Green Mothers Digest

Apparently all is not well on the environmental front in California.  I had been impressed with Governor Schwarzeneger’s lead in several issues dear to our heart – banning BPA baby products, capping emission standards, and recently, a moratorium on off-shore drilling.  But apparently he has no say over strawberry farmers – how come?

The growers are moving on to a different type of fumigant, phasing out methyl bromide because it damages the ozone layer.  Now they are poised to use methyl iodide which is highly toxic due to its different chemical structure. Naturally, there is disagreement on how much exposure is too much – does anything ever change?

For bystanders, 32 parts per billion are safe according to the Department for Pesticide Regulation.

Not so, say scientists.  They say for bystanders, 0.9 parts per billion are safe.

Huh??

How do they get from 0.9 parts/billion to 32 parts/billion?  You can read the story here. I have always been strict about buying organic berries, including strawberries, and now more than ever. Still, it is sad that common sense and caution is taking a back seat again.

I used to have this fantasy about country life, living on a farm, being healthy, living off the land, you get the point.  I never realized what a hazardous occupation farming is, unless you do it organically.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof had a scare recently with a growth in his kidney that they thought for a moment was cancerous. (Luckily, it wasn’t).  While he was waiting for the report from his doctor, he reflected back on his childhood:

“As regular readers know, I’ve written frequently about suspected links between chemicals and health. In my own case, I can’t help wondering if there might not be a connection as well. I grew up on a sheep and cherry farm in Oregon, and as a kid I helped mix the pesticides in the sprayer. Dogs on the farm have often died from cancer, and some have had unusual kidney cysts and deformities. Could the orchard pesticides perhaps have some impact on kidneys? Nobody knows.”

Why do administrative blockheads get to play Russian roulette with citizen’s lives? I am eerily reminded of this scene in Erin Brokovich

I can’t resist posting this even though it has nothing to do with “green.”

But for a life-long coffee drinker (I probably started at the age of 12), I cannot but feel vindicated by this new research published in favor, and strongly so, of brewed coffee:

“Consider this: At least six studies indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s, with three showing the more they drink, the lower the risk. Other research shows that compared to not drinking coffee, at least two cups daily can translate to a 25% reduced risk of colon cancer, an 80% drop in liver cirrhosis risk, and nearly half the risk of gallstones.

Coffee even offsets some of the damage caused by other vices, some research indicates. “People who smoke and are heavy drinkers have less heart disease and liver damage when they regularly consume large amounts of coffee compared to those who don’t,” says DePaulis.

There’s also some evidence that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable, stop a headache, boost mood, and even prevent cavities.”

I just have one question – why is this article filed in the Men’s section of Web MD???

Also, here is a news item I missed two years ago, lol:

“But it turns out that just the aroma of coffee also gets some of our genes up and at ‘em. That’s according to research in the June 25th issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The authors report that a sniff of coffee turns on several genes in the brain in ways that help diminish the impact of sleep deprivation. In rats, at least.

Rats that were stressed by lack of sleep were exposed to the smell of coffee. Seventeen different genes got activated in their brains.  And thirteen of them produced proteins known to protect nerve cells from the damaging effects of stress. While there have been numerous studies analyzing the health impact of the ingredients ingested when drinking coffee, the researchers say that this is the first study to examine the effects of coffee’s aroma.”

It is an illusion that there could ever be such a thing as peace of mind.  Unless one totally goes the other way and decides not to give a shit anymore about toxins in the water, chemicals in the environment, pesticides on our strawberries – unless a person, mother or otherwise, just shrugs and decides to give up and just not worry about any of this anymore – as there are a lot of those people in this world – there is going to be anxiety and scratching of heads.

Tonight I was just skimming the newspapers, among others the Huffington Post, where I promptly came across Dr. Mark Hyman’s article on the lead in our bodies:  “Why Lead Poisoning May Be Causing Your Health Problems.”

In it he lists a slew of physical problems that might be caused by lead poisoning, and that’s after the lead-free paint were a lot of the lead problems originated in the past, or so we thought.

In reality, lead paint is all around us, just like fluoride, just like aluminum, just like dioxin, and God knows what else.

He does offer solutions, i.e. chelation therapy, which I know is controversial.  Also, how to keep lead at bay, and not allow our bones to release the stored lead into our bodies. (Vitamin D, and lots of it.)

Check out the article here.

According to the Environmental Working Group, the so-called dirty dozen of produce that experts recommend we buy organic, are indeed dirty: they contain between 47 and 67% of pesticides, a report showed that was aired on CNN today.  The reason for their toxicity is their soft skin which makes them penetrable to the chemicals.

The most vulnerable to pesticides are of course children, not only because they consume the most in relation to their body weight, but also because their brains are still growing.  According to the article on CNN, Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of the department of preventative medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said: “A kid’s brain goes through extraordinary development, and if pesticides get into the brain, it can cause damage.”

And by the way, all the testing was conducted after the produce had been washed with high-pressure water.

Here are the lists:

The Dirty Dozen

Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Domestic blueberries
Nectarines
Sweet bell peppers
Spinach, kale and collard greens
Cherries
Potatoes
Imported grapes
Lettuce

The Clean 15

Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Cabbage
Eggplant
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions
Kiwi

A study reveals that the empathy quotient among college students has been steadily declining since 1979, according to a meta study of  American college students.

They looked at 4 things: empathy, perspective taking, fantasy, and personal distress.  Interestingly, “only” empathy – the ability to feel another person’s distress, and perspective taking (looking at something from another’s point of view) have been declining, or is this my typical “half full glass” perspective talking?  Interestingly, even though the authors of the study wrote that what is partially to blame is “an overactive media that bombards people with violent, horrific images and gradually desensitizes them,” personal distress (how people feel when they see the misfortune of others) has not declined, which is actually what I would have expected.

Another culprit of this loss of empathy: too much emphasis on the S.E.L.F. – no surprise there – as well as, get this, the “growth of social media:

“With so much time spent interacting with others online and not in reality, interpersonal dynamics like empathy might certainly be altered. For example, perhaps it is easier to establish friends and relationships online, but these skills might not translate into smooth social relations in real life….”

Hmm.  Maybe they are onto something, maybe not.  The other day at the supermarket, my daughter and I became involved in one of those conversations with the cashier, and as we were walking toward the car, my daughter says to me, “I love talking to people I don’t know. “  “Right,” I said, “As opposed to the people we do know.”  I was being sarcastic, but maybe there is something to this thing of anonymity, and that it makes some things easier, and that somehow we are used to these kinds of interactions due to our online lives these days.