tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46418400190929561322024-03-21T20:47:43.900-07:00EcoBirth-Women for Earth and Birth Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-58750484156279448032014-02-26T20:32:00.001-08:002019-10-30T14:56:31.662-07:00 EcoBirth’s Deep Womb Ecology<br />
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<b><span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">EcoBirth’s Deep Womb Ecology</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">Realizing our maternal lines back to the beginning of the cosmos is our reclaimed story of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">creation and redemption. We women come from a long history of oppression </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">and we feel the deep trauma of Mother Earth in our cells. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">Like in birth labor, we can yield to our body’s innate knowing, to open, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">to birth our beauty and compassion and as bearers </span><span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">of the future generations in our wombs, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">claim our sacred and joyous authority to </span><span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">care for, protect and bless all life. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">As a collective matrix, we form a world reflecting our ancestral kinship </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans unicode" , sans-serif;">of healing, nurturance and well-being, loving MotherBaby MotherEarth.</span></div>
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<b>October 27, 2019 <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NaZFuFeq5QhQbGarOjW46hEO9Yhd_BIeX_fHONmZjBk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">presentation slides and script </a>for A Case for Climate and Sex </b><br />
<b>at Humanist Hall, Oakland, CA</b>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-86922458091371729892013-06-21T14:56:00.003-07:002013-12-01T16:55:08.309-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f6228; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 128;">EcoBirth’s Deep Womb
Ecology</span></b></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">Realizing our maternal
lines back to the beginning of the cosmos is our reclaimed story of creation
and redemption. We women come from a long history of oppression and we feel the
dark trauma of Mother Earth in our cells. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">Like in birth labor, we can yield to
our body’s innate knowing, to open, to birth our beauty and compassion and as bearers </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">of the future generations</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">in our wombs, claim our sacred and joyous authority to </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">care for,</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">protect and bless
all life. As a collective matrix, we can form a world </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">reflecting our ancestral kinship of healing, nurturance and well-being. </span></div>
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Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-84976814416076711712013-01-16T17:35:00.000-08:002013-02-03T18:47:53.112-08:00Take a stand with a loving gaze on reality<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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We women are the first environments of our children. We
embody our lineage of environments - which is physical reality. How do we stand
for what is right for ourselves, which is therefore right for our children? By
looking straight into the eyes of reality, with courage and love. Then taking a
stand, acting with integrity and clarity.</div>
<br />
<br />
EcoBirth-Women for Earth and Birth is exploring how to do that with two projects- <a href="http://myenvironmentalstory.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">My Personal Environmental Story</a> and Guarding the Rights of Future Generations. Please look further under our tabs on this website and join us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EcoBirth/184256267648" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. Also visit our<a href="http://myenvironmentalstory.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> My Personal Environmental Story</a> website and "like" us on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MyPersonalEnvironmentalStory" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page. And visit the <a href="http://wcffg.org/declarationfortherightsoffuturegenerations.cfm" target="_blank">Women's Congress of Future Generations</a> website and read the Declaration of the Rights of Future Generations and give your opinion on what it says. <br />
<br />
You can offer your own <a href="http://myenvironmentalstory.blogspot.com/p/how-to-start-your-story.html" target="_blank">Personal Environmental Story</a> and become involved in the new civil rights movement for Future Generations. You can become a Guardian of Future Generations and a Beloved Ancestor. Take a stand with a loving gaze on reality with us.<br />
<br />Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-72003487277073020532012-02-23T17:27:00.001-08:002012-02-23T18:31:02.613-08:00My Environmental Lineage and Legacy Story<h3 class="post-title entry-title">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I was raising my children, I thought all I needed to do was to raise good children and everything would be OK. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When
they were grown, I realized that the outside world in which they were
conceived and now live and in which their children will be raised, had
drastically changed to include hazards about which I knew little, much
too little.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I
started searching for answers, which brought me to a lot of research
and eye-opening information. I soon realized that I had to look at my
lineage and our home for four generations, San Francisco, to grasp what could continue to
affect my children and grandchildren. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="line-height: 115%;">My environmental lineage and legacy story contains my increasing consciousness of what we are doing to
ourselves, our fellow creatures and our world and </span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">integrates all the strands of my
personal story in an intimate portrait that connects me to my primary environment, our devoted
Mother Earth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> I learned that my </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">family's heritage is intrinsically connected to the creation of those
toxins that could have affected them and could still be affecting me, </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">my children </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">and now my grandchildren. </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I am a grandmother of
twin girls. Our relationship is immutable
and life-changing for me. I knew that their lifeforce was growing in the dark,
protective womb of their mother- which contained all that they needed. But I also knew
from pulling together this story of my environmental lineage and legacy, that
they could be influenced by outside forces, not by the conscious will of their
mother, nor by any truly rational choices of our culture, but just as
immutably, by me and my ancestor’s personal actions, choices and ignorance. I
realize that how I live on this earth is what my granddaughters will inherit. Their
changeable physiology creates a responsibility on me, because I would never
want an action that I do to harm my grandchildren. <span id="goog_978090622"></span><span id="goog_978090623"></span>I understand that my
relationship with my all-encompassing Mother Earth somehow is immutable too,
just like my relationship with my granddaughters. And I feel that my Mother
Earth who holds and nurtures me and feeds me is beneficent. She would not want
to harm either, yet she accepts what is happening to her, with involuntary surrender. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I live within and enable the perpetuation of a system that harms our world and
our babies. This became an existential dilemma for me. How do I live in the
real world, hold to the faith and conviction I have in the beneficence of our
existence and not drop into despair and hopelessness?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The word EcoBirth came to me in the midst of this search, it
has come to integrate many strands in my life- my feminine qualities, living a
faith-based life, connecting to my lineage and legacy, unique to place and time in San Francisco,
and my primary, immutable, relationship with
Mother Earth. I want to take responsibility for the shape that our world
is in now, by seeing the hope and love that is needed to enable the next
generations to heal it. I do not have the answers for them, but I can try to
hold the space to allow them to find those answers, by seeing the truth of what
is happening now, processing it in my heart and naming it in public. I see
birth as the metaphor for transformation and creation that if honored, will create
a paradigm shift in our culture’s consciousness. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmN4hnyUYw7sOV34NzJdGcpJbwbmPzWTZvg9iRlqTLF-6Mfi3w6fGihUdfxtBs7JujQJ5H0sOLOFtddpZrl61eMsosIbM818W7mytlBG6AXHLelB7rVPDqTOpm7vmg4HTg4owJIEmT4G-/s1600/EcoBirth+presentation+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmN4hnyUYw7sOV34NzJdGcpJbwbmPzWTZvg9iRlqTLF-6Mfi3w6fGihUdfxtBs7JujQJ5H0sOLOFtddpZrl61eMsosIbM818W7mytlBG6AXHLelB7rVPDqTOpm7vmg4HTg4owJIEmT4G-/s320/EcoBirth+presentation+009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">And that consciousness
would realize that we are all related, that our planet home is an
extraordinarily perfect balance of natural cycles and that caring for our one
natural life will enable us all to be well. That we are caught in a web of a
story that separates us, gives us a false sense that we are independent, alone
and in charge of our own destiny, with no need for anyone else. Disconnected,
unrelated, isolated. Not true.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElWS2ItRVhTEm5sj85Verx9_c48zeNIJDdW-J5cCgM9evZyXJpIV48w59_ALKdwsKXxWI8rjV0IIySMX4aJj9UT5ANYa3bEkCL44mv-WgdiiR-Bqu7HQvxtLbqYzwKzOni3INQwxQPyEI/s1600/06230034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElWS2ItRVhTEm5sj85Verx9_c48zeNIJDdW-J5cCgM9evZyXJpIV48w59_ALKdwsKXxWI8rjV0IIySMX4aJj9UT5ANYa3bEkCL44mv-WgdiiR-Bqu7HQvxtLbqYzwKzOni3INQwxQPyEI/s320/06230034.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Our true story is about the
extraordinary connection in ourselves that goes all the way back to the first
stirring of life gathered on this earth. We were born from our mothers, they
were born from their mothers, and we were formed from bits of their bodies all
the way back to the first amoeba- there is still a small bit of that life spark
in us. We could not be here without all this lineage and heritage; we are
dependent on their living and giving. It is a wonderful story of relationship
based on love and compassion, unbreakable, freely given. We have just lost our
connection to our Mother Earth and to ourselves and our fellow kin, but
becoming aware that we are all in the same interdependent living system is
hopeful, faithful and so biologically real. We have since the beginning of time,
given our feminine, maternal gifts to our children, with no thought for
payment.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgNy_7VztHem1_W_0yf_RGTmXGXBacT72wXt_mvHY6LuHOoT-kwX3L5RqZUoie8Ud2lQWw7l978BT69lkrQjf5ujbxHo5LwnbkKQ9DU1OlbG6mDIhMltmzJOUvy8CaSeCBmqLfhsnvm2H/s1600/Mom+and+Me+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgNy_7VztHem1_W_0yf_RGTmXGXBacT72wXt_mvHY6LuHOoT-kwX3L5RqZUoie8Ud2lQWw7l978BT69lkrQjf5ujbxHo5LwnbkKQ9DU1OlbG6mDIhMltmzJOUvy8CaSeCBmqLfhsnvm2H/s320/Mom+and+Me+photo.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">That instinct for offering ourselves will be found again-to reclaim
our rightful place in the order of life. We are not lost or truly harmful to
our following generations, we are their life-givers. And I chose to work with a fierce passion to make right
this world for my grandchildren, and your grandchildren. I trust in my
connection to my mother and grandmother, and I see my relationship to all kin
in our world, on our earth, in our cosmos, with a gaze of love and compassion.
I look to receive that gaze in return, with an open, wounded heart, vulnerable
and strong. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I just heard of research
that said that a mother’s laughter makes her breastmilk healthier for her
child- - there is really nothing more miraculous than that! We can change the
world with love and laughter and it will respond with health, happiness and true
acceptance of our rightful place in it.<span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-17279894990787268492012-01-29T18:15:00.000-08:002012-02-21T17:05:50.823-08:00<a href="http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/greenfront/2012/01/molly-arthur-ecobirth-women-for-earth-and-birth.html">Radio Interview with Molly on EcoBirth</a><br />
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An interview on Progressive Radio Network on Green Front, January 2012- learn a little history of EcoBirth and get to know me better- why I feel responsible for the bad shape the world is in. I talk about the pre-pollution of our bodies and how we are passing that onto our children and grandchildren. Why is Scandinavia a better place for the health of mothers and babies? Why might my sister have been born with a birth defect? How do we understand and name what is happening to our world that is being inherited by our children and grandchildren?<br />
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We can be hopeful when we realize that we are connected, related- all birthed from our mothers, inheriting a speck of life from the very first spark of life on this earth. We know who our relations are and where we belong- that is immutable. We have agency to create a world that is compassionate and loving- just look at the freely given gift of life from our mothers and the rich harvest offered by our Mother Earth. We can protect our children and heal our earth home and by realizing our unique, authentic gifts, consciously use them to make a better world. <br />
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It was fun to have my first radio interview, tell me what you think!Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-85023013576739315812011-07-31T22:45:00.000-07:002011-07-31T22:45:32.788-07:00My passionate journey to EcoBirth<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSI4-FkVCAw1GlMDSiDImLE8P7NV8sh5SIUTcFslfzNBFyGKvLKg9jQOvAwGppYtcp7JT3ASvaxt_42dMHYef7-XsZfoixG_4EccNuCrOeqRrjus71i-7E5QuLHn5qabV-NcWoPZSKn3ZA/s1600/EcoBirth+presentation+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSI4-FkVCAw1GlMDSiDImLE8P7NV8sh5SIUTcFslfzNBFyGKvLKg9jQOvAwGppYtcp7JT3ASvaxt_42dMHYef7-XsZfoixG_4EccNuCrOeqRrjus71i-7E5QuLHn5qabV-NcWoPZSKn3ZA/s320/EcoBirth+presentation+007.jpg" width="232" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> When I was raising my children, I thought all I needed to do was to raise good children and everything would be OK. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">When they were grown, I realized that the outside world in which they were conceived and now live and in which their children will be raised, had drastically changed to include hazards about which I knew little, much too little.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I started searching for answers, which brought me to a lot of research and eye-opening information. I soon realized that I had to look at my lineage and our home San Francisco to grasp what could continue to affect my children and grandchildren. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">This story is my increasing consciousness of what we are doing to ourselves, our fellow creatures and our world. And the realization that my family's heritage is intrinsically connected to the creation of those toxins that could have affected them and could still be affecting me, my children</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjI9Bdwe2x01PdrAC8N9fkt0Q2k3tDZw5EaSLLXylnbUbPeFJKRBILtXb6ItOcBVvIT_llqD0MuZjqo2X_bwo_3BrwI0TVwRd3WT-z2fxcWPzV6asXgcfs8PGwlTgwOsUosUGV9B3MrR8/s1600/twins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjI9Bdwe2x01PdrAC8N9fkt0Q2k3tDZw5EaSLLXylnbUbPeFJKRBILtXb6ItOcBVvIT_llqD0MuZjqo2X_bwo_3BrwI0TVwRd3WT-z2fxcWPzV6asXgcfs8PGwlTgwOsUosUGV9B3MrR8/s320/twins.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">and now my grandchildren. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I see now that my journey to EcoBirth integrates all the strands of my personal story in an intimate portrait that connects me to my lineage and to my legacy and immutably to my primary environment, our devoted Mother Earth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> I am not a doctor or scientist, but I am claiming my authority as a life-giver to speak up about what has been happening to our world and to take responsibility for my role in it. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTFg7exCEWSzpraiIF9Q7bva91Kb3mNGQHarZMSxMKb-foAWuDzFEbQ5GcBra05FKfZyRvxOAT19IEjFW8V_KQfnxy8S1yoPl2uGj9i6Fa74-4PUsPAlCV2Y4wS7SPabQCcoMBu6bYMyR/s1600/Road+Mono+Lake+6%25EF%2580%25A210%25EF%2580%25A202+%252301+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTFg7exCEWSzpraiIF9Q7bva91Kb3mNGQHarZMSxMKb-foAWuDzFEbQ5GcBra05FKfZyRvxOAT19IEjFW8V_KQfnxy8S1yoPl2uGj9i6Fa74-4PUsPAlCV2Y4wS7SPabQCcoMBu6bYMyR/s320/Road+Mono+Lake+6%25EF%2580%25A210%25EF%2580%25A202+%252301+copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Generations have been adversely affected by our human interference with nature and natural processes and cycles.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk4yyVrEbwl_FIDs3YmAooKWvbvccmVSsJoOeVDGRAFtW0IMVq7lKlst8KZYFktQ_Gw90MIVgxyYSkoQ73pf0lFj1loKMybh_RxiGn5YSPPgq2e4493FQzjO2oIzApGt5eN9_9M85bZJP/s1600/BW+Mom+hugging+baby.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk4yyVrEbwl_FIDs3YmAooKWvbvccmVSsJoOeVDGRAFtW0IMVq7lKlst8KZYFktQ_Gw90MIVgxyYSkoQ73pf0lFj1loKMybh_RxiGn5YSPPgq2e4493FQzjO2oIzApGt5eN9_9M85bZJP/s320/BW+Mom+hugging+baby.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I want a world in which babies are born toxin-free, births are experienced in a safe and normal way, and that our children’s connection to our planet will nourish and sustain them throughout their lives.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguyS8Lz6UlCHGGzT8z-3QkKSPacz7tyw5QbyyQoxD4JNhtpPyy2I9NVxZ3i595zF7cmuVPGxnihPXdog0OJwMov2JCGsCXtYyx8HPq75DxGqnPQNE3uKLUnXvdLd7JNauufJ6_TxyXqZCD/s1600/Interstate+%2523580+3%25EF%2580%25A210%25EF%2580%25A202+%252309+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguyS8Lz6UlCHGGzT8z-3QkKSPacz7tyw5QbyyQoxD4JNhtpPyy2I9NVxZ3i595zF7cmuVPGxnihPXdog0OJwMov2JCGsCXtYyx8HPq75DxGqnPQNE3uKLUnXvdLd7JNauufJ6_TxyXqZCD/s320/Interstate+%2523580+3%25EF%2580%25A210%25EF%2580%25A202+%252309+copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I claim</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> the hope and certainty that we can make our world a better place by enabling a pure and caring home for all creatures, particularly when they are born from their first environment, their mother’s womb to their primary environment -our Mother Earth.</span> </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=40c655df-6bb1-4f8a-b6cc-22cca30abb0b" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-68502916038085478952011-07-31T16:21:00.001-07:002011-07-31T20:33:27.002-07:00The Story of EcoBirth- a Mother's Legacy in San Francisco<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:RelyOnVML/> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In 1887 a baby was born in San Francisco, she was named Katherine Connor Oliver, she was given her mother’s name. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tPNtZTPvFa5naxRqYXBVDIteQ-ilB2Bm4bpRysozdisNc_etWFYB-r1rjzUF54T0O3VOqjMnmhuadXVFWtQQWpRyZNVl-4gsS9vAUfDBXw8YReDOhaSJcxpERYnXZn4oK_EwnbYieUGB/s1600/koliverandnora.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tPNtZTPvFa5naxRqYXBVDIteQ-ilB2Bm4bpRysozdisNc_etWFYB-r1rjzUF54T0O3VOqjMnmhuadXVFWtQQWpRyZNVl-4gsS9vAUfDBXw8YReDOhaSJcxpERYnXZn4oK_EwnbYieUGB/s320/koliverandnora.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><img alt="" src="file:///C:/Users/HELPFR%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png" /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In Northern California, starting with the Gold Rush, mercury was used extensively in hydraulic gold mining in order to help “capture” gold.<span> </span>Mercury was also used in silver mining. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUi4UZo1E72ZSAfBRCF2Ob0N5ggaOmbhMMohbGNGga4560IU11dtCQ5KPkV_JG0Yx1XnPlapAY2zK6SuxM2DvnWd4mkHwHG4UYAqfxPZZn9p_nj74r10ZvzlbAQw2TSud-nFM5AZikdte/s1600/220px-CalGoldRushMap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUi4UZo1E72ZSAfBRCF2Ob0N5ggaOmbhMMohbGNGga4560IU11dtCQ5KPkV_JG0Yx1XnPlapAY2zK6SuxM2DvnWd4mkHwHG4UYAqfxPZZn9p_nj74r10ZvzlbAQw2TSud-nFM5AZikdte/s1600/220px-CalGoldRushMap.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Grammy, the baby, was gestated in her mother’s womb when local water and local food could have been contaminated with the mines flushing of mercury into the rivers that feed the SF Bay. This heavy metal has been correlated with birth defects and lower IQ. It is called a neurotoxin and can permanently affect our health. <span> </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoVunbkkXLPrMrzelc_hWMFc5ub31RXCjR-kFumX8pETi1bA6H_Wl3ijtYPwZr8xg301_2wO1YfckJWuRX-Cb0_lvTRToMVk8NThOGs-4RijuNmMfNAx0fNEslRNQzRNqNwQJ7sBj9ux2/s1600/feather_yaba_river_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoVunbkkXLPrMrzelc_hWMFc5ub31RXCjR-kFumX8pETi1bA6H_Wl3ijtYPwZr8xg301_2wO1YfckJWuRX-Cb0_lvTRToMVk8NThOGs-4RijuNmMfNAx0fNEslRNQzRNqNwQJ7sBj9ux2/s320/feather_yaba_river_map.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span> </span><span> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span> </span>My Mommy was created then too, in my Grammy’s body as an egg. She could have been affected by that same mercury. The placenta is not a barrier of safety; it distributes to the baby what is in the mother’s body. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdQu5w4-iAX041V68jc73k6rToJllQE6JEXMk1s-LSAD_RwHYw1SU3YPTnQkty8HpwmwOY24ZdW9tm9xVKaJABkkQWunkN3g9n66dluxB94WVvmBhyphenhyphennw9ONVZaciGGb8LKJVDlLPmCSgD/s1600/BP+OLiver+Family+in+1892%252C+5+girls+.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdQu5w4-iAX041V68jc73k6rToJllQE6JEXMk1s-LSAD_RwHYw1SU3YPTnQkty8HpwmwOY24ZdW9tm9xVKaJABkkQWunkN3g9n66dluxB94WVvmBhyphenhyphennw9ONVZaciGGb8LKJVDlLPmCSgD/s320/BP+OLiver+Family+in+1892%252C+5+girls+.bmp" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-78902381368855429752011-02-13T12:09:00.000-08:002011-02-13T12:15:01.593-08:00One Natural Life-what is a whole community?Questions bubble constantly in my mind about what it might be to understand that our lives, selves and world are intimately related as a whole ecosystem. I am still considering what Peter Forbes says in "WHAT IS A WHOLE COMMUNITY? A LETTER TO THOSE WHO CARE FOR AND RESTORE THE LAND" 2006. He says, " The true benefit and skill of land conservationists is our ability to put on the table a feast of values that reminds every American of what is healthy, what is fair opportunity, what is beautiful and meaningful, and what it means to be in relationship." O, provocative stretch and growth for a segment of our society that has been tremendously successful over the last 30 years, but is being called to "express our own spirit and a moral voice that knows, and cares, and responds." Who of us ought to be looking at " our greater selves to realize that this moment of becoming asks something entirely different of us".<br />
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I want EcoBirth to provoke these kinds of questions and initiate compelling dialog about our moral responsibility to our descendants- that living whole is knowing our own sense of place, on our Mother Land, in kinship to all our fellow creatures, and recognizing our own embodied ecosystem. I understand that natural cycles are intrinsic to the being and living of our whole world- and if we look at how we consider those cycles, we might have a clearer idea of how we are in our lives. Then we might care and respond. Then we can touch our greater selves. Then we can affect our world and our legacy.<br />
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Peter Forbes can help us see our relationship with our land, not only by enabling access to a continuing portion of it, but also by creating a moral vision that says " I am for relationship between people and the land and for equity and fairness toward all lives, starting with our own human lives. The root meaning of healing is to make whole. I want to do my part to make whole the land and the people."<br />
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He also says " When we see our lives as full and respected, we realize the imperative to offer the same to all other creatures".<br />
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And what happens in EcoBirth's consciousness, when we realize that we are the "land", the place, the first environment for our children? What responsibilities do we have to embody our "whole" system with care for the generations of humans who will be our legacy? It helps me look at what I let into my body, voluntarily or involuntarily. It becomes very clear that how I allow the pollution of the earth ecosystem, will affect me and my children and grandchildren. It makes me aware that the primary natural cycle of my embodied system is how I bring my children into the world.<br />
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It makes me want a whole, healthy body, with a spirit that can thrive in a community that is envisioned by Peter Forbes " A whole community is a mosaic of people living their lives in constant awareness and relationship with a healthy place...is safer and healthier for all forms of life." <br />
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He says "Posing philosophical questions is a necessary step in changing our consciousness...now it is time to be prophets and poets again."<br />
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Here are some questions to start with: What are the natural cycles of life? What do I dream about and long for? What is my vision for the future of my children?<br />
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We are the prophets and poets needed today.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-24326478063181496682011-01-18T22:53:00.000-08:002011-01-18T22:53:43.040-08:00There is no beginning and no end- it is all one- and we are itI just participated in an animated discussion led by Michael Meade, author and mythologist, with drumming and storytelling, silence and audience interaction. He told a Native American Myth about a woman in a cave, weaving with porcupine quills and her black dog who unravels the years and years of work she had done to create the fabric of the world. She had worked her teeth to a nub, chewing the toxic quills and now had to start over again. But she started immediately again, imagining a more beautiful woven world.<br />
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The lesson being that there is no beginning and no end, just rebirth, constantly. So there is a real reason to continue to see the world as it is, in all its "chaosmology", and work to better it, because there is no such thing as "the end of the world". We are in difficult period now: our culture is not even kind, much less compassionate. I see this in the way we treat our Mother Earth and our mothers and babies, particularly at the moment of our most powerful act, birthing. It is hard to see and face and name. It is dark and grievous. But, we must start immediately again, imagining a more beautiful world, as the woman did in the cave. <br />
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We cannot separate what happens to the earth, from what happens to us and to our children and grandchildren, unending, holding all of us as one and we are it. This is important work, but Michael Meade reminds us to laugh, enjoy, joke. Stories and myths are fun and profound. They can help us to continue to hope for good change, to work for good change. We can live in the chaos, knowing that life will be rewoven, differently from what we have worked on for years, wearing our bodies out, but using our creative imaginations to continue with beauty and love.<br />
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I am looking forward to reading Michael Meade's book, Fate and Destiny- The Two Agreements of the Soul. I particularly appreciate his dedication, handwritten to me- much peace and many blessings...And may we all have the same.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-56354603070923061672011-01-16T09:37:00.000-08:002011-01-16T09:37:18.097-08:00Environmental Health Expert Offers Advice on How to Reduce Exposure to Toxins - UCSF Today<a href="http://today.ucsf.edu/stories/environmental-health-expert-offers-advice-on-how-to-reduce-exposur/">Environmental Health Expert Offers Advice on How to Reduce Exposure to Toxins - UCSF Today</a><br />
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<a href="http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/ucsf-study-identifies-chemicals-in-pregnant-women/">UCSF study identifies chemicals in pregnant women - UCSF News Office</a><br />
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Such an important study that shows environmental toxins in our vulnerable babies, while they are forming. This is not right or just. We want to make the lifestyle choices to mitigate these hazards,but we also need to start protecting our ecosystem from the release of the synthetic chemicals we are creating for profit. Global and societal change needs to be supported on a systemic level, so the involuntary affects from just breathing our air or drinking our water or eating our food, can be safe and healthy, not poisonous.<br />
There is a good video and short article on steps you can take to avoid environmental toxins in your everyday life. Thank you Tracey for doing the work and making us more aware of how we can live in our real world with consciousness and diligence.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-25629203994168510022010-12-05T16:42:00.000-08:002010-12-05T16:47:07.516-08:00Dr Sandra Steingraber speaks quietly with iron resolve<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D, ecologist and mother, speaks quietly with a big stick. Her lovely voice and gentle presence belies her iron resolve to make a better world for her children. She is intimately familiar with disease and grief, and greed and manipulation and bodily invasions. She is courageous enough to live a life that contains truth-living and truth-telling to power. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">EcoBirth produced a lecture by Dr. Steingraber in San Francisco, Oct 28, 2010. When I picked up Sandra from SFO, she asked me about my lineage here in San Francisco and she got to hear lots about my family having been in San Francisco since the 1820’s. She was flying in from the Women’s Conference in LA County and we got to do a little bashing of So Cal and Hollywood and celebrities and politicians- all in great array at the conference. We had a wonderful visit in her friend Judy’s old Edwardian in the Mission District. And I got a sense of some of the contours of her life. She discussed how she determines which speaking engagements she accepts and how those decisions may impact the very real economics of her life. She tries to look at the sponsors of the conferences who so frequently invite her to speak. And in no uncertain terms she said she would go nowhere near an event that was sponsored by a baby formula company. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This struck me as a brave act of integrity and a model for how we all might try to figure out how to accommodate ourselves to live in this imperfect world. Somehow we want to balance taking a stand for something we perceive as truth, but without being rigid, doctrinaire and irrational. I envy her the privilege of having a platform to speak truth to power which may have some good influence in the world. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I tie this impulse into EcoBirth, which recognizes the connections we have with our surroundings, our world through so many generations. Yes, it does matter where we were born and raised. And it does matter how our Mother Earth is treated, because we personally embody that current lack of care in our wombs and pass it onto two generations after ourselves. It does matter that the human qualities of greed and indifference affect how we birth our babies, what milk we can feed them from our own breasts and what food is nourishing from the bounty, given to us as a gift, from Mother Earth. So when do we realize that we will take a visible stand? We listen closely to those courageous people who show us how to do it with grace and openness, like Sandra. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Dr. Steingraber, besides being a mother and an ecologist, is an author, and cancer survivor, and an internationally recognized authority working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links. Continuing her investigation begun in her first book, <i>Living Downstream, </i>Steingraber’s book, <i>Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood, </i>explores the intimate ecology of motherhood, which is both a memoir of her own pregnancy and an investigation of fetal toxicology. <i>Having Faith </i>reveals the extent to which environmental hazards now threaten each stage of infant development. In the eyes of an ecologist, the mother’s body is the first environment for life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Sandra has been able to communicate through her beautiful prose and her poetry the naming and recognition of what is happening to our world now, so we can understand it. The wonder, joy and beauty of our world shines in her language and is embodied in her life. That evening we had the honor of listening to a woman who walks the walk and is a guide to us on how we can do it too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I said to Sandra, “Thank you for your filling the space for all of us as spokesperson naming the perils that are hard to hear about our world. Thank you for being visible to the entire world, especially those in power, acting with integrity and courage. Thank you for being a good mother to your children and to our children and to all our creature kin’s children.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Please visit my posting of the lecture at <a href="http://ecobirth.blogspot.com/">http://ecobirth.blogspot.com</a> and hear Sandra’s provocative answers to the below questions:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">1-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">In <u>Having Faith,</u> you took an intimate, scientific look at pregnancy, fetal development, childbirth, and breastfeeding. Yet the book is also a spiritual journey, so beautifully displayed in the chapter on Faith’s birth itself. What have you learned of the sacred in our lives—in the connections between mother and child and environment—from that experience? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">2-What part does grief and suffering play in this conscious understanding of the world and its imperiled trajectory about which you seem to want to enlighten us?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-49009449758064892252010-10-22T16:02:00.001-07:002010-10-22T16:02:37.292-07:00Interview with Dr. Sandra Steingraber about her book and film <embed align="middle" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#ffffff" devicefont="false" flashvars="&titleAvailable=true&playerAvailable=true&searchAvailable=false&shareFlag=N&singleURL=http://wgntv.vidcms.trb.com/alfresco/service/edge/content/1ab548cd-53b9-4fe3-8914-7b034a22bdb5&propName=wgntv.com&hostURL=http://www.wgntv.com&swfPath=http://wgntv.vid.trb.com/player/&omAccount=tribglobal&omnitureServer=wgntv.com" height="450" loop="true" menu="true" name="PaperVideoTest" play="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" salign="l" scale="showall" src="http://wgntv.vid.trb.com/player/PaperVideoTest.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" wmode="transparent"></embed>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-29983738775201529152010-10-20T09:55:00.000-07:002010-10-20T09:55:24.787-07:00Stand and Deliver: Thoughts on "Le Premier Cri"<a href="http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2010/10/thoughts-on-le-premier-cri.html">Stand and Deliver: Thoughts on "Le Premier Cri"</a>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-54656238513451572952010-09-16T00:43:00.000-07:002010-09-16T00:43:04.494-07:00EcoBirth Updates and Plans via #constantcontact<a href="http://myemail.constantcontact.com/EcoBirth-Updates-and-Plans.html?soid=1103366356279&aid=YMdB4bm_gys">EcoBirth Updates and Plans via #constantcontact</a>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-65463067747520036592010-09-11T10:49:00.000-07:002010-09-11T10:49:13.809-07:00Continuity of lineage-who are we related to?My twin granddaughters are born and thriving, feeding, growing, pooping, crying, so real! I had been thinking about the unbroken lineage we all embody. I am fascinated with the history TV shows saying that the Native Americans in America are descended from 20 people. And I remember on a trip I took to Quezac in the center of the mountains in France, when I asked the Gite/hotel owner, "How long had her family been here?" She said "Always", it seemed inconceivable. But I do realize a very long continuous chain of connection and relationship to my ancestors, not just to my great-grandmothers who came to America with their warring army husbands on this western frontier, but way, way back to the beginnings. We came from Africa, we are all related, this is inconceivable, but profound to me. My relations are everyone. My husband and I were just trying to figure out what percentage these girls are of Chinese, Russian, Irish, French, German, Scots, Spanish- O it is a mish-mash! And these delineations of ethnicity and nationality are just arbitrary, not the absolute truth.<br />
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They have been given names that have Celtic foundations, seems very appropriate to me. I took out some books I had collected on Celtic art, history and spirituality. The Celts seemed to have been a curious mix of crazy, killing warriors and a strong connection to the earth and the daily miracles in the simple relationship with life around them. Their names are associated with wisdom and fire. I will tell you the names when I get permission from their parents, because I am not in charge of these precious beings, and permissions can not be given out by me for them. I have to understand that I am a step removed from them, which I am finding is quite hard to grasp emotionally. But they are in a chain of relationships that is truly immutable and I am in that chain with them, all the way back to thousands of years ago. <br />
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Now, my granddaughters will express so many aspects of their lineage and their environment. I wonder what affect their birth and first days will have? That is a poignant question for a person who is so tied into EcoBirth. I will hold this question, because I do not have the answer and right now it is too close to me emotionally to get a perspective.<br />
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I just want to make an effort to welcome these darlings to a beautiful world and I want to offer help to my son and daughter-in-law with the immediate everyday duties that come with their increased responsibilities. I want to hold the space for them of beauty and love that is hard to see in this new chaos of new life- x2!<br />
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This wonderful quote came to me today in my companionable email box and it spoke to me. Thank you Mr RLS!<br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">WORD FOR THE DAY</span></b><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Saturday, Sep. 11</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.5pt;">The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.</span></div><b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">Robert Louis Stevenson</span></b>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-25998180779370109312010-09-06T16:39:00.000-07:002010-09-06T16:45:14.262-07:00Salmon Creek Falls Environmental Center - Where I will be presenting "A Mother's Legacy- A Precautionary Tale" on Friday, Oct 1, at 7 pm, 1935 Bohemian Hwy, Occidental, CA<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fAk-EUJZWAw?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fAk-EUJZWAw?fs=1&hl=en_US" width="425" height="344" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-88529156827905993462010-09-06T11:52:00.000-07:002010-09-06T11:55:12.516-07:00Numinous time before birth of my granddaughtersI feel as if I am in a numinous space and time, waiting for my granddaughters to be born (yes girl twins, natural and fraternal-sororal, if you ask! due now). I see them in my daughter-in-law's belly and feel them move and kick . " There's the butt, there's one head, there's the other head!" Anticipation is delicious in a certain way. <br />
<br />
But they are not here yet, even though they are alive and kicking! And I do not have the physical, embodied relationship with them, that I had with my two children. So I am not sure how I feel, but the feeling is intense and moving. When they come into this realm, I will be immediately different too, a grandmother. Our relationship will be immutable, unchangeable, and there are very few unchangeable things in this world. I cannot even call their names, and I cannot know who they will look like.<br />
<br />
It is such a transition time, germinating, not really fallow, but yes, they are seeds that have been growing in the dark, protective womb of their mother. Right now all that they need and their potential life story is contained and held. Somehow their spark of life happened, through love, I believe. But there is the biology of it too, that manifests this mysterious life force. And this biology can be effected by outside forces, not by the conscious will of their mother, not by any truly rational choices of our culture and influenced by place and time.<br />
<br />
I believe this changeable biology creates a responsibility on me, because I would never want an action that I do to harm my grandchildren. But I know I have done harmful things and continue to do them. I realize that how I live on this earth is what my granddaughters will inherit. I understand that my relationship with my all-encompassing Mother Earth somehow is immutable too, just like my relationship with my granddaughters. And I feel that my Mother Earth, who holds and nurtures and feeds me is beneficent. She would not want to harm either, yet she accepts what is happening to her, with involuntary surrender.<br />
<br />
I understand that I hurt my environment with my choices or ignorance. And those choices invade my daughter-in-law's body and my grandchildren's development. This is not right on so many levels, perhaps that is why this is such an emotional time for me. I am so close to the effects of my actions being exhibited in my granddaughters. Yes, that is it.<br />
<br />
I am conscious of the delicate dance with my daughter-in-law of being helpful, not pushy, supportive but not being a know-it-all; understanding that I have a unique relationship with these as yet unborn creatures, that confers a particular joy and responsibility that only I have. Perhaps if I keep this numinous space in my awareness, I will better understand what I can do to help my earth and my grandchildren. Then when the embodied birth happens, like my granddaughters very physical appearance in this realm, I will also realize and do what is real in this world to help all my relations and my sustaining mother earth.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-28766551235184976602010-08-30T14:34:00.000-07:002010-08-30T14:34:19.719-07:00Exploring the meaning of EcoBirthI have been thinking so much in the last weeks about the meaning of EcoBirth. Whenever I mention the word to others, I see a reaction- whether curiosity, amazement, intensity? their eyes widen and their brows crinkle and they want to know what it is, they want a definition.<br />
<br />
I try to keep it short and pungent: I generally say it links earth and birth, it emphasizes the whole life system because it is all connected, not separated, so what we are doing to the earth, we actually are doing to ourselves, our bodies, and then we are passing that onto our children and grandchildren. I say that birth is the primal event of life that we all have in common and that birth practices are as important and long-lasting as the effects of possible pollutants during a mother's pregnancy; that how culture practices birth is an indicator of what we think about women, babies and the earth.<br />
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I then go on, if there is the opening, to say that the first environment for our children is the mother's body- it is complete, everything needed by the baby is available and then when they are born they get their air, water and nourishment from the earth's environment. <br />
<br />
This is usually a fairly provocative explanation, I then say there is research that shows currently that our mother's bodies are pre-polluted and the effects are being seen in our children and possibly in our grandchildren, because, think of it, when my baby is being formed in me, so is her reproductive capability- her eggs- two generations are being formed and a hormone disruption, caused by pollutants on any specific day during my pregnancy, could interrupt the development of my child, which may show immediately at birth or even later in her life, or with her children. There is usually some real eye-widening then.<br />
<br />
Then my companions cannot hide a concern about the toxins in our lives, they mention the things they are generally doing now to help the world, like recycling and shopping conscientiously, frequently they are involved in extensive "green" causes. I get to hear birth stories; their own and in particular their baby's. There is no forgetting of details about what happened during their children's birthing.<br />
<br />
I hear an emotional response to the idea of the connection between the earth and birth. They might ask for what more they can do, or wonder what else they could have done to have a peaceful birthing experience. They generally say it is quite overwhelming living in this world now and they are not sure how to best do it, and they worry about what their children will live with soon. I try to hold their fears and concerns, and listen well. I invite them to come to the October 28 lecture by Dr Sandra Steingraber, usually give them my card or get their email so we can stay in touch. <br />
<br />
I would love to hear your first reaction to the word EcoBirth- what did you think it meant?<br />
<br />
I wish you all goodwill and<br />
may we have a clean world, safe births and healthy children!<br />
<br />
MollyMolly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-8577270237086708162010-08-11T12:12:00.000-07:002010-08-11T12:15:44.360-07:00Apache Blessing for us and our Mother Earth<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">May the sun bring you new energy by day, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">may the moon softly restore you by night, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">may the rain wash away your worries, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">may the breeze blow new strength into your being.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
These lovely words make me breathe slower and smile. It makes me realize that my yearning for comfort and nourishment is fulfilled by the earth and its gifts to me. I relax on Mother Earth's breast with a sigh and contentment. And then I know these word are for me, coming from creation. Thank you.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_iwTlcMGm-v2nKlof9GtrBALZYPinPzRBs6p4DpfezgYrVOstHbjxBNNfVUivcela37uOn3FdnXAh5nkDtvrsUj_ZerJPEZXWht9oWjsQYc41QRnLA13LLf-kHch42J220ThgeCI21jL/s1600/Scripture_1829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_iwTlcMGm-v2nKlof9GtrBALZYPinPzRBs6p4DpfezgYrVOstHbjxBNNfVUivcela37uOn3FdnXAh5nkDtvrsUj_ZerJPEZXWht9oWjsQYc41QRnLA13LLf-kHch42J220ThgeCI21jL/s200/Scripture_1829.jpg" width="107" /></a></div>Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-42873259425750369902010-05-17T20:17:00.000-07:002010-07-25T12:23:30.874-07:002007 Call from 200 scientists for a precautionary approach to toxic chemicalsThis is the foundational statement upon which we want to base our position against toxic chemicals, as mothers and grandmothers. We can listen and hear what we are being told about the possible harm to our children and we can act to change our world. We can protect our children by knowing that we have the strength to make our world a better place. We can look at what our world is now and use our unique gifts to take steps to improve it. Our children will have to continue the work, they will have better answers than we can even conceive of. But we have a legacy to pass on that is unbroken from our mothers through the centuries. We have a responsiblity and a love that is immutable- a mother's love- that is unconditional and includes all children and our beloved Mother Earth. May we know our place in the ecosystem of life and pass it on gently and hopefully. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhacv0WFlan8KO_iXfkMqCRwPg-KbLiqYQNQwzRMzomwodmSbbYOEUkwf5y1cZI9T663m3ml0swY0fBVKEwHB7Uj4SOeRvN5mHBAW_ocdejHsBRVQQQw4eO5rfFNh4V5FfbrRaQiiR5WSca/s1600/ecobirth+belly+compressed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhacv0WFlan8KO_iXfkMqCRwPg-KbLiqYQNQwzRMzomwodmSbbYOEUkwf5y1cZI9T663m3ml0swY0fBVKEwHB7Uj4SOeRvN5mHBAW_ocdejHsBRVQQQw4eO5rfFNh4V5FfbrRaQiiR5WSca/s200/ecobirth+belly+compressed.jpg" width="162" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
<br />
2007, May 24, 2007<br />
<br />
<br />
THE FAROES STATEMENT<br />
[Editor's introduction: In this powerful consensus statement, more than 200 scientists from five continents call for a precautionary approach to toxic chemicals, to protect fetuses and children from chemical exposures that may cause serious disease later in life, and which may also afflict their children and grandchildren. The Faroes Statement defines a "new paradigm of understanding in toxicology."]<br />
[Introduction: This consensus statement was issued March 24, 2007, by the International Conference on Fetal Programming and Developmental Toxicity held May 20-24, 2007, at Torshavn, Faroe Islands, which was attended by more than 200 biologists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, nutrion researchers, and pediatricians. The conference was organized jointly with, and sponsored by, BCPT (the journal, Basic & Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology); the World Health Organization; the European Environment Agency; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. The conference was co-chaired by Philippe Grandjean (University of Southern Denmark and Harvard School of Public Health) and Pal Weihe (The Faroese Hospital System).]<br />
Background<br />
Fetal life and early infancy are periods of remarkable susceptibility to environmental hazards. Toxic exposures to chemical pollutants during these windows of increased susceptibility can cause disease and disability in infants, children, and across the entire span of human life. Among the effects of toxic exposures recognised in the past have been congenital malformations and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. These outcomes may be readily apparent and have been linked to toxicant exposures during or prior to pregnancy. Even subtle effects caused by chemical exposures during early development may lead to important functional deficits and increased risks of disease later in life. The notion of developmental plasticity of organ functions and disease risks has gained much support from both experimental and epidemiological studies. The timing of exposure -- with an emphasis on critical windows of susceptibility -- has therefore become a crucial factor to be considered in toxicological assessments.<br />
During May 20-24, 2007, researchers in the fields of environmental health, environmental chemistry, developmental biology, toxicology, epidemiology, nutrition, and paediatrics gathered at the International Conference on Fetal Programming and Developmental Toxicity, in Torshavn, Faroe Islands. The conference goal was to highlight new insights into the effects of prenatal and early postnatal exposure to toxicants, and their sustained effects on the individual throughout their lifespan. The Conference brought together, for the first time, key researchers to focus on human data and translation of laboratory results to elucidate the environmental risks to human health.<br />
Research state of the art<br />
The developing fetus is extraordinarily susceptible to perturbation of the intrauterine environment. Fetal development is adjusted to the intrauterine environment of nutrients and energy supply to fit the anticipated postnatal environmental conditions. If a disparity arises between prenatal and postnatal environments, it can cause abnormalities in energy metabolism, endocrine functions, and organ development. Evolution seems to have favoured a "thrifty" phenotype that optimizes the energy use, but which, in an environment with ample food and limited energy expenditure, can increase the likelihood of developing obesity, metabolic syndrome, and associated diseases.<br />
The physiological mechanisms involved in the development of energy and nutrient metabolism are also highly vulnerable to toxic effects of environmental chemicals. Chemical exposures during prenatal and early postnatal life can bring about important effects on gene expression, which determines normal development and also predisposes to disease risks during adolescence and adult life. Many environmental chemicals can alter gene expression by DNA methylation and chromatin remodelling. These epigenetic changes can cause lasting functional changes in specific organs and tissues and increased susceptibility to disease that may even affect successive generations.<br />
New research on rodent models shows that developmental exposures to toxic chemicals, such as the hormonally active substances, diethylstilbestrol, tributyl tin, bisphenol A, genistein, can increase the incidence of reproductive abnormalities, metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes, and cancer, presumably through epigenetic mechanisms that do not involve changes to DNA sequences but may be heritable.<br />
Prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol, an estrogenic drug no longer used on pregnant women, causes an increased risk of vaginal, uterine, and breast cancer. Low-level developmental exposure to a plastics ingredient, bisphenol A, can result in increased susceptibility to breast cancer or prostate cancer, and prenatal exposure to vinclozoline, a common fungicide, also promotes later development of cancer. These substances are only weak carcinogens, if at all, in the adult organism but are nonetheless hazardous to the growing fetus. In addition, when exposure to a carcinogenic substance occurs during early development, the expected life-span will exceed the normal latency period for development of the disease.<br />
Functioning of the human reproductive system is highly vulnerable to changes in the intrauterine hormonal environment. In men, increasing occurrence of testicular cancer, poor semen quality, and cryptorchidism have all been linked to developmental exposures to maternal smoking and endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as diethylstilbestrol. Additional risk factors include fertility treatment of the mother, phthalate exposure, and occupational exposure to pesticides with suspected estrogenic and antiandrogenic activity. Perinatal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as polychlorinated or polybrominated biphenyls, endosulfan, or DDT compounds, may affect puberty development and sexual maturation at adolescence. Expression of some of these effects may be promoted by predisposing genetic traits.<br />
The brain is particularly sensitive to toxic exposures during development, which involves a complex series of steps that must be completed in the right sequence and at the right time. Slight decrements in brain function may have serious implications for social functioning and economic activities, even in the absence of mental retardation or obvious disease. Each neurotoxic contaminant may perhaps cause only a negligible effect, but the combination of several toxic chemicals, along with other adverse factors, such as maternal stress or decreased thyroid function, may trigger substantial decrements in brain function and may predispose to the development of serious degenerative disease.<br />
The immune system also undergoes important development both before and after birth. New evidence suggests that exposure to some immunotoxic chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls and atrazine, and maternal stress may cause aberrant reactions of the immune system to foreign proteins, including vaccines. Such effects may be related to a shift in immune system balance, with an increased susceptibility to infections and an increased risk of development of allergy in the child.<br />
While the research on developmental toxic effects has to date emphasised maternal exposures and the neonatal environment, the possibility exists that paternal exposures may also affect the child's development. Experimental studies suggest that ionizing radiation, smoking, and certain chemicals may be of importance, and some exposures may also affect the sex ratio of the children.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtmwgasxity400oiJCwPQSS_tbXlhB9yniz2yzlqCaFcUIk4SA63OebWpVEf5_Z4N0pmNfcgXXdSEyULfUX35bpGrpTqw4MsVhNf04LZnYKKZnzqDRYRyAyP_QZ4I7Hoc0-NnUE7vp8mj/s1600/EcoBirth+presentation+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtmwgasxity400oiJCwPQSS_tbXlhB9yniz2yzlqCaFcUIk4SA63OebWpVEf5_Z4N0pmNfcgXXdSEyULfUX35bpGrpTqw4MsVhNf04LZnYKKZnzqDRYRyAyP_QZ4I7Hoc0-NnUE7vp8mj/s320/EcoBirth+presentation+011.jpg" wt="true" /></a></div>Conclusions<br />
Three aspects of children's health are important in conjunction with developmental toxicity risks. First, the mother's chemical body burden will be shared with her fetus or neonate, and the child is then likely to be exposed to larger doses relative to the body weight. Second, susceptibility to adverse effects is increased during development, from preconception through adolescence. Third, developmental exposures to toxicants can lead to life-long functional deficits and manifestations of increased disease risks.<br />
Research into the environmental influence on developmental programming of health and disease has therefore led to a new paradigm of toxicologic understanding. The old paradigm, developed over four centuries ago by Paracelsus, was that "the dose makes the poison". However, for exposures sustained during early development, the most important issue is that "the timing makes the poison". This extended paradigm deserves wide attention to protect the fetus and child against preventable hazards.<br />
Part of the new insight derives from numerous animal studies on fetal programming being responsible for reproductive, immunological, neurobehavioural, cardiovascular, and endocrine dysfunctions and diseases, as well as certain cancers and obesity. These adverse effects have been linked to chemical pollutants at realistic human exposure levels similar to those occurring from environmental sources. Among the mechanisms involved, particular concern is raised about changes in gene expression due to altered epigenetic marking, which may not only lead to increased susceptibility to diseases later in life, but the effects may also be passed on to subsequent generations. Most chronic disease processes are characterised by multi-causality and complexity. Understanding such processes requires a more holistic approach that focuses on systems and tissue biology.<br />
Recommendations<br />
** Studies on the etiology of human disease therefore need to incorporate early development and characterise appropriately the factors that determine organ functions and subsequent disease risks. Such associations can best be examined in long-term prospective studies, and existing and planned birth cohorts should be utilized for this purpose.<br />
** Cross-disciplinary approaches and translation of animal data on exposure biomarkers and disease susceptibility need to be promoted for application in studies of the etiology of human disease. Communication and clarification of key concepts and terms needs to be stimulated between the scientific disciplines involved and between these scientists and policymakers.<br />
Environmental chemical exposure assessment should emphasise the time period of early development. Exposure data already routinely collected need to be optimised for application in epidemiological studies. Cord blood, cord tissue, human milk and other biological samples can be applied for assessment of exposure biomarkers and for determination of gene expression changes.<br />
Since humans are exposed to numerous chemicals during development and throughout life, mixed exposures need to be considered in a life- course approach to disease. Further, the interaction due to other life-style factors, such as intake of essential nutrients and societal environment, needs to be explored. This research should also involve the impact of genetic variation and genetic predisposition to disease.<br />
** Toxicological tests and risk assessment of environmental chemicals need to take into account the susceptibility of early development and the long-term implications of adverse programming effects. Although test protocols exist to assess reproductive toxicity or developmental neurotoxicity, such tests are not routinely used, and the potential for such effects is therefore not necessarily considered in decisions on safety levels of environmental exposures.<br />
The accumulated research evidence suggests that prevention efforts against toxic exposures to environmental chemicals should focus on protecting the fetus and small child as highly vulnerable populations. Given the ubiquitous exposure to many environmental toxicants, there needs to be renewed efforts to prevent harm. Such prevention should not await detailed evidence on individual hazards to be produced, because the delays in decision-making would then lead to propagation of toxic exposures and their long-term consequences. Current procedures therefore need to be revised to address the need to protect the most vulnerable life stages through greater use of precautionary approaches to exposure reduction.<br />
Note: This statement has been developed by the International Scientific Committee of the conference, taking into account comments and suggestions from the conference participants. The statement (pending minor editorial revision) will be included in the conference proceedings.<br />
Members of the International Scientific Committee<br />
David Barker (UK) David Bellinger (USA) Ake Bergman (Sweden) Roberto Bertollini (WHO) Sylvaine Cordier (France) Terri Damstra (WHO) George Davey-Smith (UK) Erik Dybing (BCPT) Brenda Eskenazi (USA) David Gee (EEA) Kimberly Gray (NIEHS) Mark Hanson (UK) Peter van den Hazel (The Netherlands) Jerry Heindel (NIEHS) Birger Heinzow (Germany) Irva Hertz-Picciotto (USA) Howard Hu (USA) Terry Huang (NICHD) Tina Kold Jensen (Denmark) Philip J Landrigan (USA) Caroline McMillen (Australia) Katsuyuki Murata (Japan) Larry L Needham (USA) Sjúrður Olsen (Denmark) Beate Ritz (IARC) Greet Schoeters (Belgium) Niels E Skakkebæk (Denmark) Staffan Skerfving (Sweden)<br />
Copyright 2006 by Thomas Steen ChristensenMolly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-57923299899133787692010-02-04T18:16:00.001-08:002010-02-04T18:32:44.065-08:00Pregnancy-Related Deaths on the Rise?: Forum | KQED Public Media for Northern CA<a href="http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R201002040900">Pregnancy-Related Deaths on the Rise?: Forum | KQED Public Media for Northern CA</a><br />
A significant article for young women came out today from California Watch- A Project for the Center of Investigative Reporting<br />
<br />
<a href="http://californiawatch.org/health-and-welfare/more-women-dying-pregnancy-complications-state-holds-report">http://californiawatch.org/health-and-welfare/more-women-dying-pregnancy-complications-state-holds-report</a><br />
<br />
<br />
about maternal mortality in California. Dr Elliot Main, from CPMC in San Francisco, was the author and said that he posted information on his website about the study for the past year. This was a State funded study and has not been officially released yet. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cmqcc.org/maternal_mortality">http://www.cmqcc.org/maternal_mortality</a><br />
<br />
And there was a fabulous interview on KQED Forum today by Michael Krasny (one of my heros), a full hour interviewing three truth-telling men -<br />
<br />
-Aaron Caughey, associate professor at UCSF and director of the Center for Clinical and Policy Perinatal Research within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology<br />
<br />
- Elliot Main, chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the California Pacific Medical Center, and principal investigator for the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative<br />
<br />
- Nathanael Johnson, freelance journalist and author of the California Watch article on the study suggesting that maternal death rates have tripled in California over the last 10 years<br />
<br />
and the quick take on this is that there are too many inductions of labor, which increases the likelihood of a c-section, which has a higher risk of morbidity and mortality for the mother, but exponentially increases at each subsequent c-section, because of the scarring of the mother's uterus. So there should be less first time c-sections.<br />
<br />
There is a need for change in hospital birth practices to lessen first time c-sections, the report says. And on the KQED Forum one hour interview, other influences were also discussed: the higher payments for c-sections from insurance companies and the pressure to get a birth over with quickly as being more cost-effective for the hospital and staff. <br />
<br />
But what rang true with me was the response to a nurse who called to say that women no longer believe in their capability to handle birth. And that the current culture supports speed, convenience and control, which is contrary to how birth unfolds.<br />
<br />
EcoBirth wants to empower women to understand their capabilities- they need to tap into that fierce passion to protect their babies for themselves. Be strong, be fierce, be soft- all those things are possible.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-78856255492233303952009-12-19T15:38:00.000-08:002009-12-19T15:38:38.167-08:00The EPA has made it clear that current regulations don’t give them the tools to protect Americans from serious health problemsThis is the foundational message that we should all understand, from Safer Chemicals/Healthy Families http://www.saferchemicals.org/.<br />
<br />
I just sent this to Congress, we must be active and informed!<br />
<br />
The EPA has made it clear that current regulations don’t give them the tools to protect Americans from the serious health problems associated with toxic chemicals, and the Obama Administration has asked Congress to enact swift reform. The Administration’s stance reflects the concerns of millions of Americans like me, who are finding it hard to limit my family’s exposure to toxic chemicals. <br />
<br />
Please support legislation that will soon be introduced to reform and modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Give the EPA the tools they need to put common sense limits on toxic chemicals in every day products.<br />
<br />
Serious reform is long overdue. Toxic chemicals have already caused long-term harm to our nation’s health. The chemicals found in every day products have been linked to escalating public health problems like obesity, dramatic increases in chronic diseases like cancer, and unprecedented changes to our fertility.<br />
<br />
Chemical-related health trends are making a serious impact on our economy, too. Peer reviewed studies show that reforming the nation’s chemical laws will result in annual savings of $5 billion in health care costs. These savings would come from a decline in chronic diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma and learning disabilities.<br />
<br />
Additionally, many of our most significant trading partners are implementing stronger chemicals protection policies than we have in the U.S., putting our economy at a competitive disadvantage in a global marketplace that is rapidly gaining awareness of the problems associated with runaway toxic chemicals. <br />
<br />
TSCA is now 33 years old and has never been modernized. Outdated technologies and unsafe chemicals have created costs too great to bear to sustain our quality of life, with broad implications for our health care system and our economy.<br />
<br />
There are 82,000 chemicals available for use in the U.S. yet only about 200 chemicals have been assessed for safety. Only 5 chemicals have been restricted based on health and safety concerns. <br />
<br />
The time has come to give the federal government enough authority to require that chemicals be tested for safety before they are put into the products we use every day. <br />
<br />
As your constituent, I urge you to support legislation that will:<br />
<br />
1. Take immediate action to stop the use of the most dangerous toxic chemicals;<br />
<br />
2. Give the EPA the power to assess the safety of all chemicals so that the health of all people and the environment, especially the most vulnerable subpopulations, including children, workers, and pregnant women will be protected;<br />
<br />
3. Improve the right to know about toxic chemicals by allowing the public, workers, and the marketplace to have full access to information about the health hazards from chemicals and the way in which government safety decisions are made. <br />
<br />
Legislation to modernize and update TSCA will be introduced soon. I urge you to support this effort to lead us into a new era of safer chemicals and healthy families. <br />
<br />
Thank you for your leadership.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-86138434225704990132009-12-08T21:00:00.000-08:002009-12-08T21:00:38.435-08:00The very subtle design of a human beingIt seems that the very subtle design of a human being in a mother's womb can be altered unnaturally and inadvertantly by the mother's body. The first environment of a child is its mother's body. But that mother's body can contain harmful substances that may have permanent affects on the child, and even on that child's child- another generation. Does the mother knowingly allow these affects on her body? Or does the adulteration of her environment inadvertantly cause those harmful affects? If we have lead in our homes and mercury in our foods, that we are ignorant of, how do we prevent our bodies from contaminating our babies? If our Mother Earth Home is being abused and poisoned, then so are we and all other living beings. This is unjust. How do we make the right choices when we are not free to choose clean air, water, food? This is unjust and our children are living the affects.<br />
<br />
During our own birth experience and our children's birth experiences, are there actions that affect us and our children long-term? <br />
Below is a workshop in which Penny Simkin will address this provocative question at the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services Conference, in February,2010.<br />
http://www.motherfriendly.org/program.php<br />
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• Session Title: Eco-Friendly Birth: Troubling Downstream Effects of Common OB Practices & How to Reduce Them<br />
• Session Description: Drawing from the language and methods of ecology, Penny will explore the effects of today’s birth practices on the baby’s first habitat – the uterus – and his or her next habitat – the mother’s body and breasts. Looking downstream from birth, Penny hopes to focus our attention on the recent findings of long-term implications of such common practices as induction of labor, epidural analgesia, immediate separation of mother from baby, and lack of breastfeeding. How resilient do mothers and babies have to be to withstand the disturbances to their habitat? <br />
<br />
EcoBirth, as a philosphy, knows that women can personally affect the quality of the human species by enabling their bodies to be safe and clean first environments for their babies and by bringing their child into the world within a loving experience.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-2518729756162347722009-11-30T21:29:00.000-08:002010-01-10T00:38:51.324-08:00My final words on Making Healthy Babies, Raising Healthy Children: Living well in a toxic world7 months of work by our 4 organizers, brought to fruition a day that was profound, provocative, riveting, exhilarating and empowering.This is what I planned to say at the end of the day, but I think I spoke from my heart with the same message but different words!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8p6c4b8M-bmi6yrFWsblhPcOyMfVrK5_AU0vYnOavAppvfje7o1pZ8FH9wrMjq-fklg5ZbrQteJ84dELxSsP5mbiJDXbUXufkycdek6wQqQxvWoFNGfuF5LEhuxQvwO9gO0RxICn3B_aG/s1600-h/DSCF2608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8p6c4b8M-bmi6yrFWsblhPcOyMfVrK5_AU0vYnOavAppvfje7o1pZ8FH9wrMjq-fklg5ZbrQteJ84dELxSsP5mbiJDXbUXufkycdek6wQqQxvWoFNGfuF5LEhuxQvwO9gO0RxICn3B_aG/s320/DSCF2608.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
I heard Joan Chittester, a Benedictine nun, speak about 4 years ago, saying that our generation is done, we have created the world as it is and we do not even know the answers to the problems that we have created. Those answers will come from the next generation, who are our inheritors. And our job is to solely nurture and protect that next generation, so they have the capability to develop the answers to what we are leaving them.I thought that it was enough to be a good woman and raise good children and for the last 30 years, I was oblivious to what was happening to our Mother Earth and to us and our fellow beings. I am a 6th generation Californian, my great great grandfather gave Spanish names to many of these local towns; my great grandfather was the first native born Doctor in California and my grandfather was Chief of Staff of the hospital I was born in -St Mary’s in San Francisco; my mother, sister and I went to college here in Berkeley, we know our heritage here in this place, and so many family stories, which includes the killing of Native Americans, gain and loss of land and money, intense striving for material and social success in a raw land, and a privileged life in the world’s most beautiful city.But I want my legacy to be a caring and loving world for my children and grandchildren. This is why EcoBirth’s philosophy is so important to me- it represents a holistic view of all the systems that are immutable in our lives- the Mother Earth who feeds us, the mother who births us and the present generation who inherits our culture, land and woundedness. Deep Womb Ecology, as Diana calls it-the mother’s womb is the babies first environment. They are all interdependent and interconnected and show the care or lack of care with which we live our lives. How we birth our children is an indicator of how we treat our Mother Earth and our own daughters. I want my daughter and daughter in law to be intuitive, strong life-givers, of happy, intelligent, independent, healthy children. I owe them and all our young, to take the responsibility for what I have allowed to happen to their world and to work to heal it as much as possible before I hand it over to them.Thank you so much for participating in our dreams and our hopes today, we were just 4 mothers who wanted a better world, we collaborated over the last 7 months with consensus and respect and tenderness for each other. We are so glad that our dream was realized today and that you were a part of it. All our goodwill goes to you and to our beloved world.Molly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4641840019092956132.post-82268694128274930162009-11-27T11:49:00.000-08:002010-01-10T00:54:05.876-08:00Program of Making Healthy Babies, Raising Healthy Children: Living well in a toxic worldMAKING HEALTHY BABIES, RAISING HEALTHY CHILDREN <br />
Living Well in a Toxic World<br />
<br />
Where: UC Berkeley Art Museum Theater, 2625 Durant Ave. Berkeley, California<br />
When: Saturday, November 21, 2009, from 9 am to 4 pm<br />
<br />
<br />
The 2009 CIA World Factbook ranks the USA 45th among nations for infant mortality— the worst among all industrialized countries. The autism rate in our country is now 1 in 100.<br />
<br />
How we can understand and take appropriate steps to ensure healthy mothers,<br />
births and children? Take a unique look at the entire system that affects<br />
our future generations- a mother’s current environment,<br />
the birth environment and your child’s toxic world.<br />
<br />
This symposium brings together scientists, doctors, researchers and professionals for a compelling conversation about environmental influences around birth and childhood. Featuring plenary speakers, panels, audience questions, and film clips.<br />
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Revolutionary new software will also be introduced that will help parents assess the risks our children may encounter from the environment before birth, at birth and during childhood. Our three part program will make clearer to attendees what they should know about environmental health, their world, and how it affects them and their children.<br />
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Session One: Preparing for Childbirth<br />
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</div><a href="http://www.commonweal.org/programs/health-environment.html">Sharyle Patton</a>, Director, Commonweal Health and Environment Program, presents several new biomonitoring studies documenting the ubiquity and complexity of chemical and environmental exposures that people experience every day, and how those exposures could influence pregnancy and the health of our children. Exciting new software will be introduced which gives parents-to-be the opportunity to evaluate environmental exposures, and the effect they may have, so lifestyle changes can be made to ensure healthier outcomes for families and children. This session concludes with an expert panel including Ms. Patton; Dr. Joanne Perron OB/GYN who will correlate the environmental science with her own personal experience; and <a href="http://www.healthfullivingsf.com/julie">Julie Matthews</a>, Certified Nutrition Consultant, who will describe the best diet for pre-pregnant women<br />
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Session Two: The Birth Experience<br />
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</div><a href="http://www.davis-floyd.com/ShowPage.asp?id=155">Robbie Davis-Floyd,</a> PhD, medical anthropologist and author of eight books including <a href="http://www.davis-floyd.com/bks_index.html">Birth as an American Rite of Passage</a>, presents a brief history of birth in the USA. This presentation will focus on women’s ideas and cultural values about childbirth. The session concludes with a panel consisting of Dr. Davis-Floyd; Elizabeth <a href="http://www.elizabethdavis.com/aboutedavis.html">Davis</a>, a Certified Professional Midwife, who will touch on an integrated view of birth; and pediatrician Dr. Marshall Klaus and his wife, Phyllis Klaus C.S.W., M.F.C.C., who discuss the care and support a woman needs during birth. A new film by <a href="http://www.sagefemme.com/">Diana Paul</a> of Sage Femme will introduce this session.<br />
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Session Three: Healthy Childhood<br />
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</div><a href="http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/staff/andrew-wakefield.php">Dr. Andy Wakefield</a>, academic gastroenterologist and Director of Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, presents new information and good news about the treatment and prevention of autism (now affecting 1 in 100 children). <a href="https://charmtracker.com/login.sas">A ChARMtracker</a> demo will be featured introducing this web-based treatment tracking software for autism. The session will conclude with a panel consisting of Dr. Wakefield; Pramila Srinivasan (ChARM founder); <a href="http://www.rhinebeckhealth.com/rhc/bio_kbock.php">Kenneth Bock</a> (an integrative family practitioner whose practice is a beta site for the ChARM Physician product); and a returning Julie Matthews, nutrition consultant for children with autism. Clips from Elizabeth Horn’s film <a href="http://www.findingthewords.org/site/files/ftw.htm">"Finding the Words"</a> will open this session.<br />
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Audience questions and answers will be taken at the end of each session.<br />
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Master of Ceremonies<br />
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</div><a href="http://www.sehn.org/members.html">Carolyn Raffensperger</a>, M.A, J.D. is the Executive Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN). In 1982 she left a career as an archaeologist to work for the Sierra Club, where she addressed an array of environmental issues, including forest management, river protection, pesticide pollutants, and disposal of radioactive waste. She began working for SEHN in 1994. As an environmental lawyer, she specializes in fundamental changes in law and policy necessary for the protection and restoration of public health and the environment. Carolyn is coeditor of Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle (Island Press, 1999), the most comprehensive exploration of the history, theory, and implementation of the precautionary principle. She coined the term "ecological medicine" to encompass the broad notions that health and healing are entwined with the natural world. She wrote a bimonthly column for the Environmental Law Institute's journal Environmental Forum from 1999 until 2008.<br />
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Sponsors: Sage Femme, Ryder Foundation, Midwifery Today, Autism Recovery Consortium<br />
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THE DAY’S EVENTS<br />
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9 a.m. Registration<br />
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9:30 a.m. Welcome — Host Carolyn Raffensperger, Executive Director, Science and Environmental Health Network<br />
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9:45 a.m. Session One: Preparing for Childbirth<br />
Sharyle Patton, Director, Commonweal Health and Environment Program, discusses the effects of the environment inside and outside a woman’s body.<br />
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10:15 a.m. Panel and Q & A<br />
Sharyle Patton, Julie Matthews, Certified Nutrition Consultant, and Joanne Perron, MD, FACOG, RYT, examine the route to a healthy pregnancy.<br />
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10:45 Break <br />
11:05 Short Film: “Besos” by Diana Paul<br />
11:20 Session Two: The Birth Experience<br />
Robbie Davis-Floyd, Ph.D, medical anthropologist, presents a brief history of birth in the USA, focused on how to have a “healthy” birth and baby.<br />
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11:50 a.m. Panel and Q & A<br />
Robbie Davis-Floyd, Marshall Klaus, M.D. and Phyllis Klaus, L.C.S.W, M.F.T.<br />
and Elizabeth Davis, Certified Professional Midwife, discuss the birth experience.<br />
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12:30 p.m. Lunch <br />
1:45 p.m. Short Film: “Finding the Words” by Elizabeth Horn <br />
2:00 p.m. Session Three: Healthy Childhood<br />
Dr. Andy Wakefield, academic gastroenterologist and Executive Director of Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, presents new information about the treatment and prevention of autism (now affecting 1 in 100 children).<br />
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2:30 p.m. Dr. Kenneth Bock and Pramila Srinivasan, Ph.D, will present a demo of ChARMtracker, a new ground-breaking web-based treatment tracking software for autism.<br />
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2:50 p.m. Panel and Q & A<br />
Andy Wakefield, Kenneth Bock, Pramila Srinivasan and Julie Matthews talk about the latest developments in autism research and treatment.<br />
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3:45 p.m. Concluding Remarks by Carolyn Raffensperger<br />
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4:00 p.m. The sessions closeMolly Arthur - Waking Up to Our Own Historyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16951578899392967333noreply@blogger.com