Passing on this urgent call to action from Cathy Zoi:

Dear ken winston,

Join us, and send a message about how crucial it is to reduce harmful carbon dioxide pollution. That you expect the EPA to (more…)

by Ken Winston Caine

A company selling high-efficiency woodstoves in northern New Mexico is advertising that burning firewood is carbon-neutral.

In other words, they are suggesting that it’s a clean, green-energy form of heating.

True science used to mislead
In the radio commercial, they say that the carbon released when the wood is burned is equal to the carbon that would be released if the tree naturally decayed after it died. And that it is equal to the amount of carbon that the tree removed from the atmosphere during its life. That much is good science, I believe.

But does that make wood-burning “carbon neutral?”

I don’t think so. Here’s why:

Man burns up natural balance sheet
Most hardwood trees have lifespans measured in the hundreds of years. Some live thousands of years. And then, when they die (usually due to pestilence or disease or periods of extreme climate change) they decay very very slowly.

So, the amount of carbon a tree releases needs to be measured against the number of years of its life and decay. Per year, the tree emits very little carbon on that basis. When you burn the tree, on the other hand, you release all the carbon at once. And then what do you do? (more…)

Or watch the short video.

Dr. Mercola lays it on the line: A comprehensive study shows that flu shots don’t work. In fact, they can cause extreme harm. There’s a better way to protect yourself.

Watch the avoid-the-flu-shot video or read the transcript here: (more…)

by ken winston caine

Reliable, detailed monographs on medicinal herbs are available free, online, from the North Carolina Consortium on Natural Medicines.

They come in three flavors:

1. For health professionals.

2. For everyone else.

3. For growers.

You can access any of them.

They are limited to herbs that can be grown in North Carolina — so you won’t find an extensive list of medicinal herbs here. But the information you will find is very thorough and well vetted.

Find them here: (more…)

by ken winston caine

Want to lose 20 pounds in the next 30 days?

Make your diet boring. Boring and simple, says Tim Ferris, best-selling author of The Four-Hour Workweek.

That doesn’t mean no variety or tasteless meals, Ferris explains.

He provides four simple rules for losing weight quickly, while building muscle, and — exercise is NOT one of them. (Click the link below to see all four rules — and the exact diet he is using.)

The rules look nutritionally sound. And they are based on results from scientific studies.

Why make your diet boring? Because it’s easier to follow that way, he says.

“The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again,” he writes in a blog post at (more…)

by ken winston caine

Naturopath Leslie Taylor maintains an extraordinary database of known information about medicinal herbs on the rain-tree.com website. A nice feature: It includes the scientific (and other) citations.

Much of the information comes from Taylor’s book, The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs.

To look up an herb, go to: (more…)

by ken winston caine

USA Today reports that new parents are leading the fight against our widespread exposure to health-robbing, mutagenic toxins in plastics.

In one of the more comprehensive and serious examinations of the health threats from plastics and plastic food containers, USA Today reporters Elizabeth Weise and Liz Szabo, note in the copyright story, among other things:

• “Parents, activists and many scientists are concerned that if a baby drinks from a bottle made with [plastic chemicals] bisphenol A [BPA] or gums a toy made with phthalates, he or she could suffer serious, even permanent, harm.”

• “In December, the National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, concluded that one form of phthalate, called di(2-ethylhexyl), or DEHP, used in intravenous tubing, catheters and other plastic medical equipment, could pose a risk to the proper development of baby boys’ reproductive tracts.”

• “Nearly every American has been exposed. A 2000 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found

(more…)

by ken winston caine

I have just made the most remarkable 3,000-year-old discovery that instantly soothes aching, inflamed muscles and nerves and relieves pain and inflammation.

And can’t believe that it’s taken me all this time. I must have first read about this technique at least 30 years ago and “learned it” again in numerous herbal medicine courses over the years.

The forgotten, ancient medical miracle used thousands of years ago in India and China and in other folk-medicine traditions in more recent centuries?

The ginger compress.

Just a hot, moist pack of ginger placed over acutely inflamed muscles and nerves.

I’d never tried it, having lost faith in herbal compresses years ago when I found that most I experimented with seemed to have no discernible healing power beyond the effect of the moist heat. Not so with the ginger compress. It really works. REALLY works. Fast.

It costs pennies, takes seconds to make. You probably already have the makings on hand in your house if you raid the spice cabinet and improvise a bit. And it instantly draws away the swelling and pain… Even better, the effect is lasting.

I’ll tell you how I made it in a moment. (more…)

Let me share this urgent message I received today:

SPREAD THE WORD

Tell Congress to shift funding from chemical-based agriculture to more environmentally friendly organics!

“According to the subsidy data from the Environmental Working Group, one giant cotton farm collected $2.95 million through crop subsidies in 2005, nearly as much money as the federal government spent on its primary research program for organic agriculture last year — $3 million.”
– The New York Times, July 4, 2007
“The Debate Over Subsidizing Snacks”

Dear Supporter,

New York Times reporters aren’t the only ones poring over the information in EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database. The unfair funding distributions have everyone’s attention and EWG Action Fund’s Grow Organics Campaign (www.ewg.org/organics/petition) for organics funding is taking off. Thanks to your generous support, we surpassed our goal and raised a total of $45,000! These vital funds will help our staff meet with lawmakers to gain support for crucial changes in the Farm Bill.

But organics aren’t safe yet. In just a two short weeks the full House will vote on a new Farm Bill, which could be the first to include significant funding for organics. To make this happen, our Representatives need to hear from us! Add your voice to the Grow Organics petition today at www.ewg.org/organics/petition.

More than 17,000 of you have signed on to level the playing field for organic farmers with the petition so we’re more than halfway to our goal! Now is the time to (more…)