I hear media outlets getting people riled about about so many topics, the wall, guns, terror, battling cancer, the battle on literally everything but, the actual causes. What if we are already in the middle of something major and, we aren’t taking it serious?
The UN has estimated that all of our topsoil will be gone by 2075. I saw that even the World Wildlife Fund reports that 50% of the Earth’s topsoil has been lost in just 150 years. Sit with these numbers for a minute. We can actually run out of soil. Don’t we use soil to grow food to feed our increasing population? ”
We are already in middle of something, now.
I started to really become interested in our soil when I discovered the reason for my severe pain- allergies. I couldn’t really accept that I was allergic to vegetation found on so much of the land.
Someone close to me (who is an expert grower of seemingly everything) said, “Earth isn’t the same Earth. There are all kinds of pesticides and other things in the soil and in the ground. All of that is in our air and vegetation.” He went on to say that technological advances may also be impacting the land in ways that are not yet known or, disclosed.
The first part of this post highlights why there may be limited information on the study of allergies, as reported by a researcher in the field. Further below, is info on the meat industry and lastly what I think is one of the biggest contributions to increased CO2 levels- increased use of disposable products .
I casually looked up info on pollen and allergies. There isn’t much . Let me mention quickly, for those of you who do not have allergies to trees and grass and plants- it’s the pollen that affects people with these types of allergies, usually. So anyway, it’s easy to find info on ragweed but, the articles quickly turned into topics on climate change. Initially, I tried to stay focused on how pollen has been affected over the years- initially, I thought that maybe the pollen itself was changing, somehow. What I found were researchers reporting that the pollen count has doubled in the last twenty years.
Did you know that you can develop allergies at any point in your life? The severity of your allergies can also fluctuate.
This led me to think that maybe allergies aren’t always products of hyper immunity. For some of us, maybe allergies are a function of a healthy body saying, “Hey, you are asking me to breathe in too much of this stuff!” I almost want to start writing the word, Allergies, in quotes.
I began looking for information on how bio/land/soil degradation may be impacting our allergies. Did I mention that the information on allergies is scarce? One thing that most people agree on is that allergies are reportedly on the rise.
A part of me wonders how allergies can be increasing while our soil and vegetation seem to be decreasing.
I hear some of you saying, “Erica, ancient Chinese doctors wrote about people reacting to plants and that some people died from being stung by insects. Allergies go back to our ancient times.”
I hear you. Supposedly allergies were still rare, in our ancient times. These days, allergies aren’t rare.
It seems that most researchers have assumed two things:
1) it’s related to the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the air, due to pollution. Co2 seems to affect our weather. Many people blame an increase in allergies to longer and warmer seasons. The longer warm seasons affect how long a plant or tree pollinates. SO, it would seem easy to assume that the longer warmer seasons in which plants tend to pollinate, would impact us and our allergies.
Doesn’t it seem like it is natures way of making up for deforestation or, it’s way to heal…that is how it looks to me.
2) CO2 is plant food and for some plants like Ragweed, CO2 increases pollen. Researchers have noticed a relationship between an increase in CO2 and an increase in the pollen count.
Something sketchy to our pollen databases?
The U.S. has a voluntary agency controlling our pollen database. Yes, there is a pollen database where info on our pollen count is maintained. It is called the National Allergy Bureau. It sounds legit doesn’t it? “Sampling Stations” submit their data to NAB. Unlike with other foreign databases, NAB requires a researcher in the U.S., to submit a formal request to get info on the samples. This formal request has to be submitted so that the sampling stations can approve or, not approve the release of information. Media outlets are the exceptions to this process and get info daily.
A researcher, Richard Flagan, actually reported frustration with this process because requests go unanswered and there is frustration with the method used for collecting data. Supposedly collecting methods are “not compatible with science” and, that “the pollen database in the United States is abysmal.” This was quoted out of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science article, Pollen Overload: Seasonal Allergies in a Changing Climate.
Other Challenges with the study of allergies
People don’t always go to a doctor for symptoms related to allergies so, it isn’t clear how many people are being impacted. Another speculation was that people are “too clean” and not exposed to microbes and pollen, enough to develop better resistance. I immediately thought, “right, we aren’t yet acclimated to our changing air quality. Is that a reflection on our bodies or, a reflection of something else?”
Another challenge is that it is hard to study a condition when there isn’t a clear “baseline.”After reading through a lot of different worldwide studies on Google Scholar, I also saw that pollen seems to be difficult to study (I hate to mention the G word but, it is accessible to people.). Researchers studying pollen allergies also have to have an understanding of plants and when or how they pollinate. You may notice that there is more research on certain types of pollen.
My ENT used the word “theories.” We have theories on why we develop allergies. This is science talk for “we really don’t know but, we do have fairly reliable ideas on how things seem to work.”
Most people seem to agree that allergies used to be rare and now allergies are common.
Is there anything else to consider?
It isn’t just about what is floating in the air. I mean what is in our ground or, in our vegetation. Affected areas are potentially everywhere but, we have also seen that affected areas affect other areas, over time. Trash spreads, pollen spreads, affected water spreads, etc.
The obvious next topic
(I’m not partial to taking the obvious next step but, here we go…)
Pesticides, underground wires, all of the underground pipes and the materials they hold,underground infrastructures and the materials they possess…fracking, caskets. What about the waste from other mega industries like, meat and poultry. At the end of the day, where does their trash go?
Let’s discuss this.
You: “Erica, you brought up the meat industry. They reuse so much of the animal. They turn byproducts into pet food, feathers used in luxury bedding, pharmaceuticals and, cosmetics.”
Me: “Luxurious bedding by what standards? Those feathers always come out of that bedding. Do you remember that song “You say?” Horrible whiny song.” “Sorry, yes, I know Fido eats his comrades.”
You: ” Download and read, The Science of Meat and Poultry Processing. It is by Shai Barbut. Barbut is a PhD from The University of Guelph. Get educated. The meat industry does it’s part and it feeds lots of hungry people. Don’t mess with the meat! I am not eating kale. No!”
Me: “Whats happening, right now?”
You: (Breathing deeply.) “I know what you are doing.”
Me: “I would never ask you to to eat Kale, for me…if you never ask me to eat meat. Perfect balance really, like the yin and yang.”
You: “You might be crazy.”
Me: “Ok.”
Let me say first, I don’t care what you enjoy eating. I just don’t. There is no agenda. I have looked at this hard to read about topic, from different angles.
There is some info on practices and some stats on the different meat industries.–Even some recent headlines, if you go looking–
Here are some general stats and no, I won’t be too specific or illustrative of meat processing.
I found the article,
Utilization of byprocucts and waste materials from meat, poultry and fish processing industries: a review. K. Jayathilaken, khudsia Sultana, K. Radhakrishna, and A. S. Bawa. doi: 10.1007/s13197-011-0290-7
This article states that:
- Raw products create–> a desired product, a non product specific waste and, a product specific waste.
- Waste waters from the meat industry pose one of the biggest challenges to the degradation of the environment due do biologic and inorganic pollutants, found in the water.
- Biological waste quickly begins to decompose. (This is problematic for reasons concerning waste management and even for the possible continued use of byproducts.
- Most of the waste is produced during the slaughtering. (There is a chart in the review)
- Health concerns by consumers are affecting the profitability and viability of creating byproducts, as a way to circumvent issues with waste.
- Between 66- 68% of the animals’ live weight is used, after byproducts are produced. The rest is physically or chemically unsuitable for consumption. (If you consider the fact that there are hundreds of millions of animals turned into meat, not using nearly 30%-40% of each cow, is quite a lot of potential waste. Yes, the numbers are into the hundreds of millions of cows. I know…that sounds astronomically high. I have actually seen reports into the billions.)
- Diseases like Mad Cow and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy can lead to the banning of animal parts once used, further minimizing potential byproducts.
- Culture plays a part in the usability of meat and byproducts.
- Waste from meat and fish may be turned into biodiesel fuel.
I don’t think raising/feeding millions of cattle and, dealing with the remains (and fecal matter) is actually in our best interest, from an environmental factor. When we turned meat into an industry, the natural ebb and flow was lost. We lost a healthy balance.
This year, JBS was accused of illegally dumping waste water, in Colorado. I wonder how you legally dump toxic material, especially when the material is in massive amounts…
Could it be done better? I’m asking because I don’t know, exactly. Who does? If you look, you will see that these companies are frequently in the headlines but, are there appropriate consequences? The answer may be an easy, “no”. What would you do, as a judge especially, if you knew that it was the only way Americans knew how to eat… Imbalance in industry, imbalance in our diet…imbalance in our environment.
This is why we need to become aware of things and start problem solving. This is why I write and attempt to reach out beyond my neighborhood.
Many of the big industries- oil, natural gas, meat could tear into arguments made against them. They would say things to suggest a person doesn’t know the facts.
That may be true, actually. No one person is the keeper for all knowledge and if there is anything that has been so heavily manipulated, it is Earth’s history, in general. I mean where does a person start?
That doesn’t mean normal people should accept everything they are told without questioning things. We should not allow ourselves to be bullied. And, it is time knowledge was more powerful than money and control.
What is the answer?
There are 2 things to consider: 1) Transparency of environmental practices, to ANYONE and 2) Individuals replacing everyday disposable products with reusable products. All around Accountability.
Transparency of waste management. Procedures should be clear and in plain language. It shouldn’t take a lawyer to understand dumping laws. Their practices should be visible and understood by anyone because, industrial practices have the ability to impact all of us. We are all accountable for our environment and welfare. The more complicated things are made, the more power seems to be taken from the individual person and therefore people feel less accountable. We are all accountable for the things that happen on this planet.
What can everyday people do? You already know.
It’s just about starting…
Reuse more and, that also means reusing our food products- Compost. This is a process that takes a lot of our trash and turns into nutrient rich soil.
Compost. Neighborhoods across the U.S. have compost pick up, similar to our trash pickup. See if your neighborhood has compost pickup or, a place to drop of compost. Look it up. See what these organizations accept as compost and, participate. It’s a small thing but, it could be so powerful if we all made the effort. The Earth is our home and we should treat her better. She’s a good planet and she has put up with a lot of B.S., in her lifetime.
Land degradation is happening faster than most people realize.
When I think about what may have had the biggest impact on our environment, over the last 150 years, I immediately think that we are throwing away too many disposable items. We wanted our lives to be easier- less washing means less household work. So, in an effort to get more time, we gravitate towards disposable items. The thing is, disposable items became the norm, everyday. Everything from paper towels, to dryer sheets to Starbucks cups are thrown away with regularity.
Truthfully, I don’t find that the work load became heavier on me, as I use more and more reusable products. Not everything has to be washed immediately. For example, I always give the boys cloth napkins with their meals. Rarely do they actually use them. I keep the napkin at their place at the table and, the boys know that they are there. Plus, I find that cloth napkins absorb more than, the paper towels I once used.
Here are more steps to consider:
- You can get cloth napkins or cotton rounds for makeup removal. They can make both of those items with beautiful fabrics.
- I have mentioned reusable straws and sanitary napkins in previous posts.
- Just think about the items that you throw away consistently and consider replacing those items.
- Consider reusable shopping bags (some places in my state have already done away with plastic bags.).
- Consider reusable produce bags. I am seeing these being sold more in the produce section.
- Consider reusable sandwich bags. Over time, this also saves you money.
- For me, it is also about lifting each other up. So, I buy almost all of my reusable items from individuals.
- Do you sew? Maybe, you could make reusable items and sell them. Why not?
- I’m not saying don’t polish your nails. I’m just saying be aware of all the little things you do because, all of it adds up, person by person.
- Consider Vegan makeup. Yes, yes, there are awesome vegan lines- mainly sold by women, online. Sure, it’s a good option for protecting animal welfare but, it also tends to have “cleaner” ingredients. These ingredients may also be less harsh on the Earth. Some people who sell vegan makeup use containers that can be recycled.
Can you think of anything else? What small thing can you do?
You know, I’m not really worried about Earth. She is strong. She seems capable of taking abuse. She seems capable of pushing back, in the name of her own well-being. For the most part. My face can feel her punch in my sinuses. I do wish we treated her much better. She’s done right by us and she is truly beautiful.
I have concerns about us, mankind. Let’s do better because we deserve it and, so do our children.