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Biophile 28 R25 incl.vat
9 771813 139003
2 8>
Biomail
Inside Issue
this
Issue
28
18 The Heart of the Joule
S.A’s foray into electric vehicles.
22 Psychobabble: Drugging Children For Profit
Psychiatry; conning & poisoning us & our youth.
24 Saved By The Sun
Climate change re-examined.
29 Enough Green - Let’ Go Full Spectrum
Holistic, natural architecture.
36 Why The Free Market Doesn’t Work:
Consumerism vs Conservation
The test of “the reasonable man” applied to economics.
50 Pandemic Or Pig In A Poke?
The greed behind the swine ‘flu lies.
53 Poetic Justice: Superweed Threatens Monsanto
Mother Nature throws the monopoly a curve ball.
54 Green & local
Healthier shopping alternatives.
59 Ant’s Corner
Observations & perspectives of Ant Borain.
60 Our Amorphous World
Insights on a dynamic economy.
62 It’s Time For Action
Guidance & encouragement for lightworkers.
REGULARS
02 Biomail
10 Editorial
11 Biofiles
14 Get Active
17 Carrot Cruncher
32 Green Directory
About
34 Subscription & Back Issues
41 Radioactive
42 Sentience
44 Thumbs-Up
45 Thumbs-Down
46 Green Growth
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Editor: Anthea Torr
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48 Health Matters
54 Soil For Life
57 Jena’s Hand in it All
58 Meaningful Media
59 Ant’s Corner
64 From a Spiritual Perspective
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STATRER
LET
Swine Flew?
Send your letters to [email protected]
or to Box 39277 Capricorn Square 7948
It’s not just GE/GMO’s, Vaccinations, HIV and Cancer they are
lying about, after all they (they=the very rich) have planned to
kill 6 billion of us!
Swine Flu (the vaccinations against it is the real killer) is yet another one of many scares created by them.....to
reach that target. After all it only kills the ignorant.
For those who are interested in the Truth, read below and tell the media.
You can also visit us at the KwaNgcolosi Information Clinic where we offer “Umlingo WamaNgcolosi” natural detox &
rejuvenation juice that will eliminate any disease...(From HIV positive to HIV negative, no problem) So do not worry
about getting vaccinated. Eat healthy and avoid animal products and Doctors.
Check out: www.ravediet.com, www.virusmyth.com/aids and www.aidstrial.com
Kim Kools
Ed’s Note: Those in doubt can visit: http://www.whale.to/vaccine/sf1a.html#PREFACE for an informative perspective.
AN INVITATION
Formally registered in April 2005 we have been active as a charity for some seven years. Our farm comprises
of ERFS 413 and 414. Due to economic constraint and difficulty in obtaining financial support we are reviewing
options.
We operate in Kranshoek, Kwanakathula and Brackenhill supplying soup on Tuesday and Thursdays. When milk
is produced by our cows this is also offered. We also demonstrate solar and water harvesting.
We need to enlist more people to help us achieve what we consider needs to be done.
We have a beautiful set of houses on this site
(Duckmeadow) which would lend itself to the
evolution of an ECOVILLAGE.
There exists a range of options……….from
outright sale to participation in a co-operative
arrangement, or possible involvement with our
close coporation.
Rachel and Charlie Jackson
[email protected]
(Cell) 071 199 5369
Tel/Fax) 044 532 7540
OASIS ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE
Oasis farm
Post Office Box 49
Harkerville 6604
Non Profit Organisation NPO 039/401
Biophile 28• Page 2
Biomail
GM Food Responsible For C.C. Disorder?
Being a botanist and a horticulturist I am surprised that it
took me so long to realise that one type of genetic modification to plants is quite OBVIOUSLY responsible for CCM
(Colony Collapse Disorder) in the honeybee hives around
the world. The genetic modification for pest resistance is
the culprit. Okay so nothing eats the leaves or the seeds
of the GM plant, great for the farmer, BUT, the pollen and
the nectar have the same genetic material as the leaves
and the seeds! The pollen and the nectar in these GM
plants have pesticides built into their genetic material.....
of course they are going to kill the bees..... I mean like
duh...... And of course when we ingest GM plants with
these built-in pesticides, we are also slowly being killed
off ourselves. This is my biggest reason for supporting
SAFEAGE (SA Freeze Alliance on Genetic Engineering www.safeage.org ) and not buying GM products.
than is necessary or justified, then we can expect to curb
the exploitation and misery caused by competition and
can expect a healthy, harmonious and happy society to
emerge. When we can all be in business to facilitate the
flow of universal abundance instead of to out-compete
our competitors to maximise profits for shareholders,
then peace will prevail on Earth.
Rod Tritton
And thanks for your article on competition. The bastions
of capitalism must crumble for peace, health and harmony
to prevail. I even go as far as to say that the hallowed
concept of profit itself is the culprit. Profit justifies competition and until, as a society, we we see the benefits of
co-creating instead of competing, profit will remain the
generally accepted reason for being in business. When
we can see profit as profiteering and making more money
Woolworths...Thin Veneer Of Ethics
Please take a moment to write a note to [email protected] about their thin veneer of so-called ethical practices which are clearly more about marketing than any real commitment. I have personally had shocking, unprofessional
and rude treatment at the hands of their head of department for environmental responsibility (around the recycling issue) and have voted with my feet by avoiding Woolworths as I exercise my right to be a conscious consumer. This was
after he told me that “recycling is useless, face it!” and that “it’s not profitable enough for recycling companies to melt
down flimsy plastics” followed by some personal insults I won’t repeat.
It’s up to each of us to ask for the changes we wish to see from the almost monopolistic retailers. Read labels, notice
the differences between in-store advertising (posters, shelf-talkers, etc.) and the actual ingredients of what’s on offer.
We are each a powerful voice for change – so let’s speak up.
Thanks for your consideration,
Anna B
Ed’s Note: Interesting to see in
January, Woolworths Australia
began a massive rebranding exercise. Notice their new logo which
was described by their marketing
department as “Australia’s new
symbol for fresh food.”
Biophile 28 • Page 3
Biomail
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes...
Hi,
Your magazine always has lots of information of interest to
me. I know, the subject of pollution has been “done” by everyone, but I’d like to tell you what happened to me, on the
25th March. Maybe, you can tell me what I can do.....!
I’d been out (Live Poet’s Society) and was getting into bed
when it happened. A smell of burning somewhere and then
a blast of something (not smoke) in my face. My eyes were
in pain, and then, the itch! My left eye was worse (nearer
the window). I rubbed and put on a hot, wet cloth - over and
over - for hours. The “fumes” had blocked up my sinuses and
I was coughing too.
It happened +- 20h30 and it eased up well after midnight. At
2 am, I finally slept for 3 hours. In the morning my eyes were
sore, a bit scratchy and itchy, red and swollen and still are. I
used a hot, wet hanky, and tears were pouring down my face
(good for me, I’m told). The burning feeling is still here and
my vision isn’t ideal, but I can still see.
When I phoned a neighbour up the road, she, too had itchy
eyes. She’d gone to bed early and woken up with very itchy
eyes. So, it wasn’t just me!
It could’ve been from a factory or down at the docks. I
don’t know. Isn’t it illegal to rid your factory of toxic waste
at night? A lot of factories seem to do it. Always at night!
Can’t anyone do something to help?
To whom can I talk? Is it any use? Can anything be done?
By night it’s worse, ‘cos you can’t just go out; often one is
asleep. Suggestions, please.
Sincerely
Roslyn Fielding
Ed’s Note:
I would suggest contacting your local authority’s (municipality’s) EHP (environmental health practitioner.) They
have the necessary mandate to observe, analyze & enforce
the relevant acts. For more detail, go to:
http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/CityHealth/EnviroHealth/
Pages/EnvironmentalHealth.aspx or for legislative info
visit: http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/CityHealth/Documentation/Pages/Legislation.aspx
True Religion
I have started a new ‘religion’, if it must have a name, it is Hinjewmuschrist.
Rule number 1. There are no rules.
We abide by the laws of the universe, if we want to. It is normally a good idea to.
If you argue with reality (what is) you lose, but only 100% of the time.
If you have a need for laws and rules, this collection of like-minded souls is not yet ready for you.
Our book of preference is the 81 verses of Tao Te Ching.
If you are tired of being fearful and suffering of any type, you are at the right place.
If you are sick of being sick, you are at the right place.
If you do not know why you are here, you are at the right place.
If you are just a little bit interested, you are at the right place.
How do you know you are at the right place, because this is where you are.
Ant
Biomail
Who Owns Nature?
It may seem a silly question, but in our patent and paper obsessed world, it’s
not. Up until the first half of the 20th Century, seeds were almost entirely in the
hands of farmers and public-sector plant breeders. Since then, farmers rights
have been systematically exterminated in the name of intellectual property, so
that 82% of the global seed market is now proprietary.
The name Monsanto is probably familiar to most - the giant multinational
biotech, responsible for many of the genetically-modified foods available here.
But Monsanto are not the world’s largest biotech company. They’re the world’s
largest seed company. Their strategy for selling their products has been to buy
up seed companies, cutting out alternatives. They produce the product, and they
sell it. And in many areas, there’s nowhere else to go.
Monsanto accounts for almost a quarter of the proprietary seed market worldwide, very often through local subsidiaries. In 2000, Monsanto bought up all of
Sensako, a South African seed company. At the time, Sensako controlled 45%
of the maize seed market and almost all of the wheat market. In one swoop Monsanto controlled much of South African agriculture’s seed supply.
Monsanto seeds alone accounted for 87% of the area devoted for genetically-modified seeds. As a seed cartel, they have unprecedented power, shown by their decision to
raise maize seed prices by 35% in July last
year.
But it’s not only seed prices that are increasing. The price of chemical fertilizers,
a similar market controlled by very few,
jumped from $245 per ton at the beginning
of 2007 to $1600 per ton in August 2008.
Is it any wonder that the prices of chemical
crops are rocketing, and hunger spreading as small farmers, unable to afford the
chemical inputs, are put out of business?
We’ve sat back and handed over the control
of our natural heritage to a few large cartels. But there’s still time to take it back.
You can read the etc group’s full report, entitled Who owns Nature? Corporate Power
and the Commodification of Life at http://
www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=707
But there are green shoots everywhere.
We’re lucky enough to have two seed
producers keeping the organic flame going. Camphill and Sandveld both produce
excellent seeds that thrive in our local
conditions.
The Ethical Co-Op Team
www.ethical.org.za
Biomail
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Healthmakers specialize in appliances designed to make a
healthy life-style an easy and enjoyable experience.
Distributors of the legendary Oscar DA 900, Vita Mix 5000 and
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Biomail
Circle of Sound and the Global Harmonisation Ceremony
By Daniel Brower
The sound of a crystal singing bowl is a very special
sound. The vibration of the pure sound emanating
from the crystal bowl travels across the room or the
space to penetrate one’s body like few instruments
can. When several crystal bowls play together, the
sounds and vibrations increase at an exponential
degree. Likewise, their penetration into the physical
body is amplified and rattles our bones and cellular
structure and, when a set of seven crystal bowls
tuned to the seven notes of the musical scale are
played together, a cacophony of sounds and vibrations is generated that penetrates and shakes the
very structure of Mother Earth!
spoke the names and locations of the other sites
which I wrote down to remember because I had
not heard of any of them except for Shamballa in
Tibet, which rang a memory bell from far away. As
we walked for a while afterwards I asked him what
might happen if we could arrange to have a crystal
bowl played at all seven locations (the seventh
spot being a mountain nearby) at the same time.
He pondered the question a while as we walked
on, then responded that it might change the consciousness of humanity!
Such a set of seven crystal bowls is what we call the Circle of
Sound, and a very special sound it is indeed! When the bowls are
played consciously and with specific intentions our cellular system
gets shaken up in a particular way and eventually settles down and
balances into a restructured pattern in alignment with the intentions
expressed and sounded. Likewise, the vibrations and roots of our
Mother Earth are likely to get changed accordingly, in alignment
with the intentions and thoughts being held while such a collection
of instruments is being played. In fact, this is the idea behind the
Global Harmonisation Ceremony sponsored by Circle of Sound.
Even more, the concept is to gather together as many crystal singing bowls and sets of crystal singing bowls as possible around the
planet to be played every Equinox and every Solstice, Circles of
Sound with as many people as possible united around the circles
and concentrating on the same intentions together: HARMONY,
ACCEPTANCE, UNITY, JOY and COMPASSION among all beings
of the planet. The Global Harmonisation Ceremony began on the
September Equinox in 2005 and we have been sharing them every
Equinox and every Solstice since.
With every ceremony more and more people are finding out about
this ceremony and are “Joining the Circle and Sharing the Sound”,
Circle of Sound’s motto. Our family of Circle of Sound now stretches around the planet, from Russia to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina,
from Australia to the northwest corner of the USA, from Egypt to
the UK and many places in between. Just imagine the effect on
the mass consciousness of humanity that results from the power of
the united consciousness of so many people being amplified by the
power of the sound of so many crystal singing bowls. Throw in the
range of other sounds and traditional instruments joining the circles
around the world and the effects are astronomical. “Imagine all the
People” joining in the Circle of Sound and changing the whole world! This was the vision I had after getting the idea for such an on-going
ceremony from Don Hugo Jaime, a descendent of the Comechingone Indians of Argentina back in 2003. I had been guided to meet
him at his home in the middle of Argentina near Capilla del Monte in
Córdoba Province, a powerful energy spot known for a lot of extraterrestrial and intra-terrestrial activities. This was within a year of
discovering the power of such a sound and establishing the Circle
of Sound on Vashon Island near Seattle, Washington, USA. I found
Don Hugo Jaime at home, on some sacred ceremonial lands of the
Comechingones, and played my one little travel companion crystal
bowl for him with the intention of balancing the energies of the
Heavenly Father with those of the Earthly Mother.
After he listened and felt the power of the sound of just one bowl,
he gave me the original suggestion to travel to six other special
sites around the world and play my bowl with the same intention. He
And so began this mission to organise for not just
one bowl but a set of crystal bowls to be arranged and a family of
Circle of Sound to be established at all these seven spots. It developed into an amazing and wonderful adventure that has taken me
to four different continents and many more countries, has shown me
some of Mother Earth’s most magnificent sights and has introduced
me to many beautiful and powerful people and cultures, all of whom
have embraced the idea of the Harmonisation Ceremony wholeheartedly, and are now part of the Circle of Sound family. With the
help of the Divine Order and some generous friends I managed to
deliver a set of the crystal singing bowls to all seven sites found in
Peru, Argentina, Russia, France, Mexico, Egypt and Shamballa in
Tibet.
Delivering the bowls was fairly easy; just a matter of arranging
payment, shipping and passing through customs. Well, this last
step was a challenge in each country but where there is a will there
is a way, and our will was strong! The more interesting part of the
journey was to find the people who would form the Circle of Sound
and actually play the bowls in the ceremony because I knew nobody
in any of these countries at the start of the project. However, Divine
Order was clearly at work every step along the way, with synchronicity clicking in place like the gears of a smooth-running machine, and
miracles and blessings everywhere made the journey a Joy-ride in
the truest sense of the word! One e-mail led to another, which led to
a connection, which led to a new friend who opened one door, which
revealed the path to new family members.
I now count
as friends and
family people
who have
been on a
spiritual path
for decades
and those
who have just
awakened,
sometimes
by the bowls
themselves,
believers and
non-believers,
because there is really nothing here to believe in - no religion, no
philosophy. Our tools are sound and thought, the same tools used
“In the beginning….”, which has proved to be easy enough for people to grasp and to be willing to participate in.
There was one more interesting and rewarding aspect to the development of this project: finding just the right spot for the ceremony at
the seven primary sites. When Don Hugo Jaime first gave me the
locations he mentioned places like “Msi Tli Tlan” in Peru, “Asagar”
Biomail
in Russia, “Shamballa” in Tibet, “Tula” in Mexico, “around the Great
Pyramid” in Egypt, “somewhere in the Pyrenees Mountains” in
France and, around the corner from us, “Erks” in Argentina.
there is much that I do not comprehend and I am willing to concede
the possibility of existence of things that I cannot see, like these
beings.
I had heard stories about “Erks” during my earlier visits to Argentina,
reportedly an underground, or inside-the-Uritorco-Mountain, city
where extra- and intra-terrestrial activities have been reported!
However, the only other places that sounded familiar were the
Great Pyramid and Shamballa, which rang that distant bell, or was
it the sound of a crystal bowl? When I went to search the internet
for information about the other sites the only one that popped up
with news was Tula, Mexico, the former capital of the ancient Toltec
civilization. “Shamballa” has many references to a magical and
mystical place somewhere in the Himalayas, yet mostly legends and
stories. The other sites drew blanks; nothing on file!
If such beings do exist, they are part of our Earth family. They have
a right to be here and a role to play in the evolution of our planet
and our consciousness, so we include them in the intention of our
Global Harmonisation Ceremony as we say: “Among all beings of
the planet”.
This confounded me as I had decided that this project deserved
looking into as a possible path to take at this point in my life. Like
most of us, I wanted to do something positive that would make a
difference in the world. I want my children and grandchildren to
have a chance to experience a world of Peace, like most of us. Yet
I couldn’t get the project off the ground if I did not know where to
start. So, on my next trip to Argentina in early 2004, I went to visit
Don Hugo Jaime again and explained that I had not been able to
find any information about these places on any map. Where could I
find them?
I still
remember
the wise grin
that spread
across his
lips as he
replied, “You
will not find
them on any
map. They
are not to be
found on the
Earth. They are all cities INSIDE the Earth!”. I remember just as
well the chill that I felt through my body as I realised that this project
was bigger than I thought, and had a much “deeper” meaning.
Further discussions with Don Hugo Jaime that day and since then
have revealed that we are working with seven, not all, just seven of
the locations around and inside the planet where there reportedly
exist groups of beings who live and carry on work for the benefit of
Mother Earth. They may be of another dimension or frequency, yet
they are as much a part of this planet as you and I. Most of us cannot see or feel them and many of us have never even considered
the possibility of their existence. Like me before this project. Sure, I
had heard stories of an underground city, Telos, at Mount Shasta in
California. Likewise, while travelling around Lake Titicaca in Peru, I
heard tales of a crystal city deep inside the waters. Yet I never gave
it much thought or credence, like most of us.
Yet, sure enough, here in my life appeared a project dealing with
such a possibility! And, just as surely, in each of the primary places
that I have been to deliver a set of crystal bowls and to establish a
Circle of Sound, when I mentioned that the site for the ceremony
had to be in the vicinity of an “underground city,” the response was
something like, “Oh, then we need to go over there to have the ceremony because our legends say that there is such a city”.
Each of these places seems to have their stories and tales of
intra-terrestrial activities. So I have become a sort of believer by osmosis. Or let us just say that, although I have still had no personal
encounter, vision or experience with such types, I am convinced that
The “deeper” meaning of our ceremony is to establish a Circle of
Sound within, a contact or line of communication with our internal
Brothers and Sisters, so that we may all, at last, work together to
raise the vibration of the Whole.
We seek HARMONY with All beings.
We seek ACCEPTANCE of All beings.
We seek UNITY with All beings.
We seek JOY for All beings.
We seek COMPASSION for All beings.
As I look over the “CONTACTS” page of our web site (www.circleofsound.org) I see that we now have regular participants who share
the Global Harmonisation Ceremony in over thirty countries including Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Spain, France, Denmark, Brazil, Chile,
Holland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, England,
USA, Hawaii, Australia and Uruguay, and the list of participants
grows each season as more people find about our ceremony, mostly
by word of mouth. And now that our family is well established, we
are all committed to share the ceremony for the next few generations, until we have just as firmly established Peace and Harmony
on the planet!
We now have the opportunity to add South Africa to the world-wide
family as Daniel will be visiting the Garden Route in June to establish our first Circle of Sound with a Global Harmonisation Ceremony
at Winter Solstice on 21st June. We invite everyone to join us in
this ceremony, in this work to change the world and to manifest
the Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards All that the Angels have
been singing about for thousands of years. It IS possible. In fact
the changes ARE happening and ALL of us are part of it, part of the
All That Is. So let us make our sacred and joyful sounds and send
them into the Uni-Verse, the One Song. You are welcome to “Join
the Circle and Share the Sounds!!!”
While here Daniel will also be sharing a workshop on the Power
of Sound which takes us through an exploration of sound – what
it is, where it comes from and how it affects us, both consciously
and subconsciously – and concludes with a very powerful and
deeply moving Personal Intention Ceremony to aid our self-healing
and manifestation abilities. He will also be available for personal
sessions, conducting Chakra Harmonisations with a set of crystal
singing bowls, which works by cleansing the aura and restructuring
and balancing our cellular structure to restore wholeness and help
us be more in alignment with our higher self and
life’s purpose.
For more information on Daniel’s visit to
South Africa, the ‘Power of Sound’ workshop and Chakra Harmonisations with
crystal singing bowls, please contact
The Dolphin and The Faery at
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: 0767 213 223
Web: www.faerydolphin.com.
Biomail
Sex in the city...
I was just checking the website of the SEXPO
which has just visited SA, this is what the Cape
Town site says. . . .
“The world’s largest Health, Sexuality and
Lifestyle expo is coming back to Slaapstad
and it’s bigger and sexier than ever! Having
conquered Australia, SEXPO is the largest
exhibition of its kind in the world, and the
annual South African SEXPO events are the
hottest parties to hit our shores. Each year over
35,000 visitors stream through each SEXPO for
four days of sexy shopping, naughty workshops
and sizzling entertainment.”
35 000 people for an expo is quite large for
South Africa! I am not sure if there is any other
expo that does the same turnover.
I recently asked my 18 year old son, who
certainly ‘enjoys’ and partakes in the ‘normal’
culturally acceptable ways of today’s Western
teenagers, what he thought was potentially
the MOST damaging (physically, mentally,
emotionally and spiritually)‘thought form’ or
‘habit’ (as that is what it is) our society faces at
the moment, and straight away he said, “Sex”!
And I agree with him! In my humble opinion,
it is probably THE biggest contributor to our
misery and wheel of never-ending consumption
and materialism on the planet! Everything
around us points us to finding happiness with
someone or something else!! We start on the
consumer trail of sexy clothing, sexy cars, sexy
make-up, sexy hairstyles, sexy jewellery, sexy
sunglasses, impressive homes and gardens, and
so the list goes on. The rich and the famous are
revered like idols as we kid ourselves that all
those ‘things’ and people will make us happy!
The humble and the meek certainly do not hold
the same ‘status’ in our culture.
And please don’t think for one moment
that I have not been on that very wheel of
relationships, being thrown into ecstatic blissful
highs only to find that it is all just a temporary
little blip, as it is more ‘human’ than Divine
in its creation! You may say ‘not true’!! But
as sure as the Sun comes up every day, that
ecstatic feeling will leave. Eckhart Tolle made
me laugh in his book, “A New Earth” – he gave
it 3 weeks!! (If you are really doing well it could
last for a year or so!) The bliss of falling in love
seems so real, that we really cant see it ending,
that person opposite you seems the ticket to
eternal happiness, until something happens
– the toothpaste lid gets left off, clothes left
on the floor, socks may smell, or something
equally as trivial or not so trivial, may trigger a
downward spiral of familiarity, which often ends
in contempt! The bliss is gone and you will be
very fortunate if you don’t have the odd row
and things will be pretty mundane but ‘ok’! We
Editorial
usually end up getting married, as that is the
‘thing’ to do – and it is ‘comforting’ to have a
piece of paper to say you ‘own’ someone, or
someone ‘owns’ you. . . until death do us part!
Wow that is quite a promise – and we know by
the stats that it is usually not the case.
We often end up in a comfortable ‘sexual’
relationship with the opposite sex, or sometimes
someone of the same sex, and it nice to have
a companion and spend time with someone
that we care about and ‘love’ and please I don’t
get me wrong, friendships are precious, we are
naturally social creatures, and it is wonderful
to have friends to share things with. But I put
‘love’ in inverted commas, as don’t kid yourself
that ‘sexually driven love’ is unconditional divine
love, it is not, in the most part, it is conditional
‘human’ love, fraught with human emotions of
jealousy and ownership and conditional on that
person towing the line and behaving in a certain
way. But in a deeper sense we are hoping that
they will fill the hole in our heart that should
actually be filled with our OWN Divine Spirit .
Most times this convenient, familiar relationship
becomes dangerously co-dependent without
us even knowing it, and that dependency on
others for our dose of ‘needing to be ‘loved’/
and to ‘love’ and to feel ‘safe’, familiar, ‘secure’
and ‘needed’ and is, we think, vital for our
happiness, let alone the cultural stigma of being
alone, or worse still having to spend time alone!
And so we get locked into something, usually
driven by fear, although we don’t often know it,
or like to admit it, but all the above are driven by
a low dose of fear - that may not be immediately
apparent. If we are lucky, we are quite ‘happy’
bobbing along, until something happens, and
our world falls apart!
So why do we try so hard and search so far for
this vicarious happiness? Mainly because we
are not in touch with our own God-Selves which
never feels alone or needy and never falls apart,
no matter what the external situation, and can
actually become your best friend! But also we
are driven by perhaps, second to survival, the
most potent primal desire on the planet – sex! It
is a very base animal instinct to procreate – and
a God given gift – but we humans have taken
it a step further, our lower energy centres or
chakras, are constantly aroused by external
programming via most media (and sometimes
they even steep as low as feeding it to us
subliminally!) and the likes of Sexpo! Sex in the
main has had all the sacredness taken out, it is
usually just a physical release. Women are often
debased to mere sexual objects of desire, and
have often willingly fulfilled this role as rejection
is the alternative. We are the only species on
Earth that has sex because we like it, we think
it is quite normal, but believe it or not, it is
actually nothing more than an addiction! Sex is
for pro-creation! Why do they keep on arousing
us? Because it is BIG business and an excellent
way to keep us on the materialistic bandwagon
and believe it or not, it actually saps our lifeforce and keeps us in our lower energy centres!
If we study some of the ancient texts we find
that the sex act WAS only for procreation, we
were ‘made in the likeness of Mother/Father
God and that is eternal, deathless, diseaseless, ageless, immortal - including physical
immortality as we were shown by Jesus when
he resurrected himself – he never died to ‘save
our sins’ only we can do that, by changing how
we behave - but he did show us that we have
the ‘God Given’ ability to ascend into a state
of consciousness that allows us to immortalize
our bodies and do the things he did, that we
call miracles. And we do this by ‘feeling’ and
‘realizing’, unequivocally that we are one with
the God-Head, the Divine Principle, and the only
way we can achieve this is to re-programme
our sub-conscious minds and practice, practice,
practice in our daily to lives to live in ‘Godly’
ways, harming as little as we can along the
way, until we reach that state of complete
harmony and freedom and Ascend into a
higher vibrational frequency, where there is no
death, no greed, no lust, no fear, no disease,
no ageing , no poverty and all the other human
mis-creations! This state of Ascension can only
be reached if we are operating from our Heart
centre up, as the lower centres are all stamped
with fear-based feelings, which will prevent the
higher frequencies coming in.
Something is happening on our planet, of that
there is no doubt – systems that are not of
integrity and whose foundations are not solid
(the financial world being a classic example) are
crumbling, and knowledge is coming from many,
many sources that planet Earth is Ascending
to a higher dimension, so it is time for us to
‘wake up’ and go with her, or the road could get
uncomfortable and bumpy!
Anthea
News & Views from around our World
from Waste to power...
The Waste Management company
in the US went very green many
years ago. It has built almost 100
methane-powered generating plants
at landfills around the country.
to create electricity for 2,500 to
3,000 homes using the methane gas
created by decomposing trash.”
- Source: Earth Change Report
Now, it is negotiating to build
something similar in Florida’s Collier
County. “The facility would generate
4 megawatts of power or enough
WHY CAN’T OUR LOCAL OR
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT EITHER
DO THIS OR SUBSIDIZE IT HERE IN
S.A.?
Adelaide Australia Will
Soon Be Out Of Water
With gold nudging toward R8000 an ounce,
can you imagine a time when water will be
more valuable?
“Australia’s biggest river is running so low
that Adelaide, the country’s fifth-largest city,
could run out of water in the next two years.
“The Murray river is part of a network of
waterways that irrigates the south-eastern
corner of Australia, but after six years of
severe drought, the worst dry spell ever,
its slow moving waters are now almost
stagnant.”
Which bodes ill for the more than one
million residents of the city of Adelaide.
Despite their best efforts, it’s unlikely that
the Murray Darling River Authority will
be able to make Nature produce enough
moisture to solve the problem any time
soon.
Already the prolonged drought has resulted
in suicides among Outback farmers.
- by Michael Knight
The disappearing Murray-Darling River basin
Methane Power
Tuna Exports Boom As Fears Grow For Fish’s Survival
The Mediterranean island of Malta doubled its exports of frozen bluefin tuna to Japan
last year - despite warnings from scientists that the species is under threat of being
wiped out.
Specialist fisheries information service WorldFish
Report has revealed
that Maltese exports
climbed from 1 942
tonnes in 2007 to 4 098
tonnes -- meeting nearly
a third (30%) of Japan’s
frozen bluefin import
Bluefin Tuna
needs on sales totalling
US$139.7m (€105.87m /£95.2m). Nor was there any let-up in exports of the prized fish
from other EU countries, among them Spain, Greece, Italy and France.
The trade is being driven by continuing demand for bluefin in Japan, where prices last
year soared by 41% to more than $33 800 (€25 500 / £23 000) per tonne. This is despite
mounting concern among scientists about the species’ survival, which has resulted in a
European Union plan to impose a legally binding bluefin tuna recovery programme on
all EU states. The revelations of booming sales add up to an “increasingly ugly discrepancy” between tuna exports and attempts to conserve endangered European stocks,
comments WorldFish Report.
On top of this, questions are still being asked about 5 000 tonnes of bluefin tuna,
worth €100 million, allegedly exported from Malta in 2007-2008, but not included in
official statistics. With no indication of where the tuna came from, the implication is
that the fish may have been caught illegally – i.e. over and above the limit of what is
officially sanctioned by the EU and the International Convention for the Conservation
of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
The (Maltese) EU Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg, has rejected claims of any impropriety. But concerns continue to be raised amid reports that illegal tuna traders have
been docking in Malta. The EU is acting to reduce its oversized bluefin fleet - France has
said it will reduce the volume of its tuna catches by more than 20%, and will cut the
number of its vessels from 36 to 28. The Italians, too, have scrapped their largest purse
seiner vessels. However, with huge profits at stake there are now mounting fears that
these actions will be too little to stop European operators, whether legal or illegal, from
driving the bluefin tuna close to extinction.
- Source: World Fish Report
Biomail
The
Biofiles
Indonesia’s
Palm Oil
Problems
Greener Waste Disposal
BigBelly uses the sun’s energy to automatically compact trash at the point of
disposal, dramatically increasing capacity by 5x within the same footprint as
ordinary receptacles. Increased capacity reduces collection trips and can cut
related fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. The enclosed design
keeps pests out and litter in. Safe and easy to use, the American made BigBelly
has proven successful in urban streets, parks, colleges, arenas - and in all
weather conditions. Additionally, recycling options are available and the bins
can be outfitted with a wireless monitoring system so municipalities or others
can be notified when it’s time for pickup.
- Source:JumpIntoTomorrow.com
Worldwide demand
for palm oil, a commodity used in cooking,
cosmetics, and biofuel,
is expanding rapidly.
Indonesia leads global production, but the price is often
large swaths of tropical forest, contributing to the loss of
indigenous lands and further threatening the habitat of
endangered species such as the orangutan.
The country already emits more greenhouse gases than
any other nation besides China and the United States,
due primarily to the clearing and burning of tropical
forests.
Falling Water Takes Its Toll in India
Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven
to debt by crop failure, it was reported today. “Most of the farmers here
are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore
well.” Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year.
Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and
economic distress.
Global economic decline has put a significant dent in the
palm oil industry. Yet international buyers, especially in
China, India, and the Middle East, are expected to buy
more palm oil, regardless of its environmental or social
impact.
The global palm oil market may boost Indonesia’s small
farming communities. But human rights activists raise concerns that violations will expand as oil palm plantations
displace more people. Despite new efforts at sustainability certification, oil palm development will likely remain
unsustainable unless a global solution increases incentives
for preserving forest.
- Source: World Watch
The crop failures, which took place in the agricultural state of Chattisgarh,
were prompted by falling water levels. Nearby forest depletion and poorly
planned government dam projects contributed to the falling water level.
Combined with the vicious money-lending schemes that are prevalent in
the region, many farmers felt that death was the only option in the face of
insurmountable debt.
Suicides by Indian farmers have been an ongoing reality for years -But 1,500? Almost every village in Punjab has witnessed a suicide in their
once-prosperous farming families, the BBC reported. National Crime
Records Bureau statistics say close to 200,000 farmers have committed
suicide in India since 1997.
Orangutan
The Punjab government says the state produces nearly two-thirds of the
grain in India. But the state has faced many economic crises since the the
mid-1990s.
- by Mallika Chopra
The Biofiles
Merck Creates Fake Medical Journal
Ever heard of a medical journal called the Australasian Journal of Bone & Joint Medicine?
Thought not – because it was invented by pharmaceutical giant Merck in order to sell its discredited drug Vioxx.
Merck invented the journal and fake research that was published in it to demonstrate the safety
and effectiveness of its painkiller, an Australian court has heard.
Merck made a $4.85bn out of court settlement in the US to the 50,000 victims or families who had
taken the drug, and had either died or suffered long-lasting heart problems.
While Merck hid vital data from the regulators in America, they took another tack in Australia, a
court there has been hearing. There they created the medical journal which was used as a vehicle
to publish supposed medical trials, the court was told.
Vioxx was taken off the market in 80 countries in 2004 after a trial, published in an independent
medical journal, found the drug increased the risk of stroke and heart attack.
If the current case against Merck is proved, the drug company is expected to make a multi-million
dollar payout to around 3,000 Vioxx victims in Australia.
- Source: New York Times
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Road Trip
Electric cars have been getting plenty of buzz lately, but
the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is still going
strong. The California Fuel Cell Partnership, along with Powertech Labs, National Hydrogen Association, and U.S. Fuel Cell
Council, will seek to regain the spotlight with a road trip to
demonstrate the practicality of these vehicles.
Twelve fuel cell cars from seven automakers will drive from
Chula Vista, in Southern California, up to Vancouver, Canada, a
trip of 1,700 miles. Vancouver was chosen for the destination
because it will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games,
where a fleet of fuel cell buses will provide transportation.
Fuel cell cars that will be making the trip include the Chevy
Equinox Fuel Cell, Mercedes F-Cell, Honda FCX Clarity, Hyundai
Tucson FCEV, Kia Borrego FCEV, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota FCHVadv Highlander, and Volkswagen HyMotion. The cars, which
have ranges of 200 to over 500 miles, will be relying on a
mobile refueling station for their hydrogen needs.
- by Wayne Cunningham
Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell
Get
Active!
what YOU can Do...
Environmental
Justice Network
Forum
Established to service
the common interests
of participating South
African non-governmental
and community-based
organizations on matters
concerning environmental
justice and sustainable
development.
Tel: +27 (0)11 403 8978
Fax: +27 (0)11 339 3859
Web: www.ejnf.org.za
Earthlife Africa
A membershipdriven organization of
environmental and social
justice activists, founded
to mobilize civil society
around environmental
issues in relation to people.
Web: www.earthlife.org.za
Biowatch
South African NGO
publicising, monitoring
and researching issues of
biological diversity,genetic
engineering and sustainable
livelihoods.
Tel: +27 0(21) 447 5939
Email: biowatch@mweb.
co.za
Web: www.biowatch.org.za
CANE - Coalition Against
Nuclear Energy South
Africa
A group of organisations,
NGOs, Environmental
Groups, Communities and
Citizens from all over South
Africa who are opposed to
Nuclear Energy as a power
source.
Web: www.cane.org.za
Urge Brookfield Zoo to Send Lone
Elephant to a Sanctuary and Shut Down Elephant Exhibit
Recently, a 39-year-old
African elephant, Affie,
died prematurely at the
Brookfield Zoo in Illinois.
While no cause of death
has been released, she
likely suffered from
painful foot and/or joint
disease, conditions
prevalent in zoos due to
inadequate conditions for
elephants.
IDA immediately filed a
complaint with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, stating: “If in fact
Affie did succumb to a
disease caused by zoo conditions, the Brookfield
Zoo should be found in violation of the Animal
Welfare Act.” We also called for the zoo to immediately send the sole remaining elephant, Christy,
to a sanctuary and shut down its elephant exhibit.
It would be inhumane to continue to keep Christy
at the Brookfield Zoo, especially now that she
is alone. Bringing in another elephant is not the
answer because the Zoo cannot provide a high
quality of life for elephants. Even if the exhibit is
further expanded, it will not significantly change
overall conditions.
Elephants are highly intelligent and physically
vigorous animals that hail from warm climates.
In the wild, they range seven to fourteen miles
or more per day, and are active for 20 out of 24
hours, as they forage, explore, socialize and raise
their young. Yet, at Brookfield Zoo elephants are
held in a cramped elephant exhibit where they
spend the majority of the long Midwest winters in
tiny indoor cages that do not allow for adequate
movement or mental stimulation.
Simply put, the zoo just cannot provide the space
and natural conditions elephants need to live
long and healthy lives. This is being proven with
Trees For Life
Trees for Life is a community group
dedicated to re-vegetation and protection
of threatened bushland.
www.treesforlife.org.au/
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an international non-governmental organization for the protection
and conservation of the environment.
www.greenpeace.org/africa/ G
the death of each additional elephant. Seven
elephants have died at the Brookfield Zoo since
1975; more than half did not live to age 40. Elephants have a natural lifespan of 60-70 years.
Help us urge the Brookfield Zoo to do the right
thing and send Christy to a natural-habitat sanctuary where she would have a life much closer
to what nature intended for Earth’s largest land
mammals. Sanctuaries have received elephants
from many Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(AZA) accredited zoos. Eighteen zoos have closed
or plan to close their elephant exhibits.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Please e-mail Brookfield Zoo director Stuart
Strahl and politely urge him to send Christy, now
the lone elephant at Brookfield Zoo, to a sanctuary without delay. Email: [email protected]
2. Please post a comment to Stuart Strahl’s
response and on stories in the Chicago Tribune
andChicago Tribunal.
http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/
out-and-about/2009/05/brookfield-zoo-prezresponds-to-elephant-controversy/
- Source: IDA
SAFEAGE
SAFeAGE is an alliance of individuals and organizations supporting a 5-year freeze on Genetic
Engineering in South Africa.
www.safeage.org/
SAFEAGE IS A GM CONSUMER WATCHDOG
Get Active! what YOU can Do...
End Child Trafficking, Exploitation in Haiti
In the autumn of 2008, Haiti was in the news daily as four back-to-back tropical storms and
hurricanes hammered the impoverished island. The fragile
economy of the hemisphere’s poorest country plummeted
by 15% overnight, and years of economic development
work washed out to sea, leaving people even more
destitute.
Hundreds of thousands of young Haitians are the victims
of exploitation. With 80 percent of Haitians living in
poverty -- and half of them on less than a dollar a day -- a
huge number of children are forced to work against their
will in homes, fields, gangs and as prostitutes. As many
as 200,000 children are the victims of human trafficking,
reports the State Department and human rights groups.
Voice your support for these desperate children here:
http://newlifechildrenshome.org/?p=83
or http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/186849816
MEET JOSH...
On Monday 25th September 2006, 18-year-old Joshua Flood Rowley was involved
in a tragic “freak” accident resulting in him being paralysed from below his
shoulders.
TAKE ACTION WITH
EARTHLIFE AFRICA
Who Is Earthlife Africa?
Earthlife Africa (ELA) is a membership
driven organization of environmental and
social justice activists, founded to mobilize
civil society around environmental issues
in relation to people.
What does Earthlife Africa do?
Earthlife Africa’s main activities are
campaign related. This includes lobbying
and advocacy, building campaigns at community level through sharing information
and skills, engaging with environmental
impact assessments, engaging the media,
and researching and producing information materials.
We work to promote ecologically sound
alternatives, like renewable energy and
efficiency, organic farming and adopting
the ‘Zero Waste’ approach to industrial pollution and waste management.
FOR MORE INFO, OR TO JOIN EARTHLIFE
He fell 4m from a tree in the Imhoff Caravan Park in Kommetjie, Cape Town where AFRICA CAPE TOWN, PLEASE VISIT
www.earthlife-ct.org.za/nonav.php
he lives with his mother, shattering the fifth vertebra in his neck, with the break
or call: 021 447 4912 or
severely compressing the spinal cord and cervical nerve.
Email: [email protected]
Fortunately, Josh was found and airlifted to Groote Schuur Hospital, where
doctors operated on Josh 3 days after the accident, replacing the damaged vertebrae with a transplant
of bone from his hip. This bone was fused to the C4 and C6 vertebrae in his neck (an operation that
takes a minimum of 12 weeks to heal.)
Unfortunately the operation could not fix the damage to the spinal cord. Doctors have told us
that cells in that area of the spinal cord have died due to the lack of blood and oxygen.
Josh has recently been given a great gift, organised by his older sister and friends. The
Sports Science Institute in Cape Town has agreed to give Josh free rehabilitation and
treatment that could see him, against all odds, on the road to complete recovery.
The POWER OF THE MIND and POSITIVE THOUGHT are powerful phenomena.
We can all visualize him in this LIGHT and HEALING; visualize
him WALKING again. With this combined consciousness and
the HEALING that is already in process we know Josh WILL
walk again…and we are grateful for the growth that this
extraordinary journey has given us all!
Josh’s ongoing treatments and care at home are expensive
and Josh needs support with this. If you are in a position to
help with this, either monthly, or by a once off donation, please
use the following bank account details:
J. H. Flood Special Trust
Standard Bank
Claremont Branch
Account No.
077 474 244
Biophile
Biophile28
28••Page
Page15
15
AC GE
TI T
VE
!
Want to make a
difference to the
welfare of animals,
but don’t want to leave
your couch? No problem!
You Can Make a Difference in 15 Minutes Flat!
At Home:
•
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for animal-related issues and write a letter in support of animal rights to the editor of every magazine or newspaper that you read—
your letter might be read by millions of people!
•
Thank publishers and producers for animal-friendly messages on TV and in print.
•
Write letters to companies that conduct cruel experiments on animals, such as Iams
and its parent company, Procter & Gamble.
•
Call and write to your legislators, asking them to support animal-friendly legislation
and thanking them for any similar past support.
•
Peruse your local paper for “free to a good home” ads and call the people who
place them, warning them that their animal might end up in a lab. Order PETA’s “free
to a good home” ad pack, full of info that you can provide. We’ll send it for free!
•
Call in to radio talk shows and tell the audience all about the huge array of vegetarian options available at your local grocery store or how much weight you lost when
you went vegan!
•
Give your friends a message when they leave one for you! Record an animal rights
message on your voice mail or answering machine, such as, “Thousands of animals die
every hour in South Africa for their flesh. If you care, go veg.”
•
Offer to walk your neighbor’s dog if you’ve noticed that he or she is always tied up
outdoors or left alone throughout the day. Make sure the dog has food, fresh water,
and toys.
At Work:
•
Display animal rights literature for people to see and take.
•
Donate to groups that help animals.
•
Make cruelty-free investments.
•
Buy cruelty-free supplies for your office bathroom and kitchen.
•
Put up one of PETA’s “Rescued” calendars or keep a coffee mug with an animal rights
message or your “No Animals in Here!” lunch bag at your desk—they’re conversation
starters!
•
Display PETA’s pocket-sized guides or vegetarian starter kit cards. The holders and
literature are all free.
•
Take yummy vegetarian food to the next office party.
- Source: PETA, www.peta.org
Go Green; Go Veg!
Confessions
of a
Converted
Carrot Cruncher
by P atricia G lyn
‘NIMBY’ CONSERVATIONISTS
operations. I see it on TV shows like 50/50
and channels like National Geographic and
Discovery. You see, as Fritjof Capra so eloquently puts it in his book The Turning Point
(which became the 1992 movie Mindwalk):
“Healing the universe is an inside job.”
Conservation begins and ends with consistently altering our personal conduct to the
point where we leave as small a footprint on
the earth as possible. And there’s no room
for the Nimby principal here (as in ‘Not in my
back yard’). There is absolutely no point in
preserving one corner of the planet that we
love, while our general life-style messes up
someone else’s.
P atricia G lyn is an
adventurer , speaker and
writer .
www . patriciaglyn . co . za
C
onservationists. You gotta love ‘em – it
seems they’ll do anything but conserve. Well most of them, that is. These
days they’re invariably part of the cocktail
classes. They have a mansion in Jo’burg,
a place at the coast and a pad in London.
Perhaps even a wine farm. And once
they’ve filled their play-pens with Irma
Sterns, Veuve Clicquot and world-weary
friends they move their languorous gazes
to what they can ‘conserve’. Good for the
CV and the obituary, don’t you know. And
the mukkers will regard you as a jolly fine
chap.
So they shunt some shekels at the EWT, join
the WWF and buy a large chunk of wilderness
– preferably a larger chunk than the Jones’s.
This they promptly fence off and stock with
whatever species take their fancy. Then they
build a thatched monstrosity, buy a bird book
or two and whiz around their new sand-pit in
their Toyota Landcruisers. After a weekend’s
over-indulgence on foie-gras and Brittany
oysters, they put their chino trousered buns
into the heli and fly back to the board-room
battlegrounds, congratulating themselves on
their work as planet-savers.
They just don’t get it. And they’re not alone,
either – I see this staggering myopia playing out all the time in our national game
reserves, private conservancies and bush tour
And in order not to foul up those places beyond our immediate reach and gaze, the most
pressing (but unpopular) thing we need to do
is to address the way we eat. Think about the
following (if you haven’t done so before, and I
know most readers of Biophile have):
- Meat production is accountable for more
greenhouse gas emissions than transport.
- Meat production is the primary cause of
deforestation and habitat destruction.
- Intensively farmed animals are the leading
consumers of water resources.
- Intensively farmed animals’ effluent is a
major cause of ground- and surface-water
pollution.
Ergo, if you consider yourself a ‘conservationist’ surely you should not eat meat? Or eat it
only very rarely.
I am so tired of visiting game reserves and
conservancies where the owners trot out
smug assurances of how ‘green’ they are just
because they use long-life bulbs, separate
their garbage and ‘adopt’ iconic individuals of
doomed animal species. Meanwhile guests
are served obscene quantities of meat three
times a day (plus the customary biltong with
drinks). Leaving aside the gross speciesism
inherent in this decision-making, it seems to
me that you can’t fancy yourself a fighter for
the range-states of buffaloes when you are
literally eating up those range-states by eating their bovine cousins. Clearing a river bed
of wattle on your private piece of paradise is
all well and good, but not when you then consume a half kilo steak for dinner which cost
the earth 50 000 litres of water.
Perhaps, though, things are starting to
change. Last year I traveled with some
conservationists who really do try and walk
their talk. They’re championing a long-gone
migration corridor between Knysna Forest
and Addo Elephant Reserve, whose partial or
complete restoration would be a tremendous
boon for biodiversity in the region. One of
the fundraising and educational projects they
stage is a hike between these two places
involving a 400km traverse of 7 mountain
ranges in 18 days. It’s a wondrous thing,
and deserves a column of its own. But for
now, trust me when I tell you that if you’re a
nature lover and hiker, this should be on your
bucket list. (Visit www.edentoaddo.co.za).
What impressed me were the efforts shown
by organizers Joan Berning and Galeo Saintz
in trying to engage the footies on how to live
mindfully, but without being prattish and
preachy. Sure, some of the stuff they did is
now commonplace: trees planted in recompense for air-miles clocked up; campsites
chosen and managed with care; talks and
debates around the fire on topics like how
humankind has lost its connectedness with
most things that sustain and inspire. Etc,
etc, etc. But it was their meals that really
made me rubber-neck. No pork was served,
because of the shocking way in which pigs
are intensively farmed in South Africa. Only
free range beef and lamb were on the menu,
because although these animals’ deaths
might be horrific, at least their lives are quasinatural and they have less negative impact
on the environment. It’s a start, and at least
these folk are making an effort to address the
issue of meat-eating and its huge impact on
bio-diversity.
But the hike gave some classic pointers on
how far we still have to go in getting people
to join the dots between what’s on their
plate and what’s not in the veld. This region’s
predators (notably their leopards) are under
a terrible siege by local farmers who still use
barbaric gin-traps. But the average consumer
of lamb doesn’t appear to recognize his or
her culpability for what’s being perpetrated.
I remember one especially poignant day. We
had walked for hours through what was once
a massive springbok vlakte, now completely
ravaged by a combination of drought and
badly managed sheep farming. Buck lay
twisted and rotting against the fences,
erected to keep livestock in, but preventing
the game from finding what little water was
available. If a place can be called evil, this
surely was. But that night, what should be on
the menu? Springbok potjie. And the footies
tucked in with glee and gusto. Go figure.
Nick van der Leek travels to Stellenbosch to pan for a rough diamond.
Is the Joule destined for gemstone greatness, or will this be another
case of Electric fool’s gold?
O
n the eve of Earth Hour I’m as
energy conscious as everyone
else. I’m flying on a milky March day
to Cape Town. Once there I consider
myself fortunate to snap up the very
last rental, a snow white Toyota Yaris.
Freshly ensconced in an ICEV [Internal
Combustion Engine Vehicle] I cruise
onto the N2 and almost crash headlong
into a traffic jam that deceptively starts
its slow snaking on the downside of a
flyover. I’m heading via the traffic snarl
towards the CSIR in Stellenbosch where
I’ll be meeting the electrical engineer
Gerard Swart, one of the four brains
that conceived the Joule.
While I’m motivated and excited about
my imminent encounter, I’m fully prepared for a wild goose chase. It’s no secret that the concept of the electric car
has been in play ever since the first ICE
rolled off Ford’s assembly line. Sure, EV’s
can be built (in fact, we’re surrounded
by a number of low-tech EV’s on a
daily basis, from golf carts, to buses,
to the occasional milk van or baggage
truck) – the problem is they’re not easy
to render profitably on a mass scale. If
no one has been able to crack into the
commercial vehicle fleets at a profit,
why should the Joule be any different?
I enter the CSIR building as a veil of thin
cirrus swirls in front of the sun. I am the
first to arrive and my guns are loaded.
Has the Joule solved the battery problem? (EV’s have prohibitively expensive
batteries, and these usually have a very
limited lifespan). Does the Joule solve
the energy problem? Is there a net
energy difference – ie: a difference (a
saving) between pouring petrol (liquefied coal) into your car, compared to
converting coal to electric energy used
for batteries – if not, the Joule is a dead
duck. Finally, will the Joule project have
access to sufficient capital to finance
a rollout large enough for a secure
market position?
When Gerhard arrives to set up his laptop, I immediately stand up and invite
him for an unscheduled quick Q&A
session before his presentation. It’s a
credit to him that he graciously accepts
my invitation while delegates sip wine
and chew on carrot sticks outside the
auditorium.
First off, Gerhard tells me in unexpectedly soft-spoken and well-enunciated
English that he “loves nature” and that
he grew up on a farm in Zimbabwe.
He refers to pristine environments and
“virgin territory” which he says now
can only be found on old photographs. I
ask him about his background. “Twenty
years ago I was at DENEL,” South
Africa’s premier defense lab. It’s obviously a mixed bag, hearing that Swart
worked on the Rooivalk attack helicopter, specifically the weapons systems.
How altruistic is that? I’m wondering.
After Rooivalk, Swart and two colleagues migrated to SALT (Southern
African Large Telescope; the largest
single optical telescope in the southern
hemisphere). Swart tells me that the
systems engineering performed on the
11-metre hexagonal mirror array at
Sutherland was “at the cutting edge of
what is technically possible. Our work
at SALT meant we were competing at
a very high level and we had a lot of
involvement from the best scientists in
that field, worldwide.”
While Swart and his colleagues had to
employ more brain cells and circuits
than ever on SALT, he discovered the
move from Gauteng to Cape Town had
also precipitated a lifestyle change: “My
quality of life immediately increased;
you know, to be able to go and climb a
mountain and sit on the beach rather
than getting into a car for three hours
to get to a park somewhere.”
The successful project, which started in
2000, effectively became the Progenitor
of another South African milestone, the
groundbreaking Square Kilometre Array
(SKA), a radio telescope currently in development in the Northern Cape – the
Array will be 50 times more sensitive
than other systems of its kind.
“So I lived in Sutherland for eighteen
months during 2004 until November
2005. It was as rural as it gets. And it
was then, working on what was essentially a non-defence-project, where information is freely available, that Kobus
started talking about giving something
back. He said ‘The nature of energy is
going to change a lot in the future. I’m
at the point in my life where I want to
put something back.’ And we all agreed
to that.”
My gaze shifts from Gerhard’s face to
the sharply focused blue eyes.
“2005 was when energy started coming
onto the radar, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, and as our work at SALT was
coming to an end, the four of us said:
‘What are we going to do next’? And
since we’d worked well together, we
decided we wanted to make a positive
difference. It’s hard to rationalise your
work on defense systems when they’re
being sold to other countries, and you
don’t know which side they’re selling it
to…You come to a point where you feel:
‘This isn’t right.’ That’s why I left DENEL
in 1996.”
“So now you’ve gone from building
things that destroy other things to
building things that look out into the
universe to…”
The unstated question is, will this
“
..we saw that
the nature of
transport had
to change,
because
it’s not
sustainable.
“
project, this car, subtract from the woes
generated by other cars? Woes that
include pollution, resource depletion
(resources that could be utilised as fertilizers and medicines for generations to
come) and a widening systemic collapse
that threatens to disintegrate the entire
auto-industry.
“In our efforts to make a positive difference, Kobus especially did a lot of
research, and we came up with the idea
of an electric vehicle. Then we went to
the Innovation Fund – a South African
Department affiliated to the Department of Science and Technology. We got
seed funding for early development; it’s
probably the only fund in the country
where you can get funds for early development. It took us 18 months to get the
money; not because they weren’t convinced of the merits of the project – it’s
just a very cumbersome process. We got
R5 million for the first year, which was
really a feasibility study, a paper study,
with a promise of R10 million to follow.
While they initially requested we get
additional funding from an industrial
partner, they later came to believe – as
we do – that this was too big to hastily
involve someone else. So they gave us
their full backing to nurture this project
to its completion. And since 2008 the
IDC have also started backing us. So the
IDC and the Innovation Fund are shareholders in Optimal Energy.”
“Before the Electric Vehicle idea had
been fully conceived,” I ask, “had you
guys heard of things like Peak Oil?”
“Yes yes yes. That’s really to a large
extent what triggered this. Firstly we
saw that the nature of transport had
to change, because it’s not sustainable.
Carbon-based fuels are at some stage
going to run out and obviously liquid
hydro-carbons (petrol and diesel) are
going to run out sooner. We also looked
at the auto-industry and noticed quite a
few things that indicated its demise.”
“Such as?”
“Such as General Motors having their
Pension Fund payouts listed as their
biggest single expense in the company.
Their margins over the last 10 years
haven’t exceeded around 4%. Those are
the high-level symptoms. When you
delve in deeper you realise that the basic shape and concept hasn’t changed
since Henry Ford sent those first vehicles through the assembly lines.”
And now the epiphany begins to ring
like a small bell in my ears. Ordinary
vehicle technology is very old, and
facing its natural obsolescence. Once
one accepts this as a fundamental
truth, it is easy to move forward. But is
there a superior alternative technology
available (compared to the dead ends
that preceded this project) capable of
delivering the right dose of energy for
the energy gluttons that we commuters
have invariably become?
“We realised, from an engineering point
of view, that motoring the way we’re
experiencing it is not optimal. That was
also one of the reasons why we called
the company Optimal Energy. It’s really
about optimising things other people
have tried to do, but who have become
stuck in a particular way of doing it.
The transport thing was the first step in
this whole energy dream that we had
in mind.”
“If you get to the stage where you want
to roll this out as a very elaborate project, you know, worldwide, how do you
see the credit crisis impacting on your
business? Will you be able to get the
capital to go into mass production?”
“In the short term we haven’t found the
huge investment that is needed to set
up our production. When we launched
the vehicle at the Paris show last year,
we suddenly saw numerous appointments that we’d arranged with major
investors, fizzle – remember the big
crash happened 2 weeks before the
show opened. And they told us this:
that in two weeks most of their cash
had evaporated.
From a longer term point of view it’s
been fantastic because people are looking for new answers to the economy
and the automotive industry; and have
recognised that a fundamental shift is
taking place. Our vehicle has been so
well-received everywhere we’ve shown
it because people are ready for it, and so
in a certain sense it’s a growth path laid
out for us; a path that we can just get
onto and from which we can leverage
our way even further into the industry.
You know the automotive industry is
really struggling to adapt to current
conditions. They’ve got so many legacy
systems, so many existing designs – for
them to make the changes that we’ve
just introduced from a fresh start, you
know, is just about impossible.”
It’s time to draw my revolver.
“One of the most expensive and
troublesome and expensive areas when
it comes to EV technology – am I right –
is the battery?”
“Yes.”
“Have you guys solved that problem?”
“We haven’t solved it fully, but we’re
relying on a trend that has been underway for many years and is set to
continue. Batteries have become better
and cheaper with increased use. It’s
especially due to the lithium ion batteries in cellphones and laptops that
this technology has really become more
affordable. We’ve been to China and
Korea and the United States looking for
batteries.”
The puzzle of the Joule is fitting together nicely. Expertise in weapons design
courtesy of a stint working in Defense
Labs for the government, the super-fine
science and engineering of space telescopes and some fortuitous help from
abroad in the form of the magic key,
the battery. And to think that all of this
is happening within the increasingly
appropriate economic environment of
collapse and systemic reform – not only
of automakers, but of energy, banks and
perhaps most importantly, our global
mindset. While the consumer frenzy
has unlocked all sorts of anthropogenic shocks – from global warming to
depletion to the extraordinary zenith in
technological zeal. One vital benefit has
emerged: the development par excellence, and entirely perfunctory, of the
ordinary devices all these gadgets run
on – lithium ion batteries.
“So how many of your vehicles are on
“
.. people
are looking
for new
answers to
the economy
and the
automotive
industry...
“
the road right now?”
“None.”
“So what was at the Paris show?”
“In 2007 we completed a rolling chassis
- an undercarriage with a drivetrain, the
batteries, and also a full-scale model
of the outer shell of the vehicle. The
model was what was at the Paris show.
And since then we’ve been working on
a second prototype which is refined,
with everything in it, and fully functional. Last week Friday we declared
it mechanically complete. It’s still not
drivable but everything is there. Now it
is just the software and electrical functionality and safety testing that needs
to be done.
“Due to the sanctions in then-Rhodesia
my father had to be extremely inventive on the farm to actually make things
work out; we had to make our own
spare parts for tractors. He was an innovator – he could do anything. And that
created in me, I think, two things: the
realisation, firstly, that perhaps nothing
is impossible, that if you really apply
your mind you can do many things.
And secondly it created an appreciation
for the value…of knowing a bit about
everything. My function on the Rooivalk
and with SALT and Optimal Energy is
what they call Systems Engineering
which is basically what the International Council on Systems Engineering
[INCOSE] is about – a multi-disciplined
engineering; where you bring a whole
lot of unrelated things together to
achieve a greater purpose. And I think
the roots of my interest and my success
at that may be found in having learned
from my father’s attitude on the farm,
and my being involved in what he did.”
During these last statements, where
Gerhard really reaches the core of his
philosophy, several delegates begin to
enter the auditorium and I’m prodded
to wrap up. As Gerhard hands me his
card, an elegant royal blue that has the
corporate feel of a South African Samsung, I say, “Well I think ultimately we’ll
be going back to the farm.”
That’s some way off, but in a sense, I
realise, this project, Gerhard and his
team’s dream of the world’s first mass
produced electric car, may well be one
of those critical and vital solutions our
world needs in this time of converging
troubles. Gerhard Swart, I believe, provides cause to celebrate in Possibility, in
what may well be the first fundamental
shift in our automotive prospects this
century
Fast Facts from Gerhard’s slideshow:
•
•
First vehicles ever built were electric; Karl Benz engineered a prototype in 1886. Engine had 800 watts of power and was capable of achieving 11mph.
The styling of the Joule was designed by Jaguar’s Keith •
•
•
•
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Helfet (born in Calvinia)
Joule is optimised for city use, complies with UN ECE safety standards (very rigorous)
The Joule is a 6-seater with a 700 litre boot (class leading)
The cargo version has 3 cubic metres of capacity
Specs in short:
top speed 130km/h
Optimum range: 200km/maxi-
mum 400km
0-100km/h in 15 seconds/0-50
km/h in 4.6 seconds
EV gives maximum torque at 0 rpm
Regenerative breaking to re-
coup energy
Integrated photo-voltaic roof panel (optional)
Energy cost is 4c/km [80c/km for petrol/diesel]
Battery will probably be leased and will have a 5-10 year
lifespan
Gearbox is integrated/differen-
-
-
-
-
-
tial
Engine is water cooled
Battery is under the floor of the vehicle [lithium-based]
Battery capacity: 30kWh (yield-
ing around 5 times the energy efficiency of an ICE)
Battery charges in 2.5 hours (with external charger)
Over long distances, the option of battery charge or battery swap
utilizing available energy (bat-
tery) compared to ICE at 15% energy for forward propulsion.
JOULE – Plug and Play in stores…
when?
-
-
2012 commercial availability
Phased into fleets by 2010 [100 requested by Government]
For more about the author, go to:
www.nickvanderleek.com
Pollution and Efficiency
-
-
-
-
-
Transport causes 33% of emis-
sions of CO2 in the world
50% of crude oil supplies 95% of all primary energy used in transport
Well to wheel efficiency of EV is twice as efficient as ICE
Mine to wheel efficiency of EV is 22% as opposed to ICE at 8%
EV is 75% efficient in terms of Bonus:
Zero exhaust emissions.
It’s 75% recycleable.
Drastically reduced noise pollution.
80% less green-house gas pollution compared to petrol / diesel.
Fuel costs approx 10 - 20% of petrol / diesel vehicles.
Heat your home or patio area
with a beautiful ceramic fireplace.
Each one individually hand thrown on a traditional
potters wheel, using phenomenal fireproof clay.
The finish is of a textured effect, a classic look of
natural stone.
The firepot proves incredibly efficient at heating,
in comparison to metal fireplaces.
Its shape is designed for unbeatable wood consumption,
making it a much ‘greener’ option. This is all due to the
exceptional thermal capacity of the ceramic material and
it’s ability to continue to radiate heat into a room many
hours after the fire has died out.
Bake Pizza. These fireplaces are not only fantastic
heaters but double up as fully functional pizza ovens.
Baking a pizza in just eight minutes !
10 year guarantee !
Delivery to your door anywhere in South Africa
R3600
Visit our studio in the Overberg
or online at www.firepot.co.za
PSYCHOBABBLE: Drugging
Psychiatry is damaging our kids with drugs
T
he current reliance on drugs as preferred treatment for childhood behavioural problems has
it roots in an accident waiting to happen, more
than half a century ago. On that day in 1937, a
young psychiatrist named Charles Bradlley, just
five years out of residency, noted a “spectacular change in behaviour” in 14 of 30 children
given Benzedrine (a stimulant) for a week to
ease headaches suffered from a painful, and
now obsolete, medical procedure. The drug
proved no analgesic for the children, but, in an
unexpected turn, for some of the youngsters, it
became the” arithmetic pill” that helped them
settle into their schoolwork. This chance discovery was the first clinical observation of the effect
of stimulant therapy on hyperactive children. It
would alter the course of paediatric behavioural
treatment, which at the time concentrated on talk
therapy.
Increasingly, since the 1950s, psychiatry and
the pharmaceutical industry have married and
launched the joint marketing strategy of calling
all emotional and behavioural problems “brain
diseases”, due to “chemical imbalances” needing
“chemical balancers” - pills.
Disease mongering -selling sickness:
The invention and establishment
of influencing and controlling
behaviour, that we consider
socially unacceptable, by
means of chemicals,
irrevocably changed the
previous societal models
for the treatment of the
mentally ill. The mass production of medications,
and the aggressive marketing of these products,
made very large profits for their manufacturers,
and the economic pressure thus created changed
the very definition and practice of psychiatry.
With the development of more and more drugs,
the diagnosis of mental illness vastly increased,
often with the drug treatment in place before
the illness was fully described or classified. The
definition of mental illness was now controlled
not only by societal norms of behaviour, but also
by the economics of the market.
Today, of course, the favoured childhood disease
is ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder),
and the favoured amphetamine is the expedient
chemical cosh, Ritalin, recommended as front-line
drug treatment by such medical powerhouses as
the American Academy of Paediatrics. Psychiatrist
have been quietly broadening the definition of
ADD/ADHD that appears in their manual , the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric
Disorders (DSM) drawing in more and more
children and adults and thus widening the pool of
potential patients. According to a study published
in April 2006, in the journal Psychotherapy and
Psychosomatics, 56 percent of the experts who
compiled the most recent DSM had
ties to the pharmaceutical
industry. The first
edition of
the DSM,
Biophile
Biophile
28•
28Page
• Page
2222
which appeared in 1952, listed 128 mental
disorders. In the fourth and most recent one, that
number had ballooned to 357.
Conflicts of Interest:
The mental health industry is rife with major overt
ethical failures. The bribing of prescribing doctors
in the field of psychiatry is rampant (June, 2007
report by Attorney General, Vermont.) Not only
does Big Pharma have influential psychiatrists
in their pocket, virtually every mental health
institution from which doctors, the press and
the general public receive their mental health
information, is financially interconnected with
Big Pharma. Harvard Medical School (where four
of the most prominent faculty members, who
conduct research on children, at the Harvardaffiliated Massachusetts General Hospital are
presently under federal investigation) takes
millions of dollars from drug companies.
Until recently Dr Biederman, a tenured Full
Professor and Chief of the Clinical and Research
Programs in Paediatric Psychopharmacology
at Harvard University, had the reputation as
being the most influential and powerful child
psychiatrist in America. As of March 2007, Dr
Biederman has been ranked as the second
highest producer of high-impact papers
in psychiatry overall throughout the
world, with 235
papers cited a
total of 7048
times over
the last
10 years.
Because
of their
sheer
number,
CHILDREN FOR PROFIT
by Dr Elizna Hanekom
to make money....why do we allow it?
Biederman’s publications have exerted inordinate
influence on clinicians’ pharmacological treatment
of children’s behavioural problems in the United
States and the rest of the world. His influence
continues to be spread through his copious “ high
impact” publications made possible by extremely
generous industry and government support
His studies, testing aggressive pharmacological
treatments in children were highly lucrative: he
received millions of dollars from drug companies
as well as from the National Institute of Mental
Health to test the same drugs. His studies have
supported industry’s marketing goals.
Recently, Biederman was nailed by congressional
investigators and the New York Times for
overestimating just how greedy an elite shrink is
entitled to be - giving a peek into corruption of
psychiatry at its highest levels.
On June 8, 2008, the New York Times reported
the following about Joseph Biederman: “ A
world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist, whose
work has helped fuel an explosion in the use of
powerful ant-psychotic medicines in children,
received large amounts in consulting fees from
drug makers in the first several years of the
twenty first century, but for years did not report
much of this income to university officials.”
Due in part to Biederman;s influence, the number
of American children treated for bipolar disorder
increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003 and as
Bloomberg News reported (September 2007)
“The expanded use of bipolar as a paediatric
diagnosis has made children the fastest growing
part of the $11,5 billion U.S. market for antipsychotic drugs.”
It is not unusual for paediatric patients with a
bipolar diagnosis to be treated with 1 or 2 mood
stabilisers, an atypical antipsychotic agent, a
stimulant and a drug to promote sleep!
Biederman is also one of the most significant
forces behind the commonplace diagnosis of
ADHD. The validity and reliability of Biederman’s
research, controversial paediatric diagnoses
and aggressive pharmacological treatment
recommendations are now being questioned
the world over ( Parry et al 2008: Australasian
Psychiatry, 16.)
ADHD
Used alone, the pharmaceuticals do not appear to
offer long-range benefits, scientists say.
“They don’t improve an ADHD child’s outcome
in adolescence and adulthood” said William
Pelham Jr., distinguished professor of psychology,
paediatrics and psychiatry, and Director of the
Centre for Children and Families at the State
University of New York. He has been one of the
leading authorities involved in the Multimodal
Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA)
that followed the treatment of 600 children
across the US since the Nineties. The latest (2007)
published findings of the MTA clearly show that
the benefits of medication disappear after a short
period, and that the children, who stayed on the
drugs for the full period, had stunted growth.
Professor Pelham now advocates that behavioural
therapy be used as the first-line treatment for
ADHD.
Specialists stress that no definitive pattern of
serious injury has emerged in literature, over
the more than five decades that compounds like
Ritalin have been in use. However, critics note
most of the studies have lasted no more than
a few years, so no one knows for sure just how
helpful - or harmful they may be to the growing
number of children who take them for far longer.
A recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
panel recommended that Ritalin and other
speed-like stimulant drugs, used to treat ADHD
should carry a warning about a possible link to an
increased risk of death and injury. The FDA’s Drug
Safety and Risk Management voted in favour of a
“black box” warning - the FDA’s strongest form of
warning - for ADHD stimulant drugs.
Nadine Lambert, a development psychologist
and professor of education at the University
of California, followed 500 children, on ADHD
medication, for 26 years. She argues that
exposure to methylphenidate (marketed by
Novartis as Ritalin) makes the brain more
susceptible to the addictive power of cocaine and
doubles the risk of abuse. Recent studies have
shown that more and more students are using the
ADHD drugs illegally. The Partnership for a Drug
Free America released the results of a survey in
2005: one in 10 teenagers had tried ADHD drugs
without a doctor’s prescription.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, a
component of the US Department of Justice
classifies Ritalin and similar drugs, along with
opium and cocaine, as dangerously addictive, and
highly prone to abuse, schedule two controlled
drugs.
Conclusion:
In assembly-line medicine, drug prescriptions
are routinely written, without any exploration of
commonsense reasons as to why a child might be
behaving problematically.
There are certainly many troubled and disruptive
children who are sometimes extremely
destructive to themselves and others. However,
any attempt to understand these kids will be
corrupted by financial dependency on drug
companies, which have a vested interest in
viewing all
attentional,
emotional
and
“
The DEA
classifies Ritalin
and similar drugs,
along with opium
and cocaine, as
dangerously
addictive...
behavioural
as diseases that
drugs.
“
difficulties
can be fixed with
Prescribing medical treatment in the absence of
medical disease, but with the intent of sedation,
restraint and behavioural control, is not proper
medicine.
In its recent infatuation with symptomatic, pushbutton remedies, psychiatry has lost its way, not
only intellectually, but spiritually and morally.
Bibliography
Surviving America’ s Depression
- Bruce E. Levin Ph. D
The Creation of Psychopharmacology
- David Healy.
Alliance for Human Research Protection
Dr Hanekom is an anaesthetist with diplomas in homeopathy and ayurvedic medicine.
She has worked as an anaesthetist in academic hospitals in South Africa and the UK.
She also worked in a holistic residential centre
in the UK, where the focus was, inter alia, on
the extensive use of live blood microscopy,
on optimised nutrition and the normalising of
digestive function. She is an activist for truth
in medicine.
SAVED
by the SUN
by Prof. Mark Sircus
“Global warming has become a new religion.”
Dr. Ivar Giaever - Nobel Prize Winner for Physics
The sun has a bigger impact
on Earth’s climate than all the
exhaustpipes and chimneys on our
planet combined. That’s a simple
enough statement of fact, of physics
and of plain good old common
sense. I was surprised after publishing
my first essay on global cooling that
some of my readers got very agitated
going as far as feeling that I was
doing the world a great injustice by
contradicting human involvement in
creating global warming.
Even Natural News just printed, “The
tide is beginning to shift towards
taking predictions about global
warming seriously. Today however,
more than a decade later, the fear
is no longer that this change might
take place, but rather that it is already
happening - at a faster rate than
predicted. And it might already be
irreversible. Climate experts warn us
that reaching a substantial global
consensus is the world’s last chance
to avoid irreversible climate change
and widespread catastrophe.”1 Yes
we are being warned but the sun is still
king in our solar system.
• knows how to assess scientifically credible information about climate,
• communicates about climate and climate change in a meaningful way, and
• is able to make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate.
“The climate change debate has
become corrupted by politics, the
media and money. It’s a sad story,
where you have scientists making
meaningless or ambiguous statements
about climate change.”2
Dr. Richard Lindzen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Scientists who questioned mankind’s
impact on climate change have
received death threats and claim to
have been shunned by the scientific
community. They say the debate on
global warming has been “hijacked”
by a powerful alliance of politicians,
scientists and environmentalists who
have stifled all questioning about the
true environmental impact of carbon.
One of the emails warned that, if he
continued to speak out, he would not
live to see further global warming,”
writes the Telegraph.3
“Two thirds of temperature recording
stations dropped out in 1990 and
most of them were rural. No urban
adjustment was made and we all
know that urban areas are warmer
than outlying areas.”
Joseph D’Aleo
Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project
A climate-literate person:
• understands the essential principles of Earth’s climate system,
Nothing in this chapter changes the
basic fact that, “Global ecological
sustainability is imminently threatened
by a massive ecological bubble.
Biophile
Biophile
28•
28 Page
• Page
2424
Global terrestrial, atmospheric,
aquatic and marine ecosystems
are no longer adequately intact
to maintain conditions for life at
the level its being lived now. The
mark of progress and an equitable,
sustainable economy is not how fast
the economy grows at the expense
of destroying these ecosystems,”
writes Dr. Glen Barry. Global cooling
changes little of this. But unfortunately
it can clobber already diminishing
food production that is already falling
due to drought and flood as well as
from diminishing soil conditions.
“The last two years of global cooling
have nearly erased 30 years of
temperature increases. To the extent
that global warming ever existed, it is
now officially over”.4
Washington Times
A long time ago a very wise teacher
said to me, “Sometimes it’s cheaper
to do nothing for in doing something
we only make a mess.” Action on
non-existent global warming is an
academic point anyway with half the
worlds GNP being threatened though
economic and financial collapse.
We will see a dramatic decrease
in human activity and energy use
without us having to do anything,
aren’t we lucky? Not only is the sun
rescuing us just as we finally became
so concerned about what we were
doing to our world’s weather, but now
the entire 300 year old Ponzi scheme
of the old banking elite is conveniently
crashing, forcing a reduction in
industrial production and consumer
energy use. The weather is just one of
many crisis that are spelling out the
word catastrophe though and lets
face it folks, many of us are not going
to make it.
The worst freezing cold weather in 50
years pummeled swaths of central
southern and eastern China in 2008
stranding hundreds of thousands of
people. How is this possible since our
evil gases are warming everything?
Global Warming is facing a serious
challenge from over 650 dissenting
scientists from around the globe who
are criticizing the climate claims made
by the UNIPCC (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change) and
former Vice President Al Gore. At
the end of 2008 a newly updated
U.S. Senate Minority Report features
“
Warming fears are
the worst scientific
scandal in history.
When people come
to know what the
truth is, they will feel
deceived by science
and scientists.
”
Dr. Kiminori Itoh
UNIPCC
the dissenting
voices of over
650 international
scientists, many
current and
former UN
IPCC scientists,
who have now
turned against
the UN.The
report has
added about
250 scientists
(and growing) in
2008 to the over
400 scientists
who spoke out
in 2007. The over
650 dissenting
scientists are more than 12 times the
number of UN scientists (52) who
authored the media hyped IPCC
2007 Summary for Policymakers.
“Despite the ‘consensus’ of scientists
that we are told agree that global
warming is a fact, I observed more
snow on the mountains, the glaciers
had seemingly grown in size, and
the climate had become noticeably
cooler.”5
Gregory J. Rummo
Reporting from the Andes
In South America, where I live, the
start of winter last year was one of the
coldest ever observed. According to
Eugenio Hackbart, chief meteorologist
of the MetSul Weather Center in Brazil,
“a brutal cold wave brought record
low temperatures, widespread frost,
snow, and major energy disruption.”
In Buenos Aires, it snowed for the first
time in 89 years, while in Peru the
cold was so intense that hundreds
of people died and the government
declared a state of emergency in
14 of the country’s 24 provinces. In
August, Chile’s agriculture minister
lamented “the toughest winter we
have seen in the past 50 years,” which
caused losses of at least $200 million in
destroyed crops and livestock.
During April of 2008, 1,185 new alltime record low temperatures were
recorded at U.S. weather stations,
reported the Washington Times.6
January 2008 capped a 12 month
period of global temperature drops
on all of the major well respected
indicators. HadCRUT, RSS, UAH, and
GISS global temperature sets all show
sharp drops in the last year.7
“
Global warming
(excuse me, “climate
change”) is the
new religion of the
American and World
Left, complete with
its own messiah in the
form of Al Gore.
”
U.S Government Atmospheric Scientist
“Every year since 2001 has been
among the 10 warmest years on
record.”
Associated Press
April 19, 2009
It sounds more and more like the
Associated Press and other major
media outlets have mastered the
big lie, certainly they have learned
how to bend thermometers to
someone’s likes. Scientists know that
global temperature has been rising
at a steady trend rate of 0.5°C per
century since the end of the little ice
age in the 1700s (when the Thames
River would freeze over every winter).
On top of the trend are oscillations
that last about thirty years in each
direction:
1882 – 1910
1910 – 1944
1944 – 1975
1975 – 2001
Cooling
Warming
Cooling
Warming
The US temperature has now
retreated to the 20th century
average. It stands at 2 deg F (.9 deg
C) below the 1934 high. Given these
facts, it is difficult to see how global
warming can be real, or how we
can be in the middle of a “climate
crisis” with warming being the central
issue. Despite clearly measured
reality what we are still seeing on TV is
alarming warnings from scientists that
global warming is happening much
faster than expected because the
amount of greenhouse gas emissions
worldwide is higher than predicted,
mostly from places like India and
China. That’s leading to warmer
temperatures and more extreme
conditions all over the planet. How
can it be warming and cooling at
the same time? The president’s new
science adviser told The Associated
Press in April of 2009, in his first
interview since being confirmed, that
global warming is happening rapidly,
even though it is in fact rapidly
cooling.
and life on earth. We will explore
the CO2 question in a separate
chapter, drawing attention to the
importance of carbon dioxide for
body metabolism and how the lack
of it can cause chronic diseases. A
serious lack of it would mean the end
of life on our planet, good thing there
is lots.
“Put another way, the cap-andtrade approach is the equivalent
deceiving the public just as the
medical industrial complex does.
“Satellite images are showing that the
cold spell is helping the sea ice
expand in coverage by about 2
million square kilometers, compared
to the average winter coverage in the
previous three years.”9
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment
The sun is not the only factor to
consider in calculating the worlds
weather but it is the major factor by
far.
The dire scare-mongering scenarios
that were foisted on us simply are
not going to happen unless the sun
surprises scientists by firing back up to
its full potential power, which is not
statistically probable. It is in a period of
low activity, a normal cyclic downturn
that should last a few decades. Seems
very reasonable to assume that
nature will take its course regardless
of how much CO2 we pump into the
atmosphere. The simple fact is that
despite our CO2 production, and
record levels being dumped into the
atmosphere, we have been cooling
for almost a decade and the reason
is because of diminished solar activity
that is just beginning to take its cold
bite on mother earth.
“Industrial and speculative capitalism
kills all it encounters through explosive
growth.”
Dr. Glen Barry
Since the opponents of cap-andtrade are going to pillory it as a
tax anyway, why not go for the
real thing — a simple, transparent,
economy-wide carbon tax? Well
simply because its not getting warmer
and out of all the pollutants industry
puts out into the environment carbon
is the least dangerous. Carbon taxes
are an attempt to pull the hood
over our collective eyes crying with
a complete falsification of how
bad CO2 is when it is actually very
necessary to human physiology
of a permanent tax increase for
the average American household,
which was estimated to be $1,100 in
2008, would rise to $1,437 by 2015, to
$1,979 in 2030, and $2,979 in 2050.”
from “The Cost of Climate Regulation
for American Households” study just
released by the Marshall Institute.8
Of all the thousands of pollutants
we put in the air CO2 is the least
dangerous to our health and to our
civilization.
We hear so much moaning and
groaning about increases in CO2
content and nothing about the
thousands of tons of mercury we
are putting up into the atmosphere
each and every year. Mercury is a
potent neurotoxin, a poison of high
toxicity that is a growing menace
of devastating proportion. When
you remember that one gram of
mercury will do in a lake and that
we are putting about 3,000 tons into
the air each year note that we have
already run out of pristine lakes and
rivers for there are none. Mercury
is now everywhere and that’s and
official statement from the FDA. The
EPA is not doing its job and is actually
It used to be lead that was the
dominant pollutant but now its
mercury that is the most immediate
threat. We don’t have to tax the
mercury pollution we can stop most
of it even that expelled in huge
tonnage from electric coal plants.
The technology exists and would cost
fortunes less than carbon taxes. We
could take away the most serious
danger for pennies on the dollar what
it would cost by forcefully reducing
carbon emissions. But in our insane
world we do insane things so expect
them to do the wrong thing.
“It is a blatant lie put forth in the
media that makes it seem there is only
a fringe of scientists who don’t buy
into anthropogenic global warming.”
Dr. Stanley B. Goldenberg
“Sunspots have a profound effect on
the earth’s climate.”
Dr. Nigel Weiss; Professor Emeritus University of Cambridge
For certain people saying the earth
is cooling is like telling them God
does not exist, so attached they are
to global warming ideas. No matter
how hot it feels, (and I am sitting here
in the tropics with the sweat dripping
down my back) global temperatures
are going south and the ice is building
up in Antarctica and in the Andes
Mountains,10though glacier flows
have increased. It really seems that
despite all the hot gas coming out
of Gore the sun has undercut him
department at Stockholm University
in Sweden, has been studying the
sea level and its effects on coastal
areas for some 35 years and is the
top expert in the world. He asserts
that there is no data to support panic
about sea levels rising.12 In the early
1990s, scientists forecast that the coral
atoll of nine islands - which is only 12ft
above sea level at its highest point would vanish within decades because
the sea was rising by up to 1.5in a
year. However, a new study has found
that sea levels have since fallen by
nearly 2.5in and experts at Tuvalu’s
Meteorological Service in Funafuti, the
islands’ administrative centre, said this
meant they would survive for another
100 years.13
Falling Sea Level Upsets Theory of
Global Warming.
once more teaching us to be careful
about what we believe and in whom
we trust. We can continue to trust
that the sun will continue to be itself
and go through cycles which will
have an effect on the weather and
temperature on planet earth.
“The models and forecasts of the UN
IPCC are incorrect because they only
are based on mathematical models
and presented results at scenarios
that do not include, for example, solar
activity.”
Dr. Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera
Institute of Geophysics, University of Mexico
“Environmental extremists and global
warming alarmists are in denial and
running for cover,” writes Geophysicist
Dr. David Deming at the University
of Oklahoma who has published
numerous peer-reviewed research
articles. “Now that global warming
is over, politicians are finally ready
to enact dubious solutions to a nonexistent problem. To the extent that
global warming was ever valid, it is
now officially over.”
Sea Levels Are Falling
Even predictions of sea level rising
are wide off the mark. Last year the
NY Times printed a story titled, Sea
Levels Are Falling Over the Long
Term Because of Lower Basins.11Dr.
Nils-Axel Mörner, the head of the
Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics
A new study using Europe’s Space
Agency’s ERS-2 satellite has
determined that over the last 10
years, sea level in the Arctic Ocean
has been falling at an average rate of
about 2 mm/year.14
During the Medieval climatic
optimum, sea level stood at least a
half meter higher in southern Florida
than today from the first through tenth
centuries. In other words, sea levels
in the Atlantic have fallen at least 19
inches in the last 1,000 years.15 And
even in periods of warming a warmer
climate would melt mountain glaciers
and cause a thermal expansion of
ocean water, accelerating sea levels’
rise. But on the other hand, more
water would evaporate from the
surface of warmer oceans, leading
to more rainfall, and--over Greenland
and the Antarctic--to greater
accumulation of snow and ice. This
process essentially thickens the polar
ice caps, thus lowering sea levels.
The University of Illinois’s Arctic Climate
Research Center reported in January
of 2009 of a rapid rebound in Artic
ice in recent months; global sea ice
levels now equal those seen 29 years
ago. Ice levels had been tracking
lower throughout much of 2008, but
rapidly recovered in the last quarter.
In fact, the rate of increase from
September onward is the fastest rate
of change on record, either upwards
or downwards.16Temperatures have
stayed well in the -30s C and -40s C
range since late January throughout
the North, with the mercury dipping
past -50 C in some areas. Satellite
images are showing that the cold
spell is helping the sea ice expand in
coverage by about 2 million square
kilometers, compared to the average
winter coverage in the previous three
years.
None of this makes sense in a rapidly
warming world does it? We have had
freakishly cold weather around the
world and glaciers and ice building
at the poles and the only explanation
the media has is its getting warmer so
lets panic and let the governments
rob us of even more wealth by putting
a tax on carbon. Fortunately interest
in global warming is cooling off.
“
To the extent that global
warming was ever valid,
it is now officially over.
”
Conclusion
It is easy to understand how
economics is swamping concern
about the environment. But when the
winter comes and our heating bills
become even more unaffordable it
will hit home. And either way it looks
like winters are going to be very cold
unless the sun gets out of bed and
shines with its full force.
Hundreds of millions of people are
becoming more anxious about their
family, job and future and are more
likely to experience “free-floating
anxiety;” to feel worried. We are
being hammered on all sides by
events we never dreamed we would
have to deal with. Who would have
ever believed on top of everything
we would have to face a deep
freeze and having our food supplies
threatened by increasing cold.
Geologist Don Easterbrook said, “It’s
disturbing as a scientist, because
there is definitely a move today in the
direction that anybody who doesn’t
sign on to CO2 as the cause of global
warming is somehow either stupid or
has some political reason or just some
financial reason for saying that.
Sources:
1 www.naturalnews.com/025864.html
2 www.eskimo.com/~rarnold/global_
warming_religion.htm
3 www.coxandforkum.com/ archives/001066.html
4 www.washingtontimes.com/
news/2008/dec/10/global-warming-
freeze/
5 www.sott.net/articles/show/178433Two-years-of-cooling-has-destroyedglobal-warming-consensus
6 http://www.washingtontimes.com/
news/2008/jun/29/getting-sensible-onenergy/
7 wattsupwiththat.com/2008/02/19/
january-2008-4-sources-say-globally
-cooler-in-the-past-12-months/
8 www.marshall.org/article.
php?id=636
9 epw.senate.gov/public/index.
cfm?FuseAction=
Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_
id=5ceaedb7-802a-23ad-4bfe9e32747616f9
10 www.sott.net/articles/show/178433Two-years-of-cooling-has-destroyedglobal-warming-consensus
11 www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/
science/11obseas.html?ref=science
12 www.climatechangefacts.info/
ClimateChangeDocuments
/NilsAxelMornerinterview.pdf
13 www.tmgnow.com/repository/
global/sea_level.html
14 www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/
tech/5076322.stm
15 www.products.mercola.com/
water-filters/?source=nl
16 www.dailytech.com/Article.
aspx?newsid=13834
The “i am” activity presents
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T
he little green men from Mars are getting excited. Planet earth is
joining the inter-galactic green movement. Well, according to the
adverts it is. We’ve got green concrete pavers, green steel frame
houses, green timber from Outer Mongolia and the drink Savannah
dry, all saving our planet. Even composite tiles are 95% green: I asked
the rep, ‘What’s the 5% content that’s not green?’ It’s the highly toxic
glue keeping the 95% sand content together. On second thoughts, those
Martians can chill off for a while. Maybe it’s only the wording in our
adverts that have changed. Luckily it’s not always a case of, greenbacks
first, green planet last.
Marketing aside, buildings and products do in fact come in different tones of green, from a light smudge to deep green. Slap a solar
panel on the roof and a water tank around the back and we’ve got a
‘light smudge of green’. The darker tones require committed dedication; bioclimatic design, passive heating and cooling, locally sourced
non-toxic materials, self sufficiency and healthy interior environments all
finished off with aromatic paints with a fragrance so delicate and sweet
smelling it competes with the roll on under-arm deodorants for the real
builder. Our men on the job.
designers, their inner world becomes the outer world of others. Creativity brings about the externalising of our interior world, of changing the
outer world into the image of our inner world. Not as an immediate carbon copy, but its essence recast in a different form. How we are shaped
is how we shape our environment.
My human warmth, clarity, inner mobility, originality and liveliness will
potentially become someone else’s habitat. Similarly, my frosty intellect,
confusion, rigidity, anti-social attitude and indolence can also become
someone else’s habitat. Architecture reflects our inner condition, that is,
our built environment is the externalised physiognomy of the creators’
inner realities.
Once constructed, the occupants inwardly re-create and re-experience
the intangible qualities implicit in their built surroundings. What’s inside
me as architect and builder ends up inside you as inhabitant via the
building as medium. Similar to how when looking at a colour we reproduce the complementary colour as an after image, so we respond to our
surroundings by reproducing them within us. This includes qualities we
cannot physically see. And others we can’t avoid seeing. ‘Darling, pass
the dynamite please.’
So now we’re all heading for squeaky green, what’s next on the
architectural menu? Clearly not simply an extension of normal green
issues but an exponential leap fundamentally shifting how we perceive
ourselves and the world. Resulting in a fresh take on how we design
and modify our surroundings. Architecture was originally about people
and buildings, then life-style, building-style and saving the planet. The
next shift entails waking up to how architectural progress and personal
growth are interrelated and sustain each other. Just think about it,
instead of buying a self-help book you can now get a whole building.
The creative influence implicit in a building affects the inhabitants indefinitely. A continual dialogue occurs between the intangible sensibilities
and qualities alive within us, and those of our habitat. Whether we are
attentive to it or not, this silent conversation is uninterrupted and ever
present. In this sense our buildings are never neutral and nor is their
influence on us. Unlike permitted colouring E127, regrettable melodies
and the heebie-jeebies, we are rarely outside the influence of our built
environment.
Understanding this process starts when you begin experiencing how
what is within you is also all around you. And in the particular case of
Architecture both mirrors and influences our mental, emotional and
physical state of being. The obvious question is, can we awaken to how
ENOUGH GREEN LET’S GO FULL SPECTRUM
by Keith Struthers
Biophile
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we imbue our designs with our own
disposition? This includes those of
the owner and all others involved.
The challenge is that when designing we are often so preoccupied
with what we are doing we overlook both how we are doing it, and
how our particular disposition and
temperament influences what we
are doing. To clarify the difference
between these aspects consider
this simile. You cross the road (what
you do), hopping, skipping or running (how you do it), while feeling
anxious, calm, rigid or light hearted (your inner disposition) which
colours how you cross the road. In
fact our disposition determines the
character of everything we do.
Through becoming aware of what’s
energized and active in me during
the creative process, I generate
the opportunity to notice these
elusive yet ubiquitous qualities I
express in all I do. Through being
self consciously present during the
process it’s possible to see what it
is in us that influences the outcome,
the subtle and the obvious.
As a simple illustration, I have
a friend who always makes an
enormous thing of it when he meets
people. The largest and most
elaborate room in his house is the
entrance hall. And another architect friend who is a fuzzy thinking
melodramatic prima donna. Contractors are ceaselessly confused
by his convoluted roof designs and
the construction drawings which
rarely make sense, even to him?! If
you want his number for your next
project, it’s here somewhere. As Jacob Boehme says, “What the self
describes, describes the self.” The
story we tell is so often our story
recast with different characters
which disguises its autobiographical nature.
Designing something with the
explicit intention of supporting
ongoing personal development requires a different approach to that
of conventional practice, different
sensibilities and a different method
of design. This methodology is
predicated on the understanding that the built environment is a
medium for nurturing our evolving
awareness. The interior disposition of the architects and builders
Biophile
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expressed in the built surroundings, consciously and unconsciously, are
those re-experienced by the inhabitants as either supporting or inhibiting their individual development. As a designer it makes sense to work
on our self development in tandem with improving our design skills and
technical understanding.
As a client it makes sense to undertake an in-depth and protracted
psycho-analytic, psychometric, bi-polar, IQ, EQ and relationship stability personality assessment of your architect, before they add-on a store
room to the back of your garage.
The objective is an architectural practice deliberately cultivating the
whole human being. This includes our intensity and humour, our wide
awakeness and dreaminess, our masculinity and femininity, our capacity
to observe and to express, our left and right brain activity, and our bifocal vision. It’s dancing with these polarities which supports the health
and richness of our lives. Similar to the prerequisite of two-to-tango, the
architectural dance flourishes through the embracing, interaction and
higher synthesis of opposites interplaying with each other to create the
living whole. Over and above this a holistic method will also facilitate
expressing the full scope of our humanness, from our physical needs to
our higher aspirations.
When seen in the context of wholeness, current practice is conspicuously
one-sided. Its method is effectively sourced from a single colour-blind
eye and primarily a rational mind. What’s expressed is typically our
capacity to think abstractly and our masculinity.
Concerning the gender bias of modern practice; We currently live in
masculine dominated surroundings. Industrialisation is a largely masculine directed activity; machinery, assembly lines, emotionally sterile
production methods. The founders of modern architecture, all men, envisaged their functional buildings as the standard global uniform of the
future. Their influence has been global, utilitarian materials, rectilinear
shapes, grid pattern roads lined with regimented blocks of flats and
steely cold offices. Their dictum was: designs should be logical, rational
and pragmatic. So guys, what happened to the feminine touch, some
gentle caring and warmth, not to mention a hint of romance? ‘Move
aside ladies, this is serious men’s business. Don’t bother us now we’re
busy with stuff!’
Unfortunately most female architects emulate their male counterparts,
adding little of their feminine uniqueness to the design process. On the
up side however, this stance has brought a crisp cleanliness to architecture, a clear headed quality and a sharpened sense of self determinism.
Concerning the rectilinear bias of modern practice; The shape of our
shoes, clothes, musical instruments, umbrellas, aeroplanes and cars are
all made from a blend of curved and flat surfaces. In contrast, almost
all buildings today are flat sided and rectangular. If everything was
box shaped like our buildings, we’d have no nuts and bolts, shoes would
not fit, cycling would be problematic and everything else would drive us
around the bend.
Concerning the one-eyed bias of modern practice; The flat diagrams
and computer graphics do not stimulate bi-focal vision. They are not actual views but scaled geometric constructs, a coded language, sourced
from our intellect alone. They also lack direct perceptual content in relation to actual buildings. Our visual experience of a building and
of the diagrams is vastly different. Conversely a flat surface
does not stimulate bi-focal vision. (For the beginnings of a
philosophical explanation, sit up straight, fasten your
safety belt and go to
Article on
‘Kant’ at www.naturalarchitecture.co.za )
Many buildings are effectively enlarged diagrams. Join a series of bill
board size elevation diagrams together and you’ve got a house. At last
advertisers could make a genuine eco contribution to our low cost housing crises. Only triple green recycled waterproof paper on those bill
board houses please.
Will this one-sidedness change? At the outset shifting how we do
anything requires an inner shift. For example, I know an attorney who
moved from a stressful big city professional lifestyle to a peaceful
countryside village. She opened up a small vegetable shop. Five months
later she reported how frustratingly demanding her lifestyle was. She
had anticipated vegetating in the countryside, but regrettably only
shifted her outer position, not her inner disposition. Astonishing how a
jaded lettuce leaf and a few cut-worms can topple a high flying public
prosecutor. Irrespective of our particular location or activity, who we
are is how we see, respond to and act in the world. Unless we change,
what we do and how we do it won’t change.
On that pontificating note, can the Cerebral-Cyclops from Box-berg
move aside so the Whole Human Being can step forward please.
What then are the ideals of a more holistic design and construction
methodology? (As cheesy as it sounds) The intention is the balanced
and healthy expression of a lively individual responsive to their surroundings, their culture and their inner calling for something of the eternal. But these qualities don’t come ready packaged. Actively engaging
with them is indispensable for our maturity and wellbeing. This includes
animating and sharpening our mental clarity, balancing the tenor of our
inner emotional landscape, and strengthening our capacity to followthrough with our intentions. And concerning our higher aspirations there
are many paths. Within an architectural context the most universal is
through beauty.
It’s through beauty that we are graced with the possibility of glimpsing eternity. Dostoevsky allures to this in his novel The Idiot. ‘Is it true,
Prince, that you once said that, “beauty will save the world?”’. Following
this sentiment through architectural history, it’s appealing how buildings
of great beauty are those most preserved. Splendid and inspiring architecture is valued and kept intact for as long as possible whereas the
ugly are knocked down and replaced. There are exceptions of course,
like my neighbours garden shed and America.
For example, a six year research project in Germany showed with
infra-red photography that our body temperatures increase in building
environments that please us and decrease in ones that offend us. This
research also revealed that our heart pulse rate, breathing and the size
of our eye pupils are also immediately affected by the aesthetic quality
of our architectural surroundings. Children’s responses were more amplified than adults. Nothing was said about politicians.
In this sense, the architectural process begins and ends within the human
being. So even if the building itself is artistically conceived, it’s not the
final artwork. The final works of art are the invisible and ongoing experiences of the inhabitants, supported by the building. In some circles this
could be referred to as the ongoing refinement of the colourful human aura.
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the Green Directory
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The Eco FriendlyCar Wash
A clean car is a pleasure to drive, whether it’s old, new, big or small. But there are different ways of cleaning a car. Most commonly used are the water systems – a hosepipe at home, car washes at petrol stations, mobile car washes, brush plants, etc.
To get one liter of clean water from our taps, three liters of effluent water is used. On average to clean a car with water – depending on the system - we waste between 360 to 600 liters of water! Currently there are more than 9 million registered vehicles on South African roads. If each vehicle is only cleaned once a month it equals to 3240 million liters of water wasted, and
we all know that vehicles are cleaned more than once a month. South Africa is the 30th water poorest country in the world and
we’ve all heard that our water sources are seriously contaminated and in 2013 we will have serious water shortages.
What is the alternative? More than 20 years ago the Americans developed products to clean vehicles without using one drop
of water. The eco friendly waterless car wash system was born. In 2000 the concept was introduced to our local market. It was
slow to catch on with consumers, because they were scared that the system could harm their paintwork. Now many consumers
use this system at shopping malls and office blocks.
What is a waterless car wash? It is a totally mobile system that needs no premises, no drainage and no electricity. Vehicles are
cleaned with eco friendly and biodegradable products and micro fiber cloths.
How does it work? The waterless product consists of different ingredients with lubricants that soften, emulsify and encapsulate
the dirt lifting it from the paintwork.
Water car wash products are diluted with water and do not contain any lubricants to protect the paintwork; consequently
scratches on your vehicle’s paintwork can be caused by washing your car with water. When you wet the paintwork not all the
dust particles are removed and by washing with a sponge or cloth these dirt particles are trapped between the sponge / cloth
and the paintwork. The normal way of washing in circles grinds these dirt particles into the paintwork and this is what causes
scratches.
Benefits of an eco friendly waterless car wash:
• Conserves our precious water resources
• Lessens our carbon footprint
• Can assist big corporate companies to earn carbon credits
• Does not disturb the environment to establish a car wash.
• Creates new employment – every 240 vehicles cleaned per month with the waterless system equals one new job.
GIV
AWA E
Y!
Men on the side of the road (MSR) is a non-profit organization assisting people that wait next to the road for daily employment. They put
them on their data base and also teach them skills through courses
in different occupations, e.g. painting, gardening, bricklaying, etc. In
Cape Town in 2007 MSR started a project with the eco friendly waterless car wash. Currently 150 people are earning an income throughout the Western Cape with this initiative, and contributing to the
conservation of water. Currently MSR is in the process of expanding
this initiative to Gauteng.
How can we “Greenies” do more? Find out where an eco friendly
waterless car wash operates in your area and support it. Then
introduce your friends to the system.
For more information on the waterless car wash system contact
Hermien (who has 12 years experience in the car wash industry) at 083 462 0874, or e-mail [email protected]
I
’m a big free market proponent. I love the “freedom” in it... the
individual decisions of hundreds of millions of people coalescing
into an “invisible hand” of efficiency improvements, quality of life
enhancements and unlimited abundance. That’s the Alice-in-Wonderland version of the free market economy, anyway. In reality, the
free market is broken. It doesn’t work (at least not as we once hoped
it would), and it can’t last. In fact, unless some important changes are
made to the way in which it works, the free market will lead us to the
destruction of human civilization.
How, you ask? Let’s answer that question by looking at free market
theory, which says that individual consumers will intelligently evaluate their production and consumption options, then make an intelligent decision to produce those things that provide the greatest
profits (by indirectly providing the greatest benefits to others) while
purchasing / consuming those things that provide the greatest benefits to themselves. In theory, it sounds downright
elegant, but in practice, there’s a huge problem with all
this: Consumers are not rational!
fall apart in the real world. Consumers are irrational, companies are
dishonest and the people have virtually no evaluative skills necessary for making informed purchasing decisions.
The consumption of pharmaceuticals makes all this as plain as day,
and yet pharmaceuticals are just the beginning of this story.
Buy more crap you don’t need!
Consumers in America have also been convinced to purchase useless
(but highly profitable) home cleaning products like Swiffer devices,
which are branded, disposable home cleaning products that have no
real purpose for existing other than being sold to people. A regular
old sponge mop does everything that Swiffer does, without the
repeated expenditures on disposable sheets, without all the brandname advertising and without all the wasted packaging and shelf
space in retail stores.
And yet consumers keep buying Swiffer
products (and throwing them away).
Why? Because consumers are
irrational, of course, and
Swiffer advertisements
are quite
good at
Why consumers cannot (and will not) make
rational decisions
Examine the interaction between Big Pharma
WHY THE FREE MARKET DOESN’T WORK:
by Mike Adams
and consumers, for example: Drug companies use campaigns of
disinformation, deception, exaggeration and scientific fraud to
convince consumers they suffer from various “diseases” requiring
chemical intervention. Believing this mythology, consumers then
trade their hard-earned money for these chemicals that actually
harm them! Spending on pharmaceuticals and “sick care” services
accounts for over twenty percent of the U.S. economy. So how is this
consumer behavior accounted for in the free market?
It isn’t. There’s no modeling for massive corporate deception in free
market theory. Free market theorists merely assume that consumers
are rational, that companies are honest and that people have a reasonable capacity to intelligently evaluate the products and services
they choose to purchase. All those assumptions, however, quickly
compelling people to make purchasing decisions that are not in their
own long-term interests.
The list goes on: Paper clips that slip off papers and are easily lost,
light bulbs that burn out and need replacement, showers soaps that
dissolve away at the merest touch of water... these are all examples
of products that succeed in the free marketplace even though they
are inferior, wasteful products. After observing enough of these
examples, the pattern becomes quite clear:
The free market encourages the production, consumption and
disposal of inferior, wasteful products.
Why the free market encourages waste
Light bulbs that last ten years can easily be manufactured today.
They aren’t sold in stores because free market economics rewards
greater profits to products that break quickly and need regular replacement. Shelf space, after all, is more valuable when the inventory
doesn’t sit around for very long.
U.S. auto companies figured this out decades ago. They even had
a name for it: “Planned obsolescence,” which simply means they
designed their cars to fail right from the drawing board! Broken cars
meant more repeat sales, so inferior engineering resulted in free
market profits! (It’s almost hilarious, isn’t it, that in the face of real
competition from Japanese and European auto makers, the U.S. auto
industry now finds itself virtually obsolete? If they had actually tried
to make quality cars that lasted instead of disposable cars that broke
down, maybe they would have a future...)
The free market offers no processes by
which superior, long-lasting products
can be economically successful. Unless, of course, consumers recognize those qualities. But
consumers
don’t.
no way to consider the “total cost of ownership” of those apples once
the carbon footprint, sociological impact and environmental impacts
of the apples are taken into consideration. One bin of apples might
contain organic Fuji apples flown in from Japan while a second bin
might offer conventionally-grown (pesticide-sprayed) apples grown
in Mexico, but harvested with child labor. The point of purchase at
the grocery store is not a place where consumers can make informed, rational decisions about what they’re buying.
Now, I hear the more astute among you reaching the same inevitable
conclusion: The free market can work if -- and only if -- purchasers
combine reasoned thinking with perfect access to the complete
information about what they’re purchasing.
Thus, in an ideal free market fantasy land, if intelligent, reasoned
consumers actually had access to the complete history (and future)
of the items they were purchasing -- and if they were able to
take into account the details of how products were grown,
harvested, manufactured, packaged, transported, used,
disposed and discarded -- then we might actually see
the free market function in a successful way.
But it’s obvious that virtually none of this information is available to purchasers today.
CONSUMPTION vs CONSERVATION
That’s because human beings are, for the most part, short-term
thinkers. They’ll buy a one-year light bulb today for R5 rather than
spend R20 on a ten-year light bulb. Part of the problem, of course, is
that people can’t do maths anymore, so they can’t calculate the total
cost of ownership for anything they buy. All they recognize is the upfront price, and that’s it.
HP, of course, turned this into a free market windfall by selling R300
inkjet printers that run on R200 ink cartridges. The printers themselves might as well be given away -- it’s the repeated purchasing of
ink that really drives the HP economy!
Lacking accurate information, consumers just guess
The free market doesn’t even work at the grocery store. A consumer
faced with a decision between two bins of apples, for example, has
Virtually all consumers have little more information than the price
and the brand name of whatever they’re purchasing, and that “price”
in no way represent the actual cost of production, ownership or
eventual disposal of the products being purchased and consumed.
Thus, the free market does not work in a complex society where
product origins are also complex.
Free markets work better in local economies
On the other hand, the free market can, indeed, work better in a local
economy where products are made or grown locally, usually by simple people whose reputations are also known locally. In other words,
if you lived in a town of 1,000 people in the 1920’s, most of your food
and products were derived from local sources, and probably from
people you knew. You bought bread from Bob the bread maker,
horse shoes from Burt the blacksmith, got your clothes mended from
the local tailor, etc.
But as societies became highly specialized, complex and intertwined,
the ability of consumers to track the origins of the products they
purchase was quickly lost. Today, even a product as simple as a ballpoint pen may involve manufacturing expertise from a dozen different corporations spanning the globe. And I’m willing to be there’s
hardly a single person in the city where you live now who can make
a ballpoint pen on their own, using nothing but local materials. Thus,
the ability to make even simple instruments has been lost in our
complex society, and at the same time, the theoretical advantages of
the free market have been utterly lost to a system of such complexity
that no consumer has the ability to make accurate, informed decisions about the true costs of the things they’re buying.
No, a much better solution is to reveal the true costs of production,
ownership and disposal at the point of purchase so that consumers
are forced to assess the true costs of choosing a product.
On a more practical note, what I’m suggesting here is quite simple:
1) The true costs to nature from the production, manufacturing,
transportation and packaging of products be displayed on the
package and added into the product’s retail price.
2) The true costs of disposing of the product (recycling, etc.) also be
displayed on the package and added into the retail price.
For example, let’s say you’re about to buy an iPod. Today, a typical
iPod price might look like this:
In other words, to say it again, the free market does not work in a
complex society where product origins are also complex.
The free market is running blind
Neither can the free market look ahead beyond one fiscal
quarter. The entire system of free market economics greatly
discounts the future while placing high value on the present. In other words, it emphasizes profits NOW at the risk of
disaster in the future.
This is evidenced in the runaway mining of precious metals
that are now close to running out (like many rare metals used in
electronics). It’s evidenced in the rampant overfishing of the world’s
oceans; in the pharmaceutical pollution of waterways; and in the
construction of energy-inefficient homes that burn fossil fuels just to
stay warm or cool. As a rule, corporations are by design incapable of
seeing beyond the next fiscal quarter. They are blind to the future of
human civilization, and they consistently act in ways that compromise that future.
And that’s it. You don’t know where it came from, how it was made,
what the ecological impact was and what the environmental cost
might be for the eventual disposal of the device. But with my suggestions here, the new iPod price might look like this:
In other words, if we let the free market and corporations continue
to run things in our world, we will soon have no world left to live in.
As long as there is one more tree to cut, one more fishing zone to
exploit, one more consumer to medicate and one more barrel of oil
to turn into plastic whatnots, corporations will grind away every last
remaining resource in their quest for profits. Failing to do so,
in fact, would result in a corporation being out-competed
by another one willing to push the boundaries of exploitation one step further.
Sure, free market economics have brought us cheap automobiles,
low-cost food, affordable clothing and big-screen television sets. But
what has the free market provided that really matters? Nothing! It
has not provided happiness, nor security, nor closeness with nature.
It hasn’t brought families together, nor enhanced anyone’s wisdom
of life, nor taught our children any real truths. The free market looks
good on the accounting books, but in the real world, it has done far
too little to benefit humankind in the ways that really matter. And
alarmingly, it has now placed us in a global consumption and pollution cycle from which the future of human civilization may never
escape.
So what’s the answer, then, to our free market mess?
Solutions that enhance the free market
Centralized economic planning is a disaster. Forget about that.
These are just example numbers, of course, but you get the idea:
Under such a system, consumers become aware of the additional
costs of manufacturing and disposal of products -- and they have to
pay those costs!
So an iPod might actually cost R1550 instead of R1250. Where does
the extra R300 go? The first R150 goes to protect nature. The second
R150 goes to recycling centers, metal reclamation centers, and other
intelligent disposal programs.
The retail price tag is the only place where consumers can be
reached with the true costs of ownership of products, and when
these numbers are calculated in, nobody will be buying disposable
Swiffer products anymore because the disposal and manufacturing costs might triple or quadruple the product price tag. A simple
sponge mop suddenly makes a lot more economic sense, which is
of course the whole point of this exercise: Give consumers MORE
information while preserving the free choice of the free market.
This all comes down to point-of-purchase taxes on products: A
“Nature tax” and a “disposal tax.” While people may balk at the idea of
paying additional taxes (I don’t like the sound of it either), the truth
is that until the true total cost of ownership of products is reflected
in their retail prices, consumers will never make the “right” decisions
about what to buy and what to throw away.
The impact of consumption on our planet must become part of the
purchase equation.
The economics of Mother Nature
Some of these ideas are being explored in European countries, I’ve
heard, where some computers are sold with “disposal taxes” that are
essentially pre-payment for the future disposal processing of the
computer. That’s a great step in the right direction.
Another way to tackle this issue without added the complexity of additional retail taxes is to tax manufacturers or raw material providers
instead. This is simpler than tracking additional retail taxes, and it still
results in such costs being reflected at the point of purchase anyway.
The simplest solution of all, of course, would be to grant Mother
Nature legal standing as its own economic entity, and require every
user of nature to pay user fees for the extraction of minerals, carbon
emissions, rainfall, water from rivers, etc. If Mother Nature charged
for all the services she provides to the world, everything you buy
would suddenly seem extremely expensive, and people would make
far wiser decisions about what to buy and what to throw away.
The real problem in the free market, then, is that Mother Nature’s
products and services aren’t priced into the equation (or, technically,
they’re priced in at zero). Thus, the pollution of the planet costs nothing, and this tends to encourage the behavior.
That’s why I say that the free market, as configured today, will only
lead us to planetary disaster. It is an incomplete economic system
that encourages exploitation, consumption and pollution. It even
enriches those who teach others to consume the most!
Replace the free market with something more evolved
If we truly wish to live sustainable lives on our planet, we must
abandon the free market system we know today and replace it with
something that rewards thriftiness and conservation.
Conservation, of course, is the opposite of consumption. And it is
consumption that’s destroying our planet and that’s promoted by
free market greed. Conservation is what we need for sustainable living, but conservation never made money for anyone. (Who ever got
rich telling people to buy LESS?)
The free market experiment has been a fun one, no doubt. Disposable film cameras and diet coke bottles will never be forgotten
(mostly because they will never decompose). Yet it’s time we awakened to the realization that commercially-invoked mass consumption is flatly incompatible with sustainable life on our planet.
The whole system of manufacturing, advertising, branding, consuming, throwing away and buying it again just doesn’t work!
Sure, corporations and shareholders can seem like they’re getting
rich in the short term, but in the long term we all lose. We lose our
wealth, our planet and our future. And that’s no bargain, even in
exchange for obscene monetary profits.
The missing piece of the Libertarian puzzle
You may find this article a bit odd coming from someone who tends
to support Libertarian philosophy. I’ve studied Austrian economics
and Libertarian free market theory, and I have yet to find any explanation in any of those texts of how the free market is supposed to
protect the environment or encourage sustainable living. Libertarian
economists, in my opinion, tend to miss this hugely important piece
of the puzzle, believing that somehow the free market will protect
the environment and conserve resources, too.
Even the precious Rearden metal alloys of Rand’s Atlas Shrugged
novel could not generate profits for anyone unless they were mined
out of the Earth at a great environmental cost that’s never really considered in the novel. Ayn Rand’s “Rational Selfishness” falls apart once
the scope of consideration expands to encompass multiple generations of human beings. We cannot “greed” our way to sustainable life
on Earth. The very idea is absurd.
Laissez-faire capitalism is blind to the true environmental costs of
economic activity. It routinely assigns a value of zero to exchanges
with nature (taking things from nature, dumping things on nature,
etc.), thereby utterly devaluing the root source of all wealth and
abundance in our world. Yes, I deliberately use the word “ALL.” There
is nothing of value in this world that was not created with the help
of Mother Nature. Even human-borne ideas could not have been
dreamed up without the warmth of the sun, the presence of water
on our planet and the energy provided by plant-sourced foods.
The great delusion of laissez-faire capitalism is that all value is
created by Man, not by Mother Nature. This is a huge gap in the
philosophy of Libertarian economics (which I mostly support, by the
way). It’s time we expanded the ideas of economics to include the
true, total cost of ownership of the products we choose to consume
and discard. Only then will consumers make better choices that are
aligned with the conservation of resources and sustainable life on
planet Earth.
An eye-opening journey
In April last year we travelled through
the Kalahari in a group of 14 , including children aged 4 to 14. It was their
first 4x4 camping in Africa experience.
Not once did the 3 teenagers lift their
eyes off their cellphones on the 18 hour
long journey from Gordon’s Bay to the
Kgalagadi National Park. I found this very
strange and wondered what on earth
they could be doing without cellphone
reception. It also appeared that their ears
were plugged with ipods.
Fortunately we had a major breakdown
in the middle of nowhere. Little did
they know that this moment would be a
blessing in disguise. They sat in the sand
trying not to ruin their ‘cool looks’ and
watched with disgust how our little children played like roaring lions. Suddenly
there was a shift in attitude - perhaps
the cellphone batteries were flat - and
the girls started writing love letters in
the sand. Little by little they discovered
the texture of the beautiful Kalahari sand
and how it turns deep orange under the
setting sun. When eventually the teenagers started rolling down the dunes, their
hair thick with sand, we stood still and
marveled at this extraordinary, unexpected scene. From that moment on, they
put their phones and ipods aside and
went on a journey of their own; one of
discovering the most precious gift all living creatures are meant to enjoy: nature.
An investment in the future
This experience made me wonder how
the next generation of decision makers
is going to handle climate change if they
don’t know, let alone love, the natural
environment in which we all live. Also,
being disconnected from nature affects
one’s emotional well-being. Richard
Louve, best-selling author of “Last Child
in the Woods” coined the term Nature
Deficit Disorder (NDD), the alienation
of children from their natural environment resulting in emotional imbalance,
violence, mismanagement of natural
resources and climate change. In Europe
and the States urban children are developing strange ideas of what nature is. A
while ago, a friend of mine said it’s just
too big a challenge to save the environment and consequently, humanity. “So,
shall we then just sit back and watch
the world go down?” I asked him. “No,”
he replied and this is why he and many
other people are joining Kids of Nature
and together make a difference to help
build a better future for all.
Giving the responsibility back to the
parents
Kids of Nature addresses this key issue of
today’s society. There are many projects
that focus on green actions, but Kids of
Nature believes that not enough is being
done to enable children to actually feel
connected with their natural environment. In dealing with NDD, parents
increase true happiness in their children’s
lives and help restore values like respect
and care. In so doing, they create a solution against climate change by building
a new generation of globally responsible
decision makers who’s love for nature
will enable them to combine technology
and profit in a context of global environmental sustainability.
As the co-founder of the initiative, and
more specifically as the mother of two
young children, I call upon all parents to
spend more time as a family and to do
it in a way that the children can bond
with their natural surroundings.
Engaging in a national conversation
Kids of Nature inspires parents, educators and carers through a wide array
of beautiful multimedia storytelling, talks, travel and an informative website. Let’s
engage in a conversation on the
importance
of nature in
our lives,
and
specifically in the lives of our children.
Let’s stop the time every now and then
to give our souls a break from the rat
race, let’s leave our cellphones and ipods
for what they are. And most importantly,
let’s celebrate mother nature! Show the
world you care and join Kids of Nature.
About the founders:
When Petra Vandecasteele and Paul
Godard started their 4 year long overland
expedition from Brussels to Cape Town,
they discovered some of the most
amazing places and people. Today, 15
years later, they still thrive on exploring
Africa, with two young children
in tow. Petra and Paul are regular
contributors to Country Life Magazine
and the authors of ‘In Celebration of
Fynbos’, published by Struik. They are
the founders of Kids of Nature and by
combining their travel experience with
their creative talents they hope to inspire
other families to also discover the magic
in nature.
Visit www.kidsofnature.org or email
Petra at [email protected]
Tel: 083-2301881
RADIOACTIVE
LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR AFFAIRS
NEW EVIDENCE COMES TO LIGHT ABOUT FAULTY
NUCLEAR FACILITY VENTILATION FILTERS…..
Having failed after 10 years of taxpayer funding – and now 10 times
over budget – to produce a safe PBMR to generate electricity in South
Africa, the PBMR Company has now teamed up with their Chinese
nuclear counterparts to cause great international embarrassment merely
to foist its nuclear agenda on this country rather than scrapping the
project.
The ink on this nuclear agreement is barely dry yet nuclear authorities are trying to push through amendments to the Record of Decision
(RoD) on the new scaled-up PBMR nuclear fuel factory at Pelindaba
seeking an “exemption” from an environmental impact study for a
radioactive waste incinerator to “reprocess” spent fuel. This, in spite
of there being no final design or safety approval for the PBMRs failed
technology.
HEPA filters are all that stands between the radioactive materials inside
many a nuclear installation and the surroundings outside of these facilities and is the best the world has to offer. Yet the risk inherent in the
vulnerabilities of HEPA filters is potentially catastrophic, even under
“best operating conditions”, says Fulk.
They are fitted in the ventilation applications of every one of South
Africa’s nuclear facilities, existing and proposed - including Koeberg
and Pelindaba.
At which point will authorities in this country say we’ve had enough
secretive manipulation from the nuclear industry agenda? Or are the
vested interests for some worthy of the huge risks involved?
- Source: Dominique Gilbert, Pelindaba Working Group
It seems our nuclear industry have no scruples and will stop at nothing.
Lengthy documents submitted to the Environment Minister on the RoD
amendment yesterday provided new evidence that High-Efficiency Particulate Air filters, commonly known as HEPA filters, to be used in the
fuel plant have inherent vulnerabilities that are potentially catastrophic.
In declarations currently before a U.S. District Court in Northern
California, evidence of veteran U.S. nuclear scientist Marian M. Fulk
states HEPA filters won’t protect public health or workers. Fulk says in
his declarations authorities have reliedYucca
“on unduly
optimistic assertions
Mountain
about HEPA filters” derived from an internal lab report that has never
been made publicly available and is now “missing from the Administrative Record”.
Typical HEPA Filters
ANOTHER Nuclear White Elephant?
Despite the French government’s global marketing of its flagship European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) as cheap and safe, nuclear
energy is rapidly becoming the most expensive way to produce electricity, and its highly radioactive waste poses an ever-increasing problem.
Greenpeace recently uncovered evidence that nuclear waste from the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) - the flagship of the
French nuclear industry - will be up to seven times more hazardous than waste produced by existing nuclear reactors, increasing
costs and the danger to health and the environment. This alarming evidence was buried away in the environmental impact assessment report from Posiva, the company responsible for managing waste at the world’s first
EPR under construction at Olkiluoto in Finland, and in EU-funded research.
According to John Large, an independent nuclear consultant, “…not only will spent nuclear
fuel produced by the EPR be more dangerous than is acknowledged by the French nuclear
industry, but also storage and disposal will be more expensive than the industry and governments proclaim and will increase the overall cost of nuclear energy. The French nuclear
companies Areva and EDF, which aggressively market the EPR as safe and cheap, have
completely ignored the implications of the increased hazards.”
- Source: Greenpeace
SENTIENCE
ANIMAL FRIEND ISSUES
Factory Farms and the Pandemic Waiting to Happen
There are all sorts of reasons to avoid eating too much meat, especially if it’s from animals raised on so-called factory farms (known to the industry
and its regulators as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs). There’s animal welfare, since the animals are typically kept in cramped
conditions that are likely to turn the stomach of many people. There’s the environmental cost, since the meat from an animal feeds fewer people
than the feed and water used to raise that animal could. There’s the concern about
antibiotic-resistant strains of disease, since animals in close quarters are often treated
before an outbreak happens, leading to the possibility of bacteria growing resistant to
medicines humans need to stay healthy.
Boycott “Hurtful
Essences” Shampoo
And then, there is swine flu.
Investigators don’t yet know where the new virus sweeping through the Mexican capital
originated, or how it developed into an infectious, sometimes deadly illness that seems to
pass from person to person.
But experts have been
warning for years that
this type of outbreak
was all but inevitable,
given the way we raise
and transport food
(and ourselves).
The virus that has
prompted a U.S. health
emergency declaration
has genetic material
from the viruses that
typically attack birds,
humans and pigs. That combination didn’t necessarily originate on a pig farm, but it’s
more than likely. Where else do you have pigs in close quarters, passing viruses among
themselves? Where else do you have birds, either raised nearby as poultry or passing by
during migrations? Where else do you have humans, working in and among the pigs, their
wastes and their meat...and then going home to their families?
Organizations like Wildlife Trust have for years been warning about this type of outbreak -- an estimated 75% of human illness originates with wildlife (think Lyme disease,
West Nile virus and every other strain of flu). The term used to describe that study is
conservation medicine, since preventing and treating outbreaks typically means tackling
environmental problems as well.
For instance, in 1999, the deadly Nipah virus spread from bats to humans to pigs because of deforestation of jungles of Borneo and Malaysia. How? As the rain forest was
cleared by fire, the Malaysian flying fox, a fruit bat, colonized the orchards on pig farms.
As bat waste and half-eaten fruit mingled with pig feed, pigs were exposed to a new
virus, which in turn infected pig farmers. More than 100 people died -- 40% of those
infected -- and 1 million pigs were slaughtered as a precaution...and several subsequent
outbreaks have claimed dozens more lives.
Are factory farms in Mexico the environmental root of this swine flu outbreak? Is it a
global pandemic in the making? Experts will have to determine that. What they have already determined is that factory farms pose a risk of global pandemic such as we seem
to be watching emerge.
by Dan Shapley, The Daily Green
hunters Kill kruger’s animals
Trophy hunters are killing the animals that attract the more than
1.39 million South African and international tourists to the Kruger
National Park each year.
Hunting quotas in provincial and private reserves that share unfenced
boundaries with South Africa’s premier national park have reached
an all-time high, and two new big game trophy-hunting concessions
have been awarded in Limpopo in the past nine months. A new
hunting concession offering elephant, buffalo and lion trophies has
also been awarded in Mozambique on the eastern border of Kruger.
Proposed quotas for 2008/2009 allowed for at least 70 elephants, 174
buffaloes, seven white rhinos, two lions and several other species
to be hunted in provincial and private reserves that share unfenced
boundaries with Kruger. Animals move freely between Kruger and
the Makuya and Mthimkulu provincial reserves, both of which have
been opened to hunting recently, as well as the exclusive Associated
Private Nature Reserves (Timbavati, Klaserie, Umbabat and Balule),
where hunting has been allowed since the 1990s.
Trophy hunting is illegal in South Africa’s national parks.
The 16 000ha Makuya Nature Reserve borders Kruger south of
Pafuri Gate and the Mthimkulu Nature Reserve borders the park
north of Phalaborwa. Both reserves were the subject of land claims
and are run by the Limpopo provincial government in conjunction
with local communities. Wanda Mkutshulwa, the head of corporate
communications for South African National Parks, said in a written
response to questions from The Sunday Independent that the
Associated Private Nature Reserves had a proposed “hunting offtake”
for this year that included 55 elephants, 144 buffaloes, seven white
rhinos, two lions, 5 003 impalas, three hippos, one leopard, seven
zebras and six warthogs. Last year, Makuya Nature Reserve had a
quota of five elephants and 10 buffaloes, and Mthimkulu had a quota
of 10 elephants, 20 buffaloes and six hippos. Nyala, waterbuck and
kudu are hunted in Makuya and Mthimkulu.
Advertising “Huge Buffalo and Elephant - New Area Opened in
2008”, a company called Global Hunting Resources, based in the US,
said on its website that the Mthimkulu Nature Reserve lay “between
the confluences of the Big and Little (Groot and Klein) Letaba rivers.
The hunting area is roughly 22 000 acres, and is now part of the
Greater Kruger Park! All game flows freely between the park and the
hunting area without the obstruction of the FENCE.” The first buffalo
hunt in Mthimkulu was in September and the first elephant hunt
in Makuya in October. Most of the hunters who have visited these
reserves are foreigners.
“This is a disgrace,” said Steve Smit of Animal Rights Africa. “The
government is dishonestly bypassing its own legislation to promote
the hunting of animals from Kruger... The government has made
no scientific evidence available to support (its) decision to allow
this and (its) actions raise questions about (its) commitment to the
responsible care of our national heritage.”
Mkutshulwa said Kruger had formal written agreements with the
Associated Private Nature Reserves, but agreements with the two
provincial reserves were “still in the pipeline”. Trophy hunting is a
subject of heated debate among property owners and staff in the
Associated Private Nature Reserves. Some promote the idea as a
means of raising revenue, but others are opposed to it. The issue
also worries staff at the provincial reserves. “I am not in favour of
hunting, because we are trying run a tourism operation here,” one
employee at Makuya said.
“It is a difficult thing to tell
tourists that hunters are
killing animals here.”
Mkutshulwa said the Protected Areas Act recognised that hunting
was an acceptable form of sustainable use of natural resources.
Asked if hunters were using Kruger as a source of hunting stock,
Mkutshulwa said: “It would be unprofessional of me to speculate
on such an issue.” Staff at Mthimkulu and Makuya confirmed that
animals, particularly elephants and buffaloes, regularly moved in
and out of Kruger. “There is nothing to stop them, just the river (the
Luvuvhu River),” said an employee at Makuya Nature Reserve. “The
river is shallow most of the time, so the animals cross whenever they
want.”
A spokesman for
the Department of
Environmental Affairs and
Tourism said he was not
aware of the number of
hunting permits issued for
reserves bordering Kruger.
He also didn’t know if trophy
hunting was to be allowed
in other provincial reserves,
because “hunting in buffer
zones (is) regulated by
provincial (legislation)”.
- by Mike Cadman,
The Sunday Independant
THUMBS-UP
Veggies...Saving The Planet One Step At A Time!
The breakthrough came in 2006 when the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published a study, Livestock’s
Long Shadow, showing that the livestock industry is responsible for a staggering 18% of all anthropogenic greenhouse
gas emissions. This is only the beginning of the story.
In 2008, Brazil announced that in the 12 months to July it
had lost 12,000 sq km (3m acres) of the Amazon rainforest,
mainly to cattle ranchers and soy producers supplying European markets with animal feed. There is water scarcity in
large parts of the world, yet livestock-rearing can use up to
200 times more water a kilogram (2.2lbs) of meat produced
than is used in growing wheat. Given the volatile global
food prices, it seems foolhardy to divert 1.2bn tonnes of fodder – including cereals – to fuel global meat consumption,
which has increased by more than two and half times since
1970.
In September 2008, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a vegetarian himself, called on people to take personal responsi-
bility for the impacts of their consumption.
“Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it
from there,” he said. “In terms of immediacy of action and
the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period
of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity.”
This week the Belgian city of Ghent met his demands by
declaring Thursday a meat-free day. Restaurants,
canteens and schools will
now opt to make vegetarianism the default
for one day a week,
and promote
meat-free
meals on
other days
as well.
- by
Tristram
Stuart, The Guardian
ONE BILLION EGGS ARE NOW
FROM CAGE-FREE HENS
Last night, Compassion in World Farming celebrated at
The House of Commons with some of Britain’s best-known
companies who have committed to ditch the battery cage egg
in favour of eggs from free-range, organic or barn-kept hens.
Now in its third year, The Good Egg Awards celebrate
companies that have
committed to freeing millions
of hens from a life of suffering
in battery cages.
The 34 winners included the
BBC, Channel 4, Debenhams,
John Lewis, Little Chef, Fox’s
Biscuits, Starbucks Coffee
Company UK, Virgin Trains
and Walkers Shortbread
EP Ban On Seal Trade
The European Parliament has just announced a ban on
the trade of seal products within the European Union.
This may be the most significant victory in IFAW’s 40
year campaign to end Canada’s commercial seal
hunt...and we couldn’t have done it without you.
From Mexico City to Madrid to Moscow, tens of
thousands of letters, postcards, and e-mails poured
in - making a clear statement that the world is against
this brutal hunt.
The European Parliament listened, and now the end
of the commercial seal hunt may be inevitable. Already, prices for seal pelts have dropped to half of
what they were last year. And with this ban, 7 out of
Canada’s top 10 export markets are now closed for
business.
IFAW is shifting all its focus back to where we started
this fight four decades ago: For the first time in history,
a Canadian senator has proposed a bill to ban the
hunt - and now we need to gather as much support for
Senator Harb’s bill as possible.
Please contact your Canadian embassy today, and
demand that they support Senator Harb’s bill to ban
the seal hunt.
- Source: IFAW
- Source: Compassion In
World Farming
THUMBS-DOWN
Stop The Cruel
Egyptian Slaughter!
Al-Masry Al-Youm (an Egyptian daily, privately-owned newspaper)
has witnessed veterinary, health and security services, as well as local
authorities culling pigs with chemicals (made up of factory waste)
and burying them in Abou Zabal.
The journey starts at the barns in El-Khosous, where pigs are taken
to large vans amid owners’ cries and pleas. The rear doors of the
vans open and the pigs are prodded with sticks toward the crane of
the lorry, which lifts them up & dumps them one on top of the other.
The animals scream as they are squashed into the vehicle and cannot
breathe.
ANOTHER Woolworths
Greenwash...
Have you seen that big sign which hangs proudly in
some Woolworths stores ? – “FREE AS A BIRD – We are
the first retailer in South Africa to sell only free range
eggs – we think our hens enjoy having space to behave like hens should.”
Did you assume this means that as caring retailers
Woolworths no longer sell battery eggs, because they
know how cruel this method
of farming is? Well, you’d be
WRONG!
When the lorry is filled with 400 pigs on average, it sets off for the
burial ground in Abou Zabal. After three hours, the pigs arrive at the
place where they will be brutally executed. Once there, something
like soft sand is sprinkled on the pigs inside the lorry. This material is
made up of factory wastes. The pigs start to scream because of the
searing pain until they die some 30 or 40 minutes later.
After that, they are dumped into a pit. Some of them are swollen,
others have their bowels torn apart. The bodies are covered with
quicklime before the pit is covered once more with sand.
Dr. Hatem El-Gabaly, Egyptian Minister of Health, has accused the
WHO (World Health Organization) of causing panic worldwide.
Agreed, but nobody suggests or enforces such a cruel knee-jerk
response.
- By Maha El-Bahnasawi
You can view the full video (NOT for sensitive viewers) by clicking on
these two links: www.youtube.com/almasryalyoum
and www.vimeo.com/almasryalyoum
Voice your opinion to the Egyptian Ambassador to South Africa at:
[email protected]
ALL of their products containing eggs (except for egg
sandwiches) are made with battery eggs! In other
words, eggs sold in cartons are free range, but eggs
that are less visible, such as the ones in their salads,
quiches, pancakes, cooked meals, biscuits etc, are
ALL from caged birds.
Due to the public outcry about the cruelty suffered by
battery hens – kept in overcrowded cages, with their
beaks & claws cut off to prevent them from literally
pecking each other to death in their incarcerated
misery and frustration – Woolworths made the decision
to sell ONLY free range eggs. They’d also discovered
that free range eggs were selling better than battery
eggs, so their stance made good business sense too.
When I asked a representative of the Woolworths
Good Business Journey, why they didn’t then use free
range eggs in their salads and products too, they said
there had never been apublic outcry about this! The
problem is that sales of products containing battery
eggs remain good.
If you would like to join me in telling Woolworths how
you feel about this, and asking them to please extend
their free range egg policy to ALL eggs in both cartons
and products too – you can e-mail [email protected] (and please copy to [email protected]
so that we can monitor responses.)
- by Wendy Hardie
GREEN GROWTH
PLANT LIFE NEWS
GM CROP FACT FILE
1.ARE GM CROPS TAKING OVER
GLOBAL AGRICULTURE?
• GM plantings make up a mere 2.4% of
global agricultural crop land
• nearly 80% of the global area planted
to GM crops was in just three countries
- the US, Argentina and Brazil
• the US alone plants over 50% of the
world’s GM crops
• less than 3% of cropland in India and
China is planted with GM crops, almost
exclusively just 1 crop - GM cotton
2.ARE GM CROPS EXPANDING IN
EUROPE?
• in the 27 countries of the European
Union, GM crop cultivation represents a
mere 0.21% of agricultural land
• the number of hectares of GM crops fell
last year in Europe
• EuropaBio inflated the figures for GM
crops grown in Europe by almost a
quarter to mask the decline
• the area of GM crops being grown has
actually fallen in Europe every year
since 2005
3.WHAT GM CROPS ARE BEING
GROWN?
• most investment has gone into a small
number of crops and traits targeted
toward large-scale commercial farming
• only four crops - soya, maize, cotton
and canola (oilseed rape) - comprise
virtually 100% of GM agriculture
• GM rice, wheat, tomatoes, sweetcorn,
potatoes and popcorn have all been
rejected as unacceptable in the global
marketplace
• GM papaya cultivation in Hawaii has
been declining over several years
4.DO GM CROPS MATCH THE HYPE?
• none of the GM crops on the market are modified for increased yield
potential
• some studies show GM crops reduce
yield
• disease-tolerant GM crops are practi-
cally non-existent
• the GM industry has not marketed a
single GM crop with enhanced nutrition,
drought-tolerance, salt-tolerance or any
of the other ‘beneficial’ traits longpromised by the industry
• there are no commercially available GM
crops designed for biofuels
5.ARE GM CROPS REDUCING PESTICIDE USE?
• almost all GM crops involve just 2 traits,
mainly just one trait - herbicide tolerance
• herbicide tolerance is found in over
80% of all GM crops planted worldwide
• GM crops have contributed substantially
to increased pesticide use
• most new GM crop varieties are also
pesticide-promoting
• GM crops have caused an epidemic of
herbicide-resistant weeds
• *his is encouraging the use of more
toxic petsicides, including ones banned
in some European countries
6.WHO BENEFITS FROM GM CROPS?
• the real beneficiaries are the GM
companies which profit from patents,
expensive GM seeds, and increased
pesticide sales
• Monsanto is the world’s largest seed
firm
• Monsanto holds a near monopoly in
the biotech “traits” incorporated in GM
seeds
• Monsanto is the world’s fifth largest
pesticide firm
• Monsanto markets Roundup, the
world’s biggest selling pesticide
• Monsanto controls roughly 60% of
the market for glyphosate (the active
ingredient of Roundup)
• Roundup is used in conjunction with
Monsanto’s ‘Roundup Ready seeds’
7.WHO’S MILKING THE FOOD CRISIS?
• The World Bank attributes 75% of
global food price inflation to “biofuels”
Biophile
Biophile
28•
28 Page
• Page4646
• Monsanto has been at the heart of the
“biofuels” lobby, particularly the lobby
for corn ethanol
• The price of Monsanto’s GM triple-stack
corn will reportedly increase by around
35% in 2009 - by $95-100 per bag, to
top $300 per bag
• The average price for soybean seed, the
largest GM crop in the US, has risen by
more than 50% in just two years from
2006 to 2008 - from $32.30 to $49.23
per planted acre
• Retail prices for Roundup herbicide
have increased from just $32 per gallon
in December 2006 to $45 per gallon
a year later, to $75 per gallon by June
2008 - a 134% price hike in less than
two years
8.QUOTE: SELLING THE DREAM
“All those dreams... the blind will see, the
lame will walk... has turned out to be science
fiction. They are basically chemical companies selling more chemicals. They’ve been
able to spread these herbicide-promoting
plants around because it is more convenient
for farmers who can just mass-spray their
crops. But they’ve given absolutely nothing
to the consumer while causing more chemical pollution and contamination.”
-- Andrew Kimbrell, lawyer and executive director of the Center for Food Safety (USA)
9.FACT FILE SOURCES
Almost all the facts in our fact file are taken
from “Who Benefits from GM crops?:
Feeding the biotech giants, not the world’s
poor”, Friends of the Earth International ‘09
Full report:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/Who_
Benefits/full_report_2009.pdf
Executive Summary:
Benefits/Exec_summary_2009.pdf
EU briefing:
Benefits/EU_briefing_2009.pdf
- Courtesy of GM Watch
ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS
place your advertisement NOW !
first 5 advertisers receive a FREE Enchantrix product.
contact Dawn at : [email protected]
Biophile
4747• tel: 082 485 6361
Biophile2828• Page
• Page
HEALTH MATTERS
RECLAIMING OUR HEALING POWER
Cola Drinks Can
Cause Paralysis
Cola drinks, such as Coca Cola and Pepsi, can
cause diabetes and muscle problems ranging
from weakness to paralysis, new research has
discovered.
The drinks can cause potassium levels in the
blood to drop, which can lead to serious
muscle problems such as hypokalaemia.
Researchers from the University of Ioannina
in Greece discovered that people who drank
excessive amounts of cola drinks were liable
to suffer problems such as paralysis. The victims made a full recovery after they stopped
drinking the colas and were put
on potassium drips or
supplements.
SEVEN - Not 159 Swine Flu Deaths
How many people have died from swine flu so far? If you believe
what you read in the newspapers, you might think around 159
people have died in Mexico from the H1N1 virus. They haven’t – it’s
just seven.
Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and Mexico’s own health
minister Jose Angel Cordova have confirmed the figure. The WHO’s
Vivienne Allan, from its patient safety program, says: “Unfortunately
that (150-plus deaths) is incorrect information and it does happen,
but that’s not information that’s come from the World Health
Organization. I repeat, the death toll is seven and they are all from
Mexico.”
Since her announcement, the first American citizen has died, but
it’s hardly the stuff of a pandemic. Nonetheless, the WHO has now
elevated swine flu to a ‘phase five’ pandemic, where there has been
human-to-human spread in at least two countries.
Despite the facts, the UK government’s health officials have
predicted that up to 750,000 Britons could die in a flu pandemic, and
its health minister, Alan Johnson, has told the House of Commons
that there have been 89
deaths from the virus in Mexico, so he’s
off by a factor of 12.
One of the victims
was drinking between two and nine
litres of cola a day,
but the average daily
consumption was
less than half a
litre!
- Source: International Journal of Clinical
Practice
Unless you’re a drug company, you have
to wonder why governments – and the
media - are acting so irresponsibly. If
you’re interested in a conspiracy
theory, look no further than
Indonesia and its health
minister Siti Faldilah
Supari who says she
has not ruled out
the possibility that
the H1N1 virus is
man-made.
- Source: WDDTY
Children Who Have Flu Jab
‘Three Times More Likely To
Need Hospital Care’
Children who have the standard flu jab are three
times more likely to end up in hospital. The vaccine
is also useless at preventing
the disease, new research
has discovered.
studying 263 children who had had flu, and whether or not
they had been vaccinated.
Children with asthma are especially
vulnerable after being given the annual
flu vaccine, TIV (trivalent inactivated
flu vaccine). Children aged from six
months to 18 years are recommended
to have the vaccine each year.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester made the discovery after
They discovered that children who had been vaccinated were
three times more likely to need hospital care than those not
vaccinated, and the risk was even higher in children who had
asthma. It was also clear that the vaccine had not protected
the children against flu, the researchers told a conference this
week.
- Source: 105th International Conference of the American
Thoracic Society in San Diego.
Honey For Health
For centuries honey had been known as nature’s medicine.
Both the Greeks and Egyptians used honey as one of their
main healing tools, with the famous Greek thinker Aristotle
saying that pale honey was “good as a salve for sore eyes
and wounds”. But despite its long history within the healing
community honey is now seen as something of a fad, another money making scam from the natural health industry that
actually has no medical benefits at all. But there are new
studies being conducted that could see us all adding honey
not to our toast, but back into our medicine cabinets.
Many of these studies have been aimed at one particular
type of honey, Manuka Honey. Each beehive will produce a
different type of honey depending on which flower the bees
get their nectar from. Manuka honey comes from the flower
of the Manuka bush that is native to New Zealand and
has been found to have amazing anti bacterial properties.
Bandages are now being made that contain traces of Manuka
honey; this helps stop the growth of harmful bacteria even
when wounds are badly infected. The Manuka honey’s amazing healing properties come from a chemical reaction that
takes place while the honey is being made. This reaction
produces hydrogen peroxide, which is a well known antiseptic. “Since Manuka Honey is a natural ingredient, it has been
found to have no negative side effects when used for medical purposes,” says Frank Buonanotte, CEO of Honeymark
International.
Why You Need More Sun
When You’re Over 50
We’re finally realizing that
we actually do need some
sun on our skins – and a new
study has found that we
need even more of it as we
get older.
A study of 3,262 people aged
between 50 and 70 years
found that 94 per cent had
low vitamin D levels, and
42 per cent had metabolic
syndrome.
Sunshine is the very best
source of vitamin D, and
it seems our natural levels
fall as we get older, possibly
because of the ageing
process and also because
we perhaps don’t go outside
quite so often.
Study team leader Dr
Oscar Franco from Warwick
Medical School says vitamin
D deficiency could be a
global health problem.
- Source: Diabetes Care, April
14, 2009
Low levels of vitamin
D can cause a
condition known as
metabolic syndrome,
a combination of
disorders that increases
the risk for heart
disease and diabetes.
‘Talking Cure’ Works Better
Than Drugs For Anxiety
Are you worried or stressed? Don’t turn to drugs –
instead try one of the ‘talking cures’ such as cognitive
behavioural therapy, which works even better, a new
study has found.
While Manuka honey aids healing another type of honey
has been found to ease children’s colds, sooth their chesty
coughs and promote sleep. The Archives of Pediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine recently published the results of a
study that seemed to confirm this fact. The study included
105 children between the ages of 2 and 18. In a partially
blind test some of the children were given buckwheat honey,
some honey flavored syrup and some nothing. Short surveys
filled in by the children’s parents showed that when their
children were given just a little bit of honey before bed they
slept better and coughed less than when they took the syrup
or nothing at all. “This is the first time honey has been actually proven as a treatment,” says lead study author Dr. Ian
Paul, a researcher at Penn State College of Medicine.
Research in to the healing properties of honey is ongoing,
but with many bacteria now becoming immune to prescribed
antibiotics honey is being seen by many as an amazing natural alternative.
- by Sheryl Walters, Natural News
Many people – and especially the elderly – suffer from
general anxiety, and as it’s often the first stage to fullblown depression, it’s important to deal with it.
The most common treatment is either a prescription for
an antidepressant or benzodiazepine, but researchers
have discovered that cognitive behavioural therapy
(CBT) is more effective.
Researchers from the Houston Center
for Quality of Care tested drug
therapy against CBT on a
group of 134 participants,
with an average age of 68
years. CBT was far more
effective than drug therapy
in reducing worry,
lack of confidence,
depression, and
general mental health.
- Source: Journal of the
American Medical Association
PANDEMIC......
OR
PIG IN A POKE?
by Michael Knight
playground, that you’d rightly conclude that “conspiracy theories” are
almost always 99% closer to the truth
than what their detractors would have
you believe. Perhaps you would not
always connect the dots in the right
sequence, but you would inevitably
find that the dots - however they are
connected - always lead you to the
same place: There is, without a doubt,
an invisible hand dealing the cards.
And the game is rigged. Completely!
W
hy call this article “Pandemic... Or
Pig In A Poke?”
Because there was a time when you’d
carry your pig to market in a sack.
The sack was called a “poke” because
you poked the pig into the sack. Now,
if you were a prudent buyer, you’d ask
to see the pig before you gave up any
money. Otherwise, you’d be buying
a pig in a poke - unseen - but touted
by the seller as the best pig in a poke
you’d ever not seen. And imprudent
or naive people would buy such stories.
1 - 6 scale. At 6, we’re supposedly in
a pandemic state.
But are we really? It’s all a matter
of perception...and perhaps, seller
deception.
Fortunately, today we live in a world
where information spreads faster than
flying pigs. We do not have to take
the sellers’ word for it. Courtesy of
information that is readily available on
the internet, we can rip the sack open
and see for ourselves what’s inside.
Then we can decide whether or not
we’ll buy it.
If you’d been a reporter since 1960,
which is all but half a century, you’d
have a certain amount of hands-on
experience with pigs and pokes. You’d
have had a few calls from angry politicians about stories that unmasked
their cozy arrangements with lobbyists, corporations and industry. You’d
have seen scientists forced not to
reveal what they knew and threatened
with dismissal because they had discovered that lanolin (the by-product
from sheep’s wool that forms the
basis of a billion-dollar cosmetics
industry) contains a cocktail of toxins
that can be lethal when slathered over
premature and young babies...killing
them.
So much for the metaphor/analogy
in relation to the World Health Organization’s decision to raise the “alert
level” on this “swine flu” to 5 on the
You’d eventually know so much behind the scenes scuttlebutt, and have
so much irrefutable evidence that the
world is nothing but a slick profiteer’s
However, and this is an important caveat, while most of the long term players are motivated by greed and profit,
many are simply ignorant of the rules
of the game and they imagine they’re
holding an honest hand..... Wrong!
They are actually honest people being
duped by sharks. Sharks have no compunction at all about devouring little
fish - even if it means turning the water to a blood bath. Got the picture?
For the purposes of this article, we
are living in shark-infested waters and we’re being told to be afraid of a
flying pig in the form of a virus that
supposedly evolved and mutated into
a never-before-seen strain that strikes
humans dead. Yet we are also being
asked to believe that this “swine
flu” did NOT come from pigs in the
United States - so pig meat is safe.
Interestingly, while this flu strain was
being referred to as “swine flu” for
the first few days, in America it is
now “H1N1 2009” - because the pork
industry lobbyists have got in the ear
of officialdom and said “hey, our sales
are suffering...”
That’s quite true. Ten countries have
banned pork imports, and Egypt has
killed all pigs in the country. (One
source says this is probably intended
to wipe out the pork breeding industry there, which has been the livelihood of minority Christian believers).
One absolute fact that is being ignored as the WHO ramps up its alert
levels, is that in the United States
alone, up to 35,000 people die every
year from influenza. And nobody calls
that an epidemic or a pandemic.
Despite the use of so-called “vaccines” or “shots”, they just go on
dying in huge numbers. We strongly
advise avoiding these vaccines –
they are just another means for the
pharmaceutical companies to make
more millions, and actually harm
our health and inhibit our immune
systems in the process.
So let’s look at this current WHO card
game, starting first with the WHO
itself. The World Health Organization
is one of those United Nations type
agencies that supposedly has global
responsibilities. You and I never asked
them to look after us. Like the United
Nations and many other so-called
“unifying” agencies, they were imposed on us. And because of the way
they were sold, from our side of the
table it seemed like they were good
players, dedicated to seeing fair play
and good health around the globe.
What we did not know was that they
came to the table with a lot of hidden cards up their sleeve. And behind
those card dealers, there was yet
another unseen dealer - controllers if
you will of the entire game and all its
participants. Like politicians everywhere, they are masters at manipulating our emotions in order to achieve
their own goals. Sure, some of them
are honest players, but honest players are easily blinded by their own
honesty. They think everyone is. They
cannot conceive of a hidden agenda
that includes population reduction by
any and every means. That sounds
so horrific and implausible that it is
beyond belief - to the average honest
player.
But the dots, when connected in
certain ways, lead to that inescapable
conclusion. And it takes courage to
accept such a truth because it flies
in the face of everything we have
believed in.
Connecting dots also uncovers the
realization that fear is our greatest enemy, and their best ally. We respond
with fear when we think we’ll lose, be
it our health, or our house, our car or
our credit rating. And so it is with this
swine flu. We are afraid of death - yet
we rely on the dealers to save us from
what we fear. This is perfect for them.
It means outfits like the multi-national
pharmaceutical companies can develop “vaccines” - in the expectation that
there will be a timely pandemic, which
is the only way they’ll ever recover
their development costs and make a
profit. Strangely enough, pandemics
do come along almost as if they were
timed to coincide with the moment
such companies had produced a huge
stockpile of drugs that are sitting
around waiting for a market.
In less than a week, the world has
been all but paralyzed by fear because an entirely new strain of flu
virus has taken the lives of about 200
people, and sickened many more.
It has spread from Mexico to many
points around the world. On the one
hand, if you measure it against an
annual death toll of 35,000 or more
in the US alone, it seems like it should
be treated as a very minor inconvenience. Tragic for those who lose
loved ones, yes, but there have been
35,000 other unreported tragedies in
the last year alone - and no suggestion that there was an epidemic or
pandemic to worry about.
On the other hand, would it be wise to
dismiss the potential “pandemic” scenario, wherein this entirely new strain
might evolve even further and faster
and kill millions - as did the Spanish
flu of 1918? Well, recent experience
with the SARS and Avian flu scares
might have us thinking that this one
will also fizzle out. It is getting the
same media hyper-attention as those
last two events, and we’re all taking
note that a killer plague is in the air.
So right now, the sensible thing, obviously, is to take precautions.
Seek out preventative measures, such
as natural substances like Vitamin D
from the sun(builds immunity), and
products that oxygenate the body’s
cells (depriving viruses of the anaerobic environment in which they thrive).
Eat healthy organic foods if possible
and avoid animal products in your
diets as much as possible. Read the
book “The China Study” by Colin T
Campbell PhD and his son Thomas M
Campbell II. Yes - take precautions.
But also, research, Use Google and
Wikipedia and Youtube as educational
resources. Search on key words like
“swine flu 1976” or “Tamiflu” or “Tamiflu ban Japan.” If you’re looking for
the pig inside the poke, try “Zeitgeist”
on Youtube, or “New World Order” or
“
if you measure it
against an annual
(influenza) death
toll of 35,000 or
more in the US
alone, it seems like
it should be treated
as a very minor
inconvenience.
”
“Creature From Jekyll Island.” While
taking precautions and doing our
research, we might find ourselves
wondering very seriously about the
coincidence involving drug companies
and swine flu.
Therefore, we search for “Leonard
Horowitz” on Youtube. Dr Horowitz
was quick off the mark in producing a
Youtube video that pulls no punches.
He punches the US Centers for
Disease Control, because one of its
high-ranking people collaborated
with and is now employed by a
company that makes vaccines - one
of which was ready to go to market
just as this swine flu ‘pandemic’ got
started. It happens to be one that the
CDC now recommends...along with
Tamiflu, which according to Wikipedia
netted Donald Rumsfeld millions of
dollars. Horowitz punches with such
words as “genocide” and “mass murder.” Ask yourself, is he punch drunk,
or is he revealing exactly what’s in the
sack? (The citations he uses indicate
that he knows precisely what he’s
talking about - and it’s nothing that
you’ll see in the mainstream media).
This is one of those times when a person needs to borrow the attitude of
the good card players. Good players
don’t allow emotion to dictate their
moves. They may not know what’s in
blessing for them, because it takes
certain items off the media table.
Items like inquiries into who was truly
responsible for all that torture and
slaughter? How much of this economic melt down has been created so
bankers and their buddies (politicians
again) can garner even more money
and power?
“
What about the recent scientific proof
that nano-thermite material was
found in the remains of the World
Trade Center buildings (that means,
demolition by super-explosives, not
the collapse of two (sorry, three) huge
buildings by free-fall because two of
them (not three) were hit by planes.
Youtube has it in Danish (the lead scientist being interviewed on TV) with
excellent English sub titles.No sign of
any US networks catching the story
though.
”
It’s a painful awakening, but eventually we understand that these multinational corporations and banks that
know no borders owe allegiance to no
country in the world. They are powerful enough now to not only supervise
how legislation is written (in their
favor of course) but they can also act
quite independently of any administration. Which is to say (and one sincerely hopes this is good dot connecting) that the game plan leading up to
this swine flu thing must have been
set in motion well before the present
US administration came into office.
we might find ourselves wondering
very seriously about
the coincidence involving drug companies and swine flu...
everyone else’s hands, but they do
know how to play their own. As the
song says, you gotta know when to
hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.
But there’s something even better
than that. Imagine if you could float
above the table, like an invisible eye,
and see what everyone is holding.
If it were a game of Monopoly for
example, you’d see that the person
playing banker would always and
inevitably be the winner. He’d eventually own everything on the table...
including your job, your home, your
car, your credit score and your future.
That’s the way it is with the New
World Order.
That’s what it’s about. That’s what
their minions and lackeys (yes, respected people can also be minions
and lackeys, even honest minions
and lackeys) are either deliberately or
ignorantly doing to us. The dots and
crosses (of the dead) connect to a web
of intrigue, ongoing media and public
manipulation, and ever-increasing
profits and control for those who pull
the strings.
A pandemic is also something of a
If you think about it, we may have
believed that “we the people” control
the government, but in reality, governments come and go while NGOs and
the UN and the WHO and the World
Bank and the IMF and the Federal
Reserve and all those thousands of
bureaucrats and corporate bosses
and corporations go on for ever. Or so
they hope. Until now, they have been
the players who are always at the
table. So they know the game inside
out, and they can rig it any way they
want. That is, unless we honest folk
wake up, and start refusing to accept
their cards at face value. We’ll only
wake up, perhaps slowly, perhaps
very slowly, by educating ourselves
out of our preconceptions and beliefs.
Beliefs are what other people have
convinced us of.
Truth is better than belief because it
is what we have researched, evaluBiophile 28• Page 52
ated, and experienced for ourselves.
Truth is a personal thing, not a one
size fits all like belief. If we’re looking
for truth, we begin to question why
war never ceases, why we can not be
told about extra-terrestrial contact,
why no-one has been able to squelch
the illegal drug industry, why corporations can genetically modify our food,
why vaccines contain toxins that are
more dangerous than the disease
they’re supposed to treat...and why
drug companies can work hand in
glove with so-called health watchdogs
(like the WHO, CDC, and its European
equivalents)..and their product arrives
“just in time”.
Most importantly, WHY (as Horowitz
claims) was it WHO policy to “prime”
the world population with influenza
viruses, developed in laboratories,
PRIOR TO any outbreak of a new
strain of influenza?
WHY do the pharmacy giants like Baxter get away with sending out totally
contaminated vaccines that would literally kill those injected with them?...
and then become the company of
choice to develop a new vaccine for a
new virus?
There’s a Simple answer which
requires no dots to connect: Get
approval to release a strain of virus
that has been created in a laboratory
to “prime” the population. Kill some
people. Have the ‘antidote’ on hand.
Ratchet up the fear factor. Vaccinate
people - or at least sell billions of dollars worth of your vaccine to panicking governments. Make money.
And it’s all perfectly legal.
No-one can trace back to the perpatrators. And since there’s no proof
that would hold up in court, or
witnesses who live to tell, everything you’ve just read seen or heard
can be dismissed as a conspiracy
theory.
Or else it’s the answer to why we have
this latest pig in a poke......
Michael Knight has been a journalist, writer & director since 1960.
He is currently also editor of Earth
Change Report and directed the
DVD Contact Has Begun.
POETIC JUSTICE: SUPERWEED THREATENS MONSANTO
by Clea Caulcutt
“Superweeds” are plaguing high-tech
Monsanto crops in southern US states,
driving farmers to use more herbicides,
return to conventional crops or even
abandon their farms.
The gospel of high-tech genetically
modified (GM) crops is not sounding
quite so sweet in the land of the converted. A new pest, the evil pigweed, is
hitting headlines and chomping its way
across Sun Belt states, threatening to
transform cotton and soybean plots into
weed battlefields.
In late 2004, “superweeds” that resisted
Monsanto’s iconic “Roundup” herbicide,
popped up in GM crops in the county
of Macon, Georgia. Monsanto, the US
multinational biotech corporation, is the
world’s leading producer of Roundup,
as well as genetically engineered seeds.
Company figures show that nine out of
10 US farmers produce Roundup Ready
seeds for their soybean crops.
Superweeds have since alarmingly appeared in other parts of Georgia, as well
as South Carolina, North Carolina,
Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and
Missouri, according to media reports.
Roundup contains the active ingredient glyphosate, which is the most used
herbicide in the USA.
How has this happened? Farmers overrelied on Monsanto’s revolutionary and
controversial combination of a single
“round up” herbicide and a high-tech
seed with a built-in resistance to glyphosate, scientists say.
Today, 100,000 acres in Georgia are severely infested with pigweed and 29
counties have now confirmed resistance
to glyphosate, according to weed specialist Stanley Culpepper from the University of Georgia.
“Farmers are taking this threat very seriously. It took us two years to make them
understand how serious it was. But once
they understood, they started taking a
very aggressive approach to the weed,”
Culpepper said.
“Just to illustrate how aggressive we are,
last year we hand-weeded 45% of our
severely infested fields,” said Culpepper,
adding that the fight involved “spending
a lot of money.”
In 2007, 10,000 acres of land were abandoned in Macon country, the epicentre of
the superweed explosion, North Carolina
State University’s Alan York told local
media.
tatives are encouraging farmers to mix
glyphosate and older herbicides such as
2,4-D, a herbicide which was banned in
Sweden, Denmark and Norway over its
links to cancer, reproductive harm and
mental impairment. 2,4-D is also wellknown for being a component of Agent
Orange, a toxic herbicide which was used
in chemical warfare in Vietnam in the
1960s.
Questioned on the environmental impact and toxicity of such mixtures,
Monsanto’s public affairs director, Janice
Person, said that “they didn’t recommend any mixtures that were not approved by the EPA,” she said, referring to
the US federal Environmental Protection
Agency.
Palmer Pigweed; Amaranthus palmeri
The perfect weed
Had Monsanto wanted to design a deadlier weed, they probably could not have
done better. Resistant pigweed is the
most feared superweed, alongside
horseweed, ragweed and waterhemp.
“Palmer pigweed is the one pest you
don’t want, it is so dominating,” says
Culpepper. Pigweed can produce 10,000
seeds at a time, is drought-resistant,
and has very diverse genetics. It can
grow to three metres high and easily
smother young cotton plants.
Today, farmers are struggling to find an
effective herbicide they can safely use
over cotton plants.
Controversial solutions
Monsanto’s technical development
manager, Rick Cole, said he believed
superweeds were manageable. “The
problem of weeds that have developed a
resistance to Roundup crops is real and
[Monsanto] doesn’t deny that, however
the problem is manageable,” he said.
Cole encourages farmers to alternate
crops and use different makes of herbicides. Indeed, according to Monsanto
press releases, company sales represenBiophile 28 • Page 53
According to the UK-based Soil Association, which campaigns for and certifies
organic food, Monsanto was well aware
of the risk of superweeds as early as
2001 and took out a patent on mixtures
of glyphosate and herbicide targeting
glyphosate-resistant weeds.
“The patent will enable the company to
profit from a problem that its products
had created in the first place,” says a
2002 Soil Association report.
Returning to conventional crops
In the face of the weed explosion in
cotton and soybean crops, some farmers are even considering moving back
to non-GM seeds. “It’s good for us to go
back, people have overdone the Roundup
seeds,” Alan Rowland, a soybean seed
producer based in Dudley, Missouri,
admitted. He used to sell 80% Monsanto
“Roundup Ready” soybeans and now
has gone back to traditional crops, in a
market overwhelmingly dominated by
Monsanto.
According to a number of agricultural
specialists, farmers are considering
moving back to conventional crops. But
it’s all down to economics, they say. GM
crops are becoming expensive, growers
say.
While farmers and specialists are reluctant to blame Monsanto, Rowland says
he’s started to “see people rebelling
against the higher costs.”
soil
for
life
For all who must eat to
live, there is hope.
Grow your own food.
by P at F eatherstone
Soil for Life is a Cape Town-based NGO
which teaches people to grow their
own food. For more information about
Soil for Life membership and organic
methods for growing vegetables, herbs
and fruit, please phone Pat on (021) 794
4982
‘T
he number of hungry people in
the world could soon hit a record
one billion, despite a recent drop
in food prices’, the UN Food Aid Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday, 6th May
2009 in Paris . Jacques Diouf (general
director of FAO) reported that ‘ the recent
financial crisis, though it has helped bring
global food prices down, has also led to
falling trade and lower development aid’
and that ‘surveys show that prices of basic
staple foods in many poor countries have
barely registered any drop.’
He added that ‘as a result of the crisis, an
additional 104 million people were likely
to go hungry this year - meaning they
will receive fewer than 1 800 calories a
day. We have never seen so many hungry
people in the world.’ Diouf and other
experts at the conference called for more
development aid to be spent on agriculture, saying it was crucial to preventing
acute food shortages.
There is another side to the food crisis
and that is that our daily nutritional
requirements (quite apart from calories)
are not being met by the food we eat.
First, there are vast quantities of cereal
crops grown to increase food supplies to
feed the burgeoning global population .
The result of this is that there is little crop
diversity in what is being eaten. Cereals,
such as rice, wheat and maize,contain
carbohydrates for energy and small
amounts of body-building protein ,
but few other nutrients, including the
micronutrients, which are essential for
healthy, productive lives.
Secondly, soils around the globe are
under severe pressure from conventional
farming practices. Massive losses of fertile
topsoil through erosion by wind and
water, which mean that levels of essential
nutrients in the soil are declining on an
on-going basis.
copies of Biophile for details of how to go
about it. Come to a Soil for Life Grow to
Live workshop and learn how to grow lots
of food in small spaces, using very little
water and everybody else’s rubbish. Build
your soil fertility and benefit in so many
ways, not the least of which are improved
health and well -being, lots of savings and
a few extra (unspent) coins in your purse.
You’ll also meet lots of mighty fine people
in the process.
You’ll definitely be needing some ideas
of what to plant and eat for maximum
health – especially with winter colds and
flu around the corner.
Hand-in-glove with this is the decline in
human health. In his opening address to
the Fertiliser Society of South Africa in
2005, Dr Gert van der Linde stated that
‘micronutrient malnutrition (for example,
iron, zinc, selenium, iodine, vitamin A,
etc.) is a massive global problem afflicting
over three billion people world-wide, in
other words nearly half of the world’s
population!’ He also quoted a World
Health Organisation report (2000) in
which diet-related diseases were found to
be the major cause of deaths world-wide.
Alexis Carrel – Nobel Prize winner and
author of the classic: Man, the Unknown,
warned in 1912 of the consequences to
our health of growing our food on tired
and depleted soils; overworked by poor
agricultural practices and the extensive
use of artificial fertilisers and poisonous
chemicals to boost crop production.
Directly, or indirectly, all food comes
from the soil. All of life will be healthy, or
unhealthy, according to the fertility of the
soil, he said. In other words, healthy soil,
healthy plants, healthy people.
It makes you think, doesn’t it? We’re all
being affected in one way or another;
tragically, some so much more than
others. How can we, as individuals,
impact on this problem? Not easy?
Perhaps not, but as my mother always
used to say: ‘Charity starts at home.’
Start growing your own good, clean food
outside your back door, or in whatever
space you have. Check out the back
Try planting CHINESE CABBAGE
It’s a much better choice than ordinary
cabbage for your ‘garden of health and
vitality’. It contains six times more iron,
nearly ten times more Vitamin A, three
times moreVitamin B1, twice as much
Vitamin B2,and much more Vitamin C. It
matures in eight weeks and it is a cut’ncome-again crop. You can harvest a few
leaves from each plant as the inside
continues to grow.
This is an excellent vegetable to grow in
the cool autumn and winter months. The
leaves are delicious raw in salads or you
can add them to soups and stews. Try stirfrying them in a little oil for three minutes
and eat them with rice like the Chinese
do. It thrives in trenched beds because
they are well dug and have a lot of organic
matter in them. Otherwise dig in some
well-rotted manure or compost and a
little agricultural lime or finely ground egg
shells.
Always remember that leafy vegetables
are ‘greedy feeders’ and should preferably
be grown where a legume (peas or beans)
were growing previously. Legumes add
nitrogen to the soil and this is needed for
good green leaf growth. Plant the tiny
seeds in shallow drills from February to
July and thin the plants out when they
are four weeks old and have four true
leaves. The remaining plants need to be
about 25cm apart. The thinnings may be
transplanted into other beds, or added to
soups, stews or salads.
Mulch the plants to conserve moisture
and warmth, and to keep down weeds.
To make sure that they grow vigorously
give them an extra helping of compost
or well-rotted manure. Regular watering
is essential for successful growth; make
sure that you don’t let the plants dry out
too much, or keep them too wet – and
try to water the soil and not the leaves.
Harvesting starts about eight weeks after
sowing the seed; a few individual leaves
may be picked from each plant as they
grow – cut’n-come-again – or the plants
can be left to form heads. Don’t plant all
your seed at once because plants sown
at the same time tend to mature at the
same rate. Do two or three plantings –
three weeks apart – to ensure that you
have a continual supply of fresh leaves
through Winter and into Spring.
When your plants start to bolt (send up
flower heads) as the weather warms up,
select the strongest plants and allow
them to go to seed. By saving some seed
from this year’s crop you will not have to
spend any of your hard earned money
on a packet of seed next year. The seed
is good for at least three years. The good
news - Chinese cabbage heads may be
stored normally for up to 40 days; for
several months in straw and sand. So, if
you’re careful, you will have a long season
of eating ….
As a matter of interest – according to
research done in Japan – Chinese cabbage
grown the natural way (without artificial
fertilisers and poisonous sprays) has
a higher Vitamin C content, a higher
nutritional value and stores for longer.
And if you’re looking for nutritious
additions to the winter soup and
stew pots....
Turnip leaves have six times more
Vitamin C than the roots; they also
contain nearly 24 times more vitamin A
than cabbage, and are rich in calcium,
iron, thiamine and other B vitamins. Don’t
dare throw them away in
future!
Chickweed (Stellaria media) makes an
excellent green manure, birds love it and
it’s a superb vitamin-boosting salad crop
when the plants are young. It is rich in
copper (one of the micronutrients that
we need in minute amounts) which is
important for , amongst other things, red
blood cell formation, immunity, fertility
and is a key component for nerves and
collagen.
And look around your garden for some
weeds. They’ll cost you nothing and,
because many of them have root systems
which grow deep into the soil searching
for minerals, add a variety of nutrients to
your diet.
Stinging Nettle
Goosefoot
Stinging nettles (Urtica sp.) enjoy damp
areas in your garden and in the Western
Cape will start proliferating with the start
of the winter rains. Young leaves can be
cooked and eaten as a spinach substitute.
Use them as often as you can because
they are rich in vitamins and minerals. A
medicine box in a meal.
Chickweed
Birds love it!
Goosefoot (Chenopodium album),
also known as fat hen. This plant thrives
almost anywhere and once you have
tasted it, you will actively seek it out.
Delicious in salads, stirfries or lightly
steamed and eaten with butter, salt,
pepper and lemon juice it is a very
valuable, health-giving addition to your
diet. It is rich in vitamins A,D,E, B6 and K
as well as a host of minerals, particularly
iron and potassium. Like the stinging
nettle it is a medicine box in a meal.
Exploring the world of ‘weeds’ has
opened a profusion of new culinary
experiences for me. I look forward to
sharing them with you in the next edition
of Biophile. In the mean time, start
searching for ‘weeds’ you can eat – those
that are coming up between your veggies.
It adds a whole new experience to your
gardening activities.
Soil for Life runs monthly
workshops in Cape Town on all
aspects of organic gardening.
Check the website for details:
www.soilforlife.co.za
Green & Local...
Healthier Shopping Alternatives
ORGANIC / HEALTH FOOD STORES
AND VEGETARIAN / VEGAN DELIS
WESTERN CAPE
Imhoff Farmstall
Imhoff Farm, Kommetjie
021 797 1098
Organics Alive
Palmer Road, Muizenberg
021 788 6012
Organic Zone
Main Road, Lakeside
021 788 3133
www.oganiczone.co.za
Ethical Co-op
Unit 1D, River Park, De Waal Rd,
Diep River
021 706 7734
www.ethical.org.za
Organic Living
Constantia Village Shopping Centre
021 794 1888
Krishna’s Cuisine
37 Riverside Mall
Rondebosch
021 794 3214
Portobello Cafe
111 Long Street
Cape Town
021 426 1418
Sophea Gallery and Tibetan Teahouse
2 Harrington Road
Simonstown
021 786 1544
GAUTENG
Natural Life
Level 3, Shop 309, Brooklyn Mall,
new Muckleneuk, pretoria
012 460 9159
www.brooklynmall.co.za
Fruite and Roots Natural Food Company
Hobart Corner Shoppping Centre
Bryanston
011 463 2928
Greenlands
16 Dundalk Avenue, Corner Roscommon
Road, Parkview
Greenlands
[email protected]
011 486 3361
Kapila’s (Takeaway)
Shop 32, 2nd Avenue
Mellville
011 482 7527
Shayona
74 Church Street
Mayfair
011 837 2407
MARKETS
WESTERN CAPE
Karkloof Market
Saturdays 7am - 11:30am
Off karkloof Road, 2.6km from Howick
Pietermaritzburg Farmers Market
Saturdays 6am - 9:30am
Alexander Park
Pietermaritzburg
033 345 4656
Rondebosch Organic Market
Saturdays 8:30 - noon
St Andrews Rd, Rondebosch
021 696 5749
DELIVERY / COLLECTION / BOX
SCHEMES
Constantia Waldorf Organic and Biodynamic
Market
Spaanschemat River Road, Constantia
Fridays 11am - 3pm
082 569 9894
Foxglove Herbs and Delicacies (Kyalami)
011 466 9977
www.foxglove.co.za
Timour Hall Organic and Biodynamic Farmers
Market
Timour Hall Rd, Plumstead
Saturdays 10am - 12:30 pm
082 569 9894
Stellenbosch Fresh Goods Market
Bosman’s Crossing: Saturdays 9am - 2pm
Willowbridge Lifestyle Centre,
Tygervalley: Satudays 9am - 3pm
www.slowfood.co.za
GAUTENG
Go Green Markets
Norwood Mall Rood
Corner 6th Avenue and Hamlin Road
Norwood
Every Sunday 9am - 3pm
0826008077 or 0828211779
www.go-green markets.com
Bryanston Organic Market
Thursday and Saturday 9am - 3pm
011 706 3671
www.branstonorganicmarket.co.za
Green Market
Pretoria National Botanical Garden
Monthly
Tel: 083 562
Irene Village Market
Second and last Saturday each month 9am
- noon
Smuts House Museum
Jan Smuts Ave, Irene
012 667 1659
www.irenemarket.co.za
Parkview Organic Market
Saturdays 9am - 3pm
62 Tyrone Avenue, Parkview
076 022 7937
KWAZULU - NATAL
GAUTENG
Organic Emporium
011 462 2641
www.organicemporium.co.za
Greenlands Wholefoods
011 486 3361
www.greenlandswholefoods.co.za
WESTERN CAPE
Organic Zone
021 790 4335
www.organiczone.co.za
The Organic Box
083 645 2469
www.urbansprout.co.za
Ganics
021 510 7709
www.ganics.co.za
Harvest of Hope
021 371 1653
www.ethical.org.za
Wild Organics
021 448 8109
www.wildorganics.co.za
Organic By Nature
Unit 2/2, Hemel-en-Aarde Shopping Village,
Hermanus
028 316 4081
Creeds
021 702 0036
www.creeds.co.za
KWAZULU-NATAL
Earthmother Organic
031 202 1527
www.earthmother.co.za
To be listed in “Green & Local,”
e-mail: [email protected]
Will Someone Please Switch The
Lights On Around Here?
You’re living in heaven on Earth.
Jena’s
Hand in it All
by
jena
When you turn the lights off you
keep bumping into things, which
can be rather painful. You feel alone,
disconnected, everything’s a struggle and a fight. This is hell on Earth.
G riffiths
www . handanalysisonline . com
Basically what we are doing here is
learning how to manage this light
switch. The good news is, this master switch is encoded in your fingerprints. You can figure this out using
Richard Unger’s book Lifeprints, but
actually this is only half the story.
I’ve been playing with my own on/off
light switch quite a bit recently and
looking around for someone to blame
for the fractured, disco light effect it’s
been creating.
I was thinking I should blame Di
Coles, a freelance art director in
Johannesburg whom I used to work
with in a previous life time.
To really undertand how the light
side and dark side of your own life
works you also have to look at all
the opposite values of your fingerprints. Your positive shadow and
your negative shadow.
Why Di?
Out of the blue Di sent me a new logo
that explained everything. Exactly
what I was trying to say about fingerprints.
And how there’s an on off button
in your life that can spin you up or
down in a flash. The logo looks like
a drain but also a kind of “beam me
up scotty” spot. I got so excited that
I went on a kind of demented rage
with stuff being written through me
day and night. I was having such fun
I couldn’t care less about anything
else. Suddenly I was in the flow. And
then I didnt take enough care about
myself (sleep and food and personal
care) and I spun right off the page
and started spinning the other way.
Which was basically what I was trying
to explain but not actually do myself.
Luckily someone drew me a picture.
To explain what was going on. Here
it is. This picture is from Ascension,
An Anaylsis of the Art of Ascension
as Taught by the Ishayas, Maharishi
Sadashiva Isham, page 90.
The best way for me to explain how
this works is to just be me and do
what I love doing most which is writing funny stories about my own life
experiences. So watch this space.
It’s a feel good place. Lighten up
and let your light shine.
Basically, this is how you turn the
lights on or off in your life. You
lighten up and shine from within. By
just being you. Or you don’t. Simple
as that.
So, essentially there are only 2 places
on this planet and they’re exactly the
same place. You can flip from one to
the other in the blink of an eye. And
this is what we are learning to do all
the time. When you turn the lights
on and just be who you are, there are
no shadows in your life. Life is fun,
you feel connected, you have lots
of friends to love and who love you,
you’re at peace and in the flow.
About Jenna Griffiths:
Jena grew up in SA but
now lives in Switzerland. She’s a certified
IIHA hand analyst. Jena
was SA triathlon champ
and SA cycling champ in
the late 80’s and founded the Women’s Cycling
Assoc before jumping on
a sailing boat and getting thoroughly lost in
all sorts of exotic places,
including landlocked
Switzerland. Basically
she’s an expert at being lost and why this is a
good thing. Jena will be in SA from 15 May to
4 June 2009. She’s be consulting in Jhb and
running workshops. For SA bookings contact
[email protected] and put
your name on the list at http://handanalysisonline.com/SA2009.php to be kept up to
date.
meaningful media
holistically through the
lens of the classical elements of Earth, Water,
Fire and Air. Through
informative case studies
based on years of consulting with clients as a
Cheirologist, the author
highlights aspects of this
fascinating modality and
shows that all life’s challenges can be minimised
by viewing them from the
perspective of Soul and the
element of Ether.
Life in your Hands An Elemental Life Path Guide
Chris Page
Kima Global Publishers
R140.00
ISBN 978-0-9814117-1-2
The reader can, with the help of this book, work out
through the language of their hands in combination with
these elements, how to simply deal with the multiple
challenges we are faced with these days in a really powerful way.
This elemental life path guide assists the reader with
solving a variety of life challenges by viewing them
The Reawakening of Consciousness - A New Perspective on the Christ Consciousness
Luis Miguel Falcao
Published by Kima Global Publishers
R160.00
ISBN 978-0-9814117-3-6
In this book the reader will learn about the truth
behind the lies told them by religion about God.
They will be exposed to how our minds work, the
origins of the human species and the true origins
of church religion and understand why the church
has failed to provide us with any true conclusive
evidence about God.
Adopting a new perspective about the true meaning behind the second coming of the Christ Consciousness, as covered in this wonderful book, will
help any person who questions spiritual concepts.
Humorously written, this
book will both entertain
and awaken any reader to
his or her own true self.
They will learn about
where the truth lies and
how to discover it without
travelling far. Most of all
they will learn about the
truth of Yeshu, the impeccable man known as Jesus
who became a Christed
Soul.
The Magus Of Strovolos - The Extraordinary
World of a Spiritual Healer
Kyriacos C Markides
Penguin Books
R150.00
ISBN-13: 978-0-14-019034-2
In this vivid
account, Kryiacos
C Markides
introduces to
us the rich and
intricate world
of Daskalso,
The Magus of
Strovolos. In
what appears
at first to be
an exercise in
fantasy, we see
Daskalos draw
on seemingly
unlimited
mixture of
esoteric
teachings,
psychology,
reincarnation,
demonology,
cosmology and
mysticism, from both eastern and western traditions. But
Daskalos is first and foremost a healer, whose work is
firmly rooted in a belied in ‘Holyspirit’ or absolute love,
and whose aim is the expansion of reason and spiritual
evolution.
ANT’S CORNER
Observations & Perspectives from Ant Borain
IMAGINE REALITY...
Mad cow disease, avian or bird flu, swine or pig flu. Could
this be a clear message from nature to stop eating these
products?
Insurance is another hugely advertised industry for the
fearful. Apparently you can even get insurance against your
insurance now.
Are we too ignorant to heed the signs? Ignorance is not a
good or bad thing, it just means we do not know, we have
not been told or taught. It is obvious that we cannot know
what we do not know. Staying ignorant and not questioning
our thoughts would be a sad reality. Listening to and believing everything ‘they’ tell us is choosing to stay ignorant or
misinformed.
The irony here is that we lose any semblance of happiness
with our greed and constant defence of an imaginary future
and imaginary ownership.
Just ask yourself the question, why are ‘they’ advertising?
The short answer is, to let us know what they have to sell
us. Everyone knows this. The next question could be, why
are “they” spending soooooooooo much money convincing
us what “they” have is so important and absolutely necessary for us to have to be happy? This answer is easy, to
make more and more money; greed comes to mind here.
Another question could be, who is paying for all this extremely expensive advertising? This answer is easy too, you
are. The mad fish and sheep flu diseases are just around
the corner. All these diseases or dis – eases are exactly
that, not being at ease with ourselves. We can flavour the
flesh, hide it with all the gravy in the world, justify it with
religious sayings, but the truth is, we know what we are
consuming. We all know the truth.
Besides the fact that all these animals have a life force or
soul before they are ‘slaughtered’ for our consumption and
the fact that they are filled with drugs to make them grow
faster so we can eat them faster and that they are interbred and abused so we can all make more money faster as
we ram them down our throats faster.
Besides all of this, the adrenaline or fear hormone they
produce that flows into every particle of their flesh at the
abattoirs before they are killed, this stays in their flesh for
us to consume. You cannot cook adrenaline out of the flesh
you eat. No matter how many herbs and spices are added
to the refined flour batter. It makes sense then that you
are eating fear and the saying that ‘you are what you eat’
makes even more sense regarding the behaviour of the human race.
Only fear makes us defend ourselves continually, and defence is attack. It is not possible to defend yourself without
attacking someone else. A fearless man defends nothing.
He knows that there is more than enough for everyone.
We have been taught or brainwashed to try and defend our
health, our wealth and even our happiness.
Imaginary means ‘play play’, or, the not real pictures we
hold in our heads about the ‘play play’ future or past.
These are only images we play over and over in our heads,
they are not real. We respond to these thoughts as though
they were real though. Maybe all the fear hormones
(adrenaline) we consume get us hyped up and help us imagine even more fearful nonsense. It is not surprising that we
have so many alchoholics and drug addicts (legal and illegal
drugs) in our society. Anything to dull the pain and suffering
we create for ourselves with these imaginary pictures and
thoughts we entertain in our heads.
When I explain acceptance of what is, accepting reality,
not judging or arguing with reality, the most common answer/argument I get is, “But it is hard not to care”.
But, not caring has nothing to do with being present, being
in the real world. Quite the opposite actually. Not being
present (mentally, spiritually and physically) for our kids
or spouse or anyone else is really what not caring is. When
our mind is elsewhere, when we are not 100% present in
any situation, we are robbing others of our 100% ability in
the moment. This constitutes not caring. When we think
we must care, there is a problem because we do not care
naturally and think we will get something in return if we
do. A loving and caring person does not even know that
they are loving and caring.
The real world only happens now, but even that has past,
so, the real world or present moment is always changing
and is always perfect. Only true love, the only stuff we are
born with, truth and love, are real. This true love (unconditional love) might even seem uncaring to the uninformed or
ignorant.Truth and love are acceptance of what is. Acceptance of reality. Not judging anyone or anything.
Deep down, we all do know that arguing with reality is
futile and we lose, but only 100% of the time. And no, this
does not mean that you must allow people to use you as a
doormat, it means quite the opposite, be present, realise
what they are trying to do and run away as fast as possible.
And, be happy and have fun while you are running.
Biomail
OUR AMORPHOUS WORLD
by Dudley Harford
The economy was once described by our Minister of Finance, Trevor Manual, as an “AMORPHOUS THING”.
Hindsight enables us to reflect on what that thing was, in
order that we may better navigate the future. Essentially,
macro economic cycles last about 7 years. Unless we abandon the concept of linear time, the growth experienced between 2000 and 2007 had to come to an end. However this
cycle was unusual in that it was characterized by a “MONETRIST” administration in the USA which believed that:
1.The Capitalist system was self regulating and received
minimal supervision or intervention.
2.Leverage or the creation of credit/debt was good for
growth and employment in that it created a virtuous
cycle of abundance.
3.Globalization would raise world living standards by
enabling nations to source products at the best available
price.
Whilst the above rationale was well meaning it had dire and
unexpected consequences. It failed to take into account
the nature of man to default into greed and perverse incentive. Furthermore it was not backed by a VALUE system.
In 1966, the then governor of the Reserve Bank in America
said: ‘because the $ is not backed by value (gold) it lends
itself to exploitation, devaluation and corruption’.
salaries and bonuses, to incentivise them.
2.Next they would ask shareholders to accept a resolution
for directors to buy back shares in the company (using
money which should have been distributed as dividends
to shareholders). This enabled them to enhance the
value of the shares which were awarded without any
effort whatsoever (by the directors or staff). A 10% buy
back of shares means earning per share could go up 10%,
which means the share price would go up 10% without
creating any new value. Directors and staff could then
sell the shares awarded and make a quick profit.
Consequently consumers in the western world, spurred
on by the easy access to credit, went on a buying spree.
Emerging nations, mainly in the east, were prepared to
supply goods at low cost. In their eagerness to avoid unemployment of their masses, they were even prepared to
finance the deficits caused through the imbalance of trade. Developed nations i.e. USA, UK, relied on their reputations
for the rule of law and sound banking to lull the emerging
nations into a sense of false security that leverage created
a continuous virtuous cycle.
Bankers, CEO’s and Directors all jumped on the bandwagon
of perverse incentive and passed resolutions to enrich
themselves above all else. Shareholders were oblivious to
what was happening. Consequently all of us have become
impoverished in that we are all shareholders through our
unit trusts, pension funds and other forms of saving.
To illustrate this point, a favorite ploy of deceit adopted by
Directors was to ask shareholders, who are essentially out
of touch with what’s in their best interests, to:
1.Pass resolutions to award directors and staff shares in
the company at knock down prices, over and above their
3.Next came the Merger and Acquisition tactic. Instead of
pursuing a value based strategy of organic growth, directors looked externally for quick methods of achieving
growth through acquisition (which usually was at the expense of jobs). Whilst 20% of them may have been valid,
80% have proved to be ill conceived. A well respected
conglomerate listed on the stock exchange sold their
most profitable subsidiary because the directors, in their
wisdom viewed the company as NON-CORE. They then
proceeded to buy what they viewed as a core asset at a
price / earnings ratio of 40. In other words it would take
40 years just to retrieve the capital invested. For this
stroke of wisdom the directors received
a signing fee.
4. Next
came the PRIVATE EQUITY
raiders. Essentially there
are entrepreneurs who
raised venture
capital to buy
out distressed
companies
with a view to
turning them
around and
re-selling at a
profit. Unfortunately, in
many cases,
original well meaning defaulted in a value diminishing
orgy of leverage buy-outs. In other words, healthy companies were bought out using mainly loan capital which
turned the originally healthy company into a DEBT TRAP.
Banks colluded spurred on by a perverse incentive.
The consequences of
this “Irrational
Exuberance”
are a legacy of
debt and devaluation. In
other words,
it’s pay back
time. The
present, as
well as future
generations,
will be improverished as
governments
print money
to purge the
world of toxic
debt (leverage).
Unemployment will inevitably rise as trade between nations grinds to a halt. This
will be necessary if the imbalance between surplus nations
and deficit nations is to be alleviated.
The one unexpected bonus which will arise from this rebalancing is that governments, especially in surplus nations,
will realize that the only way to reach equilibrium will be
to narrow the gap between the have’s and the have not’s
within their own nations.
And so: where to from here?
The recovery will be painful, but ultimately in our best
interests, because:
1.Nations, particularly the western nations, will have to
return to a VALUE based economy (which is what these
countries originally achieved their strength from). School
leavers will have to take pride in developing productive
value based careers based on real skills rather than financial sleight of hand. The culture of saving will have to be
re-learned.
2.The concept of unbridled growth and consumption
will have to give way to one of sustainability and selfsufficiency. This will provide an exceptional opportunity
for the creation of new jobs (employment) and reducing
pollution. Governments in conjunction with industry can
concentrate on new technologies such as;
• More efficient lithium batteries for electric cars.
• More efficient solar and wind generation.
• Nanotechnology.
• Other technologies which will help to alleviate the looming food and water shortages.
3.The companies act should be amended to include a
provision to cap the excessive amounts earned by chief
executives by way of bonuses, share options, severance
packages etc which are out of all proportion with the effort put in or their value to the company / shareholders.
4.Share activism should be encouraged to develop a methodology whereby the actions of chief executives can be
STRESS TESTED to establish the impact of special resolutions on earning per share and net asset value, over a
minimum of 5 years. Directors should be held accountable for lack of outcome based due diligence.
5.All nations should adopt the European Union approach
where trade deficits are limited to 3% of Gross Domestic
Products.
6.Currency pegging should be outlawed, as it invites imbalance and distortion.
7.As individuals we need to undergo a fundamental change
in our thinking to enable us to distinguish the difference
between real value and economic activity. Our sense of
well being is so linked to economic activity that we have
been distracted from better utilizing our most important
asset, that is TIME. We have much to gain from being
kinder to the NOW because that is all we really have.
IT’S TIME FOR ACTION!
by Patricia Cota-Robles
What Humanity is
experiencing now has
been referred to time
and again in various
ancient scriptures as the
“time of screaming and
the gnashing of teeth.”
Despite that ominous description, ALL of us
volunteered to be here during this purging
process.
The question is, why would we subject
ourselves to such pain and suffering? Why
would we agree to be in physical embodiment during the most challenging time in
the evolution of this planet? Well, the answer is clear. We volunteered to be on Earth
at this time because prior to this embodiment we were shown the bigger picture.
In that revelation, we saw the end result of
our endeavors in this lifetime. We saw what
life will be like on this planet after the obsolete behavior patterns of Humanity’s fallen
consciousness are purged and all of our
human miscreations are transmuted back
into Light. With that sacred knowledge, we
knew through every fiber of our Beings that
no matter what we had to endure in this
process, it was going to be worth it.
We were shown the New Earth in all of her
splendor. We witnessed Humanity living with
the full knowledge of the Oneness of all Life.
On this New Earth, every soul recognizes
and reveres the Divinity within every other
soul and in every particle of Life. People
work together to find viable solutions that
reflect the highest good for all concerned
in every situation. Win-win experiences are
achieved in every line of endeavor. The New
Earth transcends all of the maladies now
existing on this planet. Exquisite joy, love,
abundance, health, happiness, peace, wisdom, enlightenment, and every other aspect
of our Father-Mother God are the order of
the day on the New Earth.
This is not, however, the only reason we
made the sacrifice to embody on Earth during this unprecedented moment. Through
our I AM Presence, we were well aware of
the Universal Laws governing the evolution
of the Sons and Daughters of God. We knew
that in order for something to manifest in
the physical plane, it must be invoked or
asked for through the free will choice of
someone existing in the physical plane.
With this inner knowing, we clearly understood that in order for us to transform
the Earth and all her Life into the infinite
perfection of the New Earth, we must be
abiding in the physical plane. This is what
is meant by the words, “God needs a body.”
No matter how much our Father-Mother God
and the Company of Heaven want to help
us lift out of the horrific situations we have
created, they will not interfere with our free
will. But once we lift our heads above the
mud puddle of our human miscreations and
ask for Divine Intervention, the floodgates
of Heaven open in response to our heartfelt
pleas.
In order for the Sons and Daughters of God
to transmute the human miscreations we
have deliberately or inadvertently created
during our Earthly sojourns, we must invoke
the Light of God and project that Light
through the Divinity in our hearts into whatever it is we are striving to transmute.
Our Father-Mother God revealed to us the
miracles we would be able to accomplish by
embodying on Earth and joining forces with
other Lightworkers. We were shown that
the unified efforts of embodied Lightworkers
and the Company of Heaven have the ability
to move Heaven and Earth. Together we
can greatly accelerate the transmutation of
the surfacing negativity. With this clarity, we
understood without reservation that we are
capable of assisting Humanity and all Life
on this planet through the tumultuous end
times in a matter of months, not years.
With this knowing, each of us willingly responded to the heart call of our I AM Presence and selflessly volunteered to embody
on Earth. The Divine Intent of our mission is
to assist in quickly transmuting Humanity’s
miscreations and to invoke the Light of God
in order to expand the patterns of perfection
for the New Earth in the physical plane.
We are One with all Life. This means that
every particle of Life on Earth is interdependent, interrelated, and interconnected. What
affects one part of Life affects all Life. “As I
AM lifted up, ALL Life is lifted up with me.”
The fact that we are One allows each of us
to serve as a surrogate on behalf of every
man, woman, and child on this planet. We
truly are our brother and sister’s keepers.
Whenever there is such a monumental
demonstration of selfless Divine Love by
the Sons and Daughters of God, our God
Parents balance our efforts with additional
grants of Light. In this case, a Cosmic Dispensation was granted to the Company of
Heaven giving permission for the Beings of
Light in the Realms of
Illumined Truth to come
through the veil to meet
us halfway. As a result of
this gift of Divine Grace,
we are now receiving
more assistance from
On High than has ever been granted to the
Children of God in the whole of Creation.
We are in the midst of the most intensified
cleansing Humanity has ever experienced.
This event is catapulting us forward in the
Light, and people everywhere are beginning
to awaken. Their I AM Presence is taking
dominion of their thoughts, words, actions,
and feelings. People, en masse, are starting
to remember who they are and why they
are here.
When our awakening occurs, we remember
our purpose and reason for being. Then our
I AM Presence magnetizes to us information
and whatever else we need to help us fulfill
our part of the unfolding Divine Plan. We
listen to the inner promptings of our heart,
and we realize that this is our moment. We
understand that this moment is the culmination of everything we have been preparing
for, everything we agreed to accomplish
for ourselves and Humanity prior to this
embodiment, everything we agreed to do to
assist this blessed planet and ALL her Life
into the patterns of perfection for the New
Earth.
My experience has been that even with this
inner knowing, awakening people often hear
the word Lightworker and feel that term is
referring to someone else. They believe that
a Lightworker must be someone special,
someone who is far more adept then they
are at invoking the Light of God on behalf of
Humanity. Many times this misunderstanding prevents people from taking the action
they are capable of taking and from trusting
themselves enough to do what their heart is
encouraging them to do.
During this auspicious moment on Earth,
every person on the planet is capable of
being a Lightworker. KNOW that it is not by
chance that your I AM Presence has magnetized this information into your sphere
of awareness. You are reading these words
because YOU are a Lightworker! Please take
this information into your heart-of-hearts,
and ask your I AM Presence what your
part is in this vitally important facet of the
unfolding Divine Plan.
THE NEED OF THE HOUR
The Company of Heaven has assured us
that the meltdown that is occurring in
the global economy is a necessary part of
Humanity’s cleansing process. For aeons of
time, our monetary system has been used
to manipulate, control, dominate, and abuse
the peoples of the world. Now that the
archetypes for God’s Infinite Abundance and
Eternal Peace have been anchored in the
physical plane, everything that conflicts with
those patterns of perfection is being pushed
to the surface to be healed and transmuted
into Light.
There are people in positions of power
around the planet who are scrambling to
try to hold on to the old monetary system,
which is crumbling before our very eyes.
This obsolete paradigm was based in greed,
selfishness, corruption, and the abuse of
power. These behavior patterns cannot
and will not be sustained within the 5thDimensional frequencies of the New Earth.
Too many people have awakened, and as a
result of this monumental shift of consciousness, the Light of God has reclaimed this
Earth.
Company of Heaven is invoking Lightworkers around the world to come together both
physically and in consciousness to fulfill this
plan. If you are reading these words, your
I AM Presence is revealing that you have a
part to play in this unfolding Divine Plan.
Listen to your heart. Your I AM Presence will
guide you unerringly. Your part of the plan
will be revealed to you. You will know in
your heart-of-hearts how you can best add
to the Light of the world during these end
times. When you respond to your heart’s
call, you will be God in Action, and you will
fulfill your part of the plan by quickly transmuting the surfacing negativity.
THE DIVINE PLAN
In order to accomplish this facet of the
Divine Plan, our Father-Mother God and the
Beloved Ones, accomplishing this mighty
feat is the greatest need of the hour.
Once this facet of the Divine Plan is complete, the patterns of perfection for the New
Earth will easily expand through the hearts
and minds of all Humanity. This will enable
our Divine Birthright to be restored. That
Birthright is the perpetual flow of God’s
Infinite Abundance and Eternal Peace.
A Divine Plan has been set in motion to accomplish this vitally important mission. The
The Company of Heaven is asking Lightworkers from all over the world to gather
within this Portal of Light to unite our Heart
Flames. Together we will form a mighty
transformer through which the Light of God
will flow to accomplish the most powerful healing and transmuting of Humanity’s
miscreation ever to manifest in the history
of time.
It is critical that Lightworkers from around
the world be physically present in order to
form this transformer. All of the Lightworkers who have been prepared to serve in this
wondrous way on behalf of Humanity and
all Life on this sweet Earth will know who
they are through the inner promptings of
their heart. Listen to your heart, and Trust
your inner guidance. Your Light is urgently
needed.
In addition to those inspired to be physically
present, there will be Lightworkers who will
join in consciousness from points of Light
around the world. These Lightworkers will
project the Light flowing through their Heart
Flames into the Portal of Light where the
Lightworkers are physically gathered; thus
our unified efforts will expand a thousand
times a thousandfold.
Fortunately, there are also people in positions of power who are very aware of what
is taking place. These enlightened souls are
cocreating a new monetary system. This
system will be based in integrity, generosity, fairness, compassion, and the highest
good for all concerned. It will rise out of the
ashes of our obsolete monetary system like
a mighty Phoenix.
In order for the pain and suffering involved
with the collapse of the old monetary system to be cleared and transmuted as quickly
as possible, Lightworkers are being called
into action. Our unified efforts will allow this
purging process to be accomplished much
sooner than seems possible from outer appearances. Many experts believe the painful
effects of the present purging of our global
economy will take years to overcome. But
the Company of Heaven has assured us that
the unified efforts of the Lightworkers can
complete this process “in the twinkling of
an eye.”
of Infinite Transmutation is a resplendent
emerald green flame with a violet radiance.
It is the most powerful frequency of healing
and transmutation on Earth, and it is the
instrument through which Humanity’s surfacing miscreations will be transmuted into
Light at a greatly accelerated pace.
Beings of Light in the Realms of Illumined
Truth are sending forth a Clarion Call to
all embodied Lightworkers. We are being
asked to gather within the portal of the
most powerful 5th-Dimensional frequencies of healing and transmutation on Earth.
This Portal of Light in Tucson, Arizona, is
the location on the planet where the Flame
of Healing Through the Power of Infinite
Transmutation is projected from the core of
Creation into the center of the Earth. From
the heart of Mother Earth, this Sacred Fire
expands through the Crystal Grid System to
bless all Life.
The Flame of Healing Through the Power
Every Lightworker will be in his or her right
and perfect place. No facet of this Divine
Plan is any more important than another.
What is important, is that we respond to
whatever our I AM Presence is guiding us to
do. We must Trust and KNOW that if we are
being guided to be physically present within
the Portal of Healing Through the Power of
Infinite Transmutation, then our I AM Presence and the Company of Heaven will assist
us in paving the way. This is true whether
we need assistance with time, energy or
money to accomplish this facet of our Divine
Mission.
The vehicle that will be used for this gathering of Lightworkers is the 23rd Annual World
Congress on Illumination. This event will
take place August 15-20, 2009, during the
22nd anniversary of Harmonic Convergence.
We will gather at the beautiful Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona. This
exquisite resort exists within the heart of
the Portal of Healing Through the Power of
Infinite Transmutation. All of the information
you will need to participate in this unprecedented opportunity is posted on this link:
http://eraofpeace.org/world-congress.php
Lou Bognon is a spiritual healer, author,
teacher, producer and presenter of The
Inner Voice, an inspirational program
on Channel Africa which is broadcast
internationally in English and French.
www.loubognon.com or
[email protected]
from a
Spiritual
Perspective
by L ou B ognon
www . loubognon . com
This month I was guided and inspired by
Spirit to share widely the understanding
and teachings of Great Spiritual Beings
on what Gold really is and how we can
all start appreciating it even more.
Being so close to the ever changing “golden mountains” of Eastern
Johannesburg, where I live, gives me
many an opportunity to often send love
and healing to these very big heaps of
golden yellow dust and earth that are
being brought up everyday to the surface to keep up with the international
market’s seemingly insatiable demand
for gold.
From my house’s back garden, I have a
really wide and beautiful overview of
the gentle changing forms I love to call
my golden mountains and my visitors
and friends from overseas find it amazing to learn that those are not actual
mountains but simply heaps of soil coloured by gold dust. And just to make it
more interesting I like to remind them
that it takes on average a full metric
ton of soil to give back just 7 precious
grams of gold…no wonder these mountains keep growing and the descent into
the entrails of the earth in search for
gold, is now well close to an astounding
depth of four kilometres!
For gold, men have killed and pillaged entire continents and exterminated some ancient and very advanced
cultures – just think of the Spanish
conquistadores and the ravages they
brought to the ancient Inca and
other civilizations of South and Central
America. Nearer to home, the ancient
Kingdom of Monomotapa, in ancient
Zimbabwe, was ruined, pillaged and
abandoned too, after their gold was
stolen – their ancients, knowing that it
was precious and sacred beyond what
the conquerors could ever understand
or do with it.
Of course we never think about the significance of gold in the higher spiritual
realms – how it came to be formed,
or what it really is– what is its reason
for being and its sacred place in the
puzzle of life, other than the official
geological version of events – which as
we know - is able to look only at purely
physical and measurable aspects of the
current geology’s theoretical understanding of gold formation. Other than
jewellery and à means of exchange,
most of us are totally unaware of what
the real spiritual significance of gold is
and what its presence is meant to be
for us here on Earth.
WHAT IS
GOLD?
atmosphere we breathe.
“Gold is placed upon this planet for a
variety of uses – two of its most trivial
and unimportant ones – being that of
using gold as a – means of exchange –
and for ornamentation. The far greater
activity – and purpose of it within and
upon the earth is – the release – of its
own inherent quality and energy to
purify, vitalize and balance the atomic
structure of the world.
“The scientific world today has no inkling as yet of this activity. However, it
serves the same purpose to our earth
– that radiators do to our homes. Gold is
one of the – most important – ways by
which the energy from our sun is supplied to the interior of the earth, and
a balance of activities maintained. As
a conveyer of this energy – it acts as
a transformer – to pass the sun’s force
into the physical substance of our world
as well as to the life evolving upon it.
“The energy within gold is – really – the
So, given that I have this column, here
radiant, electronic force from the sun
is my opportunity to share some
– acting in a lower octave. Gold is someperspectives given by those great Souls
times called a – precipitated sunray.
who oversee the creation of worlds
and entire universes just as we earthly
“As the energy within gold is of an exhumans are able to oversee our own hu- tremely high vibratory rate, it can only
man creations, such as gardens, great
act upon the finer and more subtle
and small.
expressions of Life – through absorption. In all – “Golden Ages” – this metal
What follows is a quote from the sacred comes into plentiful and common use
text known as: The Unveiled Mysteries
– by the mass of people – and whenever
by Godfré Ray King 1934 – and you can
such a condition occurs – the spiritual
Google the entire book by just search– development of that people reaches
ing it in between brackets, just as I
a very high state. In these ages gold is
did: “Gold in The Unveiled Mysteries” –
never hoarded but instead, it is widely
it will take you directly to Chapter 2 as
distributed into the use of the mass –
follows:
who absorbing its purifying energy – are
themselves – raised into greater perfecQuote: (…) page 45:
tion (…) – Unquote.
“The outer mind or intellectual knowledge of humanity holds within it litThere you have the essence of it – hope
tle- very little – understanding of the
it will inspire you to have greater reReal purpose for which gold exists on
spect and reverence for this sacred
this planet. It grows within the earth
metal.
like a plant, and – through it - is constantly pouring a purifying, vitalizing
With Golden Love and Light
and balancing current of energy – into
Lou Bognon
the very ground we walk upon – as well
as into the growth of Nature and the
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Valuable information on becoming self-sufficient and sustainable
in today’s challenging and changing world. • Going ‘Green’ at home, creating your own ‘power station’ at home.
• Growing, harvesting and storing your own vegetables.
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inner world, we watch our outer worlds change.
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For details please call: 072 2606 717
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Transcription

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