1992 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity | Union of Concerned Scientists

1992 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity | Union of Concerned Scientists:

1992 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity

Scientist Statement
World Scientists' Warning to Humanity (1992)

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Some 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including the majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences, issued this appeal in November 1992. The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity was written and spearheaded by the late Henry Kendall, former chair of UCS's board of directors.

INTRODUCTION

Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about.

THE ENVIRONMENT

The environment is suffering critical stress:

The Atmosphere
Stratospheric ozone depletion threatens us with enhanced ultraviolet radiation at the earth's surface, which can be damaging or lethal to many life forms. Air pollution near ground level, and acid precipitation, are already causing widespread injury to humans, forests, and crops.

Water Resources
Heedless exploitation of depletable ground water supplies endangers food production and other essential human systems. Heavy demands on the world's surface waters have resulted in serious shortages in some 80 countries, containing 40 percent of the world's population. Pollution of rivers, lakes, and ground water further limits the supply.

Oceans
Destructive pressure on the oceans is severe, particularly in the coastal regions which produce most of the world's food fish. The total marine catch is now at or above the estimated maximum sustainable yield. Some fisheries have already shown signs of collapse. Rivers carrying heavy burdens of eroded soil into the seas also carry industrial, municipal, agricultural, and livestock waste -- some of it toxic.

Soil
Loss of soil productivity, which is causing extensive land abandonment, is a widespread by-product of current practices in agriculture and animal husbandry. Since 1945, 11 percent of the earth's vegetated surface has been degraded -- an area larger than India and China combined -- and per capita food production in many parts of the world is decreasing.

Forests
Tropical rain forests, as well as tropical and temperate dry forests, are being destroyed rapidly. At present rates, some critical forest types will be gone in a few years, and most of the tropical rain forest will be gone before the end of the next century. With them will go large numbers of plant and animal species.

Living Species
The irreversible loss of species, which by 2100 may reach one-third of all species now living, is especially serious. We are losing the potential they hold for providing medicinal and other benefits, and the contribution that genetic diversity of life forms gives to the robustness of the world's biological systems and to the astonishing beauty of the earth itself. Much of this damage is irreversible on a scale of centuries, or permanent. Other processes appear to pose additional threats. Increasing levels of gases in the atmosphere from human activities, including carbon dioxide released from fossil fuel burning and from deforestation, may alter climate on a global scale. Predictions of global warming are still uncertain -- with projected effects ranging from tolerable to very severe -- but the potential risks
are very great.

Our massive tampering with the world's interdependent web of life -- coupled with the environmental damage inflicted by deforestation, species loss, and climate change -- could trigger widespread adverse effects, including unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand.

Uncertainty over the extent of these effects cannot excuse complacency or delay in facing the threats.

POPULATION

The earth is finite. Its ability to absorb wastes and destructive effluent is finite. Its ability to provide food and energy is finite. Its ability to provide for growing numbers of people is finite. And we are fast approaching many of the earth's limits. Current economic practices which damage the environment, in both developed and underdeveloped nations, cannot be continued without the risk that vital global systems will be damaged beyond repair.

Pressures resulting from unrestrained population growth put demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any efforts to achieve a sustainable future. If we are to halt the destruction of our environment, we must accept limits to that growth. A World Bank estimate indicates that world population will not stabilize at less than 12.4 billion, while the United Nations concludes that the eventual total could reach 14 billion, a near tripling of today's 5.4 billion. But, even at this moment, one person in five lives in absolute poverty without enough to eat, and one in ten suffers serious malnutrition.

No more than one or a few decades remain before the chance to avert the threats we now confront will be lost and the prospects for humanity immeasurably diminished.

WARNING

We the undersigned, senior members of the world's scientific community, hereby warn all humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.

WHAT WE MUST DO

Five inextricably linked areas must be addressed simultaneously:

We must bring environmentally damaging activities under control to restore and protect the integrity of the earth's systems we depend on.

We must, for example, move away from fossil fuels to more benign, inexhaustible energy sources to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the pollution of our air and water. Priority must be given to the development of energy sources matched to Third World needs -- small-scale and relatively easy to implement.

We must halt deforestation, injury to and loss of agricultural land, and the loss of terrestrial and marine plant and animal species.

We must manage resources crucial to human welfare more effectively.

We must give high priority to efficient use of energy, water, and other materials, including expansion of conservation and recycling.

We must stabilize population.

This will be possible only if all nations recognize that it requires improved social and economic conditions, and the adoption of effective, voluntary family planning.

We must reduce and eventually eliminate poverty.

We must ensure sexual equality, and guarantee women control over their own reproductive decisions.

DEVELOPED NATIONS MUST ACT NOW

The developed nations are the largest polluters in the world today. They must greatly reduce their overconsumption, if we are to reduce pressures on resources and the global environment. The developed nations have the obligation to provide aid and support to developing nations, because only the developed nations have the financial resources and the technical skills for these tasks.

Acting on this recognition is not altruism, but enlightened self-interest: whether industrialized or not, we all have but one lifeboat. No nation can escape from injury when global biological systems are damaged. No nation can escape from conflicts over increasingly scarce resources. In addition, environmental and economic instabilities will cause mass migrations with incalculable consequences for developed and undeveloped nations alike.

Developing nations must realize that environmental damage is one of the gravest threats they face, and that attempts to blunt it will be overwhelmed if their populations go unchecked. The greatest peril is to become trapped in spirals of environmental decline, poverty, and unrest, leading to social, economic, and environmental collapse.

Success in this global endeavor will require a great reduction in violence and war. Resources now devoted to the preparation and conduct of war -- amounting to over $1 trillion annually -- will be badly needed in the new tasks and should be diverted to the new challenges.

A new ethic is required -- a new attitude towards discharging our responsibility for caring for ourselves and for the earth. We must recognize the earth's limited capacity to provide for us. We must recognize its fragility. We must no longer allow it to be ravaged. This ethic must motivate a great movement, convincing reluctant leaders and reluctant governments and reluctant peoples themselves to effect the needed changes.

The scientists issuing this warning hope that our message will reach and affect people everywhere. We need the help of many.

• We require the help of the world community of scientists -- natural, social, economic, and political.
• We require the help of the world's business and industrial leaders.
• We require the help of the world's religious leaders.
• We require the help of the world's peoples.
  

We call on all to join us in this task.

David Suzuki Foundation: Our Mission

David Suzuki Foundation: Our Mission: "Our Mission

The David Suzuki Foundation works through science and education to protect the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future.

With a goal of achieving sustainability within a generation, the Foundation collaborates with scientists, business and industry, academia, government and non-governmental organizations. We seek the best research to provide innovative solutions that will help build a clean, competitive economy that does not threaten the natural services that support all life.

An independent charity, the Foundation does not accept government grants and is supported with the help of some 40,000 individual supporters across Canada and around the world."

Bruce Mau Design - Incomplete Manifesto

An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how we approach every project.

1. Allow events to change you.You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
2. Forget about good.Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.
3. Process is more important than outcome.When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.
4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
5. Go deep.The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
6. Capture accidents.The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.
7. Study.A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.
8. Drift.Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
9. Begin anywhere.John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
10. Everyone is a leader.Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
11. Harvest ideas.Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.
12. Keep moving.The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
13. Slow down.Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
14. Don’t be cool.Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
15. Ask stupid questions.Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
16. Collaborate.The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
17. ____________________.Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.
18. Stay up late.Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.
19. Work the metaphor.Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
20. Be careful to take risks.Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
21. Repeat yourself.If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.
22. Make your own tools.Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
23. Stand on someone’s shoulders.You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
24. Avoid software.The problem with software is that everyone has it.
25. Don’t clean your desk.You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
26. Don’t enter awards competitions.Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
27. Read only left-hand pages.Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."
28. Make new words.Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
29. Think with your mind.Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
30. Organization = Liberty.Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'
31. Don’t borrow money.Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
32. Listen carefully.Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.
33. Take field trips.The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
34. Make mistakes faster.This isn’t my idea -- I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.
35. Imitate.Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.
36. Scat.When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.
37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
38. Explore the other edge.Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces -- what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference -- the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.
40. Avoid fields.Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
41. Laugh.People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.
42. Remember.Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.
43. Power to the people.Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.

We Can Take It

We Can Take It: "The original CCC program mobilized our military and put millions of young single males and war veterans as government issue or G.I.'s to work on conservation projects and other public works projects on US property throughout the United States. Government USCCC workers reforested timberlands (planted 4 billion trees), fought forest fires, controlled soil erosion, built public roads, developed and maintained public parks, and provided disaster relief.

Environmental and infrastructural issues long have been ignored on a social and governmental level. Reactivation would solve those issues and energize young adults and veterans who would stimulate our economy and our rescue our neglected environment. The CCC program should also be considered as a national service and an alternative to military service but have access to the GI Bill. CCC enrollees would then enable our nation with a more confident, competent and reliable workforce ready for employment with real world work experience.

On March 21,1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote these prophetic words in a message to Congress, 'More important, however, than the material gains from their labors will be the moral and spiritual value of such work."

Audio Archives and More | electromagnetichealth.org

Audio Archives and More | electromagnetichealth.org:

What is Happening to Patients?

Click to listen 45:08

Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD
Director, Klinghardt Academy of Neurobiology
Expert in the health consequences of electromagnetic fields and leading
educator of physicians.

Klinghardt Autism Protocol

Klinghardt Autism Protocol: "I have treated numerous cases of children and adults diagnosed with conditions on the autistic spectrum successfully in both Europe and North America. I have read the very practical information provided by www.DefeatAutismYesterday.org (Dana Gorman) and written material from the “Autism Research Institute” tel: 619-281-7165. I have studied a number of scientific papers on the subject, and have carefully listened to my patients and gained much knowledge from my own diagnostic technique, Autonomic Response Testing (ART).

My insights are best represented in a more scientific way by the recent paper (Oct 2005) published by Joachim Mutter MD, PhD who has collaborated with me for many years and works at my Alma Mater in Freiburg, Germany (Joachim Mutter: Mercury and Autism: Accelerating Evidence. Neuroendocrinol Lett 2005; 26 (5): 439-446, Institute for Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany. E-mail: joachim.mutter@uniklinik-freiburg.deThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

I recommend that every parent learn to use autonomic response testing as a tool that will help in the difficult daily decision making process. It has helped to guide researchers worldwide to look in the right direction. I do believe that the currently recommended lab testin"

Thank You Jesus Christ for Creating The Way of Your Word!

I Love You Dearest Loving Lord Jesus Christ.

Autism Lecture

Untitled Document: "Autism Lecture by Dr. Amy Derksen,
Autism Conference, August 2008

Autism Lecture by Dr. Amy Derksen,
Autism Conference, August 2008

Boyd Haley's OSR

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A Comprehensive Review of Heavy Metal Detoxification and Clinical Pearls from 30 Years of Medical Practice

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Winter, Seasonal Healing, Healing with the Seasons, Emotional Health, Herbal Remedies Teas, Oils at Peacefulmind.com

Winter, Seasonal Healing, Healing with the Seasons, Emotional Health, Herbal Remedies Teas, Oils at Peacefulmind.com: "Winter and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Winter. This is the time for us to rest and replenish.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers practical advice for adjusting to seasonal changes. One of the basic concepts in TCM is the 5 Element Theory of correspondences. Each element has an associated season, emotion, taste, organ...

The Season of Winter is associated with the element Water. The emotional aspect is Fear. The predominant taste is Salty. The associated and most effected organ in Winter are the Kidney and Urinary Bladder and the most common external element is Cold.

Strengthening the immune system should be a part of any seasonal ritual! Any tonic formula that strengthens the kidneys and urinary bladder, nourishes the Qi and preserve our essence is appropriate. Remember, the best form of medicine, is preventative

The Kidneys and Bladder

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, The kidneys and urinary bladder are associated with Winter. They belong to the element of Water. The Kidney "system" as a whole, is the storage house of our vital Essence, vitality or Jing (the basic materials that make up our constitution and the reproductive fluids that create life). Libido levels, reproduction, water metabolism and the development of our overall health are associated with the health of the Kidneys. All organs are dependent on the Kidneys for proper growth, reproduction, water flow and control and the balance of "fire and water". The liver sends water soluble waste to the kidneys, where they are further filtered and passed through the bladder for elimination. The kidneys filter nutrients and waste from the blood.

The Kidney system in Chinese Medicine is associated with the development of brain tissue, blood, spinal fluid, marrow, teeth and bones. The Kidneys rule the lower body, are associated with the urinary bladder, is represented by the root of tongue and opens into the ears. Metaphysically, our kidneys are associated with the development of our Will. The kidneys are associated with the flavor of salt and represented by the color of black and/or blue. Our kidneys relate to the emotion of fear.

Signs and symptoms of poor kidney function or yang energy deficiency due to excess cold include cold lower back, legs, incontinence, slow mental or physical movement, fluid retention of the limbs and mid-section, frequent urination and stiff, cold joints, especially the knees.

Signs and symptoms of poor kidney function or yin energy deficiency due to excess heat include dry skin, ringing ears, water retention, night sweats, insomnia, emotional fright, constipation, restlessness, anxiety, agitation, red face , weak bones, chronic fever or sore throat, dry mouth, memory loss, hot palms/feet/chest, slow healing wounds, rashes or bumps, hair loss, weak eyes, extreme libido levels, dark urine, pre-mature ejaculation, hot flashes and a weak or sore lower back.

The balance of fire and water are the perfect example of the balance of Yin and Yang.

The Water Element

The element, Water is associated with the Winter season and with cold.

The element is associated with the kidneys and the bladder, which regulate water metabolism and to the reproductive system. There is also a strong relationship with the immune system and the ability of the body to lubricate, repair and protect itself.

Water is the symbol of our emotions. All life forms consist of water. It involves healing, compassion, reconciliation, friendship, de-stressing, insight, peace, sleep, dreams, intuition, and psychism and health and beauty. A positive water person is sensitive, caring and nurturing. Sometimes they can be a little over emotional and over dramatic in all areas of life. A good balance of water here is needed to keep so that the water person can share there true gifts.

Emotionally, water represents taste, which is experienced on the tongue. It also represents one’s taste in general and one’s desire to taste or experience the world. Therefore, excess water is often equated with sensuality, possessiveness and greed.

Psychologically, water represents a good memory. This can manifest as dwelling on the past. But the ultimate experience of water is remembering that we all share life as a common heritage. This manifests as peace, love and compassion.

The Sacral/Spleen/Sexual Chakra is in the second in the Chakra system and represents our emotional identity, oriented to self-gratification. The second Chakra, located in the abdomen, lower back, and sexual organs, is related to the element water, and to emotions and sexuality. It connects us to others through feeling, desire, sensation, and movement. Ideally this Chakra brings us fluidity and grace, depth of feeling, sexual fulfillment, and the ability to accept change.

Fear

Fear and Chinese Medicine

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Kidneys are the Organ most likely to be damaged by fear and to cause a person to be more prone to feeling fear when damaged or suffering imbalance. So it's not surprising that something which can build up the Kidneys would help panic attacks when the panic attacks have a root of Kidney imbalance.

There are a lot of different things that can cause panic attacks. About the most well-known one is respiratory alkalosis. This is the CO2 (carbon dioxide) level in the blood is too low and the pH (measure of acidity-alkalinity) is too high (too alkaline). The person feels like s/he's smothering and needs more oxygen, but the O2 level is too high. It's the CO2 level that needs to be brought up.

This is the condition where if the person will hold his/her breath or breathe into a paper bag (and re-breathe CO2 just exhaled), the CO2 content of the blood will rise and the pH will get lower (less alkaline), and the breathing problems and the panic will stop. The most common cause of respiratory alkalosis is hyperventilation (breathing too fast and too swallow), and the most common cause of hyperventilation is anxiety. When the CO2 drops low enough and the pH rises too high, the anxiety turns into a panic attack.

Without a doubt, there are situations in our lives that cause fear. This is something we must "pick apart" in order to find it's roots. There may be one or two things that are not allowing your mind to be free. Write them down.

Fear and the Amygdala

Whether you are ecstatic, dejected or frightened, emotions certainly can have a grip on your life. In the world of science, however, emotions did not have such a hold. In the past they took a back seat to more clear-cut scientific topics. But now an increasing amount of evidence is showing that the emotion of fear is decipherable. The identification of a specific brain system that processes fear is spurring a great interest in the field. New discoveries could explain the mystery behind many mental disorders and prompt the development of new treatments.

An almond-shaped area of the brain, the amygdala (uh-mig-dah-la) receives signals of potential danger and begins to set off a series of reactions that will help you protect yourself, according to an increasing number of studies. Additional messages sent to the amygdala determines whether there is a threat or not.

Fear can often be a daily part of our lives. The fight or flight response can occur when an individual is subjected to fear such as a threatening situation or a resistant or hostile event. The response may be one of confrontation or one of avoidance such as running. The response involves all parts of the nervous system, as well as the endocrine system, and can be consciously or unconsciously mediated.

The autonomic part of the fight-or-flight response results in a general increase in sympathetic activity, including heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, muscular strength, and can trigger an adrenaline surge that quickens your pulse, raises blood pressure, kick-starts anxiety and prepares you for "fight or flight." The fight-or-flight response is adaptive because it enables the individual to resist or move away from a threatening situation. can trigger an adrenaline surge that quickens your pulse, raises blood pressure, kick-starts anxiety and prepares you for "fight or flight."

Tips for Releasing Your Fears

No matter what type of fear you are experiencing, there are many techniques which will allow us to move forward.

1. By slowly taking away the "layers" of what covers this fear or block, and discovering what is truly at the root of the fear, it enables us to deal with it from a higher point or view and opens up a path in which to rebalance.

2. Look at them on paper. Send them to me if you like (we can look at them together). Be honest with yourself when you write them out. Go with your immediate intuition. Fears have a tendency to dissolve when we are looking them face on.

3. Re-balance. As a holistic individual, you know that our bodies are continuously in a state of re-balancing itself. This is how we function. This is how we grow. By holding on to a fear, we are not allowing this processes (your intuitive state) to flow freely. This block can be the cause of a much bigger problem.

4. Letting go. By giving this fear up to the universe to handle, you are essentially allowing yourself to release this fear, and in turn strip away any kind of meaning or significance it may have upon you. By letting go, this allows us to move to the next level in our lives. The next natural process. Often times, this is a fear in itself. The fear of "what will happen when I DO move to my next stage in life?" Feeling protected always comes by letting go of the fear.

5. Let your guard down. Let it go. This is not a fear. This is a great journey. Allow yourself to follow it.

6. Being Grounded. Beng grounded is related to our survival instincts, and to our sense of connection to our bodies and the physical plane.

7. Being Aware. Ideally, being aware allows us the understanding of fear, which gives us the comfort to feel protected. Once you know what your fear is, you can take steps to address it. Being aware can keep us healthy, secure, and allow us dynamic presence.

8. Be Familiar. When we are familiar, we are comfortable and we feel connected with our physical body and the space around us.

9. Be Open. Being open, gives us the ability to be conscious and secure in ourselves and determines how we look at life around us. This roots us in survival of both the physical realm and spiritual body.

10. Deep Breathing. Learn to breath deeper. This is very helpful in stressful situations. It allows for the release of carbon dioxide (stess) and room to take in fresh, soothing air (calm).

Crystals and Uncovering Our Deepest Fears

Sometimes when we are fearful, we may not see what seems to be the cause. Eluding us, as we are unable to see the forest for the trees, the vision through the clouds or unable to see past our own emotional confusion.

Here are just a few crystals that are very effective when dealing with fear:

Aquamarine

This stone has the calming, soothing energy of the sea. This is the stone of courage. Tranquilizing, uplifting, openness, innocence, lightheartedness, creativity, communication, self-awareness, confidence, purpose. Throat, Spleen, Heart Chakra. Used for protection on journeys, especially those who travel on water. Affects etheric and mental levels. Helps stabilize and harmonize unsettled surroundings. Helps reduce fears. Has an affinity with sensitive and mystical people.

Charoite

Helps one to deal with both known and unknown fears. This crystal is purple, solid. Newly coming into greater use. Works with Indigo & Violet Chakra to transmute/lift us out of emotions, fear. Seeing old patterns with new possibilities. Opens heart, inspiration, service, seeing clearly (mentally, physically, psychically), faster healing. Some find useful also for entity release work and alcohol/liver detoxification.

Hematite

This crystal is the most recommended stone for grounding and is associated with the Root Chakra, by encourages ones survival instincts and is centering. Hematite condenses scattered feelings, turns fuzziness into mental clarity, enhances concentration, memory, practicality, helps those who study, do bookkeeping, detailed work and helps with sound sleep. Considered the symbol of life energy, hematite allows for more confidence, will power and boldness. Helps us adjust to being physical. A protective stone and helps bolster low self-esteem. Hematite is known to deflect negativity. It restores equilibrium, stability and is also used for astral protection.

Obsidian

This stone will bring up anything which is hidden, and is best used with any of the quartzes (especially rose quartz and aventurine) to soften its effect. Absorbs and dissolves anger, criticism, fear, therefore, protective.

De-Cluttering, Cleansing and Feng Shui

1. Cleansing the Body

This is one of three processes that should be done 4 times a year. Using the seasons as a guide, allows us to work with the "flow of nature" and change as our bodies change. Consider a healthy detox or work with the power of an herbal cleanser.
Here is a nice Detoxification Bath to get you started:


Detoxification Bath
2 Cups Sea Salt
2 Cups Baking Soda
4 Tbsp. Ginger Powder
Place all ingredients in a hot bath and bathe for 20 Minutes
Drink plenty of water. This bath withdraws impurities from your body
and helps you to feel better. This bath can be done
2 to 3 times in a week or as needed.


Psyllium is a bulk-forming laxative and is high in both fiber and mucilage. Psyllium seeds contain 10-30% mucilage. The laxative properties of psyllium are due to the swelling of the husk when it comes in contact with water. This forms a gelatinous mass and keeps the feces hydrated and soft. The resulting bulk stimulates a reflex contraction of the walls of the bowel, followed by emptying.

De-cluttering the space around you can make all the difference in the way you feel. Start small. Try organizing a drawer or desk, your closet or one room in your house, first. Then move on to a bigger project. Learn the secrets to de-cluttering and re-organizing your life with the proponents of Feng Shui

2. Cleansing the Mind

This is the 2nd in the trilogy. Learn how to think in "affirmations" that are positive! These are statements that you make either aloud or to yourself. Always approve and accept yourself. You cannot love yourself unless you first, approve of and accept yourself.

A disciplined mind is a free mind. Gain control over your thoughts and you maintain control over your life. Retrain your mind and you regain your freedom. Calming the mind is a behavioral technique used to interrupt, minimize and eliminate "psychological noise". Obsessive, repetitive thoughts, anxiety and fears are all apart of negative, self-destructive patterns that can benefit from the positive affirmations and mind quieting.


"Love Thy Self"
I am perfect, whole and complete NOW, the way I am.
I deserve all that I require.
I am worthy, loveable and strong.

3. Cleansing the Spirit

This is a life long lesson and third in the trilogy. Utilize the strength of yoga therapy. What is your belief system ? Does it serve you well? How about discovering some great meditations !
The Sun Salutation in yoga is a great wakening and cleansing exercise. This is a flowing combination of some of the asanas in hatha yoga.

Sun Salutation
Stand in Tadasana, take a deep breath, clasp thumbs in front of you and raise arms in front of you over head. Arch back from the waist. Now, fold over at the waist as you exhale, placing palms on the floor, Uttanasana, step your right leg back into Lunge, step your left leg back to Plank, come into Bhujangasana, flow into Adho Mukha Svanasana, step your right foot forward to Lunge, left foot forward for Uttanasana, inhale up to Tadasana. Repeat, stepping your left leg back into Lunge.


Cleansing Meditation

Breath is life! Exchange of electrons. Flow of energy. Air is the primary nutrient. Survival without it is measured in minutes. It is so important that you do it without thinking. Your breathing is the voice of your spirit. It's depth, smoothness, sound, and rate reflect your mood. If you become aware of your breath and breathe the way you do when you are calm you will become calm. Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing. With the addition of music and it's rhythm, the "musical breath" can even help stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders. Fall into the rhythm of the music and breathe. Focus on your breathing and the music.

Focusing on the breath is one of the most common and fundamental techniques for accessing the meditative state. Breath is a deep rhythm of the body that connects us intimately with the world around us.
Close your eyes, breathe deeply and regularly, and observe your breath as it flows in and out of your body. Give your full attention to the breath as it comes in, and full attention to the breath as it goes out. Whenever you find your attention wandering away from your breath, gently pull it back to the rising and falling of the breath. Inhale through your nose slowly and deeply, feeling the lower chest and abdomen inflate like a balloon. Hold for five seconds. Exhale deeply, deflating the lower chest and abdomen like a balloon. Hold for five seconds. Do this three or four times, then allow your breathing to return to a normal rhythm. You will begin to feel a change come over your entire body. Gradually you will become less aware of your breathing, but not captured in your stream of thoughts. You will become more centered inward. You will just "be there."

The Full Spectrum Diet

As a Nationally Certified Herbalist and Licensed practitioner of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac. has spent years developing a natural healthcare plan, which incorporates the benefits of fresh, full spectrum foods based on their color and their properties. A balance of attractive colors in the foods we eat, play an instinctual part as to what the body needs in the moment. The color energy of fruits, vegetables, vitamins and minerals all come into play when furnishing our bodies with the proper nourishment. Learn more about how to implement Andrew's outstanding "Full Spectrum Diet" into your lifestyle!

The Energy Challenge - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in Innovative ‘Passive Houses’ - Series - NYTimes.com

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

DARMSTADT, Germany — From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.

In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.

“You don’t think about temperature — the house just adjusts,” said Mr. Kaufmann, watching his 2-year-old daughter, dressed in a T-shirt, tuck into her sausage in the spacious living room, whose glass doors open to a patio. His new home uses about one-twentieth the heating energy of his parents’ home of roughly the same size, he said.

Architects in many countries, in attempts to meet new energy efficiency standards like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard in the United States, are designing homes with better insulation and high-efficiency appliances, as well as tapping into alternative sources of power, like solar panels and wind turbines.

The concept of the passive house, pioneered in this city of 140,000 outside Frankfurt, approaches the challenge from a different angle. Using ultrathick insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants’ bodies.

And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more to build than conventional houses.

Decades ago, attempts at creating sealed solar-heated homes failed, because of stagnant air and mold. But new passive houses use an ingenious central ventilation system. The warm air going out passes side by side with clean, cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent efficiency.

“The myth before was that to be warm you had to have heating. Our goal is to create a warm house without energy demand,” said Wolfgang Hasper, an engineer at the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt. “This is not about wearing thick pullovers, turning the thermostat down and putting up with drafts. It’s about being comfortable with less energy input, and we do this by recycling heating.”

There are now an estimated 15,000 passive houses around the world, the vast majority built in the past few years in German-speaking countries or Scandinavia.

The first passive home was built here in 1991 by Wolfgang Feist, a local physicist, but diffusion of the idea was slowed by language. The courses and literature were mostly in German, and even now the components are mass-produced only in this part of the world.

The industry is thriving in Germany, however — for example, schools in Frankfurt are built with the technique.

Moreover, its popularity is spreading. The European Commission is promoting passive-house building, and the European Parliament has proposed that new buildings meet passive-house standards by 2011.

The United States Army, long a presence in this part of Germany, is considering passive-house barracks.

“Awareness is skyrocketing; it’s hard for us to keep up with requests,” Mr. Hasper said.

Nabih Tahan, a California architect who worked in Austria for 11 years, is completing one of the first passive houses in the United States for his family in Berkeley. He heads a group of 70 Bay Area architects and engineers working to encourage wider acceptance of the standards. “This is a recipe for energy that makes sense to people,” Mr. Tahan said. “Why not reuse this heat you get for free?”

Ironically, however, when California inspectors were examining the Berkeley home to determine whether it met “green” building codes (it did), he could not get credit for the heat exchanger, a device that is still uncommon in the United States. “When you think about passive-house standards, you start looking at buildings in a different way,” he said.

Buildings that are certified hermetically sealed may sound suffocating. (To meet the standard, a building must pass a “blow test” showing that it loses minimal air under pressure.) In fact, passive houses have plenty of windows — though far more face south than north — and all can be opened.

Inside, a passive home does have a slightly different gestalt from conventional houses, just as an electric car drives differently from its gas-using cousin. There is a kind of spaceship-like uniformity of air and temperature. The air from outside all goes through HEPA filters before entering the rooms. The cement floor of the basement isn’t cold. The walls and the air are basically the same temperature.

Look closer and there are technical differences: When the windows are swung open, you see their layers of glass and gas, as well as the elaborate seals around the edges. A small, grated duct near the ceiling in the living room brings in clean air. In the basement there is no furnace, but instead what looks like a giant Styrofoam cooler, containing the heat exchanger.

Passive houses need no human tinkering, but most architects put in a switch with three settings, which can be turned down for vacations, or up to circulate air for a party (though you can also just open the windows). “We’ve found it’s very important to people that they feel they can influence the system,” Mr. Hasper said.

The houses may be too radical for those who treasure an experience like drinking hot chocolate in a cold kitchen. But not for others. “I grew up in a great old house that was always 10 degrees too cold, so I knew I wanted to make something different,” said Georg W. Zielke, who built his first passive house here, for his family, in 2003 and now designs no other kinds of buildings.

In Germany the added construction costs of passive houses are modest and, because of their growing popularity and an ever larger array of attractive off-the-shelf components, are shrinking.

But the sophisticated windows and heat-exchange ventilation systems needed to make passive houses work properly are not readily available in the United States. So the construction of passive houses in the United States, at least initially, is likely to entail a higher price differential.

Moreover, the kinds of home construction popular in the United States are more difficult to adapt to the standard: residential buildings tend not to have built-in ventilation systems of any kind, and sliding windows are hard to seal.

Dr. Feist’s original passive house — a boxy white building with four apartments — looks like the science project that it was intended to be. But new passive houses come in many shapes and styles. The Passivhaus Institut, which he founded a decade ago, continues to conduct research, teaches architects, and tests homes to make sure they meet standards. It now has affiliates in Britain and the United States.

Still, there are challenges to broader adoption even in Europe.

Because a successful passive house requires the interplay of the building, the sun and the climate, architects need to be careful about site selection. Passive-house heating might not work in a shady valley in Switzerland, or on an urban street with no south-facing wall. Researchers are looking into whether the concept will work in warmer climates — where a heat exchanger could be used in reverse, to keep cool air in and warm air out.

And those who want passive-house mansions may be disappointed. Compact shapes are simpler to seal, while sprawling homes are difficult to insulate and heat.

Most passive houses allow about 500 square feet per person, a comfortable though not expansive living space. Mr. Hasper said people who wanted thousands of square feet per person should look for another design.

“Anyone who feels they need that much space to live,” he said, “well, that’s a different discussion.”

Yes we Can

CANCERactive : Toxic Toiletries - 15 Baddies

CANCERactive : Toxic Toiletries - 15 Baddies: "4:
Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS)
is one of the major ingredients in nearly every shampoo, bubble bath, liquid soap etc. Why, when it is a known skin irritant, stops hair growth, can cause cataracts in adults, damage children's eye development and cause urinary tract infection?

It's cheap and produces lots of bubbles when mixed with salt. Hardly compensation! Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLES) is a slightly less irritant form of SLS, but may cause more drying. Both can lead to potentially carcinogenic cocktails of nitrites and dioxins forming in shampoos and cleansers, by reacting with other ingredients."

Quick Ways to Cope with Pain

Bruce N. Eimer, PhD

Alternative Behavior Associates

ain is an unfortunate fact of life for many people. Medications, balms and salves can help, but don't discount the power of your own mind to relieve pain and ease suffering. Clinical psychologist Bruce Eimer, PhD, offers these techniques to cope with pain quickly, wherever you happen to be.

Redirect your thoughts. Steer them to maximize short- and long-term pleasure... minimize short- and long-term pain. "I will go to the gym and work out for half an hour. I won't be ruled by pain."

Instruct yourself to think and behave in a functional way. "I will take a walk to increase the circulation of blood in my legs, bring oxygen to my tissues and lift my mood."

Decatastrophize. Reframe your pain as less terrible than it feels. "I've been here before. I'm in charge. I can handle it."

Distort your perception of pain. Use your imagination to transform your experience of how pain feels. Shift your attention to sensations, thoughts or feelings that are easier to cope with. Let these new thoughts generate sensations that oppose the pain.

Example: When pain strikes, imagine that one of your hands is immersed in ice water. Concentrate on telling your hand to become totally numb. Then place your hand on the part of your body that hurts most. Imagine the numbness flowing into the part of your body that needs pain relief. If you can't reach that place, such as your back, put your hand on your stomach and let the cold flow through your body to your back.

Distract yourself. Refuse to pay attention to the pain. Ignore it like an annoying car alarm. Shift your attention elsewhere. Tell yourself, "I will concentrate on the sensation of rubbing my fingers together... focus attention on my breathing... squeeze my tension into a fist, then relax my hand and let the tension fly out."

Study the pain sensations as if they were separate from you. Tell yourself, "No pain lasts forever." The pain may still be there, but the suffering will be less.

Bottom Line/Retirement interviewed Bruce N. Eimer, PhD, a licensed, board-certified clinical psychologist in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, and president, Alternative Behavior Associates, www.hypnosisgroup.com. He is author of Hypnotize Yourself Out of Pain Now! A Powerful, User-Friendly Program for Anyone Searching for Immediate Pain Relief (Crown House). In the past 20 years, he has treated thousands of people with chronic pain.

NATO's Doomsday Seed Vault in the Arctic

NATO's Doomsday Seed Vault in the Arctic
By F. William Engdahl | GlobalResearch. ca
September 30, 2008

Using "Climate Change" as a Pretext to Appropriate World Seeds' Treasure

The controversial `Doomsday Seed Vault', a nuclear-bomb- proof vault deep into the side of a mountain in NATO-member Norway's Svalbard, near the Arctic Circle, has begun to collect seed samples from the entire world to freeze in the newly opened facility. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta Foundation and the Government of Norway, among others, have constructed what is called by BBC the `doomsday seed bank.'

Officially the project is named the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It sits on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard island group. Now scientists connected with the project are roaming the world to collect samples of every seed variety known, using the fraudulent argument of protecting against Global Warming to obtain samples of the crop diversity of the planet. The implications are potentially more dangerous than the threat of nuclear war.

As climate change is credited as one of the main drivers behind soaring food prices, the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the private organization which is responsible for maintaining the Seed Vault, is searching crop collections from Azerbaijan to Nigeria, allegedly for the traits that could defend the world agriculture against the impact of future changes. Traits, such as drought resistance in wheat, or salinity tolerance in potato, they argue, will become essential as crops around the world have to adapt to new climate conditions under forecast changes from Global Warming.

Beginning this past March, more than 200,000 crop varieties from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East — drawn from vast seed collections maintained by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) — were shipped to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), a facility capable of preserving their vitality for thousands of years.

The seeds were from varieties of rice, wheat, beans, sorghum, sweet potatoes, lentils, chick peas and a host of other food, forage and agro-forestry plants. They are being safeguarded in the facility, which was created as a `repository of last resort for humanity's agricultural heritage.' The vault was officially built by the Norwegian government as a service to the global community, and a Rome-based international NGO, the Global Crop Diversity Trust, will fund its operation. It officially opened on February 26, 2008.

Unofficially, the Seed Vault project is one of the largest steps taken yet by the handful of GMO agribusiness giants including Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta of Basle, the Rockefeller Foundation in addition to the Gates family foundation, the world's largest private foundation combining the wealth as well of Warren Buffett. As I described in an earlier piece, the project appears to be far from the innocent humanitarian enterprise its promoters claim. The key organizations involved have a long, often dirty history of fraud, intimidation and dubious methods to force the spread of patented Genetically Modified plant seeds into the world agriculture food chain.

Readers seeking a more detailed background on the GMO companies, the so-called Four Horsemen of the Seeds Apokalypse — Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemical and DuPont — are encouraged to look further in my book, Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation. There I describe the decades long background of the Rockefeller Foundation, working in close concert with Monsanto and others to create the scientifically flawed technology of introducing foreign traits into the seeds of the world's main food crops and thereby claiming grounds for exclusive patent rights to sell seeds of corn, rice, potato varieties, soybeans and countless other basic crops including cotton. GMO is a scientifically unstable technique whose long-term health impact on humans or even animals has never been independently tested by any Government.

That is a result of deliberate US policy, initiated in 1992 by then-President George H. W. Bush in consultation with top officials of Monsanto. Then Bush signed an Executive decree mandating the responsible Federal agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and others NOT to independently test the genetically modified seeds for possible harmful effects, but to consider them to be `Substantially Equivalent' to conventional corn, soybeans, rice and such. That political fraud allowed Monsanto to submit GMO seed varieties for approval to plant commercially using only Monsanto-conducted test results as `proof' that the seeds were safe. That was only the beginning of a policy of malign neglect on the side of the US Government regarding the dangers of GMO. Toxic for human embryos



Compounding the dangers, the US Government also refused to examine, independently, the possible harmful effects to ground water and to humans and animals of the patented chemical herbicides which had to be sold alongside the Monsanto or DuPont or other GMO seeds. The seeds were patented in effect to force farmers to buy exclusively the herbicide of the seed patent owner.

As an example, Monsanto initially held patent rights to a powerful herbicide, Roundup®, which today is the world's most used herbicide. Monsanto developed and patented a soybean seed it names Roundup Ready®. Roudup Ready soybeans are "ready" for the Roundup herbicide. The Monsanto soybean is specially developed to be resistant to Roundup herbicide, a powerful poison that kills everything it touches. That pairing of herbicide and seed gives companies promoting the GMO product a lock on both sale of patented seeds as well as their mated herbicide chemicals. All major GMO seed giants started out as chemical companies.

More alarming is the fact that, according to numerous studies worldwide, GMO crops over time need more, not less, herbicide as the weeds develop a special resistance to become 'superweeds' . Then a scientific study that has to date been blocked out of the public debate, suggests that the active elements in the world's largest-selling herbicide, Monsanto's Roundup, are toxic and get into ground water and into the human diet. The study found that Roundup had a measurable effect on human embryonic and placental cells.

The scientific study, released in the magazine, Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology in November 2006 by a group of scientists headed by N. Benachour and G. E. Seralini of the University of Caen in France, following extensive tests with rats fed a diet of plants treated with Roundup, whose active ingredient is Glyphosate, that `we can conclude that the failure to account for the combined effects… will undoubtedly lead to the underestimation of potential hazards, especially at the endocrine disruption level, and hence to erroneous conclusions at a regulatory level regarding the risk that they provoke.' The scientists concluded, `Thus the toxic or hormonal impact of chemical mixtures in formulations (of Roundup — W.E.) appears to be underestimated. ' Moreover, the Caen University scientists found that the toxic effects of Roundup were `thus amplified with time. Taken together, these data suggest that Roundup exposure may effect human reproduction and fetal development in case of contamination. '

The last statement, translated into layman's language is that the world's most popular herbicide has manifest impact on human embryo cells and no Government is moving to call for a ban on its sale pending larger more thorough independent tests. The scientific article was buried and no one outside a tiny scientific community even knew the alarming results. The story should have been banner headline in the world press: `Scientists claim GMO Herbicide toxic to human embryo!' NATO gets world seed samples

The fact that GMO is a product of the Rockefeller Foundation, an organization which has been the leading world organization promoting the racialist eugenics agenda since the 1920's, and promoting population reduction programs including forced sterilization of women in Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and elsewhere in the developing world is relevant to the probable agenda of the people who placed a global seed vault on the property of a NATO country far remote from any prying of the public.

The picture gets more ominous in context of the Arctic Seed Vault of the Rockefeller Foundation, Gates, Monsanto et al. The seeds for the Doomsday Seed Vault are being gathered from select seed banks around the world established by CGIAR. This first installment from the CGIAR collections will contain duplicates from international agricultural research centers based in Benin, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines and Syria. Collectively, the CGIAR centers maintain 600,000 plant varieties in crop gene-banks, which are regarded as the foundation of global efforts to conserve agricultural biodiversity. The seed banks are supposed to be protected from attempts of Monsanto et al to try to use the seeds for their patent efforts. There have been documented cases, however, where seed samples were illegally given to Monsanto or other GMO giants to develop GMO traits. Now by collecting all possible seed varieties far away from prying eyes in the Arctic, the seed companies such as Monsanto who are part of the Svalbard Doomsday Seed Vault project, have at least the theoretical possibility of taking those seeds and patenting the most essential for their proliferation of GMO across the human food chain.

"We're tempted to say that nobody in their right mind would ever use these things," remarked Stanford University biophysicist, Professor Steven Block, a man with years of personal experience with classified Pentagon and Government biological research. "But," Block added, "not everybody is in their right mind…"

The Svalbard project deserves far more public attention and scrutiny. from:
http://www.wariscri me.com/2008/09/30/news/natos-doomsday-seed-vault-in-the-arctic/

SWAT TEAM conducts food raid in Ohio

"Over the past 20 years Congress has encouraged the U.S. military to supply intelligence, equipment, and training to civilian police. That encouragement has spawned a culture of paramilitarism in American law enforcement. The 1980s and 1990s have seen marked changes in the number of state and local paramilitary units, in their mission and deployment, and in their tactical armament." --Cato Institute (more information below)

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. " --Barack Obama, "Obama's Civilian National Security Force"

"At the World Food Programme we have recognized what a valuable tool food aid can be in changing behavior. In so many poorer countries food is money, food is power....." --Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Program, "The UN Plan for Food and Land"

On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on grandparents, their daughter-in- law (whose husband is currently serving as a U.S. Navy Seabee in Iraq), their children and grandchildren for four hours. The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the "bad cop" SWAT team was relieved by another team, a "good cop" team that tried to befriend the family.

The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years. [See video: The Stowers tell their story]

There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them identified as Bill Lesho. The search warrant is reportedly suspicious-looking. Agents began rifling through all of the family's possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family's personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.

Presumably Manna Storehouse might eventually be charged with running a retail establishment without a license. Why then the Gestapo-type interrogation for a 3rd degree misdemeanor charge? This incident has raised the ominous specter of a restrictive new era in State regulation and enforcement over the nation's private food supply.

For verification see this court filing showing that government exceeding its authority

This same type of abusive search and seizure was reported by those innocents who fell victim to oppressive federal drug laws passed in the 1990s. The present circumstance raises the obvious question: is there some rabid new interpretation of an existing drug law that considers food a controlled substance worthy of a nasty SWAT operation? Or worse, is there a previously unrecognized provision(s) pertaining to food in the Homeland Security measures? Some have suggested that it was merely an out-of-control, hot-to-trot ODA [Ohio Department of Agriculture] agent, and, if so, this would be a best-case scenario. Anything else might spell the beginning of the end for the freedom to eat unregulated and unmonitored food.

One blogger familiar with the Ohio situation has reported that:

"Interestingly, I believe they [Manna Storehouse] said a month or so ago, an undercover ODA official came to their little store and claimed to have a sick father wanting to join the co-op. Both the owner and her daughter-in- law had a horrible feeling about the man, and decided not to allow him into the co-op and notified him by certified mail. He came back to the co-op demanding to be part of it. They refused and gave him names of other businesses and health food stores closer to his home. Not coincidentally, this man was there yesterday as part of the raid."

The same blog also noted that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has been chastised by the courts in several previous instances for its aggression, including trying to entrap an Amish man in a raw milk "sale," which backfired when it became known that the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away" (Matthew 5:42)

The issue appears to be the discovery of a bit of non-institutional beef in an Oberlin College food service freezer a year ago that was tracked down by a county sanitation official to Manna Storehouse. Oberlin College's student food coop is widely known for its strident ideological stance about eating organic foods. It seems that the Oberlin student food cooperative had joined the Manna Storehouse food cooperative in order to buy organic foods in bulk from the national organic food distributor United, which services buying clubs across the nation. The sanitation official, James Boddy, evidently contacted the Ohio Department of Agriculture. After the first contact by state ODA officials, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered. Rather, the ODA agent tried several times to infiltrate the coop, as described above. When his attempts failed, the SWAT team showed up!

Food cooperatives and buying clubs have been an active part of the American landscape for over a generation. In the 1970s, with the rise of the organic food industry (a direct outgrowth of the hippie back-to-nature movement) food coops started up all over the country. These were groups of people who freely associated for the purpose of combining their buying power so that they could order organic food items in bulk and case lots. Anyone who was part of these coops in the early era will remember the messy breakdown of 35 pounds of peanut butter and 5 gallon drums of honey!

These buying clubs have persisted and flourished over the years due to their ability to purchase high quality organic foods at reduced prices in bulk quantities. Most cooperatives have participated greatly in the local agrarian economies, supporting neighborhood organic farmers with purchases of produce, eggs, chickens, etc. The groups also purchase food from a number of different local, regional and national distributors, many of them family-based businesses who truck the food themselves. Some of these food cooperatives have become large enough to set up mini-storefront operations where members can drop in and purchase items leftover from case lot sales. Manna Storehouse had established itself in such a manner, using a small enclosed breezeway attached to their home. It was a folksy place with old wooden floors where coop members stopped by to chat and snack on bags of organic corn chips.

The state of Ohio boasts the second largest Amish population in the country. Many of the Amish live on acreages where they raise their own food, not unlike Manna Storehouse, and sell off the extras to neighbors and church members. There is a sense of foreboding that this state crackdown on a longstanding, reputable food cooperative operation could adversely impact the peaceful agrarian way of life not only for the Amish, but homeschoolers and those families living off the land on rural acreages. It raises the disturbing possibility that it could become a crime to raise your own food, buy eggs from the farmer down the road, or butcher your own chickens for family and friends – bustling activities that routinely take place in backwater America.

The freedom to purchase food directly form the source is increasingly under attack. For those who have food allergies and chemical intolerances, or who are on special medical diets, this is becoming a serious health issue. Will Americans retain the right to purchase food that is uncontaminated by pesticides, herbicides, allergens, additives, dyes, preservatives, MSG, GMOs, radiation, etc.? The melamine scare from China underscores the increasingly inferior and suspect quality of modern processed institutional foods. One blog, commenting on the bizarre and troubling Manna Storehouse situation, observed that:

"No one is saying exactly why. At the same time the FDA says it is safe to eat the 40% of tainted beef found in Costco's and Sam's all over the nation. These farm raids are very common now. Every farmer needs to fully equipped [sic] for the possibility of it happening to them. The Farmer To Consumer Legal Defense Fund was created just for this purpose. The USDA just released their plans to put a law into action that will put all small farmers out of business. Animals for the sale of meat or milk will only be allowed in commercial farms, even the organic ones." December 3, 2008 7:09 PM

"The police paramilitary units also conduct training exercises with active duty Army Rangers and Navy SEALs. State and local police departments are increasingly accepting the military as a model for their behavior and outlook.... The problem is that the mindset of the soldier is simply not appropriate for the civilian police officer. Police officers confront not an 'enemy' but individuals who are protected by the Bill of Rights. Confusing the police function with the military function can lead to dangerous and unintended consequences. ..." (Diane Cecilia Weber, Cato Institute, "Warrior Cops: The Ominous Growth of Paramilitarism in Police Departments" )

Updates: December 26: Declaration of Intent, Notice & Demand: See the last document in this pdf file -- a letter from Mrs. Stowers dated December 10.

Global Food Control. Raid on family's home and organic food co-op challenged: "The Buckeye Institute's 1851 Center for Constitutional Law today took legal action against the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the Lorain County Health Department for violating the constitutional rights of John and Jacqueline Stowers of LaGrange, Ohio.... ODA and Lorain County Health Department agents forcefully raided their home and unlawfully seized the family's personal food supply, cell phones and personal computers. ... The Buckeye Institute argues the right to buy food directly from local farmers; distribute locally-grown food to neighbors; and pool resources to purchase food in bulk are rights that do not require a license. In addition, the right of peaceful citizens to be free from paramilitary police raids, searches and seizures is guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 14, Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution.

'"The Stowers' constitutional rights were violated over grass-fed cattle, pastured chickens and pesticide-free produce.... Ohioans do not need a government permission slip to run a family farm and co-op, and should not be subjected to raids when they do not have one. This legal action will ensure the ODA understands and respects Ohioans' rights.'...

"On the morning of December 1, 2008, law enforcement officers forcefully entered the Stowers' residence, without first announcing they were police or stating the purpose of the visit. With guns drawn, officers swiftly and immediately moved to the upstairs of the home, finding ten children in the middle of a home-schooling lesson. Officers then moved Jacqueline Stowers and her children to their living room where they were held for more than six hours."

(Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund) TCLDF Joins Buckeye Institute as Co-Counsel in Civil Suit over Manna Storehouse Raid: "The complaint claims that the Stowers' due process, equal protection and other constitutional rights were violated when their house was raided by representatives from various state and local governmental agencies, including the Ohio Department of Agriculture...several of whom had guns drawn and who treated the Stowers family like drug dealers....one of the deputies even snatched a cell phone out of the hand of a teenage son who was attempting to call Mr. Stowers....

"FTCLDF General Counsel Gary Cox said 'this is an example where, once again, the government is trying to deny people their inalienable, fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice. The purpose of our complaint is to correct that wrong.' The complaint also seeks a preliminary injunction against the Department of Agriculture and declarations stipulating that Manna Storehouse and the Stowers are not a 'retail food establishment' under Ohio's Food Safety Code. As a private cooperative, Manna Storehouse is exempted from the Food Safety Code."

December 11: A media response to this article repeatedly refers to Manna Storehouse as a "business," not a food cooperative. That distinction may be part of the problem. Perhaps the government wants to redefine a legal co-op as a "business" -- and is therefore using Manna Storehouse as a warning to other long-established co-ops. The Sheriff's report doesn't clarify this issue. But it does mention that one of the eleven "assisting officers" was wearing "raid pants" as "a member of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force."

Until now, rural co-ops like Manna Storehouse have been operating freely. For a glimpse of how they might function, look at this definition by "United Buying Clubs:

"A buying club is a group of people who pool their time, resources, and buying power to save money on high quality healthful foods. Members of a buying club share the work and expenses involved in acquiring and distributing the food to their group. Each member contributes to the buying club by doing at least one job, and the buying club in turn benefits from the talents and skills of many. Members divide the work equally among themselves, trading their time for the lower prices. Members also enjoy the camaraderie of working with other people in their community."

Most of the cooperatives buy produce, eggs, and a variety of meats from local farmers. This is part of their commitment to a simple and sustainable lifestyle, a goal many Christians share with environmentalists. Co-op members seek to reduce the costs of energy & transportation. And they like to know WHERE; HOW their food is grown, so they can avoid questionable food and ingredients from countries such as China.

What's at stake here is the freedom to purchase food directly from the farmer, or directly from one middleman. Can we no longer buy eggs or chicken from a neighbor? Would this become a crime? When does the traditional practice of communal sharing become a formal BUSINESS? If a few friends get together and split a few cases of honey and soy milk, should that be defined as a BUSINESS?

Does the local police have the constitutional right to treat peaceful, unarmed families as dangerous enemies?

It's not surprising that the mainstream news media is downplaying and distorting this event. The fact that the initial "belligerent" SWAT team was replaced by a "good cop team" that tried to befriend the family -- and the lack of specific data on the sheriff's report -- suggest that someone recognized the threat to the public image of "law enforcement" and chose to conceal the most damaging data.

Since globalist leaders plan to control food and supplements, water, physical and mental health, energy, and "human settlements" – and as the unthinkable global standards and surveillance system are being implemented -- they will obviously need paramilitary forces to control the unhappy masses.

The Stowers family has been financially devastated by this atrocity. As far as they know, they have broken no law -- no charges have been filed -- yet they lost all of their computers, phones [some have now been replaced] and personal food for the coming year. They are not asking for help, but if you can help them, you can find contact information at: www.mannastorehouse .com
from: http://www.crossroa d.to/articles2/ 08/swat-team. htm
more here: http://www.crossroa d.to/News/ food.htm

Rewards of Keeping a Journal

The Surprising Rewards of Keeping a Journal

Ev Ellsworth

I started keeping a journal in 1953, not long after my mother, then 70 -- just about the age I am now -- gave me journals she had begun when I was three years old. With some breaks, I've been "journaling" ever since.

Years ago, especially when my children were small, it was harder to find the time. Now I'm a proud great-grandma with plenty of time and an increasing interest in recording my thoughts and dreams, my family history and my own past. I assigned journaling to my high school English students for many years and teach it to adults now.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

I'm often asked the difference between a diary and a journal. In diaries, we create a factual record of what we did on a given day. In journals, we may do the same, but we also describe how we felt about what happened during the day and about life's big questions.

When people ask why I keep a journal, I say, "To make sense of my life."

In her book Leaving a Trace, Alexandra Johnson observes that both "diary" and "journal" are derived from words for "day," but neither need become a daily rite. Instead, she suggests that we think of writing as a way to help us see our world differently every day.

A journal is essentially unedited. You can cross out things and play with the material later, if you wish. The purpose is not to build a storehouse of materials for polishing -- you are writing thoughts as they occur for yourself and, if you wish, for posterity.

SETTING UP

All you need is a pen and some paper, preferably bound into a book. My journals range from a silk-bound volume -- a gift and too beautiful to use, although others may prefer such things -- to dime-store notebooks. Most of my students favor the six-by-eight-inch spiral-bound type -- it's portable, but big enough for easy writing. Use what pleases and inspires you.

Running your finger down the smooth surface of creamy paper may spur you to pick up a pen. If, like me, you're intimidated by gorgeous materials, buy cheap ones.

After several years of using both sides of the paper, I began writing on one side only. That way, I can write notes and further thoughts on the back. If you decide to remove or expand on any entries later, one-sided writing will make it easier. Keep your journal with you at all times, and jot down thoughts whenever and wherever you wish.

Millions of people keep computer journals. I do, too, but my writing has a different quality then. For me, personal musings must be done at a slower pace, using nothing electric.

WHEN SHOULD I WRITE?

Some people write every morning or night. That's too often for me. I write in my journal for two to three hours three times a week. You'll learn what works for you.

Unlike a diary, a journal needn't be dated at every entry. I date mine every few weeks.

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?

Let your thoughts wander. Example: My journal entry about throwing out stuff to prepare for an aged relative's visit led to reflections on the visit itself... Aunt Ale's personality... the nature of aging.

You may choose to use your journal as sheer therapy. Caveat: You may want to throw certain very personal entries away.

Recording the details of important events and memorable times will give you pleasure later. Example: Rereading my journal from a trip to the Florida Keys eight years ago reminds me of the strong sense of place I felt there.

Excerpt: "I still see the long, shadowy driveways along Route 1 through the Keys... mysterious, the homes too far back to be seen. I picture women in evening gowns, stepping into Rudi Vallee roadsters, servants watching and knowing -- what family secrets? The sandy roads with overhanging vines -- what are they? Some with weathered concrete pillars, an iron gate -- and then darkness."

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Consider joining a journaling class for encouragement. For sufficient interaction, the ideal number of participants is six to 10. Can't find a class? Start a writers' group at a library, local school or just in members' homes.

Agenda: Taking turns, read selections from your journals. Then take turns critiquing the writing, not the content. Offer positive suggestions that are likely to be helpful for future writing.

Example: "I liked that metaphor... I enjoyed the connections you made... I'd like to know more about..."

Journal writers often omit important details when they know a story well. Ask questions about what's missing.

Participants can refrain from reading any highly personal details aloud. Maintain confidentiality and encourage candor with this rule: "What is read and said in our group stays here."

REVIEWING YOUR ENTRIES

I like to reread my journals, looking for patterns. Doing so a couple of years ago, I discovered several topics that must interest me more than I realized, since I pondered them so often.

I found that the bulk of my journals were banal, focused on my struggle with personal habits. But I seem to be fascinated by what people want done with their remains! Of the 18 or 20 volumes, I threw about half away, dispensing with those that might be hurtful or boring to my children and retaining the narratives of my childhood and other notes of interest to my family.

Here's a passage I kept. Years ago, after a brief estrangement from one of my daughters, I wrote: "How do people cope when family members break away? Who else has been through this? Barbara. Sherry. Elaine is speaking again to her son, thank goodness. What of children who join cults, join the Army, run away, disappear? What about parents who never even look for a missing child, like the ones in that Annie Proulx novel Postcards."

JUST DO IT

Most of us go about with something on our minds. In your journal, write about it.

Don't worry about titles, writing style, creating a "writing arc" or any other fancy literary terms you may know. Your journal is your special place to write your thoughts. Deciding whether to send excerpts to friends, family members or editors can come later.

Your writing style is uniquely your own. It will emerge, as will your "voice" -- the personality who speaks in your words. You may find that that person interests you very much.