Brazil Doce River – What is Being done?

A dam burst that contained waste water from a Mining company destroying many homes and spilled into the River. It killed everything in the river – fish turtles etc. My question is What is being done about it?  Is fining The Company enough? Who can we prevent this?

It will take decades to reverse the damage Done to that river and the environment .

Day 315 - Would you like to ride an Ostrich?

We truly are disconnected from reality. So much so that we do not consider the lives of other beings we share this life with. How long shall we continue this? Let’s not wait till its tool ate. Let’s create the change now:

www.desteni.org

Day 268 - Are Fireworks Really worth All of this:

 

Statistics from the RSPCA* show that, in addition to the huge number of pets given sedatives to control their fear of firework bangs and flashes across England and Wales, every year up to 5,000 pets are treated for firework-related injuries. - See more at: http://bank.marksandspencer.com/explore/media-centre/press-release/2003/10/remember,-remember,-your-pets-this-november/PR100011/#sthash.rONNSgo7.dpuf

• In 2011, fireworks caused an estimated 17,800 reported fires, including 1,200 total structure fires, 400 vehicle fires, and 16,300 outside and other fires. These fires resulted in an estimated eight reported civilian deaths, 40 civilian injuries and $32 million in direct property damage.
• In 2012, U.S. hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 8,700 people for fireworks related injuries; 55% of 2012 emergency room fireworks-related injuries were to the extremities and 31% were to the head.
• The risk of fireworks injury was highest for young people ages 15-24, followed by children under 10.
• On Independence Day in a typical year, far more U.S. fires are reported than on any other day, and fireworks account for two out of five of those fires, more than any other cause of fires.
• http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/for-consumers/holidays/fireworks

When I was a kid I absolutely loved fireworks. Load bangs and rockets and different colors – what kid wouldn’t like to set off some fireworks? I was never allowed to light them without supervision and on the rare occasions that we did light them we had to do it in an open field far away from animals. Looking back at it now, even though we did it far away from houses, it would still have been load for animals.

This did not go on for too long, eventually the danger of fireworks became clear and my parents chose to not do it anymore. This was the right thing to do and still is.

Currently I live in an environment where there are lots of different animals ranging from dogs and cats to various other wildlife, and fireworks would be absolutely devastating to these animals. So even though It would be cool and fun to set some off I simply cannot, because we have to consider those we share this living space with.

In the Cities this is a big problem for animal lovers. When the fireworks go off the pets are terrified. I have seen and heard horrific stories of pets running away never to return. Some pets actually run through glass doors or get stuck trying to push through fences. Some even rip their nails off trying to get away by digging through concrete.

Horror stories aside, we should all consider whether it’s worth it to light fireworks for the sake of personal enjoyment when it has such unfortunate consequences. Maybe it would be better to have a designated area where there are no animals around where people can go light fireworks – that would be far more beneficial than having these poor animals in terror in the festive seasons.

Day 257: Why it’s time to Redefine Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving – a time of year were people and families come together to spend some quality time and be thankful for the food on the table. Ironically, it’s also the time of year were millions of pounds of food are wasted. Nothing says how thankful we are like wasting over 204 million pounds of turkey…

Let’s look at that figure a little closer: 204 million pounds of turkey is allot. It’s worth over $270 million. Imagine how many hungry families can be fed with all that wasted meat – it’s enough to give every food-insecure household in America 5kg of meat. And what about the water used to produce all that wasted turkey? A staggering 105 billion gallons. And all that meat ends up in landfills.

This is very contradictory .The tradition of thanksgiving when we look at what actually happens it seems what is being celebrated is being ungrateful and gluttony. So much food is simply being wasted. Sure, tiss’ the season of profits. The turkey factories cash it in this time of year – where the meat ends up does not matter as long as it’s being sold.

And then we have Black Friday afterwards. Nothing says thank you like reenacting the Zombie apocalypse every year after thanksgiving. I was very relieved when South Africans did not take part in these traditions, but unfortunately companies here in SA started with the Black Friday tradition as well.

What does it really mean to be thankful for the food on the table? Who is to thanks? To know the answer to that you have really look at what it took for that food to be on your table. From the turkey born to be slaughtered to the workers harvesting the veggies. The packaging and transport and water reuired. Even down to the oil that needed to be drilled to create the packing and fuel the truck and all the people involved in the process. Who at thanksgiving actually give thanks where it’s due? Who thanks the turkey?

What we should actually do is redefine thanksgiving. To stop buying and preparing too much food and only make enough. Or to take the leftovers and use it were it will not be wasted – you won’t have to look hard to find a hungry person to give the food to. And then to thank the turkey and every other part that was involved with getting that food on your plate. That would be an actual thanksgiving Dinner. And then we should do that with every meal we eat – practice real gratefulness through the understanding of how that food got in your plate.

Christians Have failed Jesus for 2013 years!!!

 

And so we are at the end of the year 2013 – a year after the world ended. We are at the end of another Christmas and the year 2014 is upon us. For me Christmas time is very inconvenient – Town gets so busy with people doing bargain shopping that it is almost impossible to do basic food shopping. It also is a frustrating time of the year, because hypocrisy is all over the place.

Christmas time is a time for giving – but it is actually just people buying useless crap for each other that apparently shows how much they care for each other. Companies love holiday season. Families come together reminding each other how important family is and that family stick together and help each other. What most do not realize is that the only reason they can celebrate Christmas is because they have money. Money makes Christmas possible. Money is needed to buy and drive the car for a family get-together. Money is needed to buy the Christmas meal. Money, money, money.

Most do not have money – what about them? Why should they be left outside in the cold and with no food? Why after 2013 years of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ have we not been able to end poverty? Christmas is celebrating the birth of a man that stood for helping others – to love other as yourself – to give as you would like to receive – Yet we have live 2013 years of hypocrisy, because we as humanity can’t even feed all of humanity.

Every Christmas should actually be a day of shame – how can we celebrate when so many suffer each day? Why is there nothing being done? Why do we settle for the temporary solutions that only help some of those that suffer and not opt for permanent solutions that help all?

A Guaranteed Living Income will be a solution. It will end poverty when fully implemented. That would be the greatest gift we can give each other. Money is what is needed to be able to live in this world. With a Guaranteed Living Income survival ends and living begins. Maybe at the 2014^th celebration of the Birth of Jesus Christ we can have a Christmas without shame and hypocrisy – because the will be a Guaranteed Living Income.

Cant always get what you want - but if you try you'll get what you need...

 

There is a song that goes "You can't always get what you want, but if you try real hard you'll get what you need". Nope, not true.

With 3 Billion in poverty and billions more struggling to make a living even if you try really hard you can't even get what you need. You need food, a home and water at least to be alive yet many do not have these basic human rights. So the sentence is misleading.

Poverty doesn't  exist because people are lazy - there simply are not enough jobs available to make a decent living. People work hard - even to death just to able to feed themselves or their family. There are horrific jobs people are forced into just to make money. It always comes down to money or rather the lack thereof.

There is definitely enough food, in fact there is enough food being produced today globally to feed 12 billion people. That is a lot of food,  then why are more than 1 billion starving with a  food surplus enough for an additional 5 billion people? Well, the people do not have money to buy the food and so the food gets thrown away.

What about water? Companies like coca-cola that mass produce "diabetes-in-a-can" and other drinks require large amount of water and to get the water they claim lakes and rivers and what-not fencing it of and making it illegal for anybody else to get to that water. You have countries where people live right next to a water treatment plant, but cannot drink the water because they cannot pay for it. So they suffer.

Having a Living Income  would end all of this suffering. If people had money to buy the things they need like food and water and housing you would have no starving, no thirsty or homeless people. And that is one of the   principles of the Living Income Guaranteed proposal -  to make sure everybody has their basic human rights and actually  get what they need.   

Dealing With Graves Disease

 

Today I am looking at how Graves disease have affected me thus far and reactions I have experienced. I’m looking at a before and after in terms of how I was before compared to now.

Physically there has been a big change. I lost most of my physical strength and became physically weaker. This brought up many points in relation to the idea and belief of strength and weakness – read here on support for that:

What is Strength Really?

Before my thyroid went into hyper drive I was working daily with the physical doing various tasks and managing the farm. Now I am unable to do so which made me feel useless and unhelpful. I felt useless, because I was physically unable to so. For support on uselessness have read over here:

Uselessness

I went from being very busy to not busy and judged myself, because I was unable to do all the things I used to do and had to depend on others to assist and support me. This brought some reactions within me and being very stubborn to ask for help when I needed it. For support on this read over here:

Ask and you shall receive - Or Be silent and suffer

Within my physical activities around the farm I felt useful. I valued it and saw the wroth it in. With getting graves disease and unable to participate with the physical activities that value and worth went away within me. What I did not realize at the time was that I linked value and worth as a point outside myself - as something I do instead of who I am. I missing self-worth and self-value. Here is support on self worth and self value:

Self-Value and Self-Worth and Repetitive Failure

Self Worth and Self Development

 

I experienced myself as being stuck since I got diagnosed With me unable to do the things I used to and having to learn to do new things. It felt as if I was not good enough and lacked the power move through this disease. I allowed myself to fall on this point and essentially gave up on myself which resulted in me not moving effectively. Here follows support if you are dealing with the same thing:

Being stuck

It is interesting to see how many points a disease can bring up and tell you about yourself and who you are. This is still a on going process and more points reveal themselves and open up.

Day 156 - Ask and you shall receive - Or Be silent and suffer

 

 

The heading seems a bit gloomy and doomy, which is how I feel today. I’ll start with words of wisdom that each one should take to heart and live by, for it will make your life easier and take away some of the struggle: ''Read the Manual''

With most things that require assembling, like a cupboard or a table - they include this piece of paper that has all the instructions on how to assemble it. Some people completely ignore this ‘holy grail’ believing they do not need such a thing - stubbornly claiming ''I can do it myself '' or " I'm a manly man and manuals are mainly for plainly wussy people''. Most of the time this stubbornness leads to a scene of a very irritated ''manly man'' struggling to assemble the thing and in his effort to protect his pride, absolutely refuses any help.

Read the manual - they put it there for a reason. And I can tell you from experience as a person who reads the manual that it has made my life easier. So heed my words as this is one of life's lessons that I have learned.

Now to some other words of wisdom. What  you are about to read will amaze you in its simplicity and how astonishingly helpful it will be once you apply this: ''Ask and you shall receive''

I have not yet fully grasped this wisdom as of yet -Even though I Read the Manual, which is like asking for assistance. I will explain my conundrum and the reason for my gloominess. Yesterday evening I was helping out with preparing my stable. The power was out which meant we had to fill up the water buckets underneath the tap and then carry them to the stables. With my Graves disease I have been inactive and not as strong as I used to be and I also have back problems so as I was filling up this water bucket of doom I knew it would be too much of a strain on my back to carry it and I should ASK so that I can RECIEVE assistance. Alas I did not and told myself that ''I can do it myself''. I carried that bucket and immediately regretted my decision - it was a great struggle for me and today I suffered the consequences. My back has been very sore today.

All could have been avoided if I simply asked for help like I ask those manuals filled with great wisdom.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to ask for assistance when I require it

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that because I am not capable anymore of carrying heavy things to see it as me being useless and unhelpful

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to be stubborn and believe that I do not need any help when I can clearly see that I do

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have an emotional reaction to me not being as strong as I used to be and see that as me being weak, not seeing for what it really is which is simply me not being as strong as I used to be – and this only from a ‘physical perspective’

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to want to prove that I am not weak by trying to carry something I am clearly not capable of carrying - not realizing that strength has nothing to do with muscle power and instead has all to do with my beingness/who I am.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to be angry at myself for doing such a silly thing and judging myself because of it.

I commit myself to ask for assistance when I need it

I commit myself to stop the belief that I am useless because I cannot help out with heavy objects anymore - Instead I realize that my body is not as strong anymore and thus I am physically unable to carry heavy things

I commit myself to stop being stubborn and instead listen to common sense

I commit myself to stop the reaction to me not being as strong as I used to be and seeing myself as weak, Instead I see it for what is really is - I am simply not strong anymore and there is nothing weak about it - it simply is

I commit myself to stop judging myself when I did something silly - instead I learn from the event and make sure I do not do it again

I commit myself to stop being angry at myself for hurting my back - instead I stop the anger and realize that anger will do nothing but fumigate me and is useless. I turn that anger into something practical like finding the reason why I hurt myself so that I do not do it again.