Has it really been almost 2 months?

Snoqualmie Pass, WA (taken through the window of a charter bus...). Copyright (c) 2013 Wendee Nicole

Wow. I guess I'm slacking on the blog posts. I have been writing like a madwoman, with a tiny bit of travel thrown in. Here are links to my latest articles...

• Game On! Businesses have used behavioral science to influence consumers for decades. Can it be used to save the planet? Ensia Magazine (formerly Momentum) Spring 2013. [This one came out of attending the SXSW-Eco Conference in Austin last year! It is about the emerging trend of "gamification" and how it's being used to help spur conservation action.]
• Think for Yourself: Critical thinking skills are more important than ever in today's information environment. Ensia magazine online. Mar 7, 2013. [This idea arose from the Science Denial conference I attended at University of Wisconsin-Madison last March, which also led to the article in Environmental Health Perspectives, Flavors of Uncertainty: The Difference Between Denial and Debate?]
• An Obesogen Over Time: Transgenerational Impact of Tributyltin. Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2013. [This is a "Science Selection" piece, or summary of a peer-reviewed article in EHP. The research relates to the feature I did on Obesogens for EHP for their Feb 2012 issue.]
• Road Traffic Noise and Diabetes: Long-Term Exposure May Increase Disease Risk. Environmental Health Perspectives, Feb 2013. [Another "Science Selection" piece]

I traveled to the Pacific Northwest a couple weeks ago to attend the Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat held at the gorgeous Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in the Cascades (WA State), with Cheryl Strayed as the keynote. It was 3 days, and I met some amazing women (only a handful of men attended) and had a breakthrough about my book structure, which was worth the cost of the retreat! Theo Nestor is a great teacher! I'll try to post some photos soon but just want to give a quick update.

I'll be traveling to Costa Rica soon, and soon after that to receive my..... drum roll please... Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) for best magazine article in the science/technology/business category! I was and am over the moon! It was for the article, Did Tap Water Kill Lou Gehrig? for Miller-McCune magazine (now Pacific Standard), a piece that I really am proud of. That's enough for now... hope to update again before another 2 months pass!

A plethora of articles! Obesogens, Cousteau & more

Prayer tree at Green Gulch Zen Center Garden Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

‎"It may be that what you could be haunts you. It is real. It is a weight you have to carry around. Each failure to become, to be, is a weight. Each state you could inhabit is a burden as heavy as any physical weight, but more so, because it weighs on your soul. It is the ghost of your possibilities hanging around your neck, an invisible albatross, potentials unknowingly murdered." - Ben Okri

It's a new month, and that means I have some new articles out!

• First, a Q&A with Alexandra Cousteau for Momentum Magazine's Winter 2012 issue. I asked her several questions around the main theme "What would it take to create sustainable ocean fisheries?"
  
  
• Next, a feature that arose out of a panel at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference! Obesogens: An Environmental Link to Obesity in Environmental Health Perspectives, Feb 2012. Obesogens are chemicals we are exposed to that change our metabolism and are very likely contributing to the obesity epidemic.
  
  
• In this same issue, I wrote a news article about the recent (and long overdue) finding of a court-appointed science panel about the chemical PFOA (in "Teflon" nonstick coating, among other things) which was leaked by the DuPont chemical factory in WV. Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension “Probably Linked” to PFOA Contamination. PFOA is a suspected obesogen, also.
  
  
• And finally, a short piece that is a summary of a peer-reviewed article in this issue of EHP (which is a peer-reviewed science journal). In the Same Boat? Health Risks of Water Recreation Are Not Limited to Full-Contact Activities.


• And if you haven't read it yet, I'm super proud to say that my article, Did Tap Water Kill Lou Gehrig, is the #1 most read article on the Miller-McCune website still! Check it out if you haven't yet! Ack - Just looked again and it's now #2 - you guys better go make it #1 again! It was #1 yesterday!!

I am about to dig into a new article due mid-February, and catching up on randomness in the interim (doc appointments, car washes, tire rotations, you know the typical boring stuff). Been cooking some - lots of kale chips (I'm still obsessed!) I made a delicious Navy Bean-Barley soup the other day, and these yummy raw cookies and I'll post some pictures and recipes soon. I've been reading a TON of books of parenting, and took an actual Sabbath day this past Sunday where I didn't get online nearly all day until late evening, and I spent the day attending church (finally have been going back to church again), lunch with a friend, then just chillaxing, reading, and doing a meditation and - oh, yea - I took an actual NAP! Good times.

Space kitty!

Throw your dream into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, or a new country. --Anais Nin
My cat is losing her fool mind! I bought this jar full of treats for Halloween, and since the treats are all given away, the jar is empty and my kitty thinks it is her new home - or at least the home for her head. It all started out like this...After she seemed so interested in the jar, my kids thought it would be funny to shove her all the way in. I know, I know animal cruelty right?! What can I say? The lid wasn't actually placed all the way on! So then, you'd think she would never want to go in there again, right?Wrong! Kitty decided that she wanted to climb in as much as possible. She spent the next several weeks enthralled with the jar. Isn't she a cutie? But most of the time she didn't climb all the way in, but rather was found like this... After a while she got sick of the jar, so I stuck a little catnip in there and it renewed her interest for a while. Now she is bored of it again... I'll just have to stick some more catnip in there because it cracked me up when I saw her in there, every time!

I turned in my article based on my dive to the Aquarius Undersea lab (for which I interviewed Steve Squyres - from the last blog post about pooping undersea... LOL! That was a funny conversation!) I don't know when the article will be published, but I'll keep you posted. I turned it in a wee bit long - not something I usually do, but I have for the last couple of articles because of strange circumstances! There are sometimes stories that just absolutely require more space for proper telling. It is not my normal modus operandi to turn stories in over word count. At any rate, I'm now working on article on another scary chemical/plastic danger - obesogens (chemicals that make you fat!). After doing the piece on BPA, reading about microplastics, and now this article on obesogens, I want to discarding about every plastic thing in my house at this point, especially stuff I put food in! I already got rid of my old plastic water bottles (unlined aluminum and steel only for me!) and never, ever heat anything in the microwave in plastic (never did, though). I do sometimes use plastic tupperware to store food but I have a few glass containers with lids and I think I will look for more.

Well I better get back to my reading! Soon I will post a few recipes I have tried out recently. Working on that post already - peace out!