingredients like oxybenzone — which is an endocrine-disrupter, as are most fragrances — and titanium dioxide are now thought to penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream. THAT wasn’t in the brochure.

Once upon a time, before links between skin cancer and sun bathing were confirmed, people didn’t use sunscreen. They used baby oil and iodine to enhance the sun’s effect, literally sautéed  themselves in the sun and using reflectors. (They were also smoking Tareytons or Kents which also wasn’t seen as self-destructive.)  Having the best suntan in the room was like being the thinnest person in the room decades later: a badge of social status and sex appeal. Who knew that wrinkles would develop? Who believed they would live past 30?

Then the pendulum swung and the sun was as bad as, well, cigarettes. The era of sunscreens and long sleeves began and spray-on tans, often carrot-orange, were the rage, with Hollywood leading the way.

In fact the sun-avoidance pendulum swung so far, sunscreens began to be blamed for a possible national Vitamin D deficiency. The sun presumably couldn’t find bare skin on which to make Vitamin D anymore. Patients everywhere were told to seek sun instead of avoid it!

But last year, an Institute of Medicine report suggested that the deficiency fears might have been an over reaction. “The number of people with vitamin D deficiency in North America may be overestimated because many laboratories appear to be using cut-points that are much higher than the committee suggests is appropriate,” it said. Now, some are hoping the Institute of Medicine will address the sunscreen ingredients retinyl palmitate and oxybenzone.

Meanwhile, enjoy your shade.

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Vaccines & Blue Foot Syndrome | Health Freedom Alliance

May 30, 2011 at 4:45 pm (Food and drink, Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Vaccines & Blue Foot Syndrome | Health Freedom Alliance.

Home » Big Medicine, Children’s Health, Mercury, Vaccines

Vaccines & Blue Foot Syndrome

Submitted by Lois Rain on May 28, 2011 – 8:31 pm4 Comments

Where’s the proof? More research! Inconclusive! Vaccines don’t cause autism, that’s a kooky theory. Yet who would vaccinate if there was ANY doubt? Each year that the outcry gets ignored is one more year millions of kids are forced to take a chance. Autism aside, many will become ill with chronic disease, allergies, and a weak immune system. Dr, Sherri Tenpenny vents her frustration with the lack of rationale using an analogy called “Blue Foot Syndrome.”

The analogy below may sound absurd, but it begs the question, how much proof is needed? Over 400 peer reviewed articles, documented evidence, increasing illnesses after vaccinations, thousands of parent testimonies, even Washington knows about it – is that enough? Obviously, proof of harm from vaccines is not going to stop the insanity. It’s time to turn the tables on that ilk and ask in return: “Where’s YOUR proof that they DON’T cause harm??”

~Health Freedoms  (READ FULL ARTICLE)

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FEMA gives aid money to flood victims, then demands it all back

May 26, 2011 at 11:13 pm (Health and wellness, News and politics)
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FEMA gives aid money to flood victims, then demands it all back.


NaturalNews.com printable article
Originally published May 26 2011
FEMA gives aid money to flood victims, then demands it all back
by Neev M. Arnell

(NaturalNews) The Federal Emergency Management Agency is asking thousands of Americans who were victims of natural disasters to return more than $22 million in government aid, after the agency mistakenly made payments to many people who it is now saying were ineligible (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110510…).

The federal agency is seeking money back from people nationwide who were affected by 129 different disasters since 2005, including floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. (READ FULL STORY)

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Do Cell Phones Really Kill Bees? | Health Freedom Alliance

May 26, 2011 at 10:55 pm (Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Do Cell Phones Really Kill Bees? | Health Freedom Alliance.

Home » Air Pollution, Air Toxins, Environment, Future of Food

Do Cell Phones Really Kill Bees?

Submitted by Lois Rain on May 23, 2011 – 1:21 pm2 Comments
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Pesticides, climate changes, fungal pathogens and more are thought to cause the world’s rapid bee decline. A new Swiss study tested the theory that cell phone frequencies are confusing and interrupting bees’ communications. Researchers observed the bees after nearby calls were placed. They showed increased swarming activity and increased hive noise by 10 percent. Confused worker bees are unlikely to return to their hive, especially when cell phones are nearby.

It isn’t the first study of its kind. Last year, Indian research found the same results when they attached devices to certain hives. Before that, there were more reports of bees abandoning their hives after cell phone exposure. Some of the information found more incidents of swarming – remember all the strange swarming reports? Just a few days ago, bee swarms and attacks disrupted a Philippines airport, affecting seven flights! At lease one passenger was stung by multiple bees.

An officer was trapped in his patrol car for three hours after 50,000 angry honeybees descended

There’s already an internet backlash claiming that cell phones killing bees is a stretch, that studies did not suggest instant death. Sure, cell phones are not a type of electro-Raid, though disturbances and confusion have been proven. “The study did not show that mobile phones were deadly for bees.” Favre said. ”But one hypothesis is that electromagnetic fields could be contributing to the disappearance of bee colonies around the world,” he added.

But the Indian study did in fact note a population and egg decline with hives carrying a device. The limited use of cellular frequency, however, won’t necessarily stop the bee colony collapse disorder, which can be caused by a number of factors.

It’s unlikely there will be any kind of limited cell phone use, but it is possible to use a different frequency and preclude bee deaths. The lead researcher below concluded that bees in a more natural state away from mobile phone apparatuses could produce hopeful results. Perhaps these findings will lead to changing frequencies and to shifting colonies and replenishing the bee population in cleaner, remote areas, with more nutritional bio-diversity and less cellular frequency and pollution.

~Health Freedoms  (READ FULL ARTICLE)

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Holes feared in two Japan nuclear reactors – CNN.com

May 25, 2011 at 6:44 pm (Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Holes feared in two Japan nuclear reactors – CNN.com.

CNN.com
Powered by
Holes feared in two Japan nuclear reactors

melted down

Tokyo, Japan (CNN) — Two of the damaged reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan may be riddled with holes, according to the facility’s owner.

The holes may be as big as 7 to 10 centimeters ( 2.8- 3.9 inches), Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in a 225-page document submitted to Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

In the report, Tokyo Electric says the containment vessel of reactor No. 1 may have developed a hole as big as 3 centimeters in diameter 18 hours after the quake.

Fifty hours after the quake, the hole may have widened to 7 centimeters, the report said.

In reactor No. 2, the containment vessel may have developed a hole as wide as 10 centimeters 21 hours after the quake.

The nuclear plant has suffered cooling problems and radiation leaks since a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The hydrogen explosion four days after the crisis began may have led to the formation of a second hole in reactor No. 2, as wide as 10 centimeters in diameter.

“This report is not conclusive. No one has entered these areas and we cannot confirm this as fact,” TEPCO said, adding that the report is making preliminary assumptions about what happened inside the reactors.

A hole in the reactor’s containment vessel means there is a high probability of the leakage of radioactive material into the reactor building.

The amount of radioactive material in all three of the reactor buildings has hampered TEPCO’s ability to build an effective cooling system. TEPCO says a cooling system is a critical step to leading to a cold shutdown, still estimated to be five to eight months away.

Nuclear experts and scientists have long suspected this sort of damage to the containers of the reactors at the crippled plant, as well as a full meltdown of the fuel rods in reactors 1, 2 and 3.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/25/japan.nuclear.report/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

© 2008 Cable News Network

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Gavin Gorski, seen here with his father takes about 17 pills everyday to treat his behavioral disorders.

May 24, 2011 at 4:39 pm (Food and drink, Global Events, Health and wellness, News and politics)
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Gavin Gorski, seen here with his father takes about 17 pills everyday to treat his behavioral disorders..

Gavin Gorski, seen here with his father takes about 17 pills everyday to treat his behavioral disorders.

Gavin Gorski, seen here with his father takes about 17 pills everyday to treat his behavioral disorders.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Gavin Gorski takes about 120 pills every week for schizoaffective disorder
  • Increasingly more U.S. kids are taking behavioral drugs, according to several studies
  • Misdiagnosis, drug abuse and medicating kids for parental relief could be factors

Editor’s note: Americans have been led to believe — by their doctors, by advertisers and by the pharmaceutical industry — that there is a pill to cure just about anything that ails them. This week, the networks of CNN go deep into the politics and the pills.

(CNN) — Gavin Gorski, 11, opens his hands as his father dispenses the pills.

An orange tablet, a green pill, white oval shapes and oblong ones — nine drugs total — fall into his palm. The fifth-grader scoops them into his mouth. Later in the day, he takes eight more pills.

Gavin takes 119 pills every week.

The clozapine helps him with the hallucinations and voices he hears. The lithium stabilizes Gavin’s mood. Without them, he stays up for nights and has no impulse control.

“We couldn’t exist without him being medicated,” said Rob Gorski, Gavin’s father. “We struggled with it at first. Nobody wants to medicate their kids, but it comes to a quality of life issue. When he is un-medicated, his quality of life is really low.”

Gavin started taking several drugs at age 5.

Increasingly more U.S. kids are taking behavioral drugs, according to several studies. (READ FULL ARTICLE)

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