Protect the Ancient Trees

7 benefits of drinking lemon water daily

The 7 benefits of lemon water. 7 reasons why drinking lemon water every morning is good for your health.
 Lemons are a healthy fruit. Lemons originated from the middle east at the base of the Himalayas and spread around the world as one of the most widely consumed tropical fruits. Lemons contain many bioactive compounds, vitamins and essential mineral that assist in maintaining healthy body function. These include ascorbic acid, vitamin C, thiamin, pantothenic acid, iron, riboflavin, fibre, vitamin B6, copper, folate, potassium, beta-carotenes, lutein, vitamin A, zeaxanthin. All of these compounds have many health benefits. [1]
 Water is life for without water we can not live. Lemon water is simple to make. Take a large glass of water and squeeze half a lemon into it. It is a great refreshing way to begin every morning when you first wake up and a healthy habit to get into.

1. Lemon water hydrates your body. Water is an essential element to human survival. It is necessary for cell function and without water you would only survive for 3 to 5 days. After sleeping all night the body is dehydrated from respiration and drinking water rehydrates the body in order for it to work efficiently. There is evidence “that water plays an important role in both the specificity and affinity of protein-DNA interactions” [2]
2. Lemons contain Vitamin C. Lemons are high in ascorbic acid, vitamin C which has numerous benefits. These include: fighting infections, repairing the skin and promoting healing.
3. Lemon water helps you lose weight. There are benefits to drinking water that include weight loss [3]. However Lemons contain pectin which is a soluble fibre. Pectin helps prevent hunger cravings.
4. Helps detox. [4] Firstly, you increase the amount of urine when you increase your water intake. This helps to eliminate toxins. However lemons contain citric acid which is known to inhibit toxins and also enhances the ability of your body to flush out toxins naturally. [5] [6]
5. Lemon Water Aids Digestion. One of the components of lemons are citric flavonoids which aid in lipid (fat) metabolism.[7]
6. Immune system boost. Lemons contain Vitamin C which is an immune system booster. Vitamin C is also good for relieving stress.
7. Energy. Yes drinking lemon water gives you energy.

Check out this video for more infomation on the benefits of drinking lemon water.




  Bonus Benefit: Drinking lemon water helps to give you fresh breath. If you’d like to contribute to the continuation of James’ Blue House Free Schools and help me build mobile free schools and education programs teaching lifestyles of health and sustainability you can donate here. https://www.gofundme.com/j6hahs
 [1] http://foodfacts.mercola.com/lemon.html
[2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9032063
[3] http://www.webmd.com/diet/20040105/drinking-water-may-speed-weight-loss
[4] http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/nutrition/nutrition+tips/kick+start+your+day+with+lemon+and+water,23007
[5] http://rootandsprouts.com/benefits-of-lemon-water-according-to-science/
 [6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2637791/
[7] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23254473


7 benefits of drinking lemon water by James Arthur Warren is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

James' Blue House Free Schools

I have been busy working on a passion of mine. That is free education.
I realized when I was studying my environmental science degree that only through education could we solve the problems of the world.

For this reason I have started James' Blue House Free Schools. The aim of JBHFS is to provide free education in Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. My approch is two fold. First is online education through blog posts and youtube videos. Check out my blog here. Second, I am building a foundation that will provide mobile education in Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. The first school will be built in a 1972 Leyland Atlantean Double Decker Bus. I am crowd funding this project and you can contribute here.
 You can check out one of my latest videos here. The 7 benefitrs of drinking lemon water.

Impacts of the industrial revolution

What other impacts do you think the industrial revolution had? On:

• The social aspect of human life and the environment

One positive impact of the industrial revolution was that people had more leisure time because the wok week was reduced to 40 hours. However with technology like TV, IT and game boxes as well as the need to spend time commuting there is an increase in social disenfranchisement and social dis-functionality. What I mean is that people spending time in "leisure pursuits" have less time to socialise. This would explain the sudden growth in "social networking" (i.e.  Facebook, Myspace, twitter) because human beings have an innate need for social interaction. So one social impact of the industrial revolution is that people are less competent at social interaction.
Other negative social impacts industrial revolution include:

• Increased income disparity (USA, Russia, India all have hugely disproportionate wealth distribution)
• Time Scarcity
• Social fragmentation and breakdown
• Increased Crime (perhaps)

Environmental impacts of the industrial revolution are numerous. Most obvious is the increased exploitation of resources. With the industrial revolution has also come the rise of capitalism as the dominant paradigm/hegemony. Unfortunately capitalism has inefficiencies, such an not, or undervaluing natural resources. Capitalism from the perspective of an individual business operates primarily in its own financial self interest little or no costing or consideration of the social or environmental impacts.

Negative impacts of the industrial revolution include:

• resource depletion
• species loss and loss of diversity
• air/ water/ noise/ light/ land/DNA pollution

That's all I can think of at the moment.....

PEACE

Free Energy and Solar Lighting

I don't usually promote big corporations or their products. However in this case I'll make an exception. My wife made he trip out to Ikea looking for some kind of stuff to spend the dollars on. I was pleasantly surprised when she came home with a bunch of solar powered outdoor lights. You can check them out at the link below.
Ikea SOLIG solar lights
They are not super bright because they only have 3 LED lamps but they do provide ambient lighting for eating outside at night and three of them also provide enough light to walk around the house at night without falling over the kids toys.

The best thing is that I'll never have to pay for electricity to charge them as long as the sun continues to shine.
PEACE

Earth Hour-Lights Out for Climate Change

On Saturday the 27th of March 2010 at 8:30pm you can help play a small part in reducing the negative effects of Climate Change by participating in 60 Earth Hour.

All you need to do is go to the Earth Hour website and register to turn off your lights and appliances for 60 minutes.



Now in its fourth year in Australia, you can make it bigger and better. It is already the single largest mass participation event on the planet. So lets all try to make it huge.

What can you do in the dark? Here is a short list:

• Go to bed and get a good nights sleep.
• Go for a walk through you neighbourhood and observe just how much electricity is being wasted even during Earth Hour.
• Play a game of hide and go seek or a game of spotlight.
• Turn off the TV and read a book by torchlight.
• Play monopoly or solitaire by candlelight.
• Start or write a journal.

One last thing. I recently bought a wind-up torch which has a dynamo inside and is lit by 3 LEDs so I never have to use another dry cell battery. Nor will I ever get my torch out of the drawer to find the battery has gone flat. It was on special for $9.90 but even at the full price of $19.80 the savings made by never using batteries is worth buying  one. 

Peace, energy efficiency, help stop climate change and support Earth Hour

A Sustainable Australian Community

Austalia originally had only indigenous people inhabiting the continent, living in the most sustainable way possible. In the 222 years since the first fleet we have managed to remove more than 85% of the original forest as well as cause the extinction of numerous species.

Now the tide is begining to turn. We have farmers planting farm forestry, insulation and solar rebates, sustainability audits for new homes, recycling, hybrid vehicles and many more positive examples of people and govenments begining to take responsability for making sure we live in a sustainable community.

One particularly positive step towards ensuring sustainable communities is the increasingly multicultural population. Where would we be without pizza, pasta, fried rice, kebabs, dim sims, baklava and curries. We would still be eating sausages, mashed potato and frozen peas with a roast for Sunday lunch. BORING.

I have never met a newly arrived immingrant or refugee who didn't want to get a job as soon as possible but have met 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc generation Australians who don't believe they have a responsability to contribute to society. I'm not talking about the mums here because they do the most important job, mothering. I mean the people who are available to work. These newly arrived Australians won't take jobs away from current Aussies they will do the jobs that most Aussies don;t want to do, for example cleaning, aged care and driving taxis. Then their children will be the electricians, builders, engineers, teachers, child carers and health workers, all the jobs where we have skills shortages. Without new young families Australia would stagnate like Japan with 0% growth.

Multiculturalism is a form of cultural sustainability. It brings in new ideas and ways of thinking and Australia is know for its innovation. It ultimately makes all Australians more tolerant and accepting of our differences which leads to better understanding and HARMONY.

Please watch to following video, there are more than 100 different ethnic groups represented and this is the new face of Australia. Harmonious, tolerant, hard-working, free from fear or violence and making a positive contribution.