Heavy Lifters Healing our Earth
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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 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).
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