Dear Friends,

Mission statements for corporations are important. We learn something about the company’s goals, higher purpose, direction—its hoped for impact on the world. And, God knows, the world today urgently needs a whole lot of powerful impacting in the right direction.

Last week, we reflected on the disaster unfolding in Japan, and how Mother Earth can help to protect us. However, the problem of natural disasters, social unrest, ecological collapse, and chronic diseases are all mounting crises. Our world is in peril and we must all do our part to act now. I mentioned that I would be introducing you to some very influential people and associations who are providing the kind of guidance and right action that can turn our world into a Garden of Eden. We need to know them, support them, and join in their efforts. But first, lets get to know who they are and what they do.

We entered the holistic medical field in 1981 as a marketing/education company—Business international inc. (BII). In fact, we taught a style of marketing that we coined educational marketing, embracing my background in the biological sciences as an educator we articulated our mission statement as: BII bridges the gap between the scientific research community and the practicing physician, facilitating the development of laboratory services and health products to enhance the journey towards health.

This mission statement served us well, including in the development of BioImmersion Inc. in 2004. But, as our world changed we realized that we needed to expand our activities and vision to get at the root causes of our failing planet and ailing health. It was in 2006 that we came up with our meta mission, expressed on the Home Page of our website as, 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 +Social Equity = Garden of Eden.

Success can be achieved when we work together with these goals in mind. Here are four groups that go to the heart of the matter. They provide a foundational understanding of the problems and the solutions. There are many more that we will talk about in the coming weeks, but these provide a very good start.

The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. The mission is to help people understand that our health and that of our children depends on the health of the environment and that we must do everything we can to protect it.

Eric Chivian, MD is the founder and Director of the Center for Health and The Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Interestingly enough, in 1980 he co-founded with three other Harvard faculty members The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. He runs Patridaeza Farm, an organic orchard in central Massachusetts growing heirloom apples, peaches, pears, apricots, plums, cherries and grapes.

Dr. Chivian along with Dr. Aaron Bernstein edited a phenomenal gorgeous book in 2008, Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends On Biodiversity. This volume presents a comprehensive review of how human medicines, biomedical research, the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, and the production of food all depend on biodiversity. Sustaining Life is the first book to examine fully the relationship between biodiversity decline and repercussions for human health. It’s written in nontechnical language for the general reader yet Sustaining Life will satisfy the most demanding scholar in ecology or medicine. Every person involved in human health should read this book.

To give you a taste of Dr. Chivian’s and his amazing work I have included this link to a presentation he made to a very auspicious gathering shortly after the publication of his book. This 8 minute clip will wet you apatite for more of Dr. Chivian—Dr. Chivian’s presentation.

The Biomimicry Institute mission is to promote the study and imitation of nature’s remarkably efficient designs, bringing together scientists, engineers, architects, and innovators who can use those models to create sustainable technologies.

Janine Benyus is the founder and director of the Biomimicry Institute. Here is a link to a keynote presentation Dr. Benyus gave in 2009 at Living Future, a conference put on by the Cascadia Institute. She begins her talk by quoting Yates saying, The World is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. Benyus is a magnificent speaker, poetic, in love with the natural world.

The Biomimicry Institute offers short-term workshops and two-year certificate courses in biomimicry for professionals, and helps to develop and share biomimicry-related curricula used in a range of educational venues, from K-12 classrooms to universities, as well as in non-formal settings such as zoos and museums. The Biomimicry Institute does not conduct its own research; rather, it serves as a clearinghouse and resource for those who do.

Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities, and much more.

Permaculture is an approach developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s in a series of publications, to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that are modeled on the relationships found in natural ecologies. Their ideas are spreading all over the world.

The Permaculture Research Institute of the USA mission is to work with communities worldwide, to expand the knowledge and practice of integrated sustainable agriculture using the whole-systems approach of Permaculture Design. This will provide solutions for permanent abundance by training local people to become leaders of sustainable development in their communities and countries.

This link will blow your mind at the Garden of Eden Power of Permaculture—Permaculture Principles at Work.

The International Living Building Institute mission is to encourage the creation of Living Buildings, Sites and Communities in countries around the world while inspiring, educating and motivating a global audience about the need for fundamental and transformative change.

The International Living Building Institute is a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to the creation of a truly sustainable built environment in all countries around the world. Comprised of the leading green building experts, futurists, and thought-leaders, we believe that providing a compelling vision for the future is a fundamental requirement of reconciling humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

The Living Building Challenge is a program initially launched by the Cascadia Green Building Council and has quickly become the most advanced green building rating system in the world. The program was conceived and originally authored by Jason F. McLennan, CEO of Cascadia prior to joining the organization.

Here is a great little link that will give you overview of important speakers promoting the Living Building Challenge including its founder Jason McLennan.—The Challenge.

Finally here is a clip for this year Living Building Convention that will be held in Vancouver BC on April 27th through the 29th—Living Future 2011.

What is your mission statement?

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

And speaking of the greenest of greens. Add BioImmersion’s Organic Chlorella to your arsenal of tools combating environmental toxins, binding heavy metals, purifying the blood, helping the good bacteria, and feeding us with the most oxygenating, nourishing, calming, green food. It is one of the oldest foods and most complete foods nature provides. Take four to six a day. For periodic detox and calmative results use eight to ten a day. Green our environment and green our bodies.

The Last Quiz Answer:

Unlike other animals which have gender specific names – ‘bull’ and ‘cow’ for elephants; ‘rooster’ and ‘hen’ for chickens – humans apply the name ‘cheetah’ to both sexes. Cheetah in the wild may be divided into 2 groups: A family group or a coalition? the family group/females and males.

Females/Family Group: Young females usually occupy the same range as their mother although ALL females are solitary except when they have a litter. Average female home ranges extend to 833 square kilometers (322 square miles). A female raises her cubs alone since adult male and female cheetahs mix only to mate. The average life span of wild radio-collared female cheetahs is 6.9 years which compares to 11.7 years for females in captivity.

Males: Only rarely will a male cheetah live alone. Generally 2 or 3 cheetah males, often brothers, will form a coalition. This small group will live and hunt together for life and usually claims a large area or range which may overlap several female territories. The average size of male territories is 37.4 square kilometers (14.4 square miles). Young males seek out an area at a great distance from their parent; sometimes as far as 482 kilometers (300 miles).

It all comes down to training ourselves and our children in the ecological principles that underlie sustainable food systems. None do it better than The Center for Ecoliteracy. Check our this link to their up and coming three day workshop June 21st through the 23rd- Smart by Nature: Making Learning Connections between the Classroom, Lunchroom, and Garden.

Dear Friends,

What can mother earth give us today to help us handle our growing crisis? Read in Clinical Notes. We will start with the news today and continue to discuss the ramification of nuclear power, humorously enough in green facts, but we will inject a positive note in clinical notes because there is always hope!

On March 19th 2011 the Wall Street Journal published an article written by Juro Osawa, Elevated Radio Activity Found in Japanese Milk and Spinach. The article is an example of the confusing, conflicting, and simply unreliable information. Everyone that is interviewed is an expert, but can we trust what we hear or their conclusions?

Here are a few excerpts of the article:

Raising concerns over possible contamination from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan’s health ministry said Saturday that an abnormal amount of a radioactive material was detected in spinach grown about 110 kilometers (about 70 miles) northeast of Tokyo.

The ministry also said that an abnormal amount of the material, called iodine-131, was detected in milk from a dairy farm about 50 kilometers away from the plant.

This is the first time ever that an abnormal amount of radioactive material has been detected in food in Japan, said ministry official Ryusuke Hagiwara.

Also Saturday, Japan’s science ministry said that small amounts of a substance not usually present have been detected in tap water in Tokyo and five nearby prefectures, but it said the amounts are too small to pose a threat to human health. The ministry started monitoring tap water for radioactive material Saturday, and will continue to check it every day.

In raw milk samples collected from a farm in the town of Kawamata in Fukushima prefecture, up to 1,510 becquerel per kilogram of iodine-131 were detected, about five times the limit of 300 becquerel per kilogram set by law.

One spinach sample collected from the city of Hitachinaka, located about 120 kilometers south of the plant, contained 8,420 becquerel per kilogram of iodine-131, according to the health ministry. The normal amount set by Japanese law is 2,000 becquerel per kilogram.

Another spinach sample from Takahagi, a city closer to Fukushima, recorded 15,020 becquerel per kilogram, more than seven times the normal amount. From that sample, radioactive caesium 134 and caesium 137 were also detected in slightly larger amounts than the limits set by law.

Mr. Edano said that the level of radioactive materials detected in the milk means that if a person drank that milk every day for a year, based on average Japanese milk consumption, total exposure to radioactivity would be about the same as one CT scan. If a person ate the spinach in question for one year, the radioactivity would be about one-fifth of one CT scan, he said.

We all have been glued to the evolving events unfolding in Japan, and the reports are a mixed bag of alarmist warnings of how bad it is or going to be soon and minimalist pronouncements that the problem is under control, and that the radiation levels aren’t really that bad and won’t be to create health concerns. What can we say about this? What is the obvious truth?

The fact of the matter is that as of January 19th, 2011 there are 442 nuclear power plant units in 30 countries around the world, with an installed electric net capacity of about 375 GW that are in operation, and 65 plants with an installed capacity of 63 GW in 16 countries under construction. The US leads the pack with 104, then France with 58 and Japan with 54 (See European Nuclear Society). If you want to view the radiation levels in your own neighborhood in real time every minute, the following link provides a map of the USA and all its monitoring station with their real time minute to minute radiation readings—The Radiation Network.

The point is this: We are a global community and China’s pollution is our pollution, Africa’s pathogens are our pathogens, our fast food franchises are the world’s dietary bad habit. Today we are reminded that Japan’s mounting nuclear disaster (or that of any country with nuclear power) is the earth’s growing radiation problem. Doesn’t it strike you as amazing how we can minimize the dangers of nuclear power plants in the light of our historic misuse of fossil fuels and their obvious detrimental consequences on environmental quality and ultimate species viability.

We are, as a species, truly children playing with fire. We need to grow up, we need to wake up and get into the streets as activists, demanding a safe, sustainable energy that works with nature, learns from nature, and benefits all of life. We can do it! There are powerful groups and individuals working towards these ends. We need to get to know them, work with them, support them, promote them. Join the cause. In the next email I will shine the light on these amazing people, movements and projects that can save the biosphere and create a Garden of Eden for all earths people.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Foods are the wholesome protection given to us by mother earth. We need to use the power of foods to heal and nourish our body. Regularly I take my version of the Therapeutic Foods Platform (call or email me for the mix that best suits your body). For the last four months I have been using the Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula combined with the No. 7 Systemic Booster in a big glass of water (or fresh coconut water) with 1 capsule of Wild Blueberry Daily, 1 capsule of Fructo Borate, 4 tablets of Organic Chlorella and 2 to 4 capsules of Cruciferous Sprouts Complex.

The wild blueberry is a virtual storehouse of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds via their intense delivery of anthocyanins (multiple forms of cyanidin, delphinidin, malvidin, peonidin and petunidin), beta-carotene and other phytochemicals: chlorogenic acid, kaempferol, myricetin, p-coumeric acid, quercetin, ferulic acid, condensed tannins (proanthocynidins), frutooligosaccharides and resveratrol. It is well established that blueberry helps to prevent against cancer its development and progression, and against radiation sickness.

The chlorella is the greenest of all green plants, having more chlorophyll than all other plants. It is known for its ability to alkalize the tissues, which is critically important for creating a milieu resistant to the development of cancers.

The Fructo Borate Complex over and above its ability to protect against osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, selectively increase blood levels of the steroid hormones—DHEA and testosterone, plus increasing Vitamin D levels. All this without raising estrogen or cortisol levels. I might add that it lowers C-reactive protein levels. Most importantly, boron is used to assist control of nuclear reactors, a shield against radiation and as a neutron detector.

The Cruciferous Sprouts are known for their abilities to fight against the development of cancers by increasing the body’s production of Phase 2 Enzymes, which play a major role in the body’s Antioxidant Defense System.

And, finally any one of the seven symbiotic formulas would be important to use on a regular basis because one of the symptoms of radiation sickness is nausea and diarrhea caused by the disruption of the GI flora. Don’t forget the High ORAC Synbiotic Formula which has a 25 billion count per capsule plus a whole fruit bowel of critically important phytonutrients from wild blueberry extract, wild bilberry extract, grape and grape seed extract, raspberry and raspberry seed extract, prune, cranberry and tart cherry.

Can you see how earth gives us the best foundation for our existence—how one would create a therapeutic foods platform to take daily?

The Last Quiz Answer:

Baboons are African and Asian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominid members of the primate order; only the Mandrill and the Drill are larger. This beautiful creature is a Papio Anubis, an Olive Baboon, found in the north-central African savanna. It is usually classified as savanna-dwelling, living in the wide plains of the grasslands. The grasslands, especially those near open woodland, do make up a large part of its habitat, but the baboon also inhabits jungles and deserts. Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo both support Olive Baboon populations in dense tropical forests.

At closer range, its coat is multi-colored, due to rings of yellow-brown and black on the hairs. The hair on the baboon’s face, however, is finer and ranges from dark grey to black. This coloration is shared by both sexes, although males have a mane of longer hair that tapers down to ordinary length along the back. Besides the mane, the male Olive Baboon differs from the female in terms of size and weight; males are, on average, 70 cm tall and weigh 24 kg; females measure 60 cm and 14.7 kg.

To more fully understand the dangers involved in the Japanese plant, and the risks nuclear power plants present in general, click on these links: The BBC piece, Japan’s Earthquake: Slow Progress at Nuclear Plant is an excellently illustrated step-by-step guide describing what went wrong. There has been much concern expressed about what appears to be a loss of water in four reactors cooling ponds that are meant to protect us from the spent nuclear fuel rods. This article explains the concern: Greater Danger Lies in Spent Fuel than in Reactors (Published March 17th 2011 in the New York Times). By the end of a uranium fuel cycle, 40 percent of the energy produced comes from the splitting of plutonium. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 25,000 years, meaning it takes that long to lose half of its radioactive potency. Uranium-235 has a half-life of 700 million years. And cesium, which tends to go airborne much more easily, has a half-life of 30 years. Finally, the spent fuel rods that we are having all kinds of trouble figuring out what to do with, where to store, to bury, how to sequester away from life forms are seven times more radioactively toxic than the radiation generated in the reactors themselves! With our track record, why are we even playing with this stuff?

Dear Friends,

Let’s talk about peace. I just came back from the privilege of sitting in on a meeting with Dohrea and one of her academic mentors, sociologist Dr. Mary Lou Finley. They were talking about Dohrea’s PhD path and its focus. Both Mary Lou and Dohrea love the study of global affairs with Dr. Finley having spent the early part of her activist life as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. movement with Dr. King himself.

They were talking about the Middle East and what would resolve the fighting and feuding. Mary Lou shared her recent study of the formation of the European Union, how Europe has enjoyed peace in last 60 years (after World War II) after centuries upon centuries of killing and controlling each other. What would it take to make a peaceful world?

Dr. Finley, an expert on the non-violent methods of Martin Luther King and Gandhi, suggested that the non-violent successful revolution in Egypt utilized elements of what King and Gandhi taught (their writings have been translated into Arabic). One example was the crowd in the square giving flowers to the army—the symbol of love given to the forces of oppression.

What does the conflict in Egypt and the Middle East and its resolution have in common with the cause that we are all about—that of creating a world free of herbicides, pesticides, toxic chemical, pollutants, environmental abuse, poverty, starvation, and my passion as a zoologist, the devolution of the planet—the quickening path towards the destruction of all higher species, including us?

Who is our common enemy today and how should we fight them? The enemy who keeps the present system in place is the handful of transnational corporations in collusion with the World Bank, the WTO, the IMF, the UN and the dominant governments of the Global North supporting totalitarian regimes in the Global South. Regimes that sold out their own people, enabling the North to get all the mineral, agricultural and cheap labor resources of the South to feed our consumption needs. I must also include entities such as the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations that are part of this consortium of power and at best are misguided in their funded programs. But things can change if we get involved. Four great resources that clearly show the nature of our problem and a way out are: The Economic Hit Man, Stuffed and Starved, Food Rebellions, and the video Food Inc. It will only take you a few moment to view each of these links. I guarantee that they will affect your greatly. You’ll be very glad that you did.

Going further—read these books, and view the complete Food Inc. video, they will inspire you deeply and help you to clearly see the problem, possible solutions, and the non-violence path we must take. After thousands of years of wars all over Europe, the people had enough. They gathered to form the EU and as we learned yesterday, they simply conversed until they arrived to mutually accepted solutions. And they are still talking today, still dealing with issues, and taking their time to work things out. They don’t bomb each other when they have disagreements, they continue to converse. Peace in fact is about people coming together to share their hearts and minds, find a path they can walk on together (with equality and equity), agree to disagree, work and live together in peace.

My question to you is what can we do to bring sanity back into our planet in the way we conduct our lives and allow the transnational corporation to rule our food supply system, fuel, clothing, amongst other basic needs? We need to get into the streets and gather in squares and work out peaceful solutions—our planet depends on us for its survival.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

More and more I am seeing research that implements the overgrowth of Clostridial species in the gut as linked to the autism spectrum of behavioral disorders. Clostridia convert, in part, dietary fibers into the short chain fatty acid propionic acid. Therefore, an overgrowth of Clostridia causes an overproduction of propionic acid, which crosses the blood-brain barrier, causing aberrant behaviors.

Derrick MacFabe PhD is a major research scientist looking into autism. He asks, “Can something we eat give us a behavior like autism?” Read his research report: Neurobiological effects of intraventricular propionic acid in rats: Possible role of short chain fatty acid, on the pathogenesis and characteristics of autism spectrum disorders (2008).

He has demonstrated this within his research and the answer is yes! Dr. MacFabe observed the following in two groups of rats: the control (non injected) rats verses the propionic acid injected rats. The injected rats exhibited the following autistic behaviors: (1) Anti-social behavior: The normal rats sniff each other, hang around together, cuddle and sleep together. The injected rats try to get as far away from the other rats as possible. (2) Compulsive behavior: When a little box is placed in the middle of he cage, the normal rats check it out at first then ignore it. Whereas, the propionic rats can’t leave the box alone, continually run over it, around it, obsessed with it. (3) Repetitive behavior: The injected rats run three steps and stop, run three and stop, continuously. The normal rats behave normally. (4) Non-survival behavior: when sleeping the normal rats choose the edges of the cage so that they are not so exposed, while the injected rats sleep out in the open where, in the wild, any bird of prey can get them.

A healthy balance of organisms in the gut is a key to good health. Because of the over use of antibiotics our gut has become dysbiotic. An overgrowth of Clostridia is symptomatic to such a condition. Our Supernatant Synbiotic Formula was formulated specifically to inhibit Clostridial numbers in the gut and specifically to kill C. difficile (the leading hospital generated infection). The less Clostridia and less propionic acid breaching the blood/brain barrier and causing problems.

The Last Quiz Answer:

This is one beautiful creature whose name as the species level I don’t have a clue. It certainly looks like a Crustacea, the largest class of marine arthropods made up of approximately 30,000 species. My guess is that it is some sort of lobster. What do you think? Typically, the body of crustaceans is divided into two sections: the head and the trunk. The head has two pair of antennae and three feeding appendages—one pair of mandibles and two pairs of maxillae. Seems to have these.

If this is the first time that you will here this music from around the world, you will be blessed and heartened. If you have heard it before, it is always good to hear it a second and third time. The power of music to bring people together in love!!! Enjoy: Stand by Me/Playing for Change/Song Around the World.