Swine Flu: What can I do to help?

So, having taken a class that covered the Spanish Flu of 1918 (Dr. Perrins’ History of Medicine, Acadia…great course…take it!), the Swine Flu is terrifying. This is what I’ve been waiting for ever since that course. A new flu that is going to be more deadly than anything we’ve seen for decades, maybe worse. Now, I’m not saying that is what is going to happen, just that this virus seems to have high potential to become very serious, based on what the WHO is saying.

Now, fingers point to Mexico as the starting point of this outbreak, although it hasn’t been confirmed where/how the virus was created. Possibly due to conditions and practices at huge factory farms (not confirmed by research yet!). Hmm….why do we have those huge factory farms again? Oh right! Huge demand for meat products!

Now, in an effort to not be preachy (I am in no position to preach, as I have been know to ingest meat products every blue moon), I in no way expect you to become a vegetarian. That is a personal decision that requires a lot of research and thought. But what are small ways we can all change to maybe take the pressure off intensive livestock practices that are not in the best interest of the future of our society?

1) You can eat one less meal with meat a week. That’s not too bad! Have a veggie lasagna. It’s so filling you won’t even notice. Burritos can be made with just re fried beans, skip the beef. Don’t say it’s too hard…my parents (former meat and potato people) are doing a great job of it, and I didn’t even have to harass them! Here’s a recipe for black-bean burgers even my super meaty boyfriend likes.

2) When you do buy meat, buy organic (when you can, I know it can cost more). That way, you can increase the demand for organic, causing more farmers to become organic, causing less use of antibiotics that can create super-bugs.

3) If you live in the country, try the farmers markets or even go direct to your neighbours. It night not be certified organic, but many small scale farmers don’t need to use heavy loads of antibiotics.

4) Know a hunter? Ask for some wild game! Rabbit stew is yummy. If you happen to be in Australia, try the roo (sometimes farmed, but much less intensive than cows). Grab a fishing rod and catch supper. It’s more fun than standing in line at the supermarket too.

Now, again, I’m not saying swine flu started on a factory farm. However, the conditions on factory farms are primed for outbreaks of nasty diseases than could jump to humans. So just to try do whatever you can to help a little bit. If we all help a little bit, it will help a lot (wow that’s cheesy, nice ending Carolyn). 🙂

Western Australia

Honey Bee huddle at Nationals

Well we’ve gotten to do some more traveling lately after being stationary for a while. The Australian Ultimate Championships just took place in Perth, Western Australia. Did you know it’s the most isolated capital city in the world? (So said one of our guides…I have not actually checked this fact)

I definitely recommend that you make the effort to get there if you’re in Australia. Basically, Australia seems to be mostly concentrated on the East Coast, so I imagine most travelers don’t make it over to the west. If it hadn’t been for the frisbee tournament we probably wouldn’t have made the trip.

We actually didn’t see the city hardly at all. We took a 3 day trip

to the South, going as far as Wapole, where we did the tree top canopy walk, which was a delight for the botanist in the group. We also climbed the bicentenial tree, 75 high. The way up is via a ladder made of re bars stuck into the side of the tree. Totally worth it but also totally insane. This tree ladder would not but legal in Canada. There were also some wineries on the way and the really cool Ngligi cave.

Look up…look waaaaaaay up (Bicentennial Tree)

We spent a day going north to the Pinnicles Desert. It was pretty cool but if you have limited time I might skip it.

Pinnacles Desert

And finally we spent a night and 2 days on Rottnest Island. Loved it! Could have stayed longer. It’s a great place to relax, ride around on a bike and meet the local ‘critters’ as Brad calls them (actually called Quokkas). Also, if going and you’re not rich, BYO food. There are minimal places to eat, which surprised us; and that allows them to jack the prices. $16.50 for fish and chips? Ouch.

In summary, it was a great trip. I would have loved to have had the time/money to head up the coast to Broome and other lovely sounding places. But ‘dems the breaks!

Cutie Quokka

Saving the world…one mad scientist at a time

I recently listened to the March 28 2009 episode of Quirks and Quarks from the CBC. It was Nine-and-a-half Technologies to Save the World. Very interesting, very sci-fi.

The second one really hit home for me, being a vegetarian. In vitro meat. If you hate biology (that’s silly, how could you!), in vitro means within the glass in Latin, aka in a petri dish in a lab. Yup, that’s right, they can grow meat in a dish from stem cells. Tastes like meat, looks like (ground) meat (we’re not talking T-bones here). Some links about it here and here.

You’re thinking, EW, right? So did I. Then I though about how we get meat now. A barn, stacked ceiling high with cages that go row upon row to maximize the amount of chickens in one barn. Chickens that may or may not have enough room to turn around in the cage. They’re being pumped full of antibiotics to stop them from getting sick in conditions that should cause a massive outbreak of something every 5 minutes. EW. How is that natural?

So, ok, why does that make in vitro better? Well, the main issue brought up by Jason Matheny from John Hopkins University (the one interviewed on Quirks and Quarks) was health. You can make this meat low in bad fats and high in good fats, like omega-3s, helping to reduce things like heart disease. It would also benefit the environment, producing less greenhouse gases, using less farm land, and you wouldn’t be ingesting all the antibiotics and drugs you do now. meat_tube_080422_mn Plus it removes any question of ethical treatment of animals.

Now this isn’t about to appear on your supermarket shelf or anything tomorrow. Right now it’s pretty costly and can’t be made in large batches effectively. But they’re working on it!

Just think about it. Would you eat in vitro meat?

The Great Ocean Road…a must see!

Brad and I did a day tour of the Great Ocean Road the other weekend with Go West. We saw a lot! It was a pretty fast paced tour, not a lot of time to get out and explore areas. However, if you have a limited timeline, as in only one day, we were pretty happy with it.

The coast was amazingly beautiful, as you can see from a picture of the twelve apostles I took. There are crazy crazy rock formations. These were just some of the many we saw.

There was also a short trek through a beautiful rainforest. It’s hard to believe there is a rainforest in an area as dry as this. There were lots of amazing tree ferns and craggy, monster looking trees.

If you have time I highly reccommend taking 2-3 days to see the Great Ocean Road, but if you only want to spare a day, Go West was pretty good. Our guide could have used a few more jokes, but you can’t win them all!