Dear Friends,

The River of Activism—the good work to protect, honor, and nurture our planet is growing stronger each day as it courses throughout the world. It is the stream of thoughts, concepts, and actions illuminating Mother Nature’s authority on all living things—an awakening we term the Second Industrial Revolution.

Yet, as I mentioned in last week’s Forward Thinking, its exciting good works and the hope and inspiration it brings, remains largely unseen by the masses due to our media’s preoccupation with showing us only the doom and gloom of environmental and social distress occurring worldwide—in large part because of the mistakes and short sightedness still in operation from the First Industrial Revolution.

We, at BioImmersion, tuned into this inspiring River of Hope a few years ago and it became the motivation for our newsletter Forward Thinking—to bring you on board and into this vital stream of thought and action. It is the reason we broadened our mission statement to reflect on and be apart of the broader issues affecting our life.

Working Together: Environmental protection and economic growth go hand-in-hand with good economic policies and advanced technologies to achieve a sustainable economy, environmental quality and social equity.

Sustainable economy, environmental quality and social equity are the clear goals to be attained in this revolution and working together is critical for its attainment.

One of the seminal thinkers for this moment is the Swedish oncologist, Karl-Henrik Robert MD, who realized that industrial toxins were killing his young patients. He developed The Natural Step (TNS). It proposes four conditions that must be met if a society is to achieve environmental health and sustainability.

The Natural Step:

• Bring as little material as possible from underneath the Earth’s crust to the surface because much of it is poisonous to life.
• Do not subject natural systems to overly large concentrations of any of the materials that they produce.
• The Earth’s natural systems must not be systematically depleted through over-harvesting, displacement, or other manipulation.
• Without social justice and fair and equitable distribution of resources, there can be no such thing as sustainability.

Let’s take a closer look at this Swedish doctor and scientist: First, through excerpts from an interview by YES! executive editor Sarah van Gelder and second, via some amazing video clips regarding this process and movement that is happening in 25,000 businesses all over the world.

The YES! interview:

Sarah: How did you go from being a doctor to taking on this large question of sustainability?

Karl: My epiphany came one day when I was studying cells from cancer patients. It hit me that cells are the unifying unit of all living things… Since politicians and business people also are constituted of cells, I had a feeling that a broad understanding of these cells might help us reach a consensus on the basic requirements for the continuation of life.

Most people are not aware that it took living cells about 3.5 billion years to transform the virgin soup of the atmosphere- which was a toxic, chaotic mixture of sulfurous compounds, methane, carbon dioxide, and other substances- into the conditions that could support complex life.

In just the last decades humans have reversed this trend. First we found concentrated energy like fossil fuels and nuclear power. As a result, we can create such a high throughput of resources that natural processes no longer have the time to process the waste and build new resources.

Dispersed junk is increasing in the system as we lose soils, forests, and species. So we have reversed evolution. The Earth is running back towards the chaotic state it came from at a tremendous speed. [We have called this De-Evolution].

The green movement attacks business, and business reacts defensively. So much of the debate focuses on the details- so much is like monkeys chattering among the leaves of the tree while the trunk and roots die… I thought we could go beyond that stalemate if we could begin to build a consensus based on much more solid, comprehensive thinking.

I had a daydream that I could write a consensus statement with other scientists about the conditions that are essential to life… It took 21 iterations to reach a consensus among this group of 50 ecologist, chemists, physicists, and medical doctors… I was able to raise funds to mail this consensus statement as a booklet with an audio cassette to all 4.3 million household in Sweden. This statement describes how badly we are performing with respect to the natural systems around us and how dangerous the situation is… This was the start of The Natural Step.

We will soon be 10 billion people on Earth- at the same time as we are running out of forests, crop land, and fisheries. We need more and more resource input for the same crop or timber yield. At the same time, pollution is increasing systematically and we have induced climate change. All that together creates a resource funnel… By decreasing your dependence on activities that violate the system conditions, you move towards the opening of the resource funnel. You can do this through step by step reducing your dependence on:

• Heavy metals and fossil fuels that dissipate into the environment (Condition #1).
• Persistent unnatural compounds like bromine—organic anti-flammables or persistent pesticides (Condition #2).
• Wood and food from ecologically maltreated land and materials that require long-distance transportation (Condition #3).
• Wasting resources (Condition #4).

Any organization that directs its investments towards the opening of the funnel through complying with these system conditions will do better in business than their ignorant competitors. This is due to inevitable changes at the wall of the funnel in the form of increased costs for resources, waste management, insurance, loans, international business agreements, taxes, and public fear. In addition, there is the question of competition from those who direct their investments more skillfully towards the opening of the funnel—thus avoiding those costs—and sooner or later getting rewarded by their customers.

Businesses, NGOs, academic institutions, communities and countries are taking up The Natural Step. The clips belower will give you hope.

Two great clips to watch.

• Here is the man himself: Karl-Henrik Robert.
• Look at what Canada is doing with the Natural Step: Canada’s Natural Step.

Is this not absolutely exciting and something we can all put our action into? So elegant, straight forward, simple.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Life is about pathways of communication. Certainly, metabolic pathways govern the physiology of our body, and without their ability to function fully we can attain no lasting health. Organic whole food eaten on a regular basis with minimal processing gives our body what it nesds to express its full genetic potential. In next weeks Forward Thinking we will devote our discussion to this topic.

The Last Quiz Answer: For me, I love the big cats. But what about the creature above? What is it? If you guess it correctly, we’ll send you one free Therapeutic Food of your choice. It kind of has a Halloween aura to it, don’t you think? In the spirit of Halloween over the next several weeks I will give you some goolishy interesting creatures to guess the identity of.

No more take, make, waste linear processing. Business is the largest, wealthiest, most pervasive institution on Earth and responsible for most of its damage… it must take lead… toward sustainability. (Ray Anderson, Founder and Chairman, Interface Inc). The Natural Step USA 10th Anniversary gathering in Portland, Oregon.

Dear Friends,

When we watch the news, the mainstream news, including PBS and BBC, it seems that our ecological crisis is mounting worldwide—and it is! But, as pollution and weather problems, starvation, and social unrest increase, so does the force for real change, all over the world. One just needs to know where to look, how to tune into a movement for good that is equally sweeping through humankind. There is hope!

David Suzuki is one of the clear voices shining light on the emerging path of hope that is happening all around us, though unseen by most because of the lack of focus by the mainstream media. In his new book, just released, called More Good News (2010), and co-authored with Holly Dressel, he gives us real solutions to the global eco-crisis. As Suzuki and Dressel say, “We hope reading More Good News will provide readers with inspiration and energy for this hard, exciting and supremely fulfilling work.” In this Forward Thinking we honor Suzuki and Dressel’s good work, and focus on a few key points from their book.

We are in the midst of a second industrial revolution. The first one, centered around and fueled by the use of oil, is dying and almost basically over, although the damage is still being done.

The most remarkable developments of the late 20th Century is the tens of thousands NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that have spontaneously sprouted up in just the past few years. These organizations address everything from social justice and population to corporate and electoral reform, environmental sustainability and renewable energy.

These NGOs keep in touch especially on the Internet, by the social media (like face book), by phone, and meetings all around the world.

Never before in history have independent groups from all around the world derived frameworks of knowledge that are so utterly consonant and in agreement. It is not that they are the same, it is that they do not conflict. This hadn’t happened in politics, not in religion, not in psychology, not ever.

What are some of these key points to which all agree?

Understanding our connection to other living things is key when working toward a different world. It is all of life, the biosphere, that allows us to live and flourish, that makes any human economy possible. Protecting rich and intact ecosystems should be our highest priority.

Suzuki in a recent interview on Canadian TV asks the audience if they’ve seen the movie Avatar, and then shares that the Avatar phenomenon is happening in South America. For the first time in modern history, an indigenous person has been elected president of a country-it’s happened in Bolivia with the election of Evo Morales. And, because of his influence they incorporated Mother Nature into their constitution so that trees, fish, birds, etc. have their own constitutional rights for existence.

More scientists are recognizing natural complexity and with it the fact that humans do not understand ecosystems well enough to manage them sustainably…. The entire science of conservation is learning humility… Today academic and governmental experts are acknowledging that the local, traditional, and aboriginal peoples who still live within the planet’s remaining functioning ecosystems are most able to tell us what these systems require.

To be sustainable, any industrial or infrastructure development, any business or management mode, whether it manages factories, farms, wild animals or water resources has to mimic nature or it won’t fit in with the laws of physics. It has to, above all, be local. It must not produce any wastes that cannot be harmlessly absorbed by natural systems. If it does, it has to reintegrate that waste into the industrial stream.

Where is this happening? All around us.

Hermann Scheer, a proponent of using Second Industrial Revolution Principles, is a German parliamentarian and economist who has been called the most influential renewable energy lawmaker on the planet. He is the author and main mover behind Germany’s simple, one page Renewable Energy Sources Act of 2000, a revolutionary piece of legislation often referred to as Scheer’s law. Germany is leading the world in the use of renewable energy and Denmark is close behind.

In More Good News Suzuki and Dressel focus on the fundamental issues that need to be addressed, such as energy and agriculture. The world is getting greener-it has to, for us to survive. We all need to be green activists. Green job pioneers know they can look forward to longer-lasting and more stable careers. Tune into Suzuki and his work—your soul will be uplifted.

Here is an interview of Suzuki recently seen on Canadian TV.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Kids and animals don’t lie.

I talked with a nutritionist this week who has an autistic son. She was amazed at how well our synbiotic formulas are working for her youngster. And, it is very specific how she uses the formulas successfully. When her son has itching in his genital area all she has to do it give him one capsule of our Cranberry Pomegranate Synbiotic Formula and it a short time the itching stops. At other times, when his behavioral patterns rears up all she has to do now is to give him a capsule of our Supernatant Synbiotic Formula and he feels much better and symptoms subside. Of course, we know now from last weeks Forward Thinking that an overgrowth of Clostridial species are linked to autistic behavior and that reducing their numbers alleviates the problem. Our Supernatant Formula was designed to inhibit Clostridia.

Over the years, a number of our doctors have give our Wild Blueberry Daily and Extract to their aging animals with amazing results. I think of a doctor who could reverse his aging dog from Parkinson’ like syndrome by feeding him the Blueberry Extract. And, there are many others I could site. The point is these products are real in that we build them to have enough actives in them per dosage that real physiological results can occur. They are real Therapeutic Foods.

The Last Quiz Answer: This marvelous creature is a Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica). It has a broad distribution over North America, extending from the southern Appalachians to the boreal forest. Where’s the boreal forest? That’s way up in Northern Canada—just south of the tundra and north of the deciduous forests. That’s a lot of range. The wood frog can tolerate the freezing of their blood and other tissues. Urea is accumulated in tissues in preparation for overwintering, and liver glycogen is converted in large quantities to glucose in response to internal ice formation. Both urea and glucose act as “cryoprotectants” to limit the amount of ice that forms and to reduce osmotic shrinkage of cells. Frogs can survive many freeze/thaw events during winter if not more than about 65% of the total body water freezes. Isn’t nature absolutely wonderous?

Are you familiar with The Natural Step? You need be! Check out this website. It will amaze and encourage you as to what is going on, what is out there that you can become a part of.

Dear Friends,

This week I want to talk about activism. ACTIVISM is one of these words that upon encountering it—you feel tired! Do you feel strange or have reservations calling yourself an activist? In this Forward Thinking segment we will get over all the hurdles to activism and enjoy standing with many people who are dedicated to bring about change. Being a holistic doctor is in fact being an activist—there is much to say about the struggles and hurdles that doctors and health practitioners have gone through to educate and heal people in the natural and holistic way. It is almost the norm now! What used to be thought of as “quack” is now a respectable and valued medical model. But there is more work to be done friends.

I am afraid the time has come for all of us not only to become activists but convince others they are needed as well. We know too much and therefore can’t afford to sit on the sidelines any more and just watch others do it. For the healing of our planet to occur we all need to be involved.

The good news is that to begin our life as a conscious activist we don’t have to march in the streets. Let me show you two fantastically easy and meaningful ways to get involved. One is through Food Democracy Now and the other is Defenders of Wildlife.

Food Democracy Now is a grassroots community dedicated to building a sustainable food system that protects our natural environment, sustains farmers and nourishes families. Members organize both though online campaigns and in-person actions across the country.

From the Food Democracy Now website:

Our food system is fundamentally broken. A few companies dominate the market, prioritizing profits over people and our planet. Government policies put the interests of corporate agribusiness over the livelihoods of farm families. Farm workers toil in unsafe conditions for minimal wages. School children lack access to healthy foods–as do millions of Americans living in poverty. From rising childhood and adult obesity to issues of food safety, air and water pollution, worker’s rights and global warming, our current food system is leading our nation to an unsustainable future.

Food Democracy Now! members have a different vision. We know we can build a food system that gives our communities equal access to healthy food, and respects the dignity of the farmers who produce it. We believe in recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment. We value our children’s health, worker’s rights, conservation, and animal welfare over corporate profits. And we believe that working together, we can make this vision a reality in our lifetimes.

Just click on the above link and it will take you to the Food Democracy Now! home page. There you will see a little “post it note” that says Join US—just put in your Name, Email and Zip and hit submit and you’re a member.

Defenders of Wildlife was found in 1947 and is one of the country’s leaders in science-based, results-oriented wildlife conservation.

Here is a message from their President:

Our nation’s wildlife and wild places are precious gifts that enrich our planet and sustain us. But nearly everywhere, natural habitats—home to all kinds of creatures—are being destroyed to make way for new shopping malls, roads and housing developments. Meanwhile, in the halls of Congress, some politicians are eager to open public lands to oil drilling. Others are pressing to unravel the Endangered Species Act, our country’s pre-eminent wildlife conservation law. And beyond our borders, millions of animals are being exploited or killed illegally each year—becoming pets, food or souvenirs. With so many threats, concerned citizens are coming to the defense of America’s wildlife, and Defenders of Wildlife is proud to be a leader in the fight to preserve our nation’s animals and plants for generations to come.

Both of these organizations have fantastic sites for getting involved. They outline the problems and let you add your own thoughts or feedback to well-crafted letters that are sent to the appropriate corporate officials or congressperson or government agency or news outlet so your voice can be heard with hundreds of thousands of others. It is so easy for your voice to be heard and your vote to be noticed. And, the best thing is that you have begun to speak out. You are an activist.

What three things can you do that contribute activism towards the cause of creating a healthy world of people who desire social equity, environmental quality and sustainable economy? Of course, as a health practitioner you are healing people. So what can be two other things that you can do?

What is your New Year Resolution? We are in the middle of Rosh Hashana—the Jewish New Year. Let us each think of three ways we can move in activism this year. Two of mine: One is to join these two websites and to participate and the second is to ask, every time I go out to eat: “what is organic on your menu?” The third I will share with you later.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Increased urinary excretion of a 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-3-hydroxypropionic acid (HPHPA), an abnormal phenylalanine metabolite of Clostridia spp. in the gastrointestinal tract, in urine samples from patients with autism and schizophrenia. In his paper Dr. William Shaw, founder of The Great Plains Laboratory, links high levels of HPHPA with autism and schizophrenia, and that by reducing Clostridial levels symptoms improved.

We developed Supernatant Synbiotic Formula specifically to deal with nosocomal infection caused by Clostridium difficile. It took us a year of research to select the probiotic species that most effectively inhibited Clostrial spp. Dr. Shaw in his article also cited L. rhamnosis as an effective organism in suppressing Clostrium. Our Original Synbiotic Formula contain high counts of L. rhamnosis. Interestingly, our doctors who treat mostly autistic patients have found both the Supernatant and the Original to be very effective.

The Last Quiz Answer: This remarkable creature is an owl who’s in rehabilitation at the North Carolina Raptor Center. The Center is dedicated to enviromental stewardship and the conservation of birds of prey, through education, research and the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned raptors.

Many birds injuries are too severe to be healed properly. While the majority are released after treatment, 27% would not survive if they were released and many assume their new role as ambassadors for the center and other nature centers.

Are you familiar with the David Suzuki Foundation? Once in, then click on the About Us button, and also on the What you can do. button? You will be glad you did. He’s amazing.

Dear Friends,

What is the Therapeutic Food Platform? Why is it an imperative? What makes it vital? How has it been successful?

The Therapeutic Foods Platform is a collection of potent whole foods that provide the body with strong protective and regenerative nutrients. The five therapeutic foods products are imperative for daily existence, vitally needed by our bodies, and successful in application. Food, in fact, works naturally to heal and protect—it is essential for our survival, and yet we rarely think of its therapeutic imperativeness. In this Forward Thinking we will think through the need for food—therapeutically.

What makes the Therapeutic Foods Platform imperative?

Let me tell you our vacation story from Hawaii. We just returned this past Sunday.

We love Hawaii! My first trip there was in 1966. I spent three months on the island of Molokai as part of my Peace Corp’s training before I was sent off for two years into Micronesia as a public health official. Over the years, Dohrea and I have been back to Hawaii many time—we know and love the islands.

Dr. Laurie Steelsmith is an old friend and one of our dear customers. She is a great naturopathic doctor who truly walks the talk of good nutrition and dietary practices. I wanted to treat her and her office to lunch and had visions of bringing in a beautiful organic, mother-earth kind of fare. Dr. Steelsmith’s practice is located in the tourist filled Waikiki area of Honolulu—an area you would think you could easily find organic local fresh fruit and vegetables prepared in a healthy delicious way. But no such luck as I tried on my own to find local, fresh food. In desperation I called Laurie’s office to ask where they thought I could find some good food. Their answer was that as far as they knew there was nothing in the Waikiki area, and that I might try the Whole Foods in the Kahala neighborhood, one of the most upscale parts of Honolulu, near Diamond Head. It was 15 miles away.

So off I went to Whole Foods, and what I found there was really quite disheartening. Yes, I could find some organic produce; much like the Whole Foods near you I’m sure—organic fruit from Chile, Mexico, California, and even my home state of Washington. But amazingly nothing from Hawaii—NOT EVEN A COCONUT!!! Just another big box store with produce that is not local, shipped thousands of miles to a lush tropical local like Hawaii that should be growing all its own produce 24-7, 365 days a year. But as is true all over the world—plantations for pineapples and sugar cane have recklessly gobbled up thousands of acres of land in Hawaii. Leaving the people to pay high prices for imported pre-picked foods—our sad contribution to paradise.

Why are the Therapeutic Foods an imperative? Simply because our diets are devoid of nutrients we need to get from real whole organic high phyto-nutrient rich foods. Even if you manage to consume a powerful holistic diet, as I know Dr. Steelsmith does and teaches her patients how to do—we do not eat the local, nutrient packed, seasonal produce. The earth is not farmed wisely. The environment is toxic. We need the Therapeutic Foods to provide further punch to our diets. The platform provides the most needed foundational nutrients—for brain, liver, immune, detox, and digestive support.

The assault on our bodies is so strong with the high levels of pathogens, pollution, stress, and a stress filled life to boot. We need equally strong nutrition to enable our genetics to be fully functional and pathways functioning optimally to detoxify, defend, regenerate, and thrive.

Here is Dr. Steelsmith’s website. You’ll be impressed. I bought her book today—Natural Choices for Women’s Health: How the Secrets of Natural and Chinese Medicine can Create a Lifetime of Wellness. I’m very excited to read it.

What makes the Therapeutic Foods Platform Vital?

The Therapeutic Food Line is a new medical framework that is thousands of years old. The new framework is built with advanced technology that maintains the wholeness of food, while utilizing the exact science of molecular concentration to make food medicinal and therefore therapeutic.

The Therapeutic Foods formulas are created by employing objective biological and functional markers to ensure their effectiveness in fighting disease and restoring good health. Clinically, each therapeutic Foods product should be thought of as a daily foundational nutritional requirement. The medicinal therapeutic dosage has been scientifically proven and therefore is easy to calculate and administer.

We use three Technologies to create the Therapeutic Foods: Green Technology, Microbiome Technology and Patented Technology. In Green Technology we source is real time through worldwide communication networks. Produce is harvested at the height of phytonutrient production. We flash freeze on site to protect high actives and then our berries, fruit and veggies are dried via using sublimation technology (freeze drying). The products are toxin and pathogen free.

And, of course, manufacturing facilities are GMP compliant, HACCP compliant, Kosher certified, QAI Certified, Audited AIB International annually. Creating vitality in products takes time and patience—commodities we don’t have much of, yet are important to produce the kinds of foods that our bodies need.

We created BioImmersion Inc. and the Therapeutic Foods line in 2004 as a means of bringing the power of food more fully into the daily life of patients. The Therapeutic Foods are meant to compliment and enrich a good diet, let alone a bad one! The products are also designed to integrate into any medicinal modality or protocol. It is after all food.

The Therapeutic Foods Platform

The Therapeutic Foods Platform is the foundation of good nutrition. We recommend the five products to be taken on a regular basis to nourish the majority of our bodily systems.

Wild Blueberry Daily to protect the brain and nervous system. It is a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory reducing COX 2, Nf Kappa and isoprostane levels. Facilitates Phase I liver detox and inhibits 4 out of 5 stages of cancer growth.

Fructo Borate Complex protects and enhances the performance of the osteoskeletal system, the endocrine system and the antioxidant defense system. It is the anti-aging ingredients as it increases DHEA and other steroid hormones, including vitamin D-3. It is also used to reduce osteo-arthritis and osteoporosis.

Cruciferous Sprouts Complex stimulates phase II enzyme (P2P) production. In liver cells these are the proteins responsible for accomplishing phase II liver detox. In our own clinical trials we increase liver cell P2P output by 2.6 times after 20 days of dosing. In another trial, same time frame, we decrease lipid peroxides by 69% on average. HDL levels increase by consuming this product.

Organic Chlorella facilitates the detoxification of the GI tract from heavy metal and systemically cleans the blood, liver and other key elementary organs of the body. It is a complete whole food rich protein, fiber, healthy fatty acids and vitamins and mineral. It is the world’s rich source of chlorophyll. It is considered one of the most important foods in Asia.

Original Synbiotic Formula brings in strong probiotics and prebiotics to protect and support the healthy functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Mainstream medicine has finally “caught the bug” as to the revolutionary potential and power of probiotic supplementation for achieving health.

Click on How Microbes Defend and Define Us.

We have seven synbiotic formulas to choose from.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

We are getting tremendous feedback from you regarding how our Cranberry Pomegranate Synbiotic Formula helps with UTI. Here’s some supporting evidence: New Evidence on How Cranberry Juice Fights Bacteria That Cause Urinary Tract Infections.

The Last Quiz Answer: This amazing creature is a Mosaic Jelly Fish photographed in the Coral Sea 100 nautical miles off Caimes Australia. The Coral Sea truly is one of the last places on Earth where large marine animals can still be found in great numbers. The terrifying thing is that federal government in Australia is considering the future of the Coral Sea within Australian waters right now and one of the strong arguments is to open it completely to commercial fishing. If we want to see beatiful animals like this survive we should all stand up and help. Click here: Protect the Coral Sea.

Work Architecture Company in collaboration with Edible Schoolyard NY and the Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation, is designing a new schoolyard for PS216 that will offer the young New Yorkers a different learning experience. The Edible Schoolyard is designed as a series of interlinked sustainable systems where the building will produce energy and heat, collect rainwater, process compost and sort waste with an off-grid infrastructure.