Natural Living Tips

Natural living has a very nice sound to it, especially now that more and more people are aware and even concerned about the environment.

But what exactly do we mean when we say “natural living”?

For most people the issue will revolve around recycling, use of renewable and clean energy, organic food production and consumption, as well lowering our carbon footprint.

It also relates to health. Health as in the individual, the family, a group, society, nature and the world at large.

A natural living choice should also include quality of life, and quality of life implies much more than the material side of things.

A lot of the information on natural living is based on recycling, energy, organic food and environment, and so it should. If we don’t solve these issues, the consequences will probably be catastrophic.

But sticking to the quality of life side of things, I suggest that a natural living choice should include more:

• the psychological aspects of the individual and the community,
• the family,
• the spiritual,
• the physical,
• the environment,

A slogan could be “healthy minds with healthy bodies”.

All life should strive for harmony and balance. A simple equation would be:

Body(Harmony+Balance)= Health

Simplistic perhaps, but with more than a germ of truth.

The US constitution states: “The pursuit of happiness”. It doesn’t guarantee happiness, but the freedom to pursue it.

So, my definition of Natural Living is.

“Pursuing a positive and satisfying existence, in a style that respects and seeks to achieve harmony and balance with nature, ourselves, and the future”.

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Every so often I hear about another set of scientists that study the methane and global warming impact that cows make.

It is a serous subject, but then again it makes you wonder.

Passing wind, or as most people would say, burping and farting, release enormous amounts of gas, methane to be precise.

One of the qualities of methane is that it retains more heat than CO2, and there lies the impact on global warming.

Argentina has over 50 million head of cattle in the Pampas, New Zealand has great amount of sheep and I would guess just about every country in the world is a contributor to this form of global warming.

Scientists have created interesting methods of collecting this gas to be able to study it. I suppose it is the amount and frequency of release. They are even working on a vaccine as well as alternative diets.

There are bound to be effects on farming and meat production and all due to the passing wind.

As I mentioned this to my youngest (at ten he has great insight in many subjects), he immediately suggested that cows shouldn’t eat beans.

From the mouths of babes.

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No, I am not referring to the bible, but a story in the newspaper warning that English honey will run out by Christmas.

In the US, 35 states have also been hit by dwindling bees. For some time bees have been in decline due to what has been called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCP). The suspect is a parasitic mite.

Israel (the land of milk and honey) has also been hard hit - with a 60% decline in honey production.

But the culprit is not only CCP, but a mix of phenomena. Viruses, pesticides, shortage of nectar caused by changes in farming practices and even stress.

And guess what else. Rain fall. Too much at the wrong time is affecting bees pollination.

Are we seeing more results of global warming?

Simple little things these insects. They cause phobias and their sting isn’t very nice. They have millions of other cousins, and though some are beautiful to look at, for most people they are usually ignored.

But, and this is a huge but (not butt!), they have an enormous impact on the environment. Not only honey, but pollination and they are perhaps the most important link in the food chain, as well as in cleaning up.

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I just read that the air temperature in the Arctic is at a record high.

According to the NOAA (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) autumn air temperatures in the region are at a record 9ºF above average.

Ice melting during the summer has been high and fits into a pattern that has been spotted since the sixties.

The report goes on to say that it is probable there will be even less ice next year. There is bound to be an impact on land and marine animals.

There are many guesstimates and projections on future effects but nobody really knows.

As I read this two things came to mind:

1. Climate changes, either global warming or cooling, have happened many times before. With countless effects, both good and bad from our point of view. They are cyclical in nature. But we weren’t around at the time, at least in the numbers we are today. (I say at least because early man was around in the last ice age).
2. Dinosaurs became extinct in a very short period of time and the theory is that some natural catastrophe created a major climate change.

Well, it looks as if we are in a hurry to provoke climate change - the worse part is that our hurry is fed through irresponsibility, selfishness and ignorance more than anything else.

From a geological and extremely long term point of view, things will regain their balance, though we really have no idea how out of balance things will get. We haven’t a clue what sort of world the next generations will inhabit.

The good news is that there is much more awareness of the environment than at any other time before, and this gives me hope we can reverse the damage we have caused, (although there is a risk that we may have reached the point of no return where natural forces start taking over under their own steam).

Can we learn from what happened to the dinosaurs?

At the end of the day that is a question that can only be answered by each individual.

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