Palm Beach County, Florida, is making commercial worm composting illegal, saying it owns the rights to residents trash.

Mel Corichi originally founded her worm farm and community composting business, Let It Rot, in partnership with the Palm Beach County Food Bank in 2015 to reduce food waste.

She would feed the food banks expired donations to her worms. The worm droppings, or castings, would create fertile soil, which could be utilized as an eco-friendly fertilizer. This is known as vermicomposting.

Eventually, Corichi started serving local residents who could opt into her program. Corichi would pick the waste up at her customers properties.

That all recently came to a halt, however, when she received a phone call from the countys Solid Waste Authority telling her that what she was doing was illegal. She was subsequently forced to close down operations.

She explained to Palm Beach Daily News, Whether or not its on the curb or in your house, if its trash, its the property of the Solid Waste Authority.

The county told Corichi that it burns the countys organic waste to generate electricity that powers 88,000 local homes.

Apparently, my little composting operation could affect the countys ability to do that, Corichi told Palm Beach Daily News.

I dont really have a business anymore, she told WPTV.

Palm Beach County incinerates its collected waste. This type of waste management causes air pollution and releases toxic gases. Meanwhile, one of the safest methods for managing organic waste is vermicomposting.

The result highly fertile worm poop offers an alternative to conventional fertilizers and pesticides, which can contaminate soil and water. The impact of fertilizers is often long term and cumulative. According to Occupational Health & Safety, exposure to fertilizers may increase the risks of developing cancer in adults and children. It could also adversely affect fetal brain development.

Corichi launched a Change.org petition, which you can sign to ask the county to reconsider its policy.

You can also practice vermicomposting in your backyard, even if you live in Palm Beach County. The Cornell Waste Management Institute has some tips on how to get started.

Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.

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County shuts down womans thriving small business for infuriating reason: I dont really have a business anymore - Yahoo News

SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AndKwan Natural Science Inc. announced that it has succeeded in developing a new organic antibacterial preservative and an antibiotic composition containing it together with its parent company, White Tiger Ground LLC.

The name of the new substance is WTGPhLATM, and it can be used in everything from cosmetics to food, health functional foods, and pharmaceuticals. According to Kwanyoung Park, CEO of AndKwan Natural Science Inc. the new material will be distributed worldwide under the trade name 'Immune Barrier CellTM'. Immune Barrier Cell symbolizes the antibacterial and immune effects among the various effects of WTGPhLATM.

According to ANDKWAN, the motivation for developing WTGPhLATM is due to the side effects of chemical preservatives and decreased efficacy caused by resistance of commonly used antibacterial (antibiotic) and preservative agents, and the frequent emergence of super bacteria. In particular, the demand for 'organic bio antibacterial preservatives' has emerged as a major issue and is rapidly growing for both the natural environment and people, especially in Western countries such as Europe and the United States.

WTGPhLATM is an organic antibacterial preservative that has a highly effective antibacterial spectrum against pathogenic strains such as Staphylococcus aureus, pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and black mold, and has passed preservative and antibacterial tests from the international KOLAS certified testing and analysis agency. In addition, it has been certified by the international KOLAS agency as having an antibacterial effect of 99.99% against special strains of acne bacteria, dandruff bacteria, and scalp inflammation, seborrheic dermatitis bacteria that cause hair loss.

CEO Park explained that WTGPhLATM (Immune Barrier CellTM) are attracting attention not only for their antibacterial and preservative efficacy, but also for their patented, eco-friendly production process. This new eco-friendly production technology of ANDKWAN minimizes process steps, reducing carbon emissions and improving production efficiency by 4.3 times compared to the existing world-class technology.

Park, the CEO explained what problems they hope to solve with the substance. "Through WTGPhLATM, we want to ensure that food and cosmetics companies no longer shout about preservative-free and that consumers do not have to be afraid even if preservatives are used. In other words, we want to create a world where people can feel safe through the organic antibacterial preservatives,WTGPhLATM for the health of both nature and people."

SOURCE AndKwan Natural Science, Inc.

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Organic antibacterial preservative of ANDKWAN to protect both ... - PR Newswire

CLAIM

Vaccines, MTHFR mutation, and glyphosate lead to autism in children with brain injury

DETAILS

Incorrect: Multiple published studies have found no association between childhood vaccines and autism. Vaccines arent toxic; ingredients in vaccines are safe at the levels they are used. Inadequate support: Theres little to no evidence at the moment indicating that glyphosate increases the likelihood of autism in children. No evidence is presented to support the speculation that a combination of vaccines, MTHFR mutation, and glyphosate increases the risk of autism in children.

KEY TAKE AWAY

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder commonly manifesting in difficulties with social interaction and communication, among other symptoms. Epidemiological studies of hundreds of thousands of children have found no association between childhood vaccination and autism. Variants of the MTHFR gene are common and claims that MTHFR mutations lead to an inability to detox from vaccines are false. Reliable scientific evidence about glyphosates association with autism is currently lacking, although more research in this area is needed to better understand the potential impact of glyphosate exposure.

Rileys speculation can be traced back to misinformation that attributes autism to childhood vaccines, the MTHFR gene, or glyphosate, that has been cropping up for years, as Health Feedback reviews and other science-related articles have documented. The assertion that he is just asking questions also presumes that there are grounds to suspect vaccines, MTHFR mutations, and glyphosate cause autism. However, most of these claims have already been investigated and discredited. We explain below.

There are more than 20 published studies and reviews that found no association between childhood vaccines and autism[1-21], which Health Feedback documented in an earlier review.

We get a better understanding of Rileys basis for this suggestion, when he claimed that the many childhood vaccines [] include not just toxic heavy metals like aluminum, but also polysorbate 80, which is an emulsifying agent, that helps every drug that its added to cross the blood-brain barrier.

With this context, we can thus see that his claim is no different from the age-old anti-vaccine talking point that vaccines contain toxins that damage the brain, leading to autism. Despite having been refuted numerous times, this still remains a favorite argument for those opposed to vaccination.

Some vaccines do contain aluminum in the form of aluminum salts. These act as adjuvants, which enhance our immune systems response to vaccination. Experts told Health Feedback that vaccine ingredients are present at levels that are safe and arent associated with health problems.

Moreover, as the Vaccine Education Center (VEC) at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) explains, the amount of aluminum that infants receive from vaccines in the first six months of life is dwarfed by the amount they receive through their diet:

The aluminum contained in vaccines is similar to that found in a liter (about 1 quart or 32 fluid ounces) of infant formula. While infants receive about 4.4 milligrams of aluminum in the first six months of life from vaccines, they receive more than that in their diet. Breast-fed infants ingest about 7 milligrams, formula-fed infants ingest about 38 milligrams, and infants who are fed soy formula ingest almost 117 milligrams of aluminum during the first six months of life.

Polysorbate 80 is also another ingredient weve seen embroiled in health misinformation, albeit around vitamin K injections, which are given to newborns to prevent potentially fatal hemorrhages as a result of vitamin K deficiency.

Also called PS80 or Tween-80, polysorbate 80 is a fatty molecule used as an emulsifying agent. It helps ingredients that would otherwise separate from each other (like oil and water) to combine well in a mixture. As such, it is commonly used in industrially produced food like ice cream and sauces.

Polysorbate 80 is also present in some childhood vaccines. Like aluminum in vaccines, the amount of polysorbate 80 in vaccines is minuscule compared to the amount present in food. The VEC at CHOP explains:

A typical serving of ice cream (1/2 cup) may contain about 170,000 micrograms of polysorbate 80. On the other hand, the amount of polysorbate 80 in each dose of these vaccines 50 micrograms (HPV) and 160 micrograms (COVID-19) is very small. Therefore, polysorbate 80 isnt contained in vaccines at quantities that could possibly do harm. [A microgram is one-millionth of a gram.]

Lena Claire van der List, a pediatrician at the University of California Davis, told AFP that polysorbate 80 isnt associated with health issues.

Parents should not be concerned about the concentration of polysorbate 80 in the vitamin K shot [] P80 is designated by the (US Food and Drug Administration) as generally recognized as safe [] While there are limited studies about P80, no adverse effects have been reported in infants who received vaccines with P80.

The reel also invoked the claim that the MTHFR gene is involved in the development of autism, particularly when folic acid is consumed.

This is highly similar to claims weve seen before about how the MTHFR gene affects the bodys ability to detox from vaccines and drugs, and thus could make certain children more vulnerable to vaccine adverse events. As we explained above, vaccines arent toxic and therefore dont require a detox.

Some of these claims also assert that folic acid in foods could cause health problems for people with certain MTHFR gene mutations. Health Feedback discussed these claims at length in previous reviews, explaining that such claims are inaccurate and misleading.

MTHFR is the name of a gene that codes a protein involved in making certain amino acids and converting forms of folate

There are many variants of the MTHFR gene, and the most common variant is the C667T variant. In fact, there are more people with variants than people who dont have them in the U.S. and evidence suggests this is also the case in Europe[22].

Some concern over MTHFR gene variants may be due to the finding that certain gene variants lead to decreased enzyme function. In cases where MTHFR enzyme function is severely reduced, it can lead to a condition called homocystinuria, a buildup of the amino acid homocysteine in the body. However, this condition is mainly associated with rare MTHFR gene variants, not with common variants.

The belief that the MTHFR gene is involved in the bodys response to vaccination can be traced back to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in 2008[23]. The study reported an association with a particular MTHFR variant with the risk of adverse events after smallpox vaccination, and was later cited to support medical exemptions from vaccination in children.

The authors of the study decried this practice in a letter to the editor, calling it an unfortunate misuse of their work and finding vaccine exemptions on the basis of MTHFR variants not based on the precepts of replication of study findings and rigorous clinical testing.

In their letter, the authors emphasized that their study only had to do with a smallpox vaccine candidate, not with childhood vaccines, stressing that [t]here is no published evidence to suggest that the likelihood of an adverse reaction to one vaccine implies that an individual is expected to have a reaction to other unrelated vaccines. They also cautioned that their study was very small and exploratory, and didnt meet the standards for establishing a robust genetic association.

In brief, this study didnt produce any data showing an association between childhood vaccines and autism. Its focus was on studying adverse events following a specific vaccination (smallpox vaccination), and not on autism.

This claim received much attention on social media, after computer scientist Stephanie Seneff claimed in 2014 that At todays rate, by 2025, one in two children will be autistic and attributed this to the use of glyphosate in farming. Since then, Seneff has gone on to blame the COVID-19 pandemic on glyphosate, a charge that has no basis in reality, as the McGill Office for Science and Society pointed out.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, originally produced by Monsanto, which has since been acquired by Bayer. Glyphosate is at the center of scientific controversy around its potential effects on health, as multiple lawsuits alleging that it can cause cancer have been filed, particularly after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published an assessment in 2015 finding glyphosate to be probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A).

For context, Group 2A carcinogens include working night shifts, drinking very hot beverages, and eating red meat.

The IARCs assessment and the evidence linking glyphosate with cancer have come under scrutiny. Assessing this association is beyond the scope of this review, but we have linked to several articles which offer readers more information to contextualize this controversy. The IARCs defense of its assessment can be found here. We will close by adding that regulatory agencies around the worldincluding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Health Canada, and the European Food Safety Authoritydispute the IARCs classification of glyphosate and have concluded that glyphosate, when used as directed, isnt linked to an increase in cancer.

Coming back to Seneffs claim, we can see from slides she created that the claim is based on a correlation of the number of autism cases diagnosed with the amount of glyphosate applied to corn and soy crops. As this Science-Based Medicine article pointed out, this naively equates correlation alone with causation, even though data also shows that the rise in autism diagnoses correlates with organic food sales (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1 Left: Seneffs correlation of the number of children diagnosed with autism and the amount of glyphosate used on corn and soy in the U.S. Right: A correlation of autism diagnoses and the sale of organic food in the U.S.

If one applied the same logic that Seneff used, then one could just as well claim it is organic food that is causing the rise in autism. Yet both lines of reasoning would be incorrect, as correlation isnt necessarily an indicator of causation.

Scientific studies have found that exposure to environmental pollutants, such as certain pesticides, is associated with a greater chance of having a child with autism[24,25]. Therefore, questioning whether glyphosate is associated with autism risk is important in ensuring its safe use.

At the moment, the studies around the question of whether glyphosate raises the likelihood of developing autism havent yet provided clear answers.

An epidemiological study in Californias Central Valley, published in the British Medical Journal in 2019, examined whether exposure to various pesticides was associated with autism cases[26]. This was made possible by examining data from Californias mandatory Pesticide Use Reporting program and residential addresses listed on birth certificates. Based on their analysis, the researchers reported an association between glyphosate exposure within 2,000 meters of a mothers residence and the childs autism diagnosis.

However, there is some degree of uncertainty around the associations reportedThat said,. This is reflected in many of the 95% confidence intervals for the odds ratios measuring an association between glyphosate and autism, which include one. Examples of this can be found in the studys Tables 2 and 4. The 95% confidence interval is the range of values in which there is a 95% probability of finding the true odds ratio. An odds ratio above or below one indicates an association, but an odds ratio of one indicates no association. Thus, a 95% confidence interval that includes one means that there could also be no association between the two.

The authors acknowledged some limitations in their studies. For example, they werent able to account for pesticide exposure through other routes, like diet or occupation, hence determining mothers total exposure to pesticides wasnt possible. They were also unable to account for different levels of exposure, with exposure defined only as either ever exposed or never.

Another caveat of the study is that the senior author, Beate Ritz, acted as an expert witness in a lawsuit for the plaintiffs against Monsanto in non-Hodgkins lymphoma litigation concerning glyphosate. This wasnt disclosed when the study was first published in March 2019 and was later added in a correction in June 2019.

The authors concluded by stating that from a public health and preventive medicine perspective, our findings support the need to avoid prenatal and infant exposure to pesticides to protect early brain development, calling for further studies to better understand how autism develops.

Another study was published in 2020 in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, titled Maternal glyphosate exposure causes autism-like behaviors in offspring through increased expression of soluble epoxide hydrolase[27]. Curiously, the authors invoked Seneffs problematic correlation, discussed above, as evidence for a possible association between glyphosate and autism (a positive correlation was reported between the rise of glyphosate usage on corn and soy crops in the United States over the years 1995 to 2010 and the increase in ASD rates over the same period as reported in the US public school system).

In the study, pregnant mice were fed water or water containing various amounts of glyphosate. The offspring of mice given 0.039% glyphosate showed no behavioral abnormalities, but the offspring of mice given 0.098% glyphosate exposure did show social interaction deficits. However, the researchers warned that The glyphosate exposures used here exceed any reasonable dietary, environmental, or occupational exposure, indicating a lack of direct relevance in humans.

The EPA states that After evaluating numerous studies from a variety of sources, the Agency found no indication that children are more sensitive to glyphosate from in utero or post-natal exposure. As part of the human health risk assessment, the Agency evaluated all populations, including infants, children and women of child-bearing age, and found no risks of concern from ingesting food with glyphosate residues.

Health Canada states that risk from glyphosate in food and water, as well as non-occupational exposure, is not of concern. The EFSAs risk assessment found no critical areas of concern regarding glyphosates impact on health.

In summary, theres currently little to no reliable evidence indicating that glyphosate increases the risk of autism in children. Further studies looking into this question is important and necessary for improving our understanding of glyphosates safety. For the moment, minimizing prenatal and infant exposure to glyphosate and other pesticides would be a prudent approach towards reducing any potential health impacts associated with such exposure.

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex developmental disorder that can present as a combination of various symptoms, of varying severity. Some on the spectrum can function in daily life independently; others require substantial care for life.

Research is underway to understand the condition. Scientists have identified various genetic and environmental factors associated with autism. These include prenatal exposure to air pollution and certain pesticides, as well as birth difficulties that lead to periods of oxygen deprivation in the babys brain.

The U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences states that environmental factors alone are unlikely to cause autism. Rather, they appear to increase a childs risk for developing autism when combined with genetic factors.

There has indeed been a rise in the number of autism diagnoses compared to the past. This has been exploited by some to spread health misinformation, with false claims linking the rise in autism diagnoses to an increase in vaccines in the childhood vaccination schedule. As we established earlier in this review: vaccines dont cause autism. Health Feedback debunked such claims here.

Currently, the evidence suggests that a significant contributor to the rise in autism diagnoses is an evolution in the diagnostic criteria for autism over time. These changes were intended to account for children who showed ASD symptoms later, as well as subtler features of ASD that werent considered before.

In the U.S., the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) serves as a guide for diagnosing mental disorders. Autism was first introduced in the third version (DSM-III) in 1980. A revised version of DSM-III in 1987 expanded the definition of autism. It also removed the requirement for the diagnosis to occur before the childs thirtieth month. As a result, older autistic children who would have been excluded with the earlier criteria could now be diagnosed.

In 1994, the fourth version, DSM-IV, further broadened the definition of autism and introduced other variants, like Aspergers syndrome.

The DSM-V, released in 2013, changed the definition of autism once again, pooling together categories that were previously distinct under the broader notion of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Therefore, the definition of autism grew over the years to account for the diverse ways in which the disorder manifests itself in people. Because the definition is now broader, more people may be diagnosed as having autism now than 40 years ago. In keeping with this, some scientific studies indicated that the changes in diagnostic guidelines are responsible for a part of the increase in autism prevalence[28,29].

Additionally, data show that the rise in autism diagnoses was accompanied by a decrease in diagnoses of intellectual disability[30]. This suggests that people who would have been diagnosed as intellectually disabled in the past are now more accurately diagnosed as having autism, thanks to our improved understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Rileys speculation that a combination of vaccines, MTHFR mutations, and glyphosate can lead to autism can ultimately be traced back to old misinformation around the causes of autism. The claim that vaccines contain toxic ingredients is false, and there have already been numerous studies looking to see if an association between childhood vaccines and autism exists. Large-scale reliable studies have found no such association. Theres also no evidence that MTHFR mutations affect a persons ability to process folate or their response to vaccines. Evidence regarding a potential link between glyphosate and autism is scarce at the moment, although the few studies available at the moment are insufficient to support claims that glyphosate contributes to autism risk.

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Instagram reel rehashes old misinformation inaccurately linking ... - Health Feedback

I didnt grow up in a brussels sprouts family, yet through the powerful force of cultural osmosis, I somehow grew up believing that they were always just a little gross. Its not really a surprise why: Much like cafeteria lunches or liver and onions, brussels became a popular culinary punchline among the jungle gym set. Just the name evoked images of emotionless housewives boiling them over high-heat, rendering the little cruciferous vegetables bloated, soft and gaseous, destined to be scraped into the trashcan or offered to a family dog under the table.

But then sometime in the 2010s, alongside the explosion of New American and New Southern cuisine, brussels sprouts underwent some reputational repair. Chefs moved away from straight boiling them and started to slow-roast them in halves or quarters, coaxing out a really appealing caramelized sweetness that masked the vegetables inherent bitterness. They coated them in butter and bacon and maple syrup. And this happened over and over and over again until overpriced maple-glazed brussels were as much a clich of hipster gastropub dining as Mason jar cocktails and food served on wooden planks. And the thing is I loved them.

Whenever Id go out to eat, Id always order brussels sprouts if they were on the menu. I bugged chefs I knew about how they made theirs so good; at Fat Lamb, in Louisville, Ky., for instance, they glazed their brussels in a gochujang hoisin sauce, while Ashevilles former Gan Shan Station made Dan Dan-flavored brussels sprouts, inspired by the Dan Dan noodles recipe in the chefs well-loved copy of Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook.

I didnt think much of my newfound love for the vegetable. If I had, I probably would have just chalked it up to changing tastes and better preparation but it turns out its something deeper.

The brussels sprouts themselves are actually biologically different than when I was eating them (or avoiding eating them) as a kid. There was also a scientific reason that the vegetable came to be abhorred by many whose parents and grandparents had loved the vegetable.

In the late 1960s, our industry switched over to mechanized harvesting, which required a plant that would mature fairly evenly over the entire stem, Steve Bontadelli, a Brussels sprouts farmer, told MEL Magazine in 2021. The Sakata seed company developed the first plants that would mature evenly, and they were beautiful and green with lots of production, but they were horribly bitter, and we turned off an entire generation,

A few decades passed and then, in the early 1990s, a Dutch scientist named Hans van Doorn, who worked at a seed and chemical company called Novartis, was determined to figure out what chemical compounds made brussels sprouts so bitter.

As NPR reported in 2019, there were only a small handful of companies selling brussels sprouts seeds in the Netherlands, one of which was called Bejo Zaden. It held a key to solving van Doorns puzzle. "We have a whole gene bank here in our cellars, with all the possible Brussels sprouts varieties that were available from the past," Cees Sintenie, a plant breeder at Bejo Zaden, told the publication.

Researchers determined that some of the older varieties hundreds of them, actually stored in the gene bank had lower levels of two glucosinolates called sinigrin and progoitrin, the chemicals that made brussels sprouts so acrid.

In 1999, the scientists published their findings. Soon, plants grown from the old seeds were cross-pollinated with modern, high-yielding varieties, but it took years for any perceptible changes to really take hold.

"From then on, the taste was much better. It really improved," Sintenie said.

As the flavor has improved, so have sales. According to the Organic Produce Network, brussels sprouts sales increased by a staggering 47% from July 2018 to July 2019, , making brussels sprouts the third-fastest-growing organic produce item during that time, according to a research report by 210 Analytics commissioned by the Southeastern Produce Council.

So thats how brussels sprouts have managed to make it back onto restaurant and family dining room tables all across the country. Maybe theyll serve as a side dish for your holiday gatherings this year, too?

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The Best Grocery Delivery ServicesOscar Wong - Getty Images

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With work, household chores, family and everything else life throws our way, finding time to go to the grocery store can be a challenge. Then, there are all the headaches that can come with the in-person shopping experience: fighting for parking, searching every aisle to find something on your grocery list, waiting on long lines at check-out, lugging all those groceries home. It's no wonder that, according to some reports, nearly 150 million U.S. shoppers are turning to online grocery delivery services to find an easier way.

There are a lot of benefits to shopping for groceries online, both for busy families and individuals alike, which is why our nutrition experts and culinary pros in the Good Housekeeping Institute set out to test and find the best grocery delivery services.

Grocery delivery services allow you to shop virtually at your local supermarket or an online specialty store, building out your digital cart before having the goods delivered right to your door. While some services allow you to shop in advance and select a pre-determined delivery date, others also offer same-day delivery if you're more of a last-minute shopper (or you're in urgent need of a missing ingredient mid-baking session).

You can read more about how we tested and evaluated online grocery services at the end of this guide, where you'll also find more information about the cost (i.e., is it cheaper to shop for groceries online instead of in stores?) plus tips for finding the best service for your needs.

Looking to up the convenience factor even further? Check out our guide to the best meal delivery services, or, if you like to buy your groceries "a la carte," check out our recommendations for the best produce delivery services, the best meat delivery services and the best seafood delivery services.

Minimum Order: $35

Delivery Fee: $0 same-day delivery, plus free shipping

Membership: $12.95/month or $98/year for Walmart+ membership and InHome delivery

ORDER AT WALMART.COM

If you live near one of the over 3,000 Walmart stores participating in this program, you can take advantage of the everyday low prices offered through Walmart's grocery delivery service. Enjoy same-day delivery on prepackaged and frozen meals, pantry staples, fresh produce and more, all at pretty great prices. You can even coordinate for your delivery associate to bring the groceries into your garage, put them away in your kitchen or simply place them at your doorstep. InHome Delivery is available seven days a week, with deliveries between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

We appreciate that there are no additional order fees or tips on store delivery (the delivery associates do not accept tips and are paid an hourly rate). The company also recently merged InHome delivery with the Walmart+ app, so you'll have to pay for a Walmart+ membership to use this service, but you'll receive a ton of perks like free shipping on any Walmart items (candles, shoes, holiday decorations, you name it!) with no order minimum.

Minimum Order: $35

Delivery Fee: $4 same-day delivery without membership, plus service fees

Membership: Optional for $99/year or $10/month; includes free delivery on all orders over $35

ORDER AT INSTACART.COM

Instacart is a grocery delivery service in which personal shoppers select your items from the store and then deliver them to your door. Depending on your location (Instacart works with over 80,000 stores from local grocers to larger chains), you can get same-day delivery from a variety of stores in your area like Costco (no membership required!), Aldi, Kroger, Safeway and more. You can also access several non-grocery retailers, including Sur La Table, as well as local specialty stores like butchers and fish mongers.

You don't need a membership to order, but frequent users will save with an Instacart+ membership, which locks in a $0 delivery fee on every order over $35. Members can also earn 5% credit back on eligible pickup orders. You can shop straight from the app (available on iOS and Android) or directly from the Instacart website if you prefer your computer's bigger screen.

Because there are so many options to choose from, this delivery service is ideal for people who prefer to pick up groceries from multiple places meat from a butcher, household staples from a big-box retailer, organic produce from a local supermarket, etc.

Minimum Order: None

Delivery Fee: $10 same-day delivery for orders below $50; $7 for orders between $50 and $100; free delivery for Prime members for orders over $100

Membership: Free for Amazon Prime members; Amazon Prime membership is $15/month or $139/year

Amazon Fresh offers a wide variety of quality products at low prices, ranging from baby spinach and pita chips to personal care products like mouthwash and soap.

If you choose to go to an Amazon Fresh location in person, you can minimize your time at the store and shop contactless by taking advantage of Dash Cart and Just Walk Out technology. Dash Cart involves signing in using a QR code and then after you're done shopping, you can exit through the store's Dash Cart Lane. Just Walk Out allows you to skip the checkout by automatically updating items in your virtual cart in real-time.

ORDER AT SHIPT.COM

Available in over 5,000 cities, Shipt grocery delivery service allows you shop from different stores depending on where you live, including via an exclusive partnership with Target. You'll also find options like Costco, CVS and Petco.

Our experts say that families will find the service especially helpful, as you can get your groceries along with other household items like diapers and cleaning products delivered as quickly as one hour after ordering. Shipt offers the option to set your dietary preferences choose between heart-healthy, gluten-free, low sodium, keto, kosher, vegan and more to better customize your shopping experience.

You can place an order whenever the store is open, even if it's open 24/7. If something isn't available or an order needs to be adjusted, you can easily communicate with your shopper via text. Shipt even offers a gift option: You can give someone the gift of a six-month or one-year Shipt membership by either emailing them directly or printing out a code to wrap yourself. We think it's the perfect present for new parents.

Minimum Order: None

Delivery Fee: $5.95 for grocery orders under $49, $20 for frozen orders under $120 and $14 for wine orders under $79; free shipping on grocery orders over $49, frozen orders over $120 and wine orders over $79

Membership: $60/year or $12/month

ORDER AT THRIVE.COM

With a mission to make healthy and sustainable living easy, accessible and affordable, Thrive Market focuses on providing high-quality foods and household products at low prices, shipped directly to your door. It is funded by its memberships (which are required) and groceries typically ship within one business day, which we found held true in our tests (except during bouts of inclement weather). Just note that frozen orders and wine only ship on certain days of the week.

You can fill your orders via the Thrive Market app or online on your internet browser. Thrive Market offers over 100 curated shopping lists, and allows you to shop by selecting the criteria that's important to you, including over 90 dietary preferences. "I love that I can filter for gluten-free for my partner who is celiac," said one of our testers. "The filters make it so easy to find Paleo-compliant options," added another. Overall, our registered dietitians and testers were very impressed with Thrive's best-in-class organic goods available at competitive prices.

READ OUR FULL REVIEW: My Honest Review of Thrive Market

Minimum Order: $30

Delivery Fee: Starting at $6

Membership: Optional DeliveryPass for unlimited free anytime deliveries; $79 for six months or $129/year

ORDER AT FRESHDIRECT.COM

This popular service delivers high-quality produce and meat selections and we should know, since our Test Kitchen has groceries delivered from FreshDirect every week! You will find products from a wide range of brands, including national food companies and smaller local purveyors, as well as prepared platters, deli salads and ready-to-eat meals.

The service delivers to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Washington D.C. You usually need to order a day in advance and any changes need to be made before the cutoff deadline. There is the option to create a weekly standing order with your usual groceries that you can easily customize. The service also offers a 100% Happiness Guarantee, where they will credit you if you don't like something you've received. And, if you prefer for your groceries to be delivered Tuesday through Thursday, you can save money with a midweek delivery subscription, which costs $39 for six months.

ORDER AT HUNGRYROOT.COM

Hungryroot is a grocery subscription service that combines shopping and meal planning like a crossover between a meal delivery subscription and a grocery delivery service, catering to health-conscious and plant-based offerings. You'll start by completing a quiz on your food preferences and then the service creates a grocery plan and recipes to fill your cart each week. You can also mix and match by editing your delivery to get exactly what you need that week.

All products carried by Hungryroot are free from partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and artificial preservatives, which makes this service a standout to our in-house registered dietitians. Delivery is available in all states except Alaska and Hawaii.

ORDER AT HIVEBRANDS.COM

This online marketplace makes sustainable and cause-based shopping easier. Experts at Hive thoroughly vet each product, prioritizing traceable ingredients, recyclable packaging, low-carbon footprints and brands that support important social causes. On Hive's site, you can find many of our Test Kitchen pros' favorite snacks, including Unreal Dark Chocolate Coconut Bars, Pipcorn Cheddar Cheese Balls, A Dozen Cousins Cuban Black Beans and more.

Hive uses 100% recyclable shipping materials and 99% of the product packaging they carry is recyclable, compostable or TerraCycle-able. The brand also claims to have offset 100% of the carbon they have used for their operations and deliveries, according to the website. You'll find everything from pantry and snack items to household and pet goods available on Hive.

Minimum Order: None

Delivery Fee: $6 (delivery fee may be waived depending on location and order total)

Membership: Free to sign-up, no subscription or service fees

ORDER AT IMPERFECTFOODS.COM

Founded with a mission to reduce food waste, this company offers a variety of "imperfect" products that are perfectly good to use and would have otherwise gone to waste because of cosmetic quirks, irregular sizes or surplus supply (many items are labeled with their "imperfections"). You will find an assortment of farm-fresh seasonal produce, affordable pantry staples, animal- and plant-based proteins, dairy products, dairy-alternative items, beverages, snacks and more.

Imperfect Foods assigns you a delivery day based on your location, and you will have a "shopping window" where you can add or subtract items from your cart. Weekly shipments are sent in a 100% recycled box. You'll be charged for what's in your cart plus a delivery fee, but won't have to worry about any additional membership costs.

Last September, Misfits Market, another mission-driven grocery delivery service (and one of our GH Institute Nutrition Lab's favorite produce delivery boxes), announced that they would be acquiring Imperfect Foods. A representative from Imperfect Foods and Misfits Market told us that in the short-term, both brands will continue separate operations but you'll notice that the delivery boxes are co-branded. As an Imperfect Foods customer, you'll be able to take advantage of the Misfits Perks loyalty program and get access to the Misfits Market wine program.

READ OUR FULL REVIEW: Is the Imperfect Foods Delivery Service Worth It?

To find the best grocery delivery services, our nutrition experts and culinary pros in the Good Housekeeping Institute reviewed dozens of grocery delivery services and subscription boxes.

We evaluated food quality, variety, availability, delivery fees, membership offerings and more. Our top picks offer excellent solutions for everyone from singles to large families. Some services offer same-day delivery, some are subscription-based and others provide wholesale offerings at competitive prices.

Our consumer testers and registered dietitians tested out some of the grocery services for over a month in their own homes to get a better sense of convenience, cost, quality of goods and to understand how easy (or difficult) navigating each website or app is. Our in-house nutritionists also closely evaluated the nutritional value of some of each grocery delivery service's offerings.

We also assessed the quality of each item in each delivery, checking to see if anything arrived broken or if anything leaked or thawed during transit.

Convenience! Ordering groceries online means you don't have to make physical trips to the grocery store, so these services can save you time and stress. It can also make it easier to meal plan, since you can shop and map out meals simultaneously.

It's also easier to budget, since you can see what you're spending in real time. As you see your order adding up, it may prompt you to be more mindful of cost (and adjust your accordingly as needed).

Plus, many of online grocery stores and delivery services offer a wide selection of products, perhaps more options than you would find at your local supermarket or grocery store. You can also easily read reviews of products online while you're shopping, so you may be inspired to try something new after seeing it's well-rated online.

It depends. One benefit to buying groceries online, besides convenience, is that you can easily double-check what groceries you already have at home while you're shopping, as well as compare prices across a few locations without having to physically run around to multiple stores.

You can also easily evaluate the cost of everything in your cart, and subtract items to adjust what you're spending. Seeing your cart add up in real time can be a game changer that makes you more conscious of your total spend!

While many services require you to spend extra on memberships, delivery and service fees, you still may find yourself saving money. Some subscription-based sites like Thrive Market, for instance, can be well worth it if you're frequently buying premium organic foods anyways.

It really boils down to your shopping habits and preferences. The best money-saving strategy often involves grocery shopping at a few different locations (read: online and in-person), as well as strategic bulk-purchasing and eating seasonally.

Our experts recommend first looking at the minimum order requirements and delivery fees and, of course, making sure the service delivers to your area. You'll also want to check to see if there is a membership option that could potentially save you money or provide additional perks and benefits.

If you typically shop from the same supermarket and prefer its offerings, it's worth seeing if their store offers an online grocery option or partners with a service like Instacart. Since it's in the best interest of the store or service to keep you coming back, many will offer loyal customers exclusive deals on their app so try sticking to the same service when possible for maximum benefits and rewards.

As director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, Stefani Sassos oversees all of GH's nutrition content, product testing and evaluation. She stays up to date on the latest research to provide evidence-based reporting on all things diet and nutrition, and she also runs large-scale tests and analysis for products ranging from protein bars and supplements to meal delivery services. As a busy working mother, Stefani relies on online grocery services regularly to feed her family and is well versed in the current services and apps available.

This story was most recently updated by Good Housekeeping's Deputy Food Editor Trish Clasen Marsanico, who works hand in hand with Lab experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute to evaluate kitchen gear as well as food products and services. She has more than a decade of experience writing about food for GH, Womens Health, Prevention, Redbook, Womans Day, The Daily Meal and Food Network.

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You can now get organic fruits, vegetables and meats from Tampa's Meacham Urban Farm delivered right to your doorstep.

Trellis at Buchman After a year and a half of displaying coming soon signs in its windows, Ybor Citys newest beer and wine will (softly) open its doors this week. Trellis at Buchman will soon make its debut at 1910 E 7th Ave. in the heart of Ybor City, adjacent to other popular businesses like Zydeco Brew Werks, Chill Bros. Scoop Shop and 7th + Grove. The new bar and stylish lounge is helmed by owner and beer enthusiast Joel Bigham, who operated popular biergarten Fermented Reality in downtown Tampa's Sparkman Wharf until 2021. Bigham tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that his newest venture soft opens on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 21-22. The new bar and tropical plant paradise will open at 5 p.m. each day, featuring cellared draft selections, specialty releases, 10 wines by the glass and over 35 bottles and cans of both alcoholic and N/A beverages.Trellis offers both local brews from the Bay area and craft beers from microbreweries across the country, in addition to specialty European brews and everyday options like Modelo and Bud Light. 1910 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. @trellispub on Instagram Concrete Jungle Many of us have fond memories of pre-pandemic Central Avenue, where you could stumble upon Iberian Roosters open mic night or a raunchy drag show on any given day. The restaurant's doors have been closed since 2021, but a brand new concept just opened out of its former two-story space at 475 Central Ave. N. Concrete Jungle, a Tulum and Yucatn Peninsula-inspired concept from Hunger + Thirst Restaurant Group, made its debut on Central Avenue earlier this week, with a lounge and bar downstairs and its restaurant portion on the ground floor. Its vegetable and seafood-forward menu features dishes like jackfruit flautas, charred watermelon, a truffled mushroom and chorizo flatbread and pan-seared salmon. Concrete Jungle is now open from 11:30 a.m.-3 a.m. every day and reservations can be made directly on its website 475 Central Ave., St. Pete. concretejunglestpete.com Caribou Cafe The Tampa Bay Business Journal announced that Caribou Coffee was making its way to the Gulf Coast last spring, and its first Tampa Bay location will soon open its doors on Central Avenue. St. Petes Caribou Coffee will open at 701 Central Ave. (out of the former Banyan Cafe space) on Friday, Nov. 24 according to ILovetheBurg, and its owner Michelle Mathis already has plans to open several more throughout the greater Tampa Bay area. Its menu consists of expected coffees and lattes with various flavors, in addition to breakfast and lunch sandwiches, bagels, oatmeal, yogurt parfaits, baked goods and seasonal beverages. Caribou Coffee was founded in Minnesota back in 1992, and now boasts over 400 locations across the U.S., most of which are still in the midwest. 701 Central Ave., St. Pete. locations.cariboucoffee.com Closings

Oaks on 4th A few weeks shy of celebrating its first anniversary in St. Pete, American restaurant Oaks on 4th announced its unfortunate, and immediate closure. The casual eatery with fine dining-level cuisine located 4351 4th St. N served its very last customers earlier this week. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and the tireless dedication of our team, we have made the difficult decision to close Oaks on 4th, the restaurant posted on social media last Friday, Nov. 17. We have faced unforeseen challenges and obstacles that ultimately hindered our ability to continue operations. Although the popular restaurant made a lengthy farewell post on social media continuously thanking its loyal customers and staff, its owners did not address any specific reasons for its closure. Oaks on 4th did not have a long life on St. Petes bustling 4th Street N. Paul and Burton Bullard, the owners of Bascoms Chop HouseClearwaters beloved old school steakhouseopened the casual restaurant out of a former Quickies BBQ in December of 2022. 4351 4th St. N, St. Pete. oakson4th.com Events

Highball 2023 Each year, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay aims to answer the loaded question of "who makes the best cocktail in Tampa Bay?" at its annual Highball party. 2023s Highball event and competition happens on Friday, Dec. 8 at St. Petes Nova 535. Just a few of the local restaurants and bars that are participating in this years Highball competition include American Social, The Dunedin Smokehouse, Jotoro, Red Mesa Cantina, The Living Room, Blur Nightclub and The Hangar, alongside several other concepts. Several different types of alcohol will be featured in the competitor's highball samples, from gin and vodka to whiskey and bourbon. Early bird general admission tickets run for $65 each and include unlimited cocktail samples from Highball competitors, photo ops and the chance to vote for your favorite drink in each spirit category, as well as Tampa Bay's Best Highball. 535 Dr. M.L.K. Jr. St. N., St. Pete. highballtampabay.com

Tampas Meacham Urban Farm (1108 E Scott St.) recently teamed up with local delivery service Growing Rootz to provide organic fruit, vegetables and other goods to the greater Tampa area. Anything available for purchase at Meacham's farm store is now available for delivery throughout Tampa, Carollwood, Temple Terrace, Lutz and Wesley Chapel. You can place orders by 4 p.m on Tuesday and get it delivered the following Friday. Locally-produced goods that are currently available for delivery include organic eggs, spring mix, different types of tomatoes, raw milk, squashes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and a variety of lettuces, greens and herbs. Please email the farm at [emailprotected] if you have any questions about its newly-launched delivery service. And you prefer to get your locally-grown ingredients in-person, Meacham recently expanded the hours for its farm store and is now open Friday-Monday in downtown Tampa.

FoCheezy Twisted Meltz founder Robert Hesse, known for his multiple grilled cheese restaurants and food trucks throughout the greater Tampa Bay area, recently announced that he is the new executive chef of the contemporary American restaurant 717 South. Located in the heart of South Tampa at 717 S Howard Ave., 717 South boasts a globally-inspired menu featuring appetizers like deep-fried risotto balls, seared scallops over cauliflower puree, and lump crab cakesalthough owner Michael Stewart told Fox 13 that Hesse's upcoming menu consists of "about 90% new dishes."

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Ybor City gets a new beer bar, Meacham Urban Farm adds delivery ... - Creative Loafing Tampa

There is now a strong and powerful philosophical and scientific movement that advocates the use of current and emerging technologies, like genetic engineering, cryonics, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology to augment human capabilities and improve the human condition. This may be called transhumanism. Offhand, nothing wrong there, though we have to sort out and clarify the ethical issues involved there.

But thats not all there is. There is also a movement that goes further than this and seeks to use scientific and technological advancements to produce humans with augmented capabilities who evolve into an enhanced species that transcends humanity --the posthuman. This is where a big question mark can be made!

We all know that man is in constant process of development. With his spiritual soul, he is actually poised toward the infinite. But with his corporeal body, he is somehow always limited to some space and time. Thus, it cannot be denied that in our lifelong journey of human development, we have to contend with the tension between the seemingly endless potentials of our soul and the real limitations of our body.

We just have to be clear about what the true and ultimate end, definition, and purpose of man is. And this is where we resort to the deepest belief we hold. Are we Christian believers, or agnostics, if not atheists? Or do we hold on to another philosophy and ideology?

Christian believers are clear about what man is, what the purpose of his life here on earth is, what he is supposed to be in the end. They can make use of whatever they can discover in this life, always respecting the natural law that God the creator has inscribed in the things of this world, but using the things of this world to pursue their ultimate goal.

Christian believers hold that man is Gods image and likeness. He is being tested in this life to see if what God wants him to be is also what he likes to be. That is the purpose of his life here on earth, for which everything that he does in this world can only be the means, the occasion, and the reason to make his choice.

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Christian believers hold that man is meant in the end to be a saint, because that is what is involved in carrying out his duty to conform himself to Gods will to be Gods image and likeness. Thus, everything that he does should be in pursuit of this ultimate goal meant for man --that is, to be a saint, to be Gods image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature.

Thus, Christian believers should try their best to have the proper focus, the proper intentions in all their actions. They can do anything as long as they have that proper focus and intention, and as long as they use ethical ways to pursue their ultimate goal.

We are somehow reminded of this truth of our Christian faith in that gospel episode where Christ lamented over an unfortunate tendency of the people then who just ate and drank, marry and had fun, without giving due attention to the real purpose of their life. (cfr. Lk 17,26-37)

Especially these days when we have a lot of distractions, let alone the fact that precisely there are powerful forces that redefine man and nature, altering them according to their own ideas, we really need to strengthen our sense of focus and purpose in life.

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Beware of transhumanism and posthumanism - The Freeman

The 2023 shareholder season heralded a new element of shareholder proposals: conspiracy theories. The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) and National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) each filed such proposals; both are self-described conservative watchdog organizations. NCPPRs primary focus is public policy research and education, while NLPC promotes ethics in government, advocating for limitations on big government.

NCPPR filed at least seven shareholder proposals containing conspiracy theories or conspiratorial language, demanding a congruency report" on relationships between companies and "globalist organizations -- a demand that could be interpreted as an antisemitic dog whistle. In the supporting statement of its shareholder proposals, NCPPR claims these companies work with globalist organizations, namely the World Economic Forum, who "openly advocates for transhumanism, abolishing private property, eating bugs, social credit systems, The Great Reset and a host of other blatantly Orwellian objectives."

NCPPR filed these proposals at Alphabet/Google, Pfizer, Bank of America, Boeing, Marriot, Merck and Johnson & Johnson. Three of these proposals (at Alphabet, Marriott and Merck) made it onto the proxy ballots, while three companies successfully petitioned the SEC to have the proposals excluded (Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Bank of America) and one was withdrawn by NCPPR (Boeing).

NLPC also filed a similar proposal with Johnson & Johnson, though the company successfully argued it should not be included on the proxy ballot.

"Globalist" is a term used by many on the right and the far right. It has been used by mainstream personalities and politicians to refer to people or entities that support multilateralism and cross-border cooperation, but in extremist contexts, "globalist" is used by white supremacists and other antisemites as an antisemitic dog whistle, wielding it as a codeword for Jews or as a pejorative term for people whose interests in international commerce or finance ostensibly make them disloyal to the country in which they live.

Primary conspiracy theories

Several prominent conspiracy theories surfaced repeatedly in these proposals. The first, the Great Reset, is a conspiracy theory that can be used to espouse antisemitism. It warns that "global elites" used the pandemic (or other newsworthy events) to advance their interests and push a globalist plot to destroy American sovereignty and prosperity in favor of a global totalitarian regime. Adherents sometimes promote antisemitism as part of the conspiracy theory. Before it was adopted by conspiracy theorists, the phrase originally referred to an initiative introduced by the World Economic Forum.

The second primary conspiracy theory focuses on transhumanism, the idea that humans can transcend the physical limitations of our bodies -- perhaps even death itself. In its more conspiratorial form, proponents believe a "Satanist" or elite cabal of humans, on a mission to replace humans with machines/governments, are modifying bodies and DNA via secretly inserted chips. It can be and often is seen in conjunction with Great Replacement and Great Reset theory. This conspiracy theory has both antisemitic and anti-LGTBQ undertones, due to the associations proponents make with Satanist transhumanists alleged connections to George Soros and numerous references to the globalists behind the mov. Anti-LBGTQ authors such as Jennifer Bilek claim that transgender folks especially are the vanguard of this foundationally anti-humanity movement to transform the essence of what it means to be a person.

This kind of conspiratorial activism was also evident in the 2023 NCPPR shareholder proxy guide, in which the organization claims, We sometimes forget the UN is the institutional originator of climate nonsense and that the US government and by extension, the American taxpayer is the largest funder of the most prevalent globalist organization on Earth, whose very explicit purpose is to be the one-world government that globalists are trying to bring to fruition.

The NLPC also echoes this sentiment in a blog post attacking Brian Moynihan, Bank of America CEO and detailing their shareholder activism: Moynihan has been more than willing to place Bank of America in a globalist posture, subjugating shareholders interests under those of the World Economic Forum agenda of transhumanism, abolition of private property, consumption of bugs, social credit systems, and other Great Reset priorities. Paul Chesser, director of the Corporate Integrity Project for NLPC gave remarks at the Bank of America annual general meeting promoting fear of a one world government, a conspiracy theory with roots in the 1990s.

NCPPRs 2022 proxy voter guide is much more explicit, going so far as to detail the organizations understanding of these conspiracies, with subheadings about transhumanism and the Great Reset. Ethan Peck, a Free Enterprise Institute fellow (project of NCPPR), also commented while presenting a 2022 proposal that [Pfizer CEO Albert] Bourla is a globalist leech... And he is using shareholder money to finance his free trips to Davos where he advances the transhumanist agenda.

At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that either organizations agents espouse overt antisemitism, or that these proposals were filed with antisemitic intentions. However, the conspiracies espoused fit neatly into a broadly conspiratorial world view, and in some cases may serve as on ramps to more overtly antisemitic concepts. These conspiracies were once the mainstay of the darker corners of blogs and message forums, and it is of note that they have moved into the mainstream discourse about cultural norms a development antisemites undoubtedly welcome.

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Conspiracy Theories, Some with Antisemitic Roots, Crop Up in 2023 ... - ADL

During a recent appearance on the "Conversations That Matter" podcast, John Cooper, the frontman and bassist for the Grammy-nominated Christian rock band SKILLET, weighed in on "queer theory", a field of study that challenges existing traditional ideas about identity, sexuality, and gender particularly that of heteronormativity, or the belief that heterosexuality is the natural, moral, or "normal" expression of sexuality. The 48-year-old musician, who is promoting his recently released second book, "Wimpy, Weak And Woke", said in part: "I believe that queer theory is literally the end of all things. There will be no meaningful conversations even able to have in the world if queer theory actually becomes as ubiquitous as it seems like it is already becoming. There will be no distinctions between anything. If you embrace queer theory, and you embrace the idea that men can be women and women can be men, or you can be both, or neither, blah, blah, blah, then you will end up having to accept that there really is no difference between mankind and beast. It just follows. And in fact, the queer theorists would probably be, like, 'Yeah, that's right.'"

He continued: "Sexuality, to me, that's the key. If the church does not stand our ground on sexuality, we lose everything. We absolutely lose everything.

"This is just so upsetting to me. A lot of Christians just do not believe that it's as bad as it is They just refuse to believe it. And they keep saying, 'Guys, there's nothing new under the sun. It's always been this bad. You're making it seem like it's worse.' That's just not true. It hasn't always been this bad.

"Transgenderism is the most civilizational-shifting thing that has happened in I don't even know how long. You're talking about something that could change the trajectory of human nature forever. And, of course, if anybody's done the reading, I'm not gonna get into this, and I don't write about this in the book, but if anybody knows what transhumanism is, we're one step away from transhumanism, which we won't even get into," he added, referencing the position that human beings should be permitted to use technology to modify and enhance human cognition and bodily function, expanding abilities and capacities beyond current biological constraints. "And transgenderism sort of makes that possible. It's a sort of Gnosticism that really will bring us into a man-and-machine kind of thing coming in together. It's absolutely horrifying."

Cooper previously warned against transgender ideology earlier this year in an interview with The Daily Signal.

"We don't even believe in objective reality now," he lamented, referring to American society. "We are saying you can be a Christian as you want to, as long as you privatize it. You can be a Christian at your home. Just don't go around telling people. But in the public sphere, [where] we used to be able to talk about religion and objective reality In the public sphere, we are going to make peoples personal subjective feelings be public truth.

"So if you say, 'I'm a boy, but I know I'm actually a girl, and I believe it in my heart,' the public has to say your inner feelings are true," he added. "But if somebody says, 'No. I can see objective reality. You are a boy,' that's not publicly true, though it can be a privately held belief if you want.

"That's the way to end all things," Cooper said. "That is the destruction of objective reality."

In various interviews over the years, Cooper has said that he "always had faith in God" and that his mother was a "Jesus fanatic." He also claimed that he was willing to put his career on the line to take a stand for Christ.

In 2021, Cooper was asked by the "Undaunted.Life: A Man's Podcast" what he would say to someone who says that Satan works through rock music, and thus Christians shouldn't play rock music. He responded: "I would say Satan can work through just about anything. I would say that music is created not by the Devil; [it is] created by the Lord. All things were created by God. So instead of thinking that the Devil owns a genre of music, I would say capture that music and bring it back into subjection under the lordship of Christ."

As for what he would say to someone who says it is sinful for Christians to have tattoos, Cooper said: "I understand why Christians think that, because of the Old Testament. I would say it probably takes a little bit of a longer explanation of Old Testament law and what it meant. But a short version would be there are some things in the Old Testament that were a picture of something in the New Testament. There are some things that are not pictures, like murder we don't murder, we don't steal, so and so forth. Dietary restrictions, things like that, were a picture of something.

"Here's what God wanted: God wants to make his people set apart and holy unto his name," he continued. "And I don't think that God does that any longer from the way that we look; he does that now because of Christ's work on the cross, his resurrection, and he sanctifies us, which sets us apart from the sinner and the pagan."

SKILLET's latest album, "Dominion", was released in January 2022 via Atlantic.

"Wimpy, Weak And Woke" was released on November 14.

John's debut book, "Awake & Alive To Truth", has had over 10 printings and won the Book Impact Award at the 2021 K-Love Fan Awards. His podcast, "Cooper Stuff", continues to grow rapidly as well with over four million downloads and more than two million YouTube views.

John Cooper press photo courtesy of The Media Collective

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SKILLET's JOHN COOPER Explains Why He Believes 'Queer ... - BLABBERMOUTH.NET

It was a random night during my sophomore year of high school where I received a text that would forever change the way I would view friendships. This text, sent by a person who I considered to be my best friend at the time, still weaves its way into my head every time I meet someone new.

I dont know why I hang out with you, its exhausting to be around you and to be your friend, the text read. Reading those words, my 16-year-old self didnt know what to do so I stayed friends with this girl until we graduated high school two years later.

Throughout my time in high school, I was around people who didnt value me as a person, and that in turn affected how I valued myself. I was able to convince myself that I was exhausting to be around and that my friends not inviting me to things was totally fair of them to do.

That attitude changed the second I walked across that stage at graduation. Gone were the days of rolling over and being made fun of for my interests and my passions. Gone was doubting myself about my energy and how I present myself. Going to college was going to change my perspective on friends, some for the best and some for the worst.

When you hang out around other people, you open yourself up to being vulnerable and allow them to see your true self. If someone directly challenges how you present yourself, it can greatly alter your mental health. The basic aspect of friends is to find a group that is going to uplift and support you, not make you feel worse about who you are.

Freshman year is the year when everyone is looking for friends, and finding people can be great or it can be rough. In my freshman year, I met some people who I considered friends, but now I can see that we werent meant to be around each other. Thats ok, friendships are a type of relationship; it takes work, and you can tell pretty quickly if its going to flourish or not. The one piece of advice I cannot stress enough is that no matter how much you try, not everyone will be your friend. Dont force a relationship that wont work out; its just going to cause more harm than good.

Friends can come into your life in the most random ways ranging from a direct message on Instagram turned into a sweet treat partner, to a sports section introduction that became inseparable. It is hard to find friends in college, and it can feel helpless at times, but you just have to trust that everything will work out. Talk to that person sitting next to you in class, go to that club meeting and put yourself out there.

You are not less of a human being if you are struggling to find a group to be a part of. It is far more important to find the people that make you whole than forcing yourself to make them like you. Being constantly asked to change or be something different than who you are changes the way you think of yourself, and it could possibly lead you to feel more lonely.

These college years are full of people looking to meet other individuals that they can share their moments with. You deserve to share the best version of yourself with them.

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Mental Health Journeys: Who you surround yourself with is mental ... - N.C. State University Technician Online