Besides my friends at CityFresh and Coit Rd I can’t think of many people working on this in my neighborhood. Is yours any different?

The urban “food desert,” a neighborhood in which residents typically must travel twice as far to reach the closest supermarket or other mainstream grocer as people in better appointed neighborhoods, is not just a problem of social or economic justice; it’s about public health as well. Faced with a lengthy trek to stock the kitchen with fresh food, many residents of food deserts instead rely on “fringe” retailers — convenience stores, liquor stores, gas stations, and drug stores — to provide basic food items. The result is a serious nutrition gap between those who live in areas of plenty and those who lack access to the basics. And poor nutrition leads to poor health and premature death….

WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: How to Fertilize Urban Food Deserts

An email from Mati:

Hi, George - this wasn’t in this week’s CC, so I’m hoping you can blog/calendar it.

Eight women tell powerful birth stories of choice and coercion, joy and regret, empowerment and disillusion.

The play is awesome and I’m proud to be embodying one of the real women whose story was selected from over a hundred interviewed by the playwright.

This single performance, one of 35 presented throughout the country and the world as part of the BOLD (Birth on Labor Day) initiative, is a benefit for the Ohio Midwives’ Alliance. As many of you know, the midwifery model of care offers better outcomes with fewer injuries and greater satisfaction for mothers at a lower cost than conventional obstetric care, yet American midwives still attend far fewer births than their European counterparts.

If you’d like to see more mother- and baby-friendly birth care in the United States - come be inspired to speak out for normal birth. There will be a talk-back session afterwards and I’d love to see you all there!

BIRTH…
a play by Karen Brody

gather your girlfriends, daughters and mothers to join you for the BOLD (Birth On Labor Day) experience!

Saturday, September 29th
7:00 pm
Lakewood Masonic Hall Ballroom
15300 Detroit Ave
Lakewood, OH 44107
www.lakewoodmasonic foundation.org/findus/ htm

“Birth on Labor Day is an exciting, uplifting, and empowering answer to our nation’s childbirth crisis.”

Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Mother-Daughter Wisdom, The Wisdom of Menopause and Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

Tickets:
$12 - advance
$15 - at the door

http://www.birthonlaborday.com/

Something to be conscious of:

Our homes serve as sanctuaries in which we are protected from what is potentially harmful. If we are not careful, however, we can inadvertently surround ourselves with substances that can be toxic to our bodies. It is precisely because we rely on our private spaces to serve as refuges from the world that we must exercise great care when choosing how we build, furnish, cleanse, and decorate our homes. Here are some suggestions for creating a healthier home:

1. Be a conscious consumer. If you buy products that contain wholesome, organic, and inert components, you will avoid most common household toxins. Read labels.

2. Your spaces will be as healthy as they are clean when you use natural cleansers and detergents. Almost everything in the home can be cleaned and disinfected using varying combinations of baking soda, vinegar, salt, tea tree oil, herbs, and gentle castile soap. Organic cotton slipcovers can be washed regularly to keep dust mites at bay and to keep us from close contact with furniture that may be off-gassing toxins.

3. Plants clean and add oxygen to the air you breathe when you place them in your personal spaces. Two plants in each room of your dwelling will rid the air of toxins and pollutants while balancing indoor humidity levels. Air purifiers are an easy way to have clean air and are especially useful in a bedroom. Try and clean your air ducts and furnace and change filters regularly…

DailyOM - Nine Ways To Have A Healthier Home

Wow. Glad you’re OK, Tim.

From Brian:

we are told not to jump to conclusions about immigrants or those with a mental illness after the shootings at Virginia Tech. Well, maybe I am jaded or just wiser, but I believe there will be some big changes for mentally ill people. When the United States acts in haste in response to a national tragedy, civil rights usually go out the window. From World War II and the Japanese American forced into concentration camps to the stomping on privacy and individual liberty in the name of fighting terrorism today, we often go overboard with our answer to a crisis.

Are we going to build a bunch of asylums? Are we going to confine people to extended stays in the hospital against their will? Are we going to force people to take medicine against their will? Or are we going to build forced labor camps for immigrants or those bipolar folks in our community? I know that we are not going to provide health care and housing for our citizens, and everything short of that will just make their lives miserable…

clevelandhomeless: The Mentally Ill are Going to Take A Hit