350
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 28th, 2009
I know…a strange name for a title. But you’ll discover that this number is the most important number for the survival of our planet.
Doug and I spent the day at the California Academy of Sciences here in San Francisco. If you haven’t been, it is a wonderful place to explore and learn.
An entire section of the academy is dedicated to educating the public about global warming, our daily impact, and how we can make changes in our lives to protect the planet. That is what the number 350 is all about. 350 parts per million (ppm) is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.
Unfortunately we are way above the 350 limit, which is the safe zone. Currently we are at 390ppm and rising. And unless we as a concerned society are able to rapidly return to 350 ppm this century, our planet will undergo drastic changes, such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt. These repercussions from our careless actions and lack of proaction, will put our planet at risk of reaching the tipping point, and our global crisis will be irreversible.
Thankfully something is being done and you too can get involved. 350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis–the solutions that science and justice demand.
Mission Statement: Our mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.
So check out this write that I pulled from the website of 350.org:
There are three numbers you need to really understand global warming, 275, 390, and 350.
For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Parts per million is simply a way of measuring the concentration of different gases, and means the ratio of the number of carbon dioxide molecules per million other molecules in the atmosphere. 275 ppm CO2 is a useful amount—without some CO2 and other greenhouse gases that trap heat in our atmosphere, our planet would be too cold for humans to inhabit.
So we need some carbon in the atmosphere, but the question is how much?
Beginning in the 18th century, humans began to burn coal and gas and oil to produce energy and goods. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere began to rise, at first slowly and now more quickly. Many of the activities we do every day like turning the lights on, cooking food, or heating or cooling our homes rely on energy sources like coal and oil that emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. We’re taking millions of years worth of carbon, stored beneath the earth as fossil fuels, and releasing it into the atmosphere. By now—and this is the second number—the planet has 390 parts per million CO2 – and this number is rising by about 2 parts per million every year.
Scientists are now saying that’s too much – that number is higher than any time seen in the recorded history of our planet – and we’re already beginning to see disastrous impacts on people and places all over the world. Glaciers everywhere are melting and disappearing fast—and they are a source of drinking water for hundreds of millions of people. Mosquitoes, who like a warmer world, are spreading into lots of new places, and bringing malaria and dengue fever with them. Drought is becoming much more common, making food harder to grow in many places. Sea levels have begun to rise, and scientists warn that they could go up as much as several meters this century. If that happens, many of the world’s cities, island nations, and farmland will be underwater. The oceans are growing more acidic because of the CO2 they are absorbing, which makes it harder for animals like corals and clams to build and maintain their shells and skeletons. Coral reefs could start dissolving at an atmospheric CO2 concentration of 450-500 ppm. These impacts are combining to exacerbate conflicts and security issues in already resource-strapped regions.
The Arctic is sending us perhaps the clearest message that climate change is occurring much more rapidly than scientists previously thought. In the summer of 2007, sea ice was roughly 39% below the summer average for 1979-2000, a loss of area equal to nearly five United Kingdoms. Many scientists now believe the Arctic will be completely ice free in the summertime between 2011 and 2015, some 80 years ahead of what scientists had predicted just a few years ago.
Propelled by the news of these accelerating impacts, some of the world’s leading climate scientists have now revised the highest safe level of CO2 to 350 parts per million. That’s the last number you need to know, and the most important. It’s the safety zone for planet earth. As James Hansen of America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the first scientist to warn about global warming more than two decades ago, wrote recently, “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.”
That will be a hard task, but not impossible. We need to stop taking carbon out of the ground and putting it into the air. Above all, that means we need to stop burning so much coal—and start using solar and wind energy and other such sources of renewable energy –while ensuring the Global South a fair chance to develop. If we do, then the earth’s soils and forests will slowly cycle some of that extra carbon out of the atmosphere, and eventually CO2 concentrations will return to a safe level. By decreasing use of other fossil fuels, and improving agricultural and forestry practices around the world, scientists believe we could get back to 350 by mid-century. But the longer we remain in the danger zone—above 350—the more likely that we will see disastrous and irreversible climate impacts. [solutions images]
Every year since 1992, the United Nations hosts a two-week long conference for world leaders to meet and discuss what to do to about the global threat of climate change.
In December of 2009, this meeting will be in Copenhagen, Denmark. There, delegates, non-governmental organizations, and businesses from every nation will meet to finalize a new global climate change agreement.
It is crucial that decision-makers at this meeting understand and are held accountable to crafting policy that is informed by the most recent science.
Just over a year old, 350 is a relatively new target being discussed in the scientific community, compared to 450ppm or 2 degrees Celsius that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change supports. Currently many policy-makers, institutions, and NGOs are still supporting targets that are out of date and greatly increase the risk of catastrophic climatic changes.
Yet at the last UN climate negotiations in Poland at the end of 2008, the 350 target began to attract more endorsers as new scientific reports and evidence of early impacts made it clear that we are already above the safe level for CO2. In his annual speech, Nobel laureate Al Gore told delegates to the most recent climate negotiating session that we must now ‘toughen our goal’ to 350ppm.
At the same meetings, 40 of the most vulnerable nations who will feel the impacts of climate change first and worst, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC’s), included in their policy statements the need to adopt a much stronger target than those currently being debated, and to support a 350ppm target. Said Leon Charles, chair AOSIS, “Two degrees C is really not a safe level for small island states. For many of them it would be like a death sentence in the long run.” It’s no small task, but for people and nations everywhere, we need to make sure all of the world’s decision makers pay attention to the most recent science that is telling us 350 is the right target to aim for that can ensure an equitable future safe from climate catastrophe.
With your help, we can spread this important piece of information to our fellow citizens, communities, countries, and the world. For more in-depth information on climate science, policy, and solutions, please see our list of recommended resources below.
Readers: It is very simple to me….it is very clear to me. In order for life to sustain, our planet must come first. There is so much that we can all do to get involved. Please check out the 350.org website and join a group in your neighborhood. 126 countries and over 200 organizations are involved. Get involved too. Thanks!
Peace out…..
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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September 28th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Here is an article from the New York Times on medicare and the republicans your readers may find interesting.
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EDITORIAL
Medicare Scare-Mongering
Published: September 26, 2009
It has been frustrating to watch Republican leaders posture as the vigilant protectors of Medicare against health care reforms designed to make the system better and more equitable. This is the same party that in the past tried to pare back Medicare and has repeatedly denounced the kind of single-payer system that is at the heart of Medicare and its popularity.
For all of the cynicism and hypocrisy, it seems to be working. The Republicans have scared many older Americans into believing that their medical treatment will suffer under pending reform bills.
The general public believes that, too. The latest New York Times/CBS News poll of 1,042 adults found that only 15 percent believe changes under consideration would make the Medicare program better, while 30 percent think they would make it worse.
That does not mean that Medicare will be untouched under the Democrats’ plans. The Obama administration and Congressional leaders are hoping to save hundreds of billions of dollars by slowing the growth of spending in the vast and inefficient Medicare system that serves 45 million older and disabled Americans. The savings would be used to help offset the costs of covering tens of millions of uninsured people.
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But far from harming elderly Americans, the various reform bills now pending should actually make Medicare better for most beneficiaries — by enhancing their drug coverage, reducing the premiums they pay for drugs and medical care, eliminating co-payments for preventive services and helping keep Medicare solvent, among other benefits.
The main exception, a fully justified one, is that some of the 10 million people enrolled in private plans that participate in Medicare — the Medicare Advantage program — might suffer a dilution or elimination of the extra benefits they get that other beneficiaries do not.
To help them compete against the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program, Congress granted these plans large overpayments, essentially subsidies. Most are required to use part of the subsidy to reduce charges to their beneficiaries or to add extra benefits, such as vision and dental benefits, or even gym memberships.
This often makes them a better deal for beneficiaries. But it is unfair to force those enrolled in traditional Medicare to help foot the bill — currently $43 a year extra for each participant — to help subsidize the private plans. Federal taxpayers have contributed heavily as well.
These private plans didn’t start out costing the government more. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, the assumption was that private health maintenance organizations could do a better job of coordinating care and saving money than the government. The private plans were paid 95 percent of what the same services would cost in traditional Medicare with an assumption that even that money would allow them to deliver extra benefits.
Then after budget cuts imposed in 1997 drove many private plans to drop out of the program, Congress steadily raised their payments. Today Medicare pays the private plans, on average, 14 percent more than the same services would cost in traditional Medicare.
The bill being considered by the Senate Finance Committee is projected to cut the subsidies to Medicare Advantage companies by more than $100 billion over 10 years. Although Republican rhetoric has triggered fears that Medicare Advantage enrollees might lose their coverage entirely if private plans drop out of the system, the real effect of the bill would likely be modest on average.
The value of an enrollee’s added benefits would shrink by more than half from current levels but would not disappear; they would still be worth about $500 a year in 2019.
Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, told the committee that, under the bill as proposed by the committee chairman, he expected that almost all Medicare Advantage plans would continue to operate and almost all of their current enrollees would stay enrolled. Total enrollment in Medicare Advantage would creep up by 200,000 over the next decade — that is, about 2.7 million fewer new enrollees than expected under current trends, a real chance for savings.
What the Republicans aren’t saying — and what the Democrats clearly aren’t saying enough — is that in important ways, coverage for a vast majority of Medicare recipients, those in traditional Medicare, should actually improve under health care reform.
The House legislation, the only bills in near-final form, would reduce and ultimately eliminate a gap — the so-called doughnut hole — in Medicare drug coverage that currently forces more than three million beneficiaries to pay for drugs entirely out of their own pockets once they hit specified spending levels. That would also benefit many other beneficiaries who pay high premiums for coverage in the gap that they never end up using.
The House bills would also waive deductibles and co-insurance for preventive care that can head off serious illness, expand eligibility for programs that assist low-income beneficiaries and provide incentives for doctors and hospitals to coordinate care, improve quality, and lower costs. All that should benefit many if not most Medicare beneficiaries. And delivery system reforms should benefit the private plans as well.
Republican opponents have also been warning that planned cuts in payments to hospitals and other health care providers might make them less willing or able to serve Medicare patients. If true, that is a problem that Congress will have to address in the future.
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We have long championed Medicare. And we believe elderly Americans, and all Americans, should closely examine the proposed health care reforms.
But the Republicans have done far too good a job at obscuring and twisting the facts and spreading unwarranted fear. It is time to call them to account. President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have to make the case forcefully that health care reform will overwhelmingly benefit Americans — including the millions of older Americans who participate in Medicare.
September 28th, 2009 at 8:53 am
USING DIET TO TREAT CHRONIC DISEASES
New research continues to demonstrate that particular foods can strengthen the body and help prevent disease, an approach that will perhaps someday allow us to rely less on drastic treatments, like pharmaceutical drugs and interventional procedures, to stay healthy.
With so much scattered information out there, I spoke to Jeffrey Novick, MS, RD, the nutritionist for the McDougall Program in Santa Rosa, California, and the director of health education for the National Health Association, for a big picture plan on how people can use diet to treat chronic disease.
CAN FOOD TREAT DISEASE?
Can food treat disease? Novick, a nutritionist/dietician, said “People who are suffering from certain chronic conditions should indeed consume or avoid particular foods.
” But he vastly prefers to emphasize a healthy diet focused on prevention, which can then be tweaked as necessary for specific diseases to reduce symptoms. Accordingly, his first caution is to consider the big picture — what diet will increase your health and decrease the likelihood you’ll get sick?
Novick’s first rule then is this: Eat foods that nourish and sustain the body. Though he says the ideal would be to eat only such foods, this is especially important for those who suffer from a chronic disease.
For guidance on what such a diet would look like, Novick looks at eating habits in societies around the world where people routinely lived to 100 or more. Common to these groups (in addition to social engagement, regular moderate exercise and being tobacco-free) was a plant-based diet with a little animal protein… so little, in fact, that Novick suggests considering animal protein a condiment, not a main course.
With this in mind, here are updated dietary specifics that Novick recommends to nourish and sustain us all, healthy or ill…
• Avoid refined foods. More than 90% of the carbs in the US diet are in the form of refined and processed foods and few of these are healthy. Even many foods labeled “whole grains” (including bagels, bread, crackers, cookies and rolls) also have fats, sugars, salt and preservatives that are not, he stresses, on the good-for-you list.
• Fill up on fiber. Eat plentiful amounts of vegetables, unprocessed intact whole grains like brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, barley, starchy vegetables (potatoes, yams, corn, etc.) and, yes, beans. In fact, with their high fiber, low fat and high protein, legumes seem to be a common denominator among all populations studied for longevity and health.
• Everything in moderation… even good-for-you foods. Novick points out that diets that recommend a “little” this and a “little” that, such as dark chocolate, walnuts and olive oil, can easily lead people to believe it is okay to eat large quantities of these foods, so they end up consuming too much fat and too many calories.
While these foods may be good for you in small quantities, they can easily be overdone. Instead, he suggests focusing on the primary foods the diet recommends and using the others as a condiment or an occasional treat.
DISEASE-FIGHTING FOODS
When disease creeps in, there are dietary changes that Novick recommends. For example…
If you have arthritis: People who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis can do much through diet to help symptoms. Novick suggests removing all inflammatory components of the diet, including processed foods, white flour and sugar, and most vegetable oils.
In fact, based on studies published in the medical literature, Novick says it is best to remove all oil from the diet until symptoms abate. Be sure your diet includes lots of green leafy vegetables and all types of berries for their phytochemicals. In addition to the above,
Novick suggests that those with osteoarthritis — the most common form of arthritis — keep their weight down, because excess pounds stress joints. Some people with osteoarthritis find it helpful to avoid nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant), while others don’t have a problem with them.
If you have diabetes: Weight reduction is of paramount importance when it comes to treating diabetes, says Novick. A loss of as little as 5% to 7% of total weight will result in a dramatic improvement in blood sugar.
He adds that belly fat is particularly dangerous for people with diabetes — in addition to its cardiovascular risks, abdominal fat increases insulin resistance.
Exercise is key, but Novick advises also reducing dietary fat intake and keeping calories under control. For those concerned about glycemic load, who believe adding fat to a meal lowers the meal’s glycemic load and hence the glucose spike, he notes that in the long run dietary fat, excess weight, excess belly fat and inactivity interfere with and increase insulin resistance and make diabetes worse.
If you have high blood pressure: Reducing total fat in your diet, and most especially unhealthy fats, can help lower blood pressure.
Here’s why: Fat in the blood is known as lipemia. When a fluid becomes more viscous, as blood does when lipemia increases, it is more difficult to move it through the vessels and requires more pressure. High fat meals can cause lipemia that lasts up to six hours.
However, the most often cited dietary problem when it comes to high blood pressure is salt. The best way to cut down on salt intake is to monitor the sodium you consume in processed and packaged foods. A good rule of thumb is that the sodium content in mgs/serving should not exceed calories/serving.
Be especially careful in restaurants, as much restaurant food is highly salted.
If you have digestive problems and/or heart disease: Both of these very common disorders can be improved with proper diet.
Novick says he has seen people who experience terrible pain from digestive problems of reflux, heartburn, inflammatory bowel disease and other maladies become pain-free in just a few days by making dietary changes.
To optimize digestive health and to improve (sometimes even reverse) heart disease, the dietary advice is familiar.
Eat fruits… vegetables (especially green leafy ones)… lean protein… and some whole grains. Indeed, if your diet emphasizes these foods now, you’ll be doing a great deal to boost the odds that you will never have to worry about treating disease in years to come, be it with food or drugs.
Source(s): ?
Jeffrey Novick, MS, RD, director of health education for the National Health Association, nutritionist/dietician, McDougall Program, Santa Rosa, California.
September 28th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Hafa adai
Guys there is a new sheriff in town.
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Guam’s New Airport Police Chief To Oversee Compliance With No Fewer Than 5 Regulatory Agencies
Top Stories
Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Monday, 28 September 2009 09:55
By Jeff Marchesseault
GUAM – There’s a new sheriff in town at Guam International Airport. And his years of law enforcement and military experience, criminal justice degree and appetite for continuing education appear to be the meritorious thrust behind his recent ascension.
The following media release was issued by the A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority.
New GIAA Airport Police Chief Robert D. Camacho
The Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport Authority, Guam is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert D. Camacho as the new Chief of Airport Police. Mr. Camacho will officially assume his duties on Monday, September 28, 2009.
“The success of our airport security program is dependent on effective leadership to safeguard civil aviation security and uphold law and order,” stated Martin J. Gerber. “Robert Camacho is exceptionally qualified and experienced and we are fortunate to have him join our management team as Chief of Airport Police.”
Airport Police enforcement functions involve FAA, TSA, and GIAA regulations, and Guam Criminal and Motor Vehicle Codes, response to calls inside the terminal building, in the airfield and to security and safety concerns within the perimeter of airport property from Route 10A to Marine Drive and through Airport Tiyan property. The Airport Police division deploys three TSA explosive detection K-9 units, Security Internal and Criminal Investigation, Regulatory Access Control & Compliance, Training and Staff Development, Property, Shift Operations, Administration, and Protocol Units
“Mr. Camacho has vast knowledge and experience with the complexity of airport police enforcement and functions,” stated Carlos H. Salas, Executive Manager. Robert Camacho attained a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal justice from the University of Guam and advanced training in numerous law enforcement and management programs throughout his civilian and military career. In his latest capacity at the Guam Police Department, Mr. Camacho oversaw administrative areas of federal grant programs, supply, personnel, training, armory, statistical research and finance. Prior to that, he was acting Director of the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency responsible for border protection of all of Guam’s ports of entry which included the Airport and the Commercial Port, Anderson Air Force Base , US Postal facilities and five (5) satellite container shipping areas. He also served at the Department of Corrections of over 20 years in varied positions as Director, Chief Parole Officer, Training Officer and Facilities Superintendent.
This news announcement was prepared from a media release provided by the A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority.
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September 28th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I received this from MoveOnDot.org. I have sent in a contribution. If it is something you could get behind do so too.
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Republicans seem to have just one goal this year: stop health care reform.
And right now, they’re getting away with it—hiding behind the right-wing mobs, false arguments, and loud-mouthed pundits.
Luckily, we’ve got the perfect way to call them out: last week, we launched our hardest-hitting ads of the year, “Caught Red-Handed.” The new ads expose Republicans for voting against reform Americans want while taking huge sums from special interests who oppose it.
We hired an independent research firm to poll voters about the ads and whether they were effective, and the results were amazing: they found that, in the context of political thinking and decision-making, ”the ad delivers some of the largest shifts against the Republican targets that we have seen.” In other words, they do exactly what they’re supposed to do.
So we want to expand the ad buy—and fast. If we raise $250,000 immediately, we can take “Red Handed” to new districts and put more Republicans on the defensive.
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September 28th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Hafa adai
I know Anna has given a warning about the coming tropical Storm, but this is for us islanders. Since Michelle has a huge following on Guam I am using this to tell you folks to tell others about the warning.
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Guam HS Advises Residents To Be Prepared As 18W Approaches
Guam – The Guam Homeland Secuirty Office has issued the following statement following the NWS’s declaration of a Tropical Storm Watch for Guam and Rota.
A Tropical Storm Watch issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) last night remains in affect for Guam and Rota. As of 5:00 a.m. (ChST), Tropical Depression 18W was located at 10.1 degrees North Latitude and 156.3 degrees East Longitude about 810 miles East-Southeast of Guam.
A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions including damaging winds of 39-74 mph are expected within 48 hours.
Tropical Depression 18W is moving West at 9 MPH with maximum sustained winds of 30 MPH and is expected to continue this westward movement for the next 24 hours.
Weather officials anticipate Tropical Depression 18W to intensify into a Tropical Storm later today.
Guam Homeland Security and the Office of Civil Defense in conjunction with the NWS continue to closely monitor this system.
All residents are advised to exercise extreme caution while driving, as heavy rain can create unsafe driving conditions. As a precaution, residents should also begin to prepare your homes, stock your emergency supply kits and continue to monitor local media for updated information.
For more information please contact Ms. Lesley Leon Guerrero, Guam Homeland Security Public Affairs Officer at (671) 687-9109 or (671) 483-9600.
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Peter
September 28th, 2009 at 10:59 am
“Peace” cannot be imposed militarily.
As much as I love the Jewish people, it is unjust to hold land hostage until the Palestinians agree to be subjugated.
By the same token, the Palestinians need to make clear to the Israeli citizens that they wish to live alongside the Jews and share the land, as was done before the Balfour Treaty.
September 28th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Palestinians do not have to pay a huge price for what the Christian European did to the Jews. We would not be talking about this if the West assimilated the Jews within their societies. …….Jud aism is another religion like Christianity, Islam, Buddisim…etc. Unfortunately religion divides people…!!!
September 28th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Maybe the good Rabbi should focus on what caused the ignorant missiles firing-s. Just try imagining 40 years of brutal, immoral and illegal occupation culminating in the act of war which is the blockade of Gaza. the piracy of ships and murder of sailors and on and on…
The amazing thing about the uncritical Zionist approach is that they think their fears and pains are the only significant factors.
When both sides learn some conception of the others pain then maybe there will be hope.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
HI Mischa, great post, I’ve heard of the CAS, would love to visit in person sometime…
I’ll call you soon, want to hear about your re-entry into fashion, BABE!
Women of the MMblog, if you read the above ‘health info’ I’m copy and pasting the important part for you today:
• Avoid refined foods. More than 90% of the carbs in the US diet are in the form of refined and processed foods and few of these are healthy. Even many foods labeled “whole grains” (including bagels, bread, crackers, cookies and rolls) also have fats, sugars, salt and preservatives that are not, he stresses, on the good-for-you list.
• Fill up on fiber. Eat plentiful amounts of vegetables, unprocessed intact whole grains like brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, barley, starchy vegetables (potatoes, yams, corn, etc.) and, yes, beans. In fact, with their high fiber, low fat and high protein, legumes seem to be a common denominator among all populations studied for longevity and health.
• Everything in moderation… even good-for-you foods. Novick points out that diets that recommend a “little” this and a “little” that, such as dark chocolate, walnuts and olive oil, can easily lead people to believe it is okay to eat large quantities of these foods, so they end up consuming too much fat and too many calories.
(so that whole container of dark choc covered anything is NOT good, a small handful is OK, listen to mke, oh scoffer of choc-blueberries!)
Oh…and we’re walking and strething and clutching that G note in your crack, ta’s up – shoulders back, tummy tucked up against the spine, etc…yes, we’re continuing to do all of it, same same, you could add in a hill or two on that walk, watch what happens to that G note then, kicks things up a notch, try it.
If you’re ready add more reps or sets of stretches/poses i.e. if your currently doing 3 sets of 10 poses and holding for a count of 3, do 4 sets of all 10 poses and hold for a count of 5-7, up the Bridge (rolling up to your shoulders holding that bum up high and tight, rolling down slowly) yeah, that exercise, I had you hold it for 30 seconds, up that to at least 60 seconds or if you can handle it – 90 seconds, and you’re cheekies, inner thighs and hamstrings will be shaking but not aching.
Do the above all week this week…if you’re following this ZL program daily, you should be feeling good in your current size jeans/pants/skirts already, if you are following the whole foods only eating portion as well, you probably lost about 2 pounds/1 kilo, yes?
How’s the food journaling thing going? Notice any patterns there such as: a correlation in fleeting emotions/eating times? A tendency to sooth the inner self with foods? an inner struggle with craving bad stuff when we’re busy trying to replace junk with whole foods? Slump in the aft accompanied by coffee and sweets? Did you use the word ‘celebrate’ or ‘reward’ or ‘I deserve this’ before you downed several alcoholic bevvies or cake/etc…? I’m not chastizing (how could I do that, I already copped to downing a million dark chocolate covered blueberries) I’m just asking you to examine patterns of eating. If anyone would like to report findings, I’ll be back later…
Anonz, I’m glad you have found your grail, babes : ) you’re doing a fine job of evolving as a human by helping other humans and using some of that mega-buckage for a humanitarian effort for the girls, more men could stand to follow your lead…
Al and Howie, hi…Al, good info. Howie, you’re awfully quiet these days. I hope you’re not taking recent critiscism too hard. we can all use to be a bit gentler on ourselves (and as I am writing this at this moment I’m not even sure whether I’m addressing you anymore, perhaps I am talking to myself today, today I am feeling a bit Chicken Little for reasons I won’t go into…being gentler would surely help it pass) anyway, hope all is OK.
Caio, Zen Lill
September 28th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Zen Lill, you are correct, I have been awfully quiet these days. It has nothing to to with recent criticism, but with a recent choice I made. All is as usual here on the homefront.
I do not need to participate on this blog to be fulfilled. I had a life before this blog and I still do.
HOWIE
September 28th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I was compelled to comment on this topic today. I am a pessimist when it comes to Global Warming. The numbers 275, 350, and 390 parts per million (ppm) are numbers of CO2 in our atmosphere, as Michelle stated.
These are just the amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere. Air is made of mostly Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, Methane and many other gases.
As Michelle stated, in the past 100 years CO2 concentrations have soared from 275 to 390 ppm. This has a tremendous effect on our Plant’s ability to keep in Solar Heat with Green House Gases and raise the temperatures of our Planet. This change brings many weather changes to our Planet Earth. The Glaciers and Ice Sheets which supply our Fresh water are melting at an unprecedented rate. The changes that are occurring are not going to be reversed by Humans. We have passed the ‘Tipping Point’ and there is no going back. Add the Population Growth Factor from 3.5 Billion Souls to 6 Billion in the next 50 years and you get more demand for resources including Carbon Dioxide which raises the Planet’s and it’s Oceans water temperatures and levels and a new Green House gas is released into the atmosphere. It is called Methane, which is frozen in the bottom of our oceans and is released from Permafrost in the Arctic. Methane is many times more powerful as a green House gas than Carbon Dioxide, causing a snowball effect, making the Planet’s Ice melt even faster.
The Planet Earth has gone through many Ice Ages and Meltdowns in its 4.5 Billon history, causing mass extinctions of the life existing at the time. Remember the Dinosaurs? They prospered many millions of years until their demise 65 million years ago. The Human Species has only been around for a very short time in Planetary time. Our 50,000 years on this Earth is just the blink of an eye in time.
During this time, we have managed to destroy the very Planet we live on with none other known to us as a back-up.
Global Warming brings about many side affects. Our fresh water supply will be diminished because the ice, which is fresh water, is flowing into the Oceans. This will bring about unimaginable horrors in itself. Weather patterns are changing, causing less intense Monsoons, turning farmland into desert.
As Michelle mentioned, the CO2 in the increased ratio of gases unite with the water in the atmosphere, creating Acid Rain, which causes problems with the acidity of our water, killing thousands of species of fauna and flora.
Last, but not least, the sea levels will rise up to twenty feet. All Cities on or near the Sea Coast will be under twenty feet or more of water. Most Nations prefer living near the sea for its beauty and access to shipping and commerce. There will be mass migration. Where to?
We have certainly passed the so-called ‘Tipping Point’. No matter what forms of energy we come up with, it will not stop what has already begun. It will not turn back the clock to times when Greenhouse Gasses were lower than 350 ppm. We do not have the engineering technology to turn back the clocks.
We are on a sinking ship and worrying about the Air Conditioning temperature. It doesn’t matter if the ship is sinking.
Everything in the Universe is changing. Destruction brings creation. There are Oriental Philosophies which are aware of this. Look at the Yin and Yang.
It is all part of the Grand Design, which was set in motion when the Universes were created. Changes are merely the Creator’s whims. Galaxies and even Universes have been destroyed and re-created many times in the past and will continue to do so. Eternity is a very long time. Even Gods need some change in their lives. This is what entertains them.
It is nice to have a positive attitude and try to do something positive if this makes one feel better, but the end result is destruction — Always.
HOWIE
September 28th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I would state that the end result is rebirth, and not destruction. Chaos seeks order and so on…It would be a matter of half empty of half full…