12:11 a.m. - 2003-09-18
Interpreted Results
I was finally able to do my stair-climbing to my "Lord of The Dance" tape. Haven't managed that since I fell about a month ago. For the first couple of weeks it was because it just wasn't safe for me to be on the stairs. After that it was because the asthma was so bad, because of the air pollution, that I had to move extremely slowly so my lungs weren't shutting down on me. When I use my tape I try to at least keep up with the beat, if not the stepping. I've felt very frustrated, because my hip has felt really good since my last visit to my chiropractor. I wanted to regain the ground I'd lost in building strength and endurance in the hips and legs. However, the pharmaceuticals I needed to use to control the asthma had pushed my blood pressure up from 120/80 to 140/90 in three short weeks and I wasn't about to risk it going any higher, by doubling up for the aerobic exercising. Rotten trade-off.
On the news tonight, the Health Authority finally did come out and address the problem of particulates in the air and it's damaging effect on the community's health - respiratory and cardiovascular especially. The provincial government denied the problem outright and pointed to its own measurements as "proving" that ambient air quality has improved "dramtically" over the past few years. As our Medical Officer pointed out, what was measured and where it was measured allowed the province to mislead Albertans about the health risks. Hard for him to stand up to Alberta Environment when all the health authority's funding is funneled through the provincal government. Environment Canada verified the Medical Officer's assertions but the last medical officer to challenge the Province's lies was fired out of hand over his comments on the Kyoto Protocol.
At the workshop that I attended about the Protocol at our University last fall, one of the presenters was from Fort McMurray where the oilsands project is being carried out. Her responsibility was to measure ambient air quality using the World Health Organization's environmental standards environmental_standards that are applied even in the most destitute third world countries. For example, in my "bread and butter" job I have seen the measurements of drinking water quality in some of those countries fastidiously upheld despite the cost. Yet, in our very wealthy province, the measurements of some of the most dangerous particulates were off the chart in Fort McMurray, while WHO's standards say the only safe level is zero. The presenter expressed her concerns about the serious health problems that were emerging as a result of the pollution and her frustration that minimal health resources were provided to the community. Neither the polluters nor the province were willing to do anything to mitigate the damage to the health of the population of one of the youngest communities in this province. Mortality rates are unusually high among children and young adults according to the presenter.
Whenever the provincial government is caught out on any issue with incontrovertible measurements like this, they always state that it really isn't a problem any more because they've struck a committee to study it and will implement the recommendations when they are presented. The level of trust Albertans put in this government is so high, that no one ever seems to realize that recommendations are either ignored or, in a number of instances, the report is shredded because the conclusions are so damaging to their "government of the people - jes' folks" image. Reports on seniors needs, health funding, children at risk, and education come to mind immediately. Usually their authors are hounded out of the province. It is very rare for any issue of the publics' welfare to be addressed.
Today and yesterday I spent mostly writing - a lot of correspondence for friends, family and with respect to a lot of the areas I have an interest in for their own sake. I also decided to cull my dream sequences from this diary and create a dream log. There have been some patterns developing over time but it is very difficult to follow them when they're mixed in with so much other material.
I had another dream last night; I don't know what to make of it. I seemed to be living in a combination palace/warehouse with a large group of people who were trying to accomplish a difficult task. The palace part was beautiful, but a lot of the space had been seconded to act as storage for the materials that were needed. I found myself on the roof of the palace. It had been turned into a garden of trees and flowers. How did the roof support the weight and where were the tree roots drawing nourishment from? The roof could be reached from outside by a very broad spiral staircase that seemed to be carved from the hillside it abutted. The stair steps were part grassy and part of stone (slate) as well. Cardboard boxes were lining the stairs and apparently were filled with treasure. The guardians of the treasure and the gardens? Some very "unique" and aggressive goats. Yes real goats. I thought maybe they turned into Satyrs by night and promised myself I would never venture out at that time of day just to be on the safe side. As it was, the male companion who was escorting me out to a meeting had to intervene in their behaviour on my account. I was so shocked by what I was seeing I woke up. So you see, dear diary, I need to have everything all in one place because I can't even begin to interpret this last one.
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