Category Archives: Change

Petitions! Fragrance-free Health Care in the U.S. & Safe Housing in B.C.

Posted on March 6, 2019 | 4 comments

Two new petitions have been brought to my attention. Both of them are on change.org.
Please sign and share if you are able:

 

Make all health care facilities and services “fragrance free.”

https://www.change.org/p/us-department-of-health-and-human-services-make-all-health-care-facilities-and-services-fragrance-free

…”Please ask the secretary of HHS to provide leadership on addressing this issue and require all health care facilities and service providers to be scent free.”…

 

and

 

Stop the Human Rights Violations of Disabled British Columbians.

https://www.change.org/p/dear-bc-provincial-gov-t-and-vancouver-municipal-gov-t-leaders-stop-the-human-rights-violations-of-disabled-british-columbians

…”Health supporting housing is needed for low income British Columbians living with MCS. Currently there is no safe, affordable housing in BC for people with this chronic illness. In fact, the housing that is available is making people with MCS more ill by exposing them to off gassing building materials, strong chemicals used in building maintenance, laundry venting, cigarette smoke, and toxicant containing household and body products used by fellow renters.” …

Continue reading →

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Posted in Accessibility, Action, Change, Health Care, Housing, Human Rights

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And The Winning Answer Is…

Posted on January 7, 2016 | 15 comments

About a year ago I decided to give away an electronic item of some value that had belonged to my kids as they no longer wanted it and it had some chemical residues that prevented me from enjoying it (more too toxic tech issues). I posted it to a community giving group that is similar to Buy Nothing or Freecycle, where there are a lot of things given and received, for free (mostly clothing, toys, and small items).

 

community

As it was permitted to ask questions of respondents, I also decided to ask a question that people had to answer to be considered as a potential recipient.

Along with the description of the item, I posted:

*Please answer one of the following questions

1. Has anyone ever told you a product you use made them sick, and if so, how did you handle it?
or
2. If it hasn’t happened yet, how would you handle it if it did happen?

The responses included:

Continue reading →

15 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Change, Community, Environmental Health, Gifts, Health Promotion

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Can You Imagine A World Where…

Posted on May 7, 2015 | 8 comments

imagine a world

Can you imagine a world where it’s unacceptable to profit from polluting people and the environment we all depend on for life?

Someone imagined it was ok to pollute for profit, it wasn’t always happening or acceptable.

What if it’s possible to live good lives while looking after the planet and each other?

For things to change, we have to imagine something different first.

Then, if we can imagine it, we can work together to make it happen!

♥

which world do we want 2

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Posted in Action, Change, Environment, Environmental Health, Health, Healthy Environment, Imagination, Inspiration

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Have Your Say For May

Posted on March 15, 2015 | Leave a comment

What if you had the chance to say one thing about your life with MCS/ES, and how it would change your life if it was understood?

May is MCS/ES Awareness Month (yet again… maybe some year we won’t need it to be, but this year, we still do), and this year, I would like to share some of your stories and insights.

this one thing

If you could tell the world ONE thing about your life with MCS/ES (or any other invisible disability that has MCS/ES as a symptom), what would it be?

How has this one thing affected your life?

If this one thing were changed, how would your life be different?

You could think of it as a conversation with someone you love, someone who loves you (or even a kind stranger), someone who wants to understand, and who is willing to do something for you, and/or to change the way they do things, in order to include you in life, and to help you with what you need or want to accomplish in life (for example).

This is your time to tell them this one thing, and how this change will impact your life for the better.

♥

Here’s what I am asking for with your submissions: Continue reading →

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Posted in Accessibility, Action, Change, Disability, Environmental Health, Environmental Sensitivities, MCS/ES, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Support

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Sometimes They Listen, Sometimes They Don’t

Posted on February 8, 2015 | 11 comments

(This post is for us, not so much for those who’ve made it clear they can’t hear us)

There have been a lot of online arguments lately, where people just aren’t listening to each other. I know this phenomenon isn’t limited to what’s happening online either, especially when it comes to people choosing petroleum based fragrances (or other petrochemical products and materials) over family and friends, or worse, over the health of their children! (yes, it happens, and it’s happening far too often these days)

naninanipoopoo

(naninanipoopoo is something my kids used to say when they wanted me to know they weren’t going to listen to me)

Then, just like the fragrance industry is doing, by creating fragrances for absolutely everything, I too  was inspired to come up with a fragrance for that: Continue reading →

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Posted in Air Quality, Change, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Images, Public Health

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Day 256 In the Pursuit of Love (IIAW A “Sister’s” Journey)

Posted on September 12, 2014 | Leave a comment

Colleen and her friend Beth discuss statistics and friendship challenges and benefits in another revealing post for Invisible Illness week…
Just like Colleen waited for years to get officially diagnosed with MCS, so did I, and for mainly the same reasons.
I knew that the doctors at the time knew nothing about it (or they would have given me a clue as to what the early signs were years ago).
Eventually I came to realize that statistics ARE important (to decision makers), and if we don’t make the effort to get an official dx (I say effort, because many people go from uneducated doctor to uneducated doctor for years… see my post about good news for Ontario to understand what a major deal the announcement of training 2 doctors in environmental health is) then in the eyes of decision makers, we do not exist.
That means that services for us continue to not exist also…
But when we speak up, things change.
I love how Colleen is speaking up, and how her friends are too!

Life in the City with a Future

PERSON

Image17meshovelFor day 5 of Invisible Illness Awareness Week, my buddy Beth has agreed to give her perspective of what it is like having a friend disabled from MCS. In a Canadian study, in 2010, over 800,000 people were diagnosed with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) an 31% increase in 5 years. Those during the same time period with one or more of Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and MCS were 1,415,000 (a 25% increase). This study excluded children with MCS and focused mostly on people with MCS diagnosed by a doctor. I personally went undiagnosed for decades. I avoided the triggers of perfume as much as I could. I figured there was nothing a doctor could do for me anyway and why be just another statistic. I now understand how important it is for our governments to have accurate statistics. The more people who give MCS a voice — the more likely we…

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Posted in Change, Chemicals, Disability, Education, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Friendship, MCS/ES

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There’s Petrochemicals in What?

Posted on March 23, 2014 | 7 comments

We now breathe, drink, eat and wear petrochemicals every where, every moment, every day! There’s no getting away from them!

Where are they coming from?

“The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing petroleum products… Petroleum (oil) is also the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics.”

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry)

♦

So many of the things we use (and consume) are being made from petrochemicals.

eau de petrochemical pollutants

Check out these two charts:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Change, climate change, Environment, Environmental Health, Health, Pollution

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