Monthly Archives: May 2017

Words Images Life Art Dance

While following the events at Standing Rock, I ran across something that impressed me that was shared from the “Dancing Earth” fb page,  and so I began following them  (please do check them out if you like powerful dance images).

At the end of April, just before MCS/ES Awareness Month was to begin, Dancing Earth posted the image below, and it made me stop in my tracks (as I scrolled through my fb newsfeed). I returned to it over and over again, and I finally asked for permission to share it here, and for the  back story about how it came to be.

This image!


Songs From The Extraction Zones
Rulan Tangen at Santa Fe Arts Institute

I kept hoping to find the words to describe why I find it to be such a powerful image, and why I feel such a personal connection to it, but I’ve been struggling from the effects of too much pollution on my brain. Pesticides, laundry products, and who knows what else have been taking their toll on my ability to string words together to do this the justice I feel it deserves, so this will not be as eloquent as I had hoped it would be, but I still want to share this with you, and maybe you will find some of your own words, or just sit with the feelings.

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MCS/ES 2017 Continued: The Canaries Are Still Waiting!

The canaries are still waiting!

“We issued a report (in 1985) that identified existing, publicly funded means of diagnosis, and accepted various methods of patient management, including avoidance of offending agents.

We did not feel that more research was needed before these and other measures were introduced to protect patients from being caused harm through inappropriate labelling or the denial of reasonable accommodation.”

Excerpted from this letter by Judge George M. Thomson, B.A., LL.B., LL.M., who chaired the extensive report by the Ad Hoc Committee on Environmental Hypersensitivity Disorders for the Province of Ontario in 1985:

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Endangered Human Art Project: Bringing Awareness to Chemical Sensitivity

WHO Says We Need Fresh Air?!

Guest Post from Marie LeBlanc

Bringing awareness to chemical sensitivity
Marie LeBlanc at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg. May 12th 2017.

I am an artist  in Winnipeg who lives with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and environmental illness caused by mold exposure. My art has been in relation to multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)/Environmental Illness (EI) and toxic environments.

“WHO says we need fresh air?!” is a series of quotes from sufferers of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Environmental Illness, Mold Exposure, Electrohypersensitivity Syndrome, Lyme Disease and other conditions related to Chronic/Complex Immunological Neurological Diseases.

The art installation was on display during the evening of Fri. May 12, on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)/Environmental Sensitivities Awareness Day,  outside the Centennial Concert Hall (with a few quotes displayed on the indoor screens), and is dedicated to my friend Eliana from Mexico.

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Dr Molot Urges Everyone to Support the Canaries

Please take a minute and eleven seconds  to watch this video from Dr.  John Molot where he talks about MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities) and how we (the people who developed MCS) have been stigmatized and that we really are canaries. He speaks about some of the other serious health problems the chemicals that disable us are causing in those who do not have MCS.
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An MCS Awareness Visualization

May 12th is International MCS Awareness Day, and May is MCS Awareness Month.  Many people who have MCS also have  MCAS – Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, where chemical and other exposures cause anaphylaxis.

Guest Post from Raven

My request for you to visualize:

I’d like to ask each of my friends to sit in a quiet space for just 15 minutes and close your eyes. Breathe and get calm and relaxed.

Now I want you to think of yourself only. Visualize yourself in your body. Once you see or feel you, I want you to see yourself  Continue reading

Profile Pictures for Awareness Month

These images are available on facebook. Feel free to download the appropriate one and use for Awareness Month, or at least for May 12th Awareness Day!

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MCS Mask Challenge for Family, Friends, and You!

Here’s an easy way for everyone to show some support!

And maybe, just maybe, wearing a mask for an hour or a day will spread some understanding of  why the people who fought for smoke free policies did that instead of expecting all non-smokers to just wear masks always and everywhere.

The Mask Challenge is brought to you by

Memes For Inconvenient Disabilities

Help us make May 2017 the last time that we ever hear or read the words:

“MCS? #NeverHeardOfIt!!”

#MaskChallenge! Do it! Grow #MCSAwareness!

Watch the video and read the transcript below:

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MCS/ES Awareness Month 2017

Here we go again!

MCS Awareness days, weeks, and months, along with government proclamations have been going on since at least 1998!

It has taken a lot of effort from a lot of people over a lot of years, and for some of us, it doesn’t seem to have made a great deal of difference in our daily lives.

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