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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the...

Leif Reads: To do or not to do

Every month,  Ash  and I are going to focus on one eco-related book for Leif Reads. To see what this feature is all about, visit  this page . This month, we are reading  Slow Death by Rubber Duck  by  Rick Smith  and  Bruce Lourie . Slow Death by Rubber Duck  talks about seven toxins that we unwittingly come in contact with - many times a day. Over the last three weeks, we talked about four toxins - pthalates in toys that kids come in contact with every day , how even lawn care brings us into contact with several toxins , how those non-stick teflon pans in the kitchen are a silent disaster waiting to happen , and about the oldest and the only natural toxin - mercury - which we so happily include in our diet when we eat those fish . Slow Death by Rubber Duck also mentions three other toxins that we didn't cover yet - Bisphenol A, present in those plastic bottles; PBBs or flame retardants, so conveniently found in those non-natu...

Leif Reads: "I just received Best-kept Lawn Award of the suburbs"

Every month,  Ash  and I are going to focus on one eco-related book for Leif Reads. To see what this feature is all about, visit  this page . This month, we are reading  Slow Death by Rubber Duck  by  Rick Smith  and  Bruce Lourie . Slow Death by Rubber Duck  talks about seven toxins that we unwittingly come in contact with - many times a day - as we go through our regular daily routine. Last couple of weeks, Ash highlighted  how the toy industry has been introducing our kids to toxins  - through plastics in toys, and then I highlighted two toxins/toxin sources that you can easily find in your homes - Teflon (yes, your non-stick frying pan may not be that good for you) and mercury (say goodbye to tuna). In this week's post, Ash talks about why lawn care is not worth all the hoopla around it. I have this omnipresent image of a respectable family with a home in the suburbs, settling into their dream life, mowing lawns w...

Leif Reads: "You're Soaking in it!"

Every month, Ash and I are going to focus on one eco-related book for Leif Reads. To see what this feature is all about, visit  this page . This month, we are reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie . Slow Death by Rubber Duck talks about seven toxins that we unwittingly come in contact with - many times a day - as we go through our regular daily routine. Last week, Ash highlighted how the toy industry has been introducing our kids to toxins - through plastics in toys . In this week's post, there are two toxins I wanted to mention - PFCs and mercury, mainly because we come so easily in contact with them in our kitchens. This is the town that Teflon built Years ago, when Teflon arrived in the kitchen market, it was a big hit. I still remember hearing all the buzz around it at home, when dad bought our first non-stick frying pan. At the time, I had a vision of cooking something, without it sticking at all on the pan. Of course, when I finally ...

Leif Reads: Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Last month, Ash and I read Eaarth by Bill McKibben for Leif Reads . Eaarth looked at the current status quo in all things environmental from a holistic standpoint. Reading Eaarth gave us a more complete picture of how things stand and gave us a good idea of how we want to go forward. This month, we're reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. This is a really interesting book. Remember pollution? Toxins? Asbestos? The big P -- Plastic? For a long time, pollution was an external thing. It happened in the air, the water, some parts of the land. It happened near factories, and then from car exhausts too. We knew some part of it wasn't good to our health. There was all this hue and cry over pollution and how we needed cleaner air. Pollution now feels like last decade's hot news. I barely hear that word anymore. And rightly so. Rick and Bruce essay out a really wonderful case for how pollution effects have migrated from the outside to the insi...