Read 'n' Seed 5

     1.  The chapters covered for my final Read 'n' Seed were pet care, cleaning and household pests, and gardening.  

     2.  The main theme of the pet care chapter was to introduce the idea of holistic veterinarians and feeding pets healthy food.  The concept behind the cleaning and pest chapter was to  propose the idea of more using natural and less harmful chemicals.  This idea flowed into the gardening chapter by suggesting organic gardening.  

     3.  Out of all the chapters in the book, these three were my favorites, and are slightly more relevant to my life.  After reading the pet chapter, I would love to start feeding my dog more natural foods.  One quote from the book I appreciated was, " our pets reflect our own health in these inorganic times.  A hundred years ago a dog that lived on a farm would have eaten table scraps and supplemented by whatever it caught in nature.  Because the food was wholesome, both thrived."  Nowadays animal food is created from every part of (bones, feathers organs, etc.) diseased, disabled, and dying livestock unfit for human consumption, full of pesticides, and may contain barbiturates used for euthanasia of the animals the food includes.  Because my dog lives at home and not with me during the school year, I don't have control over the food she is given.  When I am home, I decrease the amount of dog food she gets, and supplement with healthier options.  For more information check out these two links for facts on dog and cat diets. WebMD and Huffington Post 

      In the Cleaning and Pests chapter, I learned about a ton of alternatives to harmful chemicals that are found in many household cleaners.  An interesting fact I learned is that when you drop your clothes off at a dry cleaners, your clothes are being doused with a chemical called perchloroethylene that is linked to liver cancer.  I also learned that EPA testing is not as through as many people believe it is.  The book reports that many of most of the millions of pounds of chemicals produced are never tested to determine toxicity.  There are six tests needed to determine a chemical toxicity level.  93% of these lack at least one test and 43% lack all of the tests.  This statistic alone is enough for me to go home and properly dispose of all chemicals I own.  Seventh Generation, Ecover, Bio-Kleen, Orange-Glo, Citra-Solv, and Bon Ami, offer safer products.  To make your own cleaning products, this website offers great solutions: Networx.  This site offers tips for chemical free pest control: Greenliving       

      I really enjoyed reading the gardening chapter.  I built my first garden box four years ago, and loved reading the books helpful tips for organic gardening.  Making your own compost is an excellent fertilizer and sends less food to the landfill.  Instead of spraying chemicals, dip your hand in soapy water to get ride of aphids, drown slugs in small dishes of beer, and sprinkle cayenne pepper around beds to keep neighborhood animals out.  I found more some information on www.gardeners.com/      

     4.  These chapters could have an enormous effect on society.  If more pet lovers knew about what they were feeding their animals and decided to make a change, pet food manufacturers wouldn't be able to continue in the state they run now.  Someday when I am able to have my own dog, I refuse to feed it conventional dog food.  Getting people to stop using toxic cleaning products, pest control chemicals, and pesticides in their garden, would be a difficult task.  Our society has learned to trust brand names and are now dependent on them.  Personally, I use the website provided earlier to make my own cleaning products.  It is cheaper, smells better, and works equally as well as a name brand cleaner.  I also use organic fertilizer and compost in my garden.  If everyone who gardens were to use natural products they would save money.  Healthy soil needs less maintenance and yields more produce than a chemically dependent garden.  

     5.  I loved this book, and I learned a lot of valuable information from it.  

     6.  To pick just three significant facts from it was a difficult task.  The first fact I learned was from the food chapter.  I had never heard of fair trade coffee  and chocolate and was unaware of the exploitation that goes into growing the beans.  Now I will only consume fair trade coffee and chocolate.  The second item I was educated about was the Hypercar.  I wrote about the Hypercar in a previous post, and am still fascinated with the idea of it.  Finally, I attained more information about composting.  I feel this whole book contains valuable information for making your life better, bettering the world you live in, and bettering the lives of those you do not know who pay the price for your decisions. 

     7.  I would recommend this book to anyone.  It is easy enough for many reading levels to understand, and has attainable tips for a greener and healthier life.