Love?

Love - the thing we all spend our lives wishing and dreaming for, and spending our lives, energy and money chasing after. And yet not many of us know how to really love, or even what love is. It is another one of those abstract nouns like peace, freedom, democracy, and justice, that mean something different to each of us.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. A Course In Miracles

Haunted by the past?

Most of us were raised by people who didn't love themselves, so they had trouble loving us in real and healthy ways. But we can learn how to break that cycle. We must see the negative programming for what it is and look for role models and community that can teach us how to love ourselves, and therefore others. To quote the prophet Isa "Love thy neighbor as thyself". He didn't say love your neighbor as your parents, or as you love god, or as you love your pet (that would've been a lot easier to do because loving them is easy). The tricky part in that advice is not how to love the "other". The work is in the second part of the sentence- "as thyself".

How many people do you know who really LOVE themselves? We can be good to ourselves, or spoil ourselves, or be overly indulgent but really loving in a deep, balanced and healthy way is very tricky. Once we love US we can love anyone. And what better laboratory, training ground, for learning how to love than relationship. That is where the metal gets tested, the alchemical union takes place. Two people learning to love themselves and each other is always a holy and beautiful mess. It takes courage, strength, faith, tolerance, forgiveness, sweat and hard work, to take on that mission. But it is worth it. Anyone can sit at home alone in front of the TV.

Ok, gang, lets get going. Get out there and LOVE LOVE LOVE. Get out of your comfort zone and RISK!

It is a fundamental mistake of man’s to think that he is alive, when he has merely fallen asleep in life’s waiting room. Idries Shah

And don't forget--love is not the same as hollywood romance. That's the ego's inferior version of divine love--something more like fast food than a real meal. If you want delicious, and nutritious you have to grow it and cook it yourself. Hard work? Sure! Learn to enjoy the process, the journey. It has never EVER been about the destination. Didn't you see the wizard of oz?
Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we have learned here. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts. Marianne Williamson

What we humans need most is what we find the hardest to do....LOVE
So learn from those around you who need love but are going about it all wrong.

I have learned silence from the talkative,
tolerance from the intolerant
and kindness from the unkind.
I should not be ungrateful to those teachers. --- Kahlil Gibran

Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others. David R. Hawkins

Love is all you need

WATER

I have just decided after weeks of research that the Multi-pure filter was the right one to get. I was tired of going to the well (health food store) to fill my plastic bottles ("healthy" plastic albeit, but that sounds like an oxymoron to me). I wanted to drink water that didn't taste like plastic and that didn't cost me an arm and a leg. If you want a filter and don't know where to get one contact me.

(This is from a german website I found whose address I misplaced- sorry)

25% of bottled water – including Coca-Cola’s Dasani and Pepsi’s Aquafina – are merely prettily-packaged city water. Check the label, the cap or call the bottler to make sure you are not wasting your money on something you can get for free at home.

If you choose to buy bottled water, go for brands with a known protected source and ones that have readily-available testing and treatment information that shows high water quality.

Regardless of where – or how – you get your water, do not deprive yourself. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3.0 liters (about 13 cups) and that women down 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of water a day to stay hydrated and healthy. Filter and bottle your own water (in something other than plastic) - this saves money and ensures the pureness, too.

There are a number of methods of water filtration, each with varying degrees of effectiveness, and varying costs. The general purpose of filtering water is to improve the water's hygiene and aesthetic qualities. (Make sure the filter gets pesticides and Pharmaceuticals out of the water) Some of the available water filters are described below:

Activated Carbon (AC) Water Filters
Activated Carbon Filtration is an established technology that works through absorption of the problematic compounds, primarily to remove taste and odour but systems will also remove some harmful contaminents. AC is a highly porous material with a very large surface area. Chemical pollutants are attracted to and held by the AC's surface. These water filters are best suited for the removal of organic compounds.

Ultraviolet (UV) Water Filters
UV Filters are able to kill the majority of bacteria and viruses in the water which passes through them. However, they won't remove chemical pollutants from the water. Also you should note that the treatment is ineffective outside of the treatment area, so water should be used immediately after it is treated.

Water Distillation (Water Distillers)
Water Distillation involves heating the water to boiling point and condensing the steam. Pollutants with a boiling boint near that of water are hard to remove, but generally the distilled water is of a very high quality.

The major drawback to this method is that it requires a large amount of energy. Some people will also complain that the distilled water tastes flat (this is due to less dissolved oxygen).

Also rumor has it that it depletes minerals from your body which I guess is good if you want to get rid of the toxic heavy metals. But I don't even know if that works. I have tried drinking distilled water for months at a time and both times my nails, skin and hair (not to mention my health) showed detrimental signs of abuse. I wouldn't repeat this experiment.

Sand Filters
Sand based water filters have been used for over 100 years to treat waste water. They are generally used on a larger scale to treat a water supply for a whole community, and will be custom made. Most units require a constant flow of water to work correctly, and so wouldn't be suitable for well water treatment. However, recently a Canadian scientist, David Manz developed an intermitent unit. You can buy pre-built commercial units for home use which are typically used with swimming pool pumps.

Reverse Osmosis
In water filter terms, reverse osmosis (or hyper-filtration) is the process of filtering water under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane, allowing water to pass through but rejecting other particles such as bacteria, toxins, salts, and anything bigger than around 150 Daltons.

HOW NATURE MAKES WATER: The Hydrologic Cycle: Nature’s Own Purification System
Nature recycles the earth's limited water supply through a process known as the water or hydrologic cycle. Powered by energy from the sun, water evaporates from the vast surfaces of the ocean and transpires from plant biomass. Convection lifts the moisture, which cools and condenses into clouds. Water is eventually returned to the earth as snow, sleet and rain. This precipitation accumulates as freshwater on the earth’s surface and percolates below in the ground.

Freshwater
Freshwater represents just three percent (3%) of all water on earth, and nearly 70% of that is frozen in ice and in glaciers.The other 30% of freshwater is located in the ground. Surface freshwater sources, such as rivers and lakes, constitute only 1/700th of one percent of the planet’s total water. These are the primary sources of the earth’s drinking water.

There is widespread concern about the deteriorating quality of freshwater in North America. Growing demand, coupled with increasing levels of pollutants, has led many people to question the safety of their municipal water supplies. Even though city water treatment plants are carefully regulated by the EPA, a lot can happen to water as it travels to your faucet. Tap water is dependent upon the condition of city infrastructure and your home’s plumbing. Lead, asbestos, copper, brass and PVC, which are common plumbing materials, have all been linked to health disorders.

Minerals and Drinking Water
There is much controversy about minerals in our drinking water. As a species, humans evolved consuming surface water found in streams, rivers and lakes. Surface water is naturally low in minerals. When humans began to dig deep wells, they tapped into groundwater with a much higher mineral content. These minerals exist in a form and quantity that the body cannot easily absorb. Consequently, they tend to build up in the organs and tissues, instead of being utilized by the body. FreshPure™ RO Water contains only trace levels of minerals (typically 5-20 ppm), similar to the low levels found in fresh surface water.
Optimally, the minerals needed by the body are obtained from either a diet rich in whole foods, or through food-based supplements. All FreshPure™ Waters systems are located inside reputable natural food stores. We encourage you to contact their knowledgeable associates for more information and for recommendations on how you can improve your diet, health and well-being. The simple step of adding high-quality water back into your diet can help improve your health tremendously.

Over the last decade, sales of bottled water have increased dramatically to become what is estimated to be a US $100 billion industry. From 1999 to 2004, global bottled water consumption grew from approximately 118 billion litres to more than 182 billion litres. In several cities of the developing world, demand for bottled water often stems from the fact that municipal water supplies, if available at all, fail to meet basic criteria for drinking water quality. But companies manufacturing bottled water are also generating large revenues in developed countries. Bottled water sales in the United States in 2004 - higher than in any other country - totalled over US $9 billion for 30.8 billion litres of water, that is, enough water to meet the annual physiological needs of a population the size of Cambodia. Countries in the top ten list of bottled water consumers include United States, Mexico, China, Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Indonesia, Spain and India. When asked why they are willing to pay so much for bottled water when they have access to tap water, consumers often list concerns about the safety of tap water as a major reason for preferring bottled water.

While most companies market this product on the basis that it is safer than tap water, various studies indicate that bottled water regulations are in fact inadequate to ensure purity or safety. The World Health Organization warns that bottled water can actually have a greater bacterial count than municipal water.

In the United States, the standards by which bottled water is graded (regulated by the Food and Drug Administration) are actually lower than those for tap water (regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency). Most water bottles are meant to be recyclable. However, only 20% of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the substance used for water bottles, is actually recycled. In addition, the PET manufacturing process releases harmful chemical emissions that compromise air quality. In Greece, it is estimated that 1 billion plastic drinking water bottles are thrown away each year. In China, where roughly 70% of rivers and lakes are polluted, the largest demand for bottled water comes from city dwellers, for in rural areas people are too poor to pay for this alternative.

ILLNESS: Messenger or Curse?

Illness: Messenger or Curse?

(creating health, balance and harmony - Part 1)

What we do that is good for the earth is always good for ourselves. What we do that is really good for ourselves is always good for the environment.

Some theories: 1) People who believe in a random and unorganized universe tend to think illness is the result of bad luck. Actually, some very religious folks subscribe to this theory as well, probably in order to avoid believing the next theory: 2) Illness is punishment from the angry and vengeful God. The God from the bestselling book that says “forgive thy neighbor” and “turn the other cheek” but prefers not to follow His own advice.

3) Another school of thought is that illness is a messenger from nature here to let us know about some kind of imbalance in the mind/body system that needs to be addressed immediately. The body/ mind can be very forgiving. I’ve met people who were heroin addicts for 10 years, were lost at sea for a week, or were prisoners of war, who somehow seem to be doing ok. But because each of us is unique the breaking point of one person can be quite different than that of another. One traumatic event can push some folks irreparably over the edge into illness or insanity while someone else can march across continents on bread and water to find a peaceful place to live.

It seems that the stronger your filtering organs are, the better your digestive system, the more you can abuse your body and not feel the consequences immediately. Environmental and cultural toxins should also be factored in. The limiting and dangerous habits and belief systems we inherit can also directly or indirectly imbalance our system and create an environment ripe for illness to grow in. Many early settlers and explorers had a hard time finding anything to eat in the Americas because they couldn’t find any of the plants and animals they were used to. Incredible as it sounds, many even starved to death. This is a classic example of how cultural “training” can work against us.

If we believe that nature is ordered and cooperative and that it seeks balance in all systems we can start to listen to our bodies keeping that in mind. If, instead of turning a deaf ear, we hear the messages the mind/body is sending all along we can opt for taking action, in order to avoid getting to the point of chronic, or fatal illness.

Here are a few things that stand in the way of us really hearing what the mind/body is saying:

1) Advertizing: People think that if it is being sold to the general public it can’t be toxic or bad for you. (antiperspirants, preservatives, cigarettes, artificial coloring, hydrogenated Trans fats, etc) Or we end up thinking that it is better to tolerate a few toxins in order to fit in, be cool, or smell like everyone else.

2) Numbness: Even those of us who do yoga or have had training on how to listen to the needs of the body often forget or go numb. Rushing around trying to get things done, be responsible, produce, follow the rules, making other people happy, we often stress out our internal organs and nervous system by not eating when we are hungry, not going to the bathroom when we need to, not relaxing when we are tired. Who has the time right?

3) Monkey Mind: (the inner dialogue/critic etc) with its constant chatter of programmed ideas, borrowed belief systems, insecurities and fears, creates far too much noise in the head to be able to hear what is really going on. This monkey is even smart enough to convince us that it IS telling us the truth.

As long as we are living in such a noisy head no wonder we can’t hear the rest of the body.

If we care about the environment we have to start with our bodies. What we do that is good for the earth is always good for ourselves. What we do that is really good for ourselves is always good for the environment. Are we eating nitrates, pesticides and preservatives but fighting global warming? Are we buying fair trade and organic local food but spraying ourselves with chemicals, or living in toxic homes that knock the internal ecosystem off balance? We can’t ignore the little messages and then be surprised when the big message hits us: ILLNESS or NATURAL DISASTER. Global warming messages have been coming for a long time. Now we are finally hearing the call to action.

Illness: Messenger or Curse?
(creating health, balance and harmony - Part 2)

If it’s good for you, it’s good for the planet!

Why is breast cancer on the rise for both men and women?

v Breasts contain lobes (glands that produce milk),

v Fat in between (toxins accumulate in fat when not released by normal outlets like lymph),

v Lymph vessels which lead to lymph nodes (system of waste disposal in our bodies),

v Nodes which trap bacteria, cancer cells and toxins.

A majority of breast cancer is reportedly in the quadrant nearest the lymph nodes suggesting that it has something to do with their ability or inability to deal with toxins. If you believe that illness is a symptom of an internal environmental imbalance then you might want to know what created the imbalance.

Some of the things that interfere with Lymph nodes by preventing them doing their job, or by overtaxing them with toxins:

Ø Antiperspirants (clog and prevent nodes from releasing toxins in one of the most important areas of toxin release – the armpits.

Ø High fat, low fiber diets (clog body and create more build up of toxins. Remember there are good oils and bad oils. We need the good ones as much as we don’t need the bad ones. Do not eat rancid, old, hydrogenated, trans fats.)

Ø High body fat i.e obesity (more fat= more storage room for toxins)

Ø Radiation/xrays/mammograms

Ø No exercise (means no sweat which, along with the movement, carries toxins out of the lymph system and your body)

Ø 1^st and 2^nd hand smoke (heavy metals and toxins which store in fat)

Ø Alcohol

Ø Pollution

Ø Pesticides (store in fatty tissue)

Ø Plastic

Ø Heavy metals in canned food, seafood, cigarettes, paint etc

Ø Eating over-processed, nutrient poor, packaged and canned products that we have been told is food. Just because we were raised on twinkies, canned spinach, and hotdogs doesn’t mean it’s food. We wouldn’t put Hershey bars in the car’s gas tank. It is time to rethink our definition of the word FOOD. Question “authority”. For thousands of years humans have survived and thrived on real food without refined sugar, salt, lead cans, and now most of us couldn’t even identify a peach tree, or broccoli plant.

Ø Birth control pills (anything that tricks your body hormonally can’t be good for you- especially since breast cancer is linked with hormonal imbalance such as the pill and PHT or ERT hormone replacement therapy)

Ø Bras and tight or “plastic” clothing that prevents circulation of the body (The lymph system and skin need to breathe and circulate in order to release toxins and stay in healthy balance. Study in 97 in Fiji showed women who wore bras to have significantly higher rate of cancer.

For more info about all cancer prevention and more about breast health: www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/breastcancer.htm

Why Plastics are bad!?

· They create direct toxicity like heavy metals do

· They create carcinogens (cancer causing agents) like Diethyl Hexylphosphate (DEHP)

· They cause endocrine (gland in human body) disruption which leads to cancer, birth defects, immune system suppression and developmental problems in children.

· Plastic used for water bottles have been linked to all the above problems including early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes and hyperactivity.

· Food container plastics migrate into food and ends up stored in body fat creating elevated rates of lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers.

Buy and store foods and liquids in glass not plastic.

Do not heat foods in plastic ever. Do not give children plastic toys or teethers.

Use natural fibers for clothes, bedding, and furniture.

Refuse all PVC and styrene products.

FOOD JUSTICE

What does ecology have to do with social justice?

I’m glad you asked! Keep reading and you might find some answers.

Growing food and Community -- The Ecology Center 2530 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, California July 31, 2008

The event was designed to introduce and promote the book Building Commons and Community by the late Karl Linn who passed away in 2005. It was also an homage to Karl who was a major force in creating a better and alternative world for many people. The book documents the creation of a variety of commons, over a span of nearly fifty years. You can learn more about him from his webpage listed below.

Commons: a) Belonging equally to or shared equally; joint: common interests. b) Of or relating to the community as a whole

Karl Linn’s fascinating and very productive life began in East Germany, where he was born in 1923, and lived with his family on a fruit tree farm. His family later escaped the Nazis by going to Palestine where they had to grow their own food to survive. Karl attended the Murray School of Agriculture, became a psychologist and worked with children. Then, as if that weren’t enough, he became an architect. He became frustrated by the lack of social space in most building design, and searched for alternative ways to design people friendly and community inspiring spaces. He realized that combining growing food with building common areas made them both more sustainable and long lasting. Later he moved to Berkeley and created common gardens with an emphasis on getting local officials to give long term use of the land to each group.

“We never know what will happen with the future, and I concluded how important it is for me not to be a pessimist or an optimist, but a “possibilist,” to create possibilities of working with people creating life-supportive, life-affirmative small projects that could be inspiring and enrich people’s lives." Karl Linn

Present was Nicole Milner, Karl’s wife of 14 years. She is active with the group Friends of Westbrae Commons. Nicole exudes an energy of optimism, kindness and grace. She says that Karl was always networking and that making personal connections was important to him. Her advice to those of us carrying on the work is “keep a long term view of things, don’t get down and depressed, and keep connecting.”

Carl Anthony, a friend of Karl Linn and co-founder of Urban Habitat, was the first speaker of the evening. He and Karl Linn had been roommates in Oakland many years ago. They met while Carl was on the board of Earth Island Institute. Carl’s father had organized a very successful food coop during the depression with a farm to grow food for coop members at a fraction of the cost. Linn taught him about the importance of neighborhoods and the connection between sustainable living, social and racial justice and food security. Together they founded Urban Habitat. “Believe it or not, there was a time when most people in the United States grew their own food,” Carl told us. “The notion briefly returned during WWII with Victory Gardens as a patriotic act. People relearned how to grow their food. Now we are becoming aware of how unsustainable food production is. The average tomato travels something like 1300 miles before it gets to a table.”

“There are no weeds, only inconvenient greens.”

Joy Moore of KPFA, also on the board of the Ecology Center and part of their Farm Fresh Choice program, talked about the first time she met Linn. “It was 1999 and I was working at Malcolm X school and up walks this strange fellow and he looks at me with his one good eye and started going on about landscape architecture. He talked to me not like I was a woman or a brown person but like a human being and he didn’t make me feel bad that I didn’t understand what he was saying. Later I learned about it all though and now I understand the essential connection between loving the earth and social justice. Karl elevated the status of farmers for me and made me feel it was possible to do away with the separating, limiting, harmful, social and racial beliefs. He taught me to care about and appreciate the larger environment.” Another thing that Karl Linn taught her was, “there are no weeds. Just inconvenient greens.”

Beebo Turman part of the Ecology Center’s Berkeley Community Garden Collaborative (BCGC) had this to say: “ Karl Linn was always thinking about how to bring people together. He believed that the planning was as important as the finished product. He would get so busy organizing that he would forget to eat and he’d get real skinny.” She recommended the film A Lot In Common for which Karl Linn was the inspiration. Over forty years in cities around the country, he created neighborhood commons like the one featured in the film, peaceful places in which neighbors can gather and build community. His many hours of interviews over the five years of production provided the backbone for the narrative of this documentary. Karl died peacefully at his home in Berkeley, California on February 3, 2005.

Adam David Miller, author of Ticket to Exile- a Memoir , an 86 year old acquaintance of Karl Linn, and his wife of 20 years, Elise Peeples, were also present promoting his new book. It is one of the 3 finalists for the William Saroyan prize for Literature. Mr. Miller told us that, “in 1920 there were 1 million Black owned farms and now there are only 25 thousand thanks to public policy that refused to lend money to Black farmers.”

Some of the groups that were present:

www.myfarmsf.com Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) will convert your yard to a garden, and they deliver weekly boxes of local, yard grown produce.

www.altglobe.com a blog building community for alternative living

www.thriving-in-the-burbs.com a blog about: Back-to-Basics Neighborly Approach to Thriving in Challenging Times and how to steer your neighborhood towards sustainability.

www.foodfirst.org The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First shapes how people think by analyzing the root causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and developing solutions in partnership with movements working for social change.

www.adpsr-norcal.org educating design professionals and the public about critical social and environmental issues.

www.peoplesgrocery.org - a community-based organization in West Oakland that develops creative solutions to the health problems in our community that stem from a lack of access to and knowledge about healthy, fresh foods. Organizing for "food justice"

www.earthhousecenter.org Oakland, California, whose mission it is to build healthy, just, and sustainable communities through education, training and multi-media communication tools.

www.ecologycenter.org- Founded in 1969 to provide resources for sustainable living.

www.karllinn.org

www.alotincommon.com

www.urbanhabitat.org

www.earthisland.org

www.kpfa.org

www.newvillagepress

www.myspace.com/skinnystrings- These talented musicians, the local, 5 piece, folk band, called “The Skinny” started up the evening with songs about Kettle corn, and caterpillars.

Neighborhood Vegetables: Growing food and community where we live with block associations.
UC Berkeley tree sitters group, North Richmond Community Garden, Bay Local Lives- focusing on local food production., Hazel Garden of Hayward also present