Water is not my favourite drink but when I am really thirsty, it does quench my thirst. Most of my life, I was not much of a water person, swimming is not my strength and either is drinking water.  Perhaps it is tradition? Most of the women in my family don't drink too much water, I can't recall any of my aunties or my grandma drinking more than 2 glasses a day. I tried to drink more but most of the time, the day goes on and I end up not drinking more than 2 cups. We were told that to drink 8 glasses a day is a healthy routine. When did this happened? I don't think it is true for certain people. What about body size? Water in food intake and other drinks? What if I am not thirsty? Well, I found evidence that displays some interesting truths about water. I think it will be helpful to share.

How much should one drink?  

Most people do not need 8 glasses a day. In a study done by Heinz Valtin (Kidney specialist & prof) did a study about the 8 glasses a day idea and found no support for it. A register nurse says "It depends on your size and activity level." One thing we can use to see is our urine. She said that if our urine is light lemon colour, it means that we are well hydrated so check it out.

Does other drinks count?

Yes, soda, milk, juice, coffee, tea. A study conducted by the center for human nutrition in 2000 found that subjects that were given water or a combination of liquid and no matter what they drunk, they were well hydrated. Well hydrated yes but as for health..I would conclude HUMMM..
There is water in food too so that definitely counts. "Fruits and vegetables can be up to 95% percent water". Plus nutritionist estimate that 2 to 3 cups of water comes from food in a day.

Can we drink too much?

Possible but unlikely. In a healthy moderately active person, Valtin says that "the body's water balance system is so sensitive and accurate that water intoxication is highly unlikely".

Is tap water safe?

The magazine quoted U.S facts saying it is safe 9/10 public water systems meet the federal heath standards according to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The director of the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina in Asheville says that "the quality of water varies depending on its source, treatment, and delivery system as well as plumbing it flows through".

For local water reports

Filter or no filter?

Yes, if your water has lead, arsenic or other contamination. Have your water tested for backup and just in case. Here is a water filter site NSF

Is bottle water better?

Most likely not says the author of NRDC study that tested more than 100 brands of bottle water over four years. "Safety standards for bottled water is similar to those the EPA sets for tap water, enforcement is lacking." EEK, in 1/3 of waters tested in 1997-2000, the EPA found contaminants in levels not safe for drinking. Also despite what the bottle says it doesn't guarantee that spring water is actually come from a spring. The NRDC & Consumers Union estimates that at least a quarter of bottled water is simply tap water. If you like drinking bottled water, pick a brand that belong to the international bottled water association which require companies to meet gov't standards.(Arrowhead, Dannon, Evian, Perrier..etc)

Does temperatures matter?

In a study, cold, warm, hot water was given to athletes before and after a strenuous workout and they found out that water had no effect on the subject's endurance or hydration level. As for temperatures from the tap, it is best to let it run for at least 1 minute before drinking from tap water. Hot water from the tap pulls more lead from the pipes than cold water - lead levels are highest in water that's been sitting in pipes. Plus warm water breeds bacterias!

Bad water?

Water can go bad when it is sitting for a long time so be sure to not drink water that has been sitting around. Do frequently change your pets water. We all want to drink fresh water including our critter friends. Make sure to wash out your water bottles! Use hot water and soap to clean. In addition, place the water bottle in a dark, cool place since heat and light can damage the container.

References:

Real Simple

The International Bottled Water Association

Water testing - Underwriters Laboratories

Home test kit PurTest & Watersafe

The Water Quality Association

When any problems arises, I find that we like to go play dodge ball, escape from being hit in the face or anywhere of pain or troubles of dealing with it. We eat, drink, smoke, or buy our mind away from the core of our solution. We sugar coat things and cover it up until, we believe that it is the truth and we can not change, the circumstance is our karma and our real way is far away. But does sugar coating a good solution? The problem eventually will catch up and come back to us circling around until we make choices that will end the spinning.

I just read an powerful article about the state our home planet with David Suzuki and Swami Sivananda. Even DS isn't too optimistic about the future of the planet. He says that what we are facing is at a scale that is "well beyond anything that we had been involved with in the past." We are acting too slowly? What can we do?

They talked about evolution and man's ability to "foresight" natural disasters and preventing them. Humans are inventive, intelligent and have the ability to realize that the future can be affected by the present. In the past, when we believe a drought was soon to come, we would prepared and put grains away. The human race has survived and grown to become the dominant animal on the planet because of foresight. The future depends on "Foresight." Why is it now that we have lost our foresight in modern times? With increased of scientist, engineers with the masses of computers and global telecommunication, we are still in a dream? When Hurricane Katrina came, we knew and we waited. We had warnings but still, there were lots of suffering, pain, injuries, and death. If we can prevent, would we? There were other hurricanes to come and it seems to increase each year. Perhaps, we can make good scientific guesses to why climate is chaotic?

DS said that people have to lived "within what anthropologists call the worldview". We have to know that everything is connected to everything and there is full significance and repercussions. That reminds me of grandma's words to finishing all food on my plate. As I child, I could not understand the full meaning but only if the food was good, it was gone in my tummy and if it was not my taste, it was a task of a million chews but no swallows. It is until a Dharma talk in Canada that I realized the full connection between the food on my plate and all the conditions and connections that allow food to be on my plate from the seed to soil, to water to sunshine, to nurture and care to farmer, to merchant to store to home to plate. There were so many factors before the food was able to be on my plate. There are many invisible threads that we often forget about. Have we lost the power to see that the planet and ourselves are a single entity? "We've moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life, that if the economy is strong we can afford garbage collection and sewage disposal and fresh food and water and electricity. We go through life thinking that money is the key to having whatever we want, without regard to what it does to the rest of the world."

A sour feeling of a lemon lingered up to my throat. My eyes felt irritable uncomfortable and there was tightness in my heart. "With literally hundreds of thousands of species going extinct in a lifetime - over 90% big fish.." and already added 32% more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than 150 years ago. There isn't any way we can sugarcoat the reality.. " But people are on a sugar high. Bigger disasters will happen no doubt if we keep this up. Our way of living, thinking and the way we treat our animals, species, environment and ourselves. We are not living in a igloo.

David Suzuki joined the board of a UN - sponsored group called the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. "A largest study of the ecosystem of the planet involving 1300 scientists from 71 countries in the world was completed and released in March 2005 and it was the third page of the Globe and Mail." And when the Pope was in hospital, it was pushed off the news. The report was in the paper for ONLY A DAY! For me, there is a great sense of sadness because our element of foresight is so far from us :( People are more attracted to gossip, entertainment, and trivial media things than what is happening with our place of living we called Earth. EARTH = Species = Mankind = Future Generations = Animals = Environment = Air we breath, Water we drink = More Natural disasters = Diseases = Suffering = Pain = Deaths = No me talking to you or You sharing meaningful ideas or Family or Children or Friends or Life.

Swami Sivananda mentioned about a hearing in Alaska in the 1980s and this Eighty year old Inupiaq woman stood up and spoke her thoughts. She is a hero. She said, "It's really too bad that the young people today can't learn from their elders, because if they can't learn from their elders the only other teacher is Nature. And Nature is a very, very severe teacher." I just laugh out loud as I read this. I guess I was laughing at the intelligent of mankind for being the dominant animal on the planet yet the stupidest specie on the planet.

DS talked about his role on TV and how it was a medium for him to communicate science to people and how he was the translator for the public. He thought then that the public would be empowered to act on that.

SS "Did that happen?"

DS: "To my amazement that didn't happen at all." To his surprise, television was a great medium for communication but in another way, it provided lots of gaps for distractions. People can take food breaks, washroom breaks, kid breaks, dog breaks etc. And info is absorbed in bits and pieces.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What do we want your country to be by the year 2030? - A generation from now?

Do we want our country where the air is free of chemicals and we don't have epidemic levels of asthma?

Do we want us to be able to drink the water out of our rivers or lakes?

Perhaps Television gives us too much freedom, when we have too much of anything, there is lack of gratitude, respect, and appreciation. Think about it, there is Only One Earth. You Are One Life, and "The Greatest Power that we have as humans is the Power of Choice." We need to lightening our impact on nature. It begins with US, our way of living, our home, our way of transportation, our vehicles, our food, our products we buy, and our choices.

It was a windswept day, the trees were waving and hairs were flying but with clear skies and sunshine, Ryan and I walked to a neighborhood cafe called "Weeds." It was a community cafe where had his coffee and I enjoyed a great article with David Suzuki and Swami Sivananda in my reading of "Ascent" magazine.

This Could save you.

The David Suzuki Foundation has researched the 10 most effective ways we can help conserve nature and improve our quality of life.

1. Reduce home energy use by 10%.

2. Choose an energy-efficient home & appliances.

3. Don't use pesticides.

4. Eat meat - free meals one day a week

5. Buy locally grown and produced food.

6. Choose a fuel - efficient vehicle.

7. Choose a home close to work or school.

8. Walk, bike, carpool or take transit.

9. Support alternative transportation.

10. Learn more and share with others.

Empowerment is about Self Empowerment, we are the change, we are the force of change. If we want change, do not expect it from others. Like what Gandhi says, "We've got to be the change we want."

INFO:

Nature Challenge

Climate Change

RetScreen International - clean energy decision support centre

Ryan went to visit his folks at Lacombe so Ms.Flo and I got some quiet times together. It felt a bit different knowing that when I came home, only kitty was home. I ended up watching Hitchcock movie "The disappearing lady". An older productions of Hitchcock which was not as suspenseful as his works in the 60s, 70s. It had some comedy in it so a fresh kind of element for me.

Saturday, I had the whole day plan to go out and check out sewing machines but ended up cleaning the bathroom and kitchen and then spending the entire day reading! It has been awhile that I read for a whole day. I continue with my book "The Time Traveller's Wife". A mix of present past moments for the characters involved and at first, it threw me off as the characters were this age and that age or the same person at an age with the same person at a different age but in the same moment of the present. The thought of going back in time and meeting my past self.Wouldn't that be interesting but the thought of being naked and having the hassle to look for clothes, food and locate my bearings would be stressful. I wonder what would happen if people see a naked person in the street in your neighborhood? Scream? Locate the the police nearby? Be scare? Smile? Be amused? Be curious? 

I don't exactly know how I would react but I would like to be curious and imagine good reasons why that person is naked. I imagine there could be many surprises and responds from the viewer but I bet that naked person is more stressful and fearful than his audiences. Perhaps that is one reason why E.T should have remain hidden?

To travel into someone's life and discover the different side of them is a new discovery. All their experiences, their happy moments, their sad, the neural, their pain. I guess seeing their weakness and strengths binds us closer with them because we see ourselves in them. We are human because we understand and can share our same inside with others, our happy, sad, joy, anger or frustrated moments. Sharing releases freedom inside allowing spaces to breath and spaces to imagine spontaneous possibilities of a better individual, better community, better society, better world. We feel less disconnected when we share.

Sharing sometimes does not come easily done in a package with a pretty bow on top. There could be massive of masking tapes layered and wrapped tightly around the box so we have to be productive and creative in our ways of unwrapping the box. If we are too eager, we might damage the package.

In my experience, I found that "the disappearing trick" does bring people together a little if not more. Spaces apart does something to us. After a period of time, we start to appreciate or value our good times with them. Time heals because time allows us to see a more clearer and wider picture of the truth. (Well, if our conditions bring us to that moment). Time gives us longer moments to look into our circumstances instead of reactions. Over time, we learn, we cope, we arrive to a new way of thinking and a new way of living. It would be great to time travel to our success point or our happy moments but without the other moments, we would have lost half the core of our experiences because the understanding validated by all the experiences become half empty of understanding. Perhaps that is one of our reasons for experiencing life and experiencing death? Could it be our journey to understanding?

Next time we pass by a homeless person, perhaps offer some food or exchange a smile or a conversation. If we could time travel to the many experiences in their lives, we would see things different. Bananas, bus tickets, smiles, conversations, understandings, connections are great things to share.

Oops! I did so much sharing that I missed my bus to meet Ryan at the Bus Station. But it is okay, he is safely home now. Thanks for sharing your time with me. Cheerios.