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Aug 28, 2012

Though I'm a teenager, and most teenagers my age do not care at all or worrry about their health, good health has always been something I strive for. But being healthy can become overwhelmingly difficult to achieve when you live in a society with surroundings that are pretty much all completely unhealthy. At times it seemed impossible to achieve truly good health. There can be so many things it seems you have to achieve to be healthy. Eat this many fruits and vegetables per day, excersize this many times for this long, meditate, do yoga, drink eight glasses of water, ignore unhealthy temptations, walk your dogs, etc., and on top of all this, make sure you always do things that are good for the environment... Oh, and try and fit this all in into your already extremely crazy, busy life.
After reading a book called The Willpower Instinct, I found real motivation and energy to having a healthy, happier life. (I reccomend the book to all people because I really can't summarize the whole thing and can't grant you with the motivation I recieved from it just by describing the after affects that I had from it.) And after completing the book, I got some ideas from it and combined it with my own creativity and found something that works for me to minimizing the overwhelming sense of being healthy, making into into an organized shedule, reminders, and check off list, and keeping track of my success everyday. This is it:

1. I wrote out all the healthy things I would like accomplished in a schedule type format, starting with the things I would like done in the morning until night in order. (Do not include things that you already do, such as cooking, cleaning or eating, etc. Just write things you would like to accomplish.) For example some things for me were, -take a cold shower, -drink a cup of tea, -meditate, -do stretches/yoga, -do a quick clean up of my room, -water my plants, -read, write, or draw, - go on a jog, -walk my dogs, -do a stress relief exccersize, -take vitamins
I did much more things but this is just an idea of what it looked like.

2. I went through and numbered all of the things that I chose.

3. I drew a calender of the next 30 days. (I chose thirty days because after thirty days of doing something, it becomes a habit. Then I would no longer need to keep track of the things that I'm doing, because it's automatic.) Then I put an "out of 28" on each day. *blank /28
(I had twenty eight things that I would like to accomplish through out the day that I normally don't get done.) Then I taped it on the inside of my bedroom door, along with the list of all the things I want accomplished, so everytime I left I would be reminded of it.

4. Everyday, I would write out on a notepad the numbers 1-28, with the date at the beginning, with room to put either an "0", for not completing the thing cordinated with the number that day, or a check mark if I did complete it. As I completed the things on my list, I went through and checked them off. If I didn't complete them, I put a zero.

5. At the end of the day I would count up how many checkmarks I got and on the calander would put the total number of check marks out of 28.


The reality of health that I've discovered is that being healthy is a lot more simple than we make it out to be. For example, though meditating for five minutes might sound like a lot when you're constantly on your feet doing something, once you just set aside time to do it through out the day or if you do it whenever you have five minutes to spare, you begin almost immediately feeling the benifits from it. And you begin realizing that you actually have more time to spare than you thought. That half hour you spend on the computer checking Facebook or watching a television show? It could be spent instead going on a jog or meditating or doing yoga. You might feel like this is depleting your "relaxation time", which you most certainly don't get enough of. Yoga sounds like hardwork. Meditation requires too much focus. But wait... once you start doing it you realize, yoga feels good! Meditation is so relaxing. You're idea of relaxation and hardwork begins to shift. Jogging becomes less tedious and you realize that it doesn't make you tired, instead it fills you with energy, makes you sleep better, and (this is proven) it can even serve as an antidepressent! Being healthy becomes something you WANT rather than something you know you need but is seemingly unconvenient.
Also, as you try out my method, I want you to be utterly focused on POSITIVE thinking rather than negative. If one day you get only *6/28 things done, think to yourself, "Well damn, a week ago I wouldn't have even got six of those things done!" Instead of "Damn, look at all of the things I didn't accomplish." Because if you think negativily it will discourage you from continuing doing the things you want done. These things will feel tedious at the beginning, and you might not get even close to a perfect score everyday, but hey! At least you're finally starting to do the things that you never had time for before.


2 simple excersizes that have benefited me greatly


1. 5 minute meditation

- Sit still and comfortably in a quiet place. Ignore any natural impulses like scratching an itch.

- Focus on your breath. Repeat the words "inhale" and "exhale" as you breathe.

- Your mind will wander. When you notice it wandering, bring it back to the words.

- As you get deeper into the repetitation of the words and the feeling of simply breathing, stop repeating the words. Just focus on the feeling of breathing, the sound of your breath, the way your belly and chest feels. If this makes your mind wander too much, bring it back to the labels "Inhale" and "Exhale".

*Meditation not only helps you focus throughout the day, relaxes you and energizes you, but it also increases the blood flow to your prefrontal cortex increases your willpower.

2. Relieving stress by shortening your breath


- First count how many breaths you normally take in one minute.

- Try to get your breaths down to four per minute. This is one breath every 15 seconds.

- Do not hold your breath, this increases stress.

- If you cannot get it down to this little amount of breaths, that's fine, just keep practicing and doing as short amount of breaths per minute as possible.

- Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. When you breathe out through your breath shape your mouth as if you are blowing into a straw. This helps you breathe out slower and gets more air out of your lungs making a deeper breath possible. Count by mississippi's. One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi, etc.

*If you do this for five to ten minutes per day, which doesn't have to be all at once, just through out the day, you not only relieve stress but are more likely to handle future stress better.

As a last note, I hope you realize that you don't have to be precise when being healthy. You don't have to excersize for an hour, or read for an hour, or meditate for ten minutes, etc. There is no "best way to be healthy". Just do as much as your willing to do and capable of doing. This way you will actually do it because you wont feel as much pressure to fill a quota. It will become more reasonable and adaptable to your life. Doing some of a healthy excersize is better than doing none. Just remember that.


And if this technique of becoming more healthy and making it into a habit doesn't work for you or if I didn't explain it throughly enough, I hope you at least just check out the book The Willpower Instinct so you can create your own motivation and technique.


Happiness and hope and good health to all,

- Ocean

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Posted: Aug 28, 2012 4:01pm
Motivation to healthy living and making it a habit
Aug 28, 2012

Though I'm a teenager, and most teenagers my age do not care at all or worrry about their health, good health has always been something I strive for. But being healthy can become overwhelmingly difficult to achieve when you live in a society with surroundings that are pretty much all completely unhealthy. At times it seemed impossible to achieve truly good health. There can be so many things it seems you have to achieve to be healthy. Eat this many fruits and vegetables per day, excersize this many times for this long, meditate, do yoga, drink eight glasses of water, ignore unhealthy temptations, walk your dogs, etc., and on top of all this, make sure you always do things that are good for the environment... Oh, and try and fit this all in into your already extremely crazy, busy life.
After reading a book called The Willpower Instinct, I found real motivation and energy to having a healthy, happier life. (I reccomend the book to all people because I really can't summarize the whole thing and can't grant you with the motivation I recieved from it just by describing the after affects that I had from it.) And after completing the book, I got some ideas from it and combined it with my own creativity and found something that works for me to minimizing the overwhelming sense of being healthy, making into into an organized shedule, reminders, and check off list, and keeping track of my success everyday. This is it:

1. I wrote out all the healthy things I would like accomplished in a schedule type format, starting with the things I would like done in the morning until night in order. (Do not include things that you already do, such as cooking, cleaning or eating, etc. Just write things you would like to accomplish.) For example some things for me were, -take a cold shower, -drink a cup of tea, -meditate, -do stretches/yoga, -do a quick clean up of my room, -water my plants, -read, write, or draw, - go on a jog, -walk my dogs, -do a stress relief exccersize, -take vitamins
I did much more things but this is just an idea of what it looked like.

2. I went through and numbered all of the things that I chose.

3. I drew a calender of the next 30 days. (I chose thirty days because after thirty days of doing something, it becomes a habit. Then I would no longer need to keep track of the things that I'm doing, because it's automatic.) Then I put an "out of 28" on each day. *blank /28
(I had twenty eight things that I would like to accomplish through out the day that I normally don't get done.) Then I taped it on the inside of my bedroom door, along with the list of all the things I want accomplished, so everytime I left I would be reminded of it.

4. Everyday, I would write out on a notepad the numbers 1-28, with the date at the beginning, with room to put either an "0", for not completing the thing cordinated with the number that day, or a check mark if I did complete it. As I completed the things on my list, I went through and checked them off. If I didn't complete them, I put a zero.

5. At the end of the day I would count up how many checkmarks I got and on the calander would put the total number of check marks out of 28.


The reality of health that I've discovered is that being healthy is a lot more simple than we make it out to be. For example, though meditating for five minutes might sound like a lot when you're constantly on your feet doing something, once you just set aside time to do it through out the day or if you do it whenever you have five minutes to spare, you begin almost immediately feeling the benifits from it. And you begin realizing that you actually have more time to spare than you thought. That half hour you spend on the computer checking Facebook or watching a television show? It could be spent instead going on a jog or meditating or doing yoga. You might feel like this is depleting your "relaxation time", which you most certainly don't get enough of. Yoga sounds like hardwork. Meditation requires too much focus. But wait... once you start doing it you realize, yoga feels good! Meditation is so relaxing. You're idea of relaxation and hardwork begins to shift. Jogging becomes less tedious and you realize that it doesn't make you tired, instead it fills you with energy, makes you sleep better, and (this is proven) it can even serve as an antidepressent! Being healthy becomes something you WANT rather than something you know you need but is seemingly unconvenient.
Also, as you try out my method, I want you to be utterly focused on POSITIVE thinking rather than negative. If one day you get only *6/28 things done, think to yourself, "Well damn, a week ago I wouldn't have even got six of those things done!" Instead of "Damn, look at all of the things I didn't accomplish." Because if you think negativily it will discourage you from continuing doing the things you want done. These things will feel tedious at the beginning, and you might not get even close to a perfect score everyday, but hey! At least you're finally starting to do the things that you never had time for before.


2 simple excersizes that have benefited me greatly


1. 5 minute meditation

- Sit still and comfortably in a quiet place. Ignore any natural impulses like scratching an itch.

- Focus on your breath. Repeat the words "inhale" and "exhale" as you breathe.

- Your mind will wander. When you notice it wandering, bring it back to the words.

- As you get deeper into the repetitation of the words and the feeling of simply breathing, stop repeating the words. Just focus on the feeling of breathing, the sound of your breath, the way your belly and chest feels. If this makes your mind wander too much, bring it back to the labels "Inhale" and "Exhale".

*Meditation not only helps you focus throughout the day, relaxes you and energizes you, but it also increases the blood flow to your prefrontal cortex increases your willpower.

2. Relieving stress by shortening your breath


- First count how many breaths you normally take in one minute.

- Try to get your breaths down to four per minute. This is one breath every 15 seconds.

- Do not hold your breath, this increases stress.

- If you cannot get it down to this little amount of breaths, that's fine, just keep practicing and doing as short amount of breaths per minute as possible.

- Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. When you breathe out through your breath shape your mouth as if you are blowing into a straw. This helps you breathe out slower and gets more air out of your lungs making a deeper breath possible. Count by mississippi's. One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi, etc.

*If you do this for five to ten minutes per day, which doesn't have to be all at once, just through out the day, you not only relieve stress but are more likely to handle future stress better.

As a last note, I hope you realize that you don't have to be precise when being healthy. You don't have to excersize for an hour, or read for an hour, or meditate for ten minutes, etc. There is no "best way to be healthy". Just do as much as your willing to do and capable of doing. This way you will actually do it because you wont feel as much pressure to fill a quota. It will become more reasonable and adaptable to your life. Doing some of a healthy excersize is better than doing none. Just remember that.


And if this technique of becoming more healthy and making it into a habit doesn't work for you or if I didn't explain it throughly enough, I hope you at least just check out the book The Willpower Instinct so you can create your own motivation and technique.


Happiness and hope and good health to all,

- Ocean

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Posted: Aug 28, 2012 3:45pm
Motivation to be healthy and making it a habit
Aug 28, 2012

Though I'm a teenager, and most teenagers my age do not care at all or worrry about their health, good health has always been something I strive for.  But being healthy can become overwhelmingly difficult to achieve when you live in a society with surroundings that are pretty much all completely unhealthy.  At times it seemed impossible to achieve truly good health. There can be so many things it seems you have to achieve to be healthy.  Eat this many fruits and vegetables per day, excersize this many times for this long, meditate, do yoga, drink eight glasses of water, ignore unhealthy temptations, walk your dogs, etc., and on top of all this, make sure you always do things that are good for the environment... Oh, and try and fit this all in into your already extremely crazy, busy life.
 After reading a book called The Willpower Instinct, I found real motivation and energy to having a healthy, happier life.  (I reccomend the book to all people because I really can't summarize the whole thing and can't grant you with the motivation I recieved from it just by describing the after affects that I had from it.)  And after completing the book, I got some ideas from it and combined it with my own creativity and found something that works for me to minimizing the overwhelming sense of being healthy, making into into an organized shedule, reminders, and check off list, and keeping track of my success everyday.  This is it:

1.  I wrote out all the healthy things I would like accomplished in a schedule type format, starting with the things I would like done in the morning until night in order.  (Do not include things that you already do, such as cooking, cleaning or eating, etc.  Just write things you would like to accomplish.)  For example some things for me were, -take a cold shower, -drink a cup of tea, -meditate, -do stretches/yoga, -do a quick clean up of my room, -water my plants, -read, write, or draw, - go on a jog, -walk my dogs, -do a stress relief exccersize, -take vitamins
I did much more things but this is just an idea of what it looked like.

2.  I went through and numbered all of the things that I chose.
      
3.   I drew a calender of the next 30 days.  (I chose thirty days because after thirty days of doing something, it becomes a habit.  Then I would no longer need to keep track of the things that I'm doing, because it's automatic.)   Then I put an "out of 28" on each day. *blank /28
(I had twenty eight things that I would like to accomplish through out the day that I normally don't get done.) Then I taped it on the inside of my bedroom door, along with the list of all the things I want accomplished, so everytime I left I would be reminded of it.

4.  Everyday, I would write out on a notepad the numbers 1-28, with the date at the beginning, with room to put either an "0", for not completing the thing cordinated with the number that day, or a check mark if I did complete it.  As I completed the things on my list, I went through and checked them off.  If I didn't complete them, I put a zero.

5.  At the end of the day I would count up how many checkmarks I got and on the calander would put the total number of check marks out of 28. 


The reality of health that I've discovered is that being healthy is a lot more simple than we make it out to be.  For example, though meditating for five minutes might sound like a lot when you're constantly on your feet doing something, once you just set aside time to do it through out the day or if you do it whenever you have five minutes to spare, you begin almost immediately feeling the benifits from it.  And you begin realizing that you actually have more time to spare than you thought.  That half hour you spend on the computer checking Facebook or watching a television show?  It could be spent instead going on a jog or meditating or doing yoga.  You might feel like this is depleting your "relaxation time", which you most certainly don't get enough of.  Yoga sounds like hardwork.  Meditation requires too much focus.  But wait... once you start doing it you realize, yoga feels good!  Meditation is so relaxing.  You're idea of relaxation and hardwork begins to shift.  Jogging becomes less tedious and you realize that it doesn't make you tired, instead it fills you with energy, makes you sleep better, and (this is proven) it can even serve as an antidepressent!  Being healthy becomes something you WANT rather than something you know you need but is seemingly unconvenient. 
Also, as you try out my method, I want you to be utterly focused on POSITIVE thinking rather than negative.  If one day you get only *6/28 things done, think to yourself, "Well damn, a week ago I wouldn't have even got six of those things done!" Instead of "Damn, look at all of the things I didn't accomplish."  Because if you think negativily it will discourage you from continuing doing the things you want done.  These things will feel tedious at the beginning, and you might not get even close to a perfect score everyday, but hey!   At least you're finally starting to do the things that you never had time for before.


2 simple excersizes that have benefited me greatly


1.  5 minute meditation

- Sit still and comfortably in a quiet place.  Ignore any natural impulses like scratching an itch.  

- Focus on your breath.  Repeat the words "inhale" and "exhale" as you breathe.  

- Your mind will wander.  When you notice it wandering, bring it back to the words.

-  As you get deeper into the repetitation of the words and the feeling of simply breathing, stop repeating the words.  Just focus on the feeling of breathing, the sound of your breath, the way your belly and chest feels.  If this makes your mind wander too much, bring it back to the labels "Inhale" and "Exhale". 

*Meditation not only helps you focus throughout the day, relaxes you and energizes you, but it also increases the blood flow to your prefrontal cortex increases your willpower.  

2.  Relieving stress by shortening your breath 


- First count how many breaths you normally take in one minute.  

- Try to get your breaths down to four per minute.  This is one breath every 15 seconds.

- Do not hold your breath, this increases stress.

- If you cannot get it down to this little amount of breaths, that's fine, just keep practicing and doing as short amount of breaths per minute as possible.  

- Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.  When you breathe out through your breath shape your mouth as if you are blowing into a straw.  This helps you breathe out slower and gets more air out of your lungs making a deeper breath possible.  Count by mississippi's.  One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi, etc.

*If you do this for five to ten minutes per day, which doesn't have to be all at once, just through out the day, you not only relieve stress but are more likely to handle future stress better.   
 
 As a last note, I hope you realize that you don't have to be precise when being healthy.  You don't have to excersize for an hour, or read for an hour, or meditate for ten minutes, etc.  There is no "best way to be healthy". Just do as much as your willing to do and capable of doing.  This way you will actually do it because you wont feel as much pressure to fill a quota.  It will become more reasonable and adaptable to your life.  Doing some of a healthy excersize is better than doing none.  Just remember that.


And if this technique  of becoming more healthy and making it into a habit doesn't work for you or if I didn't explain it throughly enough, I hope you at least just check out the book The Willpower Instinct so you can create your own motivation and technique.   


Happiness and hope and good health to all,

- Ocean  
    
   
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Posted: Aug 28, 2012 2:42pm
Why I refuse to wear shoes.
Aug 13, 2011


So I get asked pretty much every time I don't wear shoes, which is every day, the question of: "Why aren't you wearing shoes?" So I decided to gather some factual information to back me up and tell you all exactly why I don't wear shoes in this long ass essay type thing that most likely none of you will read. Never the less, I'm hoping this information will help you all understand, so maybe I'll get the question a little less often. Maybe some of you guys will even decide to try going barefoot, and together we can fight the ignorant thought that going barefoot is somehow "bad". 


I'm also using this so the next time some worker at a store tries to kick me out, I can make sure I have enough knowledge about what I'm doing that I can protest against them forcing me to leave. The reasons why some people, mainly store owners, find going barefoot odd and are against it can be summarized:


    • Lack of understanding.

    • Belief that there is a health department regulation enforcing the use of shoes in public.

    • Think it's painful and that it puts them at a higher risk of getting hurt.

    • Belief that they open themselves up to liability in case of injury.

    • Belief that bare feet are “offensive or gross.”



Here I will help you understand why I’ve chosen to go barefoot, prove that there are no health regulations or laws enforcing the use of shoes in public, prove no store owners are going to get sued or are liable for any injuries that occur because of me not wearing shoes, how it is actually much, much better for your feet, how it isn't in the least dangerous, how it’s legal to drive barefoot, and tell you why the force of wearing shoes is discrimination and how it should be banned.




Common belief: There are health laws opposed to going barefoot.



Fact: There aren't any.  Many people in the USA have seen signs like:




NO BARE FEET 


by Order of the Health Department



Such signs are outright lies. 


Even though bare feet do not pose any real liability risk, if a business owner wishes to post a sign, a much more reasonable sign could read:




Bare Feet 


at own risk



The 'Shoes required by State Law' is a hoax. Though it’s a very wide-spread myth, it’s a myth nonetheless. There are no health codes that prohibit bare feet in businesses.  Members of the SBL (Society for Barefoot Living) contacted the health and/or agriculture departments of all 50 states and confirmed that there are no health codes or state laws that require shoes in businesses of any kind, including grocery stores or restaurants. The truth is there are no health department regulations against bare feet because they are simply not a health issue. It’s not a big enough health risk to ban going barefoot, even in places where food is served. And why would serving food make a difference? Us who go barefoot don’t put our feet on the table any more than those people with shoes put their feet up there, and germs aren't any more likely to magically jump onto the food from a bare sole than from a shoe-sole. Bare hands not only spread disease, come into contact with many things touched by other people's hands after they have perhaps coughed, sneezed, then touched like germ-laden doorknobs and handrails, but hands are what people use to eat with and are far more hazardous than bare feet, yet having nothing to cover your hands is not looked down upon or even thought of. And though all of this is true, there is not a health department regulation mandating that patrons must wash their hands before eating. Health departments are concerned with the storage, handling, and preparation of food and of the hygiene of employees; but they are totally unconcerned with the manner of dress of customers (or their hygiene, for that matter). For another example of how poorly some people think things through, consider a business near a beach. This business has barefooted customers all day long. Not only has nobody ever contracted any sort of illness from somebody else's bare feet, but nobody thinks anything of bare feet because it's "okay" to be barefoot near a beach. Now, transport this same business a few miles inland. Suddenly, without any change to the inside of the business, bare feet are an alleged health risk. Does this make sense? No.


 Put simply: somebody's bare feet can in no way affect anybody else.





Common belief: Many people believe going barefoot is a safety hazard, therefore the store owners are at risk of being sued due to injuries.



Fact: Going barefoot isn’t nearly as dangerous as many people think. The risk is very low, and if something actually does happen, it's extremely unlikely to be a serious injury.


Feet aren't naturally these ‘weak, soft things that have to be constantly protected.’


They become weak and soft when they are constantly protected.


 Many types of footwear, under certain circumstances, can be at least as dangerous as bare feet, but in most cases more so. High heels, platform shoes, and dress shoes with leather soles can easily slip on the slick, tile floors many stores have, especially when there's some water or other liquid on the floor. You can trip with flip-flops or other loose slippers or sandals. Yet those are not banned. There are warnings, yes, but anyone who wants to come into a store with leather soles on a rainy day, can. Several pairs of shoes are far more dangerous in those circumstances than my bare feet under the same conditions.


No injury I've had, or have ever heard or read about was anywhere near as serious or disabling as, for example, a nasty twisted ankle would be -something that could easily result from a dress shoe on a wet tile floor. If the concern is about something falling on someone’s toes or something crushing their feet, just remember, a flip-flop would not protect the top of the feet yet they are still allowed.


Many people are concerned about the risk or stepping on glass, when in reality, a barefooter's foot is tough and does not immediately cut open from stepping on a piece of glass on the floor. The dangers of glass aren't big anyhow, since it’s uncommon to have glass scattered in so many places that you can’t walk around it. Also, it’s pretty much irrelevant, even for more tender feet, because something cuts when you slide along it. A piece of glass, lying on the ground, will lay with its edge pretty much flat, and if you step on it from the top and step off it again, you won't slide along its cutting edge. Try it with a knife in the kitchen if you don’t believe me, press on your thumb, carefully, and you’ll discover that you can press pretty hard straight down on the edge without cutting yourself. Even small splinters abide to the law of gravity and will usually lay flat on the floor. The most trouble there is comes from small splinters on an uneven floor, for they may be propped up against something and sticks up enough to pierce a sole.


Now, even this is a) not a common occurrence and b) a very slight injury, often not even penetrating the leathery calluses, or at most requiring a band-aid.


While there's usually an exception to every generalization and I can't guarantee no barefooter will ever try to sue for an injury, but anyone in their right mind wouldn’t sue a store over a scratch requiring a band-aid, but if they did they'd be laughed out of court.  Even in the US, the law doesn't award huge damages to every frivolous lawsuit.


Not only that, but from all the research I’ve done, I’ve found no barefooter has considered suing any store over an injury. Actually, when it comes up -not because of an actual case, as I said those are very rare and never big enough to even consider suing, but because a store owner or other person is concerned- everyone is extremely opposed to suing a store. The general consensus is that those sue-happy people are one of the main reasons our freedom to go barefoot is being limited in the first place. And think about it, a person who would be looking for an opportunity to sue would not be likely to go barefoot. If he gave it any thought at all, he'd realize being barefoot would severely hurt his chances to win.


Furthermore, the liability case law makes a successful lawsuit in these situations extremely unlikely. In order to successfully sue a business owner for any injury, four elements must be proven: a duty of care to the customer (a law that requires people to wear shoes in public), neglecting that duty, a causal link between the worker and neglect, and actual harm or damage.


In conclusion, if you walk into a store barefoot, you accept the risk, and if anyone were to try suing the store over it, any decent judge would throw it out.





Common belief: 'Bare feet are gross and offensive'.



Reality: That is, of course, your opinion in which you have the right to believe. But is it enough to ban people for? Some people think tattoos and piercings are gross; yet can they ban people with tattoos from their store? There are laws against discrimination preventing this, yet the majority of our society discriminates against people who go barefoot and gets away with it.  The other popular argument given is that bare feet are somehow "offensive to other customers." How can bare feet be offensive yet feet with thin straps on the tops and a thin layer of material on the soles suddenly make them not offensive when there is little difference in overall appearance? It must be that some people are offended by the mere knowledge that somebody else's feet are bare and this gets back to the source for discrimination against bare feet.


In the Unruh Civil Rights Act it states:


 All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, or national origin are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever. 


This section shall not be construed to confer any right or privilege on a person which is conditioned or limited by law or which is applicable alike to persons of every sex, color, race, religion, ancestry, or national origin.


There are elaborations and cases extending the bounds of the Unruh Act. In Cox it was stated:


The nature of the 1959 amendments [to the Unruh Act], the past judicial interpretation of the act, and the history of the legislative action that extended the statutes' scope, indicate that identification of particular bases of discrimination-- color, race, religion, ancestry, and national origin--added by the 1959 amendment, is illustrative rather than restrictive. 


 Although the legislation has been invoked primarily by persons alleging discrimination on racial grounds, its language and its history compel the conclusion that the Legislature intended to prohibit all arbitrary discrimination by business establishments. ... We therefore conclude that a business generally open to the public may not arbitrarily exclude a would-be customer from its premises.


This sentiment was supported by the Attorney General Evelle J. Younger who stated:


The principal question is whether the prohibition of the Unruh Act is limited to discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, or national origin. We conclude that it is not.


This sentiment is further supported in Winchell v. English:


The Unruh Civil Rights act is to be given a liberal, not a strict, construction with a view to affect its object and to promote justice.


It is true that going barefoot, unlike being of a particular sex, race, ancestry, or national origin, is a personal choice. Some might argue that, being a personal choice rather than a condition of birth, it deserves no civil rights protection; however, another interesting excerpt from Cox is:


Neither municipality nor shopping center may exclude individuals who wear long hair or unconventional dress etc. merely because of such characteristics.


Therefore just because I choose not to wear shoes, I should not be excluded from being able to shop at certain places.



The truth is, going barefoot is a lot less gross than wearing shoes.


One of the many facts supporting this is bare feet do not naturally stink. There is no difference between the sweat glands of the feet and those of the hands. Shoes are incubators that create warm, dark, moist, sweaty environments - perfect for growing fungus Bacteria, especially Pseudomonas bacteria (which is responsible for most of that shoe stink). We believe that many non-barefooters assume that all feet stink because theirs do.


Though I’ll allow you to believe that going barefoot is gross, because that is your opinion, I will not let you believe that going barefoot is unsanitary. If you wear shoes, you have no room to judge. Wearing shoes is very, very unsanitary, as going barefoot is not, and I will explain why right now.





Common belief: Going barefoot is unsanitary.



Fact: Wearing shoes is more unsanitary than going barefoot, and gives you a much higher chance of being exposed to bacteria, fungus and infections.


(None of the following is just my opinion; it is the position of the American Academy of Dermatology.)


Going barefoot does not lead to fungal infections, the best way to get athlete's foot or toenail fungus is to frequently wear closed-toe shoes. If you think about it, when your feet are encased all day, they are perspiring – which means the soles are emitting all the poison and toxins that the body needs to get rid of. Having nowhere to go, they linger all day in socks or shoes causing your foot to literally "swim" in them and this is what causes athlete's foot. Athlete's foot does not occur among people who traditionally go barefoot. Its moisture, sweating and lack of proper ventilation of the feet that present the perfect setting for the fungus of athlete's foot to grow. The best way to cure athlete's foot and toenail fungus is to go barefoot.  Going barefoot keeps the skin on your feet dry and strong and exposed to germ-killing agents like wind and sunshine.


By going barefoot, the soles of your feet will strengthen and develop more resilience. A sole that is given the chance to go bare on any surfaces will be strong enough to prevent any kind of germs or fungus from entering the body. Because of this, even stepping on a nail is safer barefoot than in shoes because, as research proves, the bacteria in shoes significantly increase your odds of puncture-wound infection.


Many parasites in third world countries infect feet, but this is only due to their unsanitary conditions. The risk of parasite infection through the feet in the United States is virtually zero due to clean water and sewage systems.



“For the past 10 years, I've been going barefoot in restaurants, buses, subways, museums, offices and gyms, as well as snow, grass, pavement, in both sunny and rainy weather, as well as snow and ice, and my feet are free of any warts or fungus.” Remember that our bodies were created to adapt to their environment. It is up to us to properly maintain it.


Many people claim that going barefoot on streets is highly unsanitary, and that it is somehow unsanitary to go barefoot indoors and in establishments. They believe that wearing shoes protects your feet from germs rather than exposing them.


Bare soles do sometimes get dirty, granted; but so what? Are shoe soles clean? Though it is natural that your foot may be bringing in dirt from outside, a shoe has more grooves, nooks and crannies where dirt easily becomes trapped, while the surface of a bare sole is generally smooth and is less capable of carrying excess dirt. The movement and spreading of your toes as you take each step prevents most dirt from getting stuck, thus, the bottom of a shoe has more dirt and debris from outside than a bare sole. Also, people who wear shoes don’t wash their shoes nearly as often compared to those who wash their feet who go barefoot, yet shoes are still looked upon as more sanitary. The dirt pretty much comes right off of your foot as opposed to shoes in which the idea of washing is practically unheard of.  If it's not 'street dirt' but 'foot germs' you're worried about, please explain how a strap from a sandal or flip-flop provides any kind of barrier a germ couldn't cross.


 It actually baffles me that for some reason, the general population thinks that it is more sanitary to have on shoes in an establishment than to be barefoot.





Common belief: Shoes help support your feet and body.



Fact: Shoes are what are actually harming your feet. “Shoe design is dictated by fashion, not the needs of the foot.”


Podiatrists, doctors and scientists around the globe are starting to realize the hazards of shoe use and the benefits of going barefoot. In generations past it was more common to go barefoot, but for the last 40 years we have become an increasingly shoe-addicted society. Enough time has passed to see the results of excessive shoe use. Shoes are the major cause of: 


    • flatfoot & fallen arches (due to arch supports & cast-like nature of shoes)

    • bunions & hallux valgus (due to improper weight distribution in shoes)

    • microbial infections like athlete's foot & toenail fungus & pseudomonas (due to the environment inside of the shoe)

    • hammer toe (due to cramped toe boxes in shoes)

    • knee arthritis (due to elevated shoe heels)

    • blisters, corns & calluses (due to friction inside shoes)



 Kicking off your shoes can also help prevent heel spurs and bone deformities along with the list above.  Not only is going barefoot natural and healthy, but many shoes are harmful. It is a fact that nearly all of the foot ailments that lead us to a foot doctor in the United States can be traced back to a primary cause: shoes. "Shoes act like casts, holding the bones of the foot so rigid that they can't move fluidly," Steven Robbins [MD and adjunct associate professor of mechanical engineering at Concordia University, Montreal] explains. "The foot becomes passive from wearing shoes and loses the ability to support itself."


Orthotics and "smarter" shoes are not the answer to our foot woes, going barefoot is. The foot is designed for standing, walking and running bare, in comparison with modern shoes with their high-tech features like arch support and motion control, which sound like good things, but actually produce deviations in the natural human’s ability to walk, causing many of the foot, hip and back problems that plague us.


Research shows that walking barefoot strengthens our feet, makes them more flexible and improves body alignment and is beneficial to the musculoskeletal structure of your feet and ankles. On the other hand, shoes weaken our foot muscles, ruin our arches and deform the bone structure and soft tissues of the feet. All shoes impact the foot in one way or another, resulting in podiatrist and shoe-industry consultant to declare, "There's no such thing as a sensible shoe." Likewise, Dr. Phil Hoffman observed, "Footgear is the greatest enemy of the human foot."So if there’s no such thing as a “sensible” shoe, what can you do? The answer is obvious; GO BAREFOOT. It is a key to good health.


Ask yourself, how much time do you really spend barefoot? If you actually measured the amount of hours you spend barefoot each day, especially walking barefoot, you will probably be surprised at how often you're in shoes. After spending 6 hours or more in shoes at work/school, then running errands or going places afterwards, how much time do you actually get to spend barefoot before retiring to bed? Chances are you walk only at most an hour per day barefoot, and that is if you actually take off your shoes when you’re home. In America, those people who do take off their shoes once they get home, though it’s better than nothing, are usually doing things like dining, watching TV, reading, etc., which are all sitting activities. Hardly ever do we walk (or run) in our bare feet, yet walking barefoot is what exercises and strengthens our feet.


Going barefoot is natural. Yet some non-barefooters actually think it's unnatural and that humans, alone among all the other species on the planet, have feet that are somehow uniquely inadequate and fragile. This, however, makes no sense if one merely takes the time to think it through. Millions of Indians, both American and Asian, and Congoids wander their native savannas and rain forests without protection, inconvenience, or complaint. Footgear, therefore, would appear to be unnecessary.


We should learn from primitives the pleasure and painlessness of going barefoot.


In cultures around the world where people go barefoot 24-7, which comprises of most of the human population, you never hear about athlete's foot, flat foot or other foot disorders.


In Europe and America flat foot is a common reason for attendance at an orthopedic clinic, but then look at a place like India, children are seldom brought for treatment for flat foot. The reasoning behind this is in India shoes are not commonly used. The few who do develop flat foot are from affluent urban families and they all wear shoes.


Children, above all others, should be barefoot, though it is important for everyone of any age. Optimum foot development occurs in the barefoot environment, and that’s why children should be encouraged to partake in barefoot activity. Baby shoes cause great harm to growing, formative feet. The so-called "sentimental" value of baby's shoes should be dispensed with. It’s incredible that many parents, through naivety and ignorance, are deforming their children's feet and, in some cases, giving them life-long weakening conditions. It’s like giving a child alcohol, their brain is still forming, and therefore the brains formation will be tampered with and harmed.


For adults, especially runners, all modern running shoes are dangerous because of their construction. The modern running shoe and footwear in general have successfully diminished the natural sensory feedback because of all their cushioning, yet do not reduce the severity of an injury, but increase it, because they make it so running improperly no longer hurts, therefore a more serious injury is the result.


Practitioners of sports medicine have observed many injuries in runners using every shoe model available. Those reports can hardly make the modern running shoe seem like a protective device.


It is not inherently painful to run barefoot, provided it is done properly. Anyone who sets off running barefoot will quickly learn how to run in comfort and safety. A barefoot runner naturally learns how to run so that it doesn't hurt and as a bonus, this running style is safe unlike running with shoes. It has been shown that barefoot runners have a very low incidence of running-related injuries, as those who run with shoes have a high risk.


The transformation from wearing shoes to going barefoot in most cases would take around six weeks, which gives you sufficient time for adaptation of the plantar skin and intrinsic foot musculature, and to quicken and strengthen the process, run barefoot frequently, perhaps daily, to sustain this adaptation. Once adapted, the foot is extremely durable. Even though plantar skin thickens as a result of going barefoot, the soles of barefooters' feet do not become thick, hard, dead layers of skin; rather, the soles become a supple layer of "living leather" still very much alive and able to feel.


In conclusion, people who have never worn shoes acquire very few foot defects, and the range of their foot motions are remarkable, allowing for full foot activity. Shoes are not necessary for healthy feet and are the cause of most foot troubles. Footgear is the greatest enemy of the human foot. So if wearing shoes is bad for you, and going barefoot is good for you, changing our social attitude about going barefoot is so crucial to improving the health of our feet and bodies in America and other Western societies. In order to walk barefoot more often we need to let going barefoot in public become socially acceptable again.




Common belief: It’s illegal to drive without shoes.



Fact: You ARE allowed to drive barefoot. (At least in the United States, Canada, and England, I don’t know about other countries.)


If you call either your local or state police and ask them, they will say it’s legal. If the cop on the phone says otherwise, ask him/her to give you the statute number. She/he won’t be able to, and then will have to admit their mistake.


One guy wrote to all fifty states asking the question, all replying a summary of for each state and territory all saying something like: “Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is permitted.” If you don’t believe me, you can ask yourself by contacting:


American Automobile Association


Traffic Safety and Engineering Department


1000 AAA Drive


Heathrow, FL 32746-5063




Common belief: Going barefoot will set you apart from society and make people think you’re weird or even crazy.



Fact: Yes, it will set you apart from society and in doing so people will judge you and question why you don’t wear shoes, but many times it will simply be out of curiosity or lack of understanding.


Being polite to those who comment on your obvious lack of shoes usually helps and can open up conversation about why you do so. This gives you the opportunity to tell them how harmful and unnecessary shoes really are. Maybe you can even convert a few people into not wearing shoes.
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Posted: Aug 13, 2011 10:33pm
Thousands of Gulf Oil Spill Clean-up Crew Are Dying! Video Of The dying!
Jul 21, 2011
Focus: Corporate Responsibility
Action Request: Read
Location: United States



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CKuJ8eqY6M&feature=player_embedded

If this video is not spread, this woman will die an unjustified death.

If this video is spread, there is a chance justice shall be served.

PLEASE WATCH THIS AND SHARE IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY. Do you know all those ads on TV telling you the Gulf Coast is safe? Do you know those BP commercials telling you they care about their employees, that they’ve cleaned up the spill? Well, here’s a video of a woman who was a one of the thousands of clean-up crew members…

Her body is now degenerating rapidly. She’s lost feeling in her right arm, and severe neurological/nerve damage is starting to cause uncontrollable facial twitching. Her fellow clean-up crew friends are . This is heartbreaking and will make you sick to your stomach, but we all need to demand the media and government and BP acknowledge the true horror of this situation. This is your opportunity to use the Internet (and Tumblr) to impact the world. Look at the Middle-East, and think how much more powerful we as Internet-users are in America because of our guaranteed access to these digital tools. 

 
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Posted: Jul 21, 2011 12:53pm
Take a look at what's really happening
Apr 12, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roDXSHSEuoo

This is what will soon be gone, everywhere on this earth.

There once was so much beauty.

Trees give us air, they are what allows us to live, but what do we do? We are so GREEDY we cut them all down.

This is what we do to the beauty. ^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

2010

 

There was the Haiti earthquake. It was 7.0-magnitude earthquake. The shake killed 230,000 people, injured another 300,000 and left 1 million homeless.. Nearly a hear after the quake, Haiti remains in ruins. And the disasters keep striking: A cholera outbreak has killed more than 2,400 people.

Earthquakes hit places that have already been through so much, imagine how little of hope they must have.
These are actual conditions in Haiti. REAL people live here. This is their homes, their life styles. And yet, we take everything for granted.

 

The oil spill. After it had released about 4.9 million barrel, or 205.8 million gallons of crude oil, it was capped. It was estimated that 53,000 barrels per day were escaping from the well just before it was capped. It is believed that the daily flow rate diminished over time, starting at about 62,000 barrels per day. The spill caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats. The total amount of Louisiana shoreline impacted by oil grew from 287 miles in July to 320 miles in late November 2010. The damage can't be fixed.

 

We, humans, did this.
The beautiful ocean, destroyed.
THIS IS UNCHANGABLE.
These animals died, because of our greed.
The ocean, ruined, forever.

 

 Earthquake in Chile Earth-Shattering 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile on Feb. 27. It lasted 90 seconds and triggered a tsunami . The tsunami caused damage as far away as San Diego and Japan. More than 500 people were killed and hundreds of others were homeless.

Damage from the Chile earthquake.

 

A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state of Queensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. The whole place was under water.

Floods in Australia.
Houses under water.

 

Snow storms at their worst, heat waves spreading wild fires, cancer rates at their highest, tons of volcanoes erupting, more earthquakes and tsunamis.

Tornadoes.
Earthquakes.

 

 And that's just the beginning.

It's 2011, and in the last three months, these are just a few things that have occurred so far. 

* Earthquake magnitude 6.9 Argentina - January 1

* Earthquake magnitude 5.2 - Southern XinJiang, China - January 1

* Earthquake 7.1 magnitude Chile - January 2

* More Than 1,000 Dead Birds Fall From Sky in Arkansas - January 2

* Dead fish cover 20-mile section of Arkansas River - January 2

* Uganda yellow fever outbreak kills more than 40 - January 3

* <span>Earthquake Near Japan Triggers Tsunami Warning - January 3

* Powerful earthquake hits south-east Iran - January 3

* Earthquake 7.0 magnitude hits northern Argentina - January 3

* Hundreds of dead blackbirds found in Louisiana - January 3

Birds started falling from the sky, dead.

* 10,000s of Birds found dead in Manitoba - January 3

* Thousands of Birds fall from the sky in South America - January 3

* Major Flood in Rockhampto,Australia - January 3

* Dead Birds Found In Kentucky - January 4

* 100 tons of dead fish wash up on Brazil's shores - January 4

* Hundreds of dead birds found in East Texas - January 5

* Dead birds in Sweden, millions of dead fish in Maryland, Brazil and New Zealand - January 5

This is probably from radiation.

* Shift of Earth's magnetic north pole affects Tampa airport - January 5

* 40,000 crabs found dead on England beaches - January 6

Dead crabs, everywhere.

* Heavy floods leave at least 35 dead in Brazil - January 6

* Earthquake 4.5 magnitude in California - January 12

* Huge Waves Destroy Homes in E. Indonesia - January 12

* Thousands of marine animals found dead in Mato Grosso Do Sul/Amazon Region - Febuary 4

* Magnitude 6.3 earthquake- South Island of New Zealand - Febuary 21

* Thousands of dead fish have washed up at Sebastian Inlet State Park Florida - Febuary

* Millions of small fish including anchovies, sardines and mackerel were found dead at King Harbour area at Redondo Beach, California - March 7

These are all dead fish.

<span>*Magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami devastating Japan - March 11

The wave from a tsunami crashes over a street in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck the area March 11, 2011.
Japan.
Toxic waste right this second is slipping into our air.

DO you see this list? This is from only THREE months. This much damage has been done, in only a few months. SHIT IS GETTING REAL.

This isn't even a fraction of what this world has became. There is mannny more disasters waiting for us, soon to come. I'm not saying the world is going to end, but I'm not saying it's not going to end. Anything could happen at any time, just know that. Live EVERY second like it's your last, make it count, and maybe start caring enough to make a change.

 

What our world is becoming.
There were once trees here.
There are actually days where you have to where masks outside, or stay indoors at all times, other wise you'll get sick, possibly die. Our air is ruined.
This is NOT how our Earth is supposed to look at night!

Across the skies the monuments stand

Shrines of wonder, man worshipping man

 Computer ethics mock a dying land

Down below like rats in a cage

 Success, survival, two needles in hay

It's Romans One facing satan's stare

 Pull down the forests we need more wood

Extend the grazing we need more food

 Burning our bridges before the flood

Out on the oceans where it's relatively safe

 It's not so easy being big as a whale

 We're all in a race on a bigger scale

Homosapien, I've had enough

 Homosapien, I'm giving up

At best your wisdom's a shot in the dark

 So make yourself pretty, make yourself rich

Leopardskin, sealskin, money and sex

 Apartheid, genocide, thalidomide, life

It's your choice

 But mountains

Are holy places

 And beauty is free

We can still walk

 Through the garden

Our earth was once green

 - Runrig

 

 We don't try to fix anything, we just kill one another, bomb one another. Humans some how became apart of this beautiful planet, but we are NOT necessary for this world to stay. The universe will go on without us. We have took this world and destroyed it, and now mother earth is giving us our pay back.

All we do, is kill. What kind of solution is that?

 

We are not important. We are a SPECK in this universe. This world, it is, BEYOND beautiful, yet all we care is about ourselves.

We are nothing, but this Earth is something.
We don't have forever, you know.

 This is really happening.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!

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Posted: Apr 12, 2011 5:10pm
10 ways to help the environment and world around you.
Apr 12, 2011

http://www.storyofstuff.org/film.php|http://www.storyofstuff.com/

  • ^^^^ These websites have fantastic films on the truth of our harmful ways of life.Look up more ways to help on the internet, there's tons of simple things you can do to make a difference.

 

Little things that help: The little things can make a big difference.

1. Pay attention to how you use water.

  • Even just turning off the water while you're brushing your teeth is a big help.
  • Wash your clothes in cold water when you can.
  • Take as short of showers as you can.
  • Try drinking tap water instead of bottled water, so you aren't wasting all that packaging as well. - Unfortunately, reusing plastic bottles further compromises the quality of the water, due to the fact that more and more phthalate leaches its way into the water as the bottle gets older. (Phthalate is a colorless liquid that has a bitter, disagreeable taste. It is a synthetic substance that is commonly used to make plastics more flexible.)

2. PLASTIC BOTTLES:

  • If you think, bottled water is better water, as opposed to that "nasty, unsafe stuff" that comes out of the tap, then think again. In most cases tap water adheres to stricter purity standards than bottled water, whose source—far from a mountain spring—can be wells underneath industrial facilities. Indeed, 40 percent of bottled water began life as, well, tap water.
  • Get a steel water bottle, you spend a little over a dollar a day for a water bottle, (If you're a person who drinks out of them) and a steel one can cost as little as seven dollars at such places like Fred Myers. That would be not only reducing the amount of plastic in landfills, that would also be much better for your health. Recycling is still bad for the environment, because of the emissions from melting the plastic, but it is much better than NOT recycling. A steel water bottle alternative would save you money as well. //storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/^^^^ Watch this video on bottled water. 

3. TURN OFF ELECTRONICS!:

  • A screen saver is not an energy saver. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 75% of all the electricity consumed in the home is standby power used to keep electronics running when those TVs, DVRs, computers, monitors and stereos are "off." The average Desktop computer, not including the monitor, consumes from 60 to 250 watts a day. Compared with a machine left on 24/7, a computer that is in use four hours a day and turned off the rest of the time would save you about $70 a year. The carbon impact would be even greater. Shutting it off would reduce the machine's CO2 emissions 83%, to just 63 kg a year.
  • One of the simplest things we can do to save energy is to avoid the so-called “vampire” energy loss that occurs when our electronics and appliances pull power, even when powered off. According to some estimates, including the EPA, vampire loss can account for up to 15% of our total home electricity usage.Turn off lights when you leave the room. 
  • Don’t turn on lights at all for as long as you can — open your curtains and enjoy natural light.

 

4. RECYCLE!

  • You can help reduce pollution just by putting that soda can in a different bin.
  • If you're trying to choose between two products, pick the one with the least packaging. If a building of 7,000 people, recycled all of its paper waste for a year, it would be the equivalent of taking almost 400 cars off the road.
  • Recycling is one of the best ways for you to have a positive impact on the world in which we live. Recycling is important to both the natural environment and us. We must act fast as the amount of waste we create is increasing all the time.  
  • The amount of rubbish we create is constantly increasing because: - Increasing wealth means that people are buying more products and ultimately creating more waste.- Increasing population means that there are more people on the planet to create waste. New packaging and technological products are being developed, much of these products contain materials that are not biodegradable.- New lifestyle changes, such as eating fast food, means that we create additional waste that isn’t biodegradable. 
  • Environmental Importance:- Recycling is very important as waste has a huge negative impact on the natural environment.- Harmful chemicals and greenhouse gasses are released from rubbish in landfill sites. Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste.- Habitat destruction and global warming are some the affects caused by deforestation. Recycling reduces the need for raw materials so that the rainforests can be preserved.- Huge amounts of energy are used when making products from raw materials. Recycling requires much less energy and therefore helps to preserve natural resources. 
  • Importance To People:- Recycling is essential to cities around the world and to the people living in them.- No space for waste. Our landfill sites are filling up fast, by 2010, almost all landfills in the UK will be full.- Reduce financial expenditure in the economy. - Making products from raw materials costs much more than if they were made from recycled products.- Preserve natural resources for future generations. Recycling reduces the need for raw materials; it also uses less energy, therefore preserving natural resources for the future.

5. Eat less meat.

  • There are 1.5 billion cattle and buffalo on the planet, along with 1.7 billion sheep and goats. Their populations are rising fast, especially in the developing world. Global meat production is expected to double between 2001 and 2050. Given the amount of energy consumed raising, shipping and selling livestock, a 16-oz.T-bone is like a Hummer on a plate.
  • A switch such as vegetarianism, you can shrink your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to research by the University of Chicago. Trading a standard car for a hybrid cuts only about one ton.
  • Rain forests and forests are being wiped out for cattle all over the world.As the deforestation happens for cattle industries, we are loosing so much.- We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.- Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists.
    • Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, along with many other places.

 

6. Buy locally grown food from the farmer’s market, ect. (Try to talk your parents into doing this, and if possible buying organic, so less toxins and genetically engineered foods are put into your body.)

  • It will keep longer since it didn’t spend any time in transit, it is fresher and will probably taste better.
  •  It is cheaper.
  • You support both farmers, and your local community.
  • It takes less energy to get the food to you from a local source than to ship it across the country, therefore reducing CO2 emissions.
  • Frozen food uses 10 times the energy as fresh food.

7. Keep electronics out of the trash.

  • Keep your cell phones, computers, and other electronics as long as possible.
  • Donate or recycle them responsibly when the time comes. E-waste contains mercury and other toxics and is a growing environmental problem.
  • Recycle your cell phone.
  • There are various places you can find to recycle your electronics, especially for phones.

8. Stop using disposable bags – order some reusable bags.

  •  Plastic bags are thrown away, transported to landfills where they will never biodegrade, or littered along the streets of this world.
  • Since this world revolves around consuming and shopping, this would make a huge impact.
  • If you were to go shopping and get plastic bags from each store, when you already have unfull bags, this would be a waste of plastic and just cause you to carry more. Tell them you'd like to put the stuff in your own bag, or bags you already have from other stores.

9. Use cloth instead of paper.

  • -This saves a huge amount of paper, thus it'd save huge amounts of trees from being cut down.
  •  People don't recycle used paper towels, but cloth can be reused.
  •  Be frugal, and make these rags out of old towels and t-shirts.
  • Use cloth napkins daily instead of paper.

10. COMPOST BINS:

 
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Posted: Apr 12, 2011 5:08pm
What you're really eating when you eat fast food
Apr 12, 2011

What's in today's meat, and fast food. Just thought you all should know a little bit about what you're really eating when you go to a fast food place. Shouldn't you want to know what you're about to eat before you eat it?

  • SICKENING FACTS:
  •  So often, people have reported finding strands of hair and flies in their burgers. And it’s definitely not once a while experience. What about those which were actually not found and ended up inside your stomach because you were too busy to notice them?
  •  Former fast food workers say that it’s common to blend cockroaches and other bugs into dairy deserts.
  •   For his documentary Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock puts several McDonald’s entrees into separate glass containers to find out how they will decompose. He does the same thing with a burger and fries from a local non-chain restaurant. After two weeks, the burger and fries from the restaurant are covered in mold and oozing as expected, but the McDonalds Big Mac and fries look eerily pristine. Five weeks in, the regular burger and fries are unidentifiable, the Big Mac is molding, but the McDonald’s fries still look perfect.Two months later, nearly everything is black with mold except the fries, which appear as fresh and perky as the day they were bought, as if they were made of plastic. The experiment begs the question: “How long do they last in your stomach?"
  •  In a 1996 study, the FDA found that nearly 79 percent of ground beef has microbes that are primarily spread through fecal matter. As Schlosser puts it: “There’s shit in the meat.”
  •  The problem of cattle spreading bacteria to humans is partly due to the conditions that cattle are raised. They live in close quarters where contagious infections multiply and they eat foods that make them unhealthy. Cows’ digestive systems are meant for grass but instead, cattle are often raised on corn and high-protein feeds made from rendered animals. Mad Cow Disease prompted a ban on feeding cattle dead cow remains, but the FDA still permits horse, poultry, and pig remains, as well as cow blood in cattle feed.
  • The pathogens are also spread at slaughterhouses. If a worker carelessly removes the digestive systems from a cow carcass, manure and dirt can spill onto the meat. The workers are often poorly trained and under extreme time pressures, making mistakes more likely. Grinding the meat spreads the contamination from the meat of one cow to hundreds.
  • The waste products from poultry plants, including the sawdust and old newspapers used as litter, are also being fed to cattle. About 3 million pounds of chicken manure were fed to cattle in 1994.  Chicken manure may contain dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter, parasites such as tapeworms and Giardia lamblia, antibiotic residues, arsenic, and heavy metals. 
  • The meat is shoveled into carts, and some of the men who do the shoveling would not go through the trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one -there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. The routine slaughter of diseased animals, the use of chemicals such as borax and glycerine to disguise the smell of spoiled beef, the deliberate mislabeling of canned meat, the tendency of workers to urinate and defecate on the kill floor.

 

  •  CHEMICALS:
  • The fast food industry has worked hard to engineer foods that will appeal to our every sense with manufactured flavorings, color, and what’s called mouthfeel—the texture, weight, and consistency. Companies—often the same ones that make perfumes—mix the chemicals that give our processed food their flavors.
  • There are over one hundred chemicals that make up the standard strawberry flavor in a milkshake. The flavoring for proprietors is kept secret. Typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milkshake, contains approximately 50 unrecognizable ingredients. The irony of it all? Not one ingredient is the actual fruit. Although the strawberry flavor arises from a mixture of many different chemicals, a single compound supplies the dominant aroma.
  • What do they do with all the extra cow parts and trimmings that have traditionally been sold off for use in pet food? They scrape them together into a pink mass, inject them with a chemical to kill the e.coli, and sell them to fast food restaurants to make into hamburgers. That's what's been happening all across the USA with beef sold to McDonald's, Burger King, school lunches and other fast food restaurants.
  • The beef is injected with ammonia, a chemical commonly used in glass cleaning and window cleaning products. This is all fine with the USDA, which endorses the procedure as a way to make the hamburger beef "safe" enough to eat. Ammonia kills e.coli, you see, and the USDA doesn't seem to be concerned with the fact that people are eating ammonia in their hamburgers.
  • This ammonia-injected beef comes from a company called Beef Products, Inc. As NYT reports, the federal school lunch program used a whopping 5.5 million pounds of ammonia-injected beef trimmings. This company reportedly developed the idea of using ammonia to sterilize beef before selling it for human consumption.

You can get the same effect by opening a can of dog food made with beef byproducts, spraying it with ammonia, and swallowing it. That is essentially what you're eating when you order a fast food burger.

  • DON'T EAT FAST FOOD FRIES IF YOU'RE VEGETARIAN:
  • For decades, McDonald’s used beef tallow to cook its fries. When the public started to worry about saturated fat, the company switched to vegetable oil, but it continues to use animal products to achieve the same flavor.
  • McDonalds has refused to disclose what other ingredients they use.
  • The taste of fast-food fries are determined not by the potato, but rather by the way the potato is cooked.
  • Until very recently, McDonald's fries were cooked with 93 percent beef tallow, so the fries actually contained more saturated fat than a hamburger.
  • Due to some bad publicity, the chain switched to vegetable oil in 1990. However, McDonald's still continues to use an ingredient it refers to as "natural flavoring," which it says comes from an animal, although it won't reveal which one.  
  •  HORRIBLE FOR YOUR HEALTH: This list can go on and on, but I'll just list two things that stood out to me. 
  • A dough conditioner and bleaching agent, which was once widely used in bread baking, is considered a category 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans) carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. In 1993, the World Health Organization recommended its removal from all foods, and though it has been banned in many countries, it's still permitted in the United States and Japan, where it continues to be used in buns at McDonalds, Burger King, Arby's, and Wendy's.
  • Health guidelines clearly state that people should not consume more than 2 grams of trans-fat a day. But when you consume fast food, such as French fries, you can actually end up consuming about 7 grams of trans-fat. This is way too much and obviously not good for your heart.
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Posted: Apr 12, 2011 5:07pm

 
 
 
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