Living in a Dying World

As if it is not enough that we pollute our world with non-biodegradable wastes that we can see, feel and inhale, we have to contend with the invisible killer that permeates every second of our lives – WITHOUT us knowing it!

A friend introduced me to low-level radiation (electromagnetic frequency-EMF) pollution that led me to research online about it. The more I read the more I am disturbed. And frustrated because there are as many information that downplay the EMF hazards (of course, who stands at a disadvantage if people become wary of all these techie gadget?).

Then I got hold of this book produced by the Consumer Association of Penang (Malaysia).  CAP’s aim is to increase awareness of the problem of low level radiation emitted by mobile phones, common household appliances, and cars and planes. It consolidates information (also referenced) from numerous studies around the world about the (modern) diseases triggered by our modern technology.

Ignorance is bliss...but also fatal.  We have to be aware that every modern convenience that we use right now poses serious health hazards (cancer, brain-related or nervous system disorders, reproductive problems). Children are especially susceptible because their bodies are still at developing stage, especially the fetuses inside the wombs.

This invisible killer is the man-made electromagnetic low-level radiation (EMR) emitted by power stations, and practically any electrical gadget from hairdryer to the refrigerator (wireless/cordless thingies are even worse emitters) in your home. EMR’s effects are categorized as heating and non-heating effects.

The heating effect is much like a microwave function – the EMR hits a body then heats it up. The eyes and testes are the most vulnerable to the thermal hazards of radiation (so gentlemen please refrain from placing your mobile phones in your pants’ pockets).

The non-heating effect targets the bio-electric functioning of the body. Any medical doctor will tell you that the physiological functions of our body include electrical signals and impulses. When the brain sends messages throughout the body, chemical as well as electrical communication among and within cells are used to transmit the messages and transform them into action.

It is not rocket science to conclude that our body will respond to electromagnetic signals both positively (e.g. the earth’s natural Schumann’s resonance stabilizing our biorhythm and maintains our natural physiological cycles) or negatively (e.g. powerful UV-radiation or x-rays zapping off chunks of DNA).

What is unfortunate to now know is that even seemingly benign low-level EMFs from computers, mobile phones and electric appliances and medical equipments also negatively affect our bodies.

Because of the lack of heating effect, quite how EMFs harm the body is difficult to detect/measure  (the very thing of course that the industries play up) but numerous studies (esp by the Russians) have shown that workers constantly in the presence of power station or cellular phone or video transmitters show increased prevalence of brain tumors or miscarriages.

Other non-thermal hazards are wide-ranging and real (even if the dangers are massively downplayed by industries): immune disorders, childhood leukaemia, changes in sleep pattern, chronic fatigue, depression and the list goes on.

How do we survive in an increasingly toxic environment? How do we protect our young – the children – to ensure that life is perpetuated?

There are many ways:

·         European countries are now making moves to limit access of children to mobile phones, and to ban unnecessary wi-fi systems in schools

·         CAP’s own tips include basically minimizing unnecessary exposure to appliances by discouraging use of microwave oven, not using digital clock beside your bed, removing appliances from the bedroom because the body is most vulnerable to EMFs when asleep (I knew there was a reason why I couldn’t sleep properly when the TV is on, or why I never turn on the TV in the hotel rooms when I am on travel or why I do not encourage watching TV at home, period).

·         Don’t let the children use laptops on their, well, laps and encourage children to text rather than call on mobile phone. Don’t let your babies anywhere near mobile phones!

·         Keep yourself healthy, well and fit so that your body can remain resilient by naturally healing and protecting itself against all the - seen and unseen - environmental hazards

The Silent Invisible Polluters

A multitude of silent invisible polluters (as a colleague called them) inhabit the business world and the hi-tech environment around us. We live and breathe their impact (in addition to our own individual effect but that is another blog topic) - everyday, every hour, and every second of our lives.

In the business world, the most obvious targets of the environmentalists' wrath are the big corporations. Because of their size and media exposure, big corporations are encouraged, obliged or pressured (whatever fits) to do what is right where the environment is concerned.

Thus these corporations tend more than most businesses to integrate good corporate citizenship into their businesses. They are able to install environmental management systems in their operations and also more easily meet environmental sustainability compliance.

However, it is not only the big corporations that pollute the environment. There are the  small and less-than-large enterprises that, because of their size, are not in the radar of environmentalists.  Probably too small to be worthy of notice or media news.

Some say their smallness perhaps means that their businesses’ impact on the environment is relatively smaller than big (global) corporations. 


True IF taken individually.

BUT, taken collectively, the numerous small businesses’ environmental impact can be no less than those of the big corporations. 


Consider how many countries rely on thousands and thousands of small enterprises to prop up their economies. Especially countries that do not impose strict environmental and health standards compliance in their business operations.

These small businesses are called silent invisible polluters. Because they are more or less allowed to transact their business as usual while continuing to harm the environment without any external pressure to correct the error of their ways, where the rest of humanity is concerned.

As if that is not enough for us, not only are we exposed to the adverse impact of the non-environmentally compliant smaller businesses but there is another kind of insidious pollution created by science and technology as well.  Another breed of invisible silent polluters.

In fact this second set literally best fits the label.


I talk about the cannot-be-seen, cannot-be-felt and cannot-be-smelled electromagnetic radiation coming from practically every electrical or electronic gadget, appliances and power lines we depend on daily. 

Many talk of the evidences on how various techie gadgets and resulting electromagnetic  pollution harm our bodies, cause even more stress and weaken the capacity of our body to heal itself. Like EMF exposure from hospital equipments causing allergies or cellphones literally frying our brains and lowering sperm count or increased prevalence of cancer esp in the young coinciding with the steep increase of humanity's reliance on many, many types of electronics.  

There appears to be as many naysayers also - of course a lot of money from the industries is riding on the no-harmful effect. Yet we have lived long enough in the modern world to know in our gut, that all these artificial creations cannot NOT have any adverse impact on our health or our peace of mind.

Indeed, while many studies say although they cannot categorically say the electromagnetic radiation from e.g. mobile phones have harmful effects on human health, in the next breath they say there are 'indications' of it and would therefore advise us to lessen our - especially our children's - exposure to these devices. 


I believe where health is concerned, it is always wise to stick to the old adage that it is better to err on the side of caution.

Seeing all this struck a chord in myself and made me understand my tendencies to:


    - Avoid living in over-crowded cities
    - Hate mobile phones

    - Not watch TV

   - Not install airconditioning system at home

   - Prefer living in a place where I can feel the soil under my feet and hear frogs croaking outside my window every night  

    - Avoid enrolling in a dance school located right beside a power station

   - Recharge best in a pristine environment (by a mountain waterfall or isolated beach strips)

   - Dream of running my very own farm that produces ‘slow food’ (as oppose to fast food)

Alright there are also other reasons for my distaste for certain modern devices. 


Still... 


Could it be that the instincts for survival – those bodily responses that tell us if something is bad for us, then it must be avoided - are guiding me subliminally to make choices to enhance rather than diminish my long-term survival?

http://www.cellphone-health.com/index.htm#

http://www.radiationtalk.com/info/radiation_cancer.php

http://www.psfk.com/2009/01/france-to-limit-childrens-access-to-mobile-phones.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1549944/Warning-on-wi-fi-health-risk-to-children.html

http://safeschool.ca/Health_Warnings.html

http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3038870/

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/77

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation_and_health

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_radiation_and_health

http://weepnews.blogspot.com/2010/06/poisoning-us-with-radiation-first-emr.html

Act 1

Before He made man, his work was not always perfect.

Yet He was a perfectionist, progressing through trial and error.

He created new beings based on models of previous beings.

Forming, shaping and perfecting.

It took time.

Time that none of his creatures withstood.

Because they were mere creations.

Yet He wasn’t always in control of the universe

He had to work with what was already there.

Nature has her own nature.

Capricious, changing, multi-faceted.

He had to work with Her

All the beings He created had to survive in Nature’s world

And Nature changed her ways a lot.

Sometimes quickly, sometimes not for a very long time. 

And the changes were epic and minuscule

When she was cold, the frost bit all in sight.

When she was in a temper, fire razed everything.

There are times when she was deadly calm and still.

And there are times when everything roiled and shifted almost endlessly.

His creatures had to be refined over the time that Nature reigned.

An appendage grew here, multiplied thrice, reduced or disappeared entirely as time went by.

Time that none of His creatures fully understood nor appreciated.

Because none lived long enough to survive time.

He toiled on. Tirelessly perfecting and experimenting.

Some creations wreaked wonders and flourished.

Happily ensconced in Nature’s bosom.

While others died natural deaths and disappeared entirely.

They could not live with Nature’s ways.

Then some of His creatures grew larger, more dominant.

They became vicious and threatened all other creatures.

This upset Nature for she liked seeing and feeling the variety of beings.

Variety was more interesting and never boring, like her personality.

She did not like monotony – not in her inner nor outer landscape.

No creatures of a single kind roaming about would do for her.

Yet she witnessed the large beings lording over the rest.

Her wrath grew, erupted and caused rocks of fire to shake everything.

And cleanse the landscape of monotony.

He seeing his creatures gone because of her wrath had to work again.

He promised not to make them so huge anymore.

No one kind will loom over others anymore.

It does no good to upset Nature.

He learned his lesson.

Food for Thoughts: Mythology by Edith Hamilton

If you are like me, one who has a great (if unfulfilled) interest in literature, history and fantasy but may not necessarily be willing to slog through tons of tedious, foreign archaic writings, then Edith Hamilton’s sumptuous book “Mythology” is for you.

It is like a mini-Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman (and Norse) gods and goddesses and heroes and adventures. Only it is definitely a lot more reader-friendly, and comes with succinct retelling of their stories and adventures. From the war of the Titans to the Trojan War, you are easily transported to the worlds that the ancient poets  – Homer, Euripides, Apollodrus and many others – crafted.

In the book, we learn who the Titans, the Olympians and patron gods (of  worldly professions or natural elements) were and who were their progenies, lovers and favorites among men and cities. And of course, we read about the stories behind the famous (and not so famous) heroes and legends.

Not only is the story(ies) of each hero and god written in very clear, uncomplicated and engrossing style, but Ms Hamilton gives her own punchy analysis of the prevalent philosophy of the races at that time – “unlike the Egyptians, the Greeks depicted their gods in man’s image” or to the Norsemen, nothing is heroic unless it’s about fighting for a totally "lost cause". (Which brings to mind Gimli’s assessment of the final war with Mordor in the movie LOTR: The Return of the King “certainty of death, slim chances for success – what are we waiting for?!”  or, closer to home, “what do you think of the fight against corruption?”).

As she begins each chapter, she gives her own introduction and characterization of the poet she references: Ovid was the Roman poet flowery in details – with a tad more detail on coiffure and fashion - and does not believe in the mythology yet writes about it for entertainment. And, whereas the Greeks were grave and direct and do not appreciate writing the gory details, Ovid delights in it. While I am not in any position to say if her criticisms are accurate, I like them there because they add value to the entire book.

Perhaps, the other enlightening aspect of the book is reading about the eerie similarities of the evolution of Greek mythology with the evolution of Christianity. The first gods (Titans) were gods to be worshipped with fear while the succeeding gods (the Olympians) were more humane and companionable. Much like the personalities of God the Father in the Old Testament and God the Son in the New Testament. (Dan Brown, anyone?).

Or does the evolution of the gods only happen because of the evolution of man? The primitive man, functioning on survival instincts alone, obeyed and worshipped a great if abstract and terrible God. Then, upon becoming a sophisticated man of high intellect, he needed to understand better a God before he could commit his loyalty and worship. (Anyone familiar with the word rationalization?)

This evolution is almost no different from our changing perspectives of our parents. When we were small and ignorant, fear ruled above all else and love came of their protection and care to ensure our survival. Then when we grew into adulthood we gained knowledge of their (and our) humanity, and the resulting understanding of what they have been through helped us to love and appreciate them more (after a fashion of rebellion, of course).

As some say, with enough time passing, history becomes legend and legends become myths. It is also interesting to read how the concepts of atonement for sins, blind love, immortal souls (and therefore reincarnation) and democracy emerged, from the ancient Greeks’ point of view.

Whatever you wish to derive from reading about mythology - and however it would affect your thinking and beliefs, afterward ;-) - I would put this book at the top of that list (starting from High School and definitely a must read for college literature courses). The chapters can be read separately, cherry-picking the stories as they are complete in themselves. It has a great index for easy access to characters that appear in multiple chapters too!

Resilience

One of the things I love about life is its inherent capability to bounce back after suffering a major setback.

The body can repair itself when things get broken or when free radicals mess up some molecular structures.

The reason for maintaining biodiversity is to ensure an ecosystem can survive when destructive forces invade it.

Time can heal wounds that cut up a soul.

And that is where the double-edged sword rears its ugly side.

Because in the process of healing, we forget the events that almost caused our own annihilation.

We forget to take care of our bodies.

We forget to take care of our surroundings.

We forget the lessons (we should have) learned when we picked ourselves up from a fall.

And then we make the same mistakes over again.

I thought that people who committed the same mistakes over and over again are stupid  – because they never learn, do they?

But now, I think ‘resiliency’ can also make us forgetful, complacent and careless.

Hence, a healthy dose of reminders about our past mistakes is valuable in navigating our way through life.
Reminders of how depressing it used to be make us more appreciative of what we now have.

Who better to remind us than friends who have been with us through the ups and especially the downs in our lives?

These are the people who do not tolerate our mistakes but are steadfast in their support and encouragement for us to do better, to be better.
These are the people who remind us that every day is gift that we should be grateful for.

Thank you, my dearest friends, for celebrating life with me!

Into the Wild: A lesson in life

Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings, and ups and downs and back again it goes. This time of the year makes us acutely aware of that, more than at any other time.

And so it was a serendipitous event that I plugged the movie “Into the Wild” on the DVD and watched, and reflected, and learned.

Saying that all that matters in life is the achievement of success is being very short-sighted. Life is not just about the positive – joy, wealth, power. The other half of life is about sadness, trials, and pain.

What ties it all up together is our ability as human beings to embrace all of that as part of this worldly celebration called life.

Like I did before, the young McCandless in the movie found life at 22 to be so confusing. At that age, everything is magnified and there’s no way to see the forest from the trees: Emotions run high. Ideals are smashed. The future seems so far away, totally uncertain and out of grasp. Love and relationships are such complex, roller-coaster rides.

And as many burned-out individuals would do, he chose to step back from it all and took the time to experience new things, to live out his adventures and to interact with all kinds of people.

But the most important thing is that he did not stop reflecting on life throughout his wild nature trip.

Time has a way of tempering us. The more we experience new things, new relationships, new events, the more we are able to put our own chaotic life in perspective. We discover that we are not alone in our angst. We discover that other people have more uncertainties than we do. We discover that people who destroyed the dreams of others are still worthy of love.

And timing is everything when it comes to how we act and how we relate to others. Because time’s healing power and the life lessons we learn through our experiences define our readiness for anything that life throws at us. If we were not ready for something at 22, we may be ripe for it at 32 (or 42 even 62), just because of how events and time conditioned us.

He read the same book over and over again, until one day - he finally gained enlightenment. It is not just new experiences that make the core of the human spirit; it is also our relationship with people.

He finally understood that his parents were not perfect, pretty much like the new friends he made and embraced with no judgment. And then he was ready to forgive them, love them and start life all over again.

The beauty in our relationships – with our parents, partners, children and friends – is not in the happy times we have with them but in loving them throughout the bad, the not so bad and the good times and back again. The wonder in life is seeing the beauty in all that.