September 2012Monthly Archives

Help Developing Communities: Buy Coconuts

One of the best ways to peacefully protest injust and a bad situation is to vote with your money. Money makes the world go round. And voting with your money is a good way to let big business know how you feel about a particular topic. Think for example, how people started buying their fruit and vegetables from community stores that sell organic produce. This trend was quickly picked up on by supermarkets and by large scale farmers. Organic food is now part of the mainstream. Consumer groups are excellent for clarifying issues and for starting consumer action over dangerous and irrespensible products.

It is not just domestic issues that can be protested through consumer choice. Another powerful way to let multi nationals know that you disagree with their policies of exploiting workers in poor countries is to buy Fair Trade products that give a fair share of the profits to farmers and artisans in poor countries for their labors.

From an environmental point of view lots of consumption is inimical to nature. It pollutes, it increases carbon emiissions and speeds up the effects of global warming.

Coconut palms are grown organically nearly exclusively because the plant has a natural resistence to pests and pathogens. It is classified as a renewable resource because a coconut palm takes only 7 years to reach maturity and to start bearing fruit.

Coconuts are great resources for nutrition, vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. Cooconuts are great for the health. Coconut water is a great drink for rehydration. It contains more electrolytes than any sports drink. Coconut milk and coconut oil contain lauric acid. This is found in mother’s milk. It is an antimicrobial agent that protects the body from viral infection. Coconut milk contains a variety of vitamins and minerals and makes an ideal substitute for cow’s milk. It is suitable to give to growing children as it contains iron and calcium. It is also lactose free.

Coconut flour is also important for people suffering from gluten intolerance. It has 0% gluten and can be used to bake bread, cookies and cakes. It is also a good source of protein and can be added to shakes to make protein drinks.

Coconut cultivation is an important source of income for many developing communities in Polynesia, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. By buying coconut products you are helping to improve your health and you are helping people in developing countries. You are also protesting the agribusiness industry that is destroying nature with monoculture cultivation and a dairy industry that pumps cows full of drugs to stay alive.

September 27, 2012
Uncategorized

The Injustice of Poverty and Health

If there is one thing that affects all people of all colors, creeds and religions without discrimination, it’s the state of people’s physical health. While there are some differences with regard to the level of affluence present in a person’s environment, there can be no excuses for suffering poor health through personal neglect.

Physical health is something that everyone is born with and it is their responsibility and theirs alone to ensure that it is kept in the best possible state they can manage. While there may be nothing a person can do about their home surroundings and whether poverty is a predominant factor, they can do something about their choices.

Good or Poor Choices

Some people are lucky enough to be born into a well to do family who live in a prosperous part of town and they want for nothing. Others are not so lucky and are born into a poor family and grow up in a poor part of town. But when a person reaches an age when they can make certain life choices for themselves, they get to choose whether to stay in the part of town they are, or to move on to something better.

There are plenty of poor people who remain in poverty for no other reason than they don’t choose to drag themselves out of it. There are also plenty of people who have all the apparent benefits of prosperity around them, yet they squander their good fortune and become addicted to drink or drugs.

Everyone Loves a Winner

Yet there are also plenty of people who refuse to be a slave to their circumstances. While friends and family may choose to remain in their poverty stricken locale, some choose to leave and search for more prosperous climes. Others seek to rise above their lowly station and aspire to greatness.

One such person who grew from humble beginnings to become truly great was Abraham Lincoln. He was a poor boy from a very poor family, yet there was something about him that made him break free from the life sucking beast of poverty that overshadowed his childhood to become the leader of a nation. His presidency saw him live through the dark time of civil war yet his strength and determination despite his many handicaps saw him bring about the end of slavery in America.

Much can be learned from people who make something of themselves despite apparent obstacles placed in their paths by circumstances. People can suffer ill health through their lack of understanding as much as through bad judgement and failure to make the most of opportunities when they arise. Or they can take a shot for health and enjoy good health by making good choices, grabbing at opportunity with both hands and doing whatever it takes. It just takes the will to want for better and to make the right choices to elevate from a lowly place to a higher one.

September 23, 2012
Injustice