Tuesday 30 September 2014

Nature’s Plea: “Work with Me, People!”

Image: Spider Memes 
“When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Image: “When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Now, we’re not saying Mother Nature is a like a neurotic director on set losing her marbles at a cast and crew who refuse to cooperate with her and realize her vision of “a perfect picture.” But one must admit, given the recent eruptions and earthquakes, it may not be an altogether inappropriate comparison.

And we also must admit, when it comes to developing a healthy relationship with nature, our approach has been anything but that of a “genius.” Surely not the kind of genius Emerson is referring to.

Pesticides, GMO’s, pollution, climate change, deliberate introduction of invasive foreign species, devastation of vast ecosystems…humanity’s track record of “working with our director” comes up sorely wanting.

But there are “geniuses” out there, ones who believe it is better to work WITH Mother Nature than against her. One of them is PeapodLife’s resident ecosystem guru, Wolfgang Amelung, proprietor of Genetron Systems and inventor of the living wall ecosystem.

Here Wolfgang is featured on a piece produced by CBC’s Venture, back in the 1997, when he first took the world storm with his invention.

Video by PeapodLife: CBC Venture Report on PeapodLife Partner, Genetron Systems 
Source: YouTube - PeapodLife

Hot on the heels of the authentic work of a real genius whose passion is working with Mother Nature, a slew of so-called clever people saw the living wall ecosystem and decided “I can do that!”

The result was a plethora of so-called “living walls” and “green walls” which flooded the market and still linger today: cheap knock-offs which are chemically fed, soil-based, and don’t have any resemblance whatsoever to an ecosystem—and thus have little or any resemblance to real nature, apart from their inclusion of plants.   

And guess what? They don’t work.

Nature works because it is an ecosystem. Balanced, intelligent, able to adapt to changing conditions. Soil putrefies and dies, filling the air with more contaminants than the plants in it can clean. Hydroponic systems fill the air with chemicals and fertilizers. Neither systems are capable of producing ionized living water, and both types of systems suffer from mold and mildew problems due to the moisture.

But wait! Don’t PeapodLife Living Wall Ecosystems also produce a lot of moisture?

Yes they do, but our ecosystems produce ionized living water—negatively charged ions—which suck contaminants out of the air. The electromagnetic field of an ecosystem is balanced, meaning mold is kept in check. What flourishes in its place is moss—a feature no other so-called living wall is able to duplicate.

PeapodLife ecosystems were developed and patented by a true genius who knows the benefits of working with nature—not against it. Now those benefits are available to you: in your home, workplace, school, retirement centre, wherever wellness, calm, clarity and wellbeing are of importance and value.


Tuesday 16 September 2014

What does it really mean to “get back to nature?”

Image Collage by PeapodLife: BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED TO MOVE TO YELLOWSTONE TO “GET BACK TO NATURE”
Credit: Morning in Yellowstone: sometimes you wake up in the middle of a bison herd. 
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not. When I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
*Quote and Image from Walden.


The above quote by Henry David Thorough notwithstanding, we have some pretty interesting ideas of what it means to “get back to nature.”

It seems a simple enough concept, especially to children, to whom getting out exploring the wilderness seems to come naturally (at least, it used to be, before the “i-Tech” generation).

Image Collage by PeapodLife: Back to Nature - Then v.s. Now. 
Sources: Kids in Nature: http://www.back2nature.ca/
iPod Back to Nature 
Credit: Insanitystudz 

Just where does this technological “i-age,” including the “selfie” take us? To innovations like the “Bird Photo Booth.” It’s cool, no question, but does it qualify as getting back to nature? Judge for yourself.

Video: GoPro: Bird Photo Booth bird feeder and birdcam for Bird photography like never before
Credit: Bryson Lovett

Don’t get us wrong, the GoPro is an amazing piece of technology which allows individuals to capture nature as never before…

Video: Beautiful Nature - Autumn - GoPro 3 

And, of course, GoPro offers the ultimate in “high-performance, high-definition selfie technology” to capture “grown-up kids having grown-up adventures” approach to getting back to nature:

Video: 4 Month GoPro Travel Adventure 
Credit: Henry Cramer


But there’s still good old fashioned intrepid exploration, discovering the hidden gems and secret mysteries of nature, like this subterranean haven:

Image: Underground Green Haven 


What all these forms of so-called “getting back to nature” have in common is that they are illusory and/or temporary; in other words unsustainable. As exciting as a 4-month adventure holiday may be, 4 months is 4 months. It is a holiday; it is not sustainable.

“So we’ll capture it for posterity!” we think.

As cool as shooting and viewing high-speed, HD nature footage may be, it’s not the real thing. And unless you had your camera mounted on a helmet, no: you were not really there. The second we start worrying about “capturing the moment,” we’re taken out of the moment. Truly.

That’s part of the problem with the whole “i-Generation,” “selfie” and “be a hero” culture: we’re so focused on saving the experience for later—or sharing it with others—we deprive ourselves the pure, unadulterated experience itself. And, we falsely believe that others can experience what we experienced. Sadly, like us, they get a watered down, filtered version of it. Yeah, it’s pretty cool to watch, but it’s not the same.

What we’re really talking about, then, is getting back to nature more permanently…in a sustainable way. Living with nature.

And there are plenty of really dramatic ways of achieving this goal which, let’s face it are more or less beyond the reach of most of us…

Image Collage by PeapodLife: There’s a more attainable way to get nature back into your life


And then there are the old standby, log homes and cabins…

Image Collage by Peapodlife: Log Homes


…quaint, rustic and “natural” to be sure, but ultimately deadwood—lifeless.

And don’t even get us started with potted plants. POTTED PLANTS ARE NOT NATURE. When you separate soil from the earth, put it in a pot and bring it indoors, it immediately begins to putrefy (die, rot, decompose). And although the plant in the soil may appear to be doing well, overall it is polluting your indoor environment and reducing air quality.

At PeapodLife, we believe the BEST way to “get back to nature” in a SUSTAINABLE WAY, are high order indoor rainforest ecosystems.
  • Home
  • Office
  • School
  • Health Centre
  • Retirement Community

And the reasons are simple: no other way of “getting back to nature” is truly sustainable, without abandoning civilization altogether. PeapodLife is all about ecosystems—mutual harmony and symbiosis—reconciling that which must live together sustainably. For humanity, that time is long overdue.

And what does getting back to nature living the PeapodLife look like?

Video: PeapodLife Living Wall EcoSystem Fitch Street


Remember: videos are not the same as experiencing it first-hand.


Thursday 11 September 2014

Do Plants Hold the Secrets to Consciousness?
Do they Feel Pain? How do they Make YOU FEEL?

Video: Do Plants Respond to Pain? 

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

By Ralph Waldo Emerson’s definition, TODAY ALL PLANTS ARE WEEDS IN THE EYES OF MATERIALST SCIENCE. Why? Because science refuses to accept the possibility that plants are conscious. And yet, the above video points to the possibility that plants may hold the keys to understanding consciousness itself!

The above video is another in a long line of experiments exploring the nature of how plants “feel” (if that is the right word). The Smithsonian experiment specifically tests the effects of ether on a plant’s stimuli-response ability to function normally, postulating it has something to do with the plant’s ability to conduct electricity.

A simple stimulus-response is one thing, but the efficacy of ether as an anesthetic—it was thought by medical science—was how it affects the central nervous system of humans. But hang on: a plant has no brain; it has no central nervous system. How is it affecting the plant itself?

This is where we must go back to ancient wisdom; ancient knowledge of human physiognomy known to the Chinese and Ayurveda’s.

The term nadi in Sanskrit yoga refers not to nerves, but to channels through which the vital energies of the etheric—or subtle—body flow (prana). They connect at special fulcrums of intensity known as chakras. Nadis are 1:1 analogous to the meridian system in traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture through which the life-force-energy as qi (“chi”) flows.

Image Collage by PeapodLife: Meridians and Nadis in the Subtle (etheric; vital) Body 


According to Wikipedia, “Acupuncture points may exhibit low electrical resistance and impedance but this evidence is mixed, and limited by poor-quality studies with small sample sizes and multiple confounding factors.” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture_point

Still, the point is that there is a precedent for the movement of energy through the body which is not physical, and thus does not rely on the central nervous system. The central nervous system also carries energy, in the form of electrical charges, as do synapses in the brain.

But here again we come back to the underlying assumptions of science: that thought (and therefore consciousness) is reliant on the brain, on a central nervous system. This is where the secret life of plants will really blow your mind…

Video: The Secret Life of Plants 


Is it possible that even the very threat of fire can cause a plant to react? What is going on here?

Now, to be fair, others have tried to replicate Backster’s experiments, but have been unable to duplicate his results. According to Wikipedia,
Biologist Arthur Galston told St. Petersburg Times, "We know plants don't have nervous systems. But they do have little electrical currents flowing through them and are subject to outside manipulation." He further said that plants can show altered electrical responses to light, chemical agents and disease but he "draws the line" to the claim of them "responding to human thoughts and events, including life elimination." 

The problem, as many who experiment in the fields of consciousness, including Masaru Emoto and Lynn McTaggart, face issues around “skeptical consciousness” that is; that a skeptical mind has adverse effects on the outcome of consciousness experiments. If consciousness is, indeed, a “field,” and positivity and negativity  exist in consciousness, then this is not surprising.

Material scientists criticize these experimenters’ lack of controls and failure to adhere strictly to the scientific method. They likely would call the “positive attitude” of the consciousness researchers “confirmation bias,” meaning the occasions their experiments do not produce the desire result are quietly discarded, forgotten, and not mentioned in any of their publications.

Yes, the established scientific community seems focused on denying the plausibility of plant consciousness.

Video: Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know – Plant Intelligence 
Credit: HowStuffWorks


Still, it’s hard to deny the life-changing effect such experiences with plants can have on someone:
“I must say that as of 14 minutes along in that initial observation on the morning of February 2nd 1966, my life just hasn’t been the same.”

With PeapodLife, Your Life May Never Be the Same Again, Either

Suffice it to say, anyone can experience a life-altering experience with an ecosystem from PeapodLife. Why? Because the ecosystem is even more conscious than a single plant. We have to stop thinking in terms of single, separate “organisms” and move into the space of the “superorganism.” That the strength and vitality of individual organisms is dependent on their environment; especially when it comes to plants.

Only material scientists have the audacity to separate a single cell or an organ from an organism, put it in isolation, run a myriad of tests on it in completely unnatural environments, and say they comprehend the nature of a cell/organ and its functions.

One cannot, ever, comprehend anything out of context. Context is everything. This is the very nature of “something in its place” or “out of place.” Nothing in nature is truly out of place. The perfection of nature is its ability to manage chaos in a harmonious way. 

Thus, to be present and experience the harmonious order in the middle of those patterns of chaos, one can actually experience a kind of intelligence at work—a conscious presence, if you will. Call it what you will, explain it how you must.

But feel it you will (unless, like the materialist scientist who needs empirical proof in order to trust their own experience of life, your skeptical mind blocks you). 

In any case, the more time you spend living with an ecosystem, the more you will begin to commune—if not communicate directly—with it. It will surprise you. It will change your life for the better. How, exactly? Consciousness doesn’t work that way. Ecosystems are NOT MACHINES. And neither are we.

You don’t understand this one in the head, you feel it in the heart. Like true beauty, love, kindness, compassion, and all the most wonderful experiences this life has to offer.

Here’s a taste (keeping in mind video CANNOT do the experience justice).

Video by PeapodLife: Living Wall Ecosystem up-close and personal - Bodystream Health & Wellness Center


Maybe, just maybe, how plants feel is how they make us feel…how we all feel. Maybe, just maybe, buy spending more time simply experiencing plants (and less time “studying them”), just being conscious and receptive, we can discover much more about their true nature, our true nature, and the nature of knowing itself.

Or, maybe we’ll just be much happier, healthier, with a more comfortable life. There’s only one way to find out.


Tuesday 9 September 2014

FED UP with Sugar!?
Forget “Hooked on Phonics;” Get Kids “Hooked on Healthy Food”

Video: FED UP – Official Trailer

Everybody's got their poison, and mine is sugar.
- Derrick Rose

Not alcohol, cigarettes, or what we typically think of as drugs. Like so many others in the industrialized world I’ve picked my poison—sugar—and it’s 100% legal and available EVERYWHERE, in just about EVERYTHING. In fact, this particular poison is nearly impossible to avoid. 

Did I really pick my poison? Or was I picked? And just how much of a “poison” is sugar, anyway? The new documentary film, “FED UP” explores America’s addiction to sugar, and the epidemics it is causing in young people; the first generation, it is said, whose life expectancy will be lower than that of previous generations.

One of the rather vivid arguments the film makes is that sugar “lights up” the same area of the brain as cocaine. If that is so, then in terms of addiction, sugar can be considered the most widely used drug on the planet.

Image: Screenshot from FED UP Official Trailer – Brain response to sugar and cocaine

“So what?” You might be asking yourself: “so a few cavities and some kids who grow up as adults with a sweet tooth aside, what possible harm can come from this pure white sweetener which made all our childhoods that much more bearable?” Well, it’s not quite that simple.

For the record: I am a sugar addict. Like most people, I turn to carb-laden, starchy, fatty, and sugary comfort foods for—well—comfort. I am on a diet free of gluten, corn, soy and cow-dairy (for medical reasons), and yet I still find a way to satisfy my cravings for starchy/sweet foods.

If you cannot get out to the theatres to see FED UP anytime soon, you can watch an episode of CBC’s the fifth estate exposing “The Secrets of Sugar,” below, which pretty much summarizes much of the current scientific and medical basis for “the war on sugar,” as well as the economic and political pushback against any efforts to reduce consumption.

Video: The Secrets of Sugar - the fifth estate - CBC News

So what can be done?

Well, since the issue here seems to be first and foremost the effects of sugar on children and their long-term health, there is an immediate message of prevention and education. With an educational component, one might have expected this blog on Genesis Eco Fund’s Blog, but not so: it’s not that kind of “education” that’s needed.

What’s needed is some good old-fashioned child rearing, like the kind we got from our parents—like the kind being shown in the following CBC news report on the importance of getting kids hooked on healthy food early in life.

Image Video-Link: Getting kids hooked on healthy food early is crucial, researchers say 
Source: CBC News The National Sep 2 2014 Child Nutrition

Right now, children’s addiction to sugar is being institutionalized on an industrial scale (especially in the United States where school breakfast and lunch programs are inundated with industrial food: cheap sugar-laden products whose primary ingredients—like carbs and starches—convert to sugar in the body; let’s not even mention the unhealthy fats and “flavor enhancers” like MSG).

But wait a second: I was brought up pretty well. We did have lots of carbs, mind you—but 30 and 40 years ago there was no talk of the dangers of carbs, yet…not like today. Well, maybe that explains why my mom now has Type-II diabetes.

Still, my mom prepared home-cooked meals. I suppose we ate at places like McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken on occasion. And we did drink a fair amount of juice (which nowadays they say is almost as bad as soda pop). But there’s more to this than just “instilling healthy lifestyles.”

Kyboshing Comfort-Seeking

Make no mistake: sugar is “comfort food.” Like any drug, sugar makes children feel good; not only that, the “crash” you feel after the “high,” has a sedative, relaxing effect (if slightly depressing).

We reach for the snacks partially because our bodies are addicted to them and craving them, biologically—as Dr. Mark Hyman argues in his book “The Blood Sugar Solution: 10-Day Detox Diet,” discussed in an article on NYDailyNews.com—but there’s more to it than that.

There is a neuropsychological connection. When we are nervous, for instance, we like to crunch starchy food (like popcorn in the theatre). Chocolate and sweets likewise become more attractive to us when we “need something.” Maybe it’s the “warm fuzzy feeling” sugar gives us, like a warm hug.

In my own experience, I find that meditating or mantralizing has a powerful effect on my ability to curb cravings for sugar. In addition, being in the company of an ecosystem likewise relieves cravings, since I feel good without turning to comfort food.

PeapodLife advocates a more healthy, wholesome and comfortable environment: one with high-order rainforest ecosystems. No matter how well you try to eat, or what kind of lifestyle and nutrition regimen you try to stick to, what good is it if you’re surrounded by an environment which causes stress?

In a stressful environment, you’re just going to find yourself fighting your own cravings for comfort—sugar and related unhealthy choices.

In a calming, soothing, relaxing and invigorating environment, you crave neither the warm and fuzzies, nor the power-drink rush, nor the post-sugar-high crash. You are already balanced, content and happy.

At PeapodLife, this is what we feel is so important: allowing children the opportunity to experience the power of nature to provide the comfort and support in a safe and positive way—mutually symbiotic relationship. The ecosystem provides the ongoing nurturing we once received from our parents, and in many ways, is what we seek when we turn to sugar.

We surround ourselves with toxic environments and impressions, causing all kinds of stress and anxiety, in a society which shuns open displays of affection, compassion, empathy, etc. in certain “serious” circumstances, and we wonder why we turn to sugar!?

We subject children to unnatural, mechanical institutionalized education and indoctrination programs, standardized testing, etc., television, video games, iPads, the digitization of their lives, and we wonder why when they seek warmth and comfort they turn to “the quick fix” of sugar?

It’s time to bring nature back into our lives, and let the ecosystem begin the healing, the comforting; only then will our cravings for sugar be under control.