Quick Reality Check Articles

March 25, 2010

QRC – The Geranium

Filed under: House Plants for health — Tags: , , , — Administrator @ 23:35

GeraniumThe geranium is a beautiful house and garden plant which has potentially useful healing properties. The geranium plant produces essential oils in small glands around the foliage and flowers. Geranium oil can be harvested when the plant starts flowering and can be taken 2 or 3 times a year.

Geranium oil is a good astringent and can be diluted with water and used topically to help clean your face or it can be added to your bath water. It is also an antiseptic which can improve both dry or oily skin and hair. A tea can be made with the leaves and flowers or an oil infusion. It is even used as a herb in cooking. The geranium is considered to be safe for most people however, those with an autoimmune disease or are pregnant should avoid it.

Some cultures use the geranium to relieve symptoms of anxiety, PMS and menopausal symptoms. The geranium is reputed to help heal bruises, cuts and scrapes, eczema, hemorrhoids, nail fungus and sunburns as well as help with insomnia and varicose veins. It is also a great natural insect repellent and is well known in the ancient world as a tick repellent for dogs and humans alike!

How to Make Geranium Tea:

You can make a tea from dried or fresh geranium leaves. For dried leaves, use 2 teaspoons, for fresh use /14 cup. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the leaves and let sit for 5 minutes. Strain the leaves out and drink.

How to Make A Geranium Compress:

Pour boiling water over the dried geranium herbs. Cover tightly and let sit for 15 minutes. Strain out the herb so that you are left with the infused water. Soak a cotton cloth in the infusion and squeeze it out so it is only damp. Apply the compress. A compress of Geranium oil is often useful for reducing the pain of rheumatic joints or bruises.

How to Make a Geranium Oil Infusion:

Fill a jar with the dried herbs almost to the top. Pour in extra virgin olive oil – make sure the oil covers the herbs and goes 1″ above the volume of the botanicals. Put in the sun for two weeks shaking it daily. Strain out the flowers. You can store this infusion in the fridge for up to three months.

Growing Geraniums Indoors

Geraniums thrive outdoors, in summer flower beds or containers but can be grown successfully indoors all year round. You can over-winter geraniums from your garden indoors: take top-growth cuttings four to five inches long and root them in a suitable cutting medium, then transplant the rooted geranium cuttings to grow in pots in a sunny windowsill. Alternatively, you can dig up the whole geranium from your garden, cut the growth back to six inches, and let it grow back naturally in a suitably sized pot.

Geraniums prefer to dry out somewhat between watering and will benefit from bi-weekly fertilizing, either soluble fertilizer added to the water, or slow-release fertilizer added to the pot soil.

February 12, 2010

Quick Reality Check – Aluminum Water Bottles contain BPA

Filed under: Food, Health, toxins — Tags: , , — Administrator @ 00:58

water bottlesMany people have been using refillable metal containers as a healthier and environmentally friendlier alternative to water in plastic bottles. However, aluminum water bottles are typically lined with a type of plastic because no-one likes to drink straight from aluminum as it just doesn’t taste right and there is a potential health hazard from ingesting aluminum.

The problem is that the plastic liner is typically an epoxy resin whose “key building block,” according to the American Chemistry Council, is BPA. Bisphenol A, a chemical which can mimic human estrogen and which is linked to breast cancer and early puberty in women.

To avoid the dangers of BPA, consider stainless steel water bottles which do not need a plastic liner and are a great refillable alternative to plastic bottled water

December 7, 2009

QRC – The “clean smell” in your home may be killing you.

Filed under: Health, toxins — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Administrator @ 01:43

* Your home and your clothes may have a “clean smell” like lemons or pine.

* These synthetic fragrances found in laundry and cleaning products including laundry detergents, fabric softeners, dryer sheets as well as in “air fresheners” emit dozens of different chemicals.

* A recent study found that a plug-in air freshener emitted 20 different volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which included seven compounds regulated as toxic or hazardous under U.S. federal laws yet the label simply lists “fragrance”.

* Beware of products that list “fragrance” on the label as many terrible chemicals come under this “catch all” word.

* Most “fragrances” are manufactured from oil and their health effects on humans when inhaled have often never been studied.

* One example is phthalates which are often used in fragrances and have been shown to disrupt hormones in animals.

* You should look for fragrance-free or naturally-scented laundry products.

* You should use baking soda, borax and vinegar as cleaners where possible and avoid cleaners with artificial fragrances.

* Do not use aerosol sprays such as deodorants, hair sprays, carpet cleaners, furniture polish, and air fresheners.

* Open windows when possible so toxins will not build up in your home or install a heat recovery ventilator to your furnace which reduces energy losses but keeps fresh air circulating into your home constantly.

* Use sliced lemons and baking soda for a clean scent in your kitchen.

* Houseplants which are not poisonous to children or pets are a great way to naturally purify the air indoors.

November 19, 2009

Quick Reality Check – Min Wage

Filed under: Energy — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Administrator @ 01:38

In 1960, the minimum wage was $1.00 and the average wage was about $2.32 per hour.
A 24 ounce loaf of bread costs $0.21 and requires 13 minutes of work to earn.
A pound of ground beef costs $0.33 and requires 20 minutes of work to earn.
10 pounds of potatoes cost $0.49 which requires 29 minutes of work to earn.

In 2009 the minimum wage is now $7.25.
A 24 ounce loaf of bread costs $1.49 and requires 12 minutes of work to earn.
A pound of ground beef costs $3.49 and requires 29 minutes of work to earn.
10 pounds of potatoes cost $4.99, which requires 41 minutes of work to purchase.

In 2009 more people earn minimum wage as the better paying factory jobs have disappeared and minimum wage now buys less than it ever has!

We must create more jobs which can pay higher wages. One way of doing this is outlined as follows:

Individual consumers must demand quality products which are durable and reliable and which can be repaired in locals depots and not thrown away and replaced.

This would enable communities to look at converting local natural resources into the finished products to create the products we need and to reduce the environmental and economic burdens of shipping natural resource materials around the world and then bringing back finished goods.

This would also create employment in repairing and maintaining the products made and sold in the community.

Individuals must demand locally grown food produced by sustainable means without the use of pesticides, herbicides, and oil intensive means. This will enable sustainable distributed agricultural production which may require more labor and create more jobs while reducing our dependence on oil.

Individuals must demand energy independence and embrace emerging new technologies such as solar and wind power which can offer paybacks of four years or less for products with an operating life of 20 years or more.

Future blogs will provide additional details on how individuals can enhance the sustainability of our society and our planet.

October 30, 2009

QRC – Wheat and birth defect production

Filed under: Energy — Tags: , , , , — Administrator @ 00:19

* Chlorophenoxy compounds are often mixed into commercial fertilizers to control the growth of broad leaf weeds.

* Several hundred commercial products contain chlorophenoxy herbicides in various forms and at various concentrations.

* Chlorophenoxy herbicides are heavily used in wheat production.

* An infant born in a rural, wheat-producing county in the United States has about twice the chance of suffering birth defects as one born in a rural place that doesn’t produce wheat.

* Scientific researchers blame chlorophenoxy herbicides for these birth defects.

October 25, 2009

Quick Reality Check – One step on the road to starvation

Filed under: Energy — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Administrator @ 22:24

* Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, just converted from one form to another, such as from sunlight to plant matter, and during this process energy is lost which is impractical to recover.

* Each day, the sun provides a finite amount of energy to the earth which creates our weather, causes the winds to blow, rains to fall, the plants to grow and shapes the face of our planet.

* All animals eat plants or eat animals that eat plants.

* Plants use photosynthesis to turn sunlight into stored energy in the form of carbohydrates, the basic fuel of all animals. There is no alternative to plant energy, just as there is no alternative to oxygen for animals including humans to live.

* Humans consume about 40 percent of Earth’s “primary productivity” which is the energy collected by plants each year, which may explain why the current extinction rate for other species is 1,000 times that it was before humans dominated the planet.

* The United States uses about half of the world’s primary productivity yet accounts for only about 6.3 percent of its population.

* This disparity is unsustainable. Therefore, in order to ensure a high quality of life for ourselves, our children, grandchildren, and future generations, we must learn to operate our society more energy efficiently.

* The “enhanced crop yields” which we are seeing are not a “scientific breakthrough” but are more like a “simple parlor trick of an amateur magician” wherein we now have crop yields 5 times higher per acre than the 1950s BUT we use 30-50 times more energy to produce these crops. We are actually “less efficient” than we were 60 years ago and our crops are more contaminated with herbicides and pesticides than before.

* We are using hundreds of “calories” of oil (plant energy stored over millions of years), to produce a few calories of food therefore when this oil runs out, we will all starve if current food production and distribution methods are not drastically changed and improved.

* This is only one of many issues facing our food supply which we will discuss in future articles.

* We MUST develop new technologies to use ONLY the energy available from the sun each year, the planet’s “primary productivity” to feed and power our civilization if we are to enjoy a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations.

October 16, 2009

QRC – Breakfast Cereal – 2 pounds of food made with the energy from 4 pounds of gasoline

Filed under: Energy, Food, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , , , , — Administrator @ 00:46

cereal* Breakfast cereals are made of grains and are recommended by he Canada food guide and the USDA as part of a balanced diet.

* The problem for society is that the grinding, milling, wetting, drying, and baking of a breakfast cereal requires about four calories of energy for every calorie of food energy it produces.

* The manufacture of a two-pound bag of breakfast cereal requires the energy equivalent of a half-gallon of gasoline.

* In general, processed food in North America and Europe uses about ten calories of fossil-fuel energy for every calorie of food energy it produces.

* In addition to the energy to make the processed foods, fuel is also used in transporting the food from the factory to a store near you, and more fuel is used by millions of people driving to thousands of super discount stores on the edge of town, where the land is cheap.

* It is obvious that this model for feeding society is not sustainable. We must develop alternatives.

October 15, 2009

Quick Reality Check – A Century of Sugar Damage to Society

Filed under: Food, Health, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , — Administrator @ 01:49

sugar

* The mass consumption of sugar began with the industrialization of Victorian England.
The British Empire has significant quantities of sugar available from plantations in the colonies.
The cities of Britain will filled with factory workers who needed to be fed cheaply.

* In the factories of Victorian Britain the “afternoon tea break” was born. The tea was primarily warm water and sugar to keep the workers “alive”. Some workers who were “well off” could also afford bread with heavily sugared jam.

* There was a 500 percent increase in per capita sugar consumption in Britain between 1860 and 1890, around the time when the life expectancy of a male factory worker was seventeen years.

* By 1900 the average person in Britain was getting about one sixth of his total nutrition from sugar, exactly the same percentage Americans get today and which is DOUBLE what nutritionists recommend.

* The only thing which has changed in the last 100 years is that over half of our sugar comes from corn and sugar beets to create “high-fructose corn sweeteners” which are the keystone ingredient in three quarters of all processed foods, especially soft drinks, the food of America’s poor and working classes.

* It is not a coincidence that the American pandemic of obesity tracks rather nicely with the fivefold increase in corn-syrup production over the past forty years

* We MUST create a viable means from growing and distributing a variety of affordable “unprocessed” foods to our population to restore health and vitality to our society.

October 1, 2009

Quick Reality Check – Struggling farmers and our future

Filed under: Food, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , , , , — Administrator @ 01:07

* Each day, the sun provides a finite amount of energy to the earth which creates our weather, causes the winds to blow, rains to fall, the plants to grow and shapes the face of our planet.

veggies

* Humans engage in many different industries each day yet more than two thirds of humanity’s primary productivity results from agriculture, yet our farmers have been marginalized and their important position in society usurped by companies providing farmers with energy, fertilizers, and seeds which enable “modern farming methods” which really turn oil into food in a very inefficient manner and by companies which “distribute food” to the masses.

* The 500% improved crop yields of 2009 versus 1950 using “modern farming methods” are created by using 30-50 times more energy to produce these crops. We are actually “less efficient” than we were 60 years ago and we use many “calories” of oil to create one “calories” in our crops which are now more contaminated with herbicides and pesticides than before.

* Our farmers are critical to our health and survival yet we create a commercial environment where farmers cannot make a living which is obviously a road to disaster.

* The situation between farmer and their suppliers and customers reminds me of a great quote from Balzac who said, “The secret of great wealth with no obvious source is some forgotten crime, forgotten because it was done neatly”.

* We must develop improved methods of growing and distributing food if our prosperity as a society and as a species is to continue for future generations once the oil runs out.

September 29, 2009

Quick Realty Check – Unsustainable Health Care versus sustainable living

Filed under: Energy, Quick Reality Check — Tags: , — Administrator @ 23:11

* All human activities consume resources including energy and materials.

* All human activities produce waste byproducts.

* If we consume energy and resources within what the sun and earth can provide in each year and we reuse and recycle our waste products, we can create a sustainable society.

* In 2007, the U.S. spent $2.26 trillion on health care, $7,439 per person, which represents approximately 15% of the Gross domestic product of the country.

* In the United States in 2007, 31% of medical costs were spent on hospital care, 21% spent on physician services, 10% spent on pharmaceuticals, 8% spent on nursing homes, 7% spent on administrative costs, and 23% spent on diagnostic laboratory services, pharmacies, medical devices etc.

* Health care activities represented one of the most significant uses of energy and materials in the United States.

* Therefore, we must focus significant efforts on simple sustainable ways that individuals can preventing the leading causes of illness and death thereby avoiding the huge resources associated with treating illnesses.

* The leading causes of death in the United States as of 2008 included heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, diabetes, and Alzheimers.

* We will be creating a spin-off blog for those interested in ideas on sustainability through healthy living to prevent and treat illness.

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