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RePurposing for your Garden
Mary, Mary quite contrary … WAIT A MINUTE! Why would Mary be "contrary" when we're talking about how her garden grows? She's pretty darn clear about how it grows, " … with silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in row."
Putting aside the rhyme and it's probable religious and historical significance, any way we can make our gardens grow, is a good way!
Let's talk about garden repurposing!
LADYLUX Magazine with the skinny on drinking water and whether it's safe.
Author Katherine Sweet interviews PUR2o's Mizar Turdiu.
LADYLUX was founded by Elizabeth Wahler who's mission as a "Change Agent" is clear … fix what is wrong in the world and empower others to do the same.
Another way to think about Earth Day
April 22 – Earth Day. Hmmm? An important day for sure to create and increase awareness … to assure respect and love for Mother Earth continues from one generation to the next.
I just don't want Earth Day to become another Veterans' Day, Mother's Day or What-have-you DAY; a day we set aside once a year to remind folks of what's important. Veterans, Moms and the Earth are important every day!
Nonetheless, I can (modestly) say, I have been living Earth Day every day of my life. No one had to flip a switch to turn on that GREEN light. I think the light turned green and I shot out of the womb! Now that's a funny visual.
While I'm not going to cite chapter and verse about how I live, I'll share something I have always said … my children call these little ditties "Mizarisms" … "We have to go back to doing things the way our grandmothers did them." "Nuff" said.
For as long as I can remembers, my family has been doing 2-things:
1 – recycling
2 – composting
My dad would have us separating the clear from the green from the brown glass, etc., crushing cans and stacking newspapers before we taking the ride to the recycling center. Not as common in the late 60s but there were out there! About that same time, my mom and dad dug out a 40' x 20' garden. Read about it in an earlier post! And the composting began. It's a good thing too because where I grew up, the earth below our feet was red, hard clay!
My Dad's compost pile was simply done; wire fencing formed into a circle and voila! DONE.
Now … since Antonio and I have a home-based business, we receive deliveries on wood pallets .. A LOT of deliveries which means A LOT of wood pallets. So yesterday, without even paying attention to the fact Earth Day is today, I went out and re-purposed those pallets.
Tah-Daaaaah! Compost bins.
Although by visualizing this I knew I could build this … I have this knack … it serves me well, I went ahead and looked up a few tutorials just to get some different ideas. There are dozens of step by step instructions and videos out there.
Now I can go out into the woods behind my house, scoop up that 2-year old pile of egg shells, banana peels, coffee grounds, you name it and put all in my new compost bins.
It's probably going to stink … but it's a good Mother Earthy stink!
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Sometimes the idea of "going green" or living a sustainable green lifestyle can be overwhelming and not very practical
or doable. You don't have to save the world but you CAN start making a few changes, one step at a time, which together, will
make a big difference. We're u
KIDNEY CANCER & DRINKING WATER QUALITY
When I was growing up, NO ONE, NOT EVER say the word "cancer" out loud. If someone was diagnosed with cancer, it was always talked about in small groups, in whispers. Either that or if someone had to tell someone else the news, cancer was refered to as "the C-word".
Now-a-days, I would put really good money down beting everyone … I mean EVERYONE, knows some one diagnosed with some type of cancer! It is beyond prevalent … it's epidemic. For the first time even my family, a traditionally healthy group of Northern Italians & Albanians, was blind-sided by cancer when a member of the youngest generation - 8-year old Vittorio – was diagnosed with brain cancer, specifically a Medulablastoma on the cerebellum at the base of his skull.
WHY?
I'm not a scientist, I'm not a medical researcher, I'm not an expert in health related issues. But I am a journalist, a mom, a member of this great human race I believe is slowly killing itself.
I believe it has everything to do with how we've selfishly taken advantage and disregarded our home; Planet Earth. All too often, I find articles written by those-in-the-know who talk about our environment, climate change, carbon emmissions, pollution, contaminants and contamination, water quality, etc. We have all heard it before … many times, over and over.
I am really fed up over all the rhetoric and frankly very frightened. Contaminants – natural and man-made – are everywhere in our water; in oceans, rivers, streams and lakes, ground water and aquifers, even in the rain. Most of us are aware of the harmful effects of man-made pollutants, but did you know chemicals which occur in nature can also be harmful to your health? Arsenic, radium, radon, and selenium can dissolve in water and at high leverls can be dangerous.
When we moved our home and offices coming up on 3-years ago, we bought property with a well. State law mandates every well be tested for impurities prior to closing. Results indicated arsenic levels in the water as way over the legal limit.
Arsenic is one of the greatest health hazards found in nature. Researchers with the International Journal of Epidemiology conducted studies in Córdoba, Argentina, where those living there have a long history of arsenic in drinking water. Scientists determined exposure to (inorganic) arsenic resulted in a high incidence of deaths from kidney, lung, liver skin and bladder cancers.
A study of people living in southwestern Taiwan, where arsenic is present in deep water wells, showed high incidents of death due to kidney and other cancers even when drinking small amounts of water contaminated with arsenic. (Doses of 170- 180 μg / l. (A microgram (μg) is one millionth of a gram.)
Between 1950 to 2000, when arsenic- infested river water was used for drinking in regions, including Chile, the mortality rate from kidney cancer went through the roof. Experiments on pregnant mice exposed to arsenic show kidney tumors in their babies.
Every year, more than 200-thousand new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed world-wide. Most occur in Northern America. In 2008, kidney cancer killed about 13,010 people in the United States. The causes of kidney cancer – as for most types of cancer – can vary. Recdntly, however, the disease has been linked to contamination in drinking water. These include arsenic and radon.
The kidneys, like most internal organs, are one of the most important organs in the human body. It can be adversely affected by chemicals and heavy metals foundin water and air. In the case of water, a water filter that can remove the toxic and radioactive pollutants that can cause illness and disease, should be installed.
We did even before we moved in!
I bathe, cook & drink my water withour ever thinking twice about the arsenic in our well. My family's chances of developing kidney problems or kidney cancer are greatly reduced.
PUR2o is once again gearing up for the Greening Our Children's Sixth Annual Luncheon in Greenwich, CT. The luncheon benefits Mt. Sinai Hospital's Children Environmental Health Center.
PUR2o Water Sponsor Ad
The Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center (CEHC) conducts groundbreaking research to identify the environmental causes of childhood diseases and translates research findings into solutions that protect children’s health. Under the leadership of renowned pediatrician and epidemiologist Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, the Center supports ambitious research projects and trains the next generation of leaders in children’s environmental health. Our team uses the same evidence-based framework that has guided Dr. Landrigan’s past successes, ultimately building the foundation for new policies that protect our children from environmental threats.
Core projects include:
- Pilot Research Projects: A “venture capital” research model that supports new studies in children’s environmental health and helps generate federal funding.
- Autism and Learning Disability Discovery and Prevention Project: An interdisciplinary project that investigates the preventable environmental causes of autism and learning disabilities.
- Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program: A multi-site study that researches environmental risk factors for breast cancer, including early puberty.
- Endocrine Disruptor Research Program: A comprehensive research plan that features the work of Shanna H. Swan, PhD – an international expert on phthalates and their effects on children’s and reproductive health.
- Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem: A five-year study that examines how environmental factors affect the children in Mount Sinai’s home community.
- The Laboratory for Environmental Analytical Chemistry: A state-of-the-art research facility that will give the CEHC the unique ability to conduct rapid analyses of toxic chemicals. No other institution, outside of the CDC in Atlanta, currently has this capacity.
- The Mount Sinai Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit: The clinical component of our Center, treating children who have suffered from toxic exposures.
- Mount Sinai Pregnancy Biobank: A unique, shared resource that provides researchers with access to umbilical cord blood and placental tissue samples from newborns to unearth the causes of the most common childhood diseases.
- The New York Children’s Study: A long-term study that will follow babies from their first months of life and until age 10 – examining environmental factors and their influences on children’s health.
The Plastic Nightmare
Take a look at a terrific graphic sent to us by Allison Morris.
She thought we might be interested and of course … as you'll see, it's right up our alley!
Thanks Allison and hopefully everyone who takes a look will thank you too!
Green Divas Radio Show
Lots of ideas for celebrating an earth-friendly holidays this year.
Tune in from 4 – 5pm ET today and every Thursday!
www.HomegrownRadioNJ.org
