March 2025 – Health4earth

Day of Zero Waste

I make zero waste a game to waste as little as I can.

Our landfills are overflowing, and we just keep purchasing junk and many things we can live without. Consumerism contributes to global warming as do our landfills and burning of trash. We must cut back, maybe not to total zero waste, but creating less waste overall.

Zero waste is not easy, but it is possible. Reducing our waste forces a new look to what we buy. Reducing purchases makes us pay attention to what we buy. Do we really need all the junk we purchase?

March 30 is the UN’s International Day of Zero Waste. This year’s focus is on reducing waste in the fashion industry and helping to advance circular solutions. We have a choice how we spend our dollars, and spending our money on good long lasting products should be a priority. Many items are expensive right now and I bet you can monitor and adjust to be happy with what you already have.

Avoid the fashion fads. Do you really want someone else telling you what to buy and wear. Be your own person create your own look! If your truly want to live on a planet with clean air and clean water we need to cut back! “We still have the ability to stop the worst from happening to our planet. The power to do this is in our hands—we just need to use it.” Katherine Hayhoe

We just need to get in the habit of reusing and fixing what we have. Most of us have closets full of clothes we barely use. Shop your closet and create a new outfit with the clothes you have. Be creative

Many say to me, “But it was so cheap!” No, it’s not cheap with the harm it does to our planet! Manufacturing, shipping, and disposal takes lots of time and energy. Most of it not healthy for anyone.

How can you help to reduce your addiction to fast fashion clothing? Some ideas:

Shop your own closet, or the closet of a friend or relative.
Purchase secondhand. Some secondhand stores even have personal shoppers for you to use.
Buy quality over quantity
Mend clothes rather than throwing them away
Intentionally select the brands you purchase from and learn about their sustainability practices
Make a decision you didn’t need this item after all

Resolve to be a Better Consumer

Incentive to purchase and waste less: https://health4earth.com/2024/11/22/ghana-becomes-dumping-ground-for-the-worlds-unwanted-used-clothes-pbs-news/

World Water Day

We need to work harder to protect our nation’s water!

Water is life It is so important for healthy living. Every day each of us must do what we can to protect our planet’s precious water.

It is shameful the poor job we do to take care of our fresh water. Our fresh waterways are teaming with microplastics, nitrates and forever chemicals. None of these are safe for human exposure.

Today I am focusing on two crucial pollutatnts to our water. PFAS chemicals and nitrates. In 2023 the Minnesota legislature passed a strict law restricting PFAS (fovever chemicals) Unfortunately, many companies with PFAS in their products are trying to weaken Minnesota’s PFAS legislation. Read more about it below:

First, here is information on efforts to weaken Minnesota’s new PFAS(forever chemical law)

At least 70 million Americans get their water from a system where toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” were found at levels that require reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s according to new data the EPA released in its ongoing 5-year review of water systems across the nation. The number will almost certainly grow as new reports are released every three months. USA Today, March 21.2024

I’m 22, with a new job focused on clean water. Here’s why I’m doing it.

Amara’s Law is being implemented well, and Minnesota is better for it. We are incredibly grateful for our allies, whose hard work and determination helped pass such monumental legislation. But now, Amara’s Law is at risk once again. Bills HF 1627 and HF 81, authored by Rep. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, plan to irresponsibly gut the law, continuing to put polluters before people.

Finding safer PFAS alternatives has the potential to be profitable for businesses of all sizes. Capitalism is meant to push society forward, driving change and fostering new ideas. It was not built to just accept the first product that completes a goal, especially when it poisons people and the environment. We have met innovators and entrepreneurs who are creating effective alternatives to PFAS — they just need support. But they don’t get a chance because large corporations come and try to pick apart critical legislation. Minnesota continues to be poisoned, people continue to get sick, children like Amara continue to die.

Second, we have been unable to control farm run off. This pollutes our ground water our streams and people’s wells. It is dangerous for people, fish and animals. There is no excuse for letting this go unchecked! Nitrate pollution in water is caused by excess nitrogen from agricultural sources. Nitrates and organic nitrogen compounds from fertilizer and manure enter groundwater through leaching and reach surface water through runoff from agricultural fields. Nitrate contamination occurs in surface water and groundwater, leaching into the soil and from there into the water supply from various sources. A high level of nitrate makes water unsuitable as drinking water.

73 percent of Minnesota nitrate pollution comes from cropland, primarily through agricultural drainage systems below cropped fields and by nitrate pollution leaching into groundwater, and then moving underground until it reaches streams. 78% of nitrate pollution to the Mississippi River in our state is fr…See more on fmr.org

Way: Something smells with the feedlot trend, and it’s more than just the manure

Clean water is important to our survival.

Yea, It’s Spring

Happy spring, the sun has returned

It’s a beautiful world. Spring is a gift.

The world is always turning to the morning!

March 20 is the first day of spring, International Day of Happiness and Nowruz. Nature has given us the beauty of spring. Be sure you spend time outside every day to appreciate our beautiful Earth. Ancient people celebrated the first day of spring thousands of years ago!

For the Northern Hemisphere, March 20 is the first day of spring. But for 300 million people around the world, it’s the beginning of a new year, too. Nowruz—which means “new day”—is a holiday marking the arrival of spring and the first day of the year in Iran, whose solar calendar begins with the vernal equinox. Nowruz has been celebrated in Iran and the Persian diaspora for more than 3,000 years. Its roots are as a feast day in Zoroastrianism, a religion practiced in ancient Persia that viewed the arrival of spring as a victory over darkness. The holiday survived the Islamic conquest of Persia in the seventh century and the decline of Zoroastrianism’s popularity, and it spread across the globe through the diaspora of Persian people throughout history. (Here’s how Persia became the world’s first true empire.

It is hard to celebrate much happiness with such chaos in the world. Try to spring clean your brain and think about mental health for yourself and those you love. Be good to yourself and be good to the entire world.

How can you spring clean your brain?

5 Ways to Calm Your Anxious Brain – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

If you are spring cleaning your brain you need to reduce it’s exposure to plastic https://health4earth.com/2025/02/08/plastic-in-our-brains/

This year’s theme is caring and sharing. Make your own happiness special! Go for quiet walks and watch for changes around you as we transition into spring. The birds are returning and the lake near my home is almost losing its winter ice! Soon new buds will be on the trees.

Today also sees the launch of the new World Happiness Report 2025, which explores the variations in happiness around the world. The United States falls to a record low in happiness.. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-drops-to-record-low-in-2025-world-happiness-report-see-global-rankings/ar-AA1BgYsy?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Work for peace. Peace for Ukraine, the Middle East and conflicts in Africa.

Severe Weather Alert

The National Weather Service keeps us safe!

The Trump Administration needs to restore all the cuts they have made to the National Weather Service!

I am fascinated by weather, but I am also frightened by it. It is not something we can control, and we need the best scientists to help us understand the weather and the impending dangers.

This past weekend more than 40 people were killed in the Southern United States because of high winds, tornadoes, fires, and weather related accidents.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/weather-tornado-threat-southern-u-s-severe-storm-winds-fans-wildfires/

At the same time the Trump administration is cutting and firing the same people that warn us of these raging dangerous storms.

This is from Paul Douglas in the Minnesota Startribune:” Words matter, especially to the NOAA scientist and National Weather Service meteorologists trying to keep you alive when skies become violent. Watches, warnings. And then there are emergencies, which pose the greatest threat to life and property. The country with the most severe weather on Earth (the U.S.) deserves the best National Weather Service on Earth.” Paul Douglas

I’m calling on the Trump Administration to restore all cuts they have made to the National Weather Service.