The amount of plastic in world’s oceans is expected to triple within a decade according to a new UK government report called the “Foresight Future of the Sea.” The report found that 70% of the litter in our oceans is non-degradable plastic, and the amount of litter in our oceans is projected to increase by a factor of three between 2015 and 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-NidY_8b-0
Both the opportunities and the challenges set out in this important report are global in scale and demand our urgent attention. We must keep pushing our scientific understanding of the oceans, harness new technologies, and support commercial innovation.” –Tariq Ahmad , Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister
Plastic chokes marine wildlife and causes numerous other health issues by exposing marine life to toxic chemicals. We also eat these toxic chemicals when we eat seafood. Around 150 million tons of plastic float in our oceans and eight million more tons of plastic come into the ocean each year, according to the World Economic Forum. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by weight if we don’t change our ways soon.
The UK was one of 193 countries that signed a resolution to eliminate plastic pollution in our oceans. A month later the UK outlawed the manufacture of products containing microbeads.
How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors
The soles of your shoes, the fabric of your clothing, your contact lenses, your chewing gum, your phone, food containers, mattresses – all are made with plastic. It’s everywhere. It’s in our salt and it’s in our water. Plastic may be the most insidious and enduring product we’ve ever produced.
While plastic improves our daily life in countless ways, it is also suffocating our planet and causing catastrophic pollution, much of it hidden and microscopic. Just how bad is it?
Bottled water samples were collected and analyzed by scientists over a ten-month investigation. The study analyzed 259 bottles from 19 locations in nine countries across 11 different brands and found an average of 325 plastic particles for every liter of water being sold.
In one bottle of Nestlé Pure Life, concentrations were as high as 10,000 plastic pieces per litre of water. Of the 259 bottles tested, only 17 were free of plastics, according to the study.” – Drinking Bottled Water Means Drinking Microplastics
This study comes just after a damning study of plastic found in sea salt brands was published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports. Theyanalyzed seventeen commercial salt brands from eight different countries on four continents for plastic particles. They found plastics in all but one brand.
BPA is the starting material for producing polycarbonate plastics. We found out it leaches into the ground and water and causes all kinds of problems. Of course, the manufacturers denied and lied until the mounting evidence was incontrovertible. Then BPS was developed, and was a favored replacement; they thought BPS was more resistant to leaching. But BPS is leaching. Nearly 81 percent of Americans have detectable levels of BPS in their urine. Once it enters the body it can affect cells in ways that parallel BPA.
Microplastics, Endocrine Disrupters, and the Environment
Microplastics are most likely, to varying degrees, already in all of our drinking water and in all of our bodies. Microplastics absorb toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases and release those chemicals into animals that consume it, like fish and humans who eat those fish. Experts say since these fibers have been found in most of our water supply, they have to be in our food as well. From fish to organic vegetables, microplastics are everywhere. At this time, there is no known way to completely filter or contain them.
Plastic waste doesn’t biodegrade. Instead, it breaks down into smaller pieces of itself, down to the nanometer scale (one billionth of a meter). Science knows that particles of this size migrate through intestinal walls and travel to lymph nodes, glands, and bodily organs.
Plastic is toxic. It has been proven to cause cancer. Plastic toxicity weakens the immune system, metabolism, and affects people’s skin, weight, behavior, and much more. Plastic particles will leach into food and drink and is also absorbed through skin and lungs. Plastics leach endocrine disruptors, meaning plastic screws up our hormonal system.
Most plastic products, from dishes to plastic bags to food wraps, have been proven to release estrogenic chemicals. These chemicals are endocrine disrupters that act like the sex hormone estrogen, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives. Excessive estrogen, estrogenic chemicals, and other endocrine disruptors have been linked to cancer, fertility problems, male impotence, heart disease, and many other conditions.
Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are chemicals that mimic our own hormones. They bind hormone receptors and disrupt the body’s normal hormonal actions. Endocrine disruptors may cause a more powerful response than the natural hormone would have or a diminished response. In some cases, they cause a completely different response than its natural counterpart would have created. EDs are typically measured in parts per trillion, which is indicative of the fact that very small amounts can have a disrupting effect on us. EDs are very stable. They don’t break down quickly. This is, in large part, why they are in so many products. They also get stored in our fat cells. They tend to stick around for a long time.
The dangers of plastics have not been studied adequately, and the plastic industry has no desire or intention of doing so. A study looking into the effects of BPA on rat testicles found that lipoic acid exerted antioxidant effects that can protect against BPA damage. In the study, BPA was shown to reduce testosterone, testicular weight, protein content, antioxidant activity, and beneficial enzyme activity, while damaging the mitochondria. Fetal exposure to BPA has been associated with obesity, altered reproductive function, and cancers later on in life. BPA was accidentally discovered to be carcinogenic when medical researchers came to find that rats were getting cancer during a study for something else. They found out that it was caused the BPA in the water bottles. And now we are supposed to trust BPA free plastics?
How to Avoid Plastic Toxicity
Many manufacturers have stopped using BPA to harden plastics, replacing it with “BPA-free” alternatives like the most common replacement, BPS (Bisphenol S).
Our research showed that low levels of BPS had a similar impact on the embryo as BPA. In the presence of either BPA or BPS, embryonic development was accelerated. Additionally, BPA caused premature birth.” –Nancy Wayne
You probably can’t avoid plastics. Even if you go to another planet plastic is going to take you there and contaminate that ecosystem. But you can limit plastic consumption and keep your body in a homeostasis state that detoxifies itself at all times. And the good news is that with the right diet and a healthy body, BPA and BPS can be flushed out of your system quickly, some say within 24 hours. A properly working body can process and dispel a lot of toxins. An unhealthy body rids itself of toxins at a slower rate than the toxins are consumed and produced.
Ways to Limit Plastic Contamination & Plastic Use
Keep your home clean, and vacuum regularly
Filter tap water
Always avoid artificial fragrances
Stay away from warm or hot plastics, don’t even breathe near them
Avoid canned foods
Avoid conventional personal care products like shampoos, soaps, moisturizers, makeup
Avoid conventional and big-ag produce (pesticides and herbicides have plastic residues)
Cook your own foods using whole-food ingredients
Stop using plastic straws, even in restaurants
Purchase food, like cereal, pasta, and rice from bulk bins and fill a reusable bag or container
Use paper or your own reusable shopping bags, bulk goods bags, and bring your own mesh produce bags (FYI: I suspect that many paper bags contain BPA and BPS)
No more chewing gum, it’s made of plastic
Buy boxes and glass instead of plastic bottles whenever possible
Use a reusable bottle or mug for your beverages or coffee and soda refills (but you don’t drink that crap, do you?)
Boycott any restaurant that still uses styrofoam – Why is that still a thing?
Use matches or invest in a refillable metal lighter – avoid the plastic disposable ones
Eat real, whole foods – fresh foods equates to less packaging and less previous plastic contact
Don’t use plasticware ever, bring your own if need be
Use cloth diapers – disposable diapers are extremely toxic to the environment and your baby
Did you know that some receipts contain 250 to 1,000 times the amount of BPA typically found in a can of food? If that isn’t scary enough, BPA transfers readily from the receipt to skin and cannot be washed off. Different types of receipts contain varying levels of BPA. If you aren’t sure whether or not a merchant uses BPA in their receipts, either ask directly or let them know early in the transaction that you will not need your receipt. Gas station receipts are particularly notorious for containing huge amounts of BPA.” – Home Maker Chic
How to Detoxify Plastic Byproducts
To eliminate BPS, BPA, and other plastic residues from the body, one must first and foremost, make sure your gut is not leaking! A healthy gut microbiome will breakdown toxins into inert substances. See How To Heal Your Gut for more on that.
The second most important thing you can do is consume lots of salads like these. Incidentally, salads are part of building a healthy gut microbiome. A large salad with 15 different vegetables and herbs will chelate toxic chemicals from the body while providing nutrition and feeding a healthy, diverse microbiome.
Also, eliminate heavy metals and other toxins as well. Toxins tend to disrupt the endocrine system. The endocrine system is your hormonal system (click to learn more), which includes glands like the thyroid, adrenals, and the pancreas. Heavy metal toxicity and other toxins will also inhibit the body’s ability to detoxify other chemicals including plastic residue.
Most people living on a modern, refined diet suffer from candida overgrowth, and consequently, a leaky gut. Ingesting pesticides, GMOs, antibiotics, alcohol, and other toxic foods kill our natural, beneficial gut microbiome. The refined sugars and flours we ingest feed the microbes that survive our toxic lifestyles. These microbes thrive in our toxic bodies because they feed off of simple sugars and weak cells. They also feed off of plastics, heavy metals, and all kinds of toxins. And they are not the microbes that optimize our health. THe best gut bacteria just happen to like the healthiest foods. Nature wouldn’t work if it were any other way.
The diet I recommend may sound extreme. It’s the same diet I advocate for those suffering from cancer, diabetes, depression, any other autoimune disease or infection, or for those who just want to detoxify. If you are sick, no amount of supplements will fix that. But with the right diet, supplements will radically speed up the process of getting well. If you want to live life disease free, save the following articles:
Even if you’re not feeling ill in any way, detoxifying plastic or anything else is done best with raw, fresh vegetables. The right salad will chelate heavy metals, BPAs, BPS, and more, all while replenishing the minerals we need. Garlic, parsley, cilantro, and many other foods show promising chelation properties, but their effects alone are weak. Thr trick is to combine many healthy foods with their many health benefits for a holistic approach. Taking a few cloves of garlic a day will not significantly reduce levels of toxins any more than taking a supplement. In other words, don’t underestimate the importance of the right diet. It must contain a wide variety of fresh, whole foods.
Supplements for BPA and BPS, Heavy Metal Detox, and Other Endocrine Disrupters
Without a proper diet, the right supplements will work, but only to a certain extent, and only for a little while. On the other hand, supplements taken with a healthy diet can radically speed up healing time.
1.) Get thee some probiotics – pronto. I’m not talking celebrity endorsed yogurt here. Chose fermented foods like kimchi, natural sauerkraut, and kefir. A refrigerated, concentrated probiotic supplement helps. Drink kombucha. Bifidobacterium breve and Lactobacillus casei were found to extract BPA from the blood of mammals and were excreted out through the bowels. That is very good news!
Beneficial bacteria strengthen the gut and help break down chemicals like BPA so they can be cleared out. As a bonus, they break down pesticides, another major endocrine-disruptor, and other toxins as well. Probiotics are becoming well known for breaking down endocrine-disruptors and other toxins in the body.
My recommendations (pick one depending on the budget):
Syntol AMD (powerful probiotic with prebiotics and enzymes)
Chelators are small molecules that bind very tightly to metal ions. Activated charcoal is proven to attach to heavy metals including beneficial macrominerals, so mineral supplementation is recommended when consuming activated charcoal, though this can be mitigated with a healthy diet like as mentioned above.
Activated charcoal is highly negatively charged. It seems to bind with positively charged particles. Pathogens typically have a high positive charge associated with them, and so do plastics. Activated charcoal filters have shown to remove BPA from water, but I don’t see any research on its ability to filter BPA from the body, but I think it works.
Like activated charcoal, bentonite clay is negatively charged. Unlike charcoal, bentonite clay provides minerals and other nutrients to the body while it sucks out toxins, as it helps repair the intestinal tract.
Another chelator, and much more. Any self-respecting eco-friendly health-nut has a bag of food-grade DE somewhere. Take it with water to kill pathogens in your gut, and use it outside or indoors for pest control.
Food grade DE is approximately 80-85% silica. Life cannot exist without silica. Most people are silica-deficient.
Chlorella has a well-documented history of helping remove heavy metals and other toxins like dioxin from the body expeditiously. Its high concentration of chlorophyll and fiber seems to be a big part of its exceptional detox benefits. It’s almost certain, considering the mechanism, that Chlorella (and spirulina) help pull out BPAs and other plastic residue.
Chlorella is a good source of protein, GLA, and phytochemicals, B12, B2, B3, iron, magnesium, Beta Carotene, and a bunch of powerful phytochemicals. Chlorella stimulates the growth of friendly bacteria. Furthermore, chlorella’s cell walls act to absorb toxic compounds within the intestines, restoring proper gastrointestinal pH and helping to promote normal peristalsis. And it is another chelator, as it is also very negatively charged, attracting positively charged molecules.
Phytochemicals found within Chlorella pyrenoidosa support the complex network of enzymatic reactions that drive the human detoxification system. This detoxification network involves the Phase I and Phase II enzymatic reactions that take place in nearly all cells in the body, though they are concentrated in the liver cells. Phase I detoxification reactions change non-polar chemicals that are not water-soluble into relatively polar, water-soluble compounds. The Phase I process can result in the formation of reactive chemicals that are typically more toxic than the original compounds. Phase II detoxification is necessary therefore to add chemical groups to the toxic intermediates to make them water-soluble so that they may easily be excreted via urine and/or feces. Phase I and Phase II detoxification pathways must remain functional for the removal of toxins from the body. This research focuses specifically on the Chlorella pyrenoidosa species of green algae recognized for its detoxification properties. – King Hardt Academy
Chlorella is green algae, but spirulina is more of a blue-green in color. These two algae have a lot in common. Chlorella’s green hue demonstrates that it’s richer in chlorophyll than spirulina, and chlorella is said to have stronger detoxification properties. But spirulina is an even better source of protein, and it offers iron, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, calcium, potassium, zinc, and a host of microminerals.
Digestive enzymes break down food. Metabolic enzymes, also known as systemic enzymes, break down foreign proteins, fibrin, and other toxins, and they clean the blood of impurities. Consider the ramifications of this. Probiotics and enzymes together help breakdown nearly everything in the gut that doesn’t belong. Read more about systemic enzymes here.
Diindolylmethane (DIM) is naturally present in cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. It helps metabolize estrogens and hormone-disrupting estrogen mimics. Indolplex is a dietary supplement that contains a patented, bioavailable form of diindolylmethane.
Glucuronidation is a major metabolic reaction, and mainly takes place in the liver, for disposal of a variety of endogenous (such as TH) and exogenous substrates (such as PCBs).
Calcium glucarate is naturally found in fruits and vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables. Calcium glucarate helps rid the body of toxins and excess hormones while it protects our cells from carcinogens.
My family and I do avoid it as often as we can. Years ago, I spent considerable time trying to completely eliminate plastic from my life. I found that my overall environmental footprint went up a little. Plastics make things so easy and convenient that sometimes it just doesn’t make any sense to do without it. I’m careful, but plastics don’t scare me. The body can handle a remarkable toxic load when the diet is right. I trust my diet to eliminate the BPA, BPS, and whatever else gets in there that shouldn’t be.
That said, I cannot wait for the day when our plastics come from hemp or some other sustainable alternative. There are much better options available to us if we can just get out from under this petroleum-based economy.
President Trump issued an order on Tuesday directing his administration to begin the long process of rolling back sweeping clean water rules that were enacted by Obama.
The order directs the EPA to set begin dismantling the Waters of the United States rule, which expanded the authority of regulators over the nation’s waterways and wetlands. It’s one of President Obama’s signature environmental legacies.
Farmers, ranchers, real estate developers and others, have complained about the rule, saying it invited heavy-handed bureaucrats to burden their businesses with too many restrictions and fines for minor violations.
It is such a horrible, horrible rule. It has such a nice name, but everything about it is bad.”
Obama’s EPA stated that such claims were exaggerated and misrepresented in the media. TheWaters of the United States rule, championed by environmental groups, gives the EPA broad authority over nearly two-thirds of the waterways in the country. Trump called it “one of the worst examples of federal regulation” and “a massive power grab,” as he signed the directive Tuesday.
The climate and the clean water rules from Obama’s era were enacted after a tedious and lengthy process of public hearings, scientific analysis, and bureaucratic review. That entire process must be revisited before the rules can be weakened or dismantled. It is likely to take years.
These wetland protections help ensure that over 100 million Americans have access to clean and safe drinking water. Access to safe drinking water is a human right, and Trump’s order is a direct violation of this right.” – California billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer said in a statement
The executive orders come right after the administration’s release of a budget that includes a lot less money for the EPA. Trump vowed to continue to eliminate or undermine any Obama-era environmental protections he can wherever he sees the opportunity.
So many jobs we have delayed for so many years. It is unfair to everybody.” – Trump
There are industries that disagree. Tuesday’s order received swift rebuke from fishing and hunting groups, which claim that the clean water rule has benefited the economy by sustaining hundreds of thousands of jobs in their industry.
Drinking Bottled Water Means Drinking Microplastics, According To Damning New Study
If your drinking water is typically bottled there’s a good chance you’re consuming microplastic particles with every drink, according to a new study. Looking at more than 250 water bottles sourced from eleven brands in nine different countries, the study revealed that Microplastic contamination was found in more than 90% of the samples tested.
The study analyzed 259 bottles from 19 locations in nine countries across 11 different brands and found an average of 325 plastic particles for every liter of water being sold.
In one bottle of Nestlé Pure Life, concentrations were as high as 10,000 plastic pieces per litre of water. Of the 259 bottles tested, only 17 were free of plastics, according to the study.” – The Guardian
This is nearly twice the level of contamination discovered in the same group’s earlier study on the plastic contamination in tap water. The survey included Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestlé and San Pellegrino brands.
These microplastic particles are everywhere, found in our oceans, lakes, rivers, fish stomachs, and our stomachs. They can be traced back to our synthetic clothes, which contaminate our water systems every time they’re washed.
With the bottled water, Orb’s new study indicates contamination is in large part a result of plastic packaging and the process the bottling companies use.
“There’s so many unknowns here. That, combined with the highly likely population-wide exposure to this stuff—that’s probably the biggest story here. I think it’s something to be concerned about.” – Muncke
Non-browning Arctic Apple Set For “Aggressive Expansion” After Positive U.S. Test Run
The Arctic Apple was developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF) and has been marketed in several of Midwest locations as part of a promotion test. The apples have been sliced and marketed in 10-ounce grab-and-go bags which were a hit with customers. Observing the “amazing” results of the test run in U.S. markets, the non-browning Arctic Apple is slated for “aggressive expansion.” It will be some time before the item is available in Canada.
We saw robust, positive results. The data was amazing. When people had a chance to see the apple and experience it and realize how fantastic it is, I think that that’s a real game changer. That’s what’s allowed us to move forward very aggressively with a lot of confidence.” Neal Carter, founder, told CBC Daybreak South host Chris Walker
Growers and GMO opponents have repeatedly raised concerns regarding genetically engineered plants like the apple and the complex technology supporting it, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health Canada have both approved the Arctic Apple for sale.
Carter said customer polls performed in six store locations led to 92 percent of consumers stating they’d be quite likely or extremely likely to purchase the non-browning apples later on.
In addition, he said they saw practically no complaint concerning the genetic alteration of the food, which he found promising in light of the company’s expansion plans. “Our business model has us planting trees very aggressively,” Carter stated.
We understand that there’s a segment out there that chooses not to buy biotech and that’s fine, that’s their choice,” said Carter. “But it looks to us that there’s an awful lot of people that think this product is exciting and they’re really keen to try it and really keen to buy it.”
Carter has been working to create the Arctic apple since 1996. In 2015, his company was bought by Intrexon Corporation — a U.S. biotech company — that is now funding the planting of new trees. By 2022, he anticipates the firm will have more than 1,200 hectares planted in Washington state and will probably be developing more non-browning apples compared to all the apples grown in the Okanagan Valley.
Large Scale Nuclear Fusion In 10 Years? The Ultimate Game-Changer
The holy grail of clean energy is fusion power. Researchers at MIT have just received $50 million in funding to help make it happen. MIT has joined forces with a startup called Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and together they paln to have a pilot fusion power plant in 15 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjl4T6nISao
If we succeed, the world’s energy systems will be transformed. An entirely new industry may be seeded potentially with New England as its hub.” – Maria Zuber Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor
Nuclear Fusion vs. Nuclear Fission
Nuclear fusion is the energy source that powers the sun, the stars, and hydrogen bombs. Not to be confused with nuclear fission, which is what’s used in nuclear power plants. Fission splits atoms to release energy, and this produces long-lived and deadly radioactive waste products. As of now, there are zero fusion reactors. Nuclear fission isn’t that difficult, but fusion, on the other hand, is very difficult (more on fission and fusion or see the video below).
Most of us don’t want more nuculear power plants. Many argue that nuclear fission is cleaner than the burning of fossil fuels, but there is the issue of the byproduct of radioactive waste and the infamous incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Nuclear fusion occurs when 2 light isotopes are combined to create a single heavier isotope. The fusion process releases helium and almost unfathomable amounts of energy, without the nuclear waste that results from nuclear fission. But efforts to use nuclear fusion have often petered out, leading to the joke that nuclear fusion is the energy of the future — and always will be.
Clean energy brings to mind wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal. Hydro and geothermal are reliable energy, but they are location specific. You either have access to it or you don’t. Another type of clean energy that looks very promising is wave, or ocean energy, but it’s yet to be cost-effectively harnessed. For solar there’s photovoltaic solar energy and solar hot water. And we have wind energy of course. The sun must be shining or the wind must be blowing, so until the battery revolution gets further along, we cannot rely on them as a primary power source. The right breakthroughs in energy storage mean that wind and solar systems are on their way to usurping the dominance of fossil fuels.
But fusion could do better if we can harness it. But the problem with fusion is the extremely high temperatures and pressures involved. We’re talking about star power here. In order to successfully create a fusion reactor, we first need to heat and pressurize plasma to sun-like conditions. Challenging, to say the least. But well worth it if we can pull it off.
This commercial investment success will benefit humanity by providing carbon-free power at scale in time to mitigate the deleterious effects of global warming.” – Maria Zuber
What’s New With Fusion? SPARC
A new superconducting compound dubbed YBCO, for yttrium-barium-copper oxide will be used to coat steel tape, creating much smaller but also much more powerful magnets than are currently available. These magnets should generate four times as strong a magnetic field and tenfold the power output of any existing fusion experiment, the team beleives.
By putting the magnet development up front we think that this gives you a really solid answer in three years, and gives you a great amount of confidence moving forward that you’re giving yourself the best possible chance of answering the key question, which is: Can you make net energy from a magnetically confined plasma?” – Dennis Whyte, director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center
The Tampa Bay Times attempted to obtain information on the results of the USDA inspections for the facilities of 15 puppy mills that supply puppies to pet stores in the Tampa, Florida area last May. Any citizen trying to make sure they buy puppies from trusted breeders could have looked up this information in minutes on the USDA’s website during the Obama administration. It tooks nine months to get an answer with the current administration in power. When the USDA finally replied the answer was pages of totally blacked-out material.
It took nine months, but the reply arrived last week: 54 pages of total blackout.”
Every word of every inspection — from the date to the violations — were redacted from the documents provided.” – Tampa Bay Times
The main reason for this redaction: the USDA beneath Trump currently says that providing “personnel and medical files” will “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
For those of you familiar with the types of abuses that can take place at puppy mills, even those regularly inspected by the Department of Agriculture, that statement goes against every reason for conducting inspections in the first place. Animal abuse, injuries to the animals, use of expired medicine, unsanitary conditions detrimental to the health of the puppies, all are conditions that the agency has found.
Lax laws have allowed these despicable outfits to remain in operation for years, and it’s only recently that many (but not all) states have begun cracking down on them. The conditions some of the dogs are kept in is horrendous, amounting to little more than torture camps, all in the name of cranking out as many purebred puppies as possible to sell for a profit.
Florida right now is that the Republican-controlled legislature is considering a Republican-sponsored bill to prevent local municipalities from banning the sale of dogs from any breeder that is licensed by the USDA.
With no information on the track records of these licensed breeders, however, the bill ensures that pet businesses can’t be shut down by local officials for any reason, even animal abuse, as long as they keep their USDA license. And with no way of getting access to the USDA data on the puppy breeders, consumers will have no way of knowing if they are buying a lovingly raised healthy puppy or an unhealthy, disease-ridden, abused animal that will require costly veterinary treatment and display behavioral problems.
Even the lobbyist for the Florida pet stores pushing for the bill thinks that the lack of transparency in the Trump administration’s new policy is misguided at the very least.
