Global Warming - What Are You Doing?

Those of you living in Canada who sponsor children through World Vision likely get a publication called Child View. Take a look at the Spring 2007 issue. (or download it free here.)There is a great article on how we can help others in developing countries by changing some of our ways at home. I‘ll share a few of those ways below.

Shortly after reading that article I finally watched Al Gore’s, An Inconvenient Truth. If you haven’t seen it, please go out and rent it and watch it this week. The statistics are staggering. We may be headed for serious Revelation type events if we don’t change our current course of action.


Then while in an airport yesterday I noticed the cover of Time Magazine, “The Global Warming Survival Guide” is the headline. They have a list of 51 things you can do to make a difference. I’ll share a few of the ones I think are most effective.

Then this morning I went to my usual CBC.ca to see what’s going on in the news in the homeland and noticed a link to a whole section on going green. Once there the headline story was about a small town in Manitoba called Leaf Rapids. This town is the first one in Canada to ban plastic bags. It sounds like San Francisco (the city I am writing in right now) is next in line to make that same change.

As you can see there seems to finally be a pretty serious shift here, at least in the media, to the fact that climate change is real. So now it’s our turn to do our part. Hopefully all of you are already doing things to help out but here are more ideas to keep, or get, you on track.

From World Vision Canada’s Child View magazine:

Make The Connection
- A warmer world is going to affect the people in the hottest places more than anywhere else. And that’s exactly where the world’s poorest people live. By becoming more green we have the potential to offer a better life to those people.
Buy Less, Buy Locally
- Buy less and you have less waste. Easy concept. Buy items of high quality that will last longer. Look for items with minimal packaging. The transport of goods that are shipped to us is a major contributor of greenhouse gases. Support your neighbours and reduce nasty truck emissions. Note: An idea I read in the Toronto Sun was that grocery stores be mandated to put signs on their produce that indicate how far it traveled to get there.

From Time Magazine’s April 9th issue: There were 51 "things you can do", I’ve chosen 9. I picked the ones with the highest impact and that were easiest for people like you and I to accomplish today.

Open A Window
- Open a window instead of running the AC. Adjust the thermostat a few degrees higher in the summer and lower in the winter.
Skip The Steak
- The meat industry generates more greenhouse gas emissions than transportation!!!! Eat your vegetables!
Just Say No to Plastic Bags
- A high impact easy solution
Support Your Local Farmer
- I already mentioned this one under World Vision but it’s worth mentioning again. Hit the local Farmer’s Market, help keep your neighbours and your community in business.
Remove The Tie
- Japan cut an estimated 79,000 tons of CO2 during the summer of 2005 by keeping its office temperatures at 82.4F throughout the summer. Loosen those collars and relax boys!
Shut Off Your Computer
- If you’re reading this then I know your computer is on. Save yourself some money and shut’er down when you’re not using it. That means off not sleep. While you’re at it make sure all of your other electronics and lights are in the off position too.
Rake In The Fall Colours
- Put that blower away and give your health a boost too. Use a rake, use a shovel, use your muscles, everybody wins!
Change Your Lightbulbs
- Fluorescent and LED lights use as much as 25% of the energy as standard lights. Save yourself some money and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time.

And last, this one is a bit of a dream but I think it’s a cool idea.

Get a Carbon Budget
- Here’s the idea. We all have a certain allowance of carbon emissions. Whether we choose to live above that allowance or below it is up to us. Live below and gain credits, live above and pay for more credits. So let’s say you bike or walk to work and gain some carbon credits. You can then sell those credits to Mr. Hummer driver since, if he wants to drive his Hummer, which is way above the allowance, he needs more credits. This way we keep a balance of carbon emissions and let the market work out the details. I’m sure there are a million things wrong with this theory but it sounds like a cool idea to me.

Glenn

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Himalayan Goji Juice on CBC's Marketplace

On CBC’s (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) show Marketplace this week, Himalayan Goji Juice was featured. This is a show that is there to help the consumer make informed decisions. Here’s a description of the show from cbc.ca.

"designed to inform and protect the harrassed Canadian consumer in this age of spiralling prices, questionable sales practices and insidious small print on iron-clad contracts."

Goji’s most prominent advocate Dr. Earl Mindell was the focus for much of the episode, I’m guessing because he is Canadian born. Last time I checked the episode was available to watch on their web site so I won’t get too much into what they said. I felt that they did make some valid points though. They make entertaining television, which is what they are supposed to do so I wasn’t sure how fair everything was presented. I wondered how is Freelife (The Himalayan Goji Juice company) going to respond to this? In my inbox yesterday was an email with a response to the show from the CEO’s of the company. I’ll only copy some of it but if you’d like to read the whole thing just let me know in a comment and I can get it to you.

Last night, a Canadian television station ran a story on Dr. Earl Mindell, FreeLife, and Himalayan Goji Juice. While some portions of the program demonstrated the incredible impact FreeLife and Himalayan Goji Juice is having on people’s lives, other parts of this program were inaccurate and misleading. This surprised us since dozens of other media reports from much larger and more reputable media sources, such as TIME magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the TODAY show, have had nothing but extremely positive things to say about the impact goji is having on people’s lives.

If the television producer’s goal had been to find out the real story about FreeLife, Dr. Mindell, and Himalayan Goji Juice, they would have taken us up on our offer several weeks ago to bring their film crew to our Corporate Office in Phoenix, see our facilities and people, and do an “on-camera” interview with us. Indeed, in our communications with the television station, we reminded them that their own professional standards required them to interview the company and that we were requesting such an interview to ensure the accuracy of any statements about FreeLife, its product, or Dr. Mindell. Why they declined our written invitation, we may never know. We also find it unfortunate that a television program that claims to be an advocate for consumers would so mislead the public in an attempt to discredit a product that has helped hundreds of thousands of people around the world to enjoy better health. Had the television program taken us up on our offer to communicate directly with us, here is what they would have learned:

Dr. Mindell is a pioneer in the nutrition industry and is considered by many as the father of the nutritional revolution. As with many pioneers, he has been subjected to much scorn and ridicule throughout his professional career. For example, 30 years ago, he was mocked for suggesting that every person supplement their diet with vitamins. Today, the American Medical Association agrees with Dr. Mindell and recommends that all Americans supplement their diet with a daily multivitamin. That’s what a visionary does.

Dr. Mindell received his pharmacy degree from North Dakota State University in 1963. In his 30s while raising a family and working full-time, Dr. Mindell furthered his education and received a Ph.D. in nutrition taking part-time classes from Pacific Western University, a California Accredited Educational Institution and one of the only schools in the country that offered PhDs in nutrition at that time!

The media attention that FreeLife, Himalayan Goji Juice, and the goji berry have received over the past year has been incredible. This year, TIME magazine called the Himalayan Goji Berry the “Super Fruit of the Year” and a few days after that, Himalayan Goji Juice was positively featured on the TODAY show in the United States. This week, Woman’s World magazine featured the goji berry with a fantastic article:
“Chinese Miracle Berries for Perfect Health.” “Move Over Blueberries. The New Super Fruit? Goji berries, used by Chinese herbalists for over 6,000 years known as the ‘herb of longevity.’”
FreeLife’s Himalayan Goji Juice has experienced an unprecedented level of acceptance and passion throughout the world. We have hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers who benefit from Himalayan Goji Juice and purchase it month after month after month.

There is an extensive history of independent research on the goji berry proving its benefits. Consumers interested in educating themselves should log on to www.pubmed.gov and type in “Lycium barbarum” the Latin name for the goji berry. This is a United States government sponsored website that provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date research regarding scientific studies. As of today, you will find 79 studies on the goji berry, including 12 new ones published this year alone. The 79th study was just posted this week.

The renowned Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York has a page devoted to the goji berry which you can view at: http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69287.cfm.

The vast majority of studies on goji, including the 79 peer reviewed scientific studies you will find on pubmed.gov, relate to the research on goji’s unique polysaccharides named LBP-1, LBP-2, LBP-3 and LPB-4. These polysaccharides, not yet found in any other plant on earth, are what make goji unique and the biggest breakthrough in nutrition that Dr. Mindell has seen in 40 years. They are, by far, the most beneficial component of the goji berry. Knowing this, Dr. Mindell and his research team developed our trade secret, a proprietary manufacturing process that maximizes and standardizes the polysaccharide level in every bottle of Himalayan Goji Juice. That is why our customers get better results with Himalayan Goji Juice than with any other goji product on the market.

Interestingly, we had learned that the Canadian television station was testing our Himalayan Goji Juice for several ingredients like protein and beta carotene. We showed them that we never claimed or advertised high protein or beta carotene content in Himalayan Goji Juice. While there are trace amounts of numerous other ingredients, we informed the television program that they were misguided and should be testing for goji’s unique polysaccharides. As with much of their story, their report on the test results of our product was 100% misleading. It would be like testing an orange for its iron content and then concluding that an orange has no nutritional value because it has little to no iron. We all know that nobody consumes oranges because of their iron content—people eat oranges because they are loaded with vitamin C.
We have developed a Spectral Signature to ensure that every bottle of Himalayan Goji Juice is packed with goji’s unique health-promoting polysaccharides. It is your guarantee of potency, purity, and authenticity in every bottle. If the Canadian television station had tested our product for polysaccharides, they would have identified an abundance of the most important health-promoting ingredient in the goji berry. For customers looking for high protein or lots of beta carotene, we recommend saving some money and eating a lean piece of chicken with a carrot.

FreeLife offers a 90-day, no-questions-asked, 100% unconditional money-back guarantee to all of its customers, even if the entire bottle has been completely finished.

Obviously Freelife is about making money, which explains why there is so much hype. I am happy with the response given by Freelife and because of how I feel Goji Juice has affected me and other people, be it placebo or the real thing. I will continue to drink it, learn more about it and tell people about it.

Glenn

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