Ecotistic Magazine Issue 3

STAFF BOX

ISSUE #3

SAN DIEGO BIRDING

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Publisher Beau A. Odom Associate Publisher Mike Dial Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Odom Associate Editor George Duenas

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FRIENDS OF BALBOA PARK

Art Director Ian Ruz Advisory Board: Mike Dial Heinz R. Gisel Jennifer Dial Contributors: Heinz R. Gisel Lance Rogers Bahareh Urban Farmer Randy Villarba Tiffany Janay Jaime Schwartz Aaron Evans George & Antoinette Duenas Jennifer Dial Esther Rubio-Sheffrey Marc Emmelmann Jeffrey Von Stetten Advertising Sales Reps: Beau A. Odom Tiffany Janay Heather Phillips Richard Huerta

CLIMATE CHANGE

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TASTE OF SUMMER

I’M DOING GREAT

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16 DREAMS FOR CHANGE

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Distribution/Subscriptions: Print Media Resources information@printmediaresources.com Contact info: Publisher: info@ecotisticmag.com Art/Design/Web: ian@ecotisticmag.com Editorial submission: submit@ecotisticmag.com © 2012. ECOTISTIC Magazine.

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VEGWARE

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TO BE OR NOT TO BE VEGETARIAN?

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YOGA

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HEALTH COACH

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Publisher’s Letters By: Beau A. Odom Thank you for joining us once again for the third issue of Ecotistic Magazine! We are excited to be able to provide this valuable information to you with another great issue.

We had a GREAT time at this year’s Earth Day at Balboa Park and met so many amazing people. We were also overwhelmed by the positive response to our new magazine. It charges our batteries when readers make a point to let us know how much they enjoy it, especially when they are telling us they learned something from our pages that has positively affected their lives! So even though most of the people we met were thanking us for putting out this magazine, we feel like it is us who should THANK YOU for reading it and allowing us into your lives!

Last month, we were also lucky enough to be included as a sponsor for the Dr. Bronner’s event at their Escondido facility for World Fair Trade Day, with all proceeds from the event going to www. fairworldproject.org, and had an amazing time!

It was great to mingle with so many likeminded individuals. The music and activities were a great way to spend a Saturday with the family and learn about fair trade and sustainable products and services. You can read more about it on my blog @ www.ecotisticmag.com The events will be held monthly throughout the summer and the next one is scheduled for June 2nd to kick off Hemp History Week here in San Diego.

Learn more at www.hemphistoryweek.com

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By: Mike Dial The future of California’s agriculture is in our hands. When I was a kid, there were over 10,000 people moving to California every week because of jobs, good food, and the sunshine. They moved here so fast that we had a housing shortage, so we put up tract housing where farmland was. We had lots of money and jobs, so who needed farms next door to a new house. Eventually, we pushed all the farms away.

All the small and big farms in the town I grew up in are gone, push down the road, out of site and out of mind. The big housing boom of the ‘70s had a draw to it, lots of work and lots of money. I left the farm to put up houses and to cash in on this big housing boom. At first, it was like a new gold rush. Then, it was the same as the old gold rush. A few made a lot and the rest worked themselves to death. As for me, it almost killed me.

You see, when I left the farm, I was young. I saw the money that everyone was making, but that was all I could see. I left so fast I forgot to take my heart. I made money, I spent money, and I was knee-deep in all of it. Money, work, stress, you name it; I was full on running the rat race. Then one day, someone who loves me told me I should stop doing what I hated and go back to what I loved. A long story made short, I went back to the farm where I left my heart, and back to what I love, not for the love of money, but for my wife, my life, and the love of homemade milk and honey in this beautiful state of California. This is where I was born and I am very proud of that, but as a young man I do not think I did what was right for California or myself. I was young and could not see what we were doing to our state. Now I drive by empty homes with “For Sale” signs where farms used to be, while the people get to go back to where they came from. I feel bad that it did not work out for them, but not as bad as I feel about losing our farmland. This is the only state where people move to get rich, not for life, but money, and then they leave.

For over 100 years or so, the heirs of the gold rush have plundered and poisoned California’s rich farmland, and now they’re mining subdivisions. They will fix them up and wait for the next rush of people; they will always come back. We joke about California falling

into the Pacific Ocean; it will not be long before the joke is not funny. As the U.S. leading farm state, this would mean a loss of over a quarter of the nation’s table crops. The sad thing is that we may lose this bounty of crops without even a seismic disaster. The future of California’s farming lies in its history, when we have used its farmland.

It was written in the 1900s by novelist Frank Norris that Californians worked their land like the mines that had drawn them to the Golden State.

They had not come to settle, but to get rich and move on. Farmland soil was meant to turn a profit, and, he predicted, when at last, the land…would refuse to yield, they would invest their money in something else. By then, they would all have made fortunes. It was ingenuity and capital that turned California into the world’s greatest food and fiber factory ever known. California’s agriculture, of course, resembled farming about as much as a Ford assembly plant resembled a crofter’s cottage. Then as now, agriculture was considered an industry, no longer a way of life. We have replaced the suffix “culture with business”. Thomas Jefferson dreamt about a democratic nation built upon the labor of small-scale farmers scattered on the rocky spine of the Sierra Nevada down thru the valleys to the Pacific Ocean.

After the great depression ended, thousands of hardworking California farmers were thrown off their land, adding to the hundreds of thousands of landless immigrants from the midwestern Dust Bowl. The big corporations had come to California. By 1936, the Transamerica Corporation alone had acquired over 2,642 farms, totaling more than half a million acres. So now the gold was all mined up and they were taking their profits and pushing small-scale farmers out. Soil produces the highest returns, like real

estate, but for who? California agriculture adds $12 to $20 billion to our economy annually. At this time, we shouldn’t let the fresh food in our backyards be taken from us. All we have done to move water up and over hills, the hard work, tax money, men’s lives, the miracles of production and technical aspects; we have accomplished all that as Californians.

Unfortunately, farming is on its way out. Farms will be replaced with big housing developments and malls. There are more new cities scheduled.

They will require increasing shares of the water we do not have, so they will take it from our farms. So in the inevitable drought, they will override all other priorities, just like they are doing with our parks. In doing so, they will finish off what remains of our state’s fish, game, wildlife and orchards.

Let’s save our small-scale farms before it is too late. Here are some key points about locally grown food. Local is fresher, tastier, and it connects us to our food chain. And when we support local family farms, it helps preserve our open spaces, it keeps our money here helping the local economy, and it builds community. It was not too long ago when about 85% of our food came from no more than a 100 miles from our homes.

These days, 95% of it is shipped from distant farms often more than 3,000 miles away. And yes, some transportation of food is necessary.

During these times, it is not smart to be so dependent on this global delivery of our food network. I know that every time you read the words I put down on paper, I will some how say we need to support our local farms. You would think that they’d have it made by now. True farmers do not make a lot. The good ones do not do it for money; they do it for life, theirs and yours. And the money they earn with hard work will go to buy local goods and services. When we save our small-scale farms, we save money, help the environment, preserve the character and the beauty of our community and the great state of California. But we do need to watch out for the ones who see this movement as a way to cash in (like the gold rush) on keywords like Locally Grown, Grown Green, Natural Food, and lets not forget the word “Organic” – this is one of the most misused words out there.

If we are going to fix the food network, we do not want the wrong producers in our local food network. If some producer of food is doing a bad job, it is still going to be “bad food”. It’s bad for us and our local environment and it’s our job to clean it up. No one but us can do it. We cannot trust that keywords are always used with good intentions; we need to have firsthand knowledge. It may seem like a lot of work to do some research on how your food is grown and who is growing it, but if you think the USDA will take care of it for us, remember, they are the ones who say a slice of pizza is a whole food for our kids. If you think about how much research we put into most of our big purchases, like cars, computers, homes and toys, why aren’t we putting that much effort into our food? We should all have a self-awareness of the food we eat, think about it.

The amount of money you will spend on food in a lifetime is a lot more than any car or house. Let me know if I can help you help us get the word out.

As always, what the hell do I know anyway, I am just an old farmer.

Thank you for hanging in there with me, The Bio-Farmer, Mike Dial

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Photo: 613 Photography

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Friends of Balboa Park, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Balboa Park for future generations participated in National Arbor Day on April 27 with the planting of all 16 trees within the iconic Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Approximately 300 students from Albert Einstein Academy, City Tree Christian School and San Diego High School’s Garden Club attended the tree planting and received live California Oak Saplings.

Children, donors, dignitaries and friends of the park all assisted in the final stages of the planting, shoveling dirt to surround the trees’ roots, stabilizing the trees in their new home. California State Assembly Member Toni Atkins and San Diego City Councilmember Todd Gloria were on hand to help place the final trees that morning. The trees replaced the 20-year-old Honey Locus Trees that were ridden with termites and failed to reach maturity.

For more information on Friends of Balboa Park: http://friendsofbalboapark.org/.

By: Marc Emmelmann California Quail. Black-necked Stilt. Reddish Egret. Yellow-breasted Chat. Prothonotary Warbler. These unique beautiful birds represent a sampling of the wide variety of birds living in San Diego. Did you know that San Diego County is a well-known national birding hotspot, even dubbed one of the “birdiest” counties in the US? It’s true. North County is essentially the premium birding area in San Diego. Unfortunately, it also has more rare, threatened, and endangered species than any similarly sized area of the US. An estimated 500 species of birds “live” in San Diego. Like people who “live” in San Diego, some are summer visitors, winter visitors, and some are just vagrant.

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And of course, some live here yearlong and breed in the county regularly. All word-play aside, wouldn’t you like to know how to get birding in San Diego?

A great place to start your birding education is the San Diego Audubon Society – a wonderful social-profit organization whose mission includes the protection of birds, other wildlife, and their habitats. It is no wonder they offer unique workshops to help you turn your backyard into a bird haven and participate in and plan vital coastal cleanups in San Diego. They also offer a host of field trips and produce the annual bird festival

(YES, there is a San Diego Bird Festival!) and they have a pretty active Facebook page featuring superb photos and birding news, too! Free field trips are also offered by the Audubon Society – feel free to contact Rich Breish at 858-278-6280 for more information. Don’t forget to take a few moments and get connected at www.SanDiegoAudubon.org or www.Facebook.com/sdaudubon.

Thanks to the Audubon Society, there is a resource of birding destinations documented and available to the public. The first thing to remember about birding is that it is a multi-sensory experience. You’ll be “listening to” not just “looking at” birds. Can you recall a time when your ears were filled with nothing but melodies of bird songs and calling? As you prepare to engage your senses,

Batiquitos Lagoon – From I-5, go east on Poinsettia Lane, turn right on Batiquitos Dr., and turn right on Gabbiano Lane. Take a look out over the lagoon and see diving ducks, grebes, and, if you are lucky, snowy plovers. A visitor center is located near the western edge of the trail.

San Dieguito River Park – I-5 east to Via de la Valle. Take right onto San Andreas Dr. and simply park along the road. This wetland has a spectrum of shorebirds and water fowl, as well as an abundance of upland birds in the sage scrub along the trails to take a gander at.

Birding Tips – 1) Leave your pets at home and stay on designated trails because rattlesnakes in San Diego can pose a serious risk. 2) Bring a camera and share your photos with friends and family and even start your own San Diego birding Pinterest board! 3) Keep an eye and ear open for other wildlife, including butterflies, rabbits, coyotes, dolphins, or seals! 4) Stay hydrated and take healthy snacks to munch on. 5) Bring a bird identification guide. let’s take a look at some select hotspots for birding as well as some birding tips!

Buddy Todd Park – From I-5, take Mission Ave. east to Mesa Dr. Turn south on Mesa and continue two miles to Buddy Todd Park. Take it easy at this hilltop urban park with tall pines and eucalyptus, which is known for red crossbills, Clark’s nutcrackers, and nuthatches.

San Luis Rey River Trail – From I-5, take Hwy 76 east. Turn north on Benet Rd., Foussat Rd., Douglas Dr., College Blvd., or N. Santa Fe Ave. to access the trail. Buchanan City Park on College Blvd. has restrooms and picnic tables. Get ready to trek (bikes allowed) on this 9-mile trail with occasional views of the San Luis Rey River. This area is known for raptors, warblers, flycatchers, chats, Swainson’s thrush, and wrens.

While compiling this list of birding tidbits, I became excited at the prospect of getting out into nature more. While Apple continues to wow us with new gadgets, doohickeys, and thingamajigs, don’t forget the un-manmade beauties that were here first. I am unabashed to acknowledge that I’ve been less than impressed with nature the past four years living in San Diego, but I take full responsibility for dismissing its sprawling splendor. I think I simply forgot how brilliant and stunning nature can be due to the oversaturation of technological distractions. Perhaps you’ve been missing out, too. Oh well, live and learn. Well, I’m off to the lagoons, canyons, and hillsides of San Diego for some birding fun and the bonus of complimentary vitamin D; won’t you join me?

For a complete list of birding sites, visit www.sandiegoaudubon.org/birding/local-birding-site and consider joining or contributing to their mission!

Cli·mate, noun, \’kli-mǝt\: (3) the prevailing influence or environmental conditions characterizing of a group or period.

Change, transitive verb, \’chānj\: (1)(b): to make radically different.

GLOBAL – BULLFIGHTING IN SPAIN Bullfighting as a tradition really defies characterization. It is not really a sport unless one would characterize Russian roulette as a sport. In both activities, one could argue that the player is competing against himself, or perhaps competing against death. Cheating death, however, is not typically considered a competitive sport.

Most bullfighting fans or “aficionados” claim that it is an art form, a form of dance between the matador and the bull.

As Ernest Hemingway famously wrote, “Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter’s honour,” (Death in the Afternoon, 1932). It cannot be denied that bullfighting has created rich cultural traditions from Barcelona to Oman.

However, it also cannot be denied that bullfighting revolves around sadistic cruelty to animals; bulls and horses. Prior to being stabbed to death, the bull is tortured for a significant period of time. A more prolonged period of torture makes 10 | ECOTISTICMAG.COM

for better entertainment for the spectators. Horses are collateral damage. If a horse is gorged in the stomach by a bull, it dies an agonizing death.

If bullfighting is to be considered an art form, it is the only art in which torture and death is the medium.

If bullfighting is an art, then Sadism is as well.

Despite its supporters, public opinion of bullfighting has changed in recent years. In 2003, a Sports Marketing Group poll found that 46.2% of Americans hated or strongly disliked the activity. (Interestingly, we hate dog-fighting even more - at 81%) As a result of this change in public perception, many countries have banned bullfighting altogether. California has a ban. However, “bloodless” bullfights are apparently still popular in San Joaquin County.

In 2006, several cities in Spain declared themselves to be “Anti-Bullfighting” cities. The declarations were symbolic only and the cities lacked the power to stop the activities. However, on January 1, 2012, a prohibition went into effect in the Catalonia region, including Barcelona, effectively ending all fights.

In reaction to the Catalonia ban, many cities throughout Europe and South America have declared their fervent support for the fights. Most recently, Seville proclaimed its support. Bullfighting fans claim that bullfighting is a matter of “cultural patrimony” that should not be taken away by decree.

With all due respect to the supporters in these countries, traditions that involve the torture and prolonged killing of animals are not honorable traditions and should not be supported by the government. Those who enjoy watching these activities, especially children, are more likely to commit violence towards other people.

LOCAL – BULLFIGHTING IN TIJUANA Despite the bans in other parts of the world, bullfighting is prevalent in Mexico.

As most San Diegans know, the largest bullfighting arena in the region is located just 60 meters from the San Diego international border fence. It is literally a stone’s throw away.

The Plaza Monumental de Toros or “Bullring by the Sea” opened in 1960 and holds 20,000 people. According to its website, the next bullfight will occur on May 29th at 4:00 pm. Several bulls will be killed by matadors Uriel “El Zapata” Moreno, Pedro “El Capea” Gutierrez, and Jose Mauricio.

The singer Pitbull will have played there the week before. In the event that you wish to support the local culture in Tijuana, may I suggest choosing the Pitbull event over the bullfight. It is my understanding that no animals are harmed during the concert.

Lance Rogers is a local civil rights attorney. In addition to state and federal criminal cases, Mr. Rogers handles civil litigation matters, asset forfeiture proceedings, and immigration consequences resulting from criminal proceedings.

Mr. Rogers received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego and his Juris Doctor from California Western School of Law. He is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association, and the Hemp Industries Association. Mr. Rogers is an Adjunct Faculty Member at California Western School of Law.

Restaurants and Sustainability Planning: Modeling a Comprehensive Approach At its heart, the so-called “sustainability movement” is about how and what we consume, and nothing we consume has a more immediately tangible impact than the food we eat. Eating is the most obvious form of consumption, and it is the only form of consumption that everybody in the world participates in. In short, food and sustainability go hand in hand, and food is often the first step to a more sustainable lifestyle.

To many, this may seem obvious, given the rise of the “farm to fork” movement, the increased demand for responsibly sourced meats and seafood, and the more social oriented elements of “food security”. Yet, while all of these elements are important components of sustainability, they only represent a portion of what defines the movement. Most recently, sustainability planning has overwhelmingly emphasized economic return on investment (ROI) above all else.

Because of this emphasis, the movement has largely morphed into a wide range of willy-nilly efforts meant to appease a consumer base that increasingly demands more sustainable practices.

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Unfortunately, throughout the movement, we mostly see action taken only if it results in an immediate financial benefit. While this is certainly understandable, the reality is that sustainability practices that save money are simply practices that save money – nothing more. To be sure, all actions taken in the name of sustainability are – in practice – positive; nevertheless, if actions taken only address a fraction of impact, the plan itself fails to actually promote sustainability. Herein lies the beauty of comprehensive sustainability planning.

Defining the sustainability movement depends almost entirely on who you talk to; sustainability within the energy industry is very different than the manufacturing industry, which in turn is different from the waste management industry, which – again – differs from the agriculture industry…and so on…and so on. The Achilles’ heel of the sustainability movement is that it lacks a unifying structure with commonly understood and accepted practices that comprehensively address the range of social and environmental impacts that we all have through the business practices we support with our consumer behavior.

The restaurant industry, however, is decidedly different; it holds immense potential in developing and promoting a comprehensive structure for sustainability planning. This potential has inspired The Positive Plate, a southern California based restaurant sustainability program developed

by Ecofficiency.O rg, which helps restaurants maximize their sustainability practices with a comprehensive planning approach, and then promotes

those efforts within the surrounding communities where each restaurant is located.

After much research and analysis, a panel of sustainability experts convened by Ecofficiency.O rg has identified five categories of comprehensive sustainability planning: 1) Product Sourcing, 2) Energy and Water Efficiency, 3) Waste Management and Recycling, 4) Employee Development, and 5) Community Engagement. Restaurants significantly address all five of these categories, thus demonstrating a visible and easily understandable model of comprehensive sustainability planning…a process all industries – and individuals – can learn from.

Product Sourcing From food to serviceware and cleaning supplies, restaurants go through an immense amount of varying prod-

ucts each and every day. This provides an excellent opportunity to support local, organic, responsibly sourced food products and purveyors, manufacturers of eco-friendly serviceware and cleaning supplies, and reclaimed furniture and interior design elements. All industries depend on a wide variety of products to operate and there are sustainable options for nearly every type of product and material available. This is one of the most important elements of sustainability planning, as it addresses both pre and post consumer waste issues, as well as labor practices in areas external to a given business or industry.

Energy and Water Efficiency Restaurants use immense amounts of energy and water – think of all the food that is refrigerated and cooked, the water needed to wash, prep, and cook, as well as what is needed to heat, cool, light, and generally operate a restaurant. A restaurant is one of the most energy and water intensive businesses in existence, and as such, it holds many opportunities to save money while reducing environmental impacts. Maximizing savings is of the utmost importance – as most of the other actions taken actually require an investment that will only see a realized return with increased consumer demand.

Waste Management and Recycling Restaurants produce massive amounts of waste; frequently, this waste is either compostable or recyclable, yet due to infrastructural limitations (internal and external), waste is overwhelmingly sent to landfills – or if lucky, they are (inefficiently) recycled at a “Dirty MuRF”…which does nothing to account for the compostable material. Reducing waste also helps a restaurant reduce waste hauling costs – which can become quite burdensome depending on location.

Employee Development This is an often overlooked element of sustainability planning. Employees are the face of every business, with the power to inspire (or alienate) clientele, making their development highly important. If motivated, employees will

bring their learned habits from work into their own homes and communities, which results in an exponentially positive effect. Restaurants require a variety of staff to operate effectively, meaning that these practices and ideologies will find their way into a mix of communities, further increasing the impact of a sustainability plan.

Community Engagement Arguably the most misunderstood element of sustainability planning, restaurants play an important role in bringing people together to strengthen the bonds that make a community. Restaurants frequently engage in a variety of local efforts that help their communities connect, communicate, and thrive. They become gathering places whose actions are highly visible and empowering. Businesses that demonstrate a clearly positive impact on our communities become an extension of our community pride, which are the businesses we want to support. All businesses can benefit from this, as this is where long-term staying power is formed.

Restaurants also put forth an inspiring ally for the sustainability movement…the chef.

Today’s chef is keenly aware of the quality of their ingredients and frequently wants to work with the finest available…almost exclusively local, organic, and responsibly harvested. This mindset has opened the eyes of many chefs to the general benefits of sustainability. Chefs tend to be more artist than entrepreneur, with creative substance and personal integrity taking on great importance. This is not to say that economics are not important to a chef, rather it is to say that a chef has developed a comprehensive intuition that translates well to sustainability planning.

Southern California chefs and restaurants stand at the forefront of today’s sustainability movement. We have access to an unparalleled bounty of sustainably harvested ingredients, technologies and businesses that help push the movement, and a consumer base that is eager to support these efforts. The Positive Plate currently has an active chapter in Orange County, featuring eight restaurants. A new chapter is currently sprouting in San Diego with a June 22nd launch event at Liberty Station called A Taste of Summer, which features twelve of San Diego’s most sustainable restaurants. For more information, please visit: www.TasteSummerSD.com.

Jesse Baker, PhD Founder of Ecofficency.O rg and The Positive Plate

A Taste Zf Summer

San Diego’s Sustainable Food Event

Unique Small Plates • Signature Cocktails • Entertainment

Friday, June 22 • Liberty Station

Celebrating a Movement Beyond Farm to Fork Local, seasonal, and organic creations from San Diego’s top chefs!

JSix • Urban Solace • Casa de Luz • Gabardine • Table 926 • Carnitas • Sea Rocket Bistro • Cups • More TBA Proceeds Benefit Olivewood Gardens, San Diego Hunger Coalition, & Ecofficiency.Org | Presented by The Positive Plate

Purchase Tickets Online : www.TasteSummerSD.com

By: George Duenas Organized in 2009, Dreams for Change explores ways to meet the needs of those affected by the decline of our economy. They provide hope and opportunity through a new generation of ideas, institutions, and business practices, offering stability and growth for families and individuals.

In the spring of 2010, Dreams for Change launched their first growing program initiative, the Safe Parking Program – a safe parking environment and supportive services for transitional homeless living in their vehicles for overnight stays. Within the first year of operation, the Safe Parking Program successfully served over 350 individuals fighting homelessness.

Teresa L. Smith co-founded Dreams for Change to provide assistance, education, and opportunities for those in need. It was quite an achievement because Teresa and her team were able to make it happen at the height of the recession when there was a decrease in funding opportunities. In less than 3 years, they have assisted over 750 individuals facing homelessness.

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“When we started Dreams for Change in 2009, we had a vision of doing something different to produce the changes we need in our San Diego community. I wanted to create a culture within the organization that would allow for innovative thinking and learning.

The communities continue to face many of the same obstacles and oppressions, despite all of the services and resources allocated to address them. Dreams for Change gives us a platform to take a different perspective on the issues and bring innovation to services and programs.”

Teresa is a member of multiple community collaboratives and coordinates the THRIVE San Diego Initiative, a partnership between the County of San Diego, United Way, SDSU, and other local universities utilizing college students to assist with service gaps in community services and programs.

“Our VISION is that all Southern Californians will have the resources and tools to maximize their potential and bring stability to their communities.”

“Our MISSION is to decrease hardships faced by low to moderate income families and individuals by providing support and transition through advocacy, innovative programs and services focusing on homelessness, employment, education and asset building.”

mately 190 are already receiving such benefits. CalFresh enrollment assistance will be provided at the truck. They are working with the county to ensure a smooth process for their customers to receive and maintain their benefits. Upon receiving their benefits, the individuals will be able to purchase the meals and food of their choice.

For May 2012, Dreams for Change will produce the first ever food truck dedicated to serving the homeless. This fresh idea came together when a resident of the safe parking lot expressed concern about the lack of healthy food options for the homeless. Upon further investigation into the claim, it was noted that the homeless in downtown have very few eating options besides fast food, convenient stores, and charities/handouts; most of which do not accept CalFresh. The challenge Teresa proposed to her student group for a Consensus Organization class at SDSU was to find a way to create a sustainable healthy food option while offering meals at a reasonable price and be easily accessible to the homeless spread throughout downtown. Jessica Rathbun and Carlos McCray developed the initial plan for the food truck after considering some factors.

“Being a mobile food truck, we are looking to bring the food to where the homeless are. We understand that homeless people can be transient and are often times shuffled around by law enforcement. The mobile food truck allows us to move with them. In addition, we realize some homeless have disabilities, which may prevent them from accessing food at a certain location. Being mobile, we can reach out to a wider range of homeless people.”

“At first we were thinking about a storefront, but that’s not sustainable,” Carlos stated in a phone interview. “When you’re homeless, you’re not very mobile.

We needed something that was going to get the food to them. A food truck was the perfect idea. Not only is it mobile, but it’s also going to circulate local resources.

It’s great; we chased a solution and made it happen.”

“It’s a great idea that no one has ever done before,” added Jessica Rathbun. “Teresa really jumped onto the idea and has helped it to move forward every step of the way. It’s going to feed the homeless community and create opportunities for valuable work experience, two very important issues. It’s been a great experience seeing this project through.”

Jessica and Carlos continue to work towards the launch of the project. Jessica will be joining the Dreams for Change team to implement the access to benefits and the development of the workforce development program components.

Since no one has done this project before, there was a hesitancy to even see if a project like this would be allowable. “We ensured we knew all the codes and regulations to help us advocate for our idea. The students ensured they had a solid business plan and conducted multiple surveys of the homeless to ensure we are providing a service they wanted and would utilize,” says Teresa. “However, it did take some time to navigate through the bureaucratic systems for the CalFresh approval. At one point, our application was returned from the Food and Nutrition Services with a simple denial with no explanation written on a post-it.”

The main idea of the program is to give homeless people an option to utilize their CalFresh benefits for a hot prepared meal. Roughly 800 of the homeless people in downtown qualify for CalFresh, but only approxi-

The menu alone is enough to get anyone’s attention. They’ll be dishing out healthy, local food that includes fresh fruits and vegetables.

Their goal is to obtain at least 75% of their food from local community gardens, farms and businesses. They will be serving everything from burgers and burritos to wraps, salads and soups. This incredible resource will build honest rapport and trust with the community and will allow Dreams for Change to assist their customers in reaching out to additional services. They are looking to train and employ various homeless individuals for the operation and expansion of food services.

The organization plans on turning the operations of the food truck over to those who are homeless. Their first truck is going to be utilized as the training truck. Once they have a group trained on the operations of the business, along with small business development training, the group will grow to the next truck. “We envision adding trucks to meet the market needs,” says Teresa. “At a minimum, we would like to have trucks in each region of the county. We have already had multiple inquiries for adding trucks throughout the county.

We have also had requests for trucks that will specifically cater to seniors and will be exploring this option. I can easily envision 10 trucks in operation, which would employ close to 50 homeless individuals.”

“Our hope is that homeless individuals will now have the opportunity to begin to eat healthy and feel better. With an increase in health and energy, they may be more open to various options to better their situation. Those who are homeless are often dehumanized. By providing an avenue for meals, which, prior, would only be available to those who have cash resources, will bring a human aspect back to our customers. We hope people will see that those who are homeless are no different than anyone else.”

Dreams for Change works with multiple organizations and is a member of multiple community collaboratives. They work with agencies like the YWCA to ensure a smooth process for their participants to access their services, the SD County HHSA to assist participants in receiving their public benefits, and the MAAC Project on Efforts to Outcome database access and management to track their program outcomes. The Safe Parking Program has multiple groups who provide meals and activities to include UCSD student groups, various church groups and the Rotary Club. Dreams for Change will be launching a second safe parking lot in North County to serve the individuals living in their cars in this region.

For more information on this nonprofit organization, their programs and services, go to www.dreamsforchange.org, or contact them directly at 619-497-0236.

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We liken to call such empty phrases “opening a conversation”. A question begs for an answer, while a mere “Hello” does not prompt a response. However, is it ethical conduct to ask a question whose answer is indifferent to you whatever it may be?

“How‘re you doing?”– although a question, has devolved to a mere openended substitute for “Hello” where an answer is not expected and – if one is given – the receiver may be too perplexed to deal with it.

The socially naturalized convention to begin a new relationship with a lie, or at least the empty promise to care while being apathetic, has not been subject to question one’s honesty – but why not, because everyone is doing it, is it o.k.?

Or – because it is not important it is irrelevant?

By: Heinz R. Gisel

“

” You know the drill; you are subjected to it numerous times every day, whenever you meet a total stranger like the sales clerk at a shop, the cashier or the waiter at the restaurant. Of course, the expectation by the utterer of such clichés is, if any at all, that you say something, like at least: “I’m o.k.” or better. “I’m doing Great” is just about the most abundant “social lie” in America and we are all co-conspirators in the scheme.

Should you be so naïve as to actually believe that a person unknown to you is the least bit interested in your mental or physical state of being, you will be the first witness to your mistake in real time. If you are courageous enough to say how you really feel, such as “terrible” – the social interaction is abruptly aborted and you’ll find that the recipient of your vocal emission is running for shelter.

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The answer is this: in normal times, this may have evaded our attention and we may not have been aware of it, but these are not normal times. The statistics say it loud and clear, the majority of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, and – yes – they don’t “feel just great”, they feel miserable. Now, if they say how they really feel they are being chastised by social isolation, but lying by pretending to “feel just great” may lead the way into depression.

There has been a lot of acrimony about the cancerous corruption on Capitol Hill, the White House, the government agencies, Wall Street controlling corpora-

tions and the media, but there is no remedy in sight – why? Realizing that the social system pyramid – where one-on-one contacts are made - is grounded on deception, should we be surprised when the entire pyramid is erected on lies and the better liars occupy the higher levels? That is a logical consequence, isn’t it? A healthy plant does not grow from a contaminated soil.

Another systemic derelict of American morality is illustrated by the “I’m doing great” example: the compulsive pressure to only communicate the positive, even if that means to omit the facts; the addressee is manipulated into perceiving a bad thing as good. This mass indoctrination is so native in American culture that the majority of people don’t even realize it anymore; for example, Facebook offers you a “Like” button only, but the “Dislike” option is conspicuously absent. The Indexes are a classic illustration of institutionalized deception: inflation, unemployment and stock market numbers are constantly laundered to keep the sheeple calm. It may seem compassionate to verbally bend a really bad day into “I’m doing great”– on a personal basis, but what about if your government and all its minions are doing exactly that to you?

and major newspapers, dutifully followed the directives of the Obama regime and failed to uniformly inform the American people of this pretty significant affair.

Was this an isolated event of spoon-feeding the American consumer with “news” to protect their fragile psyche? Of course not; using the media to manipulate the masses is systemic. What this demonstrates is how the government is now so emboldened that it doesn’t even hide the censorship anymore. Here are a few current events that Big Brother has decided could be destabilizing your sheeple nature3: Fukushima related radioactivity in the U.S.; the real cost of Obamacare; HAARP4; chemtrails5; FEMA camps 6;vaccine failures7; GMO deception by FDA, USDA, Monsanto et al.8; the real reason for water fluoridation is mass mind control, not the pretended caries prevention.9 It follows the screenplay when anyone who ventures to shed the media corset is being denigrated “a conspiracy theorist” – on the mere ground that the mass media colluded to ignore coverage. All information you can access from foreign media is “inaccurate” and “biased” if it is not portraying the U.S. in a positive light, and there is a plethora of attempts pending to censor the internet under the guise of Homeland Security. What’s wrong with the U.S. media predigesting the “news” for you, breaking it down into easy-to-swallow hors d’œuvres, so you can relax in front of the TV while downing your GMO Frito Lay’s with an HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) laden soft drink? Well, you see, while you are captivated by trivia, you don’t have time to witness how the government is tacitly doing away with the Bill of Rights10, the Constitution, and misconstrues the law while intimidating the Supreme Court11 and any non-complicit organizations, domestic and abroad. After Obama ascertained that the sheeple were busy shopping and watching New Year’s fireworks, he tacitly signed the NDAA (aka Indefinite Detention of Americans Act) into law with impunity; what the media deemed “a non-event”. He got inspired to pull out all stops by granting himself unprecedented power to control everything about your life: your food, water, energy, health, mobility and housing – via the Executive Order – National Defense Resources Preparedness12. This means that the U.S. government now claims the power to simply raid your farm and, at gunpoint, demand all your crops, seeds, livestock and farm equipment.

You guessed right, it is turning the masses into sheeple by design and it is being practiced and used by the current administration in a desperate bid to win re-election during a dismal economy. For example, in early April, the U.S. credit rating was downgraded from AA+ to AA by the Egan Jones Agency1 to the chagrin of president Obama, who decided unilaterally that you, the American sheeple, are unfit to handle bad news and must be protected from such. Thus, he simply used the White House Press Briefing to gag the media by stating that: “To the American people, this critical event should be kept in the category of a ‘non-story’, so as not to confuse and/or shock them.”2 Unsurprisingly, the U.S. media, including their most important television networks ECOTISTICMAG.COM | 17

Meanwhile, America’s obsession with modifying every thought-provoking term by morphing it into an unequivocally assenting concept, it becomes a no-brainer in a literal sense – because if it is already acquiescent, there is nothing to fix. Although this is a standard operating procedure in America, it is morally wrong when it is done to deceive you.

Unfortunately, you are a victim of this practice in everything you do; for example, the food industry laundered MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) into “spices”, “flavors” and many other euphemisms on ingredient labels. The stigmatized high fructose corn syrup is now transformed into “corn sugar”. The intent is translucent; you must associate the terms with something desirable. But it gets a lot murkier when it comes to GMO foods, because no one, so far, has synthesized a term with an optimistic connotation. The FDA has allowed GMO foods to anonymously inundate the U.S. market. Although it appears in almost every product on the supermarket shelves, you will not find such on any food label. So the government’s mantra is: If it would make the consumer think about it, just omit it! The result is that trying to stay clear of GMO foods in the U.S. is a futile attempt; all processed foods in supermarkets are either soy or corn based. If it doesn’t explicitly say “certified organic” – it is GMO. If you don’t spot either ingredient on the label, you’ll find canola, cottonseed or soy oil, and/or HFCS, which is all GMO. Even in the meat section you are out of luck, as all commercial animals are fed GMO corn.

Milk is another notorious classic of deception. The U.S. dairy industry has been promoting processed milk as an essential health food for children for years13, falsely claiming it promotes healthy bones. How is the “I feel great” ruse applied here? They magically convey the nutritional value of raw milk and make you believe these benefits apply to the actual centrifuged, heat treated and synthetic growth hormone “rBGH” laden product that is the root cause of lactose intolerance and other ill-health issues. So they take the data from a natural product called milk and pretend – in light of a multibillion-dollar business – their toxic gunk is a healthy product that is still called milk14. The Weston A. Price Foundation is reporting a study on calves fed on raw milk and on pasteurized milk. While the group fed on raw milk thrived, the calves fed on processed milk either died or ended the study sick15.

The U.S. prides itself for having developed the most efficient and cost effective agriculture in the world – which gives cause to patriotic boasting by the no-brainer sheeple who thrive on the spoon-fed news concocted by the media. For the others who don’t fuel their brain on the U.S. media, their findings are more sobering: the “faster, bigger, and cheaper” myopic monoculture approach has proven costly, destructive and unsustainable with 444,000 tons of pes18 | ECOTISTICMAG.COM

ticide use per year, which is equal to 3 lbs per person. It delivers vapid tasting, nutrient deprived, toxin-laden produce for transportation and shelf-life, the consumer health is irrelevant16. The “cheap” U.S. meat comes to you only by complete ignorance of fair animal treatment17, and what the sheeple consume as cheap meat will haunt them later in health care.

The “I feel great” paradigm makes the $1 burger a sheeple’s no-brainer in the literal sense, but any brain activity detached from media advertising hype exposes the delusion: the cost is not what you pay at the counter, but what we pay as a social system for exploiting resources and contaminating our planet.

Now, what makes you truly “feel great”? Nutrition that your body recognizes as food. What is that and how do you find it? Consider food that nature provided for thousands of years before the Wall Street driven food industry perverted our food supplies. Get it from your local farmer and buy what’s in season, there are nutritional reasons why produce grows in different seasons. Consider that when you buy permaculture produce, you’ll pay only once. When you opt for make-believe produce from the supermarket, you’ll pay first at the checkout, second at the supplement store, and eventually at the pharmacy.

Finally, think about the ultimate life changing benefit; you will be able to honestly say, “I’m doing great” – while you really mean it!

Heinz R Gisel is an unrelenting innovator of health care technology, medical devices and lasers, full-spectrum cell-resonant nutrition for humans, animals and plants, and he has spearheaded the Predictive Health Information System, which measures health, rather than disease. He is an author, radio host and public speaker on many health technology, business and quality of life topics.

His recent book, “In Foodture We Trust”, unveils how America has become the sickest nation on earth and the way it can escape out of it.

References: 1. http://nation.foxnews.com/us-credit-rating-downgrade/2012/04/06/egan-jones-downgrades-us-credit-rating 2. http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1570.htm 3. http://www.activistpost.com/2012/04/19-things-that-talking-heads-on.html 4. http://beforeitsnews.com/story/20/951/Are_We_in_a_HAARP_Earthquake_War.html 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA 6. http://www.naturalnews.com/035469_chemtrails_sickness_agenda.html 6. http://www.infowars.com/exclusive-government-activating-fema-camps-across-u-s/ 7. http://www.naturalnews.com/035466_whooping_cough_vaccines_outbreaks.html http://www.naturalnews.com/034038_vaccines_autism.html 8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4swW9OFmf8&feature=player_embedded 9. http://www.rense.com/general79/hd3.htm 10. http://www.naturalnews.com/034537_NDAA_Bill_of_Rights_Obama.html 11. http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/whats-stake-obama-tries-intimidate-supreme-court 12. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness 13. http://www.nichd.nih.gov/milk/ 14. http://www.naturalnews.com/035505_pasteurized_milk_documentary_facts.html 15. http://www.realmilk.com/ppt/index.html Raw Milk PowerPoint Slide 60 16. http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/index.jsp 17. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/15/inhumane-treatment-on-dairy-cows.aspx?e_ cid=20120415_SNL_Art_1

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By: Urban Farmer

The word “hydroponic” is very commonly misunderstood. It comes from the Latin word “water” and simply means “growing plants without soil”. By giving a plant the exact nutrition requirements it needs with the proper pH, it can grow and produce the best produce genetically possible. The benefits of hydroponics are priceless. Many believe it could be the future of farming. Through hydroponics and sustainable urban agriculture, we can provide enough produce to feed our population in small areas.

soil-born; therefore, in hydroponics we have much less pest and disease problems, as we’re not starting with them in our garden from bad soils!

There are many different methods of hydroponics, but let’s look at a couple of the most common. Aquaponics is one form that uses fish wastewater as nutrients; for example, growing plants on a floating raft on top of a Tilapia fish tank. Another common method we’re going to look at is NFT (Nutrient Film Technique), which is nutrient water flowing down a closed channel bathing the roots in a constant film/stream of water. NFT systems are one of the most efficient methods of growing produce, especially your leafy greens, like herbs, lettuce, basil, microgreens, etc.

The difference between organics and hydroponics is simple; the soil is organic, a living microbial ecosystem full of beneficial microbial life. Organic fertilizers act differently in soil as they do in water or a non-soil medium. In soil, it’s always best to use organic nutrients or fertilizers. Earthworm castings, compost, bat guano, minerals, sea kelp, and many others are all great organic fertilizers for soil. They are good for hydroponics as well, just not in the same form, as plants just can’t uptake the nutrients the same way in their raw organic state. The soil, being a living ecosystem, breaks down the fertilizers through bioavailability. Beneficial microbes and the bacteria’s process make the uptake of these raw organic fertilizers possible.

And the plant can naturally adjust what it uptakes, storing or burning energy as it is needed.

The plant does not have a brain like you or me, so the microbes and bacteria are sort of the brain controlling what the plant uptakes.

By using such methods of hydroponics, or soilless growing, we can maximize our production by producing about 10 times the amount of produce per acre, per year, than a traditional soil farmer. We also use about 70%-90% less water than a field farmer, as our water is recirculated and goes straight to the plant, so minimal evaporation occurs in an NFT system. 90% of pests and diseases are

Many people think all hydroponics is the same, plants growing in water. There are many different forms of hydroponics and it’s not just plants growing in water. Even though we don’t use any soil, many times there is some form of media that the plant is growing in – coco coir, perlite, rockwool, peat moss, grow rocks, etc.

Anything that’s not soil could be considered a hydroponic medium. But, we want to inocu-

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late the root zone, or growing medium, with some beneficial microbes, bacteria and trace minerals to create a living ecosystem within the root zone or medium. Some methods allow for better inoculation than others. With NFT systems, we have little or no growing medium. In these situations, we add it to our nutrient reservoir in a water soluble form to get these things to the plants’ root zone.

With hydroponics, we don’t have soil or a living ecosystem, which is the building block of plants.

We try to recreate this as much as possible by adding in certain beneficial microbes and bacteria, and many of these we add in the form of organic teas.

The same organic fertilizers are used and brewed in purified water (chlorinated water will kill the beneficial microbes and bacteria) and then added to the nutrients or nutrient reservoir to be fed to the plants. But without the microbes and bacteria, or a living ecosystem, it is much harder for the plant to uptake the nutrients it is given in their raw organic form. Hydroponic nutrients or fertilizers contain the same three basic major nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (N-P-K) – as organic soil nutrients. The difference is in the micronutrients and trace minerals. The plant uses a lot more than just three nutrients to grow. A good hydroponic nutrient has the right balance of nutrients, trace minerals, and micronutrients in it to allow the plant to uptake these minerals and process them efficiently.

Without the trace minerals, microbes and bacteria, the plant cannot uptake most of what it is given and will not be very healthy. Hydroponic nutrients are tailored by man to have all the trace minerals with the proper nutrients in a form that is more absorbable and recognizable to the plant. Hydroponics

can be 100% organic, but the stability factor is not there. Most growers use a hydroponic fertilizer base and a supplement with organic additives, such as sea kelp, bat guano, compost teas, etc. If you just put raw bat guano and seaweed into the water, it will become nasty, as it is decomposing organic matter.

Much like us, plants are what they eat. If you feed a plant poor nutrition, it produces poor non-nutritional produce. And obviously, the better nutrition we feed the plant, the healthier and more nutritional the produce is for us. Here in the USA, our farmlands are so over-farmed with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides (and no proper biodiversity in crop planting or crop rotation) that our soil is stripped of almost all of its micronutrients and trace minerals. Without trace minerals, microbes or bacteria, our farmlands are producing crops with little or no nutritional value at all! A tomato grown with the proper nutrition, microbes, bacteria, and trace minerals can be as much as 1000 times more nutritional than a commercially GMO tomato. That’s right; you got to eat 1000 tomatoes to get the same nutrition as one properly grown or nourished tomato plant.

Today, our kids don’t like produce because most of the produce at the supermarket tastes terrible and is not very enjoyable. But go to Sprouts or Jimbo’s (where the produce was grown on an organic or hydroponic farm and received the proper nutrition, and are NOT GMO genetics) and the fruit tastes

like candy and makes your body feel good and healthy. If there was healthier more nutritional produce available, then our kids would eat a lot more fruits and vegetables; and more importantly, it would make us healthier. It’s simple; if we don’t grow healthy, nutritional, organic produce, then our kids will never be healthy!

We need to take care of our bodies and get back to eating healthy organic produce. If we eat healthy, then the rest follows and the body can fight off sickness and disease through building up its immune system. The same goes for our plants; proper nutrition creates a healthy immune system that defends plants against all threats naturally, the way Mother Nature intended it to be.

And with land and water becoming so scarce, especially fertile farmlands and clean water, hydroponics or soilless growing makes a lot of sense. And by feeding the plants the right fertilizers balanced with the right amount of trace minerals, beneficial microbes and bacteria, we can produce healthy nutritional fruits and vegetables much more efficiently with 70% less water usage, almost no waste into the ground, 1/10 of the land for the same production, if not more, and labor reduction.

This makes hydroponics a sustainable form of growing our produce. Any plant can grow in hydroponics, but not all crops are efficient in

hydroponics. Some plants are just not productive or efficient to grow in hydroponics, but crops like leafy greens, herbs, and microgreens all thrive in hydroponics and can actually be more controlled, and the yields and production is a lot more productive.

A lot of people are now starting small gardens at home to simply feed their families better, healthier produce. It’s about time people start realizing what they’re eating, what’s really in their food and doing something about it. Sustainable urban agriculture is the answer to our future and a healthier America!

Hydroponics is just one way we can produce more sustainable healthier produce with less waste and pollution. You can have just a small space in your yard and some good sunshine and grow enough food for you and your family to eat right and healthy. It’s important that we all know what’s in our food and not just that it came from 3000 miles away and was radiated as it came across the border. What about all the pesticides and chemicals they used to grow it with? Know what’s in your food, grow your own, or at least buy from a whole foods store, such as Sprouts and Jimbo’s, or support your local farmer’s market. If you eat healthy nutritional produce, your body will thank you and you will be healthy and able to fight off diseases and sicknesses. Let’s stop destroying and poisoning ourselves and Mother Earth. Sustainable agriculture, weather hydroponics or organic soil grown, sustainable agriculture is the only thing that can save our Earth and feed our population! Do you know what’s in your food?

BY: RANDY VILLARBA The Vegware brand is a promise to the world: to be the world’s best-known brand of eco food packaging and catering disposables. Within your own lifetime, how many pieces of disposable ware have you thrown into the trash? We are talking cups, cutlery, napkins, soup containers, or takeaway boxes. If you are like most Americans, perhaps that number is unfathomable?

Established in October of 2008 by Bob Bond, Vegware US, Inc.’s passion for the green movement globally has quickly catapulted them to the forefront of completely compostable food packaging and catering disposables.

“We are making people feel better about disposables,” explains Bond, President and CEO of Vegware US, Inc. Vegware’s distribution center is based in Danielson, CT. Their packaging is made from plant-based materials, economical and fit for purpose. No petroleum products are used in the manufacturing of their cups, cutlery, tableware, and to go containers. Vegware claims to be the best possible environmental choice for disposables, with their products being made from all renewable or recycled materials. Vegware products are also completely compostable making it readily recyclable. Vegware can be found everywhere, from coffee shops, hospitals, hotels, restaurant chains, schools and even music festivals.

“I was informed that we will be used at Lollapalooza and several other festivals over the summer all over the US,” says Bond. “You never know where we might pop up. It is fun to walk into a new place in a new city and find Vegware. It is quite a rush. Right now we are working with the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas and the Harrah’s group in Las Vegas. I also understand that a chain of restaurants called The Yard House (who I think are in your neck of the woods) just committed to Vegware. I know that every week new coffee shops from Dallas to Chicago and Florida to New York City decide to switch over to Vegware. There are so many names and locations that they really escape me.”

Bond’s idea to start Vegware has its origins from an unlikely source… Bond’s years working with stainless steel. Bond has owned a stainless steel manufacturing factory since 1993.

“Most people do not realize that steel is the most recycled product in the world,” Bond reveals. “My company Siri Wire has always used non-hazardous methods for the manufacturing of stainless steel. Unfortunately, stainless steel is incredibly durable. So, often it does not wear out or corrode in a lifetime. This kind of limited repeat business. I wanted to find an earth friendly disposable product and Vegware’s ‘completely compostable’ nature fit the bill.”

The expansion of Vegware globally was the accomplishment of Dr. Joe Frankel from the United Kingdom. Vegware was Frankel’s brainchild. As Bond reveals, Vegware was something Frankel thought up while on a work assignment in Berkeley, CA. He then returned home to Edinburgh, Scotland and started Vegware.

“Vegware UK has approximately a one year jump on our operations,” says Bond. “I consider Joe my brother from another mother. He is one of the sweetest and smartest people I have ever had the pleasure to know.”

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Vegware UK has customers all over Europe and has even launched Food Waste Network. Launched in the UK, Food Waste Network links people with similar concerns in and around the world of composting. It allows these people to reach out to each other and voice their concerns, find composting facilities, and form a community of likeminded individuals and people. It was started last year in the UK and Vegware US hopes to adopt it in the states soon.

Vegware is very proud of their growing international presence. Bond is always looking to expand Vegware’s reach, even branching out to South America as they are currently working with a new group in Brazil. Vegware is also constantly creating relationships with commercial composters and waste haulers to assist their end users in properly disposing of their products and completing the products’ lifecycle by turning it back into soil.

“Vegware is always developing new products. Recently, we developed a clear dome lid to put on our soup containers to convert them into ice cream containers for the summer. Our newest version of CPLA cutlery just got Cedar Grove certification, proving it turns to soil in just sixty days in a commercial composter, yet the cutlery has been sturdy in use up to 185 degrees Fahrenheit! We recently developed a double walled insulated hot cup and are coming out with deli containers that are stackable and have a common sized lid. In addition to all this, we have a lined sandwich wedge about to enter production for the recent grab and go craze. It never stops. We expect our products to be on display at the Edward Don Booth at the National Restaurant Association show May 5th-9th in Chicago. It is the largest food show in the US.”

Vegware is still in its humble beginnings. Vegware is still a young company that only started making a little money in the last couple of months. Between 2010 and 2011, their sales grew four fold. With that kind of rapid growth comes some extremely uncomfortable growing pains.

“The actual attaining of certifications is costly, time consuming and costly,” explains Bond. “Each certifying body has its own peculiarities and regimens, and often there is some confusion within their organizations as to the flow of materials through their testing facility and how long things take. It was really exhausting and took us the first two years we were in business to get to the point where we have the most complete certifications in the industry today. Vegware is ASTM 6400, BPI, Din Certo, OK Compost and Cedar Grove certified. No other company has all of these in conjunction with over one hundred products.”

“I am not wealthy,” reveals Bond. “In fact, I’m pretty much a pauper after this recession. As a result, Vegware US is actively looking for an equity partner to get us to the next level. Venture capitalists really frighten me because they are not about the Vegware dream. They are about making a bunch of money fast and finding an exit strategy. I want to have a positive impact on my environment while making a good income. It’s important to me that I leave my children a legacy they can be proud of and want to carry on. I guess my dream is to find an angel investor with the same desire, as I have to do the right thing. The reality is that I would give up 24% of my company to the right person who could invest two million dollars and be a real equity partner. That would get us to a very firm footing for the future.

Anyone interested in contacting me to partner in our mission or just share ideas should feel free to call me.”

Vegware is a pioneer in the development and manufacture of eco-friendly catering disposables and food packaging. Their products are stylish, functional, economic and sustainable. Vegware ranges from cutlery to tableware, napkins, hot and cold drink cups, and takeaway packaging.

Vegware’s commitment to the green movement is intertwined with their philosophy. By harnessing technology in creative ways, we can reduce the impact of today’s consumer society.

Vegware’s products are made from plants. By choosing natural materials, we can reduce pollution, the use of finite resources, and the amount of waste that must be disposed of in a landfill.

For more information on Vegware US, Inc., please visit www.vegware.us

Randy Villarba is a San Diego native whose love for nature has him trapped living in the Eastern Sierra of California. Villarba left America’s Finest City following his love for the backcountry and nature; fishing, hiking, mountain biking, photography, skiing, and snowboarding. A graduate of San Diego State University, Villarba has also studied at the University Of London Union in the United Kingdom and the University of California San Diego. He has worked for Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum, the San Diego Natural History Museum, and the San Diego Unified School District. His writing has been published in 90:00 Minutes Soccer Magazine, Dining Out San Diego Magazine and The Mammoth Times. www.randywrites.com ECOTISTICMAG.COM | 23

By: Tiffany Janay When I started to purify my diet years ago, the main ingredient I eliminated were artificial flavors. The reason was because those two words could contain tens to hundreds of single ingredients to make up one flavor, and the food manufacture wasn’t disclosing what exactly went into making that particular flavor. I felt it was deceitful to “hide” numerous amounts of ingredients in those two words. If what they were serving was good, then why not disclose it. It is that flavoring that has made some foods taste so good!

Drinks, pastries, candies, and even meats have them added in. It makes food pop with flavor in your mouth. It can also be very harmful to our bodies over time.

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I remember 10 years ago, way before I was really in-tuned to eating healthy foods, a friend of mine told me he was allergic to Red #40. What does that mean?! I had never heard of Red #40 or remember it being taught to me as something that was edible. I thought that was odd that he knew that and even odder that he was able to narrow down and figure out that it was a specific allergic trigger. Well, he was definitely on to something.

I haven’t eaten artificial flavors for years because of the overwhelming evidence I have found about the undesirable effects they can have; however, in my years of “healthy” living, I have just discovered that I may have never eliminated these harmful flavors after all. I read labels of foods religiously and make sure it has all acceptable ingredients by my terms, but somehow the ingredient of “natural flavors” never struck me as anything to be concerned with.

What got me to even notice it was the taste of a protein blend from a trusted company in the natural products industry. It was berry flavored and tasted 100% ar-

tificial. I was confused as to how that could be. The packaging said it was organic and the ingredients all seemed legit, but the one thing I had missed all this time was the “natural flavors”. I had the same epiphany shortly after when I had bought an all organic tea with raspberry flavoring, and as soon as I opened the bottle, the artificial smell struck me.

Again, on the label it said, “Natural Raspberry Flavor”. What is that and how is something that has such an artificial feel, taste, and smell creeping into my organic foods?

Let the research begin.

The exact definition of natural flavorings & flavors from title 21, section 101, part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations is as follows: “The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”

Well, that sounds confusing, but considering that mass food manufacturing and food flavor houses are so profitable and have so much control over our food supply, it would serve us well to understand exactly what “natural” may mean to them. According to Wikipedia: “‘Natural foods’ and ‘all natural foods’ are widely used terms in food labeling and marketing with a variety of definitions, some of which are vague. The term is assumed to imply foods that are minimally processed and do not contain manufactured ingredients, but the lack of standards in some jurisdictions means that the term assures nothing. In some places, the term ‘natural’ is defined and enforced. In others, such as the United States, it has no meaning.”

These flavors are sold by flavor houses or flavor manufactures and the exact formulas are created by flavor chemists. A flavor chemist is “someone who uses chemistry to engineer artificial and natural flavors”. I had the opportunity to sit down with a chemist, who only creates natural flavors for one of the largest flavoring houses, to ask him some questions.

He explained, “We are governed by the FDA and FEMA.” My question to that was, “FEMA as in the disaster relief agency?” He clarified that they were not the same. I did some research and found what he was referring to. In this case, FEMA means Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association. According to their website: “The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States (FEMA) is comprised of flavor manufacturers, flavor users, flavor ingredient suppliers, and others with an interest in the U.S. flavor industry. Founded in 1909, it is the national association of the U.S. flavor industry.

FEMA works with legislators and regulators to assure that the needs of members and consumers are continuously addressed. FEMA is committed to assuring a substantial supply of safe flavoring substances.”

Flavor companies get their approval of which flavors are considered safe for consumption through FEMA’s GRAS process, which means “generally recognized as safe”. According to the chemist, a single flavor creation uses under 100 ingredients and they typically use 10-30 ingredients.

Through FEMA and the FDA, flavor companies do not have to disclose to the consumers what ingredients are used to make flavors. I asked the chemist why and his response was, “That’s confidential proprietary information. There’s no need to disclose it when everything is safe to consume and it’s at such a small amount…It’s so small compared to everything else you are consuming that it’s really insignificant.”

Why do flavor companies have the right not to declare ingredients, when no one can put out a food product and say it’s all safe, so I don’t need to tell you what’s in it? “It’s all governed through the FDA. It’s their laws.” He continued, “FEMA decides what materials we can and can’t use and, typically, the FDA goes along with those rulings and those decisions. Now if it’s a sweetener, then that obviously falls under the FDA and we could still use it, but it’s labeled. If it’s something that imparts something besides flavor, then it’s typically labeled.”

If someone wants strawberry, why can’t you just add strawberry flavor? Why the complexity to get a natural flavor? “The flavors are much more stable and much more economical to use than just strawberry juice. Strawberry juice has already been processed once and cooked, and to get any impact, you’re going to have to use a lot of it, it’s going brown, it’s going to be more cooked, and with the flavor you can get a better variety of taste, and you will get better stability also,” the chemist explained.

Now that you have some facts, MOTIVATE YOURSELF to decide if this is something you will continue to ingest.

Tiffany Janay started out her life following the paved path to achieving the American dream. She spent long days and nights working 9-5’s that never seemed to bring her enough fulfillments, personally and financially. After realizing that the typical path was not going to lead her to where she felt contentment, she made a drastic change to claim creative freedom.

She exchanged her mundane and predictable life for a more exciting, nourishing, and unpredictable path. Currently, she expresses her creative freedom through writing, event coordination, lifestyle consulting, and creating marketing and media campaigns at Organic Blood. Follow her movement at www.

OrganicBlood.com

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JUST FOOD FOR DOGS’ PUPSICLES COOL DOGS OFF

DURING THE HOT SUMMER MONTHS Just like their owners, dogs can refresh with natural frozen treats

In summer’s heat, people take advantage of chilled drinks, ice cream and other cold treats, so why not do the same for our precious pups? Now dogs can stay just as comfortable and cool as their owners with the signature Pupsicle recipe from Just Food For Dogs.

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It is a well-known fact that dogs are in danger of overheating, especially during the months of summer, as they primarily regulate their body temperature through panting—a natural activity that removes heat by passing cool air over the moist surfaces of the tongue and lungs. Southern California’s coolest dog kitchen, Just Food For Dogs, developed their signature Pupsicles last summer and they quickly became a hit among the four-legged friend crowd. This summer they will release their signature recipes to be made at home in an effort to keep dogs cool everywhere.

Just Food For Dogs’ signature Pupsicles are tasty, frozen, healthy dog treats that are handmade from USDA Certified human quality ingredients. Made fresh in a kitchen specifically catering to dogs, there are absolutely no preservatives, no added colors, no by-products or any other additives, and the same thing can be accomplished by following this recipe at home. These natural dog treats come in two flavors that dogs love, peanut butter-banana and beef. The “sticks” are completely edible as they are made from the same recipe as the beef and peanut butter treats.

The frozen “sicle” part of the treat is yogurt based and includes all natural ingredients.

Peanut Butter-Banana Pupsicle 32 oz low-fat plain yogurt 2 mashed bananas 1/2 cup natural peanut butter 2 tablespoons honey 1 oz blueberries, chopped Just Food For Dogs peanut butter treat In a medium bowl, cream together mashed bananas, peanut butter and honey. Add yogurt and mix until blended. Place blueberries on the bottom of 3-oz freezable cups. Spoon yogurt mixture into cups and place in freezer until it is partially frozen, about an hour. Place a Just Food For Dogs peanut butter treat in the center of the Pupsicle to create a stick and place back in the freezer until frozen, about two hours.

Beef Pupsicles 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt 1/2 cup beef broth Just Food For Dogs beef treat Whisk yogurt and beef broth together until smooth. Spoon yogurt mixture into 3-oz cups and place in freezer until partially frozen. Place a Just Food For Dogs beef treat in the center of the Pupsicle to create a stick and place back in freezer until frozen, about two hours.

To make smaller Pupsicles, use an ice cube tray in place of the 3-oz cups. To feed, pop the Pupsicle out of the cup and into a bowl by pressing on the bottom of the cup. Then serve.

About Just Food For Dogs Just Food For Dogs is a commercial, human-grade kitchen based in Southern California providing daily food for healthy dogs and custom formulations for dogs with special dietary needs, such as digestive disorders, pancreatitis, cancer, food allergies, diabetes, liver and kidney disease. All food and treats are made entirely from USDA/FDA ingredients certified for human consumption and cooked to the minimum allowed temperature to preserve the maximum nutritional value. The team behind the kitchen and recipes are composed of a veterinarian, canine nutrition expert, pet chef, and a cadre of dogs and dog lovers.

Ultimately, Just Food For Dogs is a dog kitchen with one goal: to increase the quality and length of life for as many dogs as possible.

To learn more about Just Food For Dogs, please visit www.justfoodfordogs.com, or for daily updates, visit them at facebook. com/justfoodfordogs.

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By: Jennifer Dial 20 years ago, I became a vegetarian…for five days. I was 14 years old and meat was a daily staple in my diet until one evening at dinner when I firmly announced that I would no longer eat meat! I was a vegetarian! My family supported my decision to become an herbivore and Mom even cooked a few meals that featured the famous meat alternative – tofu. The transition was not easy, and at age 14, I was not prepared to put forth the effort required. Meat swiftly found its way back into my life once again.

As a teenager, the sole reason to eliminate meat was my love for animals. I never considered the quality of the meat or the quality of the animal’s life before it landed on my plate. Like most kids my age, I was oblivious to the cruel conditions in which animals were raised and the impact of industrialized meat production on the environment and economy. Now, I know better.

A few years ago, I watched an online advertisement for P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and my life was forever altered.

The video featured a large-scale pork farm and baby pigs being slammed repeatedly on cement by “farmers”—while they laughed. I could only stand to watch for a few moments, but the ad was effective and had an immense impact on me. I have since watched a number of documentaries containing similar footage, such as Fresh and Forks over Knives. These disturbing movies contain facts that every food-consuming human

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should be aware of and I highly recommend you watch them. Then, share them with everyone you know…or at least with anyone whose health you care about. We all should know where our food comes from, especially animal products! Educating the consumer is key, and in today’s world with information literally at our fingertips, it’s easier than ever to do the research.

Did you know?

- According to Science News, approximately 80% of cattle raised in America today are injected with hormones to make them grow faster. This means higher revenue for the beef industry, but what effect does this have on the consumer? Studies show that children, pregnant women, and fetus’ are at the highest risk of having negative health consequences from consuming hormone-laden meat. Hormonal imbalances can cause a host of ailments and may potentially lead to life-threatening disease. There are many small family farmers who don’t use artificial hormones on their animals. By purchasing your meat from local, sustainable farms, you are supporting a system that ensures the health and welfare of the farm animals and protects you and your family from hormone-related health risks.

After the traumatic P.E.T.A video experience, my family changed the way we shop for meat. We only purchase organic meat from a natural, local grocer who has proven to be top-notch at choosing sustainable, cruelty-free farms to stock their meat counter. I sleep well at night knowing that the meat my family consumes is free of hormones and antibiotics. Last year, my husband and I took our efforts to the next level to obtain the truest form of organic meat by raising our own animals. We joined forces with a neighbor and bought a steer and 2 pigs. Our neighbor already had the facility to house the animals (fine by me, I have no desire to meet my meals face-to-face) and we split the cost of feed equally. The animals are treated with respect and they live a happy life. The result is a natural and highly nutritious source of food. The animal waste is used as fertilizer, which broadens the circle of sustainability. We also have four hens we fondly named “the girls” that provide us with our weekly egg supply.

I wondered – how much bigger is my carbon footprint because I consume animal products? I set out on a GOOGLE search mission and learned some very interesting information about meat, its production, and the substantial impact it has on the environment.

- An estimated 30% of the ice-free land on the planet is occupied by the livestock production sector, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly 20% of the world’s greenhouse gases – even more than transportation.

- In a 2006 report by Dr. Gidon Eshel and Dr. Pamela A. Martin (University of Chicago), a meat eater will contribute up to 1.5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year compared to a vegetarian. In comparison, changing from a Toyota Camry to a hybrid Toyota Prius helps eliminate nearly one ton of greenhouse gases per year.

- The National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan reported in 2007 that an estimated 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for almost 20 days.

- The world’s total meat supply was 71 million tons in 1961. In 2007, it was estimated to be 284 million tons. Henning Steinfeld of the United Nations projects that world meat consumption will double again by 2050, resulting in a “relentless growth of livestock and production”.

- P.E.T.A. states, “Raising animals for food is grossly inefficient, because while animals eat large quantities of grain, soybeans, oats, and corn, they only produce comparatively small amounts of meat, dairy products, or eggs in return. This is why more than 70% of the grain and cereals that we grow in this country are fed to farmed animals. It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of meat, and even fish on fish farms must be fed up to five pounds of wild caught fish to produce one pound of farmed fish flesh.”

- P.E.T.A. also reports, “It takes more than 2,4 00 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat, while growing one pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons. You save more water by not eating a pound of meat than you do by not showering for six months! A totally vegan diet requires only 300 gallons of water per day, while a typical meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.”

- Americans are consuming nearly 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish per capita per year, an increase of 50 pounds per person compared to 50 years ago. These days, meat eaters down about 75 grams of animal protein per day, over twice the federal government’s recommended allowance of protein.

Based on this information, eating meat is a potentially dangerous act with a tremendous negative impact on the environment! But knowledge is power and helps us better our lives. I am fortunate to live in an area where raising animals is feasible, but for many that is not an option.

So, what can you do? Choose hormone-free animal products from the market. When purchasing sustainably raised foods without the “organic” label, be sure to check with the farmer to ensure no additional hormones or antibiotics have been administered and that the animals were treated humanely. Yes, organic meat may be pricier than meat from an assemblyline factory, but should you really put a price on your health? Another option – go vegetarian one or two days a week. Think of what a difference you can make for the world. I am not an all-or-nothing type of person; I believe moderation is key in most aspects of living. I will continue to eat meat on occasion – from the most local source around – my own backyard!

Jennifer Dial was born and raised in sunny San Diego, California. She lives in North County San Diego with her husband Mike and Rottweiler, Odin, on their 5 acre farm. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication from San Diego State University. Jennifer enjoys yoga, hiking, snowboarding, water skiing, and photography. Healthy living is her passion and she loves cooking organic meals and making preserves with the produce grown on their farm. Jennifer works at Innovative Growing Solutions, Inc., a retail garden store in Pacific Beach, and also owns Nature’s Body Food (www.naturesbodyfood.com), an organic skin care product line.

By: Aaron Evans DJ Drez is an audio alchemist endlessly exploring new horizons with each mix. Creating spiritual soundscapes after sunset in venues around the globe, his trusty Technic 1200’s transform to become musical projectors of his mind’s inner eye. His original compositions and flawless mashups become PowerPoint presentations luring listeners into an experience that blends entertainment with education, elevation with grounding, and the voice of the streets with the whispers of the mystics.

9:35pm: I’ve arrived early at El Dorado, downtown San Diego’s hotbed for true turntablists, to attend “Re-Definition”, hosted by hometown hero DJ Charlie Rock. As the room thickened with everyone from rambunctious bachelorette divas, hardcore hip-hoppers and red-eyed rastas, it was a undeniable fact that the table was set for one hell of a hoot-n-nanny. I was glad I had practiced my headstands and downward dogs before hitting the venue; after all, I was there to meet Dr. EZ, and from what I’d been told, every time this underground legend steps foot in town, any pre-party preparations are sure to pay off at the end of the night’s festivities.

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Wait, I thought this was an article about yoga? What does a dance extravaganza in the Gaslamp district have to do with yoga?

Well my friends, it turns out the answer is everything, for Drez’s ultimate mastery is in the realm of duality.

For some time now, I’ve had a theory about relationships. Be it a romantic love, a teammate in competition, or a companion in artistic creation, each entity within any relationship must be its own independent circle, stable and secure in its strengths and weaknesses. Then, and only then, can that circle collide with a complimenting circle, subsequently forging an infinity symbol.

Upon first glance at the two circles Drez has brought together to form his life’s infinity symbol, their bases couldn’t be more contrasting.

One spawned as the life vein of expressive angst within inner-city west coast culture. The other an ancient Asian meditation based upon slow fluid movements and peaceful breath control. Yet, to me, that’s the most beautiful thing about infinity symbols, their limitlessness. Consequently resulting in being the land in which dreams live, only in that oh so rare and precious place can genuine ingenuity manifest itself. Luckily for us, DJ Drez pioneered this land long ago, built himself a little music/yoga commune, and has been banging out tracks with unmistakable universal rhythms ever since.

10:47pm: I’m out in back of the club building with Drez and his crew just before he hits the stage to unleash his hypnotic harmonies. Shortly into the conversation, he looks at me and tells me that he only surrounds himself with teachers. At first, I was unsure how to take such a grand statement, but before I could form an opinion he was introducing his cohorts leaving little to question about the proclamation’s validity. The first gentleman was a smooth talking emcee who just happened to be a substitute middle school teacher. The second gentleman was the co-founder of “Say It Loud Records”, the conscious label he and Drez run together. Oh, and in his spare time he’s an assistant principal. The third gentleman was also an emcee

known to be a big shot within the West Coast Zulu Nation, one of hip-hop’s oldest and most respected crews. His voice brought a gritty street savvy dynamic to the group. Sprinkle in Drez’s soft yet precise introspective interjections and what was a seemingly casual conversation to the outside observer had the potential to turn into an urban Plato’s Symposium upon a moment’s notice.

The more I grew to learn about Drez, the more his statement rang true. After all, the best teachers never quit learning and the best way to achieve that goal is to surround yourself with endless scholars, each equipped to share their expertise when needed. If you are to learn nothing else of this man, please know that he is a teacher who has found a way to make the world his classroom, by meshing his two loves into one synchronized heartbeat.

Now at this juncture, it only seems appropriate to embody the essence of a teacher and share a fraction of Drez’s accomplishments. The only problem is that to list them all I’d need several extra large boxes of chalk and a blackboard bigger than the monstrosities seen in Ivy League classrooms. You know you’re dealing with a rock star when each category listed on his website includes albums, mixtapes, festivals and yoga conferences littered with today’s tastemakers and trendsetters. Still, what might be even more impressive is that at the end of each laundry list it says Etc., Etc., Etc. After 20 years, even he can’t list all the ways in which he’s touched others’ lives with his music and mantra. They say respect isn’t given, it’s earned, and DJ Drez deserves every iota of props his peers and fans have bestowed upon him.

Coachella, Reggae on the River, Rock the Bells, Paid Dues, Wanderlust and the X Games are only the highlights of his extensive touring career. Haiku De Tat, Living Legends, The Black Eyed Peas (pre-Fergie), Bahamadia, and MC Yogi touches on merely a fraction of the albums he’s appeared on. Then there are the world-class yoga teachers he’s provided musical accompaniment to in classes and seminars far and wide. Names like Shiva Rea, Micheline Berry, and Sianna Sherman instantly draw attention. Are you starting to get the picture? Add to the Calderon mixtapes, solo albums and, my personal favorite, The Jahta Beat series (his collection of timeless sacred mantras reborn with a hip-hop/dubstep/reggae twist, the latest of which just dropped in April!!!) and the image becomes even more tangible. But that’s not all. He even finds time to lend his talents for promotional material for some of L.A.’s most revered yoga studios, like Santa Monica Yoga, make cameo appearances in viral internet videos such as “Yoga Girl”, AND he teaches private lessons to some of L.A.’s most renowned movers and shakers. Even for the busiest of bodies, it’s good to remember to breathe.

11:17pm: Drez steps behind the decks, sets his levels, and dials in his destination for another dimension. Almost instantaneously, the energy on the dance floor became tribal, primitive, yet it was clear Drez still had his hands on the current day pulse of both mainstream and underground hits. Every time he sent the crowd into a more abstract atmosphere filled with chants and unconventional instrumenta-

tion, he would bring them right back to the modern era with a mashup of something more familiar.

The balance was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, letting his subliminal messages simmer in the back of the listeners’ consciousness.

As I see it, the truest indicator of any amazing performance is when the artist makes his offering appear effortless, and as Drez’s hands flowed gracefully across his turntables, it was clear how he came upon the pseudonym “Dr. EZ”. If this cat is this relaxed while on stage, one can only begin to imagine how peaceful his aura must be after a session on his mat. But then again, I bet it’s not very different at all. After 8 weeks studying Drez, I can say with confidence that where his practice ends and his art begins is indecipherable. As I said above, the two are one.

Only because each entity’s individual strength within his spirit is so strong can their combined light shine so bright. Thus, back to the brilliance of an infinity symbol…

2:??am: I began to formulate questions for Drez in my head while driving home. My soul feels relaxed, uplifted, and free.

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time to teach public yoga classes. After seeing his set, I have to say that he’s wrong. In my opinion, the way Drez “Makes Yoga His Own” is by teaching every time he steps on stage, spreading yoga’s truth into countless nooks and crannies. This is a feat only accomplishable by an artist with his success and position in popular culture. I can only conclude that if each of us tied our spirit this much into our daily lives, our world would surely be a better place.

Below is my correspondence with Drez after the show. His answers were everything I expected them to be.

How long have you been practicing yoga? What first intrigued you about the culture?

I’ve been practicing around 10 years. What first intrigued me about yoga was the detail of the mind/ body spiritual practice. Many, if not most, spiritual practices cannot be taught they must truly be experienced, yoga included...but I think the yoga practice has the most solid detail and instruction about attaining inner peace.

What inspired you to merge your yoga mantra and music abilities together?

Well at first I made it a point to keep them separate. Music is such a big outward part of my life, so I wanted to keep something inward and private to myself. I heard that teachers were using my music in classes that I thought were cool, but still I was not interested in playing for classes or recording any of the mantras I hold sacred. Then one day while practicing I saw myself sitting with my turntables in front of a class and then it began.

When making a track for The Jahta Beat series, what was your creative process like? Do you start with the more Indian soundscape and then add in the hip-hop/new age drums or vice versa?

Both, every which way, all of the above:) I start with a sound and go from there.

Where is the most amazing, out of the box place yoga has taken you?

Hmmm. Well, I’ve DJ’d yoga classes and kirtans in the desert and in the forest, on the side of cliffs overlooking the ocean, and have assisted teaching classes in Brazil...all amazing. I think maybe the most out the box place has been the journey inward…relearning how to breathe and what not.

Although yoga is a rapidly expanding presence here in America, it still carries a dogma with some people that it’s only for women and alternative lifestyles. What do you feel can be done to show that yoga is for everyone? How do people respond to you being a male teacher?

Well, commercially, more men and more diversity on the covers of yoga magazines would probably help. Yoga is spreading nicely though. I have only had positive experiences when teaching. Many women have expressed gratitude for the balance of male energy, not only in teaching but when practicing along side.

It’s obvious that you draw from both Indian and Rastafarian roots. Do you incorporate teachings from other religions into your beliefs or do you stick to drawing from those main influences?

Rasta, Hinduism and Buddism are very present in my life. Native American, Orisha and Sufie wisdom have also influenced me. I can only call my spiritual practice Universal Wisdom.

Please explain the pose you chose to share and how you use it in your day-to-day routine.

I chose the Padmasana ‘Lotus Pose’ because it was very difficult for me when I first started practicing. Patience and compassion for my knee and ankle joints were my only choice if I was going to learn this pose. So I practice Padmasana for patience and compassion.

What is “VinDrez”?

My yoga is Mantra, Pranayama and Mudra throughout the day. It often includes a full one to two-hour practice of Asana.

Closing on a personal note, if there’s one thing Drez told me faceto-face that absolutely made my heart sing, it’s that he thinks it is for people to take their practice home from the studio and into their everyday lives. In other words, to “Make Yoga Their Own”.

Huh…look at that. Symbiance, I can dig it.

Visit www.djdrez.com today. Pick up his new album The Lotus Memoirs and find out where you can catch Drez on tour. See for yourself what this very unique and gifted individual has to share.

When there’s nothing left, you always have breath.

One, Aaron Evans For more information about the author, please visit www.aaronevansimagination.com

Your Health Coach Are you ready for a healthy lifestyle? Follow us each month for tips and guidance to get healthy and stay well.

Detox: Time to Take Out the Trash

Spring is here and spring cleaning your home doesn’t have to end with your house. It can also include your mind and body.

Juice fasts, The Master Cleanse, and other detox focused regimes are valuable for many individuals and serve as elimination diets to reset the body’s digestive system, flush toxins, and uncover food sensitivities. But what about after the fast? Here are some tips to help support your body’s natural detox processes.

1) Sip Hot Water.

For 2 weeks, sip plain hot water every 10 minutes. This is an ayurvedic technique designed to dilate, hydrate, and move your lymphatic system. Plain hot water means nothing added – no lemon, honey, etc.

3) Reduce Coffee and Caffeine Intake Caffeine can really hamper our detox results and generally deplete our energy reserves. When we drink caffeinated products, we stimulate ourselves into expending more energy than we have and dehydrate our bodies. Coffee is also highly acidic, constipates with prolonged use, and creates congestion in the body.

“Coming off” of coffee is not easy. Try a gradual approach with herbal coffees like Teeccino, which can be found online and at most health food stores. Herbal non-caffeinated teas also have many healthy properties, and even switching to moderate amounts of green tea is a great step for your health.

4) Sweat Out the Bad Stuff Our skin is our largest organ and plays a critical role in detoxification and elimination. To support your detox, sweat at least 5 times a week. Exercise is key, but you can also include sauna sessions to rev up your metabolism and speed the detox process. Remember to not wear tight, sweaty gym clothes in the sauna. You want your skin to be clean, be able to breathe, and not be covered in synthetic materials.

You don’t have to cut down your water intake (during exercise for example) or increase it dramatically (drinking too much water before bed for example). Your total water needs will vary based on your activity level, climate, diet, and health, so listen to your body. A good rule of thumb is eight 8-ounce glasses a day.

Some suggest half your body weight, in ounces. For example, a 150-pound woman should drink about 75 ounces of water a day, or nine 8-ounce glasses.

5) Detox Your Mind Environmental toxins are not limited to our physicality. Stress, thoughts, and emotions can also be toxic to our well-being, impact our energy levels, and throw us off balance. While we can’t necessarily control our environment or other people, we can choose to respond to stressors with mental strength and confidence. Awareness is the key to move from emotional reactions to concise responses to the changes that life brings. This will help us move away from treating every surprise in life as an emergency.

Your urine is a good indicator of whether or not you are drinking sufficient water. Urine should be mostly clear with a slight yellow color. Dark yellow urine is a sign that you may be dehydrated.

Meditation and breathing practices are known for their calming effects on the nervous system and can help you create peace within yourself. Start by meditating just a few minutes a day and slowly build your practice. To learn a three-part breath exercise, visit: http://www.mindbodyalliance.com/ daily-mindbody/healthyagingtips1stresslesstolivemore

2) Pay Attention to #2 As a society, we don’t like to talk about it, but our bowel movements say a lot about our digestive system, our ability to eliminate toxins, and our overall health. Good elimination means one or two easy bowel movements a day; the first, ideally within an hour of waking up. Dehydration, insufficient fiber in our diets, and minor to serious medical conditions may be the cause of poor elimination.

To support this main detox process, be sure you are drinking enough water (see #1) and have sufficient fiber in your diet.

Psyllium husk powder, ground flax seeds, or probiotics can be helpful as natural supplements to aid elimination. If you suffer from chronic constipation or diarrhea, it’s important to consult your health care provider as they may be signs of a more serious ailment.

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Remember that while short-term detoxes have their place, the habits we practice in our daily lives have the greatest impact on our health. A healthy diet and lifestyle are created by the actions we choose to take and the habits they become.

In health, Bahareh Bahareh is a certified Health Coach & Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultant based in Encinitas, California. She empowers busy professionals to live healthier and happier lives by eating well, reducing stress, and achieving balance. www.mindbodyalliance.com