February 23, 2012
Spiritual Living
“We are living on the planet as if we have another one to go to.” Terry Swearingen
Healthy Living
If you're trying to lose pounds to get to a healthy weight, a new study shows those liquid calories matter, too.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, showed that overweight and obese people who swapped out their caloric drinks for calorie-free options -- including, yes, water! -- were able to lose four to five pounds over a six-month period. The research will be published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Green Living
Our oceans are vital to our national economic growth. In 2009 alone, ocean-related tourism and recreation generated more than 1.8 million jobs and contributed more than $61 billion to the nation’s GDP. That same year, the commercial fishing industry supported more than 1 million jobs.
February 22, 2012
Spiritual Living
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition. ~ Carl Sagan
Healthy Living
Falling asleep in front of the computer screen? Creativity crashing by 3 p.m. in the office? The trick to becoming more productive may be to ditch the cubicle and hit the gym. Studies suggest a midday workout can help productivity skyrocket (and even boost job satisfaction!), so we can quickly gain back those hours lost in gym-land.
Green Living
How New York State handles fracking could influence policy making, regulation and enforcement in other states. That's pretty much how U.S. EPA regional administrator Judith Enck sees it. Enck wrote New York "will help set the pace for improved safeguards across the country".
February 21, 2012
Spiritual Living
The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. ~ Chief Luther Standing Bear
Healthy Living
All kinds of bacteria, viruses and fungi can make a home out of your beauty products.
Makeup can also go bad. Even some of the more natural makeups that don't have preservatives are prone to spoiling. The best thing you can do to prevent germy growth is to take better care of your products. Don't let your makeup products be exposed to high heat or direct sunlight because that can make them become germier sooner...all makeup has a shelf life. For instance, mascara and eye liner goes bad after 3 months and should be replaced to avoid eye infections, such as pink eye.
Green Living
Hydrofracking is exempt from a half dozen federal statutes: Safe Water Drinking Act; Clean Water Act; Clean Air Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act; Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
Such exemptions are referred to as the “Haliburton Loophole". Because this industry has such exemptions, organic farmers are worried that they could lose their "organic" certification because fracking causes groundwater pollution. Organic farmers have to rely on the oil industry to act morally and responsibly.
February 20, 2012
Spiritual Living
The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river. ~Ross Perot
Healthy Living
In Japan, the health benefit of spending time in forests has its own word - "shinrinyoku", and literally means "forest bathing".
Green Living
Bulgaria recently became the second nation in Europe (and the world -- France was the first) to ban the controversial shale gas extraction technique. According to a Treehugger post, the ban is for "an indefinite period of time... valid for the whole territory of the country, including the Black Sea territorial waters."
February 17, 2012
Spiritual Living
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe, the less taste we shall have for destruction. - Rachel Carson
Healthy Living
Just like muscle and back pain, headaches can also be alleviated thanks to massage. A regular rubdown can reduce a person's number of migraines, according to WebMD, as well as limit how painful each migraine feels, according to the TRI.
Green Living
Species on remote islands occupy a particularly precarious position in the face of climate change. With an already restricted range, these species are unable to travel to find new suitable habitat, making them extremely vulnerable to extreme weather events such as hurricanes and drought. For example, the hawksbill turtle is at risk of rising sea levels and increases in storm activity, which will destroy its nesting habitat. Rising air temperatures may also result in turtle populations developing a skewed sex ratio, as sex is determined by the temperature at which the eggs are incubated
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February 16, 2012
Spiritual Living
"What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself." - Mollie Beattie
Healthy Living
Want to boost your brainpower? Adults who were given a 15-minute chair massage in a small 1996 Touch Research Institute (TRI) study were more alert and completed a series of math questions faster and more accurately.
Green Living
Most countries have responded to climate change by becoming parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty that aims to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous human-interference of the climate. Many countries are also heavily investing in clean energies, such as wind, tidal and solar energy, to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels.
February 15, 2012
Spiritual Living
"One learns, that the world, though made, is yet being made. That this is still the morning of creation." John Muir
Healthy Living
If you've ever dozed off on a massage table, you don't need to be convinced that a massage can promote healthy sleep. A number of studies have examined this link, and chalk it up to massage's affect on delta waves, the kind of brain waves connected to deep sleep, according to Health magazine.
Green Living
Current scientific evidence indicates that the effects of climate change will only remain manageable if global temperatures rise by no more than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels. For this to happen, worldwide emissions must peak by 2020 and be cut to 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
February 14, 2012
Spiritual Living
If you want to know where your heart is … Look where your mind goes when it wanders - Anonymous
Healthy Living
Eight out of 10 Americans will experience debilitating back pain, according to Time.com, but a massage can help. According to a 2011 study, massage helped people in pain feel and function better compared to people who didn't receive any massage treatment.
Green Living
You can help tackle climate change by:
- reducing, reusing and recycling products that you buy
- walk or take public transport where possible so that you use a car less often
- insulate your home better so that you do not need to use so much energy to heat it
- or simply tell your friends and family about climate change and what they can do to help
Although each action may be small, if many people make small changes it will add up to make a big difference.
February 13, 2012
Spiritual Living
“Every time we lose a species we break a life chain which has evolved over 3.5 billion years.” - Jeffrey McNeely
Healthy Living
For the same reasons that a massage is relaxing, it can also soothe anxiety and depression. Massage reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol, resulting in lifted spirits and often lower blood pressure. It can also boost the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, which are involved in depression.
Green Living
As of January 5, 2011, there are 1,170 animals species worldwide that are endangered, half of which reside in the United States.
February 10, 2012
Spiritual Living
They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse. Sitting Bull
Healthy Living
The soluble fiber in oatmeal (as well in other whole-grain foods, fruits and vegetables) reduces the absorption of "bad" LDL cholesterol into the bloodstream, helping to keep arteries clear.
Green Living
Fracking affects everyone. A natural gas survey released in December 2010 found that regardless of political leanings, most people are concerned about fracking. Even if you don't live atop a major shale deposit, the pollution generated in fracking could affect you. Conrad Dan Volz, DrPH, MPH, director of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities and the GSPH Environmental Health Risk Assessment Certificate Program at the University of Pittsburgh, notes that as more wells are installed in various states, there's more toxic wastewater to deal with. Wastewater from fracking operations is often sent to municipal treatment plants that are not properly equipped to handle contamination by more than 600 chemicals, and possibly radioactive material. This wastewater is often shipped to locations where fracking isn't even taking place, threatening rivers and drinking water supplies in those towns.
Aside from the toxic wastewater issue, fracking could also blemish your nature vacation. Drilling is allowed on public lands, and it's particularly on display in the now not-so-picturesque parks of Colorado and Wyoming.
February 9, 2012
Spiritual Living
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment. Ansel Adams
Healthy Living
A large 2011 study found that swapping nuts for red meat as a leaner source of protein resulted in a 17 percent lower risk of stroke. The unsaturated fat in nuts can help reduce cholesterol in comparison to eating red meat, but nuts are still high in fat and calories, so be aware of portion sizes.
Green Living
Fracking releases uranium. That's right, the radioactive stuff. The 2005 Energy Act included what is known as the Halliburton Loophole, which exempts the natural gas drilling industry from many safeguards, such as the Clean Water Act, intended to protect citizens from industrial corporate activities that pollute. While the chemical cocktail used in fracking has been of much concern, new research is pointing to another fact: Contaminants and dangerous substances trapped deep underground become mobilized when fracking creates mini-earthquake-like explosions underground. A 2010 study out of the University of Buffalo found that natural gas drilling using the fracking method could potentially contaminate water supplies with uranium.
February 8, 2012
Spiritual Living
Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. Aldo Leopold
Healthy Living
Switching from butter to olive oil (or even olive oil to canola oil) can lower cholesterol levels. The "healthy" monounsaturated fats found in olive oil are still fats however, so use in moderation.
Green Living
Fracking chemicals are extremely dangerous. Since most natural gas drilling companies will not disclose all of the products they use in the drilling process, Theo Colborn, PhD, founder and president of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, set out to figure out what's in the chemical cocktails used to drill wells and frack. She and her team found 649 different chemicals, more than half of which are known to disrupt the endocrine system. Exposure to these types of chemicals has been linked to certain cancers, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome (the name for a group of risk factors that occur together and increase the risk for heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes). Fifty-five percent of the chemicals cause brain and nervous system damage, and many are linked to cancer and organ damage. The threat of exposure to these chemicals occurs via contaminated air, water, and soil. "They're getting away with absolute murder; it's criminal, the things they're doing," says award-winning scientist Colborn. "If you destroy an aquifer, you've lost it. You've destroyed your drinking water supply.
February 7, 2012
Spiritual Living
"We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship." C.S. Lewis
Healthy Living
The American Heart Association recommends eating fish twice a week -- especially fatty fish like salmon, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s can reduce the risk of arrthymias, slow plaque build up in the arteries, lower cholesterol and slightly lower blood pressure.
Green Living
Natural gas is not clean. Natural gas burns more cleanly than other fossil fuels, but in the course of its entire life cycle, it's actually worse than coal, long touted as the dirtiest of our fossil fuels. Because fracking involves mixing millions of gallons of water laced with chemicals into the ground at high pressure, it creates fissures in the shale that release the natural gas. Life cycle analysis expert Robert Howarth, PhD, professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University, discovered that anywhere from 3.6 to nearly 8 percent of the methane from shale gas drilling escapes through venting and leaks. Methane is a greenhouse gas about 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
February 6, 2012
Spiritual Living
No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings. Denis Diderot
Healthy Living
Heart disease accounts for 2,200 deaths in the U.S. every day, or one in every three, according to the CDC. Luckily, simple diet and lifestyle changes can greatly reduce your risk. Maintaining a healthy weight, quitting smoking and keeping stress levels under control are all great places to start. Another powerful way to take control of your ticker is to watch what you eat.
Green Living
Fracking releases uranium and other radioactive material and brings them to the surface in wastewater laced with carcinogenic industrial chemicals, heavy salts, and other contaminants. Because this toxic wastewater is often trucked to other municipalities for treatment, fracking affects not just families in the immediate drilling zones, but in surrounding states, too. Inadequately treated water from fracking often contains dangerous levels of radioactive materials and other hazardous waste, and is routinely released into rivers that supply drinking water to people.
February 3, 2012
Spiritual Living
The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say.” Kahlil Gibran
Healthy Living
British researchers recently found that people who drank one ounce of concentrated cherry juice twice daily for 10 days bounced back faster from their workout (an intensive leg-resistance training session on day eight) than those who skipped the juice. The reason: The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in tart cherries -- and other fruit juices like grape, pomegranate, acai, blueberry and cranberry -- essentially act as natural NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen and aspirin), reducing exercise-induced muscle damage.
Green Living
By purchasing parts or products made by Endangered species, you are creating a larger market for these items. This includes products made from or containing ivory, sea turtle shell, or any other threatened or endangered animal. Please do your part by not participating in this horrible trade of death!
February 2, 2012
Spiritual Living
I have learned that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Henry David Thoreau
Healthy Living
New research out of New Zealand suggests that the antioxidants in blueberries may help ward off muscle fatigue by mopping up the additional free radicals that muscles produce during exercise.
Green Living
Red and pink coral – Is a jewel that is from reefs. It is the most valuable of all the corals. Pink coral has been fished for over MANY years.It's used for jewelry and decoration. Over-harvesting and the destruction of entire colonies has led to dramatic population declines.
February 1, 2012
Spiritual Living
Continue to surprise those who would put you in a neat demographic. Be insistently curious. Gordon Gee
Healthy Living
Just coarse enough to slough off dead skin cells, baking soda makes an ideal natural face scrub. Many acne sufferers swear by the stuff, saying that mixing it into a paste with either water or facial cleanser can help clear up breakouts and prevent them from occurring in the first place. Just be sure to moisturize afterwards to prevent excessive drying.
Green Living
The bald eagle is known as the national emblem of the United States. It is the second largest North American bird of prey after the Californian condor and the bald eagle is also the only eagle solely native to North America.
