Dear Power Center Family,

Did you know that over 60 million plastic water bottles end up in US landfills everyday? This means a staggering 22 billion plastic water bottles end up in US landfills every year!

I’d like to ask everyone to try to refrain from bringing plastic water bottles to The Power Center. We have filtered water and cups available, please bring your own reusable bottle or we have glass love bottles to purchase. You can save $252 a year by using a reusable container. Join us in making a choice to better your health, your environment, and the planet.

In addition to improving your health and the environment, 100 % of the proceeds from the sale of love bottles goes to The Live The 7 Foundation to fund preventative health and transformative fitness programs for children and young adults in need. Small love bottles are $20 (2 for $30) and large love bottles are $30 (2 for $50). Please read the following information that is the driving force behind this initiative to eliminate plastic bottles at The Power Center, and I thank you all for your support.

Live the 7,
John Nies

Drinking single serving plastic bottled water opens up a whole new set
of health and environmental concerns and hazards.

Get the Facts…

Studies show that about 40 percent of bottled water is actually
regular tap water with possibly no additional filtering treatment.
The EPA standards that apply to public water supplies do NOT apply to
bottled water. There are no restrictions protecting against a source
of bottled water being located near industrial facilities or waste
dumps. Overall, bottled water is less regulated than tap water. A
recent Environmental Working Group test uncovered 38 contaminants in
10 brands of bottled water, including DBPs, nitrate, caffeine,
arsenic, Tylenol, bacteria and industrial chemicals.

The Problem with Plastic Water Bottles

In the time it takes you to refill your water bottle over 8,000 empty
water bottles are being thrown away worldwide. According to the
Container Recycling Institute, in the U.S. alone, more than 67 million
plastic water bottles are discarded each day.
That’s enough empty plastic water bottles to…

Fill 5500 garbage trucks each day.
Bury Manhattan Island one foot deep each day.
Wrap around the planet 149 times each year!
Not biodegradable, empty plastic water bottles are a major contributor
to worldwide pollution.

In fact, water bottles make up a sizable portion of the garbage patch
of discarded plastic swirling in ever ocean. In the Pacific Ocean just
a few hundred miles off the coast, there is a swirling vortex of
plastic “stew” , The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is currently larger
than twice the size of Texas and growing!

The enormous waste issue is not the only problem. According to the
Sierra Club, the U.S. alone uses 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce
all the water bottles we toss each year. And along with oil, comes
unwanted toxins. The processing of plastic water bottle releases toxic
compounds such as nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide, and benzene
into the environment.

Boycott Plastic Water Bottles

The Story of Bottled Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Other Boycott Plastic Articles
http://agriculturesociety.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/start-a-boycott-on-plastic/

http://www.justmeans.com/Living-Green-by-Boycotting-Plastic-Water-Bottles/7061.html

I thought it would be fitting in light of father’s day to share some of my personal views on the ‘Patriarchs’ of the world. When you look up the definition of the word Patriarch the first two definitions that I found were: “The male head of a family or tribe” and “a man who is the oldest or most venerable of a group”. Now venerable is a very interesting word that you don’t hear everyday and just in case you might not be familiar with the definition, it describes someone that is accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character. Now it’s quite obvious to me that just because a man has fathered a child it definitely doesn’t make him a patriarch, especially if were going to consider him a venerable leader of the pack. That is a title that needs to be earned and unfortunately there are many fathers walking this earth that fail miserably in their efforts to do so. Being a father of four, I am no stranger to the requirements that are needed to gain the respect and admiration from your family, friends, and community. I’d like to write a book on this subject and I mostly likely will one day, addressing the fact that there’s a severe shortage of venerable fathers causing repercussions that are far reaching and debilitating in many ways. Being a great parent is not only challenging but it is one of the most important responsiblities a person could have. Without a parent’s support, guidance, example, friendship, and love a child can easily fall from the nest and find themselves in all kinds of trouble. We live in a hard world with many dangerous people and many scary circumstances. Without good parenting kids have a much greater chance of finding themselves in those precarious positions being influenced by the wrong people. A patriarch has an opportunity and a responsibility to try to prevent these bad things from happening. There’s no doubt that strong fathering has been deteriorting over the last few decades and I blame it on the lack of patriarchs that aren’t stepping up and taking on the roll of ‘venerable leader’. So I’m calling out all the father’s of the world, myself included. We need to rise up and do what needs to be done. I don’t need to spell it out either, follow your heart, follow your instincts, you know exactly what you need to do, so do it! Let’s make this world a better place. Happy Father’s Day.

This could very well be one of the most important topics that could use some discussion amongst the earth’s population. If there’s ever been a time in the history of the human race for us to unite it’s right now. For as long as I can remember I’ve been hearing people calling for peace on earth. There’s rallies that have been organized, songs have been sung, books have been written, movies have been made, and ironically wars have been waged, all in the name of peace. So there’s no denying that there’s been a concerted effort, and some progress has definitely been made, but there’s obviously plenty more work that needs to be done. In order for us to make that elusive dream into a reality we’re going to need lots of unity. A coming together of the grandest order. Some might consider me a hopeless romantic, or might view my optimism as being irrational, but I will never stop believing in our potential as a race. I have seen people recover from devastating circumstances, I’ve witnessed friends and clients overcome some serious adversity, and I’ve heard first hand accounts of people that have been to hell and back and not only lived to tell about it but have created a wonderful life for themselves.