Take the Power back: Choose Life and Health

Take the Power back: Choose Life and Health by Heather Havey, M.A.

Because our population is exploding, and our earth is heating up...Because developers are cutting down every stand of trees and replacing them with parking lots, stores, lawns, and oversized homes...Because we are in trouble...

1. Plant lots of trees.

Plant a tree each week for the rest of your life. Give them as gifts. Trees shade and cool the earth, give us the oxygen we breathe, add beauty, provide animal habitat, and so much more.

2. Grow your own food or buy local.

Please read the full article, with more tips: http://www.examiner.com/x-18399-Honolulu-Health-and-Happiness-Examiner~y2009m8d16-Take-the-Power-back-Choose-Life-and-Health

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PLEASE CHOOSE THIS FOR YOURSELF

AS THE PRESENT CARETAKERS OF THIS SANCTUARY, WE DESIRE TO KEEP THE LARGER PARCELS OF THE PROPERTY UNDEVELOPED. IT IS A REFUGE FOR WILDLIFE, AND FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE BEAUTY OF A PRISTINE WILDERNESS, WHERE ONE CAN TRULY COMMUNE WITH GOD THROUGH NATURE.
-Norman Paulsen, p.473, The Christ Consciousness

PLEASE CHOOSE TO FILL YOUR YARD WITH LIFE - ORGANIC (NO CHEMICALS, EVER) - TREES, PLANTS, SHRUBS, FLOWERS THAT DRAW IN BEES & BUTTERFLIES, FRUITS, VEGETABLES, NUTS, SEEDS.
FEED THE BIRDS ORGANIC BIRDSEED -
PUT IN A BAT HOUSE -
RAISE HONEYBEES -
MAKE YOUR YARD A SANCTUARY FOR LIFE, NOT A CHEMICAL- AND MOWER-MAINTAINED STRIPPED-SOIL WASTELAND THAT WILL NOT BEAR LIFE WITHOUT THE USE OF CHEMICAL ADDITIVES.
THE ANIMALS ARE DYING AND THEY NEED YOUR HELP.
-Heather Havey

Why Local, Sustainable Agriculture?

Why local, sustainable agriculture?

• Did you know that 17 % of petroleum demand in the US is for the food production industry? (http://www.energybulletin.net/5173.html)
• Did you know that the food on your plate has traveled an average of 1500 miles to get there? (Barker & Mander, 1999, Invisible Government: The WTO Global Government for the New Millenium)
• Did you know that the average age of a farmer in Colorado is 55?(“Losing Ground - Colorado’s Vanishing Agricultural Landscape)
• Did you know that between 1997 - 2002 Colorado lost an average of 690 acres of prime agricultural land per day to residential development? (“Losing Ground - Colorado’s Vanishing Agricultural Landscape)
• Did you know smaller farms tend to be 2-10 times more productive than larger farms? (http://www.energybulletin.net/5173.html)
• Did you know that 90% of the agricultural subsidies benefit corporations and big farmers growing food for export; while 500 family farms close down every week in the United States? (http://www.energybulletin.net/5173.html)
• Did you know that 91 cents of each dollar spent at traditional food markets [ie: commercial] goes to suppliers, processors, middlemen, and marketers; only 9 cents of each dollar actually goes to the farmer? (Smith, Stewart. 1992. “Farming Activities and Family Farms: Getting the Concepts Right.” Presented to the US Congress Symposium, “Agricultural Industrialization and Family Farms: The Role of Federal Policy.”)

What is sustainable agriculture?

Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers, preserves agricultural land, provides a fair wage to the farmer, supports and enhances rural communities, does not harm the environment and respects animals.

Some principles of sustainable practices include:

• Reducing off-farm inputs including petroleum based synthetic chemicals
• Managing instead of controlling pests and weeds
• Reestablishing natural biological relationships with the farm setting
• Farming within the physical limitations of the farm
• Using plant and animal species that are adapted to the environment of the farm
• Conserving soil, water, energy, and biological resources
• Integrating the idea of long term sustainability into the design of the system