This is what World Water Relief is all about. World Water Relief aims to provide programs which will support and ensure clean drinking water for every human living in this world. What sets this organization apart from others is that their programs are long term solutions instead of temporary relief. The organization believes that when clean water is denied, people in the area are susceptible to diseases and health risks. Together with their support partners, they were able to build water purification systems for areas in need thus giving its people a chance to have clean and safe drinking water.

World Water Relief prioritizes areas which already have an existing water supply but is currently unusable due to contamination. It also recognizes different types of partners such as program partners and support partners. Through these partnerships, everyone has the opportunity to participate and ultimately make a difference in their own ways. Volunteers, on the other hand, make sure that these programs are rightfully delivered to concerned areas. Donations are also accepted in their site to help Haiti, their pet project as of the moment. For as little as $20, the organization ensures an entire week of basic necessities for one village.

For more information, visit their website:  http://www.worldwaterrelief.org/

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Vitamin and mineral supplements have become the need of many health-conscious people, especially those who have learnt about the anti-aging and anti-oxidant effects of vitamins. Of these, Vitamin E and Vitamin C are particularly sought at health food stores due to their heavily advertized claims of effectiveness against ageing and preventing/healing infections. Naturally obtained from vegetables and fruits, these vitamins are sold in numerous supplements, commonly as pills and powder. However, a new research, led by Dr. Jennifer Lin (of the Brigham And Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts), has found that vitamin pills do not carry the health benefits obtained from the dietary sources of those same vitamins. The study was conducted on more than 7500 women and the results came after a follow up stretched over nine years.

Dr. Lin’s research concludes that antioxidant supplements containing Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and/or beta carotene do not offer any significant health benefits like preventing cancer or earlier aging. These findings agree with an earlier research, published in November 2008, involving about 15000 American men who did not show any cancer-prevention effect from the regular use of Vitamin C and Vitamin E supplements. However, the general consensus on eating a healthy and balanced diet stays valid as before. Fresh vegetables and fruits are the best and most health-friendly sources of essential vitamins and minerals.

What is important to remember about these findings? That, more than anything else, it is not a certificate to give up all calorie-rich diets and binge on vegetables and fruits. Strong immunity also requires enough calories to fight infections. Calorically restricted diet may work for some overweight people (though not indefinitely for them too), it gives a person to diseases more easily than those having healthy caloric levels. A recent study led by Professor Elizabeth Gardner, of the Michigan State University, concludes that caloric-deficient people are likely to fall a prey more easily to flu and other viral conditions and would need longer to recover even if they take the healthy levels of vitamins and minerals. This is in line with the term ‘balanced’ so frequently used with ‘diet’.

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Literally meaning ‘the droppings of seabirds’, guano has been known as a fertilizer to humans as early as the 15th century AD. The Incans gathered guano from the Peruvian coast and used it to enrich their soils. They were so conscious to the agricultural value of birds that disturbing birds was punishable by penalties as strict as death. Besides being an invaluable fertilizer, guano has also been used as an important component of gunpowder. It is said that these uses of guano led, at least in part, to the War of the Pacific (1879 – 83) between Chile and the alliance of Peru and Bolivia.

In contemporary farming, guano has regained its importance as the ecological and health hazards of synthetic fertilizers have come to the attention of farming communities. Guano is used for both agricultural (large-scale) and gardening (small-scale) purposes. Besides enriching the soil with phosphorus, nitrates, and potassium, guano also acts as a benign, natural fungicide and is effective in controlling harmful nematodes. Using guano also activates the compost, owing to the action of microbes that decompose it.

Today, the Pacific islands remain the leading source of guano, though the best quality of guano is one mined in arid regions since rain dissolves the nitrogen component of the guano deposits. Guano is also available at gardening stores and a number of verities come packed with specific components printed on the labels. However, guano mining has been of concern lately to eco-friendly groups since it disturbs the bat colonies that produce it in caves. Bats are sensitive creatures and even slight disturbances make them fret, resulting in their abandonment of their dwelling or even starving to death in stress. This affects further production of fresh guano.

As the current sources of phosphorous in natural soils are estimated to last no longer than another 30 years, guano is just the ideal fertilizer which has no harmful effects on the environment and comes from the air as a natural gift from birds for sustaining the fertility of our planet.

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The harmful health effects of hormones used for increasing milk production in commercial agriculture can be seen most clearly in the case of rGBH, or recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, a protein hormone branded commonly as Posalic®. Despite the strong and persistent concern of scientists and farmers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the hormone in 1993. Research on health-effects of rGBH has revealed that milk produced by cows injected with rGBH carries elevated levels of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor), another protein hormone, which may be responsible for colon and breast cancer. While further research is needed to verify these initial findings, the safety of rGBH is strongly disputed.

Synthetic or genetically modified growth hormones have also been linked to early pubescence in girls, some of whom have been found to hit puberty as early as in their eight year of life. Other studies have found a decrease in sperm production in boys as a result of exposure to these hormones. Growing children are, therefore, vulnerable to reproductive abnormalities on account of artificially engineered growth hormones for increasing dairy production.

Yet another dark side to the use of growth hormones on cattle is the health risk of antibiotics. The hormones injected into the cattle frequently cause mastitis, which is a painful inflammation of the udders. To treat this condition, the dairy industry injects the cattle with antibiotics that remain in the milk obtained from them. Children fed on this milk get the antibiotics in their blood, something that weakens their natural immunity to fight bacteria and other pathogenic microbes. Continued feeding on antibiotic-containing milk compromises the immunity of children, making them easy victims to all kinds of infections and diseases.

The health risks associated with the use of growth hormones in cattle, for the purpose of increasing milk production, call for the urgent need to discourage such practices on dairy farms. Organic farm communities, which promise natural and safe dairy products, are the ideal solution to this problem. Organic agriculture is eco-friendly, healthy, and conducive to life in the long run. Consumers of dairy products living in urban areas can choose to buy organic, hormone-free dairy products at many superstores. In rural areas, safe milk and other dairy food is easily available at organic farms.

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Growing Disease-Resistant Plants

Just like some people have stronger immunities than others, there are plants that are more resistant to the diseases prevalent in the same farming community. This, in part, is also determined by the climatic conditions as some plants prove more disease-resistant in a particular kind of climate. As a general rule, F1 hybrid varieties are mostly immune to diseases and they produce a healthier and greater yield, in addition to blooming earlier.

Getting Greater Sunlight

Crops which are grown in brighter and sunny locations are most often healthier than those grown in shady places. Sunlight not only boosts photosynthesis (natural food-making inside plants) but also evaporates the moisture, which blankets the cultivated land. This latter role of the sun is important in preventing plant diseases since most of the pathogenic microbes thrive and spread in moisture. By drying the surface of the grounds, sunlight eliminates the growth medium of harmful organisms.

Watering Properly

Water is essential to plants as blood is to animals. It is the medium of circulating nutrients and oxygen. But more so for plants since water is part of the chemical process whereby glucose is prepared by the plants in their leaves. Too much and too little water are both harmful to crops. It is important to get information on the right quantity of water for different kinds of plants, soils, and climatic conditions. Watering the foliage (leaves) is usually not advisable and it is generally recommended to water the crops early in the morning. Working in the garden, while the plants are still wet, is also not recommended. This is because water droplets can carry infectious microbes from one plant or part of the land to another and cause diseases.

Providing Healthy Soil

Healthy plants grow in healthy soils and there is no exception to this rule. Healthy soils are fertile (usually with natural organic matter), well-drained, and have a growth-friendly chemical nature (a pH between 6 and 7). Lime or any other additive should not be added to soil without first testing the soil for its pH value. The structure or tilth of the soil also counts in hosting healthier crops. What we need here is some expert opinion.

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