Category Archives: Environment

Help Susy Find and Afford Safe, Accessible Housing to Prevent MAiD

Posted on February 14, 2023 | 2 comments

Long time MCS/ES community member Susy Mallin needs our support now.

She has managed to survive years of brutal conditions due to the severity of her MCS/ES, but all this has taken a big toll on her, and she is out of energy to keep struggling just to exist.

She needs medically safe, low toxicity housing on the Sunshine Coast area of BC where her family lives, housing that is affordable on a senior’s fixed income, a home where she isn’t exposed to chemicals, fragrances, smoke, pesticides, and other pollutants all the time. For these reasons, she can’t live in any multi-unit buildings.

You might see the issue with this need.

Housing is unaffordable for so many now, especially for people with medical needs for “healthy” housing, made with inert, low VOC materials.

People with MCS/ES don’t have a social safety net, our ability to live really does depend on community support, on you.

Please donate generously so that Susy can spend her remaining years in some relative peace.

Please be on the lookout for housing that could be suitable for her.

In a world that has otherwise made it abundantly clear that she, and others with more severe MCS/ES, aren’t really welcome, and who don’t care how much preventable suffering is imposed and endured, let’s show Susy that humans care enough to make it possible for her to exist, to be able to live out her natural life in dignity, and hopefully even be able to return to sharing her art with us.

♥
Read more, and donate here:

↓

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-susys-life

♥

Banner of 5 images of jewellery that Susy was previously able to create, including hearts, pendants, and initials, all hand-made of silver

Silver jewellery made by Susy when making jewellery was still possible.

Please share widely.
Thank you for anything you can contribute.

An UPDATE on Susy’s situation (March 11th, 2023)
Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Disability, Environment, Environmental Health, Generosity, Housing, Human Rights, Indoor Air Quality, MAID, Medically Required Housing, Real Estate

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Two Tales: Temporary Quarantine or Long-term Segregation

Posted on March 14, 2020 | 28 comments

 

There have been several articles in the news lately about the experiences of people who have been forced to endure quarantine or social isolation due to the coronavirus.

Many other people are worried about having to stay at home for a couple of weeks, without access to their regular activities, because they have never had to think about what it’s like, but some of us (indeed millions around the world) have been forced  to stay confined and isolated, sometimes for most of our lives! Our stories are seldom told, and when they are told, they’re often dismissed as anomalies and quickly forgotten.

 

When I saw the following articles, I felt the need to add a different perspective.

Continue reading →

28 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Environment, Environmental Health, Health Care, Policy, Public Health

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The Fragrance Free Revolution

Posted on February 13, 2020 | 4 comments

Are you on facebook?

If so, please check out and follow the

Fragrance Free Revolution

They share  memes with accompanying information for people with chemical, fragrance, and environmental ‘sensitivities’.

This is one of my absolute favourites!

Image description:

A fair skinned woman is growing out of a terra cotta flower pot. She wears something white and sleeveless. She has long wavy hair that is surrounded by several pink flowers of varying sizes. Her head is tilted to one side and that arm is holding up one of the flowers between her ear and her forehead.

Image text:

If you were meant to smell of fragrance you would’ve been a plant.

Be fragrance free, it’s what nature intended.

#No Fragrances #No Essential Oils  SOS #Back to Basics

 

Direct link to this specific fb post:
https://www.facebook.com/fragrancefreerevolution/photos/a.107251783966059/192533602104543/

 

 

4 Comments

Posted in Air Quality, Environment, Fragrance, Health Promotion, Nature

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Video Discussions about Environmental Illnesses, “Sensitivities”, and Disability

Posted on August 22, 2019 | 4 comments

It’s not often that we hear people discussing chemical and environmental “sensitivities” and other environmentally linked chronic health problems and disabling  conditions, or how they relate in the bigger picture.

Two such discussions have taken place in August of 2019, and you can watch the videos below.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Community, Disability, Environment, Environmental Health, Human Rights, Pollution, Products

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MCS/ES: Societal Neglect = No More Fun and Games for Life on the Planet

Posted on May 6, 2019 | 5 comments

 

Please take a moment to feel your heart beating.
Not everyone can do this anymore.

While some progress has been made, it’s still too little,
too late for far too many people.

This will not change until more people who have MCS/ES come forward with their stories, and more  healthy people start advocating and helping us in daily life, as well as pushing governments and medical institutions to pull their heads out of the sand (and industry pockets) and get into (at least) the 20th century as far as the very serious environmental and related health issues are concerned.

 

“Business as usual is a disaster”
Robert Watson

 

“Unfortunately, many physicians, employers, family, and friends
are in effect assisting in suicide through their disbelief.”
(and neglect)

“The Consequences of Disbelief”

…

“Twelve years as an advocate for the chemically sensitive has led me to the sad realization that a large number of chemically sensitive people have taken their own lives and many others are inching ever closer to that decision because they find it such a daunting task to locate a safe place to live or work and are rapidly running out of money. And at the same time that they are engaged in this herculean struggle, far too many of them are facing a discouraging skepticism from those about them.”

 

From
“Amputated Lives: Coping with Chemical Sensitivity”
 2008
By Alison Johnson
With a Foreword by L. Christine Oliver, M.D., Harvard Medical School

 

Links to several chapters of the book, where stories about people’s lives are featured are available here:

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Chemicals, Community, Disability, Ecocide, Environment, Environmental Health, Human Rights, Mental Health, Policy

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Gain – Sinking Your Disabled Boat

Posted on April 29, 2019 | 6 comments

Have you seen the new  “the more the better” Gain detergent ad?

When the delivery woman tries her best not to puke from the Gain fumes,
the Gain user shrugs and the voice-over says:

“Hey, you can’t float everyone’s boat. Love it or hate it, it’s intense.”

!!!

In other words, Gain implies they’re fine with sinking us

(More on what we all think about that later)

The ad starts off with a scene that already promotes an IAQ nightmare:

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, Disability, Environment, Environmental Health, Fragrance, Human Rights, Laundry, Pollution, Products

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Product Safety Gaps are Actually Canyons

Posted on February 18, 2019 | 8 comments

Many people believe that for a product to be sold, it has to first be proven safe.
Unfortunately this is far from the truth.

I ran across a great in depth article in Fast Company about product safety,
and how:

“There are no laws in place to ensure a company’s
product development process results in safe products,

because product safety is entirely voluntary.”

…

and to echo what I’ve been saying:

“Today, public outcry is doing much of the work
that government agencies cannot.”

…

More snippets from the very informative and long article follow:

Continue reading →

8 Comments

Posted in Environment, Environmental Health, Health, Healthy Environment, Policy, Products, Public Health

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tis the season

Posted on December 23, 2017 | 3 comments

Wishing you all some Happiness during the  Holidays!

May all beings have clean air, clean water, healthy organic food, and safe and healthy shelter! All that and love, lots and lots of love!

♥

3 Comments

Posted in Air Quality, Environment, Environmental Health, Friendship, Gifts, Products

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Statement From ARCH and CELA re MCS, ES, and the Ontario Task Force on Environmental Health

Posted on December 1, 2017 | 10 comments

The ARCH Disability Law Centre and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) announced in September of 2016 that they were working on a report about the challenges faced by people with multiple chemical and/or environmental sensitivities.

ARCH Alert September 2016

“ARCH, in collaboration with the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), has been working on a report about the challenges faced by people with multiple chemical and/or environmental sensitivities.  Our report was informed by consultations with persons who experience these disabilities. 

One of our major findings is the significant extent of attitudinal barriers faced by this group of people.  Often, they find that they are not believed when they ask that scents, fragrances or other products not be worn in the workplace, educational settings, health care settings or places where services are received.  We believe that a large awareness campaign is needed to educate the public about the impact of these disabilities on all aspects of a person’s life.”

 

The release of their report has been delayed because they want to respond to the Ontario Task Force on Environmental Health’s Interim Report, which came out just when their own report was intended for release.

In the November 2017 issue of Arch Alert, both ARCH and CELA  urge the Task Force to do more consultations with those of us who are living the experience:

Continue reading →

10 Comments

Posted in Accessibility, Environment, Environmental Health, Human Rights, Policy

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Words Images Life Art Dance

Posted on May 26, 2017 | 5 comments

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.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Community, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Sensitivities, Imagination, Pollution

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