The health of our environment and the health of the human population are immensely intertwined. We haven’t seen the loss of life at this rapid rate since the dinosaurs went extinct. The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 recently revealed that none of our 2010 Aichi Biodiversity Targets were reached by 2020. The Aichi Biodiversity Targets were intended to provide nations with the targets for species and habitat protection necessary to protect our planet, over the last 10 years.

Our Earth is not an issue we can afford to wait on. Our livelihoods depend on it. A healthy Earth is vital to creating a healthy environment where all creatures have access to a safe habitat, clean water, healthy food, clean air, and more.

Without functioning ecosystems, which depend on healthy biodiversity, there would be no clean air to breathe, safe water to drink or nutritious food to eat. Healthy ecosystems also regulate the Earth’s climate, filter air and water, recycle nutrients and mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

Why all human rights depend on a healthy environment

Portugal and Spain became the first countries to put the right to a healthy and sustainable environment in their constitution in 1976, and 1978 respectively. In 1981 the right to a healthy environment appeared in regional human rights treaties with the African Charter on Human and People’s rights, and again in 1988 with the San Salvador Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in 1988. Today more than 80% of the UN’s members recognize the right to a healthy environment as a human right. While the U.S does not, there are some states that recognize it in their constitution.

It’s become quite clear in recent months with the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, that the Earth is prepared to protect its self at the cost of human life. Evidence has shown that pandemics such as the current one are often caused by the effects of human activities that cause damage to the planet.

Many have chosen to take action in light of recent events. Greta Thunberg, and other young people have filed cases with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, stating that our approach to climate change as it stands, violates their rights. Similar cases have been filed against Australia and the Netherlands.

As a young person myself, I do believe that climate change is the most pressing issue that threatens our world today, on a global scale. Composting is one of, if not the most important thing an individual can do for the environment, along with continuing to read and learn about the threats that climate change imposes on our Earth.

Refined sugar feeds pathogens, especially candida. An abundance of candida and other pathogens leads to allergies, diabetes, obesity, and a whole lot more. Unfortunately, we love sugar. We love sugar so much that Americans are planning to spend nearly $3 billion on Halloween candy this year. The science is in: if you want to be as healthy as possible refined sugar must be eliminated from your diet.

This includes Halloween. 

This will be my second Halloween without Halloween candy. Truthfully, I can’t say I miss it all that much. I know that’s not the case for everyone, so I’ve put together a guide for some alternatives and ranked them from least healthy to most healthy. Although we have some alternative candies, this isn’t an exact trade-in for your favorite candy bars. This is more a guide to satisfy your sweet tooth. 

This is not an advertisement. None of the brands below paid us.

Least Healthy

Organic Cane Sugar 

Truthfully, I can’t believe I still have to include this. Using organic refined sugar and calling it “healthy” is what my dad did 20 years ago. It’s dated, and it’s not a healthy alternative to regular refined sugar. There was a time when my dad was a radical health nut for eating organic sugar instead of regular sugar, but today, even the least health-conscious people I know who were born within the last 50 years are of the opinion that sugar is sugar. As far as the effects of sugar on your body, organic cane sugar has the same effect. Organic cane sugar will still feed candida growth in your body! 

Coconut Sugar, Brown Rice Syrup, Raw Sugar, and Agave syrup 

There are a lot of sugar alternatives out there that are still very high on the glycemic index chart. The only sugar substitutes we use that I recommend are stevia, monk fruit, and dates. I use blackstrap molasses, too, but I don’t recommend it for everyone. I mix a teaspoon of molasses with whatever quantity of monk fruit that I’m using to make “brown sugar”. Molasses does have some benefits, but it is still a refined sugar. If you use molasses, use it in moderation and pay attention to how it makes you feel. 

Read this article to see some alternative sugars and where they rank on the glycemic index chart. I personally have not used any other alternative sweeteners besides the ones I recommend above. In my opinion and experience, these are the healthiest sugar alternatives you can use.

Anything Too Processed 

Lately, I’ve seen a push for Smart Sweets. Smart Sweets is a brand of candy that makes your favorite regular candy like gummy bears and sour patch kids. They are free from sugars and sugar alcohols, they’re naturally colored, and gluten-free, as well as free from other common allergens like nuts. They even have vegan options. If I took my kids trick-or-treating and they gave these out, I probably wouldn’t tell the kids they couldn’t eat them, but it’s not an everyday healthy alternative. They’re sweetened with monk fruit, and that is a good sugar alternative, however, the candies themselves are just too processed to be considered a great alternative. That being said, these are better for you than regular refined sugar. So they’re not the worst thing you could do. But any naturally sweetened candy like this that is processed into a gummy bear, or sour worm, or anything resembling normal candy, is just too processed to be considered healthy. 

Getting There!

Chocolate

They make a multitude of alternatively sweetened chocolate bars out there. We’ve tried a couple of them, and while they make good alternatives, we wouldn’t recommend them for everyday eating. 

Lily’s Chocolate Bars, and Other Lily’s Products

Lily’s chocolate bars are sweetened with stevia. It is a good alternative to conventional chocolate bars, but they are cooked and more processed than some other raw or otherwise healthier options. They also contain Soy Lecithin, which is essentially a food emulsifier; it helps the chocolate achieve the right texture. My family and I do eat Lily’s chocolate bars occasionally. They also make chocolate chips which are great for baking. 

Lily’s also makes peanut butter cups. Finding Lily’s peanut butter cups was a godsend when I was still craving Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. I don’t crave peanut butter cups much anymore, and when I do I prefer to make my own! (More on that later) Lily’s chocolate has a plethora of sweet alternatives and a multitude of different kinds of chocolate bars. We try to avoid processed foods as much as possible, but Lily’s isn’t the worst thing you could grab as a treat every once in a while. 

Lakanto Monk Fruit Chocolate Bars

Lakanto is the brand of granulated Monk fruit that we use for baking. It’s radically better than sugar, but it does have erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohol isn’t great for you, though a little every once in a while with the help of a healthy gut won’t be the worst thing for you. Lakanto also makes chocolate bars, and while I’ve never personally had them, based on the ingredients, they are also a suitable chocolate bar alternative. Again, they’re still a processed food, so not too much!

Honey Mama’s Chocolate Bars

Honey Mama’s makes raw food chocolate bars out of portland. A raw food chocolate bar is going to be much better for you than a processed chocolate bar. For that reason, these are our favorite. They’re made from sprouted almonds, cacao powder, raw honey, and a couple of other ingredients depending on the flavor you get. They melt in your mouth and have the best texture of any candy bar you’ll ever have, hands down. There is, of course, one problem. Raw honey is only good in small amounts and is not good if you haven’t fixed your gut. If you haven’t created a gut microbiome healthy enough to process the sugar from raw honey, then these aren’t for you (of course, if your gut isn’t healthy enough to process sugar, this is the wrong article for you! What are you doing here? Go make a salad!). Don’t cook with these chocolate bars! Heating up honey kills the enzymes and causes it to lose its health benefits- you might as well just eat sugar if you’re going to heat up your honey. 

Peanut Butter/Nut Butter

We like peanut butter. A lot. If sugar is still a regular part of your diet, you likely won’t be able to appreciate a high-quality sugarless peanut butter to its fullest, but trust me, you’re missing out. Most peanut butter isn’t good for you. Large scale factory-farmed peanut butter often has peanut mold problems. Additionally, enzyme inhibitors are particularly bad with peanuts. Small scale peanut butter made from sprouted nuts is much better for you, but expensive and often hard to find.

If you’re buying nut butter or peanut butter, our favorite nut butter is the Nutt-zo Keto butter. It’s got a bunch of nuts and seeds in it and it fantastic. My dad recently found another good one called Fix and Fogg Everything Butter. But ideally, you should be making your peanut butter/nut butter at home from sprouted nuts. Check out the video below to learn more about making sprouted almond butter, and be on the lookout for a video from us to see how we do it, coming soon. 

Most Healthy (Homemade Alternatives)  

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups 

We use a nut butter and Lily’s chocolate chips to make peanut butter cups. I have not made peanut butter cups without Lily’s chocolate chips, but since they have soy lecithin, there are better options.

To make peanut butter cups, I like to take a bowl full of peanut butter or nut butter and put it in the freezer to firm up. In the meantime, I melt a bag of Lily’s chocolate chips on a double boiler until they’re melted. Then I take silicone cup molds, and pour melted chocolate in the bottom, spreading the chocolate up the sides. I roll spoonfuls of the chilled peanut butter into balls and put them in the silicone cups. Then I cover the peanut butter with more chocolate and chill it until it is solid. These peanut butter cups are much better than store-bought because you can add as much or as little peanut butter and chocolate as you want! Truthfully, I don’t know how well these keep because I’ve never had them survive for more than 30 minutes They’re definitely a fan favorite. 

Date Balls 

You can experiment with different flavor combinations with date balls forever. The simplest way to make them is to put pitted dates in a food processor with nut butter and/or nuts, and a little bit of salt. Blend until you get the right consistency to roll them into balls. You can experiment with adding different nuts, nut butter, seeds, and even berries. Roll them into balls and then roll in chocolate powder, or shredded coconut, or even sliced almonds. The possibilities are endless! I don’t make date balls all that often, so I don’t have a go-to recipe. 

Homemade Honey Mama’s Chocolate Bars

If you like Honey Mama’s chocolate bars, you should try making your own! They’ll be better for you because they’re homemade and you can control the ingredients, and you can make them less sweet. (As much as we love Honey Mama’s, they’re way too sweet). So check out this recipe for homemade Honey Mama’s chocolate. Use homemade nut butter from sprouted nuts and as little raw honey as possible for the healthiest version of these bars. I’ve yet to try it, but I suspect you could use homemade Honey Mama’s chocolate bars, with homemade nut butter from sprouted nuts, and make the healthiest peanut butter cups possible. 

Homemade Ice Cream

Another one of my favorite desserts is homemade ice cream. Store-bought “healthy” ice cream is expensive, and also, not healthy! At home, we like to make tart berry-banana ice cream, cranberry-banana, raspberry-banana, blackberry-banana, etc. We like to use tart fruits, especially cranberries because bananas are very sweet. We take 12 bananas, cut them up, and freeze them and our fruit ahead of time. We then pull the bananas out to thaw just a little bit, add 1.5 cups of frozen tart berries, and add salt and cinnamon to taste. Put everything in the food processor and blend to combine for 5 generous servings. This, like most of our recipes, is a loose recipe. Don’t be afraid to set guidelines for what is healthy enough and experiment within those guidelines to find a version that you like best. 

Pies

Pies are a favorite of ours. We make pie crust using butter, sourdough starter, organic flour, and a pinch of salt. If you find that you still have a problem digesting gluten even after healing the gut, you’ll want to use chickpea flour (ideally homemade chickpea flour from sprouted chickpeas) and water instead of sourdough starter. 

Add 2.5 cups of your flour and a pinch of salt to a bowl. I recommend Bob’s Red Mill organic all-purpose flour if you’re using storebought, but personally, I prefer to buy organic local from a farmers market. Then add 1 cup of ice-cold butter. Begin to break up the butter and combine the flour and butter with your fingers into smaller and smaller pieces, until you have a mixture resembling Kraft parmesan cheese (a tip from my Sister Pie cookbook, and after lots of experimentation, I can confirm this is the way to achieve the best pie crust). Add half a cup of active sourdough starter and mix until combined. Use your hands to bring the mixture together into a dough. You’ll want to refrigerate this dough for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. If you’re not planning on making the pie anytime soon, you can freeze the pie dough.

Pie filling is generally experimental at our house. I usually take a large bowl of fruit, add lemon juice, ¼ cup of tapioca starch, anywhere from ¼ cup to ¾ cup of granulated monk fruit (sometimes I add a teaspoon or less of molasses to the monk fruit for a brown sugar substitute), and salt. I’ve used this with apples, apple-rhubarb, plums, cranberries, peaches, and cherries. Again, I recommend playing around with fruit combinations and ratios. Cranberry pie needs more monk fruit than peach pie, and apple and plum pie go great with cinnamon and other similar flavors. It’s super easy to google your favorite fruit pie recipe and convert it into a healthier version. 

Generally, I top my pies with some sort of crumble. I use about a cup of cold butter, and about ¾ cup of chickpea flour, ¼ cup of tapioca starch, a couple of spoonfuls of monk fruit depending on how tart your pie is, and a pinch of salt. Combine until you achieve the texture of sand. 

Roll out your pie crust into a glass pan (don’t put metal in the oven!) fill with your pie filling and top with your crumble. Bake for about an hour at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, until the topping is golden brown and your pie filling is bubbling. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment! I try new pies all the time. Some are better than others. I rarely measure ingredients when I’m cooking, which obviously makes it difficult to write out the perfect pie recipe!

Fruit 

Whole fruit is the absolute best thing, health-wise, to satisfy a sugar craving. Personally, if watermelon season took place during Halloween, I think we’d have no need for candy! One of our favorite sweet snacks is a bowl full of berries with a spoonful of homemade nut butter on top. You can add Lily’s chocolate chips or some unsweetened shredded coconut on top (although I’d skip the chocolate chips if you’re trying to be as healthy as possible). 

We also keep baking chocolate powder on hand to go with fruit. You can dip bananas, strawberries, oranges, or any other fruit in it that you think would go well with chocolate! You can add a bit of chocolate powder to your homemade nut butter berry concoction as well, if you want to forgo the chocolate chips. 

On farmer’s market days we come home with generally, half a bushel of apples, a case of berries, and 2 boxes of grapes (that is until orange season starts, then we add a case of oranges). With 5 people, this much fruit usually doesn’t even last all week!

Conclusion 

The first time I hung out with my friends after I had converted to a more organic lifestyle got a few funny looks. A lot of people recognize that sugar is bad for you, but would rather just enjoy sugar while they accept the inevitable health problems to come. Warning: some of these food combos might seem a little weird! I wanted to make sure I covered all my bases so I tried to include everything that I myself might eat when I’m craving something sweet. For this Halloween, I’ll be spending some time in the mountains with a couple of friends. I’ll probably make a small batch of peanut butter cups to snack on while they eat Halloween candy, but probably not much else. 

Please note that if your gut is unwell even some of the healthiest alternatives above may not be that healthy for you. Fruit that is blended or cooked down at all is not as good for you as fresh, raw fruit. But if you’re cooking at home, anything you make will be radically better than something you would get at a restaurant or grocery store. Even now, if I eat too much sugar, I may need to take SF722 to combat the yeast. If I skip a salad and eat a bunch of fruit or sugar, I feel the effects even more! So remember to plan accordingly and take care of yourself before, during, and after a day of eating too much junk food. 

Happy Halloween! 

There are many different definitions of a progressive. In one google search, you’ll find many people arguing over what it means to be a progressive, and who has the right to call themselves a progressive. Since the Bernie Sanders movement has become what one might consider mainstream, being a progressive has become rather trendy. It is now seen as a good way to get the vote of the younger generation. And it would be…if the candidates were actually progressive. More often than not, they’re neo-liberals who self identify as progressive when it’s convenient.

So what makes a progressive? In my mind, a progressive is someone who continues to move in the direction of progress. Often people conflate progress with identity-based policies, like legalizing gay marriage. Politicians love it when we argue over identity politics because it doesn’t do much to threaten the establishment. A true progressive is someone who wants bottom-up social and economic change for the most disenfranchised. Progressives understand the importance of getting money and corruption out of politics and distributing wealth, enabling everyone to make a living wage. They are also anti-war.

I considered Bernie Sanders to be a progressive. After selling out to endorse Joe Biden, now, I’m not so sure. I don’t think a true progressive would ever endorse a warmonger. I think FDR was the last truly progressive president we had, and he wasn’t enough.

A meme popped up on my social media feed earlier in the week making fun of Joe Rogan and his audience. It said something to the effect of “‘Don’t get all your news from mainstream sources!’ Says man who exclusively listens to fight commentators podcast for news”. It features a generic white man and a picture of Joe Rogan. I can certainly find the humor in it. However, it’s obvious that the person who posted the meme, as well as the creator, were definitely not familiar with Joe Rogan or the people he interviews on his podcast.

Of course, the negative view of Joe Rogan is totally understandable if your information on him comes from mainstream news sources. There’s also a good chance that even if you have listened to Joe Rogan’s podcasts or if you only listen to one episode (depending on who he’s talking to), you may get a false impression of who Joe actually is.

The first time I ever heard a Joe Rogan podcast, I was outraged. I can hardly remember now what he was talking about, but I believe it had something to do with the role of transgender women in sports. Truly, I was infuriated. Here sat this middle-aged straight white dude who was a retired UFC commentator of all things. I was sure he spent more time lifting weights than he did reading up on transgender issues.

In case you’re not familiar with him, Joe Rogan is known for his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience and other things like being an MMA fight commentator, the host of Fear Factor, and playing Joe on the show News Radio. He is a true Jack of all trades. On his podcast, Joe is uniquely known for talking to anyone and everyone that he’s interested in. For obvious reasons, this has sparked some controversy. In the history of Joe’s podcast, he’s talked to everyone from Alex Jones and Ben Shapiro, to populists Krystal and Sagar, to author and journalist Matt Taibbi, and even Bernie Sanders himself. Despite slander from the media, when you look through Rogan’s collection of podcasts, it seems obvious that he isn’t biased about who he’s willing to talk to. The only driving factor in who Joe decides to talk to is whether or not he’s interested in what they have to say.

Months ago, Joe Rogan gave a quasi endorsement to Bernie Sanders, and the ultra woke crowd went crazy, similar to the way I had upon first listening to Joe’s podcast.

“I think I’ll probably vote for Bernie. Him as a human being, when I was hanging out with him, I believe in him. I like him. I like him a lot,” said Rogan, in a podcast episode back in January. Bernie later accepted the endorsement and received criticism from the left. How could Bernie accept an endorsement from such an alt right-wing conservative like Joe Rogan? He was racist, transphobic, sexist, and homophobic, according to the mainstream media. But then why, would Rogan endorse Bernie if he was such a conservative?

Turns out when you actually listen to Joe Rogan on a regular basis and don’t take things out of context, he’s generally pretty progressive. Look, I won’t pretend like he hasn’t said some stupid things. I think we can all agree (from a progressive standpoint) that not everything he says is “politically correct”. He’s a comedian, a fight commentator, and as he’ll be the first to point out, just a regular average guy (as much as one can be with a net worth of more than $100 million). He’s not a politician or a political commentator, nor does he pretend to be an expert on policy. That being said, when Joe Rogan talks about social issues, and politics, he tends to lean culturally left.

Joe Rogan strongly supports LGBT+ rights, is pro-choice, is anti-war, and pro-drug legalization, and he believes that we need serious economic reform. In many ways, he’s more progressive than the Democratic Establishment.

He often exhibits culturally conservative behavior. He’s a hunter, a mixed martial artist, he associates with many right-wing conservative people, and at times he may come across as old-fashioned. However, if we are the people that we associate with, Joe Rogan is quite an eclectic mix, based on his friends.

I highly encourage everyone to listen to a Joe Rogan podcast if given the chance. Currently, they’re available on Spotify and YouTube, and will soon be available exclusively on Spotify, (with short clips available on YouTube.) Joe Rogan is an interesting guy, and on his podcast, he talks about nearly everything including but not limited to mixed martial arts, history, politics, anthropology, science, and even gut health. Regardless of your interests, I’d wager you’ll find at least two very interesting conversations on the subject within Joe Rogan’s podcast library.

A new study has shown that curved toed shoes may weaken the muscles in your toes and feet, leading to common foot problems like plantar fasciitis. Stress develops strength in your body’s muscles. Similar to the way stress develops strong muscles in the gym, studies show running barefoot develops strong muscles in the feet. When we remove these sources of stress, our bodies don’t adapt in the same way.

While curved toe running shoes may make it easier or more comfortable for us to move, a new study has shown that we pay for comfort in the long run by developing weaker foot muscles. These weaker foot muscles can, in turn, cause knee and foot problems.

Related: Running Without Knee Pain

Our toes were designed to bend backward while we lift our bodies forward and upwards. Curved toe shoes make this more difficult, and while they’re designed to remove some of the effort from moving our feet, this has shown to not be good long term.

 Our toes, which are shorter than our ape-like ancestors, help us use less energy when walking and running. There is less muscle work required to stabilise and control the movement of smaller toes.

Curved shoe tips make it easier to move – but research suggests they may also weaken foot muscles

Researchers gathered results from 13 healthy adults who always wear shoes. They had each participant walk in four different types of sandals with the curve of the shoe set at 10, 20, 30, and 40-degree angles. Researchers then measured the movement of participants toe joints and compared the measurements to when they walked barefoot. The numbers showed that the range of movement in the toes decreased as with the increase of the toe spring angle, and consequently, the total amount of work required at the joints also decreased.

Related: What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

The plantar fascia is a long and broad elastic tissue that runs the length of the sole of your foot. It becomes injured from repetitive strain associated with constant deformation of the arch.

Curved shoe tips make it easier to move – but research suggests they may also weaken foot muscles

The job of foot muscles is to stabilize the toes while supporting the arch. Modern shoes can cause weaker foot muscles and higher rates of flat feet than those who regularly wear shoes that mimic being barefoot. Plantar fasciitis is the most common injury when running. Evidence has shown that running barefoot on the grass can help with plantar fasciitis.

At OLM, we’re big fans of the Vibram FiveFingers shoes. We always wear them for running, and for pretty much every activity besides running as well. Vibrams mimic the feeling of being barefoot. If you make the switch over to Vibrams, your feet and toes will likely be sore as you get used to them- but fear not! This is just a sign that the muscles in your feet are getting stronger. After a few weeks of regular wear, your feet should feel fine, in fact, you’ll probably never want to wear any other shoes ever again. Wearing Vibrams has fixed any knee and feet problems that we’ve experienced while running, but just a word of caution, be sure to look out for rocks when you’re running in your Vibrams.

Health experts have warned about the possibility of what they refer to as a “Twindemic” with the flu season quickly approaching. In an effort to avoid a strenuous flu season, the Trump administration issued a declaration to authorize pharmacists nationwide to administer the flu shot to children three and older. The CDC recommends that everyone get their flu shot by the end of October. For reference, nearly 36% of the nation’s children (or roughly 25,000,000 children) did not get the flu shot in last year’s flu season. An estimated 434 children died from the flu last season.

“Today’s action means easier access to lifesaving vaccines for our children, as we seek to ensure immunization rates remain high during the COVID-19 pandemic,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a press release.

Despite the Trump administration’s new policy, many pharmacies still won’t vaccinate children against flu

According to CNN, it looks like the new policy by the Trump administration did not land well amongst pharmacies across the country. The majority of pharmacies around the country are still refusing to vaccinate children that young. Additionally, many pharmacies were unaware of the push by the Trump administration to get more children vaccinated against the flu.

Previously, 20 states allowed pharmacists to vaccinate children three and up without a prescription. In the remaining 30 states that did not vaccinate children in pharmacies, CNN called 176 pharmacies across the country to ask if they would now begin vaccinating children. Only 31 out of 176 pharmacies said they would vaccinate a three-year-old without a prescription. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has pushed for pharmacists to be able to vaccinate children for years and are in support of the new push by the Trump administration. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not object to pharmacists administering the flu vaccine to children but does not support the Health and Human Services declaration to allow pharmacists to give all childhood vaccines.

While many pharmacies are saying they will not vaccinate children, many officials are upset with the way the Trump administration rolled out the new declaration, saying that it was not promoted well enough, or talked about enough.

“You can have the best policy in place, but there are many steps you have to take to implement that policy. There has to be a large, concerted effort,” said Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore city health commissioner.

Despite the Trump administration’s new policy, many pharmacies still won’t vaccinate children against flu

Mainstream news sources will fail to acknowledge why pharmacists around the country will not be vaccinating young children, but the reality is that the risk is too great and the reward is too low. Why else would pharmacies refuse to vaccinate children? If vaccines are truly completely safe with no risk of negative side effects, and pharmacists are already able to vaccine adults against the flu- then why not just let them vaccinate children? Most people would argue that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks when it comes to vaccines, that being said, it looks like many pharmacies around the country are unwilling to take that risk.

While pharmacies around the country are trying to decide rather or not they will vaccinate young children for the flu, Singapore has halted the use of two of its flu vaccines after 48 people died in South Korea after receiving the flu vaccine. Health officials later reported no connection between the deaths and the flu vaccine, and are still urging people to get vaccinated. You can read more about that in this article.

Last year the flu vaccine was only 29% effective. This year, albeit better than last year, the flu vaccine is only 45% effective. Kind of… this year’s flu vaccine is 45% effective at preventing “influenza-associated medically attended acute respiratory illness”. This essentially means that this year’s flu vaccines 45% effective at preventing flu-like illness severe enough to warrant a trip to the doctor or hospital. It’s still too early to tell what the impact of this year’s flu season will have on the population, with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

More than 100 million tonnes of nitrogen fertilizer is sprayed on crops every year. When sprayed, the nitrogen releases nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Over recent years Nitrous Oxide emissions from natural sources have remained stagnate, whereas emissions from human causes have skyrocketed over the last couple of decades. Concentrations of nitrous oxide have reached 331 parts per billion in 2018, 22% higher than before the industrial era. Emissions are caused by the use of synthetic fertilizers.

The emissions are created through microbial processes in soils. The use of nitrogen in synthetic fertilizers and manure is a key driver of this process. Other human sources of N₂O include the chemical industry, wastewater and the burning of fossil fuels.

New research: nitrous oxide emissions 300 times more powerful than CO₂ are jeopardising Earth’s future

Nitrous Oxide is typically destroyed in the atmosphere by solar radiation, but The Conversation reports that we’re currently emitting it faster than it’s being destroyed. Nitrous Oxide has 300 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide and stays in the atmosphere for an average of 116 years.

Research from the intergovernmental panel on Climate change has shown that we have exceeded the levels of nitrous oxide expected in all of our developed scenarios for the future. We are on track to see a global temperature increase of 3 degrees Celsius, this century.

Emissions of nitrous oxide have grown 30% globally over the last three decades. Brazil, China, and India have been some of the top contributors, with growing economies and increasing numbers of livestock and crop production. In Europe, nitrous oxide emissions have decreased over the past two decades- even while agricultural productivity increased. Europe had implemented governmental policies to reduce pollution and encourage more efficient fertilizer use.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions we should focus on sustainable small scale agriculture that promotes carbon sequestration. Our health and environment are very intertwined. By eating locally grown organic produce that is good for your body, you can also do good for the Earth.

A new study compared the carbon emissions of nuclear power versus renewable energy and finds that renewables resulted in a more serious reduction of national carbon emissions. Scientists analyzed data from 123 countries from the years of 1999 to 2014. Not only did nuclear power not show a significant reduction in carbon emissions, it even showed increases in carbon emissions in some developing countries.

The evidence clearly points to nuclear being the least effective of the two broad carbon emissions abatement strategies, and coupled with its tendency not to co-exist well with its renewable alternative, this raises serious doubts about the wisdom of prioritising investment in nuclear over renewable energy…”

Benjamin Sovacool, a professor of energy policy at the University of Sussex

Nuclear power has been sold as a solid, more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels, and there have been advances in nuclear technology since 2014, the last year that this study was examined. In addition to that, many of the nuclear plants analyzed were older and needed more energy to be maintained. Even with those caveats, it’s clear that nuclear power won’t benefit the environment the way a strategy consisting of renewable energies like wind and solar would.