A sausage a day increases your cancer risk by 20%

A recent British study has shown that consuming 50 g of processed meat a day -- a sausage or around three strips of bacon -- can raise the likelihood that you'll develop cancer by 20%. The cancer in question is bowel cancer and according to the study, any processed meats preserved with salt or chemical additives will increase your risk. It's not just a question of cutting back; one of the researchers involved has stated that processed meats should be avoided completely.

On why it's sometimes hard to be a populist

So where to start? Is it a gun control issue? Does the decline in customer service over the years need to be addressed? Do governments need to do more to dissuade people from becoming couch potatoes? Should more be done to instill anger management techniques in kids in school? Or should shop class (and knowledge of basic tool usage) become mandatory?

Guns don't kill people; satellite TV kills people.

Earth Hour

Eekamouse! I almost forgot to mention Earth Hour. First started by the World Wildlife Fund in Australia a few years ago, this event has obviously spread like mad. I've been reading about it all over the place online, in newspapers, and even got an email about it from a politician.

Basically, the idea is for people around the world, wherever they are, to turn off their lights and non-essential appliances this evening at 8 pm (whatever their respective time zone). Cities, organizations and individuals around the world have already committed to participating through the official Earth Hour website. Depending on what you're reading, reports cite reduction in energy consumption in participating cities during lights out as ranging anywhere from 2% to 10%. I think what's most important, though, is that this sort of thing provides people with a large-scale prompt to be mindful of consumption. It gets people thinking and talking about energy conservation, and then actually spending an hour not relying on electricity. Some critics are saying that it's just a token gesture. I say every single action helps. Hell, every month should have an Earth Hour.

Vegan soup recipes in the news

The Victoria Times Colonist ran a decent article by Eric Akis the other day. It's well worth reading just for the great instructions on how to make a flavourful vegetable-based stock (and includes a recipe for one). As a bonus, he included recipes for Curried Yam Soup w/ Coconut and Lime, Classic Mushroom Soup and Lentil Soup w/ Herbe de Provence.

One drop at a time

There are a number of painless changes that can be incorporated into daily rituals with little or no inconvenience that can significantly lower your personal energy consumption and water usage. Some may seem drastic, but most are the kinds of changes that so easily become second nature after a surprisingly short while. For instance, when I was a teenager and became concerned with water conservation, I adopted the practice of not letting the water run while brushing my teeth. Sounds simple, doesn't it? The thing is that turning the tap off while brushing your teeth can save 5 (or more) litres of water a minute. Let's assume that it takes me four minutes to brush my teeth and that I do so three times a day. That's 60 litres of water a day --21900 litres a year. If I've been doing this roughly 20 years, that means I've saved 438,000 litres of water. That's almost twice the amount used to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and it's something I don't even think twice about doing anymore. Letting the water run would now feel weird.

Recent accounts in the media show an increase in droughts or boil orders hitting populated areas in North America, where water's previously been treated as an unlimited resource. As we continue to pollute our water supply and divert it to factory farms, and as global warming continues to affect our climate and water tables, expect to see this worsening. People living outside of cities and who rely on wells for their water -- whether they're on homesteads or merely living in less populous areas -- are likely much more aware of this than the average city-dweller. Sometimes you've just gotta live it to accept it.

In the interim, here are a few other really small changes that are easy to incorporate into your life to conserve water:

1) When you run the tap waiting for hot water to come out, collect it in water cans for your houseplants or for the garden. Same with any water you allow to run out the tap to warm up before you take a shower.

2) Start taking shorter showers and install a water-saving shower head. Skimming a minute or two off your total can save over 2500 litres of water a month per person. My father used to take ''navy showers'' from years of working as a lumberjack in wooded areas where obtaining usable water involved lotsa lugging. Not wasting water had become second nature to him. Read more about navy showers here.

3) Only run your washing machine or dishwasher when they are full (or when doing laundry, match the water level to the size of the load).

4) If washing dishes by hand, don't let the rinse water run. If you have two sinks, use one to wash and fill the other with rinse water. Do the same when rinsing produce -- rinse it in the sink or in a bowl, rather than running the water (and use the water from the rinsed produce for your houseplants).

5) Keep a pitcher of water in the fridge rather than letting water run to get it cold enough for a drink.

6) Use aerators on all of your faucets.

7) Use a low-flow toilet, or fill a jar with water and put it in the tank. Consider adhering to the following: If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down.

8) Cook food in as little water as possible. To enable this, use proper-sized pots and pans. Not only does this save water, but it minimizes the loss of nutrients during the cooking process. Save the water you use in a container and throw it in your freezer to use later to make soup (or to boil whole grains or rice).

9) Water your vegetable garden in the morning to minimize evaporation from heat. Use mulch to retain moisture in the soil.

These are just a fraction of the small changes or habits that will enable to average urban dweller to start adopting a less water-wasteful mindset. The truth is that there are so many more things that can be done every single time you turn on the tap.

Vegetarian teens in the news...

The Hagerstown Morning Herald has a brief article for parents dealing with a teenager's recent decision to become a vegetarian. My beef with it -- if you'll pardon my use of the word -- is that it brings up the completely non-vegetarian notion of ''semi-vegetarianism''. From what I've seen in online vegetarian communities, it's tricky enough for teenagers to explain their reasons for eschewing the consumption of meat to their parents without articles suggesting that that certain types of meat eating could indeed fall under the definition of vegetarianism. (''But little Johnny, chicken is vegetarian! Now you're just being difficult!'') That being said, the article does raise the importance of educating oneself about healthier eating habits (i.e. whether or not you're a vegetarian), and it is fairly positive overall, even though it is rather fluffy and spotty reading.

Syracuse's News 10's website also included an article on dealing with a teen switching over to vegetarianism. There's a bit more information about nutrition -- the importance of eating a variety of items and ensuring that certain vitamins (e.g. B12) and minerals (e.g. iron, calcium and zinc) aren't missed. Unfortunately, when discussing iron, the writer asserts that you can get ''a whole lot of iron from eggs'' when the truth is that the iron content of an egg can be found in around 1/4 cup of cooked spinach, 1/8 cup of almonds and less than 1/4 cup of raisin bran. Eggs aren't really high in iron, so presenting them as a good part of a vegetarian diet to provide iron is misleading.

The Baltimore Sun features an article on the increase in girls (and young women) becoming vegetarian (and vegan) and is definitely the most informative and well-rounded piece of the three articles on the topic. It's entertaining and hip. It really gets into the ethical reasons that some may choose to stop consuming animal products, and, most importantly -- the writer of the piece actually interviewed three younger women who'd become vegetarians at an earlier age to get their input into the matter. In doing so, it addresses the pressure younger vegetarians can face from their peers because of their dietary choices. Thumbs up to the Baltimore Sun for a decent article!

A couple of veg recipes in the news...

Carolina's News 14 has a recipe for Vegetarian Borscht today. Opt for vegetable stock and a soy-based ''sour cream'' like Tofutti's and the recipe is easily veganized.

The Orillia Packet & Times has an Asian-Style Vegetable Noodle Bowl recipe from Eric Akis' Everyone Can Cook Midweek Meals. (The egg noodles are easily replaced with an animal-free alternative.)

Ginger

Background:
Ginger is the common name of the plant Zingiber officinale, thought to have originated in Southeast Asia -- quite possibly China. Some sources state that the finest varieties of ginger actually originated from the West Indies or from India. Whatever its origins, today it's cultivated in a number of tropical countries from West Africa to the Caribbean. It's even cultivated in parts of the United States (e.g. Florida). It's a perennial reed-like plant with sword-like leaves that grows two to four feet high and produces remarkably fragrant flowers. It grows best in shade and rich, well-drained soil.

The part that we use is the root or rhizome. The young pinkish roots can be pickled or boiled in water to make ginger tea (often sweetened with honey and served with a squeeze of lemon juice). The slightly older root, knobby and woody looking and tan in colour, is what we customarily find fresh in the grocery stores. It's also commonly found in its dried and powdered form. The rule of thumb is to substitute two tablespoons of freshly grated ginger for every teaspoon of ground ginger called for (although it should be noted that ground ginger tastes quite different from the fresh). Here's a bunch of information on its storage and preservation.

Benefits:
Ginger root has long been used as a a home remedy -- all over the world -- for colds and the flu, often taken in the form of ginger tea at the first sign of a chill or the onset of a cold. It's also recommended to combat nausea and vomiting, especially if they stem from motion or morning sickness, or chemotherapy. Its effect on the digestive system is reported to extend to alleviating gas and indigestion, as well as being beneficial for colitis and for cleansing the colon. It's also thought to combat menstrual cramps and hot flashes. It's known to promote sweating and, through this, the elimination of toxins from the system. It's thought to stimulate circulation, and is therefore sometimes taken as a remedy for cold hands and feet. It's also been shown in some studies to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. For more detailed information on its benefits, check out the section on it featured on the (not vegan) World's Healthiest Foods' website.

How to grow it:
Using a firm, heavy and unblemished piece of root purchased in a grocery store, ginger can be grown indoors in a pot if kept in a warm and moist atmosphere. In the north, it's ideal to start it indoors around January, then move it outside once all chance of frost has passed. Ideally, night temperatures should be at least 55 F. If you choose to keep your ginger indoors, place your pots on pebbles in trays with water to keep the air around them humid; if you move it outside, make sure that it's given good shelter from the wind. In warmer climates with longer growing seasons, it can be planted directly into an outdoor garden in the spring. Ginger supposedly thrives in sunny sites in foggy coastal areas where it can receive full sun to partial shade; however, if grown in an area where sufficient water and humidity will be issues (i.e. if it's just plain ol' too dry and hot), try to ensure that the plant is in the shade at least a third (and up to half) of the day.

What you do is get a root at the grocery store, cut it into 1- to 2-inch pieces, each with at least one "eye" or knob on it, and place them (knob upwards) at least 2-3 inches deep in pots of rich soil that needs to be kept moist, albeit with really good drainage so that the roots don't rot. If after a couple of weeks, no shoots have appeared, dig up your pieces of root and check them out. If they haven't changed, clean them off and use them (i.e. in cooking). If you spot little ivory bumps on them, replant them; this means that shoots will soon appear. Don't give the shoots more than around 2 hours of sun a day until they're a few inches high. Ginger is a heavy feeder, so make sure to work a good compost mix into the soil, wherever you do grow it.

Harvesting:
In Zone 7, ginger will freeze over the winter, but the roots will re-sprout in the spring. In Zone 6 or colder, ginger will need to be brought indoors over the winter. Otherwise, you can just harvest them completely and start from scratch for the next growing season. Baby roots -- still pink and mild-tasting -- can be harvested off the main roots early in the season and used to make pickled ginger. Otherwise, harvest the large hand-like clumps of roots in the fall once the plants have withered.

Recipes:
Basic pickled ginger
How to make quick ginger beer (which is, of course, non-alcoholic)


(Listening to: The Replacements' Let it Be)

Documentary: Money as Debt

This animated 45-minute documentary explains how what we now know as money was created, and it explains how the fractional reserve banking system that's evolved now props up and controls entire economies by encouraging and ensuring debt; it also suggests the need for reforms to this system. Your notions about work, the value of a dollar, and the banking system will be irreparably changed after you've viewed this.

Producer Paul Grignon says of it:

Money created as interest-bearing bank credit is a magic trick, a fraud - now 3 centuries old; one that very few people have seen through despite, or rather because of, its utter simplicity.

It is my intention to make this mysterious debt-money system comprehensible to everyone. It is also my intention to foster sufficient understanding of the problems with this money system that citizens will be motivated to join the monetary reform movement and/or create local alternatives to the global monetary system - a system in which most of the productive people of the world are collectively chained to an ever-increasing and perpetually unpayable debt.

Recipe: Brazillian Black Bean Stew (aka Feijoada)

This is a recipe adapted from one found in an old issue of "Vegetarian Times". Traditionally, feijoada -- a dish popular in both Brazil and Portugal -- is meat-laden, but this animal-free take on it is delicious, as well as more nutritious and much lower in fat and cholesterol. Feijoada is known as Brazil's "national dish" and it's apparently commonly served in most restaurants there, however fine the dining. The "Vegetarian Times" article suggested serving it with steamed Swiss chard wrapped in warmed tortillas. Traditionally, it's a thick stew served with a pot of hot pepper sauce and the following side-dishes: rice, chopped and refried kale or collard greens, lightly roasted (coarse) casava flour (called farofa), and orange segments. Sometimes it's served with deep-fried casava or deep-fried bananas. It's usually enjoyed with caipirinhas (a popular Brazilian alcoholic beverage) or beer.

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

1 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2-3 medium garlic cloves, minced or crushed
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 (or more) hot green chili pepper, minced
half a large (28 oz / 796 ml) can of diced tomatoes -- don't drain 'em
2-16 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp salt

Optional: Cooked rice, chopped steamed (and fried, if you'd like) kale / collars / Swiss chard, orange segments.

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until it's softened. Stir in the garlic and cook an extra 3 minutes until the onion is golden.

Stir in the sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes w/ liquid and bring to a boil. Lower heart and simmer around 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender but still firm. Stir in the beans and simmer uncovered, ever so gently, until everything is heated through.

Stir in the mango and cook another minute, until heated through. Stir in cilantro and salt to taste. Preferably using ceramic bowls or platters for authenticity, ladle the stew on top of a mound of rice. Place the chopped greens and orange segments (if using) around the edges of the dish. Sprinkle the chopped greens and orange segments with farofa (if available) and splash some hot sauce on the side of some of the stew. Eat while hot! Serves 6.

Having a feline companion cuts stroke risk by more than a third

So sayeth researchers at the University of Minnesota after a recent study they conducted. In fact, according to these scientists, the effects even last well after you've shared your home with a cat.

So, uh... I wonder if this means that being a human slave to four of them means you're in the clear for life? Or better yet, does it work like carbon trading? Can I trade kitty anti-stroke points with the cat-less? This could get interesting...

Veganism in the news -- a recipe and more!

The Canadian Press issued a recipe from Laura Mathias' ExtraVeganZa -- Quinoa Three Bean Salad w/ Toasted Almonds.

The Weymouth News featured a guest article -- accurate and concise -- about the cruelty inherent in the production (and associated consumption) of eggs.

Perhaps most significantly, there are reports all over the news this morning about a recent study that shows that a gluten-free vegan diet raises natural antibodies and lowers bad cholesterol (no surprise!), and may help sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis by reducing what is currently their elevated risk of having a stroke or heart attack.

When ''organic'' doesn't mean organic

The Organic Consumers Association just released the results of a study where several well-known personal care products labelled ''organic'' or ''natural'' were found to contain concentrations of a substance called 1,4-dioxane, which is a by-product produced when foaming agents are processed with certain petrochemicals, with the intention of softening the harshness of the detergents in the products. It is an eye and respiratory tract irritant and is highly suspected of causing central nervous system damage, as well as liver and kidney damage. It has also been classified as a probable carcinogen.

It is commonly found in personal care products that aren't organic, and in the US, the FDA does not regulate it with any set standards. There are currently no standards in the US controlling the usage of the terms ''natural'' or ''organic'' with reference to personal care products. I plan to do some research on what the status quo is in Canada at this time concerning 1,4-dioxane.

Some of the products on their list include well-known brands such as Kiss My Face, Jason and Nature's Gate -- all products I've bought in the past, myself. The Whole Foods private label ''365'' is on the OCA'S list, as well.

The LA Times jumped on the story last Friday. I suspect we'll be hearing more about it over the next few days.

Recipes: Got a date?

These are simple no-cook recipes for healthy snacks that are great for kids or adults.

Date Treats

1 lb pitted dates
1/4 cup peanut (or other nut) butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or other nuts or seeds

Mix the nut butter and chopped nuts / seed and stuff dates with mixture. Yum!

(This was adapted from The Deaf Smith Country Cookbook.)

Date Balls

1 cup cooked dates
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 cups organic cereal flakes
coconut (optional)

Cook the dates in water until they're soft. Add the nuts and remove the mix from heat. Stir in the cereal flakes and shape into one inch balls. Roll in coconut. Serve immediately.

(This was adapted from a regional Seventh-Day Adventist cookbook.)

Animals in the news

As if having the Olympics in a country with a proven track record of human rights violations and where censorship is the norm wasn't bad enough: Thousands of cats massacred in Beijing in preparation for the Olympics.

The upcoming slaughter of 400 kangaroos on an abandoned naval base in Australia has animal rights activists and aboriginal elders coming together in protest.

The EU will decide this month whether to impose a ban on importing Canadian seal products. This comes after a December report from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which concluded that seal slaughterers don't always adhere to regulations and that the seals do indeed suffer pain and distress during the annual ''cull''. The EFSA also stated that the hunt should be open to independent monitoring and inspections without interference.