Habitat for one and all...

Spring is bursting out all over. Our area is green and fertile - green with new grass and buds swelling on the trees. At the moment water is abundant and the earth is juicy with potential. This is not always the case (see our post "Water, water everywhere" ) A home full of abundance for human and animal and plant life alike.
I sometimes wonder if those urban dwellers who rarely get to see a mountain, forest, or other wide open and wild expanse, realize this is the source of what makes life possible on Earth.

There is a great learning song for kids by Bill Oliver:

Habitat, Habitat, Have to Have a Habitat
You have to have a Habitat to carry on!

Hear it online.

The ocean is a habitat, a very special habitat
It's where the deepest water's at
It's where the biggest mammal's at
It's where our future food is at
It keeps the atmosphere intact
The ocean is a habitat we depend on!

It is a wonderful ditty to help remind us that this fine planet is a home shared by a large community of creatures, all intertwined. And with Earth Day coming up, a good reminder that our actions all effect the quality of the Earth/Home we share.

While we ponder how to solve the big crises of war and poverty and economics, we cannot afford to let the bigger issue of habitat destruction become collateral damage, a side effect as it were, of our way of life. It is not only the obvious issues like clear cutting and oil spills and CO2 emissions. It is not just changing to energy efficient appliances and not littering. It is tied to every aspect of everything we do. If we poison our home it will make it impossible for us to live. Seems obvious, but it is insidious. The way of life of the human race has changed to where many of the material things we strive for ultimately work against our long term future. Maybe not so long term, anymore.

But there is a growing consciousness of this. There have always been people who recognized that all "progress" wasn't necessarily positive and that understanding has grown. Coupled with tight economic times it is becoming more common to consume more wisely and less excessively. To make choices that are maybe inevitable but also very beneficial.

The river is a habitat, a very special habitat
It's where the freshest water's at
For people, fish, and muskrat
But when people dump their trash
Rivers take the biggest rap
The river is a habitat we depend on!

If each of us makes a commitment to keep their tiny portion of the planet healthy, to keep our room clean, so to speak, it can only make a difference. I have always believed that no action is too small as each bit adds to the whole and helps create the momentum that is so crucial to making change.

People are different than foxes and rabbits
Affect the whole world with their bad habits
Better to love it while we still have it
Or rat ta-tat-tat, our habitat's gone!

Humans are the ones with the power to make a difference. The best way to display our power is to make life on Earth a sustainable proposition. We can do it. We can't afford not to!

One way we can work toward this goal is to use products that are biodegradable. Merriam-Webster defines this thus:

bio·de·grad·able adjective
: capable of being broken down especially into innocuous products by the action of living things (as microorganisms)

Cotton shopping bags are biodegradable, plastic ones... not so much. The soaps and detergents that go down your drain need to be biodegradable - not to leave their byproducts in soil, rivers and the sea forever.
Find our biodegradable soaps and products on our website.

Oh Foo... we are under the weather

And I don't mean the rain! We are talking about the contagious nasty known as the flu, which is everywhere this time of year.

One of the greatest flu-fighters is soap. It sounds odd, I imagine, 'soap for health'... but in fact the act of hand washing with soap, is one of the greatest single advances in medicine.

Before soap and later, before the discovery of microbes and the idea of 'germs' became common knowledge, medical procedures from the common to the extreme were performed with no attention to cleanliness. Not only the environs in which treatment was done, but the hands of the healer were often filthy and doctors went from patient to patient without washing, as did the others who attended the wounded and ill. Little did they know that they carried with them the infection and contagious disease that often spread wildly among their charges. It was actually in fairly recent history that cleanliness became 'scientifically' accepted as a means of preventing disease.

You may have heard this anecdote: "Sometime during the 19th century, a doctor discovered that if he performed a simple procedure when assisting women in labor, their mortality rate was cut in half (this was at a time when childbirth was among the leading causes of death for women). He shared his findings with other doctors, who, much to his dismay, ignored his advice despite solid evidence that supported his findings. Only much later, after other researchers had come to the same conclusion, did doctors begin to adopt the practice... of washing their hands." (Thanks to Don Wangberg of Fair Oaks, CA. for contributing this).

More than two million children still die from diarrheal disease in developing countries every year. A review in The Lancet Journal suggests that "a surprising 42-47% of all diarrhea could be prevented if people washed their hands with soap. This makes hand washing more effective than water supply, fly control or sanitation improvement in preventing diarrheal diseases. There is growing evidence that hand washing also works to prevent acute respiratory tract infections, which are the biggest infectious killers in the world today."

And just last night on the National News, they capped the article on the current flu cases with a reminder that the best preventative is washing your hands several times a day.

"Most infectious diseases are spread by contact, either person-to-person, or by touching surfaces harboring germs," said U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona. "Proper hand cleaning is the best prevention against communicable illness."

What happens if you do not wash your hands frequently? You pick up germs from other sources and infect yourself when you:
* Touch your eyes
* Or your nose
* Or your mouth.
One of the most common ways people catch colds is by rubbing their nose or their eyes after their hands have been contaminated with the cold virus.
Yet in the United States today several studies have shown that 20% to 50% of us do not wash our hands after using public restrooms.

Doctors warn that it is critical to wash your hands before eating, when preparing food, when you or someone around you is sick, after touching animals, and after using the bathroom, and to do it correctly.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the following technique:
• First wet your hands and apply liquid or clean bar soap. Place the bar soap on a rack and allow it to drain.
• Rub your hands vigorously together and scrub all surfaces.
• Continue for 15 - 20 seconds or about the length of a little tune. It is the soap combined with the scrubbing action that helps dislodge and remove germs.
• Rinse well and dry your hands with clean towel.

The most recent CDC guidelines for hand hygiene for practitioners in health care settings basically sums it up: wash your hands with soap and water. Additionally, use other hand hygiene preparation as called for.
It appears the key is "additionally" use other preparations. It seems that if your hands are even slightly dirty the other chemicals are not as effective. Everything seems to indicate that plain old soap and water remain the best all around health tool.

Taking care of your health includes eating right, getting fresh air and exercise, and washing well to ward off those sneaky microbes. Soap is your ally on the road to a healthy life! See all our excellent soaps for your health and pleasure.

Swine flu update - April 30: for current information, go to the Center for disease Control website: www.cdc.gov or The California Department of Public Health: www.cdph.ca.gov,both have up to date information specific to many situations including for schools, healthcare, home and more.