Monthly Archives: December 2007

Relaxed thinking

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I’m always listening to music. Whether it be calm, loud or anything in between, it always sends out a message. No matter how vague or in your face, there is most likely a deep(er) message. But, you’re never going to get the full message with listening to the song once. You may get a message, but its probably not the one the composer is attempting to send out. It’s interesting, once you look at the lyrics to a beloved song.

Sure the tune is catchy, but what is the writer really trying to get out in the open?

Now, whats this got to do with health? Everything, my dear reader. Music exercises the brain in a healthy, constructive way. It allows us to reach out with our creative side and actually do “relaxed thinking.”

I know there are countless others who would say, “There is no such thing as “relaxed thinking.” But, in truth, we would all be nothing without relaxed thinking. So the next time you pop in your Enya CD, sit down, shut out other sounds (for best results, do this when dinner is not in the oven), take a seat in your favorite chair, and let the sound fill you up. Listen to the lyrics, what do they mean to you?

Leave No Trace

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eco tourism

A new name and wrapping for an old idea, ecotourism is a spreading buzz word. The idea is to travel without negatively impacting the visited site. Indeed, many ecotourists attempt to help revitalize the area by buying from local business, helping the locals to improve their communities, and by practicing ecofriendly hiking and camping. While many nature-hungry tourists have made their way into tropical forests, coral reefs, and the Sahara with the ‘leave no trace’ attitude in mind previous to the ecotourism movement, the term has provided new parameters and less research for interested parties. Here are a couple of resources for ecotourists:

Nature Tours
Environmental Adventure Company
Pachijal Reserva Ecologica
Big Blue Unlimited

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Like attracts like!

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Well, yes… after all, if l like you and you like me, that’s a good place to start a friendship!

The idea that opposites attract doesn’t have to mean that the city mouse and the country mouse get married. But often times l find that l appreciate seeing good qualities, positive character traits, healthy emotional expressions, fine logical intelligence, and a real sense of humor in someone else, although to be honest l am still working on the challenge of refining myself in these worthy areas. You could even say that the qualities I would like to see improving in myself, I also like to see these same qualities in my friends. I consider myself mentored by all my friends, since I learn and grow whenever I have the privilege of spending time together.
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Reduce Reuse Recycle

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It’s elementary! Remember Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle from your fourth grade classroom? Revisit them!

  1. Reduce – try to avoid buying products that come with a lot of packaging. In a society that pushes consumerism, restrict yourself while shopping. Make a list before you go to the store and stick to it! This will curb weight gain and save you money! Finally, declutter your home – let go of possessions that you don’t use!
  2. Reuse – Donate said possessions. Or, create a craft corner and teach your children to sew, glue, cut, paint, etc.
  3. Recycle – Create a compost pile and, subsequentally, a garden. Designate bins under your sink or in your garage for recycled goods. Separate plastic, paper, aluminum, and glass and make sure you read guidelines for your local recycling center. Often, lids of plastic bottles will have to be removed. Finally, support others’ recycling by buying recycled stationary, books, and other products.

The Little Things

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Adjust Thermostat 

In a previous post, I provided a link for a quiz that revealed your Ecological Footprint.  Here’s another way (slightly more complicated) way to calculate part of your footprint (adapted from The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen):

Home energy carbon use:

  1. Electricity per year:  ____ (x 1.34 lb CO2/kilowatt-hr) = year total ____
  2. Natural Gas per year: ____ (x 12.06 lb of CO2/therm) = year total ____
  3. Home Heating Oil per year:  ____ (x 22.38 lb of CO2/gallon) = year total ____
  4. Propane per year: ____(x 12.8 lb CO2/gallon) = year total ____

Okay readers, I know what your thinking: “That’s all nice and depressing, now how do we DECREASE our ecological footprints.” Patience, quick and easy tips are on their way! In the mean time, here’s a teaser:

Turn Down your thermostat at night.  According to Rogers and Kostigen, you’ll decrease your electricity bill by an average of 1% by every degree it is turned down while everyone is sleeping, and about 10% during the day when no one is at home.

No Child Left Inside

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As Americans’ obesity continues to rise, our concerns are for the adults suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and other weight-related illnesses.  In the mean time, children’s obesity is increasing drastically as their parents’ largely sedentary lifestyles become their own. 

In 1976, 5% of children were overweight
In 2002, 23% preschoolers were obese or overweight
By 2010, it is predicted that over 50% of children will be overweight

In an effort to combat obesity and a lack of connectedness with the natural environmental in children, the Connecticut Department of Environmental protection founded the  No Child Left Inside initiative.  While the idea is to promote more family time spent outdoors, taking advantage of public parks, there are many health benefits and the catch phrase has spread across the nation.

For more on this topic check out Richard Louv’s book, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”!

Eggselence: A New Study about Free Range Chickens

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Even if stories of featherless, beakless, sick chickens doesn’t make you want to spend an extra $1.50 on a dozen organic and/or free range eggs, you might want to consider more than the financial costs of your purchase. According to a new study done by Mother Earth News, chickens that live on a pasture create significantly healthier eggs than your average factory-kept chicken. Organic, pasture kept chickens reportedly created eggs that had:

• 1⁄3 less cholesterol
• 1⁄4 less saturated fat
• 2⁄3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

While these eggs might be more expensive, consider that you would have to eat twice as many to gain the same amount nutrients, which would cause a drastic increase in cholesterol.

Read the whole article.

If you want something done right…

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… collaborate with a few friends.

That is the message behind some statistics that show entrepreneurial business success is positively correlated to learning “difficulties” such as dyslexia and attention attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD.)

The activist/author/public speaker Girard Sagmiller, diagnosed with dyslexia as a child, has tapped into his strong spirituality and personal faith, and has dedicated his life work to reaching out to families affected by dyslexia.

He reminds us that everyone, whether having been diagnosed with a learning disability or not, can benefit from learning how to deal with the obstacles that threaten to hold us back in life.
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Ecological Footprint

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Want to know how you measure up in terms of green living?  Go to http://www.earthday.net/footprint to find out what your ecological footprint is.

Here are my results:

CATEGORY GLOBAL ACRES
FOOD 4.7
MOBILITY 1.7
SHELTER                              2.5
GOODS/SERVICES 3
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 12

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24
GLOBAL ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXISTS 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL ACRES PER
PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.7 PLANETS.