Healthy Living: Nursing Your Sweet Tooth

With our commitment to wellness, and healthy lifestyle, we occasionally come across something that needs sharing and pretty much speaks for itself. This is one of those occasions.

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Ecosystems: the BEST way to feed the world & reverse climate change

Image: Living Wall EcoSystem above Turtle Pond

Why biomimicry is essential for human beings to restore vital habitat

PeapodLife has been expounding the virtues of taking a biomimetic, ecosystems approach to solving problems related to improving habitat for human beings, food production, cleaner air, more amicable environment, etc.

But it’s important to note that we aren’t the only ones advocating this approach to solving some fairly major social, environmental, climatic problems:

YouTube Video: Allan Savory: How to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change 

Published by TEDtalksDirector on Mar 4, 2013 

Of course, for every good approach there will always be the naysayers, the contrarians, the hyper-sensitive reactionary views. In this case, from those living in or around deserts. In this article by Chris Clarke, posted on KCET East California, he vehemently opposes and dismisses the notion of biomimicry as proposed by Savory, claiming that the Ted Talk “teaches us to disparage the desert.”

Nonsense. No one is saying that established deserts or even ones created by man due to short-sighted approaches to land management don’t have their own thriving ecosystems.

There is nowhere on the planet that lacks an ecosystem. From Arctic tundra to desert to underwater volcanic vents, everywhere on this planet is a vibrant habitat for some kind of life, even if it’s just a community of single-celled organisms.

The question is, are these habitats low-order ecosystems or a high-order ecosystems? What is best for the planet as a whole? When we consider the transformation of solar energy into plant tissue, herbivore, carnivore and human, logic dictates that the evolution of high-order animals and ecosystems took place for the sake of the global ecosystem (called by many names, “Gaia,” Mother Earth, etc.)

Human beings require high-order ecosystems to thrive. As does the planet as a whole. We cannot subsist on desert plants and animals, nice though they may be, and the planet needs us, along with other high-order organisms, to do our part in the transformation of solar energy into ever more subtle forms before they can be absorbed by the planet body (which it cannot do directly).

This is the point Savory’s detractors are missing. He is not talking about stealing desert habitat away from nature. He is talking about cooperating with nature. He is advocating a biomimetic approach to assisting nature in reversing the adverse effects of short-sighted behavior of human civilizations past (and present).

If we can cooperate with nature to raise a "human-made" desert from a low order ecosystem to a thriving high-order ecosystem, creating habitat for tens of thousands of more species of plants and animals and reduce the suffering of hundreds of millions of human beings…?

All the scientists and naturalists out there crying foul on behalf of the desert need to hang their intellects up for a moment and spend some time in their hearts for a while.

Image: PeapodLife "Angolo" High-Order EcoSystem growing Moss and Orchids 

Self-Contained Living Wall Ecosystem Unit Supports Advanced Human Habitat "AHH...!"

Food Security: The REAL Homeland Security

Image Collage by PeapodLife: REAL “Terror Alert”: Homeland Food Security Advisory System
Image Credits: MS Office ClipArt: Roller Blade Waitress; Doctor’s Severe Prognosis

PeapodLife asks: is the World’s Wealthiest Nation willing to face the BIGGEST Threat to the American Dream?

The new film, A Place at the Table, looks at food security in the United States. Produced by the same filmmakers who brought us the award-winning documentary, Food Inc., A Place at the Table promises a no-holds barred look at the state of food poverty and the resilience of the food system in the U.S.

YouTube.com: A Place At The Table - Official Trailer [HD] 

A documentary of Kristi Jacobson & Lori Silverbush that investigates incidents of hunger experienced by millions of Americans, and proposed solutions to the problem. 

Published by VISO Trailers on Jan 21, 2013 

While we couldn’t find any listings for showtimes in Canadian theatres, you can download it on iTunes.

We have not seen the film yet, but we’ve been on top of food security for some time now, and we feel it’s about the U.S. take along, sober view at what we think is a far more “credible terror threat” to the American way of life. It is practically unfathomable that the most powerful and prosperous nation in history has such a fragile food system.

How many in the U.S. have know-how or capacity to grow their own food? Sure, they’re all armed to the teeth, but in the event of catastrophic food collapse, not everyone can go off into the wilderness and live off wild game. They tried that once out West and very nearly killed off the Buffalo entirely.

Energy-addicted, America is damming rivers at an alarming pace. The looming water crisis in the American mid-west and South will decimate the country’s ability to produce viable crops for their own population, let alone export. This means Canada is vulnerable to the food security threats facing  our neighbors  to the South.

The Unites States is not only our biggest trading partner, but also the source of many of the food products we consume everyday (particularly in winter). And yes, many of the high-end and organic brands enjoyed by foodies and conscientious eaters come from the U.S. Why isn’t the Stephen Harper government raising the red flags with its American counterparts?

Why does energy get top-billing when it comes to national policy and international affairs in Canada and abroad? When you think about it, the most important source of energy for humanity is food!

Food is energy. Food is an integral of Peapod Life’s approach to “AHH…!” Our Advanced Human Habitat recognizes the fundamental importance of stable, local, organic food production. In the coming weeks we will be showcasing how our integrated Building EcoSystems & Technology solution provides the BEST air, water and food possible.  Indoors, 365 days a year.

Stay tuned to peapodLife’s blog and Twitter feed for ongoing “Alerts.” And don’t forget to Like us on Facebook!

Turn even the smallest Room, Condo or Office into a Rainforest!

Image: pPodLite - Self-Contained Vertical Garden EcoSystems

They may be small, but pPodLite Angolo and Muro by PeapodLife are about to make a big splash in indoor vertical gardens.
 Designed  and engineered for home, condo, office, retail & other tight spaces & budgets.

Living with Nature just got Friendlier with pPodLite Self-Contained Indoor Vertical Garden Ecosystems

We all want to get back to nature. But what does that mean, exactly?

Some of us are not that into camping, trekking in the wilderness, or can afford expensive adventure holidays in the rainforests of South America or Southeast Asia. And even if we can “get away from it all” now and then, what about the rest of the time (the majority of our time), spent at work, school, home?

What do we do?  Invite nature indoors. Sounds good!

Some of us are not green thumbs. We don’t like messing around with soil, fertilizers (organic or otherwise), foods, the clippings, etc. And let’s be honest: are potted plants really all that "natural?"

As for hydroponics or other methods like living walls which treat plants as little more than eye candy or worse, bio-mechanical air-filters…no thanks. Some of us cannot afford costly ongoing plant replacement costs because of some biochemist thought it was a good idea to abuse mother nature indoors, too.

There’s only one way to treat a house-guest. You provide them all the comforts of home in your home: their home away from home. For when it comes to inviting Mother Nature indoors, that means being friendly to her: a little ecosystem of her very own can turn even the smallest space into a rainforest.


Invigorate any smaller space with pPodLite—easy-to-install PeapodLife products

pPodLite Muro and pPodLite Angolo from PeapodLife are complete self-contained fully functioning high order ecosystems.  These easy to install, small footprint units do the impossible: grow moss, orchids, even organic food, all in a completely natural zero-nutrient environment which uses the power of the sun and the intricate balance of life to maintain and sustain an indoor vertical garden unlike any other.

pPodLite is not about how to survive; it’s a model of how to thrive.

Treat Mother Nature well, and she will provide. Clean air up to 10x better than outside. Natural beauty. Vitality. Energy. Even organic food which tastes like nothing from any farm. How much do people value wild?

To Mother Nature, it’s not wild, to her, it’s home; to her, it’s the way it should be.  Now, the way things ought to be can be the way things are…at home, school, office...wherever.

Visit peapodlife.com for more details or download product PDF’s, below

pPodLite Muro Product Sheet [PDF]: Modular 6' Wall Unit; 12+ sq. ft of Rainforest Plant & Moss Area; 3 Biome EcoSystem; Canopy, Waterfall & Aquatic Fauna Habitats; Self-Contained Water Purification System; External Full-Spectrum Light Source May be Required.

pPodLite Angolo Product Sheet [PDF]: Modular 8' Corner Unit; 16 sq. ft of Rainforest Plant & Moss Area; 5 Biome High-Order EcoSystem; Canopy, Terrestrial & Aquatic Fauna Habitats; Built-in Full-Spectrum Light Source; Self-Contained Water Purification System.

Five Reasons for National Food Strategy: UN Report Falls Short!

Image Montage: Home plus EcoSystem equals Organic Food  

Image Credits: Wo-Built, Peapod Life, MS Office ClipArt: Produce falling into wood bowl

Canadians Deserve a Positive Message & Productive Strategy: Advanced Human Habitat

Olivier De Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food released a report which criticizes Canada for unacceptable levels of poverty and food insecurity. Mr. De Schutter delivered his recommendations in a press conference yesterday. Suffice it to say, he talked to Canada, but failed to connect with Canadians. Here’s why…

Top 4 Reasons for a National Food Strategy in Canada, according to UN Report:

Among many recommendations, his report states “Canada is in need of a national right to food strategy,” and goes on to give 4 reasons why national strategies are so important:

• 1. Improve horizontal and vertical coordination between multiple levels of government;
• 2. Allow governments to do long-term planning;
• 3. Improve accountability: setting targets and measurable results;
• 4. Help identify, at the earliest stage possible, emerging threats to the right to adequate food. 
• (Source: UN Report on Right to Food in Canada).

Peapod Life adds a fifth, crucial element to any so-called national strategy on food, with all due respect to Monsieur De Schutter:

• 5. Look for and identify, at the earliest stage possible, emerging trends and new technologies which help safeguard the right to adequate food.

Why was this fifth point not on the UN Report’s list!?They, like society in general, appear stuck in the centralized, top-down, models of the past.  Expecting the “big machine” of agronomics to feed the nation.

Here in Toronto (and in communities, small towns, and urban centres around the world), a new approach is taking root: food security via food independence. 

PeapodLife embraces this movement to bring urban agriculture into the mainstream.  But, we take it one step further to where we think it needs to be: integrated into our living space, in perfect harmony with a vibrant indoor ecosystem, with which we human beings can develop meaningful symbiosis.

This is the heart of Advanced Human Habitat: Building EcoSystems & Technology which allow individuals, families, companies and entire communities to truly live in harmony with nature, sharing their indoor environment with a living ecosystem which serves as the zero-nutrient environment for growing the most organic, healthiest, vital and life-giving food imaginable.

Our message to Canadians is this: why wait for the Harper Government to solve problems which are fundamental issues of survival. Start shifting toward food security, away from “the big machine” and toward a new kind of consciousness which says: cooperate with Mother Nature, and she will provide.

It’s not about running off into the woods. It’s about inviting Mother Nature into our homes, businesses, schools, healthcare centres, places of worship, etc. Give a living ecosystem teaming with life shelter from the crazy world of agronomics and it will take care of you and your loved ones.

Food, water, shelter. At PeapodLife, we cannot see how anyone can reasonably separate these. A national strategy on food begins with an advanced approach to shelter: Advanced Human Habitat which integrates living food and living water.

PostScript: We are not the only ones who believe the report from the “learned ones on high” missed the mark on real food security: strengthening individual and community food security.

Leona Aglukkaq Questions UN Food Security Report:

cbc.ca: Qulliq with Abraham Tagalik: Leona Aglukkaq Questions UN Food Security Report

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food visited Canada last summer. Now Olivier De Schutter has released a report calling for Canada to develop a national food policy. But Nunavut MP, Leona Aglukkaq, questions his credibility. Here’s Aglukkaq’s reaction to the report. (INUKTITUT)

Posted Feb 11, 2013 | 4:56