Satirical 'Allopath Town'

Allopath Town
http://www.mercola.com/townofallopath/index.htm

Back in the States....

FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, USA -
So, it's been 2 complete weeks since I've returned to the U.S. It's been two weeks of adjusting... physically, mentally, and emotionally.

My body was in such a great routine in India, that it took me an entire week to overcome the jet-lag. Even now, I am not completely recovered. And, I also think my body’s getting adjusted going back-n-forth btwn heat and cold… as one steps out into the cold air, and then back into the heated home, or car… And, then there’s the food… I’m trying to eat as little microwaved and processed food as possible… and trying to avoid the high fructose corn syrup… but, it’s difficult.

Mentally... everything here was disturbing me... the amt. of garbage we created, the feeling that 'everything is okay', the topics of conversation, the questions that everyone has been asking me and then they don't really listen to the answer, wiping my butt with tissue paper, living in such a huge house with all kinds of comforts and newly added features, etc.

Emotinally... it has been great being with my parents, my ba, my sister and brother-in-law, all my relatives, and all my closest friends from childhood. We all have spent soo much time together and have had so many memories over the year. However, the last 16 months, other than an occasional phone call or email... or reading my blog... they weren't all a big part of my life... so, emotionally... I want to talk about the things that I'm passionate about and believe it. But, then... what if the other party isn't really all that excited?
It has really been nice and supportive to have my sister and jijaji around. I guess even though I’ve spent a lot of time with Amir… we’ve never ‘lived’ together before. And, really.. it’s great. His ability to just maintain his cool and humour at all times is really awesome.. even when probed by my mom!

Soo... overall…I've started catching myself …. I've been placing the blame outside myself.... but the real challenge... is how am I going to respond? How am I going to behave? Will I find a way to communicate? Am I going to understand their concerns? So far... it hasn't been that good... I've picked my spots... but overall.... there has been a lot of going with the flow.

My daily routine is still solid... at least in the morning.... still using my danth manjan, still not using soap, still using my till thel, doing my yoga and pranayam every morning (my sister, jijaji, and mom do it as well!).... and still cleaning my bottom with water whenever I get the chance. =P Trying to move to buying more organic foods grown in local areas... and trying to find out where some of the products we consume actually come from. Already... just by searching on the internet... I have found out all kinds of interesting things!! None that really surprise me, though...

I was looking at where our water comes from here in Fremont… some water, we purchase from SF who gets their water from Hetch Hetchy… Well.. when Hetch Hetchy was deciding to be dammed years ago.. it was quite the controversy… years before, there were Natives who lived on that land as well. And Hetch Hetchy was part of a preserved area… but after many battles… it was dammed.
Another thing that I found out about our water… is the ‘fluoride’ is added to our tap water… for no other reason other then ‘science’ thinks that it’s good for our teeth. Now… there are all kinds of studies that shows ingesting ‘fluoride’ even in small amounts is cancer-causing. Basically… this is forced medication… and no one is even aware about it, and no one really has a choice.

Then, there’s our bananas. The ones I have at home were ‘Del Monte’ bananas… they come from Central America and Latin America…. The ones I ate came from Ecuador… where the labour and land are super cheap… and the gov’t backs you…. And when workers try to unionize you bully them, fire them, and shut them up any way that you know how.

Then, of course… being in the U.S., there’s good old ‘high fructose corn syrup’. In many countries in the world, you won’t find this ingredient at all. Basically, it’s a sugar substitute that’s made from corn! Usually, the corn is genetically engineered. There are all kinds of stories behind this.

If you want to read more about Hetch Hetchy, Del Monte, or High Fructose Corn Syrup.. I have some articles and links.

Otherwise.. I’ve been working on lot of the logistical stuff and paperwork side of InSPIRE… hoping to launch the website and ‘marketing’ by 15th January. I’m trying to keep balanced days…. And not just end up sitting on the comp. all day… so my mornings are my ‘active’ time… other than my yoga and all…. I try to do some physical work in the morning – from removing the tent in our backyard, to cleaning the small piece of land we’ve set aside for a garden, to painting the swing/bench that we have, to biking to the local farmer’s market, to biking to the local farm. And, then in the afternoon… more of the paperwork/computer work….

For the next 2-3 weeks…. I’m going to be on the move… LA for one of my college roommate’s wedding… and Chicago, for my friends’ wedding reception/anniversary thingy. Both events… definitely willl be a good time.. and give me the chance to catch up with a lot of people. But.. really.. it’s still so hard to answer the question… “so, how was the trip?” or “so, what’d you do in India?” I don’t blame anyone from asking. But.. still… it’s a difficult question.. that I need to figure out a better way to answer.

Till next time….

Article - Buy Green

San Francisco Chronicle

Helping consumers rein in the holiday excess
'Worldchanging' editor offers sustainable food for
thought before the shopping and spending

Susan Fornoff, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, December 16, 2006


The new book "Worldchanging" has 596 pages and weighs enough that if you were hit over the head with it, it could seriously hurt.

Hitting readers over the head, however, isn't really the style of editor Alex Steffen and the staff of four "solution-based" journalists at Seattle's WorldChanging.com. That's is a fortunate thing during the holiday season, when save-the-earth types could find so many reasons to batter consumers.

Like, why on earth do you need 3 million lights on the house? What do you mean you're having lobster flown in from Maine? Do you have any idea about the conditions in the sweatshops that made the shoes you're
giving Johnny? And look at that pile of trash your gift wrapping has generated! Thwack!

"A lot of times I think in the holiday season, because we all want our celebrations to be great, there's a way in which we all express our love for the people around us by trying to do more, give them more," Steffen said. "A lot of times I think we buy things whose backstories aren't really that terrific and bring them into our homes. And what we're saying is not that you have to suffer to be virtuous. We don't have to suffer -- we just have to be smart."

Steffen visited The Chronicle during a December barnstorming tour to promote the book, subtitled "A User's Guide for the 21st Century," which has a foreword by Al Gore. (One of the tour's underwriters, Zero Footprint, is offsetting with wind power and tree plantings whatever toll the group's travel by jet and car takes on the Earth.)

Though attractively packaged, designed and organized, "Worldchanging" isn't a read-this-weekend volume, and there's no chapter on Christmas/Hanukkah. So during an interview, Steffen pulled out a few of the book's concepts to guide consumers who find themselves taking the SUV approach to the holidays, even though they'd rather be more like a Prius.

The No. 1 shopping guideline: Consider the backstory.
"During the holidays we often forget to think about the fact that the new gadget we got was made somewhere using resources that were metals that were mined somewhere, energy that was pumped out of the ground somewhere," Steffen said. "We sort of forget about all the things that went into making it, and we don't think about everything that's going to happen to it after we let it go."

Considering the backstory means looking at labels and ads, and not swallowing the manufacturer's hype. "Green" is one of the advertising buzz words of the decade, a cool way to market -- and Steffen has coined his own buzz word for the misuse of "green."

"A lot of people right now are 'greenwashing' things," he said. "Things that aren't really actually green, they're describing as eco- or environmental. We have a part in the book here right up front where we talk about how to understand if something's greenwashing and how to choose more responsibly. Beware vague phrases and claims -- like 'natural.' Another dead giveaway is when somebody says, 'Oh, this has no environmental impact.' Big overblown claims like, 'This will save the Earth.'

"A lot of times people will make claims, on their Web site, for instance, but there's no actual way to look and see if it's true. Companies that are doing good things like to brag about them. So if they're willing to tell you precisely, hey, this is 100 percent recycled paper or fiber or wood or whatever, and you can go see the certification, that's a good sign."

Take the book, for example. It has an environmental-benefits statement on the back describing what resources publisher Abrams saved by using New Leaf paper for the book slipcase and pages, with the note that the publisher purchased wind-power credits to offset the electricity that produced the book.
"By buying this book you're getting the greenest book on the planet," Steffen said. "We couldn't make it any greener with what we can do now."

For another example, consider the sweater from Patagonia that was given to him. He loves the sweater, thinks it looks great, fits well and feels comfy -- and both the label on the sweater and the ad on the Web site boast that the sweater is made of "100 percent organic wool."

It's the sort of information that Steffen thinks will become increasingly trumpeted.

"I think more and more clothing shops and big retailers will tell you when something has sustainable elements, organic cotton, organic wool. Bamboo is really hip right now. It's a miracle thing, what can't it do, it's a dessert topping," he said.

"Many of the companies that are doing the right thing are now announcing it because it's a selling point. If they're not announcing it, it's probably not that great a thing. Even things that are totally sold on luxury and style are now announcing when they're green, like the Lexus hybrid."

A second eco-friendly holiday guideline is to buy better instead of more. The sweater made of 100 percent organic wool probably costs more than two or three sweaters from a big-box store, so just buy one quality sweater.

"Maybe instead of buying 15 presents for the kids," he said, "you buy five that they're really going to want. We all know how kids are -- the day after Christmas, half those presents are lying broken on the floor, right? Maybe buy a couple of things that are nicer, more durable, that the kids are really going to enjoy.

"I think we all get kind of talked into this idea that if the holidays aren't excessive that somehow we failed. Yet almost everybody I know has a story about a Christmas or Hanukkah that went wrong, where there was kind of a disaster, and that ended up being the most fun -- some of the presents didn't arrive on time or the turkey got burned to a crisp, and people had to have a real experience together."

Experience, Steffen said, makes a great holiday gift.

"Experiences are greener than objects," he said, "and so think about a way to give somebody a class doing something they like, or a meal at a great restaurant -- especially one that promotes local food and good eating. These things can have just as much meaning, and they don't bear as big a cost to the planet."
When shopping for the person who has everything and who might appreciate a charitable donation in his name, there's the "Worldchanging" view on philanthropy: It's recommended, with an eye toward checking with the Council on Foundations (http://www.cof.org/) and/or the Center for Effective Philanthropy (http://www.effectivephilanthropy.com/) for an assessment of an intended charity. Three that are specifically recommended by "Worldchanging": Heifer Project, Opportunity International and Trickle Up.

Finally, include the planet in holiday hopes and wishes. It's a good time of year, Steffen said, to think about the impact we can make on the future.

"The holidays are for a lot of people a time of renewal, whether you're talking about coming back together with family, or making a New Year's resolution -- it fundamentally is about pausing and starting again fresh," he said. "So if we have any hope for the holiday season, it's that people actually start to look at how they live on the planet in a different way, and not in a way of feeling guilt or shame but in a way of imagining how they might live a brighter and a greener life."

Change your style
For more information and ideas about living green, visit http://www.worldchanging.com/, or look for the book "Worldchanging" (596 pages, Abrams, $37.50).