Finding Hope

As summer-time approaches, my children dust off their bikes to meet up with friends at the park. One of my jobs is ensuring they bring their water bottles along. I am sure most parents can empathize, I have to remind my children to drink water, especially when spending time in the sun!

I am so privileged to live in a city that has excellent drinking water directly from the tap!

What many of us cannot imagine, is the harsh reality many parents in our world face daily. There just is simply not enough clean drinking water to give their children. I cannot imagine thirst being a way of life.

Solving this critical issue may seem like an insurmountable task. However, there are many people working everyday to work toward the availability of clean drinking water all over the world.

Former President James Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the Carter Center in 1982. One major accomplishment has been to nearly eradicate Guinea Worm Disease, which is caused from drinking stagnant water. 

In 1986, there were 3.5 million reported cases and last tallied in 2012, only 542 reported cases.

This example gives me hope. Through education, awareness and hard work, we can not only address the issue of clean water availability but we can find and implement solutions!

Here is a recent interview with Former President James Carter on the Jon Stewart show:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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-Jeanne

Vacuuming the Plastic from the Ocean

Check out what one young man, Boyan Slat, is doing to clean our oceans of plastic.

He is creating a solar-powered, current driven, Rumba for the ocean!

Courtesy of Vandy Khamsay

-Jeanne

Water everywhere, but is there enough?

Globally, water is everywhere, available in abundance in some countries, whereas other countries are suffering extreme shortages. Some countries like Brazil experience both extremes: drought and abundance. In 2006, a United Nations Report stated, “Overcoming the crisis in water and sanitation is one of the greatest human development challenges of the early 21^st century.” Water is everywhere, yet more people are dying from a lack of clean water in our world than from war. If we as a society and a community became involved we could help the 780 million people around the world who do not have access to clean water. Two main issues are how to replenish depleting water reservoirs and how to ensure every community has a sewage sanitation system, so their water sources are not contaminated. Water.org states, “3.4 million people die each year from a water related disease.” With all of our wealth and resources, globally, we need to address the causes and find solutions to the water problem. One key step is education, educating our society and various communities in order to understand the issues and protect individuals from dying due to a lack of clean water. 

Here are two websites, which discuss the water crisis, the issues, possible solutions, and ways to get involved:

www.water.org

http://haitiwater.org/why/why-clean-water

The Debate over Genetically Engineered Foods

 

With the climate changing worldwide and more-and-more low crop yields as of recently, the argument for and against genetically engineered (GE) food is becoming more heated than ever. The topic of GE food lacks no shortage of issues related to it, but our food security and health are two of the issues at the frontlines that get a lot of attention – and for good reason. Our ability to grow food in a sustainable way that will feed populations around the world, but also support the farmers who do it is important and worth debating. The health risks that are often associated with using genetically modified foods is something that could potentially touch every individual on the planet, so it makes sense that it’s such a highly contested subject. But trying to figure out which side of the argument is right is no easy task. There are a variety of different opinions on the topic and it’s important to analyze them to understand where we’re at now and what lies ahead.

Here are two interesting articles with opposing takes on the GE food debate:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/gefacts.pdf

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/laurelhurst/files/jschloss/GMOs_should_not_be_banned.pdf

There are many difference stances to take on genetically engineered food. Our health is intimately connected to the food we eat and it’s important that we do more research to find out the effects GE foods have in humans. Completely banning GE food could prove to be costly, especially with the current patterns of climate change. With increased droughts and more arid soils, GE foods might be the solution to feed starving populations. Investing in GE food prematurely, or without doing more research could also be costly. The GE crops could negatively affect Biodiversity, soil conditions and native crops.  These articles prove that efforts are being made to ensure that all parties are accounted for in the debate.

Buy Organic – For you and the Environment

Organic agriculture is the best possible produce for our children’s health, our own health, our communities and our country as a whole.  Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people, it relies on ecological processes, bio-diversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects and organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved.

Supporting big-business agriculture and factory farming can have negative effects on your health. Factory farms have a “reliance on pesticides, require heavy doses of insecticides and herbicides and an increasing need for fertilizers”. There are other negative effects of industrial agriculture, including “environmental and social costs, damage to fisheries, constant clean-up of surface and groundwater polluted with animal waste, increased health risks from pesticides, increased ozone pollution via methane byproducts of animals and global warming from heavy use of fossil fuels, and industrial agriculture also uses huge amounts of water, energy and industrialized chemicals.” (Wikipedia).

If all those reasons weren’t enough, consider this photo comparing organic to industrially grown crops:

Calling all City Folk!

Imagine a self-sustaining city that is reliable and not dependant on the negative polution habits of the past. In hollywood we see movies and television series that reflect the breakdown and fall of society as continue to suffocate ourselves with polution. The following article offers some exciting new hope for the future of cities!
Pictures: 10 High-Tech, Green City Solutions for Beating the Heat

IT's SPRINGTIME! Spring Cleaning....

Well its that time of year! The season of spring is upon us. Whether your cleaning out your filing cabinet to prepare for your taxes or cleaning out your book bag to prepare for spring break. Tis the season for spring cleaning. Nothing helps get you started like a checklist. Well atleast that is the case for me. So why not do it in a way that is safe for our enviornment! The following article gives some great tips!
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spring-cleaning-checklist-from-the-maids-198945341.html