Modern man is the only living creature that doesn’t recycle its own excreta. The measure of civilised man has been, for the past thousand years, the efficiency of our sewerage systems. How well can we discretely dispose of our biological waste with little concern as to where it goes or what damage it might be doing to the environment!

This attitude to our personal biological waste is also reflected in our acceptance, until recently, of way we deal with all our other waste that stems from our modern lifestyle; our household waste, our packaging waste, our chemical waste, our fertiliser waste and more.

Until recent concerns about environmental degradation and pollution, the answer was very simple – bury it all in the ground or burn it! Maybe this was a primitive inherited behaviour that made good environmental and natural survival sense when most of primitive man’s waste was his excreta, when a trip to the field or forest to perform nature’s duty after eating was sound ecology for the health of the environment and for man himself.

With the rise of civilised man and city dwelling, that ideal solution was no longer possible. Then began the alternative approaches. 

These started with open sewers draining to land and rivers near to the towns and cities, and later underground “buried” sewers doing the same, though hiding the offensive effluent from sight later when concerns arose that the river waters we needed for drinking, cooking, and washing now were foul diluted sewerage. 

Attempts were made to “process” the sewerage before releasing it into the environment. This was indeed a step in the right direction, emulating nature’s way of recycling our waste, but we underestimated the enormity of this task, as our urban populations grew and by now our “natural” waste was increasingly contaminated with toxic chemicals and materials, that natural processes were no longer capable of eliminating from our sewerage waste. 

The result is that today, in most industrialised countries, there is a sewerage crisis that cannot be solved by bigger and better processing alone, though that needs a radical new solution if we are to stop mankind from destroying the habitable environment with its accumulated waste.

Apparently, we are discharging raw sewerage into our rivers and coastal waters over 800 times a day! 

Many of these discharges are because of sudden heavy rainfall and run-off from the land, potentially causing back flows to our homes which we would not appreciate.

Most of our systems are still based on a Victorian infrastructure that has been tweaked and added to over the years by the private water companies. The radical upgrading of this vital health related system is too vast an investment for private companies, and there is a strong case for taking this essential infrastructure back into public ownership. 

As regards our other waste that is polluting the planet, the plastic, household waste and all the other discarded consumer goodies, we all need to consider what we can do ourselves to minimise this other “excreta” and our government must establish more recycling centres that can better cope with this major problem. Landfill is no longer an acceptable or viable solution.

No other animal I know of makes a habit of excreting in its home! This planet is the only home mankind has, so we had better start to take the example of the animals on this planet.

Perhaps in years to come our grandchildren will be able to swim in every river, lake and sea and drink from every fresh-water river with safety. 

Who knows, it all depends on our priorities that will direct our leaders and ourselves.

Michael Lingard BSc. DO

The post Recycling Number Two – Number One Priority! appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

We have come to believe that modern technology has been a boon to mankind and has made life better, simpler, happier, and easier. In many ways this is true.

Heavy physical labour in factory conditions has often been replaced with a robot, collecting water from a distant river has been replaced with piped fresh clean water, collecting firewood for warming ourselves has been replaced with piped gas or electricity, getting an urgent message to someone many miles away used to involve mail coaches travelling for days, whereas today we can send the message in seconds on our smartphones. Ploughing the fields, planting and harvesting used to need vast horse and man power, today much of this work can be done by SATNAV controlled machines, and so on. Who could possibly suggest all these and many more advances in technology have not made our lives better? 

In medicine we now have remarkable diagnostic machines and sophisticated testing equipment, giving physicians clear understanding of the patient’s illness, that would not have been dreamt about a hundred years ago. How could this not be seen as only a benefit to mankind?

At a more mundane level, we can now do all our shopping sitting at home with our computers or smartphone whereas in the past, even I remember as young child, we would have had to walk some distance to the markets and shops and carry it all back in two heavy shopping bags. Travelling any long distances would have meant days on the roads, on foot or on horseback, or for the few better off in a horse drawn carriage. Today we can hop into our cars or board a plane to almost anywhere in the world. Once again surely no one could suggest this has not made us better off?

What is the reality of all these wondrous advances in technology?

We have, in the west in particular, a breakdown of society and community, a rising neurosis, people chronically stressed and mentally ill. The very fabric of a happy and contented society and community has been seriously damaged. 

It was Rudolph Steiner, over a century ago who warned of the rise of technology and the damage this would do to humanity. Less than a century ago Lord Horder, an outstanding physician, predicted the rise of technology in medicine would possibly lead to the loss of the human touch, that medicine would be reduced to a cold, uncaring, insensitive mechanical process, and the rise of technology would lead to the demise of the caring physician. Even the great Leonardo da Vinci, over five hundred years ago, foresaw the impact of the growth of knowledge outstripping our ability to use it for more wisdom.

Fast forward to today’s reality

Today it’s common to see a group of friends gathered together for a meal, particularly young people, not talking much to each other, not even looking at each other, rather each busy concentrating on their smartphones. More youngsters at home, rather than visiting friends nearby to chat and enjoy each others company, may be seen on their computers or smartphones playing video games, visiting social media sites and checking how many “likes” they have got that day. 

Back home if there is a breakdown of the cooker it will probably require many phone calls, long periods of waiting for someone to be available and little human contact at all. The frustration of automated helplines can be overwhelming! In the past it would have been normal to have a person answer and provide the help needed within minutes. The older generation appear to be more and more isolated by modern technology, however the younger generation are suffering the de-humanising effects of it even more so. 

How can we bring some sanity back to humanity?

How can society recover some sanity and learn how to benefit from technology without the adverse health effects? 

I don’t have a quick fix solution to this existentialist problem but I do believe we all need to recognise and begin to address it if we are to have a better world tomorrow. When a problem is so invasive and widespread throughout our lives, it has to be addressed in an equally complex and broad range of actions by us all. 

In my earlier career as a Management Consultant I was involved with a new management tool called “Operational Research” that was established during the second world war to solve highly complex military problems such as how to destroy well-fortified dams that provided power to the enemy. Many of us have seen the epic solution as shown in the film “The Dam Busters”. Briefly, only when a large team of people drawn from many different disciplines combined their specialist knowledge and experience was a solution found. 

A generation later this same approach began to be applied in industry as Operational Research to solve complex problems in a multi-disciplinary way. So today we urgently need this same approach to the Big Problem – how can mankind live happily and sustainably on our one and only planet Earth? 

There are the specialists and experts in many fields already, in conservation, in psychology, in economics, in medicine, in agriculture, in community work, in environmental research, in communications, in politics and in hundreds of other disciplines. Right now, most are working in isolation from each other and experiencing frustration that their own perspective on current problems is not being recognised as significant. 

Integrated solutions

Only when all these varied disciplines are integrated will significant progress be made. This is not an amazing new concept, just a simple statement of the obvious that we have all known intuitively for centuries but have never made the effort to make it happen. This effort is required of each and every one of us on the planet! It begins at a very local individual level by each of us becoming more aware of how we could help each other whether in a family, community, business or society. 

We all, like every living creature from bacteria to mammal, have an ability to respond well to any event or stimulus we meet; that’s how we have survived so far! 

Responsibility shared

What is now the challenge for humanity, is to become individually and together more responsible for our lives and our actions. Man has for too long behaved irresponsibly, as individuals and as societies or nations. The common driving forces have usually been profit in industry, power in politics, greed in individuals and a lack of care for our fellow citizen, creature or habitat, close by or across the world. 

Only in early “primitive societies” do we see healthy responsibility as the norm. Such societies have managed to survive thousands of years without destroying their habitat, until “modern societies” changed that for them. 

A good read on this topic is “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight” by Thom Hartmann. Written thirty years ago, it foresaw the current fossil fuel crisis and suggests we should look to the last few ancient indigenous people to learn from them how we can begin to live in harmony with nature, and sustainably before it’s too late. 

This is only a small contribution by just one person to an holistic approach that is urgently needed, but if added to by millions more making their individual contributions there is hope for our planet and all that live on it including mankind! 

Michael Lingard BSc. DO.

The post Is Modern Technology Damaging Our Health?  appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

We are truly at an unprecedented tipping point for humanity, but not for the planet. The Earth has seen mass extinction many times before and recovered.

Mankind, that incudes you and me and every other living soul on this planet, has to take the initiative and the responsibility to make changes in our lives to save the only place we have to live. We all have the Response-Ability, let’s use it.

Most of the suggestions to fix the planet are long-term and require massive new investment in new technology or unacceptable demands on individuals that politicians dare not make if they are to stay in power.

We don’t have that sort of timescale to stop the rot, we need action now or at least over the next year or two. 

I did promote a month by month action plan two years ago entitled, “You Can Save The Planet!” that we could all follow to some degree to suit our individual lives.

However not much has changed over the two years besides having to deal with the COVID pandemic, that is a part of the big problem, living in harmony with nature. There is a more serious discussion taking place now we are getting nearer to the critical tipping point, but that is what it is, more serious “Blah, blah, blah” as Greta Thunberg would say!

So what are you and I going to do to change this inaction?

If all mankind lived and ate like we in the West, especially as in the USA, we would need nine planet Earths. So effectively it will mean an even larger proportion of mankind will need to starve for the rest to live their lives unchanged.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to live that made a huge contribution to solving the Global Warming Problem, the Environmental Destruction problem, the Increasing Fresh Water Shortage, the devastating loss of animal, insect and bird species, loss of forest, that also decreased the possibility of serious risk from developing diabetes, heart disease, strokes, obesity and other chronic diseases, that would save us thousands of pounds on our food and extend our healthy active lives? 

Would we all be willing and happy to make such a change in our lives, I wonder?

So, the good news is there is a way to achieve all that but the bad news is that many would not be willing to make the change in their lives for it to work.

How it would work is to simply eliminate one of the most loved yet most damaging foods from our diets. A food that accounts for as much Greenhouse Gas Production as all the International Aviation and/or Transport Systems, that is the major cause of deforestation, ocean and river pollution and depletion of fresh water supplies. This is meat production on the scale that is now a factory industry. 

By eliminating or drastically reducing the consumption of meat we would be reducing Greenhouse Gas Production by over 10 metric tons per year per household and creating all the above additional benefits as well as saving ourselves thousands of pounds every year on our food bills by replacing the lost calories and nutrients with whole plant foods, fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds. Learn more about this concept HERE

As someone once said when told this “That would be an extreme change to make!’ The answer a doctor gave was “Not as extreme as cutting open the chest to access the heart to insert a bypass stent!” Now, that would be extreme, as would our failure to stop the destruction of our beautiful planet, mankind’s only home.

Michael Lingard BSc DO WFNut.Cert.

Further information:

“You Can Save The Planet!”

“Diet and Climate Change – Cooking Up a Storm”

The post How are you and I going to contribute to COP-26 to help save our planet? appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

January: Try to avoid buying anything made of, or packed in plastic
Plastics are based on fossil fuel for production and produce an almost permanent environmental pollutant that will take many years to start to rectify. There are biodegradable alternative materials produced from plants. Find out how 4Ocean are helping clear the ocean and coastlines from trash, most of it plastic.

February: Buy local produce wherever possible
This would both stimulate farmers to shift to plant food production for humans, reduce the vast energy consumption involved in shipping food to and from warehouses and from abroad. Check out the Food Revolution Network

March: Cut back on your consumption of ‘stuff’
We all are encouraged to consume or buy far more material things than we really need. We need to remind ourselves that every article represents a substantial use of the earth’s scarce resources. Read the Greenpeace article on EcoWatch about how mindless overconsumption is destroying our planet.

April: Help plant a hundred trees
If each one of us estimated 4 billion internet users worldwide would do this we could produce 400 billion trees, and these most efficient carbon dioxide consumers would remove around 8 billion tons of CO2 per year! That would help balance the residual fossil fuel use. Global production of CO2 from transport is about this quantity. Find out more about Groundwork’s mission.

May: Support your local community any way that helps the environment
There is a close connection between the health of the planet, the health of individuals and the health of a community. By building stronger communities we would find mutual support in building a sustainable future for our only planet, the earth. To find out more visit Groundwork.

June: Cut out all meat, fish and dairy foods from your diet
This alone would cut greenhouse gases by between 25 – 50%, stop the loss of the earth’s lungs (the rainforests), reduce the need for food production by 75%, with the right distribution system ensure adequate food for everyone, improve the health of everyone, reduce the incidence of chronic diseases, reduce the pollution of coastal waters from agricultural medicine run-off and animal waste, permit the regrowth of our fauna and flora, especially endangered species, and much more! Currently estimates suggest between 50 – 75% of all grain and pulses go to feed animals! Check out TheFoodConnection.

July: Conserve fresh water whenever possible, it’s a scarce resource!
Fresh water will be more valuable than oil in a few years time. Sources of fresh water are increasingly being depleted due to pollution or over exploitation. Producing animal and dairy foods is a major reason for this. Check out the Friends of the Earth report and video about why we need to save water.

August: Make your own health your responsibility
If you have already shifted your diet to a whole plant diet and are getting more exercise walking, you are well on the way to meeting this challenge. Find out more at TotalHealthMatters.

September: Reduce the use of your car by walking more/using public transport
This will go towards the August challenge; taking more responsibility for your health. Read the NHS article about ‘Walking for Health’.

October: Turn your home thermostat down a few degrees lower
Just a few degrees drop will save you over a hundred pounds a year and reduce the consumption of energy nationally. Read Lifehacker’s blog ‘Five Reasons to Lower Your Thermostat (besides saving money)’.

November: Try to reduce food waste to close on nil
Currently we waste over a third of our food. That would feed most of the undernourished or starving throughout the world. Read Olio’s ’10 Food Waste Facts’.

December: Switch your car to any that halves your fuel consumption
Today there is no technological reason why we cannot produce cars that will give over 100 miles per gallon; even this would make a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. This needs to be the most important criteria for car purchase, not its sporty performance. Read Nik Andreev’s post about ‘The 5 most economical cars’.

Words: Michael Lingard BSc. DO. WPNCert. Orthopath, Buteyko Educator, Plantrician

The Plantrician Project – plantricianproject.org

The post How to Save The Planet & Your Health – your 2020 challenge! appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Rene Dubos, an American microbiologist, in 1927 described health as: “A measure of each person’s ability to do and become what he wants to become.”

In 1948, the World Health Organisation (WHO) took this idea further and defined health as: “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

In 1986, the WHO updated their views on health as: “A resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.”

“True health is only possible when we understand the unity of our minds, emotions, spirits, and physical bodies and stop striving for perfection.” – Christiane Northrup, MD

Whatever it is, health is your resource which you can use to support your function and purpose in the world.

Top 6 factors for optimal health
Physical and mental health are the two primary types of health that we all know about. Other forms of health include, spiritual, emotional and financial. And if you are in good health overall you are able to enjoy all the good things in life, without guilt or shame because you are satisfied and confident in your ability to moderate your behaviours accordingly.

Here are some of the top six factors sighted as being essential for good, all-round health:

Diet
We are constantly bombarded with conflicting information on what to eat and what not to eat. The most important thing to remember is to not jump on every new diet fad, and that different diseases can be affected positively and negatively by what you eat, just as different foods can positively and negatively affect different people. We are ‘bio individuals’ and need to listen to our own bodies.

A healthy balanced diet comprising whole foods such as vegetables, eggs, lean proteins, nuts, fruits and good fats and oils can help you maintain a normal weight as well as provide you with energy and lower your risks for the leading killer diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancers. It is important to stay away from processed foods such as packaged snacks and fast-foods as oily, sugary and refined foods contain little to no benefits for your body.

Water is also an essential part of a healthy diet as it helps the body get rid of waste by flushing out the body’s toxins. In general, it is good to aim to consume 2-3 litres of water per day.

Sleep
A good night’s sleep of 7-8 hours gives you the best chance of being mentally and physically prepared for the following day, as it gives your body a chance to rest, restore, repair and regenerate.

This is because during sleep your body’s proverbial “batteries” are recharged, the days’ activities and learnings are processed, and your body also attends to all of the metabolic functions it requires, such as regenerating old cells, getting rid of wastes and repairing cell damage.

My last post discussed the effect that not getting enough sleep has on your weight.

The keys to improving your sleep are:

• Making it a priority.
• Reducing your exposure to artificial light at night.
• Creating a sleep-friendly environment.
• Eating sleep-promoting foods for dinner in the evening. A small bowl of oats, or sweet potato with some butter, almonds, kiwi and mangos are foods that can help you to fall asleep more easily, as will a cup of camomile tea.
• Taking a magnesium supplement, like Synergy’s ‘body prime’, can also support people’s sleep.

With quality sleep you will be happier and better prepared to attain your peak performance.

Exercise
We are designed to move and be physically active. Unfortunately many of us lead mainly sedentary lifestyles, sitting at work all day and then most of the evening too, either in front of computer or TV. The key to overcoming this is by consciously integrating more physical activity throughout our day – by sitting less, standing and walking more, performing our own chores, and finding opportunities to move whenever possible.

Vigorous physical activity puts demands on all body systems to work harder. The body responds to these demands by becoming stronger and more efficient. Just ten to thirty minutes a day of regular physical activity contributes to good health by reducing the heart rate, decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, and reducing the amount of bone loss that is associated with age and osteoporosis. Other health benefits of exercise include improved metabolism, increased muscle and bone strength, larger lung capacity, tension reduction, and improved sleep.

There are 3 general categories of exercise: aerobic, strength training, and stretching.

• Aerobic exercises – include walking, hiking, swimming and cycling. Aerobic exercise helps your heart and lungs stay healthy and should be ideally performed on a daily basis; at least walking for 30 minutes.
• Strength training – involves using weights but also includes push-ups, sit-ups, etc. This type of training helps build and maintain muscle mass. When your muscles become weak then your bones and joints take the pressure and things can start going wrong.
• Stretching – these exercises keep us flexible and help to maintain mobility. A healthy spine is healthy you! Yoga is an excellent exercise for stretching and mental health.

If you are over 65 it is important to keep active and you may benefit by adding balance exercises and flexibility exercises. As long as we keep active there is no need for our muscles to weaken as we age.

Stress Management
Every threat that our body receives, whether physical or psychological, produces stress and chronic stress profoundly affects our health, which many of us simply ignore.

If you’re not managing your stress you will be at risk for modern degenerative conditions like heart disease, diabetes, thyroid problems, and autoimmune disease. Living in a continuous state of stress also causes the body to lose muscle mass and accumulate more fat.

The key to stress management is to try to have a positive mental attitude. We all have ups and downs, however generally having a positive attitude towards your life is much healthier, as negative thoughts and emotions can actually change your body chemistry and in a sense poison your body.

In our modern fast lives we don’t always know how to pay proper attention to what we are doing, so we miss whole parts of our lives and experiences, and all too easily start over-thinking which damages our well-being and makes us depressed and exhausted.

Meditation and mindfulness are also good for stress management. They increase blood flow, reduce blood pressure, and protect people at risk of developing hypertension: they also reduce the risk and severity of cardiovascular disease, and the risk of dying from it. They are not for everyone, though everyone can give them a try.

By paying attention to your thoughts, feelings and body sensations you become more directly aware of them, and therefore are better able to manage them in your day-to-day life.

You can incorporate meditation with exercise by simply going for a walk outside in nature. Or simply just take 1 minute to do some deep breathing whereby the out-breath is longer than the in-breath, so triggering the ‘relaxation‘ response.

Environment
A good healthy environment includes clean air, pure water, sunshine and an avoidance of environmental stressors such as excess noise and toxic substances.

And you can help yourself to create a healthy environment. The first step to take is to identify areas of potential environmental stress, then develop appropriate strategies to minimise or eliminate those stressors.

• Clean air – is difficult to come by in polluted towns and cities, however by analysing our daily routine we can eliminate a sizeable percentage of our exposure to air pollution. You could purchase an air-purifier for your home or workplace, avoid smoky places, wear a face mask when walking in the city, avoid using toxic cleaning products in the home, and try to get out into the country at the weekends.
• Pure water – fresh clean water.
• Sunshine – is good for the soul! Though we all know over-exposure is bad, everyone needs an adequate amount of sunshine every day, even during winter, to give us a daily dose of vitamin D. We can mitigate exposure to ultra-violet radiation by the use of sunglasses and hats.
• Noise – exposure to excess noise can be reduced by wearing earplugs.

Social Connection
And I believe probably the most important factor of all is feeling connected with others and having a social network. Humans were designed to live in tribes. Loneliness is one of the biggest causes of ill health. Meeting and mixing with other people is essential for good health. Making time to connect with friends in person is important.

If you are feeling socially isolated try:

• Taking up a new hobby.
• Go online and find a ‘meetup event’ in your area that looks of interest.
• See what is going on at your local leisure centre.
• See if you can do some voluntary work.
• Or simply initiate a conversation with someone else who is sitting on their own – the chances are they would enjoy a ‘real live’ conversation too.

If you would like any help to create steps to improve your health and well-being then please contact Helen on 07545 227272, email helen @livewellandprosper.uk or visit www.livewellandprosper.uk

Words: Helen Prosper

The post Creating Optimal Health! appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

From an increased sense of wellbeing to a much-needed boost to energy levels and overall alertness, it’s easy to see why a daily brew is a ritual many of us cannot live without.

Past studies have even shown that coffee in moderation (that’s four to five cups per day), can in fact offer a potent blend of physical health benefits with evidence proving that coffee can help:

• keep dementia at bay, reduce the risk of developing heart disease, Parkinson’s, and liver cancer and protect against type 2 Diabetes.
• mop up free radicals in our blood therefore reducing cell damage thanks to the powerful concoction of antioxidants it contains, particularly black coffee. In fact an American study found coffee to be the leading source of dietary antioxidants, contributing more than fruit and vegetables combined! So you could in fact say a good brew is in fact better for you than a green smoothie!
• us stay hydrated and can be counted as part of our daily water requirement (as long as it doesn’t contain over 550mg of caffeine).
• enhance athletic performance, acting as a natural stimulant to enable sportsman to train harder and for a greater period of time. It has also been linked to a faster metabolism and reduced muscle pain.
• improve performance in cognitive tasks, promoting a positive impact upon the brain’s emotive state so you can think more clearly, for longer. So go ahead and take that coffee break!

On a more psychological level, the social element of sitting down with friends and family to enjoy a cup of coffee offers us the feel-good factor whilst also providing us a moment of calm amid the chaos of life – an often mindful experience in which we take the time to savour the aromas, emerging flavours and warmth of the brew leaving us feeling better ready to face the rigours of the day.

There is now a host of speciality coffee brands now available to have in the comfort of your own home, many of whom boast good environmental and ethical credentials as well. One of these is Volcano Coffee Works, an independent company producing speciality roasts at their Brixton based roastery. Their vision is to provide the best coffee from around the world

As well as ground coffee, they produce coffee pods that are 100% biodegradable and fully-compostable, disintegrating in just 150 days, so you can easily recycle them through green waste collection, your own composting or the standard rubbish bin. Compatible with any pod machine, they are available in three expressions, Bold Morning Shot, Balanced All Day and Reserve Rich Sweet.

Which coffee for you?

BOLD Morning Shot – Featuring an intense cocoa body this Colombian coffee is the ideal way to kickstart your morning! £19.80 for 32 pods

BALANCED All Day – This Brazilian coffee’s mild nutty body is perfect for any time of day and deliciously sweet with milk! £19.80 for 32 pods

RESERVE Rich Sweet – The toffee sweetness of this Nicaraguan coffee makes it a great option for a super satisfying everyday treat! £23.80 for 32 pods

Ordering a subscription with them is easy, simply choose how often you want the coffee to be sent; then tell them how you like your brew; finally, checkout and wait for it to be delivered direct to your door!

Volcano Coffee Works also focus on the ethical side of coffee production. They are committed to working with small farmers around the world and their coffee-growing communities to increase the quality and hence the value of their product. They only work with partners and importers who actively engage in promoting sustainability and community-based improvements.

And the end result for the consumer? A great tasting speciality roast which is both environmentally and ethically better!

For further information please visit www.volcanocoffeeworks.com

The post Coffee that’s Good for You and Good for the Environment appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

The earth has been responding to major changes for millions of years and is still doing that regardless of whatever humans do to it; the future Gaia may not be suitable for man but it will be a living planet with other life forms that have had the ability to adapt more effectively. Man, as supposedly an intelligent being, can now see ahead and should have the Response-Ability, or the responsibility, to make the changes needed to ensure we have a habitable Gaia for future generations.

The changes needed are many though they are identifiable. We live, along with every other life form, as part of this living whole we call earth and we must recognise that individually we all are contributing to the health of the earth.

The way I live my life has an immediate impact on every other living part of the earth, and although it may seem insignificant when viewed alone, it is considerable when others follow a similar way of life. It is difficult to believe that a termite hill ten foot high has been the work of thousands of individual termites each only carrying a grain of soil!

So what are the responses we should all be able and willing to make for a healthy future for ourselves and the earth?

Here are a few listed; you might like to add others I have missed:

Plastic: this insidious all-pervading pollutant of the waters of the earth has been highlighted in “The Blue Planet” television series

Fertilisers: over-use and depleted soil have led to the pollution of rivers and large tracts of coastal waters making marine life unsustainable

Cattle and livestock industrialised farming: to meet ever-increasing demand for meat worldwide unprecedented environmental damage is being done

De-forestation: vast areas of ancient forest are being destroyed to graze cattle or for growing crops – not for humans but for cattle.

Water: the earth’s store of fresh water is limited and is being lost through intensive agriculture and over extraction of underground sources

Climate change: although the debate continues as to whether humans are causing major climatic change, the reality is that it is changing and that the evidence is mounting to link much of the change to our human activity. If we wait until the evidence is sufficient for everyone it may be too late to make corrective changes

Bio-diversity: more species of living creatures have been lost over the past few hundred years than over the past million years. The same applies to plant species

Fossil fuels: we continue to burn “the ancient sunshine stores” regardless of the atmospheric damage and damage to the health of millions of city dwellers and with scant regard for the future generations

Soil erosion and loss: a consequence of some of the above has been an ever increasing loss of fertile soil for agriculture. Vast tracts that were once rich arable lands are now deserts through intensive factory farming and flood erosion

Health: we are all responsible for our own health (not your doctor!) and the health of our planet (not the government!); medicine has to change direction from disease treatment (that has become dominated by global giant business corporations) towards health education and promotion, and we all need to put pressure on our elected leaders to protect the planet.

So let’s all give this thin layer of living matter that coats the ball of rock we call earth our daily attention, and think of any ways we might change the way we order or lives to act more responsibly.

What will be your response to the above problems? You know you have the ability to respond, so why not act responsibly? A small start might be to shift from the traditional UK diet of ‘meat and two veg’ towards a diet containing more vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, pulses and seeds and less meat and dairy food. Now that would be responsible!

Michael Lingard
BSc.Dip.Ost. BBEC
totalhealthmatters.co.uk

The post Our responsibility for a habitable Gaia appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Check All Systems Are up and Running

It may sound obvious, but this is an essential step if you want to check your car is functioning efficiently. Address any alert lights and check all aspects of your car visually for any changes. If you notice anything unusual such as a leak or you can smell fuel, have it looked over by a professional. It’s always best to ensure your car is safe to drive as well as operating at its’ most efficient level.

Remember, if you are unsure of how to address any issues with your car, you can always hire a professional from ClickMechanic to do the job for you.

Remove Unnecessary Weight and Drag

Admittedly, most of us are guilty of leaving something rolling around in the boot or in the foot wells. All weight in a car contributes to the fuel consumption; the more weight you add, the more fuel you use. So if you have time to do a quick spring clean in your car and leave only the essentials behind, it can make a difference!

If you also happen to have a roof rack which goes mostly unused, this too may be worth removing. Any protruding external accessories will create drag as you drive and consequently cause additional fuel consumption. The difference in your mileage may seem small, however it will make an impact in the long-run.

Check Your DPF Is in Place

If you recently bought a used diesel car, it may be worth checking the DPF is in place. The Diesel Particulate Filter is designed to catch diesel particulate matter and prevent harmful fumes from being pumped out into the environment.

However, the DPF will struggle to clean itself when the car is not run at a continuous speed for about 15 minutes, or long enough for the DPF to heat up. This means that the DPFs in cars which are in a stop-start environment will often clog and break, causing an expensive bill. For this reason, many drivers have removed the DPF which has become an illegal modification since 2014. Therefore, it’s always good to check when a used diesel car was last serviced to confirm it has a functioning DPF, or get it checked yourself.

Pump up Those Tyres

If your tyres are under-inflated, they will not roll as efficiently and will consequently need more power to rotate. As such, if your tyre’s air pressure is too low, you will consume more fuel to move your car. However, try not to over-inflate them either; the tyres will have less contact with the road and this will increase your braking distance. The air pressure should be checked on a monthly basis and before long trips.

If you’re looking to go one-step greener, why not install low-rolling resistance tyres? These will minimise the wasted energy which is generated as a tyre rolls, leading to less
fuel consumption.

Upgrade the Engine to Battery Power

Yes, it is possible! For those of you who want to be greener, but can’t face letting go of your old-time favourite model, there is a way to get the best of both worlds.

The engine can be swapped for battery power, giving your classic car the ability to run efficiently without causing as much damage to the environment. This produces a vintage, eco-friendly combination and leaves you feeling guilt-free when cruising around town.

Companies are available which offer these services, however always ensure your specialist is qualified and insured.

Switch off Your Air Con

It may seem difficult to break this habit, particularly as we start to heat up for summer, but using the air con will force the engine to work harder and lead to higher fuel consumption.

Try opening the windows as an alternative when driving at slow speeds; whilst this does cause drag, it will be more efficient than using your air con. When you’re travelling on the motorway or above 60mph, use the air con and keep the windows closed to streamline the car more effectively.

Watch How You Drive

Your driving style will have a massive influence over your car’s impact on the environment. It is common knowledge that the faster you drive, the more fuel you burn, however, many are unaware of how much of a difference slowing down can make. In fact, driving at 50 mph rather than 70 mph can improve fuel economy by 25%.

Although this is not the only aspect of your driving you should watch. Sudden accelerations and braking also wastes fuel, as does sitting idly in traffic with the engine on. Keep your movements gentle, use cruise control where possible and watch for upcoming traffic; if you slow early enough you may not have to stop at all. If you do have to stop for more than a minute, turn off your engine to save fuel.

The post 7 ways to make your car greener appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

It is so dangerous for wildlife; sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jelly fish, and eat them. Birds swallow shards of plastic. More than a million sea birds, 100,000 marine mammals and countless fish die each year either from eating the junk or becoming ensnared in it and drowning.

Any sort of cleanup operation is virtually impossible as some plastic bottles disintegrate into particles as fine as dust, and the larger pieces become entangled with derelict fishing nets and waterlogged tyres.

There is a major dispute as to who will clean up this mess as it currently lies about a thousand miles west of California and a thousand miles north of the Hawaiian Islands. Any nation that embarks on the cleanup automatically admits that it is responsible, so they won’t acknowledge it!

That story is disturbing enough, however a vast swirling mass of plastic bags and rubbish has now been discovered in the Atlantic too! The floating garbage heap, which contains debris blown off the coast of Britain and carried by currents, is a smaller version of the huge plastic island as described above. Marine researchers who made the discovery say that every ocean is now contaminated in plastic waste. (The findings come from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza)

Now ask yourself a question? Who put it there in the first place? Who helped to create these massive islands of garbage, that are destroying so much of our environment? People like you and I unfortunately. Over the last 50 years, our generation has created this gigantic problem. And, our generation needs to now start to eradicate the problem.

Don’t know where to start?
All we need to do is carry on doing what we are doing, with a slight difference. Instead of using plastic bags, we can switch to TOTALLY degradable bags. D2W technology produce fully degradable bags that will completely degrade to H20 and Co2 within a period of 12 – 18 months, unlike the typical plastic bag that will be around for 400 – 1000 years! The bags are also fully recyclable.

One step at a time, and that next step can be taken in the next 5 minutes! Check out Ecomarketstall and see the range of totally degradable bags, from refuse sacks, bin liners, freezer bags, nappy sacks/degradable dog waste bags.

Let’s make a fantastic start on the clean up operation by ensuring we don’t carry on adding to the mess!
(copywright Wikaniko)

The post A floating island of plastic waste! appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

There is yet another side to the story and that is what happens when a few billion people eat this way? Most of the food in the left frame above require many more times the water and energy input than the foods on the right side. This puts a strain on the planet’s ability to sustain such a diet; water resources are depleted, greenhouse gases are increased, tropical forests are destroyed, fossil fuels are depleted further damaging the atmosphere, land erosion gets worse, waterways are polluted with run-off from artificial fertilisers, heavier uses of herbicides and pesticides, essential to mechanised farming of these foods, increases the toxic load on us all and on the rivers and seas.

Quite simply this process is not sustainable, and we must start to consider the future of our grandchildren in a world so damaged and depleted. If this were not enough, while the affluent countries enjoy their over-indulgence and over-consumption, a large percentage of the population are dying of malnutrition related diseases or just starvation.

If your dinner tonight is based on most of the food on the right then there is quite a different story to tell! With all that whole plant food you will enjoy a delicious meal and a healthy, disease proof future as well as supporting a sustainable future for everyone and the planet!

Let’s run through the impact of your best choice of dinner.

1. A Whole Plant Based Diet (WPBD) will give you all the nutrients you need for a healthy life. See the table below:

2. A WPBD will not give you high levels of the potentially harmful fat & cholesterol found in an ABD:

3. All the evidence is pointing towards the fact that a WPBD will give you protection against most of the modern diseases of affluence; cancer, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and a host of others. See my website thefoodconnection.org.uk or 4leafprogram.com

4. There is ample evidence that a WPBD will reduce your weight if you have been on the usual Western diet. Obesity is rare amongst those eating a WPBD. See above websites.

5. A WPBD drastically reduces energy, land and water requirements to produce WPB food versus ABF.

6. The production of WPB foods would reduce the environmental damage in many ways; reduced greenhouse gases, reduced tropical forest destruction, reduced fresh water demand, reduced use of toxic chemicals, reduced pollution of waterways and the sea.

7. The demand for pharmaceutical drugs would be dramatically reduced with the reduction of chronic diseases. (The expenditure on drugs by seniors in the USA rose from $550 per person in 1992 to $2800 in 2007 & still rising!)

8. There would be a considerable reduction in the expenditure on expensive medical care, with far fewer operations or investigations needed. (Western countries expenditure on these services is growing faster than economic growth as we get sicker.)

9. The current resources could provide adequate food for everyone if there was a shift towards WPBD in the affluent societies. (A kilo of beef requires 20 times the energy and 100 times the water to produce than a pound of WPB food).

10. And finally we don’t have to change overnight! Old habits are hard to break. Our eating habits are usually well entrenched, they determine the shopping we do, the meals we cook and the food we like on our plates. Once we recognise the facts above we have an incentive to move little by little towards a healthier, cheaper, more resource friendly diet that will change us and the planet.

Maybe you could start by checking where you are on this journey?
Go to 4leafsurvey.com to do a quick survey as to where you are then repeat this in a few months time to see your progress.

Enjoy your dinner and save the planet at the same time! Now that’s cool!
Michael Lingard
Orthopath & Buteyko Educator
lingard @totalhealthmatters.co.uk
totalhealthmatters.co.uk

The post The environmental impacts of your dinner choices! appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.