A. I'm actually a big fan of An Inconvenient Truth – so much so, in fact, that I gave all my friends a copy of the DVD and asked them to watch it and then pass it on to some of their friends – but I can appreciate that it's not every
one's cup of tea.
There are only so many pie charts, Venn diagrams and graphs you can absorb before your eyes glaze over or your brain explodes. If you're looking for something easier to understand, but no less harrowing, let me point you in the direction of Leo Murray's excellent "Wake Up, Freak Out – Then Get A Grip" animated short.
This 10-minute cartoon takes a chilling look at how mankind is heading towards a tipping point – a catastrophic shift in weather patterns – from which there's no return.
As Leo explains, through his child-like animations, the effects of man-made global warming are being amplified by a series of positive feedbacks, resulting in an irreversible rise in global temperatures with deadly and far-reaching consequences.
There's a lot of information to take in, but it's all presented with such charm and passion that you can't help but come away with a better grasp of the catastrophe that awaits us all if we sit back and do nothing.
I'd urge everyone reading this to take a look, whether you're a global warming doomsayer or a climate change sceptic. It's free to watch at
www.wakeupfreakout.org and there's a downloadable PDF of the film's script with hyperlinks so you can delve deeper into some of the topics discussed.
Q. My child keeps getting head lice, but I'm loathe to use a commercial lotion on his scalp. Is there an old fashioned remedy that's just as effective?
Mary Scallop
A. Most children's scalps become a breeding ground for head lice at one time or another. While commercial lotions are effective enough at removing the critters, side effects of coating your child's head in a cocktail of chemicals can include rashes and
blotches, hyperactivity and disruption to the immune system.
The best way of getting rid of them is by wet combing the hair from root to tip with a fine-toothed nit comb, repeating the process every couple of days for a week.
After washing, massage a few drops of lice-repellent essential oil into your child's scalp and hair to make doubly sure the invaders take flight. Rosemary, lavender or eucalyptus oil seems to work best, in my experience.
