Monthly Archives: October 2007

Google going green(-ish)

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Is it noblesse oblige or something more that is driving Google to a leading role toward a greener tomorrow? I’d love to see Google’s name on this list – there’s some impressive names already there. Like Shaklee, climate neutral since 2000.

Joshua S Hill brought to my attention today at Green Options that the world need not wait for government to do the work of the hungry consumer. To me, this means entrepreneurs and corporates alike will no longer have to make do with the energy sources that brought us the horseless carriage and the steam engine. Using oil and coal to run today’s technology is what’s called transitional technology. It’s time for a new normal and I’m buyin’.

Self-esteem meets group work

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Chicken soup for the soul
Introduction
Nancy Silberman Zwiebach has a private psychotherapy practice where she meets with adolescents and adults doing individual, couples’, family, and group therapy. Her practice also includes Parenting and Life Coaching.

Originally a nurse working with emotionally disturbed children, she decided to pursue a career in Psychology, leading to both a Master’s and Professional Diploma from St. John’s University and to becoming Certified as a School Psychologist.

Self-esteem
I met up with Nancy on the telephone over the weekend, and I was so happy to invite her to Health Patio for a bit to share her expertise. (Thank you, Nancy!)

It was a time of career transition for Nancy 13 years ago when she headed from metro New York to sunny California for a 12 day seminar with Jack Canfield (author of the “Chicken Soup” series), becoming Certified as a Self Esteem Facilitator and doing Motivational Speaking. At the time, she was struck with the generosity of ideas and self-esteem that Jack Canfield himself brought to the seminar. I was struck with the connection between the qualities of generosity and self-esteem.
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Got Daioni?

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Daioni- organic milk
Daioni, meaning ‘goodness’ in Welsh, it is what you call an organic, shelf-stable, award-winning, naturally flavored milk beverage produced by Trioni Ltd., an organic dairy based in West Wales. It was established in April 2002 by three organic farmers.

The flavoured milk drinks are available in chocolate, strawberry and banana flavours and are sold in schools and colleges, as well as at 500 retail outlets across the UK.

On the heels of the international reports (also here) that organic food is better, Health Patio wishes we could serve all the “flavours” ourselves.
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Talking plants with Ketzel Levine

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Sugar maple tapped for sap
It’s the first frost here for Health Patio. Not a hard frost, just a “regular” one.

“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.”

The artist and author, Yankees fan, and horticulturist Ketzel Levine graciously was the voice this morning on NPR Morning Edition for the grand sugar maple tree of New England. Although her home base is in Oregon, Ms. Levine’s passion for talking plants lead her to the land of flowing sap in order to bring us her timely report.
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Going to work and being healthy? No way.

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Yes, way! The basis is N.E.A.T. (TM) or, non-exercise activity thermogenesis. “NEAT is the energy expenditure of all physical activities other than volitional sporting-like exercise. NEAT includes all those activities that render us vibrant, unique, and independent beings.”

The office – it doesn’t have to be a twisted version of a horrible gym class anymore. You know, the kind of gym class where everyone stands along the sides of the foul line and waits their turn to sprint or climb or miss a lay up. Then after the jolt of activity… it’s to the back of line with you, practically motionless.

Instead, there’s the new Walkstation, unveiled today and reported on by Money, which integrates a specially-designed treadmill with an electric height-adjustable worksurfaces. Steelcase Inc. , a global office environments manufacturer and James Levine, MD, PhD, of the renowned Mayo Clinic teamed up with manufacturer TRUE Fitness Technology, Inc. to make a product that allows for slow walking during tasks ordinarily performed sitting down.
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The deep ecology of trees

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Ancient oaks
Around 1900 there were 11 ancient oaks left; now only 6 of them remain, but they belong to the oldest of Germany.

Book review: Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham.
ISBN 0393049116
Each tree is an individual being, and the photographs are like portraits of wonder, awe, and respect. This nonfiction narrative bring his travels to visit trees to life. Pakenham, and his readers, experience the ecological and historical contexts of trees, and we feel like we are meeting a favorite relative we haven’t gotten together with in a long time.

Tim Flannery of The New York Review of Books (and a zoologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia) said in his review: Pakenham captures the trees’ character expertly in his text and photographs.

Human habitat: Trees may lower cost of health care
Part of trees’ value is intangible. It’s presence is deeply ingrained in humans from our distant past. Kim Coder, a forestry professor with the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forest Resources said, “When people see trees around them they just feel that’s where they ought to be,” he said. “When I go home and walk through my yard, for instance, I lose all of the aggressiveness and tension of the drive home.”
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A question of balance

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I attended a brunch with a free lecture afterwards, and the topic was stress. (Babysitting was provided, whew!) Stress was presented as a common condition and, perhaps for some, a way of life. However, it wasn’t presented as normal or healthy. A normal amount of pressure in life areas such as physical, social, financial or other areas should be handled okay. It is an individual judgment call — how much is too much?

The important part is to find balance, even if you need to ask for help.

Having it too easy has its potential to become stressful as the hours and days of life turn to ennui or even clinical depression for some people.

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Allopathic Medicine is Great – When You Have to Call 911

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I had a run to the ER this week for forehead stitches for my little boy. I don’t know why I keep the edges of my doors so sharp but… speed was also a factor in the incident…(both the boy and the door were in motion!) Ouch!

Our bodies are designed to self regulate and be healthy. Unfortunately, accidents happen. And when they do, I am glad for sterile fields, clean gauze pads, and blood pressure cuffs. Any news website, TV media or print periodical report daily accidents and 911 calls because something happened to someone. Just because it may be well and truly no one’s fault, there are times when allopathic medicine experts must rush in to save life or limb.
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