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.

I have been thinking about reusing lately, and this post on NPR jumped out at me: “Plastic’s Future May Not Be in the Bag.”

Indeed.  I make the same mistake, and feel rational doing it, that people quoted  in the article make – I use plastic bags from the grocery store for dog poo.  Although I do try to remember to take my own bags, and I have become quite good at it, when I forget I console myself for the ultimate purpose of the plastic bags: bathroom trash liner, other bathroom trash liner, dog poo.  When all else fails, I return the bags and put them in the special bin outside the store.

The problem is the same as with all reused nasty ones: eventually they will meet their end at the landfill, and that will be that.  You can crochet little purses or wallets with “yarn” made out of cut-up plastic bags, and you can iron plastic bags and make a plasticky fabric out of them, but at the end of the day, it’s still plastic, and someone is going to get tired of the little purse or the mini skirt that has a Target bull’s eye on it, and it will get thrown out.

Our only salvation is not to make those bags in the first place, not to find clever uses and reuses, and re-reuses.  I can see already everybody’s houses filled with stuff nobody really wants, and it all gets preserved not because we are too sentimental to part with it, but because we don’t dare to.

We’ll have a glorified trash heap as homes, and our stuff will own us and we’ll be cursed with it forever.

Or is that too dark a vision?

The bottom line here is this:  Plastic bags are a drop in the bucket when you compare it to the packaging of the products you buy, from how far away they have been shipped, and the fact that,

“Once people no longer have a ready supply of old grocery bags stashed at home, they will have to find new ways to pick up their dog poop or line their bathroom waste baskets. If people just go out and buy other plastic bags, it will defeat the purpose.”  The whole discussion of whether plastic or paper bag, or bring your own bag is “just a distraction,” says Bob Lilienfeld (Use Less Stuff).

Aw chucks, and here was something I had just started to get good at…

The air we breathe enters the womb just like the foods we eat.  Dr. Fredirika Perera is 12 years into a study of how the environment impacts the fetus inside the womb.  Please watch this video, but be prepared to get upset if you are pregnant right now.

I always suspected this, and my heart was heavy with worry while I carried three pregnancies to term in New York.  The troubling part is, even if you are completely cognizant of these dangers, it is still impossible to avoid all of them.

I am increasingly doubtful that breast-feeding is such a great idea.  I know that pediatricians preach that the benefits of breast-feeding outweigh the risks of chemical exposure, but after the research that has been coming in lately, I have serious reservations.  I don’t know if the AMA has made any new pronouncements yet.  The establishment always tends to tow the line way beyond what is conscionable in the mind of a person even of average intelligence.