Here is a cool computer to help you figure out your actual carbon footprint and also help you eliminate it by donating to carbon reducing technologies: basic calculator

What most people seem to overlook is that methane gas is 20x’s more greenhouse causing then carbon. So our food choices become just as important to how many miles we carpool or if we drive a hybrid. Driving a hybrid is better then a gas guzzler but it sure does not make you green! Ride a bicycle you bought second-hand if you really want to step it up.

To truly make a difference stop eating meat. Eating more like a vegetarian (or being one) is better for you, better for the environment, and ridiculously better for the animals. This is from the United Nations,

…the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation.

From the University of Michigan site:

Each year we add 350-500 million tons of methane to the air by raising livestock, coal mining, drilling for oil and natural gas, rice cultivation, and garbage sitting in landfills. It stays in the atmosphere for only 10 years, but traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Livestock such as cows, sheep, goats, camels, buffaloes, and termites release methane as well. Bacteria in the gut of the animal break down food and convert some of it to methane. When these animals belch, methane is released. In one day, a cow can emit ½ pound of methane into the air. Imagine 1.3 billion cattle each burping methane several times per minute!

This is an interesting article on non-methane kangaroo farts and the far-fetched idea that cows can switch to this type of bacteria so we can still raise them. Why do we take the hard road when we can just modify our lifestyle? I’m sure William of Occam would say, “Just put down the burger and eat more veggies.” And I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt if we all used some Beano once in awhile!

The picture above is a scanned image from Paul Pitchford’s “Healing With Whole Foods”- the best tome on nutrition. I left some text to read so you get his point.

The organs in the body are building from a low point energetically until they peak for 2 or so hours half way through the day and then discharge back to their low - completing a 24-hour journey. This is important because the timing is staggered allowing each organ to complete it’s peak 2 hours after the next. The Chinese clock represents 12 organs in the pie chart, a very spiritual number having to do with control and ruling. Using this chart you can get a glimpse at a deficiency or problem in the organ if you notice something recurring at a similar time each day. Do you wake up every night at 3:30am? Your body might be telling you something is wrong with your lungs. Being aware of the emotional counterpart to each organ, tells us even more about what’s happening inside of us. If you suffered recent grief or are generally drowning in sorrow, this tells you even more about the health of your lungs. From Squidoo Health,

“The seven emotions are thought to correlate with the five Yin organs: joy with heart, anger with the liver, sadness and grief with the lungs, pensiveness and over thinking with the spleen, and fear or fright with the kidneys.”

I like to include the stomach to worry and the gall bladder to bitterness to complete the thorax as a structural whole; the liver, gallbladder, stomach and spleen are all connected to each other and the diaphragm- the arch support for the pericardium, heart and lungs. This is a more complete chart on the organs and emotions by Dr. Bruce and Joan Dewe.

This is from a western study adhering to stringent scientific methodologies on PubMed by Wang et al, 2006:

“Circadian rhythms are about-daily variations of physiological functions that are found in every living organism on earth ranging from bacteria to mammals. These daily rhythms are generated through the integration of the oscillatory expression of multiple circadian clock genes. In mammals, circadian rhythms are regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. Neurons in the SCN generate self-sustained daily oscillations of gene expression and electrical activity with a period close to 24 hours. The SCN keeps the circadian rhythms of different peripheral organs synchronized to each other as well as to the environmental light-dark cycle. Although every mammalian cell is believed to express circadian clock genes, cells outside the SCN cannot maintain self-sustained circadian oscillation in the absence of the SCN.”

And more simply put:

“Every physiological function in the human body exhibits some form of circadian rhythmicity. Under pathological conditions, however, circadian rhythmicity may be disrupted.”

The body is designed to help us help ourselves by communicating with us when something is amiss. Due to our disassociated lifestyles it’s hard for us to hear these whispers. I hope these Western and Eastern views can integrate and help us understand more about what is going on inside before irrevocable damage is done. For more information, see your local acupuncturist or contact Heather Trujillo, L.Ac at acupuncture@centerforsw.com.