Do you understand what this teacher meant? Are you on the road to full filing your destiny? Or, has the road become dark and your path uncertain? Have you reached what seems to be an ‘impassable juncture’? If you feel yourself at this juncture…this is where you dig into your heart; you call on ’something for which there seems to be no proof’.

“Nobody else knows your reason for being. You do. Your bliss guides you to it. When you follow your bliss, when you follow your path to joy, your conversation is of joy, your feelings are of joy — you’re right on the path of that which you intended when you came forth into this physical body.”

- Abraham - Hicks

I like what Abraham says: it’s encouraging. However, if you are really in a crunch…like reached the bottom of the pit or that impassable juncture, it would seem difficult to just jump up and feel that inner light. If we could all reach it so easily…well, we and the world would definitely be very different.

Reason For Being

How do we reach this ‘inner light’ that ‘light you and I brought with us into this body at the very beginning’. Do we need to step back in time? No, you don’t have to step back in time to find away out of what seems to be an ‘impassable juncture’! What you must do is take responsibility for your well being. There is ‘no quick fix’! I’ll say this again: there is no quick fix! If you believe the pharmaceutical industry will develop a pill to insure your well being; you’re delusional!

A Walk In The Woods

While reading this, click on the video to the right. Take yourself into a quiet place. Ideally a place where there is no electricity. Surrounding oneself with running water, trees, nature sounds. Get out of the static…the cities are full of static and crazy makers: television is the number one culprit. I’m so grateful television was not around when I grew up. Entertainment was an outside event!

A walk in the woods is free and easy.  One step after the other will lead to waking up the heart and freeing your inner light. Find or create some ‘quiet’. Having a place where your mind can be still is crucial. When your environment is quiet, your mind can take a breath and empty out all the static buildup. Take long deep breaths; hear the birds twittering in the trees; water; rustling trees. Did you know it takes a tree 24 hours to take a breath! Imagine! Take some slow and deep easy breaths. Sit, close your eyes.

Do this on a daily basis you will feel joy and peace enter into your being. No doubt. I’m proof positive. I feel Joy and Peace everyday. Humans can not do without nature. There is no substitute. Nothing is more positive. Nothing brings more joy. Nothing brings more peace. See it. Believe it.

As you continue to do this: inner light, peace and joy will fill your heart and illuminate the path you have been seeking.

Recently, I sent an email to a long lost friend whom I wished to reconnect. I asked if she would like to spend a few hours and attend the Science and History museum with me one day this summer. She wrote back and explained that she did not have time to cultivate a friendship with me. She said she was sorry for being so harsh;  wished me well and hoped great things happened to me. I wrote her back and told her not to feel sorry, that I was comfortable in my skin and that I would never think her harsh. I told her great things happen everyday.

Later, when looking for a new book to begin, my hand stopped at ‘The Power of a Woman’;Timeless Thoughts On A Woman’s Inner Strengths, Edited by Janet Mills. Today I need some words to reflect my inner thoughts and feelings about love and peace; and the greatness that envelops me each day, I need someone else’s words to express my thoughts about ‘the power of love’. So, it is very fortuitous that my hand came to rest on this particular book today. Below are excerpts from the book.

“Within the smallest grain of sand there is love, joy, history, romance and hope…eternal life, in changing form…It is Love in all of its manifestations, holding form together, bonding our souls to this earth and to one another.”

“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.”

- Mother Teresa

“I seldom think of my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.”

- Helen Keller

I think of my long lost friend with the same ‘touch of yearning at times; it too is vague; ‘like a breeze among flowers’.

Peace

Save me! Every time I  take a bite of anything these days, I wonder about the resources that went into it.

I normally don’t eat beef. I did recently. A burger and fries at Ted’s Grill. Did you know Ted Turner owns Ted’s Grill? Did you know Ted Turner owns 80% of all the Bison? As we walk into Ted’s Grill, I notice a huge Bison head mounted on the wall. It looked like a giant. There must have been 10 feet from one tip of it’s horns to the other. Impressive! It was huge! Needless to say, I set with my back to that wall and didn’t order bison from the menu…remembering the glass glare from the bison held on the wall.

When Ted Turner was asked what is it that you like about bison?

“I just, I really love them. I’m a naturalist and an environmentalist, and I was touched by the tragedy that occurred with the bison. There were 30 million of ’em on the Great Plains when the white man landed in North America. In the 1880s, there were only about 200 of ’em. I wanted to do everything I could during my life to bring them back. In order to do that you have to be able to monetize the surplus.”

What I didn’t know

about Ted Turner was that he is a huge experimentalist! In 1997 Ted Turner and his family established the Turner Endangered Species Fund as a response to the mass extinction of the world’s plants and animals. Thanks Ted.

Anyway, when the server brought my plate, I commented that the food on the plate could feed three people; and asked for a take-home-box at the beginning of my meal. I cut my burger in half and put half the burger and 3/4 of my fries in the box.

As I take my first bite

into the grilled steer; I try not to think about it bounding through a field…however, most steers don’t get that luxury. Does it really matter? Yum. Juicy and hot, dripping down our chin. Though I didn’t let juice drip down my chin, the flavor was delicious. And I think to myself, how can I eat this, knowing what I know?

Why am I thinking such thoughts? What resources are spent to produce food?  How  much food do I need? What nutrients do I require? What’ the most efficient and effective way to capture these nutrients? How do I organize my diet? Who do we rely on to safe guard our food? Why do we need to safeguard our food?

Educators should design a food curriculum

for every grade; from one through 12. Tours of local agricultural industry infrastructure should be made mandatory; including ‘field trips’ for all students. Students should follow the livestock and poultry industry from beginning to end; from where they live, what they eat and how they are slaughtered. This relevant education would prepare us to integrate this knowledge into our daily lives. We need to develop respect for what lives are affected by what we eat.

Too Many Miles

We’ve put too many miles between where our food comes from and our mouths! It’s five minutes from the freezer to our mouths. The study of ‘agriculture’ and its impact to our well being should be mandatory from the moment we take our first bite.

Bon Apatete!

About 25 years back her brother got her a little brown puppy to keep away thieves. The entry of the little puppy brought so much joy into their lives. They named him ”Jackey”.

Jackey Had Great Responsibility

Jackey was a puppy with a lot of responsibility. Every morning he used to follow Suman’s children to school; escort them to the gate and also escort them back from school. The children say he used to come and wait near the school gate at 6pm and time to go back home. They wonder how he knew the correct time; Jackey never came by the school at odd hours.

This was his regular duty inspite of being troubled by the stray dogs in that locality. Jackey also knew the time Suman left from the bricklin, he call on  her too. Everybody there including Suman’s master used to say ”Your joker has come to call on you.” After his dinner he used to go and wait for the arrival of Suman’s brother.

Home Cooking Feeds The Soul

He used to eat one big brown home-cooked bread with a bowl of milk and on days when Suman could not afford milk she used to give him water with sugar; he never complained. She says he ate only once during the day and if you try to feed him more, he would not eat.

Next he comes by around 6.30 for his fill and he needs to eat hot food always. As soon as he listens to the ice cream man ringing the bells he’ll pull Suman towards the van to eat ice-cream his favourite treat. Everytime he got hungry he use to open his mouth indicating that he was hungry.

Laughter: The Best Medicine

At the end of the day Suman and her kids used to sit down to watch movies; Jackey was right there watching movies with them sitting on Suman ’s lap. When they laugh he laughs with them and doesn’t miss a single scene. He also had an adventurous streak in him; once on his usual rounds to the playground he tried jumping into the bonfire of dried twig and branches. While his fur burnt a little he ran back home to Suman’s youngest son who nursed him well and took care of him.

Neighbor Trouble

He also used to trouble Suman’s neighbors by defecating near their houses and everytime they come to argue with Suman, she would ask pardon and say he’s an animal how does he know what is supposed to be done.

Far, Far Away

One day out of anger Suman’s brother left him far off and returned home without Jackey. When Suman’s son came back home he realized what had happened. He went off in search of Jackey with his four friends. they reached the spot and asked people close by if they had seen a dog. They said he was there for a longtime but as he couldn’t bear the heat he started walking ahead and disappeared. As soon as Suman’s son blew a whistle Jackey ran towards his little master. On his way back home he ate two ice creams. As soon as he reached home he sniffed everything there and then had a good dinner and went off to sleep.

Jackey grew up with them and one fine day it was time for Suman’s eldest daughter to get married. Suman bought wheat and paid money to one of her kind neighbours who took the responsibilty to feed Jackey in their absence. The place for the wedding was far off. However, Jackey never used to go for food to the neighbour and became thin and weary. He howled and cried for his family in front of the house.

After they were back from the wedding Jackey used to search for Suman’s daughter who went off to her new home.

Disappearance

Suman’s neighbour was working as a watchman in another area, once he was talking to Jackey and took him along. Suman says she doesnt know what he fed him or what happened to him but he never returned back. Maybe he was caught by the dog catcher or he is dead..no one knows. Every single time she talks about him she has to say is he was a very dear pet, a part of the family.

“My face up against the glass. I’m looking out. Is this my life I’m wondering. It happened so fast. How do I turn this thing around. Is this the bed I chose to make. Its greener pastures I’m thinking about. Wide open spaces far away. All I want is the wind in my hair to face the fear but, not feel scared. Wild horses I wanna be like you. Throwing caution to the wind. I’ll run free too. Wish I could recklessly love, like I’m longing to. I want to run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!

I see the girl I wanna be. Riding bare back, care free along the shore If only that someone was me. Jumping head first head long without a thought. To act and damn the consequence. How I wish it could be that easy. But fear surrounds me like a fence. I wanna break free. All I want is the wind in my hair. To face the fear but, not feel scared.

Wild horses I wanna be like you. Throwing caution to the wind, I’ll run free too. Wish I could recklessly love, like I’m longing to. I wanna run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!

I wanna run too. Breathlessly abandoning my self before you. I wanna open up my heart tell him how I feel. Wild horses I wanna be like you
Throwing caution to the wind. I’ll run free too. Wish I could recklessly love, like I’m longing to. I wanna run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!

I wanna run with the wild horses.”

- Natasha Bedingfield Lyrics

There is an ineffable hunger in each of us that food just doesn’t reach. Yet we keep stuffing ourselves: we live in a nation of obesity; 32% of United States children are overweight; 60% of the Australia population is overweight; making the Aussies the number one obese country and the U.S. a close second.

Starving for Purpose

Why do we eat and eat and never seem to fill our hunger? My answer may be a bit hard to swallow. I believe the human species, with our ability to think, has an inexplicable purpose. How can the unexplainable be explained? How can the indescribable be described? What does purpose have to do with starving?

Wolves On The Run

I believe we are ‘Starving for Purpose’; looking for any and all morsels of food to fill this emptiness. The answer to this ‘ineffable hunger’, came to me in the early morning hours. I lay unable to sleep; images of wolves running through the tundra of Alaska to escape aerial hunters kept filling my mind. How can I stop the images? The cruelty?How can a woman, the Governor of Alaska, condemn these angel beasts to die?

Then my mind is filled with images of wild horses being killed and slaughtered to make room for more beef cattle; the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) believes this is necessary; as if we need more burgers!

What Kind of Stewardship

are these people practicing? Then it came to me; what this ‘inexplicable purpose’ might be. Have you guessed yet? Or, are you satisfied to keep chomping on that whopper? If not, try and swallow this:

Until each human being accepts our number one purpose in life as a ’steward to the planet and all its inhabitants’ we will never be able to satisfy our hunger!

Ok, so you think Sara Palin is performing a great job as a steward to the planet. She’s done her research about the wolves and caribou and believes that having hunters kill wolves from a plane and chop off their front legs to receive a bounty for performing the job is good stewardship.

Lazy and Inhumane

This practice is NOT GOOD STEWARDSHIP! It’s a lazy and inhumane way of dealing with what the governor and hunters believe to be the answer to wolves killing too many caribou. I believe there is a more humane and sensible answer to what Mrs.Palin perceives as a problem. If it truly is a problem. As a steward to the planet, I need to present an alternative perspective. I must to do something or I’ll never find a way to satisfy my hunger and sleep soundly.

Stepping Up To The Plate

Firstly, I’ll send my contribution, small as it may be, to the Defenders of Wildlife. Then I’ll get in touch with them and find out what they are doing and what else I can do.

You get the point, don’t you? If you are religious or spiritual, you might say this is your ‘divine purpose‘. If you are neither; then it can be an ultimate driving force, a challenge!

Undeniable Interconnectedness

Everyone deserve to live life fully. Where to begin? There are people who can help you meet the challenge of being the best possible steward to the planet you can be: to live with passion and fulfillment. No one life is more deserving than another…our interconnectedness is undeniable!

Coming From The Heart

When we know when to shift our focus; we are living consciously. Expression is an intricate process; thoughtful and intentional. Coming from the heart on a daily basis is a challenging and sometimes a fearful encounter. Living your purpose means coming from the heart every minute of every day.

Bon appetete!

Much of our foundation for health as a nation lies with the food we consume.

It does not take a rocket scientist to see the connection between the cancer that is so prevalent in our society and the food we eat.

With this said, I urge the new Economic team to look at creating jobs within the rendering plant industry. Then create jobs that monitor jobs within rendering plants. Rendering plants manufacture protein and nutrients (food enhancers) fed to our livestock and poultry.

What are ‘food enhancers’ made from? They start with ‘raw products’: thousands of dead dogs and cats; heads and hooves from cattle, sheep, pigs and horses; whole skunks; rats and raccoons –all waiting to be processed.

“Every day, hundreds of rendering plants across the United States truck millions of tons of this “food enhancer” to poultry ranches, cattle feed-lots, dairy and hog farms, fish-feed plants and pet-food manufacturers where it is mixed with other ingredients to feed the billions of animals that meat-eating humans, in turn, will eat.”

There is research that has proven that these ‘food enhancers’ are tainted. The American Journal of Veterinary Research explains, this recycled meat and bone meal from rendering plants is used as “a source of protein and other nutrients in the diets of poultry and swine and in pet foods, with lesser amounts used in the feed of cattle and sheep. Animal fat is also used in animal feeds as an energy source.

• It is crucial that the products from this industry be regulated more closely.
• Those who hold jobs in this industry must be scrutinized more closely.
• The pay scale for these jobs must match the integrity needed for these positions.
• Disgruntled employees must not be working with food that is destined for our dinner tables.

My sincere belief is that if we as a nation clean up our food:

• we can cure much of the illnesses in our world.

We desperately need audacious leaders to carry out this crucial and sustainable CHANGE!

Thank you.

Responsibility to our Community

is my ‘civic duty’; your ‘civic duty’. It is each person’s responsibility to understand the social, economic, cultural and environmental issues which face their community; and be involved at some level to meet those responsibilities. Casting a vote, is one single act of this responsibility…however, it must not end there! Government creates a foundation for our communities; people build the rest.

My Mistake

was waiting to learn about those running for office in our community until election time. Now I’m scrambling to learn what candidates support my priorities; education at the top of the list.  I’m talking with my friends and educating myself …it’s a bit overwhelming.

Anna Lord

I’m putting my faith in Anna Lord for Colorado State Representative.  She is an individual who will work towards putting Education in it’s proper priority! Anna, I promise to participate on some level to make sure I do my share in this enormous responsibility to our community.

“Colorado’s children need a first class higher education system. For many years, Colorado’s higher education system has been strip-mined of resources, leading to higher tuition rates and decreased financial aid. I will support the investment in our higher education system not only to protect the future of our children, but also to ensure the future prosperity of our economy.”

Anna Lord - Democrat Candidate State Representative - District 21, Colorado Springs, CO 2008

Clear Direction

I like the direction Anna wants to take Colorado. Putting education at the forefront shows she understands the proper priority for our community and society as a whole.  All governments’ need to invest in the highest level of education for every individual. We need to shift our priorities; placing education at the top!

Everyone Deserves Fortune

Well, you get the point. Not allowing everyone access to the highest level of education, builds a population of unfortunate. No society should be built on the backs of the unfortunate! But then, you have to ask yourself; ‘what would our society look like if everyone had the highest level of education? What would our schools look like if every teacher came from the highest level of education?

Natick Community Organic Farm, South Natick, MA, is an interesting example of how a suburb is, with the help of philanthropy keeping its rural values and heritage alive in educating its children. The Natick Community Organic Farm is a non-profit, certified organic farm providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education for all ages, year-round. The Farm has been committed to offering programs to schools to enhance classroom learning for over 20 years. This historic Farm, in the midst of a suburban landscape, provides a unique opportunity for local school children to connect with the abundant knowledge needed for producing the food that fuels us. All of our programs allow students the opportunity to participate in and observe activities that are part of a working, productive farm. Our programs bring classroom subjects to life, connecting learning with the wide ecological community of which we are all a part. The Farm is an exciting laboratory for understanding and appreciating our interconnected world.

Shifting our Priorities

The schools’ in Natick, MA have made Natick Community Organic Farm part of the schools’ curriculum. Shifting our priorities and establishing similar schools throughout the country would bring education to it’s rightful place. It’s not a pipe dream! Natick Community Organic Farm is making it happen, and have been doing so for some 20 years!  We can shift our priorities by putting people into office who will champion these kinds’ of causes…and by taking our share of responsibility along the way.

Intensity of Focus

Another example: one need only look at the success of one man’s ‘intensity of focus’. He worked with governments, politicians, presidents, industry and movie stars. His ability to control the masses and shape America’s social, cultural, economical and environmental development over the last century is unprecedented: Edward L. Bernays influenced the masses of the world for a century! His psychology is used today as a model for controlling the masses.

Responsible Human

What would our society look like if we had criteria for being a responsible human to the planet? Education, of course, at the top of the list! How many jobs could be created if this were so?  What would our environment look like? How much greater would our understanding of the interconnectedness of the world be? It is time for the Industrial Revolution to put on their breaks; mass production has had its share. Mindless consumerism is bankrupting the planet! Selling the nation on war is not a healthy solution to any circumstance. We can no longer afford our obsession with the acquisition of wealth. We need more green industry and green jobs. There are those who have no problem with the direction (global warming and species extinction) we are headed; it’s a natural occurrence in their eyes.  My image of the future is somewhat different. I believe in preservation and the importance of biodiversity on this planet. Wealth must take on a new image. Our new obsession: Healing life…in all its forms.  Making Education our nations top priority will develop our consciousness about the interconnectedness of the world and will stop our ‘cutting off our noses, despite our face’.

Practice makes Perfect

We need only put the same intensity of focus to a much greater goal: Organizing and planning steps that promote a sustainable world. The process begins at each of our doors; no matter how large are small those doors might be. Practice makes perfect: with all the century or so practice the government, corporations and industry has had controlling the masses, with Edward Bernays at the helm; shifting our priority to education should be a snap! Doing so will take education to a whole new level…which of course is disparately needed! Doing so would create an “understanding and appreciating our interconnected world”.

Happy Educational Trails!

First Class all the Way

No industry or government should be built by coning its citizens. And yet, we let banks, industry and government squelch our ineffable spirit; succumb to their marketing and believe its entertainment; buy whatever they’re selling to feel good and to feel good about ourselves…and we are so full of ourself; we think we have choices.

It’s not a matter of turning a blind eye to truth; trying to do differently is like climbing Mount Everest! We don’t just put off our dreams, we don’t recognize them.

Who Deserves a Bail Out?

Industry and financial institutions wants the government to bail them. Why? Does it have anything to do with their poor choices? And what about the workers? They’re just trying to pay for their home, feed and send their kids to school…and have fun, fun, fun! The CEO wants same thing, only they want to go ‘First Class All The Way‘; like checking into a $14,000-a-night hotel; the Marie Antoinette for instance. Both choices seem a bit of a nightmare!

CBS News

On Sunday, October 12, 2008, in the last five minutes of a CBS News, Face the Nation broadcast, Bob Schieffer talked about Edward Bernays. I was shocked to see the story aired on prime time television.The coincidence amazed me; as I was writing about the same story for this post.

Womens’ Emancipation

It was March 1929. Women had just won the right to vote: Governors who died in office were succeeded by their wives in such states as Texas and Wyoming. More women were attending college and entering the workforce; women were making great head way in certain areas of society. However, socially women were not treated equally. For instance, it was taboo for women to smoke in public, if they smoked socially, they were considered to be harlots and loose. Women were permitted to smoke in their homes behind closed doors, but if caught in public, they were arrested. Legislation did not permit women to have this same freedom as their male counterpart.Puff the Magic Dragon

Cigarette tobacco in the mid-1920s was popular, the tobacco industry was thriving. However, the American Tobacco company realized a huge part of what could be their market was not being tapped. Women. They hired a infamous propaganda and public relations man by the name of Edward L. Bernays. The American Tobacco industry wanted Bernays to create a campaign that would entice more women to smoke and make it acceptable to the general population.

“It is impossible to fundamentally grasp the social, political, economic and cultural developments of the past 100 years without some understanding of Bernays and his professional heirs in the public relations industry. PR is a 20th century phenomenon, and Bernays–widely eulogized as the “father of public relations” at the time of his death in 1995–played a major role in defining the industry’s philosophy and methods.”

-Center for Media and Democracy, PR Watch.Org

Brill Sheds Light

Bernays consulted with Abraham Arden Brill, an American psychiatrist, with regard to women smoking. Brill advised that cigarettes should be thought of as ‘torches of freedom’, a theme which Bernays exploited.

Bernays went over the campaign plan with his secretary, Bertha Hunt. Miss Hunt released statements to the media stating that a group of women would be marching in New York City’s Easter Parade and lighting ‘torches of freedom’ to celebrate the emancipation of women.

New York City Easter Parade

So, on March 31, 1929, at New York City’s Easter Parade; the press, having been forewarned, were there in full force to capture the event…and when Bertha Hunt and her friends stepped into the parade, on Fifth Avenue, and lighted their ‘torches of freedom’, they created a sensation! The event caused a national stir and stories appeared in newspapers throughout the country. What the press did not know was that the American Tobacco Company had paid a hefty sum to Edward Bernays to accomplish this, and that Miss Hunt was his secretary! Though not entirely doing away with the taboo, Bernays’s efforts had a lasting effect on women smoking.

“What a Con it Was”!

“Today one fifth of all American women still smoke and have come full circle as in most places they can only smoke outdoors and the young of both sexes crowd the sidewalks of our big cities; the heartening thing of course is that smoking is not nearly as popular as it once was and most of us have figured it out. Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death, that the third of all cancer deaths are caused by smoking. But what a con it was, and what saps we were to buy it for so long.”

- Bob Schieffer, CBS News, Face the Nation

Keep on trekking. Travel some trails you haven’t trekked before…see where they take you.

Happy Trails!

Last week I attempted to do an update with regard to the Pet Food Recall and got side tracked: Pet Food Recall: Trail of Tears, which gives a heart wrenching account of the loss of my Golden Retriever, Annie Oakley. Today, I wanted to get an update on China’s baby milk poisoning and landed on ‘Police arrest underground gang ‘poisoning baby milk for profit’. The contamination has led to China’s worst food safety crisis.

This week, I’m taking a long look into centuries of food industry practices. Practices which began innocently enough, but, in many instances have developed into a dark and dangerous business; bringing disease and death to the planets inhabitants!

The Truth Will Sit You Free!

There are hundreds of reports and stories about the ongoing Pet Food Recall and its continued impact to our pets. What seems most important after reading these reports is to pass on what I’ve learned and to keep linking together with others who have similar concerns; doing so gives more credibility and a more effective means of convincing people to change what they and their furry friends eat!

The sense to be made of the Pet Food Recall and the ongoing tragedy is not something most people want to know. Knowing means you find a truth. What you do with the truth is what counts. My advise is to take a journey. Take time to take a deep look into the Pet Food Recall before you make any decision. For me, the journey has taken some horrific and outrageous trails.

Rocky and Dirty Trails

The food industry trail is rocky and sometimes dark and dirty.

From Rendering Plants to our dinner table! Ever thought about what a job looks like at a rendering plant or slaughterhouse facility? Probably not.

Rendering plants are like huge kitchens. What do they ‘cook up’? The stainless steel pot contains; dead animals, slaughterhouse wastes, supermarket rejects, pesticides via poisoned livestock, euthanasia drugs that were given to pets; some dead animals have flea collars containing organophosphate insecticide, fish oil laced with bootleg DDT, insecticide Dursban in the form of cattle insecticide patch, other chemicals leaked from antibiotics in livestock, heavy metals from pet ID tag and surgical pins and needles: all go into the ’stainless steel pot’. The mixture then goes into various products’ known as recycled meat, bone meal, and animal fat.

I knew there was a process, but didn’t know what it was called. Rendering plants have different specialties. Some product-label names are: meat meal, meat by-products, poultry meal, poultry by-products, fishmeal, fish oil, yellow grease, tallow, beef fat and chicken fat.

A 1991 USDA report states that approximately 7.9 billion pounds of meat, bone meal, blood meal, and feather meal was produced by rendering plants in 1983. Of that amount:

12 percent was used in beef cattle feed

34 percent was used in pet food

34 percent was used in poultry feed

20 percent was used in pig food

Scientific American cites a dramatic rise in the use of animal protein in commercial dairy feed since 1987.

If these truths don’t set you free, I can’t imagine what could. My previous post on ‘The Power and Politics Behind What We Eat’ offers an intricate account of the cause of much of the disease to the inhabitants of our planet. Unfortunately, there are no labels to identify the above ingredients that have gone into our livestock and poultry feed…and passed onto humans. With cancer as rampant as it is: one in four deaths is from cancer.

Given the rendering plant practice: approximately 7.9 billion pounds of meat, bone meal, blood meal, and feather meal produced by rendering plants goes into livestock and poultry feed and then we eat the livestock and poultry: might there be a possible connection to ‘what causes cancer’?

Change: How Difficult?

Extremely difficult! Don’t believe everything I say. Take time to read each of the links I’ve placed in this post. Each link tells a different story, but have a similar ending.

Even when answers are made clear…industry can justify anything. Reading and defining the fine print on labels takes time. Who has the time? Who wants to take the time? Isn’t that what we pay our tax dollars to do? We put our trust in the United States Government to safeguard its people! To take the time to monitor and inspect what is meant no nourish its people.

Warning from the Past and Present!

The Jungle (1906) is a novel by American author and socialist Upton Sinclair. It describes the life of a family of Lithuanian immigrants working in Chicago’s Union Stock Yards at the beginning of the 20th century.

Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin in September 1962. The book is widely credited with launching the environmentalism movement in the West.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001)is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry.

Chew on This is a book for younger readers by Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation) and Charles Wilson on the subject of fast food.

Amazing Discoveries reports, “Food borne illness is on the increase worldwide and in most cases animal products are implicated as the main source of infection.”

There are simple and direct answers

to what seem like a mountain of complicated and controversial catastrophic ingredients. Every company strives to cut costs and expenses in order to increase profit. GREED seeps in a sea of muck! This will become very clear if you are brave enough to follow the slippery trail.

Vote with your Dollars!

This is something you can do this very instant! Vote with your pocket book. Truly, this is the only language industry understands…that’s how we got ourselves into this tragic predicament; we bought into industries glossy color ads and their promise of miracle foods’. Read the labels. Ask questions.

Currently I’m feeding Pieper ‘Wellness’ dog food. I’m still reading and trying to understand their label and hoping there is nothing harmful. I want to believe what they say: “Live Well, Eat Well and Be Well!” Wellness is manufactured by Old Mother Hubbard. They say they would ‘love to hear from me’. I do have questions. What is their source of Chicken Meal? Old Mother Hubbard says they use ‘ethoxyquin-free protein sources’. What does that mean?

I’m buying more organic food for myself…and believe I will move in that direction for Pieper. The organic industry is a realistic approach to many of my concerns about the health of Pieper, myself and the environment.

MSNBC reports, “This year, retail sales of organic foods are expected to exceed $15 billion — with more than $32 billion projected by 2009. While the conventional food industry still dwarfs the organic sector with $550 billion in yearly sales, it is producing an unappetizing 2 to 3 percent annual growth rate, while the organic industry has savored several years of 17 to 20 percent growth.”

What does this growth say about ‘why’ people are buying more organic food? I have good idea, but will speak more about that next time.

Happy Trails!

Tags: -animals and environment holistic dog pet food