Many of us (including myself until recently) live a life that is disconnected from nature. The very nature that we depend on to survive. Numerous studies have confirmed the presence of unhealthy, even cancer-causing chemicals in our air, drinking water and soil. Yet we still don't make the connection between our lifestyles and those chemicals. The foods we eat are laiden with pesticides, and those pesticides end up as run-off in our lakes in rivers, damaging fish and other wildlife. We still believe chemical companies when they tell us that those chemicals are not unhealthy, even when the prevalence of cancer and other ailments is on a rapid ascent. If you have spent any time in a hospital emergency room lately, you have experienced first hand why something must be done.
However, the intent here is not to try to blame the companies. Let's face it - our desire to buy more and cheaper things has driven this to happen. We live in a capitalist society, with many people interested in amassing more wealth for themselves, and one way to do this is to operate factory farms, or manufacture goods in countries that have virtually no labour or environmental laws. The government has proven time and again that they are not willing to take action to protect citizens. Look at what they are up against: powerful companies with billions of dollars (much of which funds political campaigns in many countries.
While it is easy to blame the companies that are polluting, we can no longer claim ignorance about our consumption patterns and their impacts, and we can no longer wait for companies or governments to solve these problems.
We would be much better off if all of us could make small changes in our lives that would drive the change that is necessary. Every purchase we make is a statement of how committed we are to our environment, and social issues. If we are willing to constantly buy goods produced in other countries where labour and environmental standards are virtually non-existent, then that says something about our morals. We can no longer say that it isn't our problem, or use price as an excuse.
Jobs are fast disappearing in North America, due to our drive to buy ever cheaper goods produced elsewhere. We all know the result though don't we: the product is poor quality and we have to buy it again, and again, because it breaks down and we can't get them repaired.
Here is how you can make more responsible choices, and help to make a difference:
1) Try your darndest (I know this is hard) to buy as much as possible that is locally made. For example, I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and was able to buy a car that was made in California. It is probably the closest place that a car is made to here. Cars in Canada are made further away, in Ontario. This supports jobs here in North America, and is more environmentally friendly.
2) Buy locally grown, organic food. Support your local farms, reduce the transportation impact of the food, and minimize the chemicals that will flow into our lakes and streams. This will improve everyone's health.
3) Drive less and take transit or bike whenever possible - oil companies have a lot of power through their billions, and they don't care about the environmental impacts of what they do. There are millions of gallons of oil accidently spilled in the ocean every year! Probably not good for the sea life!
4) Lobby your government to impose tarrifs on goods coming from other countries, to level the playing field, and preserve the jobs and the environment locally.
We can make change through our buying choices. Every time you buy something, think about the children who had to slave at $.50 per day to make it, while they are exposed to chemicals which are causing them to be sick. The chemicals used even in China can make their way here through water and air, so don't think that we are immune to the practices of other countries.
Enough waiting for others to make the right decisions - we have to do it ourselves!!! Let's show the world that we will act ethically responsibly.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Book Review - Green for Life
You may be familiar with the Gill Deacon Show, on CBC-TV. Gill has also published a book called "Green for Life - 200 Simple Eco-Ideas for Every Day". I like the red stamp on the front cover telling me its "only $13.50 to make a better world". It is a reasonable price for the information in the book. Has anybody else noticed that books seem to be quite a bit cheaper these days? Here in Calgary, Canada anyway.
Gill has an easy and laid back writing style, and makes many references to her kids, and you can tell that she has written this book because she is very concerned about their future (a sentiment that I whole-heartedly share). She argues that it is not that difficult to make changes in our lives that would significantly help the environment, and our health as well. There are numerous references to important information on how chemicals that we use every day are hazardous to our health. She is a proponent of living more simply, but not of getting rid of your daily conveniences.
The book is nicely laid out as a "How To" manual with titles such as "How to Make Dinner", "How to Clean the Dishes", and my favourite, "How to Have Sex". Each section of course has ideas on how to do these things more sustainably. Subject areas include eating organics, using alternative cleaners (including recipes for making your own cleaners), and healthy kids.
I highly recommend this book as a means to help you be more sustainable and healthy. It is available at chapters, online or amazon.
Gill has an easy and laid back writing style, and makes many references to her kids, and you can tell that she has written this book because she is very concerned about their future (a sentiment that I whole-heartedly share). She argues that it is not that difficult to make changes in our lives that would significantly help the environment, and our health as well. There are numerous references to important information on how chemicals that we use every day are hazardous to our health. She is a proponent of living more simply, but not of getting rid of your daily conveniences.
The book is nicely laid out as a "How To" manual with titles such as "How to Make Dinner", "How to Clean the Dishes", and my favourite, "How to Have Sex". Each section of course has ideas on how to do these things more sustainably. Subject areas include eating organics, using alternative cleaners (including recipes for making your own cleaners), and healthy kids.
I highly recommend this book as a means to help you be more sustainable and healthy. It is available at chapters, online or amazon.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Living with Chemical Sensitivity
There was a time when I was frequently getting colds and flus. In particular, one day I had cold/flu symptoms including runny nose, achiness, and fatigue. At first I assumed I was sick again, and was determined to just ride it out, when it occured to me that I had just cleaned the stainless steel dishwasher the day before with a spray cleaner that the previous resident had left in our house. I recalled that the last time I used this spray cleaner resulted in similar symptoms. This was the turning point at which I realized that I was sensitive to chemicals.
The chronic symptoms that were resulting from this sensitivity included:
Sore muscles and joints
Extreme fatigue
Headaches
Chronic Sinusitis
Difficulty waking up in the morning
Runny nose
Every day at work, by lunch time or shortly after, I would start to feel so tired that I couldn't work any longer, and in fact fell asleep on a number of occasions at work. At 30 years old, I thought that I was going to be ready for retirement in the next five years! At the time, it seemed like it was just the inevitable consequence of aging until the discovery of the cleaner that gave me the symptoms.
Thus I embarked on a journey to eliminate toxins from my life. This was a long and complicated journey, as I had no idea how many things contained various hazardous chemicals. I started with the household cleaners. First went the laundry softener, as the smells from these products was bothersome. All spray cleaners went straight to the hazardous waste depot, many to be replaced with hypoallergenic laundry detergent (great for cleaning the bathroom, believe it or not).
Natural scent-free hand soaps are an absolute must for me now, and I would never wear cologne or after shave.
Now, virtually cleaning product I use is natural and scent free and probably labelled hypo-allergenic. I no longer have a permanently clogged nose, or joint pain and rarely get colds or flus.
The chronic symptoms that were resulting from this sensitivity included:
Sore muscles and joints
Extreme fatigue
Headaches
Chronic Sinusitis
Difficulty waking up in the morning
Runny nose
Every day at work, by lunch time or shortly after, I would start to feel so tired that I couldn't work any longer, and in fact fell asleep on a number of occasions at work. At 30 years old, I thought that I was going to be ready for retirement in the next five years! At the time, it seemed like it was just the inevitable consequence of aging until the discovery of the cleaner that gave me the symptoms.
Thus I embarked on a journey to eliminate toxins from my life. This was a long and complicated journey, as I had no idea how many things contained various hazardous chemicals. I started with the household cleaners. First went the laundry softener, as the smells from these products was bothersome. All spray cleaners went straight to the hazardous waste depot, many to be replaced with hypoallergenic laundry detergent (great for cleaning the bathroom, believe it or not).
Natural scent-free hand soaps are an absolute must for me now, and I would never wear cologne or after shave.
Now, virtually cleaning product I use is natural and scent free and probably labelled hypo-allergenic. I no longer have a permanently clogged nose, or joint pain and rarely get colds or flus.
It is difficult to nail down a specific cause of my chemical sensitivity. It is probably a combination of having worked at a chemical company, using chemicals at home to preserve wood, drinking diet soda, and being exposed to many different cleaners.
Now I am better, but exposure to chemicals can definitely still bring the symptoms back. I have to maintain a toxic free zone around me all of the time to feel healthy, but hey, that is probably a good idea anyway.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
My Experience with Kidney Stones
Over the 2007 Christmas holidays, we drove from Calgary to Vancouver, through the snowy mountain roads, about 1000 kms of beautiful mountain scenery. Our Subaru AWD got us to our downtown Vancouver B&B safely and without mechanical difficulty, which is admirable for a vehicle that had almost 200,000 kms behind her.
We went from snow to rain, and more rain, with low hanging clouds that make you feel like a prison. I was the only one in our small family willing to go for walks in the cold rain that fell dutifully every day. Vancouver is a beautiful city, with lots to do, including visiting the aquarium, and historic Gas Town.
Once early rainy Vancouver morning, around 4 am, I woke up with a severe pain in my back on the left side. I thought that my appendix was going to burst or something. Luckily there was nobody waiting in the hospital emergency room that morning, and they must have seen me squirming in the waiting room, because they had me seeing a doctor within an hour (a miracle by today's standard). The doctor questioned me for a few minutes, and told me I probably had a kidney stone that was passing, and that it would be painful until it passes. They were going to put me on morphine, but I refused. I was just so happy that it was only a kidney stone, and that it would soon pass, that I didn't care about the pain, and I am not interested in drugs unless they are absolutely necessary. A CT Scan confirmed the 2 mm stone on the left side had entered the ureter.
Interestingly, about six months earlier I went to the local medical clinic in Calgary, with back pain on both sides. They did a blood and urine test, and said that it was probably muscle pain in the back. Unconvinced, I left there, and didn't do anything further about it.
After the stone passed on the left side in December 2007, I was starting to experience more and more pain. A call to the Vancouver hospital in an attempt to obtain the CT scan results was fruitless and ended up in an argument between myself and the woman on the other end of the phone. Anybody that has dealt with health care in Canada in the last few years would understand the reasons behind such an argument.
I finally went to my family doctor, and told her that I was experiencing pain in my back. She knew about the previous kidney stone, and responded, "oh, you have another kidney stone". She assumed that I must be passing a stone, and gave me some drugs to help me through the pain. However, this was a different kind of pain - not the same as passing a stone. The next step was an ultrasound, which revealed that there was a stone, but still in the right kidney, not passing through the ureter. Luckily I had made the decision not to take the drugs she had prescribed. This stone was almost one centimeter, and not likely to pass on its own. She referred me to a urologist in Calgary to deal with the matter.
The urologist appointment finally came about 3 months later, with my back pain getting worse all of the time. I was also by this point having difficulty eating, and had to cut many things out of my diet. I was losing quite a bit of weight. The urologist sent me for an x-ray in the building next store, with instructions to come back with the result. Amazingly, the x-ray was completed in a matter of minutes, with the results saved on a disk minutes later, and I was back in his office. He reviewed the results, and recommended lithotripsy, a procedure where they wack the stone repeatedly with sound shock waves to break it up (my family doctor told me it was a laser treatment, which is technically not correct). The advantage is it doesn't require any invasive surgery. As you might guess, the appointment for the lithotripsy was set for yet another 2 months, almost a half year from the time I saw my doctor the first time. By the way, the urologist never asked me any of my symptoms.
The lithotripsy was an efficient and easy procedure to go through. While it was painful, the pain was manageable without drugs, although the drugs are offered as an option. The entire procedure was less than a half hour, and the total time I was at the hospital was about 1 hour. The doctor said it had mostly broken up the stone, and that the fragments should pass within a matter of weeks at the most.
I gave up screening my urine after about a month, as nothing was passing. At first, I did feel better, I have to admit, but then the symptoms came back. One unusual symptom that I had been having for a long time was severe pain all around my teeth. My dentist told me that I had sensitive teeth to cold, but I suspected it was more than that. The pain sometimes occured after being out in the cold, but not always. It would last for about 20 to 30 minutes and was debilitating, and often led to a headache. After the lithotripsy, the back pain minimized, and the teeth pain went away, even in the cold.
I went back for the follow up appointment about 1 month later, and there was three fragmented stones still in the kidney. The doctor couldn't tell where exactly they were, so he sent me for a CT scan. It took about 45 days to get the scan, and another 30 days to see the doctor again. By this time it was March of 2009, and my back pain had returned and I was having a very difficult time eating, and still losing weight. I went into the hospital complaining of back pain, and they thought I had gall stones, and didn't believe that a kidney stone could be causing these symptoms. After waiting in the hospital emergency for 12 hours, they sent me a way for a test and told me that it would go to my family doctor.
I made an appointment with the family doctor, and she said she didn't receive the results, and that due to confidentiality reasons, the results wouldn't be sent over and she would have to request the results. Not sure why the other doctor said he would send them if it is not possible to do so.
A couple of days later, I had my appointment with the urologist, and told him that I was having lots of troubles with pain when I eat, and he thought I had a gall stone too! He wouldn't believe that a kidney stone could cause these symptoms. This time he told me that we could do another lithotripsy (not sure why I had to go through all of the tests to determine this), and the lithotripsy would be in three weeks. The procedure is coming up on Monday, April 13th, and I am crossing my fingers that this will be resolved once and for all, almost a year later!
Wish me luck!!!
We went from snow to rain, and more rain, with low hanging clouds that make you feel like a prison. I was the only one in our small family willing to go for walks in the cold rain that fell dutifully every day. Vancouver is a beautiful city, with lots to do, including visiting the aquarium, and historic Gas Town.
Once early rainy Vancouver morning, around 4 am, I woke up with a severe pain in my back on the left side. I thought that my appendix was going to burst or something. Luckily there was nobody waiting in the hospital emergency room that morning, and they must have seen me squirming in the waiting room, because they had me seeing a doctor within an hour (a miracle by today's standard). The doctor questioned me for a few minutes, and told me I probably had a kidney stone that was passing, and that it would be painful until it passes. They were going to put me on morphine, but I refused. I was just so happy that it was only a kidney stone, and that it would soon pass, that I didn't care about the pain, and I am not interested in drugs unless they are absolutely necessary. A CT Scan confirmed the 2 mm stone on the left side had entered the ureter.
Interestingly, about six months earlier I went to the local medical clinic in Calgary, with back pain on both sides. They did a blood and urine test, and said that it was probably muscle pain in the back. Unconvinced, I left there, and didn't do anything further about it.
After the stone passed on the left side in December 2007, I was starting to experience more and more pain. A call to the Vancouver hospital in an attempt to obtain the CT scan results was fruitless and ended up in an argument between myself and the woman on the other end of the phone. Anybody that has dealt with health care in Canada in the last few years would understand the reasons behind such an argument.
I finally went to my family doctor, and told her that I was experiencing pain in my back. She knew about the previous kidney stone, and responded, "oh, you have another kidney stone". She assumed that I must be passing a stone, and gave me some drugs to help me through the pain. However, this was a different kind of pain - not the same as passing a stone. The next step was an ultrasound, which revealed that there was a stone, but still in the right kidney, not passing through the ureter. Luckily I had made the decision not to take the drugs she had prescribed. This stone was almost one centimeter, and not likely to pass on its own. She referred me to a urologist in Calgary to deal with the matter.
The urologist appointment finally came about 3 months later, with my back pain getting worse all of the time. I was also by this point having difficulty eating, and had to cut many things out of my diet. I was losing quite a bit of weight. The urologist sent me for an x-ray in the building next store, with instructions to come back with the result. Amazingly, the x-ray was completed in a matter of minutes, with the results saved on a disk minutes later, and I was back in his office. He reviewed the results, and recommended lithotripsy, a procedure where they wack the stone repeatedly with sound shock waves to break it up (my family doctor told me it was a laser treatment, which is technically not correct). The advantage is it doesn't require any invasive surgery. As you might guess, the appointment for the lithotripsy was set for yet another 2 months, almost a half year from the time I saw my doctor the first time. By the way, the urologist never asked me any of my symptoms.
The lithotripsy was an efficient and easy procedure to go through. While it was painful, the pain was manageable without drugs, although the drugs are offered as an option. The entire procedure was less than a half hour, and the total time I was at the hospital was about 1 hour. The doctor said it had mostly broken up the stone, and that the fragments should pass within a matter of weeks at the most.
I gave up screening my urine after about a month, as nothing was passing. At first, I did feel better, I have to admit, but then the symptoms came back. One unusual symptom that I had been having for a long time was severe pain all around my teeth. My dentist told me that I had sensitive teeth to cold, but I suspected it was more than that. The pain sometimes occured after being out in the cold, but not always. It would last for about 20 to 30 minutes and was debilitating, and often led to a headache. After the lithotripsy, the back pain minimized, and the teeth pain went away, even in the cold.
I went back for the follow up appointment about 1 month later, and there was three fragmented stones still in the kidney. The doctor couldn't tell where exactly they were, so he sent me for a CT scan. It took about 45 days to get the scan, and another 30 days to see the doctor again. By this time it was March of 2009, and my back pain had returned and I was having a very difficult time eating, and still losing weight. I went into the hospital complaining of back pain, and they thought I had gall stones, and didn't believe that a kidney stone could be causing these symptoms. After waiting in the hospital emergency for 12 hours, they sent me a way for a test and told me that it would go to my family doctor.
I made an appointment with the family doctor, and she said she didn't receive the results, and that due to confidentiality reasons, the results wouldn't be sent over and she would have to request the results. Not sure why the other doctor said he would send them if it is not possible to do so.
A couple of days later, I had my appointment with the urologist, and told him that I was having lots of troubles with pain when I eat, and he thought I had a gall stone too! He wouldn't believe that a kidney stone could cause these symptoms. This time he told me that we could do another lithotripsy (not sure why I had to go through all of the tests to determine this), and the lithotripsy would be in three weeks. The procedure is coming up on Monday, April 13th, and I am crossing my fingers that this will be resolved once and for all, almost a year later!
Wish me luck!!!
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