Amid the utter chaos that is the health care debate, I recently read op-eds that voiced an aspect of this issue I believe needs much more attention: health. Take a look at the unhealthy trends and increasing obesity in our society, and you’ll see my point. How can you furiously argue over health care reform when you don’t take care of your own health? Can you really oppose rising health care costs when you are also contributing to them?

In a Sept. 9 New York Times op-ed, Michael Pollan cites a study that explains why the US spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care: we’re fatter. He writes: “Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet.” This is an relevant, crucial point, yet one that goes largely ignored.

Wasteful spending has become a catchphrase in Washington, and politics in general, yet the media doesn’t make a fuss about how three-quarters of health care spending goes to treat “preventable chronic diseases”–most of which are related to diet. There’s a big problem here. So, why don’t I recall Obama discussing the food industry during his speeches?

Though I don’t agree with Bill Maher on all fronts, he does get it right in his Sept. 18 post on the Huffington Post. He writes: “President Obama has identified all the problems with the health care system, but there’s one tiny issue he refuses to tackle, and that’s our actual health.” Until that issue comes up, until the food industry and diet problems are dealt with, health care will continue spending large sums of money that could just as easily be saved.

By focusing on the big insurance companies with high premiums and unaffordable policies, we’re tackling part of the problem, but not the heart of it. They are symptoms of the more deeply-rooted societal problem of diet, lifestyle and the country’s food industry.

I’m a person who likes to write everything down. I make list upon list for just about everything…I’ll even make lists for other people!

So, I decided to join Rebecca Thorman’s monthly goal meet-ups at Modite. It’s a group project of bloggers posting a list of monthly goals (and reviewing those from the previous month). It’s an interesting way to accomplish your own goals as well as learn about (and from) others. I know writing something down and putting it out there is a motivating factor for me.

So, here goes:

1. Blog (and write) more often.

2. Finally get around to writing another article.

3. Exercise at least once or twice a week.

4. Procrastinate less & manage time better.

5. Find the time to read for pleasure.

Let’s see if I accomplish anything!

With the relatively recent trend toward becoming “ecofriendly,” bottled water often becomes a topic of interest. Simply put, bottled water = waste. In fact, it produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste annually. Furthermore, producing that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year. And in the end, 80 percent of these plastic bottles are thrown away–not recycled (though, the actual process of recycling requires large amounts of energy). The likely prospect of a future in which majority of the plastic produced is still drifting around somewhere does not paint a pretty picture.

Yet, I think many people are indeed aware that bottled water is not environmentally friendly (whether they choose to act upon that awareness is, of course, a different story). But how many people realize how much a bottled water company can affect its local citizens and communities?

In a recent issue of Mother Jones magazine, Anna Lenzer looks into FIJI Water and the story behind its elitist, “untouched” water. Lenzer touches upon the contrast between the brand’s image and the conditions in Fiji: “‘We are Fiji,’ declare Fiji Water posters across the island, and the slogan is almost eerily accurate: The reality of Fiji, the country, has been eclipsed by the glistening brand of Fiji, the water.”

She goes on to discuss the water problems that face the island, which include:

…crumbling pipes, a lack of adequate wells, dysfunctional or flooded water treatment plants, and droughts that are expected to get worse with climate change. Half the country has at times relied on emergency water supplies, with rations as low as four gallons a week per family; dirty water has led to outbreaks of typhoid and parasitic infections. Patients have reportedly had to cart their own water to hospitals, and schoolchildren complain about their pipes spewing shells, leaves, and frogs. Some Fijians have taken to smashing open fire hydrants and bribing water truck drivers for a regular supply.

FIJI Water responded to Lenzer’s article stating, “We strongly disagree with the author’s premise that because we are in business in Fiji somehow that legitimizes a military dictatorship…As an active member of the Fiji community, FIJI Water is committed to enabling positive change by means of social investment, capacity building, and sustainable development.”

Though Lenzer lauds FIJI’s donations to water access projects, she says the military regime “clearly benefits from the company’s global branding campaign characterizing Fiji as a ‘paradise’ where there is ‘no word for stress.’” In fact, Fiji’s tourism campaigns use the bottled water in their promotions.

I found it quite interesting to see how closely intertwined the bottled water company and military regime are. And how much this one company affects Fiji’s economy.

Director of Anderson House in Readington leaves the ‘best job she’s ever had’

Meenal Vamburkar

Published: August 17, 2009

READINGTON — Joanne Furze said working at Anderson House is the best job she’s ever had.

After 12 years, Furze is leaving her position as executive director to be closer to family in Omaha, Neb.

Since joining the staff, Furze has seen the facility, a residential program for women recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction, expand and increase its capacity from five women to 14. Affordable housing for women who have completed the program but “don’t have a next step to move on to” has also been added, she said.

“I can remember coming here and not even knowing where Hunterdon County was,” Furze said. “I had been involved with other treatment facilities and nonprofit organizations prior to this. I came here because it just seemed to fit what my personal goals were.”

During her time at Anderson House, Furze said she has seen some trends among the residents who come in for treatment.

“The clients who come in have poly-substance abuses, which means there’s not just one drug, there’s a combination,” she said. “I’ve also seen a trend toward using a lot more prescription drugs than in the past.”

Furze emphasized the importance of halfway houses, especially in New Jersey, where the “need seems to be growing, not decreasing.”

The best part about working in a place of recovery, she said, was seeing a resident come in and completely transform. After coming back from a one-week vacation, Furze said she could hardly recognize one of her residents because she had changed so much.

“It’s amazing how when we change on the inside, how our on-the-outside also changed,” she said.

Continue reading!

Cat population surges at St. Hubert’s shelters, including Branchburg center

Meenal Vamburkar & Joey Lewandowski

Published: August 12, 2009

BRANCHBURG — The cat population at St. Hubert’s animal shelters has surged 140 percent since January, and shelter officials are now urging the public to adopt a cat.

Colleen Harrington, the shelter manager at St. Hubert’s North Branch center, said she is not sure what the cause of the surge is, but noticed that kitten-breeding season came later than usual this year.

“I just remember it being mid-May and being worried that we only had a few kittens. And then we thought we were going to get hit hard with it later on,” Harrington said. “Kitten season might have come later because of the weather. You know, it was pretty cool back in April and May.”

St. Hubert’s, which also has a location in Madison, usually experiences increases in the cat population in “kitten season.” The season usually runs from May to September but has never been as big as this year’s. Currently, the Madison shelter has roughly 145 cats and the Branchburg shelter has 110. Only 22 cats from Branchburg are adult cats, which Harrington said is an unusual ratio.

“We’re always really full, but there are definitely more of them this year,” Harrington said.

Employees and volunteers at St. Hubert’s adoption center in Madison Township spent Monday the same way they start every week, relocating the animals and then scrubbing their cages. But not all Mondays are equal.

“When there are that many cats to clean up after, it definitely takes longer,” said Madison shelter manager Cindy Sanchez. “There’s more laundry, more litter pans and bowls to soak. It all definitely adds up.”

Continue reading!

Meenal Vamburkar

Published: July 5, 2009

FRANKLIN — After retiring from a career in interior design, resident Joan Lerner has published a novel tackling controversial topics including abortion, homosexuality and euthanasia.

Lerner, 75, is former president of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. However, she said she has been writing short stories for a long time. Her novel, “Among Us Women,” melds together aspects from her previously written stories.

“I picked out three women from my different short stories, and put myself into each one’s shoes,” she said. “Then the plot just came to me.”

The novel, set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, features women who each have personal tragedies that impact their views, according to Lerner.

One of the chapters takes place during a protest outside the office of Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion doctor who was recently murdered in Wichita, Kan. When she heard about his death, Lerner said she “felt terrible.”

“I felt like I knew him,” she said. “I had been clipping articles about him for years. His name has come up all the time when talking about late-term abortions.”

Read full article

NJ agriculture secretary comes to taste salad with Branchburg third-graders

Meenal Vamburkar

Published: June 11, 2009

Old York School third-graders celebrated the results of their Seeds to Salad Program by inviting New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher, along with parents, teachers and volunteers, to sample their salad Wednesday during their Salad Extravaganza.

“We go to Wegman’s and the salad’s already there and bagged,” he said. “By participating in this program, the students really get to appreciate the process.”

Read full article.

Meenal Vamburkar

Though cases already in progress, like Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum’s much-delayed, maybe-webcast trial for allegedly illegally sharing 7 songs, will continue, the RIAA has gone on the record saying it is ending the lawsuit program targeting people who illegally download music.

After years of suing everyone from pre-teens dying to hear the hottest new Katy Perry track to baby boomers vying for a complete Rolling Stones discography and everyone in between, the Recording Industry Association of America has halted new lawsuits in favor of alternative deterrents to breaking copyright law, officials said.

The actual principles for the new, non-lawsuit program are still confidential. The RIAA is currently working with Internet service providers on it, RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol said in a letter to the staff of the House and Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees Dec. 23.

“While this process is ongoing, we have reached a confidential agreement on principles for such programs with several leading U.S. ISPs,” Bainwol said in the letter.

Comcast and AT&T are two of the ISPs that plan to cooperate with the program, according to a Jan. 28 CNET news article. It will probably involve ISPs forwarding “take-down notices” to people who are illegally sharing files, according to the article.

The RIAA also unveiled the revamped antipiracy Music Rules! program for grades three to eight last week to encourage education about the issue, according to the RIAA’s website.

However, some expressed doubt that there is any way to actually prevent users from illegally downloading because of how easy it is to get free music.

Wonderdrug Records President Ken Cmar told The Daily Free Press there is almost no way to stop illegal downloading, regardless of RIAA policies, because many people don’t see it as wrong.

“For some reason, people don’t equate it with doing anything wrong or illegal,” he said. “The RIAA did what they thought was best, and it didn’t solve the problem. There’s almost no way that you can solve the problem.”

The lawsuit program targeted those who illegally downloaded music through peer-to-peer networks as a last-resort attempt to solve the problem, Bainwol said in the letter.

“We knew that, in the absence of action on our part, that marketplace was destined to be destroyed by an attitude that suggested there were no property rights on the Internet,” he said. “So we chose our least preferable but only option — lawsuits against end users.”

Discontinuing the lawsuit program “basically gives license to people to download their face off,” Cmar said.

Cmar said the music industry may not remain a lucrative business, and the industry is in big trouble. This will also affect the film and television industries, he said.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said BU was caught in the middle because the RIAA used it as a means to prosecute students who allegedly violated copyright laws.

“We’re happy not to be forwarding pre-settlement letters or to be responding to subpoenas of alleged violations,” he said. “That never was a place that we wanted to be, and we encourage students to respect . . . property rights.”

He said the university is grateful the RIAA ended the lawsuit program because it “essentially created a lot of problems for students and members of the BU community that were unnecessary.”

It is too soon to predict long-term effects because it also depends on how long the new RIAA policy lasts, Riley said.

College of Communication freshman Sarah Coe said she thinks more students will continue to download music illegally because the consequences will not be as harsh.

“I would assume that this hinders progress in the music industry,” she said. “I haven’t bought a CD in so long. People don’t have a reason to since now you don’t have to buy everything.”