[Chat] Re: Chat Digest, Vol 23, Issue 7

[Crystal]

Hi,

I was reading something a few weeks back about
pesticides and came across a bit about several
thousand tons of DDT being produced in America and
sold in Mexico in a surprisingly recent year. And it's
amazingly persistent stuff in the environment. So,
there's still plenty of nasty stuff around, even if
it's not legal to use it in the U.S. I could probably
find the reference if anyone wanted it.

It just underlines the benefits of buying locally
grown produce and flowers from people that you know,
and who are committed to not using pesticides. This
year Justin and I have joined a CSA -- that is, we put
a downpayment on a share of a Community Supported
Agriculture program organized by some local, organic
farmers. So we'll be getting a batch of fresh, local
vegetables and fruit every week from June to October,
and longer, if we like the program.  We'll be going by
for the occasional member work day and "surprise"
visits (the more hours we work, the cheaper our share
will be). We'll only be able to get strawberries in
June, and our September apples may have spots, but
they won't have DDT (As you may remember: "Hey Farmer,
Farmer lay off the DDT. Don't care 'bout spots on my
apples, just leave me the birds and the bees... Don't
it always seem to go that you don't know what you've
got 'till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a
parking lot.").

Did you ever read or see the movie of "Like Water for
Chocolate?" Without spoiling the plot, several scenes
pretty dramatically show what can happen when a
person's intentions and emotions are put into the food
that the person is making. I've done things like that
too: for example, I'm sure that the best stew that I
have ever made was very strongly influenced by the
fact that I spent the whole time very focused on warm
fuzzy thoughts about my family and how much they would
like to eat a really good stew.

Along the same lines, clothing which is made by people
who are essentially slaves to Wal-mart, will not have
good energy in them and will tend not make the wearers
happy. Meanwhile, sweaters from Grandma really are the
best!

Also, Emily, with respect to that couch, you might
want to put it in the garage (if you have one) or in
the basement for awhile until its degassing is
significantly reduced. I'm very sensitive to the
volatiles in glues and synthetic materials, so I do
things like hang new shower curtains outside for at
least a week before bringing them indoors.
Unfortunately, offgassing typically continues well
beyond the first week, and even up to a year, but the
airing out does help a great deal.

Furthermore, if anyone is interested in Zero volatile
paints, I ordered a color swatchbook of them and I can
bring it with me to Baltimore this weekend, since I
will be attending the Wellstone Action training in
D.C. The book has pretty much every color you could
wish for. I'm going to use them in my next painting
project, so, while I can't vouch for the quality yet,
I will soon!

:)

Crystal

<snip>
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 09:38:31 -0400
> From: "Emily Chalmers" <echalmers at mindspring.com>
> Subject: RE: [Chat] lilies deadly to cats
> To: "The Charles Village Chat List"
> <Chat at charlesvillage.info>,	"The
> 	Charles Village Chat List"
> <Chat at charlesvillage.info>
> Message-ID: <410-220055015133831341 at mindspring.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Christine--
> 
<snip>
> 
> However, I have been reading about the problems
> workers in the ornamental flower industry in some
> countries are having with the massive amounts of
> pesticides used to produce attractive blooms. I
> believe Mexico was one of the countries mentioned.
> What I read startled me so much that I stopped
> buying ornamental flowers altogether, because my
> cats also chew on those, and I like to smell them.  
> 
> Thus I think it's hasty to blame the cat's death
> solely on the lilies. It seems to me that even if
> that particular cat was extremely sensitive to the
> toxins in those lilies,  it could have ingested
> pesticide residue. Or a combination of both could
> have been responsible. I'm just theorizing, because
> I don't think one can be careful enough these days
> with chemicals and toxins and so on.
> 
> Speaking of which, I just bought a new microsuede
> couch, and it has that awful smell that new
> synthetic carpeting often has. Does anyone know what
> kind of toxin my cats and I are breathing now? Will
> the smell go away?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Emily

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 
Give the gift of relaxation to yourself 
and others: A hammock or a hammock chair. 
http://www.twinoakstore.com/ 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*




		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Make Yahoo! your home page 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs