Tag Archives: environment

Endangered Human in Jasper

If you are in or near Jasper, Alberta  anytime between February 29 and March 7, please check out Marie LeBlanc’s Endangered Human presentation at  Jasper Community Habitat for the Arts. I have seen some of it, and it’s very powerful.

 

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Environmental Sensitivities (Chemical, Electrical, and Beyond) in Ecopsychology

Special Issue on Ecopsychology and Environmental Sensitivities:
Chemical, Electrical, and Beyond

The articles in the special edition of Ecopsychology are sometimes available for free (like right now), so  if you haven’t read them yet, this is a good opportunity to check them out!

This is a real gift from the publisher! The usual cost is about $50 per article!

Please read and share with others who aren’t familiar with what is going on!

http://online.liebertpub.com/toc/eco/9/2

The articles and authors are listed here:

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Published: “Invisible Barriers, Invisible Disabilities, Invisible People”

My article “Invisible Barriers, Invisible Disabilities, Invisible People”   is now available to read in the

Special Issue on Ecopsychology and Environmental Sensitivities:
Chemical, Electrical, and Beyond

All the articles in the entire special issue will be available for free until Sept. 5  2017, which is unprecedented access!

Please check them out and share as widely as possible!

 

Table of Contents:

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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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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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Understanding Environmental Health

Dr Stephen Genuis is someone who has an excellent understanding about  environmental and public health.

He  now has a new website and has also started an easy to understand  video series on environmental health, where he  discusses causes, effects, and what can be done to help the growing numbers of us who experience environmentally linked chronic health challenges.

By “those of us” I (and he) mean many more people than conventional medicine considers to be environmentally affected, and he gives excellent examples of this  in the videos (as well as in his research papers).

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When We HAVE to Wear A Mask to Breathe and Function

When breathing the air hurts…

When we have to filter and “purify” the air just to breathe…

What options do we have?

2016 MCS-ES Awareness Month Compilation

The Courageous Canaries of MCS/ES (and mask) Awareness Month 2016

Having an invisible disability is difficult, especially when many of the adverse effects are delayed and we have to deal with them in isolation.  Some people feel  self conscious about wearing a mask, especially if we can’t find a “pretty” one that we are able to use, despite how they can reduce adverse effects. If there’s any good that comes from wearing one (in addition to protecting our health a bit) wearing a mask when we have an invisible disability helps make us visible.

The type of mask we benefit most from will depend on our “sensitivities” and circumstances. Masks will filter the air we breathe in various degrees, but unless we have a full face respirator and wear a hazmat suit, our eyes and skin will still absorb chemicals that can have an adverse effect on our health and well-being. For this reason, they should not be thought of as complete protection from pollution, and are therefore best used only when absolutely necessary.

Information and resources about masks that filter out some of the different types of daily pollutants we are subjected to, and what kinds of filter materials are needed to purify what kinds of pollutants follows.

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Loneliness, Posttraumatic Growth, and Invisible Disabilities

Amelia Hill shared an eloquent post about enduring and working with loneliness (see below).  Amelia and I are both  housebound (and have been so for years), but she is currently confined to a much smaller space in her home than I am in mine.

loneliness - Amelia HillFrom Heal Amelia’s Life:

Loneliness. I’ve kinda learned to override the often relentless waves of loneliness one feels living an isolated existence like mine.I don’t deny the feelings of loneliness or push them down in an unhealthy way. But it’s more like a repetitive cycle of acknowledging it & letting it go, acknowledging it & letting it go. It’s how I survive.

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And The Winning Answer Is…

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:

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Sometimes They Listen, Sometimes They Don’t

(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