Health and the environmental crisis

I have been a long time environmentalist. Maybe it is sharing my birthday with Earth Day, maybe it was the soy based pabulum I drank as a baby, or just a pure love of all things alive and growing. Whatever the reason, the natural world is important to me.

Almost everyone can agree that we need to focus on environmental issues. However, if we neglect health issues we are missing a key means of what is required to resolve them. These issues are a result of climate change, human caused or otherwise, but also a result of previous negligence of basic health needs. The key is to have a lot of people in a vital state of health who can make sound, conscious decisions and actions towards the sustaining of an environment that is supportive for all Canadians and the rest of the world. Unhealthy people, in my experience, are rarely in a position to act, they are often not capable of providing service to others and instead depend on a large number of services. They may not be able to make decisions in ways or have their voice heard in venues that can make a difference. The lack of health in the general population is like running a massive three-legged race instead of everyone being independent, strong and at their best to reach the finish line with their full potential supported.

The environment will continue to exist whether we can survive in it or not. The issue is really how we relate to ourselves and each other. I would posit that the rising trend in healthy living is directly related to the threat of climate change and environmental degradation. We have to do something, that much is clear, but who is going to do it and is that ‘doing’ going to make things unexpectedly worse? For this reason I want to see the healthiest people at the helm of this kind of crisis. Not the wealthiest, or most affluent, or most popular, but the most sound of mind and body. So how can the majority of Canadians move to the helm and do something that does make a real difference for positive change?

To be healthy people need access to food that is whole, nutritious and fresh. We can’t continue to support food production that relies on over processing, chemicals and poor nutrient levels. People need access to water that is unpolluted by chemicals, toxins and byproducts of human waste whether they live in Nunavut or Downtown Toronto. The air people breathe needs to be free of exhausts, gases, moulds and the various toxins that are making unsustainable smog in our cities. These are just the three basics for survival; food, air and water. If these basics were clean, whole and unpolluted, health would improve vastly and people would feel what it is like to have a clear head and a clean body that works optimally and efficiently. They would have an improved ability to engage and act. This means putting more energy and resources on bringing these basic needs back up to a quality level as a first step. This would directly impact climate change in many ways.

What else provides a basis for health?

People also need to be surrounded by trees, grasses and gardens. Parks and nature spaces help reduce our stress and carry a reminder of what wild nature feels like. How many of us live in cities and have not walked or sat on green grass for 6 months or more! Without a connection to nature, we can’t understand what we are losing as it disappears because of development and ‘progress.’ People need access to nature to manage stress levels and anxiety, to develop healthy bodies as well as healthy mental and emotional states.

Also, the medical system we have, that is reliant on pharmaceuticals and parts based, quick fix procedures, is not working the way it was expected to. Patients are not reaching a potential of health but instead are becoming less healthy. Each generation has more chronic illness starting at a younger and younger age and with greater intolerance and allergies. Again, it takes a healthy, conscious individual to have the interest and ability to get involved, to get active and to make good decisions based on the concept of serving the community as a group. We need to find better ways to address disease and illness than what we are currently doing. We can’t just go around assuming we can fix a single body part and all will be healed. People are a whole, not a collection of bits. They have a body, a mind, an emotional experience. How can we be sure the whole person is getting the treatment and support they need?

How can we change our mindset from one of crisis mode and putting out wild fires with buckets to one of a real, critical understanding of the environmental situation and the development of effective solutions that will support and sustain us all, including the environment around us. I argue it lies with each one of us, that we all need to get involved, to care and to offer up a service that we intrinsically are best at. We can’t do this when we are struggling with low quality food, air and water. We can’t do this when nature is a distant reality we haven’t experienced for years, or ever. We can’t do this when we are struggling with ongoing illness or disease that is at best being palliated by the treatments options presented to us. Until we focus inwardly, how can we ever expect to make a positive change outwardly? People’s health is the key and the best place to start.

 

Read Full Post »

The ground not beneath our feet

The four elements are often the most overlooked aspects of our health. A lot of time is spent on talking about diet, what to eat, how to eat it and what not to eat, but rarely is time devoted to talking about the air we breathe, the water we drink and the earth we stand on. Or in this case, are not standing on.

So many of the recent breakthroughs in healthy living seem to be things that were once the wisdom of tin foil wearing nutters. Yet maybe these folks knew what they were doing in terms of what is the best way to support life. If we are bioelectric beings living on an electrical planet then when we are in contact with the earth there would be an infusion of energy. Liken it to an electrical foodstuff and if that is the truth, most of us are starving ourselves of it. Maybe they are not yet rock solid but recent studies suggest that contact with the Earth can restore and stabilize the bioelectrical circuitry that runs through the body, harmonize basic biological rhythms, increase self-healing functions, reduce inflammation and pain, improve sleep and bring about a sense of calmness.

All these great merits and yet almost half of the world’s humans are no longer benefiting since they are wearing rubber or plastic soled shoes and spending most of their life indoors. Half of all of us now live in cities and we just don’t get connected so to speak. The most we might contact the ground is at a park in the summer throwing off our shoes and lounging in the grass for a while. Welcome to the concept of Earthing, which seems pretty timeless to me and yet it is hard to know what we are missing when we aren’t ever physically touching the ground.

Biophysicist James Oschman, Ph.D. and author of Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis writes: “The moment your foot touches the Earth, or you connect to the Earth through a wire, your physiology changes. An immediate normalization begins. And an anti-inflammatory switch is turned on. People stay inflamed because they never connect with the Earth, the source of free electrons which can neutralize the free radicals in the body that cause disease and cellular destruction. Earthing is the easiest and most profound lifestyle change anyone can make.”

Surfaces that are conductive are grass, sand, dirt or concrete, while wood, asphalt and vinyl are not conductive. The problem is we just don’t live on earth and dirt in the city. There are lots of Earthing products that facilitate contact while inside of a home. However, I like to take design much further. Lately I have been wondering about how to design an optimal health inducing home. Everything from how the windows are designed to how to reduce the fuel needed for heating and cooling. This is the first in a series of posts on how to incorporate these ideas into modern living. A resurrection of the passion of Buckminster if you will.

So to bring Earthing inside I would suggest that houses could be built like a donut rather than a box. The ground would be part of the inside structure and contact with the ground could be made at any time of day and any time of year. There would be lots of issues to engineer around, such as freezing temperatures in northern climates, moisture issues and of course depending on what you put in this patch of earth, how to provide adequate light. I have total confidence in modern designers to come up with solutions for both earth ‘wells’ and their matching skylights. Light is another one of those nutrients we often neglect to include in our homes by the way. Skylights are incredible, just not in the bedroom in a city.

The importance of having part of ‘nature’ in the interior life has a place in the home of the future. There are so many possible advantages beyond just Earthing. An article in Scientific America suggests that trees clean the air, and our feelings. A 2015 study from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology found that children exposed to greenery demonstrated better attention skills and memory development, possibly related to a reduction in pollution. Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, one of the study’s authors, suggested it was more than just a lack of pollution, “I think it’s also some kind of direct effect… you see quite a beneficial effect of green space on mental health.” There are many articles about how green space has a positive effect on mental health and how being in nature can reduce depression such as in this study, Stanford researchers find mental health prescription: Nature. Urbanites are losing touch with what nature feels like, what it does to their body and how it helps them cope with the onslaught of urban stresses.

Yes, this image is also Photoshopped but I love the idea of a suburban home having an Earthing circle in the living room. Imagine watching TV with your bare feet on living, thriving grass or moss. A delightful tickle of life and earth electricity to recharge us after a long day.

The major flaw in the idea would be anyone living beyond the ground floor. Although it is not impossible to engineer in second and third story earth ‘wells,’ it might not be practical or affordable. Unless of course it is found that they are providing an indisputable health advantage. As a designer, I also always consider what it might be like to clean an invention as well. If it does not clean easily or well, it will degrade and lose its value making it an unsustainable creation. Nature is a fickle thing and easily spoiled by stagnancy and toxicity. That too might prove a challenge, and I suppose like gardening, some might be more apt than others to keep their indoor patch of earth greener and growing more than others. Still, the potential is there and the health benefit is clear, why not consider indoor Earthing in every modern home.

 

 

Read Full Post »

The World We Have … and new ways to dream big

What does October bring? For me it is always a time of looking forward, anticipation, of gratitude for what has passed. It is also the fall of the blossoming, growing and becoming and the moving into the seed, the dormant, the potential. Basically, winter is coming.

The environmental movement seems to also be moving into its fall and winter. We need to find the most probable ways to change and grow up in order to save our place on the planet, and soon. We need to stop looking outside of ourselves and start looking inward. Thích Nhất Hạnh’s book, The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology provides us with a road map of how we can do this. It is only through a profound personal transformation that we will have the ability to address the present environmental crisis we all face. It is inside, where we find our spiritual practice, that the map leads us.

We are like sleepwalkers, not knowing what we are doing or where we are heading. Whether we can wake up or not depends on whether we can walk mindfully on our Mother Earth. […] We need a kind of collective awakening. There are among us men and women who are awakened, but it’s not enough; the masses are still sleeping. They cannot hear the ringing of the bells. We have built a system we cannot control. This system imposes itself on us, and we have become its slaves and victims. Most of us, in order to have a house, a car, a refrigerator, a TV, and so on, must sacrifice our time and our lives in exchange. We are constantly under the pressure of time. In former times, we could afford three hours for one cup of tea, enjoying the company of our friends in a serene and spiritual atmosphere. We could organize a party to celebrate the blossoming of one orchid in our garden. But today we can no longer afford these things. We say that time is money. We have created a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our own immediate problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet Earth. In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over some seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will be killed.

From the site: http://www.plainjaneink.ca/meditation/thich-nhat-hanh-3281

The important thing is that we all act

He points out that the American dream where everyone has to have a car of their own, a bank account, a cell phone, a television set, is not possible any longer, not even for the Americans who devised it. A sustainable economy was not created yet we all cling to this dream, depend on it, and believe it to be true. So how do we now become to see ourselves in another ‘reality?’

We have to have another dream: the dream of brotherhood and sisterhood, of loving-kindness and compassion and that dream is possible right here and now. We have the dharma; we have the means; we have enough wisdom to be able to live this dream. Mindfulness is at the heart of awakening, of enlightenment. We practice breathing to be able to be there in the present moment, so that we can recognize what is happening in us and around us.

The important thing is that we all act. The individual has to take action in their own life, we can’t wait any longer for the petitions, the politicians and the scientists to save the world. That is all looking outwards anyways. Violence, corruption, abuse of power, self-destruction, superstition and cruelty are just the outer reflection of what is happening within us when we are unaware and asleep. It is cultivating faith, determination, awakening and a big dream that can lead us to peace and hope. We have to learn to live with responsibility, compassion and loving kindness and to remember we each hold the power to decide the destiny of our planet. This means doing the inner work first, to awaken to our true situation, to initiate a collective change in our consciousness. To help people wake up to the fact that they are living in a dream. No one life is independent of all other life, each depends on the other in order to manifest and continue. We are outside each other at the same time as we are inside each other, in other words we are connected, whether we are comfortable with that or not yet, it is the truth.

Earth Holder is the energy that is holding us together as an organism. She is a kind of engineer or architect whose task is to create space for us to live in, to build bridges for us to cross from one side to the other, to construct roads so that we can to go to the people we love. Her task is to further communication between human beings and other species and to protect the Earth and the environment. […] When you contemplate an orange, you see that everything in the orange participates in making up the orange. Not only the sections of the orange belong to the orange; the skin and the seeds of the orange are also parts of the orange. This is what we call the universal aspect of the orange. Everything in the orange is the orange, but the skin remains the skin, the seed remains the seed, the section of the orange remains the section of the orange. The same is true with our globe. Although we become a world community, the French continue to be French, the Japanese remain Japanese, the Buddhists remain Buddhists, and the Christians remain Christians. The skin of the orange continues to be the skin, and the sections in the orange continue to be the sections; the sections do not have to be transformed into the skin in order for there to be harmony.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings

Thích Nhất Hạnh suggests we follow the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Since they are non-sectarian and universal, they can be practiced regardless of religion, culture or ideology. They are one way to start the path of inner transformation and healing.

• First Training: we vow to cherish all life on earth and not support any acts of killing.
• Second Training: we pledge to practice generosity and not support social injustice and oppression.
• Third Training: we make a commitment to behave responsibly in our relationships and not engage in sexual misconduct.
• Fourth Training: we practice loving speech and deep listening in order to relieve others of suffering.
• Fifth Mindfulness Training: Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body and my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and the transformation of society.

The last training holds the key to the way out of the environmental crisis we are in according to Hạnh, by recognizing what to consume and what to refuse in order to propagate health in our own body and for the Earth and to reduce suffering for ourselves and others. I do hope we find a way to make wine and cheese that is mindful. I don’t feel we have to become a Buddhist monk to become an aware cultivator of a healthy planet. Yet we do need to all become environmentalists and to see that we are one family, all children of this planet and that we need to take care of each other and the Earth.

~

Read Full Post »

Do you want to Quant it?

The Quant e-Sportlimousine is the first electric car powered by salt water!

This new take on the electric car by the German company Quant runs on an electrolyte flow cell power system developed by NanoFlowcell. It can generate 920 horsepower, pop 0-62 mph in 2.8 seconds and whiz along the autobahn at 217.5 mph!

The flow cell battery is a beacon of hope because it is an especially simple and effective storage medium for electrical energy. Flow cells are chemical batteries that combine aspects of an electrochemical accumulator cell with those of a fuel cell. Liquid electrolytes circulate through two separate cells in which a “cold burning” takes place, during which oxidation and reduction processes happen in parallel and thereby produce electrical power for the drive train.

The flow cell battery offers up a greater range than lead-acid batteries or lithium-ion batteries found in current electric cars. The recharge can also be much faster. “All that is required to recharge them is to exchange spent electrolytes (which can be recharged outside the vehicle) for new, charged fluid.”

The car, which in the video looks like something only Batman is allowed to drive, debuted at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, is now approved for testing on public roads in Germany and Europe and will cost you $1.7 million to get on the delivery list. How long will it be before a sustainable, electric car affordable to the masses becomes available. A few dudes roaming the highways in tuxes is not enough to save the planet from the drain of fossil fuel usage by gas powered vehicles.

Everyone I talk to who just bought a new car decided going electric was still too expensive. The other sexy car maker, Tesla, also started out at the luxery level. Currently, their cheapest electrically powered car is the Model S which retails for around $70,000 and a proposed model for 2015-17 is estimated to cost $35,000. The Nissan Versa 1.6 S, a gas powered car, by contrast costs only $12,800. Infrastructure will still be an issue as well, for both salt water and electric fill ups. Anyone living in a city condo or apartment can’t go electric even if they could afford to since they can’t recharge their cars in the evenings if they have to park on the street. So for now, driving without polluting is only a rich person’s game and best left to the sexiest among us.

Read Full Post »

Flexibility is power

I had this imagination a couple years ago, maybe three or four. It is obvious wind travels down streets lined with skyscrapers faster than it does elsewhere, so the best place to harness wind in an urban environment? On the side of buildings of course. And how to do it? By attaching millions of flexible rods along the sides of the skyscrapers that would bend in the wind the way cilia bend along our respiratory epithelium in the lungs. They could be about two feet long and collect their kinetic energy throughout the day to generate a building’s power needs. Being so far off the ground they would not interfere with traffic or pedestrians.

Belatchew Arkitekter did just this with their Strawscraper, an extenstion of the building Söder Torn on Södermalm in Stockholm, Sweden. “With its new energy producing shell covered in straws the building can now recover wind energy and thus works as an urban powerplant.”

The straws of the facade consist of a composite material using piezoelectric technology that can turn motion into electrical energy. Piezoelectricity is created when the deformation of certain crystals is transformed into electricity. The large number of thin straws produce electricity through only small movements caused by the wind. Or on some days, a light breeze since they are so sensitive. Because it is a facade, it can be applied to new as well as old buildings. It is advantageous to other power generation methods since it is quiet, unlike current wind turbine technologies, and does not disturb or cause harm to birds and other wildlife. Check out their video and you can see how the building comes to life with the movement of the straws.

The energy revolution is in full swing and as consumers, we need to start demanding it. Green, renewable, sustainable and affordable, nothing can stop our dreams.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on Facebook or subscribing to this blog!

Read Full Post »

Low tech, cool and no power cord

The Clay pot cooler. I have loved this idea since my early twenties when I was first introduced to the concept of cooling food using a material I love, ceramic. I was excited by the idea of refrigeration without having to use electricity after I had lived for a year without any power or running water. We used to have to buy ice and put it in a Coleman cooler to keep any perishables fresh. It was smelly, messy and needed a constant source of ice which was heavy to carry. The concept of the clay cooler is simple, a porous outer earthenware pot, a smaller inner pot and wet sand filling the gap between the two layers. The evaporation of the water from the outside surface draws heat from inside.

These clay coolers have been used since ancient times. Egyptian frescos from around 2500 B.C. depict people fanning clay water jars which would have increased the air flow to cool the contents of the jars. I always knew there would be a way to mass produce this low tech idea to give people who did not want to or could not pay for electricity a means to store food, medicines, and other perishables.

India’s electricity free fridge, the Mitticool

The best version yet in my mind is by Prajapati Mansukhbhai Raghavjibhai, an entrepreneur who developed the Mitticool, a ‘fridge’ based on the same technology as the clay pot coolers.

“Water from the upper chambers drips down the side, and gets evaporated taking away heat from the inside , leaving the chambers cool. The top upper chamber is used to store water. A small lid made from clay is provided on top. A small faucet tap is also provided at the front lower end of chamber to tap out the water for drinking use. In the lower chamber, two shelves are provided to store the food material. The first shelf can be used for storing vegetables, fruits etc. and the second shelf can be used for storing milk etc.  Cool and affordable, this clay refrigerator is a very good option to keep food, vegetables and even milk naturally fresh for days.”

The Gujarat Earthquake of 2001 inspired his innovation. ”Journalists came and photographed our broken matkas (water storage coolers). They referred to them as the poor man’s fridge. I thought why can’t we make a real fridge with the same cooling principle?” After four years of research he discovered an unusual combination of sawdust and sand added to the clay which made it porous and the interior cooler. The Mitticool also preserves the original taste of fruits and vegetables, is affordable, and does not require any maintenance costs.

Prajapati has also created a low cost ceramic water filter, a non stick clay Tawa (low tech teflon pan) and will likely continue to innovate new ways for low income people to have modern conveniences that help them to stay healthy. Take a moment to meet the man behind the dream in the INKtalk video.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on Facebook or subscribing to this blog!

Read Full Post »

The Future Earth has a hub in Montreal

What is Future Earth and why is this exciting for Montreal?

Future Earth is the global research platform providing the knowledge and support to accelerate our transformations to a sustainable world.

Bringing together existing programmes on global environmental change*, Future Earth will be an international hub to coordinate new, interdisciplinary approaches to research on three themes: Dynamic Planet, Global Development and Transformations towards Sustainability. It will also be a platform for international engagement to ensure that knowledge is generated in partnership with society and users of science. It is open to scientists of all disciplines, natural and social, as well as engineering, the humanities and law. It is the global research platform providing the knowledge and support to accelerate our transformations to a sustainable world.

(* DIVERSITAS, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), theInternational Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).)

Future Earth’s globally distributed secretariat will have five hubs in Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm Boulder, Colorado and Montreal. The project created by the United Nations is a 10 year initiative to link and share international research on the environment and sustainable development and to accelerate the impact of that research in order to address the urgency of the current environmental crisis. Karen Seidman has an article about Montreal’s role as a hub in the Gazette published July 7th, 2014.

This  gives Montreal a chance to be on the cutting edges of environmental and sustainable development in many areas including use of electric vehicles, advances in medical care and health, energy use and pilot projects already taking place such a roof-top organic gardening year round and using geo-thermal heating in new residential development. Having so much hydro-electric power is an advantage for research and development but so is having a society already interested in investing a clean and green future. And now Montreal will be able to share this enthusiasm with the rest of the world.

Read Full Post »