TEDxEastSalon - Bjarke Ingels - Hedonistic Sustainability

Hedonistic Sustainability - Bjark Ingels





Bjark Ingels is one of the most inspirational people on the face of the planet, guaranteed. He lives in one of the most inspiring countries in the world, and I have been constantly impressed with Danish citizens. If you are into these projects, and what is possible through design and architecture, combined with the idea of sustainability, check out his website . . .
http://www.big.dk/#projects

Thoughts From Within - Woody Harrelson

Woody Harelson

So, if you already don't love Woody Harrelson, I'm here to tell you that you should look him up. I really love to see those with affluent means using their influence to demonstrate a better way of living to the rest of us. Harrelson has been one of my favorite actors for a long time. He has the innate ability to seamlessly transform a fictional script into a tapestry of reality that is easily invested in. However, my personal love for the man was ignited when I randomly picked up his own documentary film, Go Farther, within which he goes on an epic journey on his bicycle. Trailed by a film crew and a fully equipped motor home housing a personal vegan chef, Woody traveled along the coast of California to different colleges, spreading awareness about sustainability, and the devastation of our nations forests. Amazing film. . . go check it out.

You can watch it free here . . .

http://www.alluc.to/documentaries/watch-go-further-2003-online/402137.html

Also, the man is an incredible poet, and has created a slew of poetry that touches the heart of the matter for citizens here in the states. We vote with our dollar. Every purchase we make is a vote for or against corporate control of our commons. Please make the right decisions. Check out one of his amazing poems. . .

http://youtu.be/Dj0GZQdCct8

All we can do is use our votes, our dollars, to vote out these malicious miscreant corporations. Do not give them your money. Do not give them your energy, and they will have nothing to feed off of. They would all crumble in a matter of days, if we all rise up and stop supporting them. They draw from our veins, like a vampire who has tricked his victim to allow the installation of an IV for a sustained blood supply. We can cut the cord. We have the power to fight the power. They are afraid of us. Otherwise, why would they make such an effort to permeate fear in us through the media. Lets send em running back to the caves they crawled out of tails between their legs. . .

Full-Body Burns

21 People set themselves on fire yesterday in Cleaveland in a successful attempt to break the world record for most people completely set on fire at once, or most participants in a "full-body burn." No, this wasn't a mass suicide attempt. They were all wearing protective gear that prevented any of them from getting seriously injured. I wouldn't say the demonstration set a good example, but it was for a good cause. Most of the proceeds went to the local food bank.

Here's the video

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/10/20/nr-lemon-cleveland-people-burning-record.cnn&hpt=hp_c3&from_homepage=yes

Tibetan Self-Immolations

This story did remind me of another under-publicized phenomena that has been going on for several years. Tibetan refugees living in India and Nepal, have been setting themselves on fire, burning themselves to death, in protest of the Chinese occupation and cultural genocide perpetrated in Tibet. 

This graphic display should not be taken lightly. This man, and more than 100 others have been voluntarily consumed by flames since the trend began. It is a horrifying phenomena that must be brought to an end. 

Although surely politically motivated, in hope that China will someday return Tibetan sovereignty to the Himalayan nation, which was invaded and taken over in 1949, this practice is extreme and my be contrary to traditional Tibetan beliefs. It seems minuscule when compared to the over 100,000 Tibetans that have been killed by the Chinese since the Occupation began in 1949. However, any desecration of human life is seen as a great loss from a Buddhist view. These human bodies have a great potential, because we can use them to benefit others, develop positive Karma, and eventually lead us to enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, the spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism has called for an immediate halt to the immolations. Karmapa said, "This is definitely not a practice of Buddhism. I strongly wish this would soon stop. The practice of Buddhist dharma is our greatest inheritance as Tibetans. This enjoins upon us to preserve the human existence. It is through this ... that we are able to achieve liberation.” Karmicly speaking It is said that taking ones own life is equivalent to the intentional murder of 1000 Buddhas. Although what the Chinese have done in Tibet is definitely wrong, and a crime against a culture that is valued throughout the world, suicide is unjustified in all cases.

Karmapa is seen here blessing one of his predecessor's (the 16 Karmapa) students, Lama Ole Nydahl. Lama Ole has taught Tibetan Buddhism to countless students during his nearly 45 years of teaching, and continues to travel around the entire world once a year making the dharma easily accessible to all those interested. Teachers like Lama Ole and the Karmapa help spread an awareness of traditional Buddhist values and teachings that can help lead beings toward the cessation of all suffering, or enlightenment. Self immolation, suicide, and actually all forms of negative actions stemming from the confusion of disturbing emotions, are just a part of the cyclic wheel of existence within dualistic reality, and they only create more negative karma that one will have to burn off through purification in future lifetimes.

Depicted hereis the Tibetan Wheel of Life. It shows the six realms. The lower realms include the hells, hungry ghost, and animal realms, while the upper realms show the gods, demi gods, and human realms. The wheel turns and turns as beings traverse endlessly from one life to the next according to their karma. The only way to escape this never ending cycle is by recognizing one's mind, which is most effectively accomplished within the human realm. 

While each human has this precious human birth, it is best that it is used accumulating merit and wisdom, practicing selfless compassion, and practicing the dharma so that eventual liberation and enlightenment can be reached. Negative actions, especially that of taking ones own life as in an immolation, should be avoided at all cost, because they create obscurations on the path to enlightenment.

Obesity Out-Weighs Hunger

Not that it is a worse problem, just a bigger one, literally. There are many more people on the planet today who are overweight, than there are people who are underweight.

Don't believe me? Check it out . . .

World Hunger
7,186,659,724	current total world population
896,920,322	undernourished people in the world right now
1,581,544,772	overweight people in the world right now
527,181,591	obese people in the world right now
18,590	people who died of hunger today
8,903,447	people who died of hunger this year
Economics
$ 289,276,200	money spent due to obesity related diseases in the USA today
$  71,480,264	spending on food purchased and then tossed by US households today
$ 3,323,688	spending on global food aid today
$ 21,609,215	amount that would allow to feed the hungry today
$ 114,913,634	spending on weight-loss programs and products in the USA today
$ 996,058	food aid budget spent on domesticprocessing and shipping today
$ 581,908	revenue for four large US agribusiness corporations derived from food aid programs today
$ 28,261,834	spending on pet food in Europe and USA today
Food
79,789	tons of food wasted in America today
16,624	tons of global food aid provided today
80%	percentage of harvested corn, grains, and soy beans fed to animals in Europe and North America
78%	percentage of malnourished children who live in countries with food surpluses
90%	percentage of hungriest nations on earth that are net exporters of food to rich nations (36 out of 40)

The funny part is, all or most of both of these groups, obese and starving, are malnourished. Along with the advent of industrialized farming, comes the inevitable consequence of nutrient poor crops. Then along comes nutrient poor animals, and of course malnourished people.

I mean seriously. The obesity problem is big, I get it, but how could we possibly let it get bigger than hunger? Well, to explain it simply, when you are not getting enough nutrients, your body keeps telling you you are hungry, and you continue to eat, even though you have had enough. Also, many of the food additives that exist today like MSG, Aspartame, and others actually turn off your body's natural alert system that tells it you are full, so you eat more.

It is each of our own responsibility to do what we can in our own spheres of influence to combat this imbalance in food distribution, and stop industrialized food production and distribution practices. When people are starving out there, it is up to each and every one of us to stop it. The fact that more people are overweight than starving should disgust you, yes, but it should also prove to you that there is hope. We know we have enough food to feed everyone. We just need to distribute it equally amongst people.

The least we can do is allow small farmers to operate without the same kinds of regulations as multinational corporations, so that at least those of us who are smart enough to know what real food looks and tastes like can have a chance at receiving proper nutrition. Buy only organic and locally grown produce, do not shop at corporations, and for your own sake, KILL YOUR TELEVISION.
Media is a grand manipulative tool that the large corporations use to control the masses. That's us. Good little sheep that just keep getting fatter and fatter, while there are starving people out there. Place the blame where it is due, Corporations are killing what is left of humanity people.

Monsanto, Dupont, and corporations like them have gone too far. They have created a vicious cycle of profit-driven food production, that leaves us as consumers starved for nutrients. First they sterilized the seeds, then the ground in which it grows, and now the sterilization reaches humans.

Eventually, we will be manufactured in test tubes, as genetically altered Corporate slaves, that are engineered from birth to be perfectly obedient little consumers. Stop the matrix from becoming a reality.

Buy Local, Eat Local, Live healthy . . . Kill Corporations

Corporations are Trying To Kill you With Fast Food

Not only was it bad enough that giant food corporations like McDonald's, Sysco, and Monsanto were contributing to the deaths of millions by way of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease . . . they are now on a rampage of adding new and dangerous chemicals to their products that can cause serious harm and even eventual death!

Please! Before you go out and eat another cheese burger, read the ingredients list. It is posted on the website, or easily googled. Now here is your homework assignment: Take any ingredients you don't recognize and research them. What you will discover will shock and dismay you. Let me get you started . . .

McDonald's Big Mac Ingredients List

Big Mac® sandwich: Beef Patty Big Mac® Bun Big Mac® Sauce Grill Seasoning Lettuce

Onions (dehydrated) Pickle Slices Processed Cheese Slice

Big Mac® Bun: Enriched wheat flour, water, high fructose corn syrup and/or glucose-fructose and/or sugar, yeast, vegetable oil (soybean and/or canola), salt, sesame seeds, calcium sulphate, calcium propionate, monoglycerides, enzymes, azodicarbonamide, AND MAY CONTAIN ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING IN VARYING PROPORTIONS: diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides, BHT, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, wheat starch, calcium peroxide, wheat gluten, sorbitol, dextrin, malted barley flour, ascorbic acid, citric acid, calcium stearate, calcium iodate, silicon dioxide. CONTAINS: WHEAT, BARLEY, SESAME SEEDS

Big Mac® Sauce: Soybean oil, relish [pickles, sugar, glucose-fructose, vinegar, glucose, salt, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate, spice extractives), prepared mustard [water, vinegar, mustard seed, salt, sugar, colour (caramel, turmeric), spices], water, frozen egg yolk, vinegar, onion powder, salt, mustard flour, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate, spices, garlic powder, hydrolyzed plant protein (corn, soy, wheat gluten), colour (paprika, caramel), calcium disodium EDTA. CONTAINS: MUSTARD, EGG, WHEAT, SOY

Pickle Slices: Cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, potassium sorbate, potassium aluminum sulphate, natural flavours (plant source), polysorbate 80, extractives of turmeric (colour).

Processed Cheese Slice: Cheese (Milk, modified milk ingredients, bacterial culture, salt, calcium chloride, microbial enzyme, lipase), modified milk ingredients, water, sodium citrate and/or sodium phosphate, salt, potassium sorbate, citric acid, soy lecithin, colour (annatto). CONTAINS: MILK, SOY

KEY: SLIGHTLY TOXIC, GENETICALLY MODIFIED, DANGEROUS, CARCINOGENIC (Cancer Causing)

This is just in a BigMac. I have also done this before with the Chicken Mcnuggets, which are just as alarming. I would advise strongly against ingesting any kind of fast food in general, but recently the chemicals allowed into fast food have gotten worse thanks to the Codex Alimentarius. If you have not heard of this, it is an international code of standards for food and other products. It tells large corporations what substances and at what concentrations are safe for consumers. However, the codex is informed directly by the United Nations and the WHO, both of which have strong ties to major multinational corporations. Just as the history repeats itself, what the corporations in the U.S. have done through the USDA and the FDA, the Codex Alimentarius allows the larger world wide corporations to do: Essentially govern and regulate themselves, by their own standards.

The largest and most profitable industry in the U.S. and on the world scale, unless you count WAR, is the production and sale of pharmaceutical grade drugs. Some of these drugs are safe for human consumption and some are really dangerous. What is certain is that many of these drugs are preservatives, emulsifier, surfactants, and other useful chemicals for industry, that allow them to keep products on the shelves longer, and thus to make more money. Unfortunately for us, the consumer, many of these useful chemicals are really dangerous for us to ingest. Here is where the FDA, USDA, and Codex come in. . .

At first, they tell us the truth, so we trust them and give them authority, then they begin de-regulating industry, and dropping certain health and safety standards, so they can use these dangerous chemicals in their products without us being the wiser. If the FDA says it is safe, then it must be, right? Absolutely not! Not at this point. Most of the senior officials at the FDA and the USDA have worked for the largest corporations, like our good friend Monsanto. In fact, they could be seen at this point to be a direct branch of the multinational corporations they represent.

The same is true of the Codex Alimentarius, but on a much larger scale. It does however, trickle down to the level of the FDA and USDA, because these regulatory agencies draw on the Codex to derive their own product standards.

The scary part is . . . they don't give a fuck about us. That's right, in fact many of the world's elite and those in charge of writing these standards, the heads of these giant corporations, are outspoken about the fact that they believe the world is over-populated. Not only that, but that the over-population of the planet, is their most pressing concern. They tell us that the optimum global population would be roughly 1/2 Billion humans. This concern is already being dealt with through the use of the Codex, amongst other methods.

By progressively deregulating the corporations that make most of our consumer goods, and then actually even recommending chemicals that can now be used as deregulation goes into effect, Codex ensures that these chemicals will be included in our food, shampoos, lotions, and countless other products.

Just keep an eye on it. . . the first time I noticed it was on the back label of a snickers bar I bought in 2009, when the first wave of Codex deregulation took effect. There were a couple of new chemicals tacked on to the list of ingredients in the candy bar. So, I researched them, and found out the damaging effects. Needless to say, I do not consume processed candy, foods, or use synthetic products when I can avoid it at all.

The best advice I can give is that we should all consume strictly locally produced, Organic, and fair trade products. This may literally save your life to take this advice to heart. It may be difficult for some of us to transition to this life style, but let me assure you, it has numerous benefits. Besides staying fit and healthy, most if not all major health concerns disappear quickly. There is a wealth of evidence for this fact.

So next time McDonalds, Wendys, or any other shitty tells you their products are a healthy, balanced food-like product, safe for you to consume . . . tell them to shuv it.

Water

You are dehydrated. You are. Don't try to tell me you're not. I am too. We pretty much all are. I just read a book called 'Your Body's many Cries for Water" by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj. This man is amazing. He uses re-hydration methods to cure people of diseases. Thats right, drinking more water to cure diseases. In fact, our fine doctor has been able to cure countless patients of AIDS, Asthma, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Insulin-independent Diabetes, high blood pressure, and many many other diseases, just by giving them enough water.  

How is this possible you say? Well its really simple actually. Dr. Batmanghilidi discovered that your body sends out signals that it is dehydrated, and the feeling of 'dry mouth' is actually the last of those signals. Your body tells you that it needs water and is becoming dehydrated first through dysteptic pain, rheumatoid arthritis pain, anginal pain, low back pain, claudication pain(leg pain), migraine and hangover headaches, colitis pain, and constipation . . . etc 

So how much water is enough? He says that the absolute minimum daily intake of water should be six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day to maintain hydration, and that increases if you live in the desert or a really hot dry climate. 6-8 glasses times 8 ounces, that's roughly 64 ounces. The best times to drink water being 30 minutes before all meals and about 2 hours after all meals. Two more glasses should be added after the largest meal of the day.

He proposes an essential paradigm shift in modern medicine, from thinking about the regulation of bodily functions as dictated by the different solids, to thinking of them as being due to the liquids. He states, "Every function of the body is monitored and pegged to the efficient flow of water."

Since our human bodies are more than 75% liquid, and our brain more than 85%, it is essential that we discontinue thinking of ourselves as solid material beings. In terms of modern medicine, doctors are treating symptoms of 'diseases' that are actually our bodies signals that we need more water, often with 

drugs that can then further dehydrate the body. 

Doctors know that you should drink 8 glasses of water a day, and they may even tell you that. Most doctors have good intentions, but are limited by the system they operate within, and the incorrect paradigm that water is not the most important factor in regulating bodily function. What they can't and wont tell you is that most of the disorders and diseases that we experience in society today are a direct result of the body not getting enough water. 

But I drink 8 glasses of water a day, and I still have some of these issues . . .

Not true. Not possible. There are other factors. If you are taking any kind of medication, to counteract their dehydrating effects, our good doctor recommends 2 1/2 liters minimum daily, which is a lot more. if you drink coffee or tea, or god forbid soda, then you are actually dehydrating yourself more than if you had not drank that liquid at all. Alcohol is especially dangerous in this sense. These seemingly hydrating drinks actually leave you 50% by volume less hydrated than you started out. So if you are going to drink coffee or tea, you need to drink at least that much water. 

The most incredible findings in this book for me are the fact that Alzheimer's, hyper-tension, AIDS, and Diabetes can all be cured, by properly hydrating, and maintaining that level of hydration. Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj has cured over 3000 patients using this methed. 

Happy Hydrating !