Dear Friends,

Let’s face it—there absolutely is no acceptable excuse for hunger in the world. It is a problem that we can fix worldwide, so that no human being is without goodfood and clean water. We just have to make it our priority, that’s all—and we haven’t. It is all about social change and environmental practices (my PhD path).

I’ve been around long enough to experience the 50s where no one in the mainstream was at all concerned about the health effects of smoking. In fact, cigarette companies had “scientific studies” proving that cigarettes were not in the least harmful to ones health. Ads on billboards, in magazines, on the newly emerging TV commersials that featured medical doctors in white coats—smoking—and being asked the question, “What cigarette do you smoke doctor?” (watch this old clip and realize—we used to believe and trust these ads).

Perhaps you saw the 1999 movie, The Insider, with Russell Crowe, as a former tobacco scientist who violated contractual agreements to expose Brown & Williamson’s inclusion of addictive ingredients in cigarettes, revealing his industry’s lies about nicotine addiction to a worldwide audience on TV’s “60 Minutes”. This movie documents the entire event of this true-life historical case. The ramification of this exposé eventually led to a court ruling of approximately $250 BILLION against the tobacco companies. However, as Mitchell Gaynor MD points out: “It was not until a landmark scientific paper published in the mid-1990s, demonstrated irrefutably how benzopyrene, a dioxin chemical in cigarette smoke, knocked out a tumor suppressor gene called P 53, that an irrefutable, cigarettes-are-bad statement could be made. Finally, the cigarette company executives could no longer deny that smoking caused lung cancer.” (Nurture Nature Nurture Health—Your Health and the Environment, 2005).

Who would have thought that you could win against big tobacco? One brave human being did make a difference, and today ads for smoking are banned on TV and on billboards (although sadly, ads still can be seen in some magazines). Increasingly all public spaces are smoke free zones as it is recognized that second hand smoke is just as dangerous as smoking. It is just not cool to smoke anymore. Of course I am talking about America here. It hasn’t caught on in most of Asia, but it will.

The other day I saw a pear-shaped, obese individual walking down the street, drinking a supersized soft-drink. Think about the ads on TV and on every available media outlet—motivating us to enjoy the good life, the fun life, with good old junk food. Where are the medical groups standing up against this? Have you noticed that it is these fast food establishments that become virtually the only convenient source of food in the poorer neighborhoods? There is no doubt that this kind of dieting, snacking constantly on refined food and pop, is a major causatic factor in obesity and chronic disease in America. Where is the scientific community’s warnings, outrage and active campaign against these illness producing foods? And where is the government’s accountability? Many in the global North may be overeating—but our bodies are starving for nutrients. There is also the fact of real hunger in America.

Joel Berg, the executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and a longtime activist, states that obesity costs the American Health Care System 90 billion dollars a year, and that we could cure obesity in America for around 20 billion dollars. We know that there are 800 million (and growing) people in the world who are starving. STARVING! But what about America? Joel Berg, in his new book,”How Hungry is America?”, states:

When people look at the facts for themselves, they discover the shocking reality: hunger amidst a sea of plenty is a  phenomenon as American as baseball, jazz, and apple pie. Today in the United States—because tens of millions of people live below the meager federal poverty line and because millions of others hover just above it—35.5 million Americans, including 12.6 million chilcren, live in a condition described by the federal governement as “Food insecurity,” which means their households either suffer from hunger or struggle at the brink of hunger.

Berg takes to task politicians who remain inactive; the media, which ignores hunger except during holidays and hurricanes; the food industry, which makes fattening, artery-clogging fast food more accessible to the nations’ poor than healthy fare; and ordinary citizens for thinking that food pantries alone can fix the problem.

His book offers a simple and affordable plan to end it for good. It is a spirited call to action. Get “How Hungry is America?” and let’s get started together. As Berg says, our success could be a template for the rest of the world.

Howard-Yana Shapiro who has written a phenomenal book with John Harrisson called, “Gardening for The Future of The Earth”, provides an important part of the answer we need to solve the food crisis worldwide. Yana states,

When I first moved to El Guique (Northern New Mexico) over eight years ago, I counted only 28 species of birds. Since then, I have made a consicous effort to preserve and create biodiversity and to use sustainable practices to maintain and improve the health of the soil and the purity of our water [Yana has gardened and farmed this particular area for eight years]. It is no coincidence that today I can count 140 different bird species, and as a treat, migration [of birds to his land] occurs every year … I am amazed at what a simple act of habitat preservation and construction has accomplished.

His statement caused me to reflect on my own neighborhood. I have definately notice over the last 5 decades that as our little town became an urban sprawl of Seattle with sky scrappers to boot, the number of birds and bird sounds have dramatically diminished, not to mention the vast reduction of species. I have decided, in my own effort to be more observant, that I am going to get a bird book and take an inventory of the birds around our porch, courtyard and condo complex, to be compared down-the-road as I increase our gardenable spaces. Will be very interesting.

David Suzuki in his book, “Good News, For a Change”(2002), states,

The Adirondack Park is one of humanity’s first attempts to legislate the protection of an entire ecosystem and everything in it, to conserve biodiversity. That word has many meanings. First of all, it refers to the entire bioshphere, the thin skin of air, water and land stretched over the surface of, where life as we know it exists in interlocking, interdependent sets of systems. These systems include all the billions of genes within species, across the face of the planet. That bewildering diversity of life—from the varied geographic habitats covering the earth, to the gene inside a one celled organism—is all termed biodiversity.

We now realize that biodiveristy actually produces life. All these various interwoven life forms continuously replenish, clean, nurture and create conditions amenable to yet more life forms. We have been amazed to discover, only very recently, that it is life itself, living organisms, that create water, the atmosphere, soil and all forms of energy except the sun; even winds depend to a large extent upon vegetation patterns across the globe. (p. 90)

Suzuki in this chapter goes on to describe the corridor concept—that of creating wilderness pathways between parks. There is now an Algonquin-to-Adirondacks initiative underway between New York and Ontario’s Algonquin Park. There is also a plan, called the Appalachian Wildlands Project, to stretch the same corridor south all the way to Florida. All of this is great steps for life in the right direction.

Finally back to Yana Shapiro and Harrisson and their book—I will end this newsletter with this thought. This book devotes itself to a practical explanation and brings together, for the first time, the techniques of the masters of organic gardening, showing us how to create natural bounty in our own backyard. Their ultimate agenda for teaching the leading edge systems of permaculture, biointensive, biodynamic and kinship gardening, is for the purpose of saving our planet—through creating a prototype that can feed all humans on earth abundantly with real, live, local foods. Now here is the thought for the moment: Howard-Yana Shapiro PhD, is not only a gardener but he also created the largest organic seed company in the world—Seeds of Change. However, after a little over a decade, he sold his seed company to the Mars Company. Yes!— the Mars Company— the one that makes M&M’s and Snickers. He is now their global director of plant science and external research. He says that Mars bought Seeds of Change because it saw a future in ethical production. He states further:

If you’re interested in the future, scale is one of the things that’s critical. I am interested in not having any hungry people in the world. I am interested in changing the lives of a many people as possible.

Because of Shapiro’s willingness to work with Mars and Mars willingness to work with Shapiro, Mars as the world’s biggest chocolate company, is committing itself to sustainable sourcing of the whole of its annual cocoa, worth well over a billion dollars of cocoa. This will be purchased from peasant farmers all over the world who are farming organically, sustainably, and who are getting living wages. Mars is fully commited to environmental quality, social equity and sustainable economy. Remember in the last few weeks we have been talking about becoming activists—working together to accomplish greater goals. This is one way. There are many more. We will
talk more about this next week.

Keep thinking: how can we be better activists?

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note: Practitioners often ask us why we created so darn many different probiotic formulas? Can’t you give us just one good one? Our answer usually goes something like this: We’ve given you seven good ones. The purpose is to get excellent, proven, effective and safe probiotic organisms into your gut. Just as variety in foods is important, (and everyone differs in what may be best for them), we feel the same way about bacteria. We are offering you a nice variety of therapeutic Food combinations so your patients can expereince different bacterial foods. It is good to have two and three bacterial foods to rotate in the menu. For more knowledge, look at the ingredients in each of the synbiotic formulas, read the bullet points on the website, and read the library dossier. And, of course, give us a call any time.

The Last Quiz Answer: This amazing fish is called a Gernog. It is an Indonesian reef fish that hunts for small fish to eat within the coral, aided by troups of sea snakes hunting together with them.

Feeding A Hot and Hungry Planet: The Challenge of Making More Food and Fewer Greenhouse Gases. A one-day symposium and a two-day conference, April 29th to May 1st, 2009 held at Princeton University—seeking to explore the scientific, policy and ethical questions presented by the need to greatly boost food production to feed a growing world population while reducing agricultures contribution of about 30% of the world’s greenhouse gases.

Dear Friends,

Nature urgently needs our good works! Together we can indeed bring back, re-create even, a healthy biosphere. But in order for our world to heal, we must all commit to do something—all it takes is a small step in the right direction. I would like to share with you four ideas about “changing and doing”; thoughts that have beenrumbling around in my mind over these past few weeks. Ideas and concepts that possibly can be of use, guide us, but also hopefully help us to develop compassion for all sides: to instigate vital changes—with a loving heart.

Life is about relationships

My philosophical view is that there are five relationships possible. We have relationship with ourselves. We have relationship with others. We have relationship with nature—other life species in the biosphere. We have relationship with things— jobs, hobbies, cars, homes, possessions, etc. We have relationship with God— if we are a religious/spiritual person. Think about it— life and relationships are synonymous.

We become who we hangout with

Our family background shaped our beliefs, desires and the ways in which we see the world. In fact, not just our immediate family, but our family’s tree contains generational beliefs passed on to us, making us who we are. We are all born to a certain place, society and culture and our culture prescribes a particular point of view for us, and encourages us strongly to accept these values. These may include religious values or not, depending on our background. Most of us, reading this newsletter, are Americans and our culture has indoctrinated us with a particular worldview— one that we will look at closely in a few minutes.

We are a global community

n this day and age, what we do in our own neighborhood effect not only the people around us, but people all over the world. We are all connected.

As Americans we have been conditioned to be consumers. We are a culture of shoppers, motivated by constant advertising campaigns all around us. In fact, the all-American thing to do, to save our economy (besides bailing out erring banks), is to consume. As Americans we like things and the  accumulation of things. We are a nation of shoppers.

The industrial revolution made it possible for us to produce lots of goods, and
jobs for people to make money, and buy these goods. The problem is that this practice has gotten out of hand. Our factories demand too much oil that has to be sorced from other countries—unsustainable amounts of oil. Our industries pollute our environment, destroy ecosystems, and use unsustainable amount of water. We are destroying not only our forests, air and water, but also the resources of the world.

In last week’s email I cited Dohrea Bardell’s article entitled, “The Dynamics and Development of Western Power from Colonization to a Global Regime”. This is a very important document that put into perspective what our consumption mentality is doing to the rest of the world. It is obvious to us today that the colonizing ways of the 19th Century, the enslavement of other cultures’ people for the purpose of getting their country’s resources and their cheap (free) labor, is evil and unthinkable. But, that is exactly what our Western transnational corporations are doing throughout the global south today, linked in power with the World Bank, WTO, IMF, First World governments and Third World despots.

Last week we watched an interview with John Perkins, author of “The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”, his book can be viewed as Economics 101 when it comes to understanding the neo-colonialism of today; and why there is a massive movement afoot by millions of peasants worldwide, standing up for their sovergn rights to control their own land, their food, their agricultural practices and their way of life. Two-hundred thousand farmers in India have ended their lives by suicide since 1997 because of the actions of transnational corporations— Monsanto, Cargill and Syngenta. See the Huffington Post article, “From Seeds of Suicide to Seeds of Hope: Why Are Indian Farmers Committing Suicide and how Can We Stop This tragedy?”

This week I want to introduce you to Chris Hedges, former Bureau chief for the New York Time Magazine in Iraq, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, and an extremely articulate and lucid voice in seeing where we are and what we must do. Speaking out on the American consumer culture in Town Hall Seattle July 22nd, 2009 Hedges states, “Corporations have morphed our consumption into a constant, nagging compulsion.” He makes a powerful case against consumerism, celebrity culture, mainstream media and unfettered capitalism. I encourage you to listen to his half-hour talk. Just click on the link above and then click on “Listen to Speaker’s Forum” and you’ll hear his talk.

We all are shaped by our relationships, and the beauty of life is that it is never
too late for new relationships. The fact is, our consuming habit does effect the rest of the world. We are the chief promoter of free trade ideology, the major force behind the World Bank and the IMF, and it is our transnational corporations that are seizing power, taking resources and cheap labor from all over the world. It is this conglomerate of power that must be held responsible to creating slums of poverty around the word. The worlds starving masses are on our hands. What makes us any different than the English of the last century. It is our industrial technology used by China and India that are polluting the world unchallenged. It is the combination of these forces that are perpetuating a world of social inequity, un-sustainability and causing the ecological disaster I have termed de-evolution. What are you and I going to do about it?

Becoming an activist.

We begin where we are at. For example over the last 30 years I have become a city person—definitely not a farmer. But I haven’t been that way all my life. So my friends, I present to you, in exibit A (the picture on the left) my first fruits— the little potent cherry tomato, beautiful basil and this delicious pepper (tiny but tasty):

The tomato came from our plant on the deck and the basil and pepper came from the garden patch I planted for our condo community. As you can see from the middle picture the crop is growing. And, last but not least, the picture on the right is the harvest in our box this week from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Each week is different, we receive whatever is ready to be harvested, and we keep getting produce that we have never seen before or know how to prepare. What is so wonderful, as you know from my earlier emails, is the Newsletters we get each week from our CSA Helsing Farms, updating us on life on the farm, educating us on what we received in our box, and giving us gourmet recipes on how to prepare each item.

For example, and forgive me but I have to share a recipes with you because it is so elegantly simple and good. As you can see we got some fennel bulbs on the left, we got a clove of garlic, a bunch of chives and a pound and one-half of purple potatoes (I think they are really taro). Look at this recipe.

Roasted Purple Potatoes and Fennel with Garlic Butter:

• Wash 1 ½ pounds purple potatoes.
• Cut into 1-inch chunks.
• Cut 1-2 fennel bulbs in half the short way, then lay cut side down and slice into ½ inch chunks.
• Place the potatoes and fennel in a saucepan and cover with water.
• As soon as the water comes to a rolling boil, drain the vegetables.
• Put back into the pan, and add 2 TBS olive oil and toss to coat.
• Pour on to a greased baking pan, sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and add 5 cloves minced garlic. Toss together.
• Continue to bake for another 15 minutes until brown and crispy.
• Remove from the oven and gently toss with 2 TBS butter, 2 TBS chopped chives and a big pinch of sea salt.

Our produce is local, organic, straight from the farm, picked this morning,
and is $35 per box, which is what you see in this picture.

In their “happenings on the farm” this week they are welcoming us all to join them, kids and all for the yearly music festival on the farm. It is a sleep over (camp over) and it sounds fantastic.

So, my point in all of this is that we are so influenced by who we hang with, and it is imperative for all of us to stretch our horizons so our hearts and minds are expanded to be able to make intelligent actions towards saving our planet. In Green Facts this week I have again promoted the Peoples Grocery. Just look at the critically fundamental and important work these activists are doing.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note: We are almost at the end of the summer and the beginning
of the Fall flue season. Have a sore throat? Add Organic Freeze Dried Garlic to
your protocol. 2 capsules at the onset of symptoms, twice a day. It is the reason Garlic was labeled the “Russian Penicillin”. Back to school—back to nature.

The Last Quiz Answer: This gorgeous creature is a Wild Yak. Once
numerous and widespread on the entire Tibetan plateau north of the Himalayas. Currently it is found in remote areas of the Tibetan plateau and adjacent highlands, including the Gansu Province in China

The Peope’s Grocery is a community-based organization in West Oakland that develops creative solutions to the health problems in their community that stem from a lack of access to and knowledge about healthy, fresh foods. Our mission is to build a local food system that improves the health and economy of the West Oakland community.

Dear Friends,

Last week I introduced you to Maude Barlow—the founder of the Blue Planet Project and one of the leading activists in
the world. Barlow works ceaselessly to promote clean, drinkable water as a global right for all human beings, rather than a commodity to be privately owned and traded on the open market.

Water is fundamental to life. When we look to other planets for signs of life, we look for signs of running water. Water brings out everyone to haggle over the issue: “free trade” consortium, or the neo-liberal cartel we spoke about last week, and the social justice movements, like Via Campesina, Food Sovereignty and the Blue Planet. The polarization is great and the dispute illuminates the different forces that have changed the face of our planet. Water is one of the best examples that points the reason for the de-evolutionary process our planet is presently undergoing. Let me explain.

For starters, water has been called “blue gold” because, due to our mismanagement of our environment, we have damaged the hydraulic cycle, and all over the world we are running out of water.

Some frightening facts to consider:

• The world is running out of fresh water—scientists say that by 2025 two-thirds of the world’s population will face water scarcity.
• The World Health Organization reports that contaminated water is implicated in 80% of all sickness and disease worldwide.
• Scientists call them “hot stains”—the parts of the earth now running out of potable water. They include Northern China, large areas of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia, the Midwestern United States and sections of South America and Mexico.
• In China 80% of the major rivers are so degraded they no longer support aquatic life, and an astonishing 90% of all groundwater systems under the major cities are contaminated.
• 90% of wastewater produced in the Third world is discharged, untreated, into local rivers, streams and coastal waters.
• 2.1 million Indian children under the age of five die every year from dirty water. The coasts of Mumbai, Madras and Calcutta are putrid. The sacred Ganges, where millions come to worship, is an open sewer.
• The average human needs fifty liters of water per day for drinking, cooking and sanitation. The average North American uses almost six hundred liters a day. The average inhabitant of Africa uses six liters per day. A newborn baby in the global North consumes between forty and seventy times more water that a baby in the global South.
• In 2006, the number of city dwellers surpassed the number of rural dwellers for the first time in history. The urban populations of the Third World are growing exponentially, creating enormous slums without water services. By 2030, says the UN, more than half the population of these huge urban centers will be slum dwellers with no access to water. One report cited a current example of an area in Mumbai, where one toilet serves 5,440 people.
• We now know that we are polluting and depleting this earths finite stock of water so fast that we are mining the ground water faster than it can be replenished.

(Facts derived from the book “Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water” by Maude Barlow. Published in 2007).

We are running out of clean water. Our global industrial practices demand unsustainable amounts of water just as they have for oil. Rather than taking a step back to reflect on the way in which our interaction with Mother Nature is damaging her finely evolved ecosystems (the inner-connected networks of life), many countries are now looking at desalination as the answer to their water needs. But it requires a tremendous amount of fossil fuel to run these plants and turn ocean water into drinkable water.

There are 87 corporations now building desalinization plants. The biggest water company of all is General Electric, followed by Proctor and Gamble, with Dow Chemical now getting into the game. You go anywhere in Africa today and it is Coca Cola water. You can’t drink the water out of the tap. You can’t find purifiers.

The writing is on the wall—water is the hottest property out there and corporations are beating a path to own it. The path we choose to correct this shortage will have monumental ramification on the rest of our lives and the evolutionary future of our planet. How do we make the right choice?

We need accurate information. We need to be woken up. We need to act!

One of the most illuminating books that I have ever read on how neo liberal ideals have been thrust upon the world is, “The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” (2004) by John Perkins. This is an unbelievable exposé on how thoroughly the “Global North” has exploited the rest of the world’s resources to feed its ever-growing consumption habits. But our thirst is unquenchable and unsustainable. If you are unfamiliar with John Perkins you will find this TV interview absolutely riveting. I have transcribed some of his comments below.

The first question asked of him was, “What is an economic hit man?”

I think it is fair to say that in the last several decades we, economic hit men, have managed to create the world’s first truly global empire, and we have done it primarily without the military, for the first time in history, through economics. We work many different ways. But perhaps the most common is we will identify a third world country that has resources our corporations covet—like oil, and then arrange a huge loan to that country from the World Bank or one of its sister banks. But the money doesn’t actually go to that country but goes instead to our own corporations to build big infrastructure projects —power plants, industrial parks, ports and things like that, that will benefit a few rich people in that country as well as our corporations but doesn’t really help the majority of the people—the poor, who are not connected to the electrical grid, or if they are, they only use a couple of light bulbs. However these countries are left holding a huge debt… and it is such a big debt by intention that they can’t possibly repay it. [The solutions?] Sell your oil real cheap to our oil companies or vote with us on the next critical UN vote or send troops in support of ours.

We have truly created a global empire and an empire needs an emperor. An emperor is someone who is not elected, doesn’t serve a limited amount of time and also doesn’t really report to anyone else. It is obvious that the President of the US doesn’t have this role, but we do have the equivalent of that in the group of people that run our biggest corporations—I call this the “corporatocracy”. They all are driven by one big motive and that is to create huge profits for a few wealthy people. They report to no one except maybe their boards, but they all are on each others boards so they take care of each other that way too.

We can look at the power base [of the corporations] as being like huge clouds drifting around the planet, and they know no boundaries or borders. They don’t listen to any one laws of one country or the other, they go their own way—these are the big multi-national corporations.

The US doesn’t forgive debt without tremendous strings  attached. We want our corporations to go in there to privative their water systems and their sewage systems and their utility companies.

If we truly want to end terrorism, if we truly want to end violence in the world we must get rid of the root causes of anger and disappointment and frustration and terror by taking care of starvation, poverty, exploitation of resources. This is something that we should dedicate ourselves to.

Let’s face it, the media is funded through advertising by the corporatoracy or owned by it. There are a lot of reporters who understand these realities but they can’t get published because of this.

Now that hurts! And, it is just the “tip of the iceberg”. Get his book, you will find it utterly fascinating and compelling. To learn more regarding neo-colonialism read Dohrea’s essay on “The Dynamics and Development of Western Power from Colonization to a Global Regime”. Her special studies in school is Social Justice.

Even the best of our news shows such as NPR’s News Hour with Jim Lehrer doesn’t confront us with the brutal facts. Last Friday evening’s broadcast reported on a phenomena in Nigeria, where one half of the population is Christian and one half Muslim, that is called “Chrislam”—a blending of Christianity and Islam. As they ended this segment on the social progress that was being accomplished because of this movement, they concluded by saying that Nigeria with “all its wealth of oil” has very few people who have money, and the vast majority are extremely, devastatingly poor. Inferring that the Nigerian African “just can’t manage their resources and moneys well”. There was no mention that in fact the owners of these vast oil riches in their own country were the transnational corporations—Mobil, Chevron, Shell Oil and so on. The oil moneys pays off the elite and carefully picked leaders of their country, but the rest of the money goes out of their country, leaving the people right where they have always been—enslaved by either colonialism or poverty. Why was this not mentioned, even by NPR?

To understand more what is going on in Africa, Read Dohrea’s critique “In The Name of Global Equality” (2009) on George B. N. Ayittey’s “Misleading Africa” (2009).

Is it possible to create a world of social equity, environmental quality and economic sustainability? It is not only possible—but it is an imperative!

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note: Garlic, Supernatant, and the Original—our powerful therapeutic foods trio for broad spectrum antimicrobial treatment, GI protection and healing, enzyme, vitamin and fatty acid production, and much more.

The Last Quiz Answer: This magnificient foot belongs to an elephant eking out its living with its family in the Namibian desert.

An excerpt of the documentary Blue Gold— World Water Wars.

Dear Friends,

Like it or not, we are in a battle to save the health of this planet—to resurrect the health of the biosphere because it is failing!

If we continue down the path we are on, life will still exist on earth— but without us! Life will simply continue to recalibrate itself into simpler, more adaptive forms such as bacteria, fungus, slime, mold, jellyfish and insects. This is what is happening. It is what we are up against, and in fact are causing. Of course, as you know me by now, I am speaking about the ecological changes that are bringing about the de-evolution of our planet. The question is— will we stop it?

It is obvious that the future of a country is embodied in the training of the younger generation. Today’s young men and women who are graduating from universities (and as is pertinent to our profession, graduating from medical schools) are having much difficulty finding jobs. However, I would say that this impasse in job security could be utilized as a unique opportunity. Our next generation doctors need to consider incorporating one of the many causes into a career path that resonates with their souls, and can expand a young mind into a wider frame of reference to include the kind of social change that will re-create our globe. Sounds too overwhelming? Here’s an idea (opportunity) from Via Campesina that could change the course of ones whole life:

The growing global crisis on farming, climate, energy, biodiversity and societies has a great impact on billions of people’s lives. This crisis is tightly linked to the replacement of sustainable small-scale farming by industrial and corporate ways of production and consumption. Just as numerous billions have been given to the [bail out of] banks over the last year, the support of governments for neo-liberal policies continue to annihilate small-scale farming and peasantry all over the world. These policies destroy ways of life, which have proved to maintain a harmonious link between human beings and their environment. In Europe these driving forces almost brought small-scale farming and peasantry to the point of extinction by making it difficult for settled peasants to survive and for young farmers to settle. Read more.

The above quote is from the Via Campesina website promoting a gathering for young people from September 30th through October 4th 2009 in southern France. It is a gathering of people who wish to settle in agriculture. They are young peasants, landless peasants and/ or anyone who want to recover food sovereignty!

Here they are. What a motley crew. Just kidding. I think they are great kids.

When I read that paragraph I had to look up the word “neo-liberal”. It isn’t a word that is commonly used in America, but as I found out the phrase is used in the rest of the world.

What is neo-liberal policies?

Neo-liberalism is a set of economic policies basically adopted by the IMF, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and major governments around the world. It follows the idea laid out by Scottish economist, Adam Smith, published in his book in 1776 called The Wealth of Nations, and revitalized as neo-liberalism in the last 25 years by University of Chicago’s economist Milton Friedman and all of his protégés.

I have outlined the main points of Neo-liberalism, written by Elizabeth Martinez and Arnoldo Garcia, from National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and added further explanation in brackets. For a global perspective on the social justice issues facing third world countries see Dohrea Bardell’s research project on “The Rule of Free Market Ideology”.

Here are the main points for Neo-liberalism:

1. The rule of the Market: Liberating “free” enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds imposed by the government (the state) no matter how much social damage this causes. Greater openness to international trade and investment, as in NAFTA [benefits the G-8 countries, transnational corporations, while the rest of the world suffers under worsening conditions]. Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and eliminating workers’ rights that had been won over many years of struggle [transferring power from “state” to transnational corporations]. No more price controls. All in all, total freedom of movement for capital, goods and services. To convince us this is good for us, they say: “an unregulated market is the best way to increase economic growth, which will ultimately benefit everyone.” It’s like Reagan’s “supply-side” and “trickle-down” economics — but somehow the wealth didn’t trickle down.

2. Cutting public expenditure for social service: education and health care [ I learned from Dohrea that this was a “mandate” by the IMF and World Bank in order for them to restructure their previous loans! Now they are dictating governments how to run social services!]. Reducing the safety net for the poor, and even maintenance of roads, bridges, and water supply.

3. Deregulation: reduce government regulation [again, power to decide what is best in their own country] of everything that could diminish profits, including protecting the environment and safety on the job [and it is how many parts of the world were destroyed; water supplies, lakes, oceans, soil, and forests].

4. Privatization: sell state-owned enterprises [belonging to the people], goods and services to private investors [transnational corporations]. This includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even fresh water. Although usually done in the name of “greater efficiency”, which is often needed, privatization has mainly had the effect of concentrating wealth even more in a few hands and making the public pay even more for its needs.

5. Eliminating the concept of “the public good”, or “community” and replacing it with “individual responsibility.” Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves — then blaming them, if they fail, as “lazy.”

How do we approach such power? There is no simple answer—as you can see it is a complex and very much a hidden phenomena. In our beloved industry of holistic health, we have fought the same giants and therefore are aware. But many people simply do not know. Our young generation can enter this big picture with us; and educate and fight for justice and good health—people and planet alike.

Who is the enemy and who is the friend? Here we need to take care and be thoughtful in how we answer this question, for it is easy to become polarized in our thinking and therefore our emotions, and become hateful. As an example: one could say that the destruction of our planet’s ecosystems, global warming, the very process of de-evolution has been caused by our use of modern technology, and therefore modern technology is “bad”. Should we then replace cars with horse-and-buggies? Sounds kind of good actually, but it is no way to progress our world. We can say that the enemy is the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations in collusion with the multinationals, World Bank, G-8, etc and call them the enemy and think that the only way is their destruction. But technology is neither bad nor good, power is neither bad nor good, it is how we use and let others use power and technology. I would suggest that our only way out of our de-evolutionary dilemma is to use technology and bring awareness to everyone—including Gates.

There are many causes to choose from: The way of La Via Campesina, the way of the many organizations and individuals that we have highlighted and will be highlighting in the future in these Newsletter, people who have chosen to take the role of the activist in a more Ghandian way. Our task is to change the hearts and minds of the scientists, the philanthropists, the Gates Foundations of the worlds—to embrace the power of systemic thinking as embodied in eco-agriculture, Permaculture, small scale, local, sustainable organic-farming, etc. Our task is to mobilize our own selves and the patients of the world (our patients). Raising the consciousness, awareness and activism with the people of the world (urban and rural) who all have a right to social equity, environmental quality and economic sustainability.

So what is another cause that we might take on? What about the cause for water? Here is a tidbit from next week’s topic, and another wonderful cause to consider:

One of the most powerful speakers in the world for the right of all human being to have clean water is Maude Barlow. She is head of the Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization and founder of the Blue Planet Project. Her cause is that water should not be treated as a commodity, but as a right—all people have a right to clean drinkable water.

This link is a clip of Maude Barlow speaking at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul 2009 – Bridging Divides For Water. Her talk: Water a Right, not a Commodity.

Here is Maude Barlow:

Is water a commodity to be put on the open market like running shoes or coca cola? Should the market decide allocation of water? Should large corporations be able to control and make decisions around water? Should corporations and people be able to make money from water when other people are dying from the lack of it? Or is water part of our global commons? Is it part of our public trust that belongs to all of us? Is it a human right? If you believe it is a human right then you can’t sell it, trade it or refuse it to someone because they can’t afford it.

So, whose side are you on—most First World governments and most of the major international institutions—including the World Bank, the IMF, the World Trade Organization, and the World Water Council, who all believe water is a commodity to be sold and traded on the open market? Or, do you belong to the large global water justice movement made-up of environmentalist, human rights activists, indigenous and women’s groups, small farmers, peasants and thousands of grassroots communities fighting for control of their local water sources? Let’s help our younger generation to get involved in causes that will bring about healthy, righteous changes.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note: And speaking of our next generation, when a baby is old enough to eat solid foods, protect their young brain and GI tract with the Triple Berry Probiotic Formula. It has the researched Wild Blueberry power of brain protection, Raspberry with its antimicrobial elagic acid properties, and Sweet Cherry for anti-inflammation (thereby preserving stem cells—important to our healing capabilities later in life), and the Original strains of probiotic to fight against invading pathogens, and help in the digestion of foods. The Triple Berry Probiotic Formula is pure and concentrated therapeutic food.

The Last Quiz Answer: This beautiful creature is of course a healthy young lioness from a small pride that lives in the Namibian desert. One of the hottest places on earth.

Prepare to laugh with Jon Steward and Robert Glennon regarding his new book “Unquenchable”.