Why are Bees are Vanishing?

According to a new film soon to be released in Britain next month, the culprit is the latest generation of pesticides. Read the whole story

I don't know about you but my heart sunk a little deeper when I read this startling discovery. Listen to this video and think about our future generations.



Every one of us can take small steps to make a difference in the outcome. What can you do today to prevent this from getting worse?

Discover how you can make a difference

Top 5 Reasons to Grow your Own Organic Food

1. GET THE NUTRITION YOU NEED & ENJOY TASTIER FOOD!
Many studies have shown that organically grown food has more minerals and nutrients that we need than food grown with synthetic pesticides. There’s a good reason why many chefs use organic foods in their recipes—they taste better. Organic farming starts with the nourishment of the soil, which eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and, ultimately our bodies.

2. SAVE MONEY
Growing your own food can help cut the cost of the grocery bill. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars and month at the grocery store on foods that don’t really nourish you, spend time in the garden, outside, exercising, learning to grow your own food.

3. PROTECT FUTURE GENERATIONS
The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. Food choices you make now will impact your child’s future health.

“We have not inherited the Earth from our fathers,
we are borrowing it from our children.”
– Lester Brown

4. PROTECT WATER QUALITY
Water makes up two-thirds of our body mass and covers three-fourths of the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates pesticides - some cancer causing - contaminate the groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country’s population.

5. KEEP CHEMICALS OFF YOUR PLATE
Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered long before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases had been established. Now the EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides carcinogenic. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides might cause an extra 4 million cancer cases among Americans. If you are growing your own food, you have control over what does, or doesn’t, go into it. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms and can also harm humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations.

Goin Green in 2009

Twas the Season to consume. More than any time of year, we use and consume massive amounts of disposable items, from party supplies to wrapping paper, to buying the take-out meal for the family on the way home from the mall over the holidays. It's the time to party and celebrate, but now it’s also a time for making resolutions for the future. And in tough economic times, it’s a great time to look for ways we can consume less and save the environment at the same time.

Pick a green resolution to focus on in the New Year. Here is a quick list of a some small changes to get you thinking.


1. Change your trip to the coffee bar by bringing your own mug or using an in-house mug. If you make 3-4 trips to the coffee shop a week, you’re saving 200 cups and lids a year. It’s a small change that makes a difference (I hear Starbucks gives a nice little discount for bringing your own mug!).

2. Refuse to use the disposable cups, bowls and utensils at your business. Buy a cheap set of dishes at the grocery store and use em again and again instead of the paper plates, cups and utensils you may have been using. You’ll save your company money in the process.

3. Cut down on drives around town. Buy a bike if you live in a bike-friendly community and refuse to drive anywhere that is closer than 2 or 3 miles. It’s a fact... a bike ride within short distances is generly as fast as driving your car.

4. Turn off your lights when you’re not in the room, unplug appliances and electronics that aren’t in use. Nearly half the nation’s CO2 emissions come from the energy we consume at home and work (via our power plant system), so wasting less unnecessary electricity at home is a tiny change that can have a massive effect.

Thanks again for reading. We hope you’ve enjoy our green tips and that 2009 is your greenest year ever.


Always Save, Always Green, Buy Green Cleaners Online ~ http://greenclean.barefootmom.com

Should you flush old medications?

Trash Meds Safely

What's the best plan for getting rid of old or leftover medicines? Answer this multiple-choice question to find out.

A. Keep them at home as a backup.
B. Give them to friends or family with similar conditions.
C. Flush them down the toilet.
D. Return them to a healthcare provider or pharmacy.

Returning leftover or old medicines to a doctor or pharmacy is your best bet for safely disposing of them. For years, some doctors advised flushing medicines, but we now know that's not good for the environment. Same goes for rinsing them down the drain. Eventually, those medicines may make their way into lakes, rivers, and even tap water. Unfortunately, about half of people dump their old meds in the toilet.

Pharmacies that accept old meds will incinerate them -- the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of them -- or treat them as medical waste. But because of state laws, not all pharmacies will accept old meds.

So what's the next best option? Don't just toss them in the trash. Contact your local waste-management company for guidance. They may have an incineration facility for medications, or they may treat certain meds as hazardous waste.

Think about it, if these medicines are so unsafe to dispose of what are they possibly doing to your body. Now I realize sometimes there isn't any options... but prevention is the key to life long health. It's amazing what the body can do to heal itself if given the right nutrients. A good place to start in Barefoot's Basic Foundation Package