Permaculture Blog

Source: http://www.firefly.org/how-you-can-help.html

Create water features in your landscape.
Most species of fireflies have one thing in common: they thrive around standing water and marshy areas. Ponds, streams and rivers can all provide good habitats for fireflies, but even a small depression full of water can cause them to congregate. Build a small pond or divert a small stream to run through your property, and it’s more likely you’ll see fireflies at night. Chemically treated swimming pools aren’t a good substitute; fireflies are believed to eat the smaller insects, grubs and snails that thrive in natural ponds and streams, and these don’t live in chlorinated environments.

Cool cool cool!!!
But you also must not use algaecide or other toxins that will kill the same type of life-forms.

Source: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/09September/Pages/Gut-bacteria-may-be-linked-to-dangerous-body-fat.aspx

Gut bacteria may be linked to ‘dangerous’ body fat

The article is based on a UK study looking at faeces samples taken from twins and various measures of obesity. The study showed that people who had fewer different types of bacteria in their faeces were more likely to be obese.
The link was strongest for visceral fat, which is stored around the internal organs inside the abdominal cavity. This type of fat is associated with a higher risk of metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, as well as cardiovascular disease.

Nice story. There is some information at the end about where to find the original scientific paper but the story itself is pretty factual in my opinion. Since Roundup was originally described as an antibiotic and I have long suggested that Roundup could be poisoning our microbial flora and contributing to obesity. here. It has dawned on me that there may be a simpler explanation. That it is poisoning a specific class of our microbial flora and contributing to obesity that way

www.youtube.com/shared?ci=kxz3NMRcoo4

Hahahaha loved it. Nice interview. The Monsanto rep is the ultimate snake oil salesman. Do what I say, not what I do.

He says multiple times it’s safe to drink and then refuses to drink it. I’m still laughing. Walks off calling the interviewer a jerk.

Guess –The rep doesn’t even have a clue what irony is. laughing

Bob
www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

If you ever doubted the value of a dead tree, please allows us to change your mind!  And please share this entertaining video with others.
Source: http://cavityconservation.com

Very cool video. Bluebirds woodpeckers and more. Click it. It is not long.

Best
Bob

I have spent 20 years providing non-chemical ponds to my clients all over Southern California. I have never before seen the numbers of dead dragonflies that I have in the last 2 months.

Ecdysteroids are insect moulting and sex hormones. They are members of a complex chemical group known as steroids. Some of the insecticides being used recently target Ecdysteroids. These new insecticides thus disrupt the insects molting ability.

These dead dragonflies have failed to molt correctly. You can see that they were just ready to come out and even have tiny deformed wings. Adults that did manage to come out have deformed wings as well.

In addition these Ecdysteroid targeting pesticides, and related toxins harm the basic food chain in rivers and lakes.

An almost complete, but unfinished form of Ecdysteroids is known as an _ecdysone_. Sort of like a house with the walls up, the roof on, but not finished inside. A chemical that blocks the formation of something, particularly biologically, is an _agonist_. So an _ecdysone agonist_ is a biocide that targets an insect’s ability to molt.

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24197798 A potent ecdysone agonist, tebufenozide, has recently been developed as a molt-inducing insecticide to control defoliating lepidopterans. As part of continuing research efforts to assess the effectiveness and environmental safety of this material for insect pest management in Canadian forests, tebufenozide (RH-5992-2F) was applied to large lake enclosures and the effects on zooplankton communities were evaluated. There were significant treatment effects at all test concentrations (0.07-0.66 mg L(-1) tebufenozide). Concentration-dependent reductions in the abundance of cladocerans indicated that there were direct toxic effects of tebufenozide on this group of macrozooplankton.

Let me reiterate.

Quote: reductions in the abundance of cladocerans indicated that there were direct toxic effects of tebufenozide on this group of macrozooplankton. End quote

cladocerans, and other macrozooplankton form the basis of most freshwater food chains. I believe that it is likely that the aerial spraying for zika has contaminated freshwater ponds and habitats here in SoCal with these toxic insecticides.

Bob
www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

This bill amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency or a state from requiring a permit under the Clean Water Act for a discharge from a point source into navigable waters of a pesticide authorized for sale, distribution, or use under FIFRA, or a residue resulting from the application of the pesticide. Point source pollution is waste discharged from a distinct place, such as a pipe, channel, or tunnel.

Source: H.R.897 – 114th Congress (2015-2016): Zika Vector Control Act

OMG. It would… prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency or a state from requiring a permit under the Clean Water Act for a discharge …of a pesticide … or a residue resulting from the application of the pesticide.

Sigh. It would block even the requiring of a permit to spray virtually anything.

Sponsor: Rep. Gibbs, Bob [R-OH-7] (Introduced 02/11/2015)

A Republican from Ohio.

Ohio: a notable hotbed of zika prevalence and infections.

Checkout
https://m.facebook.com/groups/982959398459301?view=permalink&id=1106856622736244&fs=2

total of 11,944 pregnant women with ZVD were reported in Colombia, with 1484 (12%) of these cases confirmed on RT-PCR assay. In a subgroup of 1850 pregnant women, more than 90% of women who were reportedly infected during the third trimester had given birth, and no infants with apparent abnormalities, including microcephaly, have been identified.

Source: Zika Virus Disease in Colombia — Preliminary Report — NEJM

None. Study ending last month, _no_ cases of microencephaly in over 12,000 pregnant, zika infected, women in Columbia. The statistical likelihood that zika causes any kind of micro encephaly is virtually non-existent.
The statistical relevance is, and always has been, in fact the reverse: that there is a strong likelihood that zika has nothing to do with the microcephaly.

Another article:

Since last November, more than 1,700 confirmed cases of congenital microcephaly or other birth defects of the central nervous system have been reported in Brazil.

Nearly 90 Percent of Brazil Microcephaly Cases Occurred in the Northeast

Amidst growing fear-based propaganda warning of the threat of Zika virus comes a quiet admission from health officials in Brazil: Zika alone may not be responsible for the rise in birth defects that plagued parts of the country.

Source: Brazil Admits It’s Not the Virus

Couldn’t possibly be that the Northeast Brazilian State was adding a Monsanto linked insecticide to its drinking water could it?

Source: https://m.facebook.com/groups/QuietOrganicYards/permalink/1086027174818890/

We don’t need chemical warfare in our yards with needless, cosmetic pesticides. Don’t spend your hard earned money buying and spreading more poisons across the planet!

Too right.

Source: http://forums.prohealth.com/forums/index.php?threads/mitochondrial-dysfunction-and-me-fibromyalgia-and-mcs.213034/

Before my wife passed away from muscular dystrophy, she was diagnosed with several mitochondrial diseases similar to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia.

So I have now just looked up the hand sanitizer ingredient that the FDA has recently banned (triclosan). It is a chlorinated biocide designed to target bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis.

Because of my concern that Roundup (originally described as a bacterial antibiotic) is also damaging mitochondria, I decided to look for information on the effect of triclosan on mitochondria. Remember that our mitochondria and bacteria are incredibly similar evolutionarily.

Quote:

While the study treated fibromyalgia as mitochondrial myopathy, both ME and fibromyalgia have long since been thought of as having significant mitochondrial dysfunction,

Well as it turns out there _is_ evidence that triclosan damages mitochondrial systems. And in several cases avoidance of hand sanitizers has greatly benefited patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Another quote from the article:

Glutathione is the main substance which clears ROS. Glutathione synthesis is highly impaired when mitochondria are dysfunctional:

My PhD work was with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA damage. But I was working with bacteria and at that time didn’t make the correlation with our mitochondria. Oh my!

Yes, we consume a shocking amount of junk food in this country. In fairness, here’s some good news about eating habits: Americans are also adding more whole grains, nuts and seeds to their diets and cutting back on sodas and sugary drinks. So says a study conducted by Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and […]

Source: Chuck Norris kicks back at Roundup use on wheat

OMG if you have celiac disease read this.