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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

EARTH DAY AND THE BRAIN CATASTROPHE

Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year.

                                          Earth Day Flag

What can we do to make the earth, our home, a better place for all of us? There's lots of things to choose from but here's today's thoughts:

Read a book to gain some knowledge on a subject affecting the earth. It can be fiction or nonfiction but knowledge is power and enables you to make informed decisions. Choose one area of the environment that is endangered by forces trying to destroy it that interests you. Here are a few:

Wildlife preservation
Water pollution
Water wars
Nuclear disasters
Global warming
Preservation of earth's resources
Clean energy

Go to Amazon.com or other online book site and enter your choice into the search section. See what comes up. Many books are extremely inexpensive – from free to 99 cents.

Only about 10% of people read one book per year. And a recent study shows that reading is one way to ward off alzheimer's and dementia! Watching TV and movies are relaxing and entertaining, even informative, but these do not stimulate the brain the same way reading does.

So, why don't we read more? My guess is that there is so much going on in today's world the the time slips away into children, work, sports, and entertainment without us noticing. I'm just as busy as everyone else yet I manage to read several books a week, still work, and continue to have fun. How? I load the books onto my smartphone. There are free apps for smartphones which enable them to download Kindle books, Barnes and Noble, and all other types of Ebooks. Then, when I have spare minutes - before I fall asleep, or wake up in the middle of the night, I reach for my phone. The phone is lit when it is on (no bedlight required) and reading is always at close reach and not disturbing to anyone else. When you are stuck in the waiting room on an appointment, picking up the kids, have a client who is late you can read on the phone. The text can be made large or small so you probably don't even need reading glasses.

You control the unwinding of the story. It is always there for you waiting to draw you further in. If you leave the tale in an exciting moment you will want to get back to see what has happened. If you run into a boring patch – skim through it. I loved “The Life of Pi”, especially the observations that the animals actually like being in a zoo. To animals, lack of change represents safety and they choose safety with food and shelter over excitement. (Maybe most of us do). But the religious philosophical portions did not catch my attention. Those pages got a few seconds each until I got back to the part of the story I enjoyed. Sure, some books are just not readable. But the majority have interesting parts that enrich our knowledge base.
Besides reading to increase your knowledge of the world and make you better prepared (a prepper) here are some other choices for Earth Day:

Make a recycle commitment
Make a clean power commitment
Buy something organic (or grow it)
Make a charitable donation (doesn't have to be big) Try Global Giving for some ideas
Be nice to another person

HAVE A HAPPY EARTH DAY!
We are all in this together for the long run

#Betrayal, a nuclear fiction novel of survival”, is on sale thru Sunday for Earth Week Celebration

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