A WORM'S EYE VIEW

April 2009

Welcome to the Doc Grubb newsletter for April 2009

     There are a lot of important events/celebrations this month, to include PAYING INCOME TAXES, which is always a stressful time for everyone, especially in this time of a struggling economy with a huge number of job losses and home foreclosures. In some ways, taxes bring home the importance of money and how we all need to have a PLAN in place to save for the future. I’ve included topics about money in two different parts of this newsletter, first in the Kid’s Corner where I’ve talked about starting a coin collection and in the Dad’s Corner, where I’ve talked about teaching your children to save. It’s never too early for them to realize that it takes money to do almost anything in the world.

     A really important topic we are discussing in “The Latest News” section is the negative impact of eating too much red meat has on our bodies. I’ve been following this topic for years and have struggled personally with the decision to become a vegetarian (so far I still continue to eat meat) and new studies about the long-term effects of eating red meat causes us to reconsider whether we should stop eating red meat altogether, or at least cut back on the amount of meat we do eat.

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KID’S CORNER

Start a Coin Collection

              Have you ever looked down on the ground and saw a coin…maybe a penny or a nickel and got really excited when you picked it up because it was “old?” Many kids and adults collect coins for fun. Coins have a really interesting history and were first used over 2,500 years ago. Before coins people used cattle or even beads to represent value. People in ancient China used shells as currency and, about 5,000 years ago, the Middle East had even developed a banking system where people could "deposit" grains, livestock and other valuables for safekeeping or trade. But how many cattle can you carry around with you? Coins are much easier. Coins used to be worth the value of the metal in the coin but now the metal in a penny is worth more than a penny!

Other fun facts about coins:

• Some coins had a hole in their middle so that you could wear them around your neck or string coins together to make up a higher denomination (10+10=20). Keeping them together on a string made them easier to use and not lose.

• If you’ve watched “Pirates of the Caribbean” you heard them talk about “pieces of eight.” The “piece of eight” was a silver coin was first minted by the Spanish Empire in 1497 which was used in the United States until 1857. Because it was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency
• In early America, Native Americans used beaver skins, tobacco, and wampum (mussel shells in the form of beads).

     National Coin Week happens every year in the third week in April and celebrates one of the world's oldest and most popular pastimes.  This year’s theme is "Lincoln’s Legacy: A Nation United" to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and his impact on history.

HOW TO START A COIN COLLECTION

              Many kids, including my son, start collecting coins because you can learn history, geography, math and many other subjects through coin collecting. It’s a great hobby and easy to start. The pennies, nickels, dimes and state quarters you have in your pocket provide a great chance to learn about the coins we see and use everyday. Every coin tells a story. Some coins show us presidents or other famous historical figures. Some tell us about specific landmarks, historical discoveries, animals, plants or other interesting facts about the place the coin represents, especially for the state quarters.

              The first thing to do is decide WHAT type of coins you want to collect. You can:

• Collect only nickels, dimes, pennies or quarters
• Collect only American or foreign coins (if you dad or mom travel to foreign countries this is really interesting).
• Collect coins from a single mint. Each coin that is made in the United States has what is called a “Mint Mark,” which tells the coin’s “owner” where that coin was made.
•  Collect all the coins made in your birth year.
• Collect a “Mount Rushmore” set with the faces of each Founding Father from a few simple items. Who knew you could make this great American symbol with just the change in your pocket?
• Collect State Quarters. You can learn interesting facts and history about the country we live in. It may take you some time to complete a collection of different coins but each one has a unique story with special art on the coin which shows special symbols of the state.

All you need is some loose change to start a coin collection. You might want to get a magnifying glass so you can look for markings, like the mint mark, on each coin. You will also need something to store your coins in. You can use an envelope or jar or you can buy a special folder or binder that has special slots in them for each coin.
As your collection grows you might want to get a good coin collecting book. Good books on coin collecting always have lots of good, clear pictures. They may have illustrations of different currencies from around the world, or they may focus on the history of currency itself. It’s nice to learn where coins are made. You can find all kinds of coins at coin shops, coin shows, from coin dealers, and even online but have your parents help you to make decisions when purchasing coins for the collection.

Have fun! Discover! Question! Investigate! And simply look at the coins you have in your pocket-History Awaits You!

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MOM’S CORNER

Is Your Child Malnourished?

     Did you know that many children in the United States are malnourished and that an estimated ninety-two percent (92%) of Americans are deficient in one or more essential vitamins and minerals because we eat highly processed foods at home and especially at fast food restaurants that lack vital vitamins and minerals we all need? But malnutrition is a world wide problem. An estimated 854 million people throughout the world are malnourished and being malnourished is one of the most common causes of infant death in developing countries. Approximately 21 children die every MINUTE from starvation. Half of the deaths among children under five in developing countries occur in South Asia, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Malnutrition also increases our susceptibility to other diseases, such as malaria, diarrhea and AIDS. Malnutrition impacts cognitive development, growth and health and dramatically decreases how productive workers can be and the development of a nation. But how is this important to us in the United States “the land of plenty?” The answer is that unlike Africa where people are starving because of lack of food, we have an abundance of food but are making poor choices in the foods we eat.You’re going to be even more shocked to learn that a person can be obese AND  malnourished!  Many people who are overweight or obese are actually malnourished because they are not eating foods that contain essential minerals and nutrients. Obesity is one of the most pressing health problems facing the country. An increase in high-fat and sugar-laden foods has led to a surge of nutrition-related chronic diseases around the world. Diseases that were once associated with the elderly such as Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, arthritis, etc are now seen in our children. The highest rates of overweight and obese people are in low-income groups. This is because of there is a lack of supermarkets where you can buy healthy fruits and vegetables and the abundance of fast food restaurants in the poorer neighborhoods. The amount of physical activity children get has decreased greatly because there are no safe playgrounds or parks in which to play. Adults are also less active because of the way our jobs have become less and less physically demanding and the increased use of cars and public transportation.

How Do We Address Malnutrition?

 First thing to do is really LOOK at what your family, especially your children, is eating. My wife and son tell me all the time about kids coming to school without eating breakfast and who they see in the car as they are being dropped off drinking a big soda and eating donuts. At lunch the children eat pre-packaged nachos, chicken fingers, hamburgers, or some other nutritionally deficient item. Then they drink an artificially colored sports drink or high calorie soda to wash down the calorie-dense food.  After-school treats include more soda, ice cream, cookies, mini-cakes, or more chips. Most chips are deep fried and contain up to one half of a child’s recommended fat content for the day. And that’s just from one single-serving size bag of chips! Sodas are high fructose corn syrup mixed with water which is not digested by the body like sugar and can also suppress the body’s immune system and deplete calcium.  If you provide your child a diet of nutritious foods, even if your child doesn't eat all the foods, he should be adequately nourished. The worst mistake you could make is to offer your child treats instead of food out of fear that your child will starve if he doesn't eat. The treat may provide calories, but it isn't nutritious. Once you give a child junk food in place of meals he will just continue to refuse healthy foods until he gets the treats he wants. This is a classic psychological experiment in which you reward the behavior you want to continue and don’t reward the behavior you want to stop, only this time we’re rewarding the wrong behavior! 

Healthy nutrition tips for all family members: 

• Eat fresh raw fruits and vegetables at every meal. Fruits and veggies have fiber, which helps “move things” through our system and help our body absorb moisture. • Avoid soft drinks with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors. In other words, AVOID SODAS!• Avoid diet foods and beverages. The artificial sweeteners only make your body crave more sweets.• Drink plenty of water. Water transports nutrients, and cleanses the body. You can drink plain water, or water with slices of lemon, lime, orange or cucumbers.• Avoid refined, enriched “whites” such as white flour, refined rice, pastas, white breads and even tortillas. Food manufactures turn these foods white by taking off the husk of the corn, wheat and rice, which contains most of the nutrients and all of the fiber! Try to include the colors of the rainbow on your plate-the red of tomatoes, the yellow of corn, the purple of eggplants, the green of lettuce.

Eat with you eyes... All the Colors Should Be On Your Plate

“Color Your Plate”

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DAD’S CORNER

                                     Teach Your Children to Save

     In the kid’s section we talked about starting a coin collection as a fun and educational activity. Your children learn very early in life that money has value and is useful. They see that Mom or Dad have to spend money to buy you a toy, or that they Mom and Dad need to save money to buy something they want. They also see that Mom and Dad have a job earning money to pay for the house or apartment they live in, the food they eat and the clothes they wear.

Unfortunately we live in a society that has the "buy now, pay later" mentality for expensive items like TVs and electronic gadgets, furniture, and outdoor equipment. Because we deal with money everyday and everywhere, it is especially important to teach kids how to manage money as a commodity. Two important questions to ask yourself are “can my child tell me the difference between money and credit? How can I help them view money responsibly?”

Here are some ways you can help your children grow up dealing with money in a responsible manner:

• Sit down with your kids and a cash register and use play money to work in your "store." Help them to realize that nothing is free, you have to have money to buy things, and when the money runs out…that’s it!
• Think of easy ways to save money that your kids can see immediately. Probably the easiest one is to take them to the library instead of buying them a book, or movie, they really want. You can tell them that “most of us only read a book once…and this way others can share the same book and save money.”
• Give your kids a way to earn money. You might pay them an allowance or give them a chance to earn money for other activities but not for chores which are a part of living in the home. This way, children see that not all chores carry a money reward with them, rather the reward is a job well done.  My wife has a helpful guideline-if there is a chore she would normally do and our son does it instead of her, then he gets paid for that task. For example, if he turns over the compost stack or washers the car he can earn money.
• Open a bank account and help your children make regular deposits from what they earn. Set a limit on how much can be withdrawn so he or she can learn that just because there is money in the bank, that doesn't mean it should be spent. An ongoing battle with my son is that he wants to take “his money!” to buy a camera. His mother and I have stood firm that he isn’t going to buy one, but every month or so he brings it up again and a disagreement starts.
• Teach your children how credit and borrowing works. They may know you have a mortgage on the house, but they will really understand credit if you make an agreement to loan them money that it will be paid back within a certain amount of time and maybe charge him interest. I actually write out a contract for my son to sign, just so we both understand what he’s agreeing to. By the way, he doesn’t like it.
• Talk about money as a family. Most marital problems are secondary to financial stressors. Your children don’t need to know everything that is going on in your life, but by having open discussions about money, showing that you have a responsibility to pay for things you’ve bought, helps children really understand the good, and the bad, money can do.

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THE PLANET EARTH

Why Do We Pollute the Ocean?

              Our family goes down to the Gulf Coast of Florida every summer, right before my son returns to school. The big storms over the past years have done a huge amount of damage to the beaches and shoreline, but what is destroying the beaches and their beauty even more is pollution. As we walk along the beach we see bottles, cans, broken plastic toys, discarded clothes and sometimes furniture!  We all are affected when ocean pollution destroys the beauty of beaches and decreases the population of fish.

              Most scientists think life began in the ocean over 3 billion years ago and in fact, the blood running in our bodies is almost the same as seawater. Seawater has even been used in transfusions instead of blood in emergency situations. The ocean contains over 1 million known species of plants and animals and scientists say there may be as many as 9 million species we haven't discovered yet.

                                          The ocean is important to us because:

• The oceans contain about 97 percent of all the water on earth.
• The ocean influences the weather and climatic patterns of the Earth and has a critical role in Earth's habitability. The oceans store most of the solar energy that reaches the Earth which causes oceanic and atmospheric circulation.
• Marine plants and animals are used in all types of products such as medicines, ice cream, toothpaste, fertilizers, gasoline, cosmetics, livestock feed, pet litter and pool filters.
• Fish supply the greatest percentage of the world's protein consumed by humans.
• Ocean going ships carry over 90 percent of trade between countries and underwater cables carry about half the communications between nations.
• The ocean is a major source of mineral deposits such as oil and gas.

                                       Ocean pollution comes from:

• The biggest pollution of the ocean comes from cigarette butts! It takes 19 years for a cigarette butt to degrade and many birds choke to death when they swallow one of them thinking that they are food.
• Cruise ships dumping untreated sewage from sinks, showers and inadequately treated sewage from toilets into the ocean when they are greater than three miles from shore.
• Cities and states dumping untreated wastes such as human sewage, detergents, and household chemicals into waterways that flow to the ocean. In Latin America and the Caribbean 60 percent of the untreated wastewater is discharged directly into the ocean and in large parts of Africa and Asia the proportion can be as high as 90 percent.
• Every square mile of the ocean has 46,000 pieces of plastic litter, such as packaging, cigarette lighters, plastic bags, and diapers, floating on it which kills hundreds of thousands of fish and birds a year.
• The Mississippi River contains water from more than 40 percent of the continental United States and carries excess nutrients that run off from farms all the way into the Gulf of Mexico. Decay of the resulting algae blooms consumes oxygen, kills shellfish and displaces fish in a 4,000 square mile area off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, called the "dead zone."  There are many dead zones around the world and they keep growing in size.

But what can I do to keep the ocean clean?

Use Environmentally Safe Products

Many lawn and garden products and pesticides have safe, chemically-free organic alternatives. By using non-toxic methods, you reduce the amount of dangerous chemicals that flows off of lawns and into storm drains.  Garlic and chili powder are excellent plant sprays.

Recycle Your Used Motor Oil and Filters

Used motor oil is extremely toxic to the environment if you dump it into the storm drains or into a pit on your property. There are hundreds of collection centers and gas stations where you can dispose of your old motor oil.

Compost Yard Trimmings

Dispose of yard clippings and plant waste in a compost bin or have the city or county pick them up. Once you have a nice stack of decomposed compost you can put it in your flower bed to replenish nutrients taken up by the plants and flowers. Compost is a good source of nutrition for planting beds and lawns.

Clean up After Your Pets

Animal waste deposited on lawns and sidewalks release harmful bacteria into the storm drain system then out into the ocean creating problems for swimmers and fish. Scoop The Poop!

Use Water Based Paints.

Oil based paints are much more problematic in disposing of than water based paint because they are extremely toxic. You can’t dispose of oil based paints in the City's sewer system and dumping them into storm drains is ILLEGAL. Buy the water based brand instead. The smell of the paint is also less toxic.

Recycle Everything You Can!

Landfill space (where all our trash goes) is rapidly disappearing in many cities and states. New York City actually sends its trash to other states in trucks (what a great present) or dumps it directly into the ocean from barges loaded with trash.

Don't Litter!

Over 80% of the 40 tons of trash that washes onto our beaches every year could've been recycled! Everything dropped, tossed, spilled or discarded onto streets and gutters will eventually make its way into the storm drain system--and out to the ocean!

Here is my call to action for you to help stop ocean pollution:

If you carry it in to the beach, carry it out.

Spread the word. Tell everyone about how important it is to look after our coasts.

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THE LATEST NEWS

                    Too Much Red Meat May Shorten Your Life!!!!! 

A recent study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute reported that diets high in red meat and processed meat, such as in deli sandwiches and hot dogs, may shorten your life span from cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, stomach ulcers and an array of other conditions. The study recommended that we all limit our consumption of red meat.  Those guidelines include eating fish, poultry or beans instead of beef, pork and lamb; eating leaner cuts of meat; and baking, broiling or poaching meat rather than frying or charbroiling it. As you might expect, the American Meat Institute felt the way the study was conducted was faulty and also stated that "Meat is an excellent source of zinc, iron, B-12 and other essential vitamins and minerals and that we should eat a balanced diet that includes lean meat. In this way, you derive a wide array of nutrients from many different sources. It's the best return on a nutritional investment you can get."

                                               The environmental cost of eating meat:

• Eating a meat-centered diet contributes to the destruction of the natural world. We do not all have to stop eating meat, but we should be aware of the impact our diets have on the earth. If we were to cut our meat consumption in half we could really have a positive effect on the environment.

• In the U.S. more than half of all water is used for livestock production. It takes 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat but it takes 2,500 pound of water to produce a pound of meat. Grain requires fertilizer, which is energy intensive to produce.

• In every quarter pounder we eat, an average of 55 square feet of tropical rainforest is consumed for packaging. And, because of this, at least 1,000 species become extinct from these delicate forests.
• Many South American countries are clear-cutting irreplaceable forests in order to satisfy our appetite for beef. Every year the U.S. imports over 200 million pounds of meat from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama and in the United States we have cleared over 260 million acres of forest to produce meat.

• Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is released from flatulent cows and by manure as it decays.  The greenhouse gas emissions consist primarily of methane from the animals’ digestive systems. Also, transportation and production of the animals’ feed takes a significant amount of energy/fuel. Non-environmental harms—such as the promotion of antibiotic resistance in humans by the use of (often preventative) antibiotics in animals—were not considered.

As energy flows through the food chain, 90% of its energy is lost at each step. This means that it takes ten times the grain/plants to feed a cow to provide meat with equivalent energy yield as it would consume the grain/plants directly. This also requires ten times more land, ten times more water and fertilizers, ten times more fuel for transport and so on.

Fruits and Vegetables Should Be the Biggest Part of Your Meal

Meat should be a Side Dish or Flavoring for your Vegetables

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