The Waterpod is a revamped “green” barge that is parked at Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York right now but will float along to visit all 5 burroughs of New York in a 6 month stretch. It’s a home/gallery for the artists on board where vistors can come and view the ways the ship sustains itself. There are organic gardens with some 27 different kinds of vegetables, two kinds of fruit, and even chickens. The gardens are watered with “gray” water, or water that is used for washing, showering, etc., that is recycled. There is a manual treadmill pumping system that delivers the water to the gardens for about an hour every day. The project is evolving as it moves along. There are plans for hydroponic gardens and I see that there will be an art gallery to visit on board.

I saw some of the Waterpod on Good Morning America. Each artist has pretty cramped living quarters but his/her living space with no lack of technical gadgetry is solar and battery powered for now with plans to incorporate wind power too. The Waterpod Project website has a layout map of all the things that have been incorporated on this barge to make it a viable living and commercial space.

Have a look at what some enterprising engineers have come up with as a possibility for green living space in the future.

http://www.thewaterpod.org/about.html/a>

I read an article “More Problems With Plastics” in U.S. News and World Report, May 19, 2008, by Adam Voiland that will be very disturbing to males. It’s about chemicals called phthalates found in plastics. I’ve already reported and insinuated that we’re slowly poisoning ourselves with gender bending bisphenol A (BPA), another additive in plastics. Phthalates are endocrine disruptors, (interferes with hormones) like BPA, whose results are already seen in fish with both male and female reproductive organs, no organs, or a variety of mutations in between. BPA could soon affect birds and mammals, if it hasn’t already done so. Who knows? We’re lied to so much with scientific jargon relating to parts per million, trillion, and so goes the story of phthalates.

It takes me a long time to research scientific reports about industrial toxins because I have to look up every other word and then find out what the baseline is. Then I have to look at the industry that produces it and figure out how they are lying about it. It’s like every time I hear that water and air are so much cleaner than 30 years ago.  I want to scream. Thirty some years ago we were so awfully polluted, and I was here to see it, when beaches were closed not sporadically but regularly. Out of this pollution came the Clean Air and Water Acts where we began to clean up. So of course we’re cleaner than at our all time highest pollution levels. But how much cleaner? If we mean 2 parts per trillion less of any of a myriad of toxins in our air and water than in 1970, we can honestly make that claim, but it’s hardly ideal or healthy now is it?

So here we have an article that talks about birth defects from phthalates especially in male babies. One out of 300 baby boys, (scary numbers here) don’t have a urethra that emerges out of the tip of their penis. It ends up somewhere else underneath, midway down the shaft, or barely out of the scrotum. It’s called hypospadias and studies show that phthalates reproduce it in rodents. The article says, “Phthalates are used widely as softening agents in certain plastics,” PVC mostly, but also pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and all types of products. 

The article states that in 2005 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that “most Americans have traces of hormone-disrupting chemicals in their body.” Another advocacy group found “84 percent of American have at least six different phthalates in their urine.”  Scientists have been studying 3 of the most prevalent hormone disruptors that are also linked to “testicular cancer, reduced sperm quality, diminished penis size, and undescended testicles.” Told you it was a male nightmare.

Of course, and here is the lie, not everyone thinks the effects seen in animals justifies concern. Again, the excuse is that the doses the animals are given are higher than anything in humans. Risk to humans is minimal. Lives are weighed by parts per million/trillion. Nice, real nice. One in 300 babies has hypospadias, but nah, no big risk. That’s why many European countries have banned phthalates in certain toys. America is still in the consideration stage at this point; even though some companies stepped up to the plate and phthalate free products are showing up in stores. Now you know what that means.

I have to take the time here to point out one of my biggest complaints also. What’s the sense of experimenting on animals if someone ultimately uses the same tired excuse that it’s not the same for humans? It is why I am and have been adamantly against animal experimentation for a long time. It is an absolute myth that it is necessary. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, NEAVS, and many professionals have been testifying about it for years. We’re in the 21^st century now. There are superior methods. But research animals are a big racket and cheap. Don’t ever lose your cat or dog.

If you’re male and already in your 20’s or 30’s breathing a sigh of relief, think again. Or rather look to your hairline. As a licensed cosmetologist that had my own shop for almost 8 years, I paid close attention to the most successful products for baldness. Baldness is relative to some of the many hormones our body produces. An overabundance of a certain type chokes out the hair follicles. My husband’s father and grandfather on his mother’s side were bald, as were all of his uncles on both sides of the family. My husband is 55 with a full head of hair. Hmmm. Eating freshly cooked meals every night, not drinking tap water for almost 30 years, imbibing minimal pop or junk food, and growing our own fruits and vegetables is starting to really show results. It’s not just a cliché that we are what we eat, drink, and breathe. Believe it!

http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/DioxaneResults08.cfm

 Finding the list, I found this really good website for people who go organic even sometimes. It is Organic Consumers Association website. This is the largest organization of organic consumers in the country. They have been campaigning for the USDA and organic companies to preserve strict organic standards. I don’t think a responsible company should have to be pressured to do this but considering the warning list above…help by joining the campaign. Look around the OCA website. It covers all types of topics even children’s health.

The basic premise of the Organic Consumers Association as it relates to food is that change for pure food is in the consumer’s hands. Buying locally grown and harvested organic fruits and vegetables as much as possible assures better quality control in a product. And many times this means buying from a smaller farm market. I do this all of the time, always have. It’s cheaper and much of the produce, even chicken, is from Michigan, and raised naturally. I grow my own fruits and vegetables too.

By supporting smaller local farms we help spread the wealth around and show congress that we’re serious about eating healthy foods so that the next time the Farm Bill comes around maybe we can change it for the better. The Farm Bill needs to address the needs of local farmers who want to be good stewards of their land, and despite a big farm lobby.