Why I'm doing what I'm doing.

When I was growing up, you heard the neighborhood children playing ball in the street after dinner. We knew everyone on the block, and we all looked out for each other. We didn't worry about what the turkey on the table was injected with, or whether our apples had been sprayed with pesticide, or whether the drug our mother was taking would cause infertility in her children.

I've been called a "nit-picker" by some... But I'm not seeking the negative; I'm seeking safe and simple. My focus right now is on "righting the wrongs" of my generation. I'm currently organizing a movement on the peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose to replace ornamental landscaping with edible landscaping, promoting organic gardening and training the unemployed to test, detoxify and enrich soil, re-establish native plants and use the land we live on to nourish us. I'm working with a number of nonprofit organizations and a growing number of volunteers who want to make this happen. This is my passion!

To support my volunteer efforts, I've been asked to be a Founding Leader of the first home party plan in the United States offering certified organic skincare. I'm also distributing a new line of household cleaning products that contain no poisons--entirely enzyme-based ("WowGreen" --U.S. manufacturer, no "green washing" here, and reasonable prices).

I want to be a positive force for a healthier world in whatever small ways I can. Except for synthetic medications that my body needs to survive in this day and age, I will not put anything knowingly in or on my body or inside or outside of my home that will wash down the drains and pollute the environment. It's the old adage, "If you're not a part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

I believe in educating people, and helping others open their eyes to what's happening in the world around us. Why do you think chemical sensitivities and allergies and asthma and cancer are on the rise? I believe that short-sighted, high-profit invention, consumer desire for everything "new-and-improved," and extraordinary regulatory laxity have played a role in causing the global issues we're facing now. Did you know that since the chemical industry took off in the '40s and '50s, over 80,000 new chemical compounds have been introduced to the marketplace--with minimal testing for their impact on health and the environment?

It's time for us all to pull our heads out from under the sand and take a stand. One small stand--or big stand--at a time. And I believe in picking nits--if you don't start with your own head, those bloodsuckers will end up infesting everyone else you care about...