The Organic View

Africa Weeks for the Animals (Aug 1-14, 2011) is the 2nd annual event showcasings events that raise awareness for animals and the people of Africa. Throughout the week humane organizations, educational institutions, animal shelters,etc throughout the continent will be hosting animal-related special events. Events include conservation awareness events, educational days, adoption fairs, spay/neuter awareness events, shelter/sanctuary help days, clinics, activities for farm animals and education geared toward helping those most in need. Art of Conservation is a participating organization that provides an innovative and comprehensive year-long conservation and health education program for children attending school in rural communities bordering Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park. They inspire their students to promote creativity and respect for themselves, their peers and the natural world. AOC supports local community initiatives including alternative cooking fuel technology to deter charcoal production and combat deforestation in the mountain gorilla habitat. By establishing and coordinating sports activities, such as the annual 3K Gorilla Fun Run and the Ibirunga Tennis Tournament, Art of Conservation helps the local community to practice team building and encourages healthy living habits. In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to Michelle Buckalew, founder, Animal World USA-International and Julie Ghrist, Founder and Director of Art of Conservation

African wildlife is in crisis for three main reasons. First, as the human population rapidly increases, more land is needed. Secondly, the livestock population that is raised for human consumption is taking up more and more land. Thirdly, sport hunting continues unabated even though lion populations are declining at catastrophic rates.

There are approximately 25,000 lions left in Africa and of this population, only 2,500 are adult males in which approximately 650 of them per year are hunted for the purpose of being a trophy. It gets worse – lions in Western and Central Africa are genetically very different from lions in other parts of Africa. There may be only about 1500 of these amazing lions left. Sadly, they are still allowed to be trophy hunted, in Burkino, Faso and Cameroon.

What is really disturbing is that some of the big, well known conservation (non-governmental organizations) NGO’s still support lion trophy hunting, calling it sustainable because they actually contribute to the conservation of the species! This is absolutely ridiculous as clearly it only serves to contribute to hunters seeking new prizes.

LionAid.org is trying to fight for African lions. They are fighting for better lion protection measures and will be speaking in front of the European Parliament in September. They need everyone’s support and do not accept funding from the hunting community and are generally concerned about wildlife preservation.

In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to the founders of LionAid.org Christine Macsween and Pieter Kat stay tuned!

People have dogs in their lived for a myriad of reasons. Most people tend to adopt dogs for either protection or companionship. What if you were seeking a dog to rescue from a shelter initially because you loved the sportsmanship involved with canine competition and found a dog that you wanted to adopt but based upon first impressions made you think twice as far as whether or not he should take that final ride home with you? What if deep down inside, you just couldn’t be the one to reject a dog that had been previously almost adopted only to be tossed back to the shelter? Would you take the risk or opt to adopt one of the other dogs who eagerly wanted your attention and affection?

Dogged Pursuit is the story of one man's quest for perfection in canine agility, which seems scuttled by his choice of the world's least likely agility dog. But he then discovers that far more blame can placed at his own door. Before he can make his dog a better competitor, he himself must become a better man.

In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to author, Robert Rodi about his book, Dogged Pursuit. If you are an animal lover and love stories about forever homes, stay tuned!

Vegan dishes and desserts have come a long way. Thanks to cooking shows, the internet and skilled chefs that have shared their recipes, more and more people can enjoy eating delectable desserts that are not only gluten-free but are free from animal based ingredients.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States.  Obesity has also been a major health concern. Even the First Lady, Michelle Obama, has various initiatives in order to help people make better food choices. The bottom line is that people need to look at the foods they are consuming, especially when it comes to desserts which are often rich in fats, additives and preservatives. Eating desserts is not always a bad thing. What matters is the kinds of desserts and more importantly, what ingredients they are made with. Anyone who maintains good health knows that all foods should be consumed in moderation.

In the book, Sinfully Vegan, author Lois Dieterly has assembled quite a collection of amazing desserts that is sure to please even the toughest food critic. She also offers a great explanation of what the key ingredients are used for and why. If you are someone who loves desserts but wants to cut out the animal based products, wants to be able to enjoy gluten-free desserts or just wants to try something new, this is one book that you need to explore. The recipes are easy to make, kid friendly and not terribly expensive to make.

In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to author, Lois Dieterly about her new book. If you are a vegan or just want to learn more about the options you can work with when making delicious desserts, stay tuned!

Throughout time, men have argued over which belief system is real and whether or not science plays a part. What if both opposing factions of thought really are seeking the same exact thing? Is it possible for all men to live in harmony with the universe that surrounds them? Perhaps it is a matter of control and our own inner desire to be controlling of everything, including those around us.

We all may be different but each of us has some kind of a natural instinct or “spark” that is immutable and guides us. What exactly does this mean and where did it come from? Are we really alone or is it just that because we cannot see, hear or touch something, we need proof? This perhaps, is a matter of faith and also a matter of our own reality.

People often want what they cannot have or desire to be able to do what they are incapable of doing. For Jon Soeder, life is a not so simple when it comes to being truly gifted. What some may consider his gift a novelty, others like Jon realize that it is something that needs to be treated with great care, not manipulated for material gain and must always be respected.

In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to award winning author and famed animal communicator, Jon Soeder about his latest inspirational book which is about his own life of enlightenment. If you have ever wondered what it is like to be truly gifted and what the reality is like, stay Tuned!

Women’s hormones can fluctuate due to tremendous stress which can cause a myriad of problems from irregular pap smears, polyps, irregular cycles, and the list goes on. People tend to joke around about imbalances such as PMS or even hot flashes, but it is an issue that millions of women must deal with at some point. There seem to be a lot of choices from pills to a various therapies, but regardless of how trendy an option may be, the solution may not always be a healthy one. Some of these remedies range from heavy medication, which can often impact the health of the liver to Hormonal Replacement Therapy (HRT). Is it possible that women can achieve optimal health and wellness without extremities? Dr. Claudia Welch discusses how women can achieve optimal health and wellness through Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, and even Western Science, in her book, Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life.

In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to Dr. Claudia Welch, MSOM about how what women need to know in order to balance their hormones. Stay Tuned!

In 1905, America's national forest system was created to preserve pristine wilderness and the wildlife that lives there for all generations. The national forests and grasslands encompass 193 million acres of land, which is an area equivalent to the size of Texas. Unfortunately, throughout the years, more than half of the system's forested land has been developed or crisscrossed by roads that disturb its natural beauty and ecosystems.

GreenXC is an organization of young professionals determined to make an impact on the preservation of National Parks and Forests. For the next 3 weeks, they are setting out on a cross-country mission using only ride-shares to conduct a national outreach and awareness campaign for parks and forests with the help of the USDA Forest Service. The scenic odyssey will have a focus on environmental protection including the myriad of conservation issues facing national forests. The team will be documenting their journey in homes of raising awareness for national parks and forests, as well as the idea of ride-sharing, a fun and eco-friendly form of transportation. The goal for this campaign is to get from NYC to California visiting various parks and forests along the way.

GreenXC consists of a collaboration of enthusiasts with seasoned experience in the fields of Public Relations, Marketing, Business, Law, Journalism and Photography who share the common goal of enriching young minds to encourage the future generation to take action to protect our national parks and forests and create an eco-sustainable nation. In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to the founders of GreenXC, Polina Raygorodskaya and Igor Bratnikov. Stay Tuned!

There are many people who hear the word vegan and consider it to be some kind of extreme diet that only people who are animal loving health nuts subscribe to. It is actually not a trend but a growing way of life for many people around the world. When you are a vegan, it does not mean that you starve yourself to death and are going to be instantly emaciated. What it does mean is that you are able to enjoy a more sustainable diet that is actually quite exciting because of all of the wonderful options as opposed to meat and potatoes every night.

For people that choose to be conscious about what they eat in order to control their healthy, this is clearly the right decision to make. However, there is so much information that is important for anyone to learn while making that life changing decision to consume a plant based diet. In the book Vegan For Life, experts Virginia Messina and Jack Norris cover everything from a simple six-step action plan for making the transition, food and nutrient charts, a vegan food guide with five new food groups and shopping lists for stocking the pantry with vegan staples, sample menus with easy, nutritious, and enticing options for any meal and tools to understand the latest nutrition research, with information on different research methods and more!

In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to Jack Norris, RD and Virginia Messina, MPH, RD. Jack Norris, is co-founder and president of Vegan Outreach. His website, VeganHealth.org, is considered to be the best source of vegan nutrition on the web. Virginia Messina, serves on the advisory boards for the Vegetarian Resource Group and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Stay Tuned!

When it comes to pharmaceuticals, the government requires all sorts of testing for safety. Although media is addictive in nature, there are no safety measures. Virtually everyone is dependent upon some variation of media: TV, radio, news outlets, social media, etc. For the most part, unless you live in a cave, it is very difficult to avoid exposure. Mass media clearly influences everything in our life, including the economy. When negative rumors spread about commodities, investors react drastically. Even in politics, once someone indicates candidacy for office, people react; markets react. The media clearly has a solid effect on people’s emotions and in turn our finances. This is true regardless of what the reality may be. Social media presents a unique assortment of issues because the activity can be very addictive. While people may be “engaging” socially on these sites, they are not interacting with one another in face to face. This is not only unhealthy but makes us as become disconnected. So, how can you set limitations? What can be done to constructively utilize media to create thoughts as opposed to being just a consumer of information? In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak Dr Thomas W. Cooper about media overload. Dr. Cooper, is an award-winning Professor of Visual and Media Arts at Boston’s Emerson College. He previously taught at Harvard University, where he also received his B.A. A former assistant to Marshall McLuhan, he is the Co-Founder and Co-Publisher of Media Ethics magazine. Stay Tuned!

With the economy being in the current depressed state, many people are cutting corners wherever possible. One of the first to go is expensive memberships to fitness chains. Unfortunately, this is not the best solution because exercise provides an immediate release for stress. To boot, many fitness clubs are also making cutbacks on staff and equipment maintenance which can also discourage membership activity because if the machines are always broken or even worse, ridden with all sorts of bacteria, it is not really worth the money. So, what can you do? There are tons of videos and fitness shows on tv but half of the moves are not suited for the average person. After a few seconds of participation, most people tend to change the channel and resort to looking for some other alternative that is not only realistic but interactive.

 In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer will speak to the social media sensation of fitness, Bethany Learn about alternatives to fitness. She will talk about functional fitness at home and options that are affordable and free! Stay Tuned!