eBay.com users are responsible for two-thirds of the online trade in endangered animals worldwide. This awful trade is particularly hard on elephants. They are being massacred. After elephant products, endangered birds are the most commonly-trafficked endangered species. In one study, 1,416 listings offered rare parrots, cockatoos and macaws, sometimes clearly identified as illegal. Some of the birds were priced as high as $1500. The countries with the most trafficking in endangered species: United States Great Britain China It is much easier to ban ivory sales on eBay than to catch those who exploit endangered parrots, macaws and cockatoos. But catch them we must.

Own cats — or owned by them? Then monitor their health carefully, because they indicate the health of your environment. Cats rarely suffered from thyroid problems until the introduction of flame-retardant chemicals known as PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Researchers have reported in the journal Environmental Science and Technology that PBDE levels in cats are 20 to 100 times greater than in humans. The researchers suggest using cats as “sentinel species” to determine high exposure in humans. Cats eat PBDEs, particularly from cat food with a seafood flavor. Cats spend much of their time on or near our carpets and furnishings, which are full of PBDEs. Cats carefully groom themselves, and can ingest PBDEs shed by carpets and furniture. If your cats have thyroid problems, chances are your environment is full of PBDEs — and you probably are full of them, too.   READ MORE »

Why do people make such a fuss about different styles of feng shui? There are good reasons, but they are not usually apparent to the public. Here is a comparison of feng shui — New Age (McFengshui) and traditional (“authentic”) — using one house chosen at random from real estate listings. One House, Two Kinds of Feng Shui In April 2007 this house was for sale in Irvine, California, in one of the planned communities. The asking price was nearly $900,000 US. For the sake of this exercise assume the following: The house was built in 1985. (This information is not required for New Age feng shui.) The garage door faces due south. (This information is not required for New Age feng shui.) The house is not occupied. The house has no furnishings and the walls are painted white. The flooring is a neutral color throughout the house (whether tile, marble, or carpeting). Two families saw the house on the Internet. Each family sent a practitioner to see if the house would be worth purchasing. The first practitioner uses New Age feng shui (McFengshui), including the bagua map. The second practitioner uses traditional feng shui. Using the McBagua The practitioner laid the "bagua map" on the wall of the entrance. This shows the entry in the Career sector. The master bedroom is to the left, in the Knowledge sector. Helpful People contains the kitchen. How do they know whether this arrangement is good for their client or not? That’s a very good question. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an answer. Maybe that’s why people rely so much on psychobabble. Here is one interpretation of the house: They are sleeping on their knowledge Their career is in the closet. Their family is cut in half. Part of their wealth is missing. All the helpful people work in the kitchen. Anyone can develop rationalizations like these. You can probably think of some. Do they tell you anything useful, or are they entertainment?   Now the traditional practitioner arrives.   Using the traditional baguas (2 are used in traditional feng shui) After compass readings and a calculation, the practitioner notes the following: Good property for making money, but at the expense of close relationships. There would be conflict and bickering from the time anyone moved in. It’s not uncommon for this type of house to cause so much strife that the occupants divorce, or business relationships explode into litigation. Attorneys like these types of houses, as they argue for a living. But the house can disrupt their lives as well. The house can cause trouble in families, because the eldest son could potentially abuse the mother. At this point the practitioner would probably advise the family of their options. This is an example of the minimum amount of information that a traditional practitioner can provide about a structure. Suppose the family decides to buy the property as an investment. They might want to use feng shui as a risk assessment tool. The practitioner can offer advice on   READ MORE » The most likely problems encountered with renters Where problems are more likely to occur, and when Who is most likely to cause problems, or have things happen to them, and when How to prevent or temper the effects of the most serious problems If you were spending nearly US $1 million on a house, which practitioner would you hire to look at property?

Neatness is the enemy of wildlife. Much traditional landscaping, for example, is open and neatly trimmed, with little room for birds and other animals, and it often requires heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides. Let the weeds and bushes grow. Plant native trees. Our demand for unblemished fruit and catsup without insect parts forces the heavy use of pesticides and forces farmers to go to great lengths to control birds and other “pests.” Blemished or slightly wormy fruit is still edible. My father had the habit of never eating an apple without taking out his pocketknife and cutting it up. This habit was ingrained from being brought up on a farm in the days before the heavy use of pesticides. Adopting simple habits like this can help to save wildlife (and maybe your own health). — Dr. Peter Moyle, et al. From an introductory course on wildlife conservation taught at the University of California, Davis. You can read it in its entirety.. As we manicure our green space, nuking bugs and napalming weeds, we drive hedgehogs and their food out into a wilderness with little sign of comfort. — Hugh Warwick   READ MORE »

In 2005 more than 1.5 million children under the age of five were admitted to Accident and Emergency Departments due to poisoning from household cleaning products. There are more dangers lurking in common household cleaners. Some you can smell but have no idea of the harm they cause you, children, and even family pets. Throw out that scented-oil air freshener. A new study indicates the chemical that provides the “clean” smell of mothballs and air fresheners could damage the lungs of anyone who inhales it regularly. Exposed to the air, the chemical paradichlorobenzene (which gives mothballs their smell) emits a chemical (1,4-dichlorobenzene). It is more potent than benzene and tolulene for harming lungs. Here is a recent scientific study. A study released in May 2006 by the California Air Resources Board (part of the California Environmental Protection Agency) showed that several compounds found in air fresheners and household cleaners (but especially 1,4-dichlorbenzene or 1,4DCB) can reach harmful concentrations inside homes. Just by being around these products you will regularly exceed the maximum dosage the state recommends. Some of the cleaners (and certainly the air fresheners) are designed to be slow-releasing — which makes them more dangerous because you breathe them regularly. Your exposure to the fumes is (in medical talk) “chronic.” The state study indicates that if you inhale the chemical regularly, 1,4DCB appears in your bloodstream. Whether you smoke or not, the relationship between inhaling the stuff and lung impairment is startling. If you use it over a long period of time there can be permanent effects. When you have permanent lung damage you are at greater risk for heart disease, stroke, and cancer.   READ MORE »