Instruments that cause firms to further restrict output may create additional inefficiencies in sectors in which firms have some amount of market power. Especially if people are carrying around belongings contaminated in the problematic environment, the return to health may be particularly slow. Instead, he took what jobs he could find, painting and carpentering and the like. “Don’t be in a hurry! This page provides descriptions and links for all information resources presented by Paradigm Change. Instances like these occur when technicians fail to arrive at the crime scene within the shortest time possible; to avoid this, ensure the scene is kept securely by law enforcement departments. Whether Almanzo and Laura actually had a toxic mold problem in their claim shanty is an open question that I do not think that we ever will be able to answer with total certainty. So when the teamster saw our smoke this morning, he stopped to see if he couldn’t get somebody to help him persuade the old man. They both became sick with diphtheria that kept them close to death in bed for weeks, with lingering symptoms for a long time afterwards. An example is the U.S. Labeling schemes are widely used voluntary reporting programs. He has consumption, and came out here to take the prairie-climate cure. This combination imposes the same emissions standard on all polluters and all polluters are then subject to a unit tax for emissions in excess of the standard. She need not bother about it – and he did suffer with the cold. Everybody ground wheat, even the children taking their turns, and the resultant whole wheat flour made good bread. 151-152. Even when it got cold, Laura still made a big effort to spend as much time outdoors as she possibly could: In November, the snow came and covered the ground, making good sleighing. When the work was done after dinner, Laura would hitch Barnum to the road-cart and with Rose in her pink sunbonnet sitting in the box she would drive away wherever she cared to go. Words! The doctor told her to lie quietly. So as soon as breakfast was over on the day after the moving, Manly hitched Skip and Barnum to the mowing machine and began cutting hay. Although they were no longer living in the claim shanty when the baby was conceived and born, he could have had a great deal of exposure to the toxins anyway while in the womb and as a result of breast feeding due to toxic accumulation in Laura’s body. It was a carefree, happy time, for two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like. In 1915, Laura took a trip on her own to San Francisco to visit her daughter Rose, who was working as an editor there. And now the four walls of the close, overheated house opened wide, and Laura wandered with brave knights and ladies fair beside the lakes and streams of Scotland or in castles and towers, in noble halls or lady’s bower, all through the enchanting pages of Sir Walter Scott’s novels. illegal dumping to avoid the tax) and costly enforcement. Each instrument considered may have different distributional and equity implications for both costs and benefits that should be accounted for when deciding among instruments. If, on the other hand, more uncertainty associated with the benefits of controlling pollution exist and policymakers wish to guard against high environmental damages, they can limit these damages by using a quantity instrument. It’s true enough, I guess, these prairies are about the only thing that cures consumption. He was spending a great deal of time working among the young trees. This contrasts to typical situations where people spend so much time living in bad buildings that they never become unmasked enough to the problem to have any idea that their issues are environmental rather than due to something from within. They can use traditional regulatory approaches (sometimes referred to as command-and-control approaches) that set specific standards across polluters, or they can use economic incentive or market-based policies that rely on market forces to correct for producer and consumer behavior. At this point, Almanzo and Laura decided to give up on farming in De Smet and try a different location. With the help of her daughter Rose (by then an established editor and fiction writer herself), Laura refined her books and signed a contract with the publisher Harper & Brothers. cap-and-trade). This was the last known attempt of the Wilders to have another child. Those interested in the topic of whether other famous people may have had mold illness may want to read the previous Paradigm Change article, “A Moldy Home, A Flu-Like Illness, and the Deaths of Brittany Murphy and Simon Monjack.”. She was unreasonably annoyed because some of them were bottom side up but she must read them anyway. However, hybrid approaches are not always the most economically efficient approach because either the level of abatement or the cost of the policy is greater than what would be achieved through the use of a market-based incentive approach. Their primary consideration in going was Almanzo’s health, but the hot, moist climate near the Gulf Coast and along the Choctawatchee River turned out to be more debilitating for Laura than it was energizing for Almanzo. America's "deep state" 3. It is my assessment that The First Four Years makes it clear that both Laura and Almanzo were aware that being in the house had a negative effect on Laura and that it was better for her to minimize her time there. On their first day in the house, instead of unpacking, Laura headed right outside, stating clearly and repeatedly that she did so because of the good air quality outdoors: Because of the hailstorm, hay would be the only crop this year. Even if mold is not obvious in an environment, acute symptoms and intuition often will provide good clues that it is a problem. With the exception of the newspaper ink, I am finding it hard to imagine what kinds of human-made chemicals likely to have been used in the house during that time period could have been causing such distinct reactions in Laura. What seems much more associated with mold-related illness is the inability of the body to get pathogens under control even over time, and thus to become affected by them in chronic ways. The sun came in through the east window in the mornings and shone across the room. Sign up for occasional email updates about new informational content from Paradigm Change and receive a free copy of the the book Back from the Edge about the life of mold avoidance pioneer Erik Johnson. They were numb to his hips and it was only after much rubbing that he could get about with Laura’s help. He came all the way from the Jim River and didn’t find a soul. Sign up for updates on new information about mold-related illness from Paradigm Change. I thus was very interested to learn that this area was one of the locations that was recommended by doctors during the late 1800’s as a cure for tuberculosis (then called consumption). First, a product charge or tax is initiated that increases the upfront cost of purchasing the container. marketable permits) also has been shown theoretically to rest on the degree of uncertainty surrounding the estimated benefits and costs of pollution control as well as on how marginal benefits and costs change with the stringency of the pollution control target. She was sick. As Laura moved into middle age – a full two decades after the diphtheria – much of her health seemed to return to her and she was able to become much more active (including focusing on writing her book series). Companies who meet these goals are allowed to place the label’s seal on their product, which will potentially make the product more appealing to consumers. Free books, a Facebook forum, a Facebook page and a website are included. Both the novel By the Shores of Silver Lake and the more fact-based Laura Ingalls Wilder autobiography Pioneer Girl discuss a man who was determined to stay in the De Smet area through the winter of 1879, even though there was no town built yet and even though he was very frail and living all by himself in a claim shanty. It was then I became an expert at the end of a cross-cut saw and I still can ‘make a hand’ in an emergency. If the baby’s death indeed was related to mold issues, then I would suggest that the house fire likely was an indirect result as well, since probably Laura would have been watching Rose more carefully had she not been preoccupied with grief and fatigue as a result of the death of the baby and the family’s general illness issues. Some books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder that I found helpful in writing this blog: Some biographies of Laura Ingalls Wilder that I found helpful: Lisa Petrison is the executive director of Paradigm Change. Quite a few other locations where I have felt particularly good – including Mercey Hot Springs – had reputations for being helpful to tuberculosis patients as well. If he is willing to work and give his attention to his farm, he can make more money than the men in town and all the time be his own boss. Laura, meanwhile, went to work for a dressmaker for a dollar a day. -Quoted in the book Laura’s Rose by William T. Anderson. In late 1889, Laura learned that she was pregnant again. (Please read this Paradigm Change blog post when joining the group.). Paradigm Change provides a variety of information on the role of environmental microbial toxins in chronic multsymptom illnesses (including ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme, MCS/EI, POTS, MCAS and others). Become familiar with the do's and don’ts when handling batteries. Laura apparently decided it would be better not to mention that in her description of the fire in The First Four Years, however. The Paradigm Change website page “Mold Stories” discusses some additional famous people who have had mold issues. In addition, the air is pretty dry (meaning that mold is less likely to be able to grow) and the winds across the open prairie are quite strong (meaning that any toxins that are present are likely to get blown away). My guess in the case of Laura and Almanzo is that their having been living in the house likely was one of a number of reasons that they became ill with diphtheria while most of their neighbors in the De Smet community did not. It first was found inside buildings in the early 1800’s after wallpaper became fashionable, and now is especially associated with drywall (which has a paper backing on it). This feature makes these approaches attractive when monitoring is difficult or emissions must be estimated (e.g. Laura saw the house for the first time on the afternoon after their wedding and described it as follows: The pine floors of the front room and pantry were painted a bright clean yellow. A criticism of command-and-control policies is that firms are only encouraged to reduce to a regulated level. How do Christians help victims of war? His father was the sick man that Pa had sent out with the last teamster the year before. These same instruments are appealing when pollutants are not uniformly mixed across space. Most critically, Almanzo – and to a somewhat lesser extent Laura – acquired health problems during this time that substantially limited the extent to which they were able to be productive and kept them living in poverty for decades into their marriage. These conditions are more common in people living with depression, compared to the general population. In these cases, attempts to prohibit or tax the actions of polluters are likely to fail due to the risk of widespread noncompliance (e.g. A general problem with voluntary action programs is that it is quantitatively difficult to assess the success of the program. During their first year at Rocky Ridge, they made money by selling firewood harvested on the farm: Almanzo and Laura began clearing trees and chopping them into firewood to sell in town. The carpet from the old bedroom was across the east end of the room, and the armchair and Laura’s little rocking chair stood on it, close to each other between the windows. Laura was going to have a baby. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Almanzo’s poor health continued to restrict his activities. 4. Information disclosure or labeling are often suggested when this occurs because policy makers believe that private and public sector decision-makers will act to address an environmental problem once information has been disseminated. But still, the Wilders’ trials and tribulations seem to have gone way beyond just a few bad farming years. Visitors could smell urinals 100 feet from the bathroom. Then he built the frame of a barn, cut slough hay, and when it was dry stacked it around the frame to make a hay barn. Pollution standards set specific emissions limits, and thereby reduce the chance of excessively high damages to health or the environment but may impose large costs on polluters. Those pursuing mold avoidance also may consider joining the Mold Avoiders Facebook group, which is run by Paradigm Change and which now has almost 8000 members. Does pollution originate from stationary or mobile sources? Mold Avoiders provides information to those following Erik Johnson’s approach to mold avoidance. Although it is unclear exactly what caused the paralysis, one possibility is that some kind of pathogen (such as poliovirus or another enterovirus) was responsible for that occurring. NEPA requires federal agencies to prepare Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for any activities that could significantly effect the environment. So she sat down, but she was not tired. My guess at why that would have been is the same guess that I have with regard to why patients with certain diseases that appear to have pathogen involvement (including ME/CFS and Lyme) do better when they spend time in pristine locations and eat a clean and nutritious diet. Laura and Almanzo moved to the homestead on August 25, 1886. In this case, it is important to account for differences in baseline pollution levels, and in emissions across more and less polluted areas. “Folks come from all over the world to take it,” said Ma. Still, I do not think that all people who become sick with acute infections like diphtheria necessarily are suffering from toxic mold exposures. He’ll be a sight more comfortable with his folks in the east.”, -By the Shores of Silver Lake, pp. Voluntary programs are useful for policy-makers who wish to test potential policy options or who want to encourage better production or consumption practices. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Although Barnum was a fast driver, he was as gentle as a kitten, and the cart on its two wheels was light and safe. These approaches are appealing to policymakers because they often combine the certainty associated with a given emissions standard with the flexibility of allowing firms to pursue the least costly abatement method. The first thing this guy did was to drill holes in all the walls so that shredded newspaper could be blown inside  the gap between the inner and outer walls. Although Laura began working on a novelization of this period of their lives long before her death, she never made an effort to refine or publish the book. Slowly the paralysis was wearing off. “Well, Caroline, he found a claim shanty and an old man, all by himself. It seems to me that Laura and Almanzo’s extreme frugality while Rose was growing up stemmed not from inherent penuriousness but rather from the fact that working to make money was such a difficult endeavor for them that they needed to be extremely cautious about the spending of what they had if they were to survive at all. Fees, charges, and taxes are widely used incentives which generally place a per unit monetary charge (or fee or tax) on pollution emissions or waste to reduce the overall quantity. when there are non-point sources or large numbers of small polluters). Almanzo also was continuing to have problems with episodes of paralysis and with tolerating the harsh South Dakota winters. It is therefore possible that the spectral feature we attribute to SiH could be a misclassified SiS feature—optical line list data for SiS would resolve this ambiguity. Words! The ‘prairie cure’ had truly almost cured his consumption of the lungs and he had come west again for more of it. She forgot to feel ill at the sight or smell of food, in her hurry to be done with the cooking and follow her thoughts back into the book. Like what you’re reading? The most important effects of environmental toxic mold exposures are indirect and usually do not manifest until years after moving into a toxic building, and this causes even people who are aware that environmental issues exist to underestimate their importance. The disease had killed a few children in De Smet over the previous few years, and concern over there being an epidemic was high enough that there was a temporary ban on gatherings in town to try to control the spread of the disease in the early months of 1888. When the oats were hauled to the homestead and stacked, Manly dug the hole in the ground for the cellar, and over it built the one-room addition to the claim shanty. In addition, I wonder if bedding contaminated with mold toxins could have been directly responsible for his death. She wrote about the move: The thing to do was to get things arranged in the home and make it cheerful for Manly. If the limit is not close to zero, then a standard-and-pricing approach or a marketable permit approach that defines particular trading ratios to ensure that emission standards are not violated at any given source are potentially practical options. A page on the Paradigm Change website provides information about founder Lisa Petrison. And so November passed and December came. Both voluntary and mandatory reporting programs exist in the United States. These brain changes make it extremely difficult to quit by sheer force of will.. When I have heard of older buildings (constructed before the development of drywall) having toxic mold problems, it very often has been when newspaper was used as insulation. One symptom that seems almost universal in people who have been made sick from toxic mold is a continued reactivity to even very small amounts of molds or mold toxins, including (in many cases) run-of-the-mill molds found outdoors. When the books were all read and Laura came back to reality, she found herself feeling much better. Point sources, which emit at identifiable and specific locations, are much easier to identify and control than diffuse and often numerous non-point sources, and therefore are often amenable to the use of a wide variety of market instruments. To Laura, the days that followed were mercifully blurred. Subsidies are forms of financial government support for activities believed to be environmentally friendly. The work must go on, and she was the one who must do it. The eight books in the series – from Little House in Big Woods to These Happy Golden Years – were published between 1932 and 1943. The story is reported as being autobiographical fiction, focusing on time period that the family spent in Florida. A collection of delightful drawings of Almanzo and Laura by Garth Williams: A collection of photographs of Almanzo, Laura, Rose and various extended family members from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s: Some pictures that I took in De Smet in 2011. Manly – disregarding the doctor’s warning – had worked too hard, and one cold morning he nearly fell as he got out of bed, because he could not use his legs properly. She actually seems to be trying very hard to support Almanzo with regard to their need to live there for a time while recovering from their first crop loss and seems reasonably happy with how things are going apart from not feeling good when in the house. This website may include affiliate links provided by Amazon or other merchants. On the other hand, for reasons that I will share in the next sections, I am especially suspicious about this claim shanty with regard to it potentially having had a toxic mold problem. Generally, a non-profit organization or government agency sets standards for a product to meet environmentally sustainable goals. She couldn’t take her eyes from them. Lisa Petrison, Ph.D. Executive Director Paradigm Change. Air is certainly fresh when the thermometer registers all the way from 15 to 40 degrees below zero with the wind moving at blizzard speed….As the houses were new and unfinished so that the snow would blow in and drift across us as we slept, fresh air was not a luxury. A streak that runs round the room. Laura reported first starting to get sick on Almanzo’s birthday on February 13: But in spite  of the warm day Laura caught a severe cold and had a touch of fever so that she must stay in bed. Although spending time at a sanitarium in one of these good locations did not cure TB patients quickly, sources suggest that it did have a fairly high success rate for individuals who had the money and determination to stick with the prescribed treatment (which also included nutritious food and large amounts of forced rest). They bought a farm in Mansfield, Missouri, for $400 (apparently mortgaging half of it) and named it Rocky Ridge. We did not like work and we were not supposed to like it; we were supposed to work, and we did. Rose could not fall out of the box, and Laura was a good driver. From left: Caroline (“Ma”), Carrie, Laura, Charles (“Pa”), Grace and Mary. Contents 1. It’s easier to tell if a house is a problem when the location is good. At first, Laura was happy that she and Almanzo were over the diphtheria and believed that their health would return to the way that it was before they got sick. At last they were both up and around again, but the doctor had given his last advice and warning against exertion. Apparently the whole story seemed too grim to be likely to get much of an audience. Instruments that include a revenue-raising component, such as auctioned permits or taxes, may allow for opportunities to direct collected resources to the reduction of market inefficiencies. They present links to a highly curated collection of information from many different sources as well as original articles on the topic. At times, EPA may completely ban or phase out the use or production of a particular product or pollutant, as it has done with chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and certain pesticides. Performance-based standards that are technology-based, for example, do not specify a particular technology, but rather consider what available and affordable technologies can achieve when establishing a limit on emissions. She loved her little house and the housework. Laura felt that she was back home, and it was easier for Manly to walk on the level ground to the barn than it had been for him to climb up and down the hill on the homestead. But that was not to be for many a day yet. Batteries are safe, but caution is necessary when touching damaged cells and when handling lead acid systems that have access to lead and sulfuric acid. In the end he was glad to be going. Published news reports *** 6. The Paradigm Change privacy policy is here. Six common myths: Myth 1: Overcoming addiction is simply a matter of willpower. She was small and slender but her little hands and wrists were strong and she got it done. Because firms generally are in a better position than government to monitor and report their own emissions, they may do so at a potentially lower cost. It goes behind every piece of furniture except the bed, a long, straight, even smooch, as if it had been rubbed over and over. Perhaps he could soon hitch the straps and buckle the buckles himself. Stachybotrys in particular has immune system effects that are reported to be cumulative over time, with the result eventually being that the immune system may have a hard time keeping even very common pathogens in check. Even after people get out of problematic mold exposures, making a full recovery may take many years. In the case of Almanzo, I am thinking that the most likely scenario may be that spending several weeks in bed in a toxic building while fighting off a life-threatening infection could have put so much strain on his immune system that some kind of pathogen that his body was previously able to keep in check when he was healthy flared to a significant extent and caused the paralysis. This website and Facebook page focus on the challenge of recovering from mold-related illness. Regardless of whether we can prove that mold was an issue for the Wilders, it is my own takeaway that The First Four Years leaves little doubt that Laura and Almanzo believed that something was wrong with the claim shanty. Acid Rain Program, a cap-and-trade system that cost-effectively reduced sulfur dioxide emissions from electric utilities. “Well, he’s so feeble, the teamster tried to get him to go out. Rose must be cared for and all the numberless little chores attended to. In the novel, Charles Ingalls (“Pa”) states just before winter arrives: “That teamster’s the last one out. Lifted him in, as easy as if he was Carrie, here. Stationary sources of pollution are easier to identify and control through a variety of market instruments than are mobile sources. Due to the high movement of human traffic in a crime scene, it is likely for items to be misplaced, stolen or moved. But bound and determined to stick to the prairie cure. Only a week after the baby died, the house on the tree claim caught fire and was destroyed. For more information about the role of mold toxins in chronic multisystemic illness, please visit the Paradigm Change website. Laura had thrown one bucket of water on the fire in the hay, and then, knowing she was not strong enough to work the pump for more water, taking the little deed-box from the bedroom and Rose by the hand, she ran out and dropped on the ground in the little half-circle drive before the house. If uncertainty associated with the costs of abatement exists and policymakers wish to guard against potential high costs borne by polluters as a result of regulation, then they can limit these costs by using a price instrument. A short time after the doctor went away, Manly’s brother Royal came out to care for them. When Laura suggested that life would be easier if Almanzo worked in town rather than continuing to farm, he responded that he enjoyed the hard work of farming: You see, on a farm it all depends on what a man is willing to do. Our email address is info at paradigmchange dot me. Almanzo found that he would qualify for a mortgage of the homestead property, but only if he and Laura were living there. The first signs of reported ill health for either of them came during a Spring 1886 visit to the homestead, where Almanzo was using the claim shanty as a warehouse for handling grain: At the shanty on the homestead Laura held the grain sacks while he shoveled the wheat into them. Examples of subsidies include grants, low-interest loans, favorable tax treatment, and procurement mandates. Rose Wilder stayed with Laura’s parents and sisters in this house in town while Laura and Almanzo were sick with diphtheria in early 1888. Mr. Wilder says he would rather have me saw than any man he ever sawed with. But the others must be kept warm and fed. Avoiding Mold is a Facebook page providing updates on new information on toxic mold illness. And Manly didn’t care how often she went, just so she came home in time to get supper. While traditional regulatory and voluntary approaches are valuable policy tools for some types of environmental problems, incentive based policies are becoming increasingly popular as tools for addressing a wide range of environmental issues, from acid rain to climate change. Information disclosure programs are designed to influence firm behavior through the dissemination of information on items such as production processes, labor standards, and pollution levels, to the federal, state and local government agencies, or to the public. An additional problem was that medical bills and Almanzo’s inability to work very hard had depleted the family’s already slender financial resources. The purpose of liability is to not only hold polluters accountable for the proper management and disposal of their waste or emissions, but also for cleanup and remediation costs.