Garma On Health » Enviornment

The Weight of the Nation is Crushing America

Joe Garma — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:16:49 +0000

I JUST heard that this HBO documentary is airing tonight on… well… HBO, so this post is a bit late to gin up a tsunami of interest, at least from this tiny corner of the cyberworld.

The good news it that it’s a ~~two~~ four-part (whoops) series that will probably air again and/or be accessible online.

The HBO documentary, “The Weight of the Nation” is a clarion call for changing our eating habits and the government’s food and farm policies and subsidies.

Without some quick and dramatic changes, we will all soon have a problem, not just the 2/3rds of us that are overweight or obese, as well as 1/3 of children.

There’s the health problems for those overweight, and financial and social problems for everyone.

Here’s the web site: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/films

Here are some soundbites from the trailer:

“1/3 of the people in this nation are obese, and 2/3rds are overweight”

“Obesity is the biggest threat to the welfare of this country.”

“This is probably first generation that will have a lower life expectancy than their parents’”

“It’s about the health and wealth of the U.S. as a nation.”

“All of us have to be part of the solution.”

“We will all pay a serious price.”

Yes, it might be an unsavory topic, one better left in the closet from the manufactured food industries point of view. And, the closet is where it’s been for nigh twenty years. Things need to change. The first step is to understand why “the weight of the nation is crushing America”.

Tune in, find out.

Yep.

Happy Birthday to the “Godmother of the Wellness Movement” — You Are Marvelous at 90! (Watch)

Joe Garma — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:34:58 +0000

All her life, Deborah Szekely, the “Godmother of the Wellness Movement” has been a thriving example of wellness. Now 90, she still works tirelessly to illuminate the harmful actions of agri-business and Big Pharma, and the government’s support of programs that have fueled the country’s obesity epidemic.

Today’s post is a “shout out” to Deborah Szekely (pronounced SAY-Kay) on her 90^th birthday.

If you haven’t heard of Deborah Szekely, know that she has operated for 72 years the world-renowned Rancho La Puerta Spa in Mexico, and for 42 years the Golden Door Spa in Escondido California.

At those spas, she has been a tireless advocate of treating your body as a temple by conforming to these three dictates:

Do not pollute yourself with processed food,
Develop a lifestyle of physical activity, and
Allow yourself to heal.

Ms. Szekely’s life itself has been a testimony to living the natural, holistic life, and the benefits thereby derived. Despite entering her 10^th decade, her only “medication” are vitamins, some thyroid therapy and a B12 shot every month.

She does Pilates four times a week, has weighed within the same 118 to 122 pounds for decades, has 104/62 blood pressure, and a cholesterol count of 193 (not fasting).

Couldn’t be better.

Surely, the woman has admirably lived her truth, and has become a superlative example of how a long and strong life can be lived by making smart choices about diet, exercise and attitude.

Surely, at this point in life she would be satisfied with her accomplishments and the multiple thousands of people she has helped to slow down.

But no.

“My schedule is the same as it was when I was 60!”, she says.

Which is about to be busier, because this “Godmother of the Wellness Movement” is giving birth to yet another cause aimed at improving the lives of others: Wellness Spring.

The Wellness Spring Initiative

Ann Brenoff writes in this Huffington Post article:

About the only thing that raises [Deborah Szekely’s] blood pressure are the actions of agri-business and Big Pharma and the government’s support of programs that have fueled the country’s obesity epidemic. Her Wellness Spring initiative aims to raise $10 million by collecting $10 each from one million people. The money will be used to fund lobbying efforts to counter those of businesses that she argues are poisoning and killing Americans with fast food and a culture that “considers watching TV an activity.”

“How is pizza possibly a vegetable?” she asked incredulously of the congressional decision that deemed it so. “Americans are getting fatter and sicker by the day and the soft drink and fast-food companies are going merrily on their way while Big Pharma is happy to provide pills for all the diseases and health problems the bad food causes.”

Here is this fine and stately lady telling her story and the need for Wellness Spring:

We humans tend to accept what’s possible for us by examining what’s been done by others. May Deborah Szekely’s life and her work inspire us all.

The Surprising Reasons Your Kids Should Care About Your Genetics (It’s Not What You Think)

Joe Garma — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:38:49 +0000

If you have a sweet tooth, are overweight, have kids, want to have kids, or just simply have genes, read (and watch) how Hank Green and I weave together a tale about sugar, obesity, behavior and epigenetics.

THERE’S A story to tell about sugar, obesity behavior and epigenetic theory. One touches the other, back and forth.

Epa…what? Touch what?

This connection is going to unfold, step by step. And if you’re interested in some reasons why the industrialized world – meaning the people therein – are overweight and prone to chronic disease, you’ll want to take this little journey into the world of sugar-producing obesity and epigenetics.

Sugar is not only a cornerstone of our obesity epidemic, and thereby of the chronic diseases associated with obesity, but serves as a useful foil for behavior.

We do what we like when we can.

We eat sugar because we like it, it’s cheap and it’s everywhere.

Epigenetics is how your behavior, like copious sugar eating, affects your genetics.

Turns out, your genetic expression is not set in stone. That’s a good thing if there are some genetic expressions you rather not experience, like cancer. It’s a bad thing if your genes are rocking rock solid, but your behavior overwhelms them; behavior such as breathing smoke into your lungs.

Have you heard of The Science Show on YouTube with Hank Green?

If not, in just a moment you’ll discover how insightful and entertaining it is, because I’ve put Mr. Green front and center in this post to be our learned expert in telling the story that I’ve weaved together.

Our story is about this:

1. How genetics loads the gun, but behavior pulls the trigger;

2. Moreover, how behavior not only pulls the trigger for you, but for your kids, and their kids; and

3. How sugar and its sidekick, High Fructose Corn Syrup, have contributed to an obesity epidemic that underscores and provides an example for #1 and #2.

So, if you eat sugar, are overweight, have kids, want to have kids, or just simply have genes, read (and watch) on.

Sugar Runs the Planet

Sugar is a vital thing, as it’s the primary source of energy on earth, from bacteria to plants to us.

It comes in various forms, such as sucrose, glucose and fructose. Put molecular chains of these various sugars together, and you get various forms of carbohydrates.

Carbs are the macronutrient that we use run our bodies. Complex carbs that are slow to be absorbed by the body run our bodies longer than simple carbs – the fast blood absorption type — do.

Clearly, we need sugar.

Problem is that the average American consumes about 22 teaspoons of sugar per day, about 16 more teaspoons more than is healthy. That’s almost 4X more sugar consumption than is healthy. Each day.

Just from soda alone, the average American consumes 50 pounds of sugar per year.

Add to that the rest of the food we eat that contains sugar and the count soars to over 130 pounds per year!

Ready for a video demonstration of this? It’s fun, so watch Hank Green educate and delight in Why We Love Sugar (you can skip the ad by clicking it):

Read my post: Sugar is a Toxin Says Drs. Hyman, Gupta and Lustig

Next up, High Fructose Corn Syrup, “HFCS”

Sugar is expensive. Do to $40 billion subsidies paid to corn farmers by you via our dear ole Uncle Sam, HFCS is very cheap. And cheap is good when, as a food manufacturer, you increase profit by decreasing your cost of goods needed to make your product.

Visualize for a moment your favorite supermarket.

Where are the foods that resemble how they look on the farm that grew them?

Mostly, they’re along the outside perimeter within the store. Given that one side of the box that represents our envisioned store is lined with cash registers, the three other sides contain the real food.

Now, recall what’s in every other aisle in the store. Yes, every other aisle has the foodstuff that is made in factories where it is manufactured, not grown.

Note that there are many more aisles of the factory food than those lonely three offering real food.

By “manufactured foods”, I refer to the product we eat that are derived from food grown on the farm, but do not resemble it, nor contain the original macronutrient composition (protein, carbs, fat) of the original farm-grown food.

These manufactured foods need to be made palatable to your taste buds. Typically, this is achieved by artificially giving them the tastes of fat, sugar and salt.

Because the food manufacturers want to reduce the cost of the product, the sugar used is the cheapest sugar available, thanks to our Uncle (and enabled by our own benign neglect), and that’s High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Now, HFCS has a similar molecular structure to sucrose, but tastes sweeter. So why is it considered worse for you?

The research on this is unclear, although what is clear is that rats get a lot fatter on HFCS than other types of sugar.

What is also clear is that we now eat more manufactured food than ever before, and HCFS is in most of it.

Eat more of something that makes you fat, and guess what happens?

OK, take it away, Hank Green, in his video segment, High Fructose Corn Syrup, The “Dark Lord” of Nutrition:

Read my post: Are You Getting Fat and Sick from Sugar?

Four (and more) Reasons We’re (suddenly) Fat

Starting in 1980, about 10% of Americans were obese; now, it’s above 30%. The overweight number, which includes the obese and merely husky, is over 60%.

Carrying a lot of extra body weight can kill you. Obesity is linked to heart disease, obesity and even cancer.

[Read my post: Will Your Belly Fat Cause Cancer?]

Conventional wisdom says that the problem can be conveyed in a pretty simple “calories in, calories out” model; meaning, if you consume more calories than you use to produce the energy you expend, you get fat, and visa versa.

But there’s a nuance here that’s so big that it will bonk you on the head if you think about it…

As compared to our forefathers, not only what we eat is different, but also what we do.

Take sleep for example. It’s the first of four (and more) behavioral reasons that contribute to why we carry too much of the jiggly.

Reason #1: Sleep Deprivation

We don’t sleep enough. Since the 1960s we’ve lost two hours per day of sleep.

Scientists have determined that lack of sleep can lead to obesity. When working properly, the hormones Leptin and Ghrelin tell your body when your hungry, but when you’re sleep-deprived, they become somewhat dysfunctional.

When dysfunctional, it would be great if Leptin and Ghrelin told your body that you’re full, but, alas, biology is not so kind in this instance: You’re told you’re hungry, not full. Thus you eat even when you really don’t need to. (Sounds familiar.)

Reason #2: Climate Control

The next big change between now and forefather times is climate control.

Being that we humans are warm-blooded mammals, it takes a certain amount of calories to keep our bodies at the right temperature.

In the good ole days, turning the dial on your thermostat wasn’t an available option. Shivering or sweating was, which uses calories.

Reason #3: Less Smoking

Smoking is the third reason that may be contributing to an overfat society… but I don’t recommend it as a get thin strategy.

Note: smoking is far more deadly than obesity, but if you breathe smoke into your lungs long enough, you may be thinner than 60+% of your neighbors before you die from some hideous cancer.

Reason #4: More Industrial Chemicals (and other things, like gut bacteria!)

No one yet knows the cumulative effect on people from the thousands of commonly used industrial chemicals that we’re exposed to, such as various resins, solvents, perfumes, dyes, plastics, etc.

We do know from experiments that rats fed certain pervasively used chemicals get much fatter than the control group, even when they’re fed half the food!

We do know that the typical infant born today comes into the world with “with 287 chemicals in her umbilical cord blood, 217 of which are neurotoxic (poisonous to nerves or nerve cells)…”

[Read my post: The Ultimate Heavy Metal Detox]

Which begs the question: Since the industrial age, has the gradually increasing chemical load in our bodies predestined us to getting fatter?

I’ll leave it to Hank Green to delve into the chemical overload thing, as well as why gut bacteria is related to weight, the age of mothers and the size of the fathers they choose in his next video, Obesity:

Read my post: The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity

How Epigenetics Fits Into The Story

And now, alas, we finally grab all this sugar, fat and behavior stuff and dive into the deep end of the epigenetics (gene) pool.

“Epigenetics” means “above genetics”, and as such is the study of:

“… heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence.” (Source)

This is going to rock your world, because, as it turns out, if you are or will be a procreator, yours are not the only genes and/or gene expression that your behavior will affect.

For as nature would have it, genetics is not the only determinant of your inherited, genetically predisposed biology… what you do can affect the genetics of your kids!

To get a conceptual handle on this, let’s use computer hardware (the machine) and software (instructions to the machine) as a familiar example.

The genome (DNA) is the hardware (body), whereas the epigenome is the software that will tell the body what to do.

The genome does the work, but the epigenome tells it what to do.

The hardware DNA will stay the same throughout your life, but the epigenetic “tags” (behavioral inputs) do change, and they decide what genes get expressed.

Which brings me back to an earlier statement I made in this post:

“[G]enetics loads the gun, but behavior pulls the trigger.”

What we do, eat, smoke… the malevolence of stress… it all affects what genes get triggered.

This understanding is relatively new.

It used to be thought that what you did made no difference to your offspring, genetically speaking. You could, for instance, smoke three packs of cigs a day and would produce kids completely unaffected by this crazy, self-inflicted wound.

What is now scientifically verifiable is that your behavior can, in fact, get passed down to your kid’s genetics, and their kid’s kids.

A Swedish study showed how this works down the genetic line due to dietary factors, but to nibble on that you’re going to have to watch this next-up entertaining and brain-twisting video from our now very familiar friend, Hank Green, called, naturally, Epigenetics:

By now, you feel either delightfully edutained (educated + entertained), or depressed… or completely in denial as you prepare a frontal assault on my frontal cortex in the Comments section below.

Whichever; this is the end of this story, for now.

Yep.

P.S. Many thanks to the witty and sagacious Hank Green and his capable crew at The Science Show on YouTube. Go give them a slap on the back here: http://www.facebook.com/scishow

Dr. Hyman: “4 Steps to Get Rid of Toxic Weight”

Joe Garma — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:39:49 +0000

Best-selling author of The Blood Sugar Solution, Dr. Mark Hyman, introduces the “Quadruple P” model of how he thinks about cleansing. It’s basic, memorable and may help demystify what cleansing/detoxification is all about. Given the hundreds of heavy metal chemicals in our bodies, detoxing is something to consider.

THERE ARE always more than one way to look at something. When it comes to cleansing (detoxification), I think about what’s in the body and what’s outside it.

In the body you have the circulatory system, organs and fat where toxins accumulate and circulate. To get them out of the body, we’re reliant on the organs of cleansing and elimination, which are:

Kidneys
Liver
Gastrointestinal Tract
Lungs
Skin

Many cleansing protocols focus on aiding one or more of our natural cleansing systems that in an ideal world – pristine food, pristine environment – could do the job without assistance.

Problem is that for most of us, neither pristine food nor a pristine environment exists.

That MacDonald’s and Coke are multi-billion dollar business attests to my assertion about our diet.

That the average infant is born with 287 chemicals in her umbilical cord blood, 217 of which are neurotoxic (poisonous to nerves or nerve cells) attests to my assertion about our environment.

I’m often engaged in conversations about cleansing and I typically say that:

First, you need to stop ingesting and breathing in toxins;
Second, you need to mop up the toxins already present in your body; and
Third, I get into a spiel about how to specially address supporting the body’s natural organs of cleansing and elimination.

But there’s another way to look at, or visualize, the same problem, brought to us by Dr. Mark Hyman, who with the publication of his best seller, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!, is soon to be among the most famous doctors in America, me thinks.

Dr. Hyman recently penned a post he calls, How Toxins Make You Fat: 4 Steps to Get Rid of Toxic Weight. In it, he presents some research that shows that various environmental pollutants can cause diabetes and obesity, a combination that Dr. Hyman and others call “Diabesity”, which he claims afflict 50% of the American population.

Dr. Hyman is on a mission to help people heal themselves, and detoxification is one big part of the process.

Rather than get into the organs and specify how each may be supported in a particular cleansing ritual, Dr. Hyman writes about the four main exit routes for toxins: Pee, Poop, Perspiration and Pranayama (Sanskrit for “breath”), which he called the “Quadruple P.”

Every moment of every day your body is relying on the Quadruple P to mobilize, transform, and excrete toxins, he says.

I’ll summarize his points on each “P” and add my commentary here and there.

Pee

This is a kidney thing. Dr. Hyman says you need to ensure you’re doing enough of it, and you can help your kidneys out by drinking plenty of pure water, 8 x 8 (8 ounces, 8 times per day) that allow the kidney’s to flush out the waste from the blood that accumulate in them.

If your urine is dark or smelly, need to hydrate more.

Filter the water or use a good bottle water source, he says. I say, forget about buying bottled water! It’s wasteful, both in money spent and environmental damage. Think not? Read Plastic Water Has Gotta Go, for Your Sake! and Take the Plastic Out of Water Bottles.

Poo

Have one or two sessions on the throne, Dr. Hyman advises, and says that less then this is an indication of constipation that you can reverse by drinking more water and fiber.

I concur; however, my experience and reading suggests that the number of poos per day should be related to the number of substantial meals. Native people, who consume much more fiber than us and no processed foods, have as many bowl movements each day as they have meals. You do the math.

Perspiration

Few people recognize that your skin is the largest organ of elimination. You maximize its potential to get toxins out via the skin by sweating. Here, Dr. Hyman focuses on saunas, stating that some research indicates that sauna therapy increases excretion of heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, and fat-soluble chemicals—PCBs, PBBs, and HCBs).

I might add two things: Exercise and Detox Baths.

Exercise is obvious, so I won’t belabor its value that extends beyond detoxification. It feels great to breath hard and sweat… well, maybe not when first starting an exercise regime, but eventually it will. Honest.

Detox baths are less obvious. When done properly, these pull toxins from the skin, partly by sweating in hot water loaded with some items supplemental to H2O; namely, baking soda, sea salt, ginger powder, and – ingesting before the bath, niacin.

Learn about the detox bath at the bottom of the post, Detoxifying Your Way To Nirvana.

Pranayama

As your scrubbing away your toxins – detoxifying your way to nirvana, sorta speak – you can contemplate Dr. Hyman’s last “P”, Pranayama.

As mentioned, “pranayama” is the Sanskrit word for “breath”. The idea here is that you can help detoxify your body by adopting an intentional, prescribed method of breathing. By breathing right, breathing deeply, you better “oxygenate your brain, body, and spirit, transforming your health in the process”, says Hyman.

Naturally, it’s essential that the air you breathe is clean. Don’t do this while idling in traffic.

The method is to breathe deeply into your abdomen. Begin by first exhaling and contracting your abs at the same time. Then inhale through your nose and envision your belly filling up like a balloon. Stay with this for five minutes a day.

Read the source of this summary of Dr. Hyman’s Quadruple P here at How Toxins Make You Fat: 4 Steps to Get Rid of Toxic Weight.

Remember: cleansing is a great way to help your body’s natural detoxification methods do their jobs better given the polluted world we live in.

There are several posts at Garma On Health dealing with detoxification. Just use the search tool at the top of the screen, type in the search box terms like “detox” or “cleansing” and find the one you’d like to read.

Here are a couple to get you started:

It’s Detox Time

A Simple, Effective Cleanse

The Earth Is Full. What To Do? (Watch)

Joe Garma — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:12:46 +0000

Scientists claim we need 1.5 earths to sustain the current consumption levels. What happens when China and India rise to America’s consumption level? Activist and social entrepreneur, Paul Gilding tackles this issue at his TED presentation in a talk called, The Earth is Full. Humans solve the big problems only when in a crisis, Mr. Gilding says. Will there be time this time?

Paul Gilding's TED Talk: "The Earth Is Full"

READERS OF this blog have been so engaged in Robert Johnson’s post on overpopulation entitled, Why Overpopulation Trumps Everything Else. Everything!, that I’m here going to add to the mix by embedding a video of Paul Gilding’s TED presentation, called: The Earth Is Full.

The basic idea it that Earth is too small to provide for what is estimated will soon be 9,000,000,000 of us, all wanting to eat meat, live in houses, drive cars, etc.

Paul Gilding outlines the crisis scenario and wonders what “Mom and Dad” will say to their children who will ask, “What did you do when you saw everything breaking down”.

He makes the following points, compellingly fleshed out in the video below.

Fundamentally, life as we do it is unsustainable.

Right now we live life based on a crazy idea — that infinite growth is possible upon a very finite planet, because technology will save the day, won’t it? Maybe, but it has limits.

When we operate a system past its limits it breaks down. This will happen to us if things don’t change. But change doesn’t seem to be imminent… we can’t even agree on the problem. For instance, do you believe in global warming, and if so, that human contribute to it? If this post is read by the normal distribution of people in America, there’s about an even chance that you will either agree or disagree with this supposition.

The crisis soon upon us is larger than climate. It involves every pillar upon which modern society is built — down to having enough potable water for the burgeoning world wide population. The warning signs are everywhere evident, but we aren’t slowing down.

Humans don’t seem to tackle the big things until we’re in crisis mode. Fear motivates a powerful response.

The crisis in inevitable. The question is, how will we react? We will have to change how we think and what we do. We need to act as if we only have one planet. We need to choose the right path.

Watch Paul Gilding’s heartfelt exhortation for us to tackle the issues linked to a very over consuming, overpopulated world.

What do you think about this? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? Let us know in the Comments section below.

Why Overpopulation Trumps Everything Else. Everything!

Joe Garma — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:37:53 +0000

Robert Johnson, screenwriter, book writer, feckless soccer coach and player, ordinary citizen, gives a damn about too many humans spoiling the earth and the future of his children, your children. Here he tells you why you should too.

"the momentum of folly" by Robert Johnson

ONCE UPON a time, not so far away, but a long time ago, Robert Johnson and I (hardly) studied at the same University in Santa Barbara, CA. Afterwards, he bummed around for a while, earned a Masters degree in some kinda writing thing at UCLA (and won a prestigious screenwriting award in the process), and eventually ended up back in Santa Barbara where he continued to write screenplays, books, help raise a family, and — in so doing — become agitated about the world his two sons will inherit.

Over time, Robert’s angst about general issues the world faces has distilled, rightly, down to one incipient cause: Humans have eclipsed Bunnies… there are simply, and will continue to be, too many of us!

Being the creative type, Robert wrote a book about what some particularly boldly aggressive, distraught scientist did to reduce the human population. It’s a thriller. But before I get into that, I’m going to here publish an email that Robert sent to every friend he has — all three — as well as to his wife’s many. (She’s a Realtor, after all.)

The email outlines how the earth’s overpopulation will make every attempt to solve every other critical issue we attempt to solve moot. Moot, as in “forget about it!”

So, first I’ll present Robert’s email (with a touch of word emphasis by moi), and then — happily — plug his books. (Cause he writes really, really well.)

Why You Should Care About Overpopulation, by Robert Johnson

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

I post this out of the simple frustration that our rampant growth continues virtually ignored by politicians and religious leaders. Verily, even though overpopulation is arguably our single greatest threat — not only to the environment and all life as we know it, but also, ironically, to humankind itself — it is doubtful we’ll hear it so much as mentioned during this election season. The reason for this is understandable; politicos and clerics alike don’t want to offend their base with an issue that might be construed as hindering their flocks from their rightful pursuit of happiness. But here are some simple facts on the matter:

• 2.37 humans are added to the planet every second, that’s 4.17 births less 1.80 deaths.
• 250,000 are added each day, roughly an Orlando, Florida.
• 80 million, or the equivalent of a new Germany, are added each year.
• A full billion are heaped on every 12 to 13 years, which is akin to finding the room and resources for a new China every decade and a half, with one-third of them malnourished.
• And as a result of the subsequent habitat loss incurred by our expansion, an average of three animal species are lost to extinction every day, with the prediction that up to 40% of all flora and fauna species extant today will be extinct by the close of this century.

Now, even though it is likely our population will peak sometime this century — the most conservative U.N. estimates say at 9.4 billion by mid-century, others cite figures of 12 billion or more by 2100 — the fact remains we are already well over a sustainable carrying capacity. To wit: in order to sustain our present 7 billion we would basically need one and a half Earths to keep up with the resources we currently consume, and this even while China and India and much of the developing world have yet to become fully industrialized, which they soon will. If I didn’t have two children of my own this wouldn’t keep me up at night, but I do so it does.

Regrettably even our schools largely avoid the topic of overpopulation out of fear of offending anyone, and this despite the fact that all efforts to curb such threats as climate change, species extinctions, habitat loss, immigration, fishery depletion, oceanic “dead zones,” arable land degradation, human rights abuses, fresh water shortages, urban sprawl, famine, terrorism, and even war itself, are each largely futile as long as our numbers continue to grow. Similarly, such noble and necessary efforts as alternative energy, conservation, recycling, carbon off-sets, endangered species protection, humanitarian relief, etc., are equally futile unless coupled with a vigorous campaign to reverse our numbers.

So what is the Earth’s sustainable carrying capacity? No one really knows exactly but most experts agree it is around two billion at our current global average per capita consumption levels — just two. Most scientists and even politicians know all this, but most people, the vast majority in fact, haven’t a clue. This is the reason why I am writing this likely futile, little post; in the hope that the magnitude of our reckless growth — “the momentum of folly” as it’s been termed — becomes known to as many people as possible, so that we might — just maybe — reverse this trend before it’s too late.

And how do we reverse our rampant growth? It’s actually quite simple. First we need to make as many people as possible aware of the mathematics of overpopulation; such as the fact we numbered barely one billion as recently as 1805, whereas today we are well over seven billion. Secondly, we need to educate people to the fact that overpopulation is the primary factor behind just about every one of our problems, be they societal or environmental. And lastly, we need to establish a voluntary two-child limit for every woman or man regardless of race, creed, or nationality. Just two. And should we choose to have just one child, or none, or choose to wait until after the age thirty to start procreating — causing there to be fewer generations sharing the planet at the same time — well then, so much the better.

So, towards this optimistic if naive goal, please pass this information along to a handful (or even just two) of your closest friends or loved ones, and hopefully we can spread the word about the dire consequences of overpopulation before it really is too late. “Just two kids, just two billion; we can live with that.” Thanks.

Certainly,

Robert

Robert P. Johnson
Santa Barbara, California
Author of: the momentum of folly and Thirteen Moons: A Year in the Wilderness

A Bit About Robert Johnson and His Books

Robert P. Johnson was born and raised in Oakland, California, then relocated to Lake Tahoe where he ski-bummed, river-guided and swept chimneys before relocating again to “Hollywood.” After earning an MFA from UCLA’s Department of Film, Theater and Television, he worked as a screenwriter, winning First Place honors in both the Samuel Goldwyn and Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Awards. He currently lives in Santa Barbara with his wife and two children — just two.

Here’s a summary of Robert’s book, the momentum of folly (yeah, guess he hasn’t found the “Shift” key for capitalization):

A fledgling CDC virologist ventures into the Guangdong Province of China as part of a World Health Organization influenza reconnaissance field team to search for the upcoming season’s newest flu virus for vaccine production. While there his team stumbles upon a particularly virulent strain packing a 70% mortality rate in a localized outbreak. While attempting to return from Asia with the isolated virus our protagonist discovers the nascent pandemic is actually the very intentional machinations of a handful of otherwise altruistic scientists who have reluctantly come to the consensus that the only hope to save the Earth’s environment and stave-off the extinction of some 40% of its species by mid-century — and ultimately the extinction of humanity itself — is to cull the population back down to a sustainable number as quickly as possible. Acknowledging the scientists’ reasoning, our protagonist is then faced with the quandary: whether to blow the whistle on the conspiracy in an attempt to contain the outbreak before it kills off two-thirds of humanity, or to simply let it run its course, and possibly save the planet by so doing.

OK, so other than the links to his books below, this is it. You’re informed. What you do with the info is up to you. You could Facebook this post, buy Robert’s book(s), chat about this at your next dinner party, stop procreating. Whatever.

If you have a idea or two about overpopulation, or wish to share your thoughts, weigh in at the Comments section below.

Over and out.

A Health Care Tutorial by Lyndon Johnson

A Lesson For The One-Year Anniversary of the Japan Tsunami: Be Prepared

Joe Garma — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:15:48 +0000

As Japan and the world look back one year ago to that devastating earthquake and tsunami, let’s pause and consider how we can prepare and be less vulnerable.

TODAY IS the one-year anniversary of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

Today is a good day to remember what happened. The Net is filled with stories this day about that day. Here are two for your contemplation as well as a big side note that, in fact, is the primary thrust of this post.

First, you can view this slideshow for a retrospective of nature’s carnage through pictures of what happened then, and how things are now. Then take a look and read some stories about how specific people handled that day and fare today.

Here are two pictures to get you started (click on them to enlarge):

Next, is the aforementioned “side note”. The theme here is preparation.

During and in the aftermath of the Japan tsunami, the news was rife with reports of people needlessly suffering due to the lack of fresh water, food and clothing. The Japanese people are tough and resilient and thereby suffered through this courageously, as I wrote in 10 Things to Learn from Japan, A lesson for the World, but those who were prepared did a lot better than those who were not.

And now with through the magic of a sweep of my imagination, I’ll segue from Japan to Washington State, USA and to an unusual, snow-heavy storm that happened there this past January.

Water, Light and Heat

The rest of this post focuses on how to have access to water, light and heat when they’re not being delivered to your door, sorta speak.

With her permission, this comes to us from Teri Simpson of Optimum Energy, who begins her tale about herself and Optimum Energy this way:

“I’ve had a passion for personal preparedness for over 25 years. I’ve had an emergency preparedness supplies and survival equipment business since 1990. It started as a way to be prepared to deal with natural disasters – earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms or ice storms, power outages short or long. Then we had Y2K, and 9/11, anthrax attacks, school lockdowns and pandemics” …

“Many times, people know they should prepare, they want to prepare, but just don’t know where to start. We have some good checklists to help you get started. The important thing though is to START. Do what you can. Start small if necessary, but make sure you get started today. Remember: The more PREPARED, the less SCARED. Having emergency/disaster supplies for your family brings peace of mind.”

So, given this context about Teri Simpson, let’s turn to her article, What A Runner, where she presents the Washington State storm story and tips to avoid and ameliorate the hardships that Nature can bestow upon us of the modern world.

Here are some excerpts:

“For most people, once they lost power Thursday morning they lost water. And heat. (and our phones didn’t work until late morning, but since there was no electricity, only those people with a plain phone could call anyone). The temperature outside sat at 30 degrees all day (-1.11 C) so within a few hours peoples’ houses were getting mighty cold if they didn’t have a wood stove or propane heat.”

“I have one friend who is on a community well – 5 households share that well. When her power went out before she had no water, but she was able to drive to the store and buy bottled water. But not this time. Luckily, she remembered what I told her after that experience. The MINUTE you realize the power is out, FILL UP EVERY CONTAINER you can lay your hands on, because all it will take to empty the water tank is 4 households flushing their toilets, then you’ll have no water.”

“I told [one friend] to thumb tack up a blanket where the hallway went off from the living room. If you only have a small amount of heat, use it wisely. For her it was the kitchen/living room area – no sense in heating a hallway or extra bedroom. She had recently gotten 3 flat wick oil lamps. I said get those out and get em going – they will give off more heat than candles. Then about an hour before bedtime, put one in your bedroom and close the door (but leave it open about an inch for air flow). Then when you and the 2 dogs go to bed, turn the oil lamp off. It worked like a charm and they all slept well.”

“Using bleach to STORE water is different than using it to SANITIZE containers. If you are putting drinkable water in a 50-55 gallon barrel to store it, you use 3 Tablespoons of unscented bleach for that one barrel. If you are putting up one gallon containers of water you can use 10 drops of unscented bleach.”

There’s plenty more to learn from Ms. Simpson’s article and from her web site, so do go check them out.

Let this anniversary day of that horrible Japan earthquake and tsunami be a wake up call to learn more about what you could do to fare better in a similar situation.

To help you along, here is a bunch more resources written and presented by ordinary people preparing themselves for an uncertain future, which I wrote about in How to Survive the Scary Future:

Peak Solar Flares Happening Now Thru 2013

Joe Garma — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:59:59 +0000

Solar flares will be the strongest in more than a decade during 2012 and 2013. Scientists expect electronic disruptions, or worse, here on earth. And authorities are preparing. Perhaps you should too.

AS DESCRIBED in earlier posts on this bog (see below), the sun is excited these days and is casting solar flares our way to prove it. NASA and NOAA have taken some amazing pictures of these solar flares, and authorities are making preparations to minimize any deleterious effects.

In two NASA photos taken Tuesday, March 6, 2012, below, the sun is seen to erupt with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle.

Categorized as an X5.4, this was the second-largest flare — ranking behind only an X6.9 registered on Aug. 9, 2011 — since the sun’s activity segued into a period of relatively low activity called “solar minimum” in early 2007.

The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of a normal 11-year solar cycle, during which activity ramps up to solar maximum — a peak level that is expected in late 2013.

Some scientists expect that when these flares peak, they may have dire consequences on earth because of the disruption caused to everything reliant on electronics, like the electrical grid, automobiles, computers, etc.

I wrote about this in a few prior posts that you may like to scan:

Solar Storms Storming to Earth. How to Prepare.

Solar Storms Are Coming

How to Survive the Scary Future: A Rich List of Resources

My intent with the above posts is not to beat the drum about Armageddon, but to suggest that sometimes there are hiccups in life, and when that happens, it’s good to have a large glass of water nearby to gulp down.

Precautions make sense when the downside is deadly. For instance, FoxNews.com reported today that airlines are altering their flight patterns due to the solar storms:

“’We are flying alternate routes for seven flights,’ Anthony Black, a spokesman for Delta Airlines, told FoxNews.com. Polar flights — those with paths that cross over the North Pole — can suffer from communications issues and pilots and passengers can be exposed to radiation.”

NOAA scientist Joseph Kunches describes what’s happening in a video at MarketWatch.com. He notes that solar flares are very strong now and can be very disruptive, but that authorities are preparing. (Yeah, there’s a commercial first.)

I’ll leave you with one more picture of an active sun.

This NOAA picture shows a strong geomagnetic storm racing from the sun toward earth. The blurb under the picture says that,

“Its expected arrival Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, according to U.S. space-weather experts.”

It did and it has, but only modestly. So far.

How to Survive the Scary Future: A Rich List of Resources

Joe Garma — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:49:44 +0000

Today’s earthquake was just a little jolt. But what about tomorrow? Let’s get better prepared by delving into the rich and insightful video and written resources brought to you by ChrisMartenson.com.

IN THE early morning today, before light, I was contemplating a dream, my consciousness just below the surface of wakefulness when a sharp jolt hit my house.

I live in the “Bay Area” of northern California, just over the Golden Gate Bridge, and I’ve experienced this before.

Yes, an earthquake. A little one: 4.0.

I lied there quiet, still, all senses attuned for what might next happen. I thought about what I’d do if another, larger, earthquake hit in the next few moments.

Where was it safe to go within the house? (Answer: In a doorway or under a strong table.)

If I had to flee, what would I take with me? (Answer: At least some warm clothing, sturdy shoes, food bars, water, reflective blanket, money, cell phone, first aide kit, headlight/flashlight…)

Among my friends, I’m considered the one who most contemplates the possibilities of a challenging future for humankind. I’ve read a lot about what may happen and why. What little I’ve done to prepare, unfortunately, far exceeds what most people have done.

And yet, there I was at 5:33 AM this morning lying in bed without a game plan should this benign jolt be followed by a house crusher.

ChrisMartenson.com

Dr. Chris Martenson and former Yahoo VP, Adam Taggart, run a one-stop-shopping site for all things related to surviving what their fine minds anticipate could be one big worldwide hiccup.

Regular readings of this blog note that from time to time I take trips into the “what ifs” of future possibilities. Typically, these detours are instigated by something eventful, like the March 2012 earthquake and tsunami in Japan that to this day is wrecking havoc with two coastal nuclear power plants.

Or like this past week’s successive mid west tornadoes that devastated entire towns.

Or like today’s Bay Area earthquake.

At such poignant moments, I write something like, Be Self-reliant – Be Prepared for Calamity , which presents some resources to help bring you to self-reliance. Going far deeper is the information found at Dr. Martenson’s web site.

Here are three bundles of insight to get you started in learning about and preparing for an uncertain, potentially troubling future:

1. An assembly of resources that answer the question: What Should I Do?. This guide delves into information about water, storing food, food growing and preservation, health and first aid, heat, power and communications, protecting wealth and community.

2. The video-based Crash Course, distilled down to twenty-some video segments.

3. The shorter Crash Course, a 45-minute video version.

In the preamble to the Crash Course, Dr. Martenson says this:

“My goal is to shed light on the limits of our present economic model of infinite growth as we increasingly face the realities of a planet with finite resources. I seek to lay out possible paths for our future and to provide people with tools and information so that they will be better able to make informed choices.”

In his above statement, Dr. Martenson pretty much constrains himself to economics as it relates to the earth’s resources, but as I enumerated above, he covers a lot more than that. He gets into many conceivable, possible “what if” scenarios that might lie ahead, and how to be prepared for them.

Irrespective of how you feel about the prospect of a foreboding future, my guess is that you’ll learn something from this very systematic, research-based thinker, so take a look at Dr. Martenson’s material.

Then, if that amps you up, you can check out how ChrisMartenson.com readers are preparing. Below is a boatload of examples. Scan the list and surely your eye will grab something of interest with which to get started.

This will keep you busy! Remember, the first step is to become aware, then to get informed, then to choose how much you’re willing to do, and, finally, to act!

Are you doing anything to make yourself more resilient to possible future calamities?

If so, please tell us about it in the Comments section below.

Are You Pessimistic About the Future? Watch the TED Debate

Joe Garma — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:16:13 +0000

Two prominent men of science and environmentalism express their respective views about our future, earth’s future, and they’re miles apart. Will tomorrow bring calamity or abundance?

The Future... Good or Bad?

JUST YESTERDAY at TED2012, there was a debate of sorts between, imprecisely speaking, a pessimist and an optimist.

We’re talking about the future of the world, and you in it.

I say “imprecisely” because Paul Gilding, the pessimist in this story, isn’t completely so; in fact, although he’s certain that a crisis is soon coming, he believes that humans will survive it. There’s some optimism in there.

But it’s Peter Diamandis who is the unadulterated optimist in this future of the world story, for his view is that the future will sparkle.

May I suggest that their views are worth your consideration?

Paul Gilding has been an activist and social entrepreneur for the last 35 years, and is a former CEO of several institutions, such as Greenpeace International, Ecos Corporation and Easy Being Green. His recently published book is called The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World.

Peter Diamandis holds a PhD from MIT, and is chair of the X Prize Foundation and Singularity University.

Mr. Gilding’s contention is that the earth has a finite capacity to feed and house the 9 billion people that will soon populate the planet, and that it’s a scientific certainty that the way the world economies are currently structured cannot persist. His TED talk is called, The Earth is Full:

Dr. Diamandis’ believes that the technological advances that will connect every human being to each other and to knowledge married with technological advances in the production of cheap energy will make the world, and those in it, thrive. His TED talk is called, Abundance is our Future:

So, who’s right? Which future do you think is likely, and why? Please leave your views in the Comments section below.

P.S. If you lean toward Paul Gilding’s world view, you’ll be interested in a few posts I’ve written that point to some resources that could help you along the forthcoming bumpy ride:

Japan Tsunami Creates Health Concerns… Are You Prepared? Clean water, food, medical supplies and shelter are among the top health concerns following a tsunami. How would you fare if a tsunami or earthquake hit where you live?

Be Self-reliant – Be Prepared for Calamity Some resources to help bring you to self-reliance.

“10 Things to Learn from Japan” A Lesson for the World The calm, dignity, grace, order, self-sacrifice, ability, tenderness training, consciousness and media restraint so evident these past weeks in Japan as its people survive and rebuilt their society after the massive earthquake and tsunami presents a valuable lesson to the world.

Supplements and Food that Protect Against Radiation Poisoning This is a long list of supplements that are thought to offer some level of protection against radiation. By and large, these are the very same supplements that are touted to clean and rebuild the body of toxins, as well as provide essential nutrition.

Japan’s Radiation Fallout – Protect Yourself! If you’re not familiar with potassium iodide, you need to be. You may not live in Japan, but trust that most anywhere you live, there’s a chance for radiation to ruin your life.