Transform Your Health, Just Eat Dirt

""While it may seem counterintuitive for someone who adheres to a clean lifestyle to ingest dirt on a daily basis, age-old cultures, as well as our current day scientific community, have found the practice to be one of the healthiest habits you can adopt. But it's not just any dirt -- specific types of clay prove to be most beneficial. Where to begin?

Dr. Edward F. Group III, founder of the Global Healing Center, recommends a high-quality zeolite or bentonite clay for increasing immunity, cleansing the colon, promoting healthy bacteria in the gut and detoxification of heavy metals. Additionally, research published in the Journal of Molecular Medicine discovered that finely ground zeolite clinoptilolite holds promise as an effective anti-cancer compound.

Why be worried about heavy metals?

Environmental heavy metals are an unfortunate reality in modern life. A byproduct of industry and energy production, we are saturated with these toxins. Found in our drinking water, food supply and the air we breathe, heavy metals are impossible to avoid. Below are four of the most prevalent.

Cadmium - An exceptionally toxic metal, cadmium is found in many soils and rocks as well as coal and mineral fertilizers. Cadmium is used in batteries, pigments, plastics and metal coatings. Long-term exposure can damage the kidneys, lungs and bones.

Mercury - Coal-burning power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions in the United States. Once in the soil and water, microorganisms convert the compound to methylmercury -- a bioaccumulating toxin that affects the nervous system, lungs, cardiovascular system and kidneys. Effects on the brain include memory problems, irritability, shyness, changes in vision or hearing and tremors.

Aluminum - Found in an array of personal products, from antiperspirants to cosmetics, as well as baking powders, foodstuffs, antacids, drinking water and pharmaceuticals, exposure to aluminum is difficult to dodge. This heavy metal is considered a neurotoxin and has been linked to the development of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

Lead - Due to the burning of fossil fuels, along with mining and manufacturing, lead is a pervasive environmental toxin. Sources of exposure include water pipes in older homes, paint, contaminated soil, household dust, lead crystal, cosmetics, toys, drinking water and lead-glazed pottery. It's a suspected human carcinogen, and contact with high levels severely damages the brain and kidneys, ultimately causing death.""

Conclusions and Sources:

http://www.naturalnews.com/049676_bentonite_clay_zeolites_heavy_metal_detoxification.html

Droughts in the West Caused by Atlantic Water Currents as Likely Culprit with Waxing and Waning of Pacific Ocean Winds

""To understand why the west has been so dry since the turn of the century, cast your eye further west—to the natural waxing and waning of Pacific Ocean winds.

Strong trade winds have been forcing heat into ocean depths, contributing to a temporary slowdown in land surface warming over the past 15 to 20 years that some have called a warming hiatus, pause, or false pause. New research published in the Journal of Climate has gone further—implicating those winds in stubborn droughts afflicting western states.

“We know there’s a lot of natural variability in the (climate) system,” Tom Delworth, a climate modeler at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, said. “It’s not surprising, but it’s important to understand mechanisms for this hiatus.”

Delworth and his colleagues looked at the role strong winds blowing out of the east have played in pushing warm water across the Pacific and eventually forcing it below the surface. Meanwhile, cooler-than-normal water has risen up to replace it in the eastern Pacific, a mechanism that has temporarily helped slow the rate of warming on land, despite continued global warming. (Globally, 2014 was the hottest year on record, and 13 of the hottest 15 years have been recorded since 2000.)

The ocean and atmosphere are intimately linked, so the story doesn’t just stop in the watery depth of the Pacific. Delworth’s analysis shows the precipitation deficit that has driven drought in the western US since the early 2000s is due to these changes in the Pacific region. In particular, ocean conditions have helped set up a ridge pattern that deflects storms into Canada.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what has been happening to California, the current epicenter of a decade-long western drought and victim of the ridiculously resilient ridge. But just three years ago, it was Oklahoma and Texas in the drought’s bullseye, and much of the region has dealt with some form of drought since at least 2002.

The results of the research show that 92% of the dry conditions in the west can be tied back to the trade wind shift in the Pacific, with the remainder due to humanity’s greenhouse gas pollution.

Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said not factoring in the role of heat in driving and reinforcing drought was a major oversight in the new study. He noted recent research on the California drought, which shows how rising temperatures there have increased the odds of drought.

Delworth said that the role of human-influenced heat in drought wasn’t necessarily the aim of the study, but that it could certainly be a factor.

The results contribute to a growing body of research on the slowdown in the rise of global temperatures. Much of that work ties the phenomenon to ocean cycles, though volcanoes might also have a role to play.

“It’s the ocean hiding the heat, which would normally warm the surface,” Ka-Kit Tung, a climate modeler at the University of Washington, said. “The question is which ocean and this paper is not fully answering that question.”

Tung’s own work has pointed to the Atlantic as the main driver of the hiatus. Delworth said the Atlantic could be a possible driver of the Pacific’s weird winds, but understanding their exact cause remains “the million dollar question.""

http://qz.com/383343/new-research-shows-that-the-pacific-winds-are-tied-the-california-drought/

How Severe is the 2015 Drought Situation on the West Coast?

""California's reservoirs have about a year's worth of water left. Groundwater levels, seen as a "savings account" that the state can draw from in dry times, are at an all-time low. The US Drought Monitor comes out with weekly drought maps based on satellite imagery, precipitation, and water flow data; the Central Valley—America's bread basket—is covered in dark red, "exceptional drought."

What exactly is groundwater, and why are people in California freaking out about it? Groundwater is the water that seeps through the ground when it rains. Over the centuries, it accumulates in vast underground aquifers, with older water found deeper in the earth's crust. Accessed through wells, groundwater is often compared to a savings account in California—good to have in dry times but difficult to refill. The issue now is that with reservoirs (above ground) so depleted, groundwater use is spiking. Farmers are drilling deeper and deeper for water—using water that fell 20,000 years ago. Usually, groundwater makes up about 40 percentof the state's freshwater usage, but with the recent drought, that number has leapt to 65 percent. This year, it may rise to 75 percent.

What are the state's biggest water users? Farming in general, and alfalfa (used to feed cows) and almonds in particular. California grows half of the fruits and veggies produced in the States, including more than 90 percent of the country'sgrapes, broccoli, almonds, and walnuts. Here are some of the state's most thirsty crops:

Alfalfa is a superfood of sorts for cows, and it's in high demand in the Golden State, which leads the country in dairy production and is also a major beef producer. (Fun fact: It takes nearly 700 gallons of water to grow the alfalfa necessary to produce one gallon of milk, and 425 gallons of water to produce 4 ounces of beef.) Almonds are second from the top, both because it takes a lot of water to produce nuts (a single almond takes a gallon of water) but also because the crunchy snack is in vogue in the United States and abroad. The water that's used to grow the California almonds that are exported overseas in one year would be enough to fuel Los Angeles for nearly three years.""

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/04/everything-you-wanted-know-about-california-drought