Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

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We Are What We Eat

30/06/2010


What’s for Dinner?
Excerpt from the excellent Sept’09 Issue of  Orion Magazine.
By Jennifer Sahn

Midwife/Middle School Teacher, TX

Bartender, goes to sleep @ 8AM

What’s For Dinner? Mark Menjivar wants to know. His curiosity about the eating habits of his fellow humans fueled a photography project that speaks volumes the twenty-first century hunter-gatherer. In home after home, he performed that age-old ritual of opening wide the refrigerator door , hoping to find something good, something that beckons. Be he wasn’t looking for something to eat; he wanted to document this semi-private domestic space to capture  in time the contents of the refrigerator as a testament to how we live and what we live on. It was, as one of his subjects suggested, like asking someone to pose nude.

“Each fridge is photographed “as is,” says Menjivar, No funny business is at play here, and it’s all on display….
To read the full article: check online with Orion Magazine to purchase the September’09 back issue.

To see more of Mark’s study of Americans on display via the fridge, see more fridge images on his website.
Thanks for Mark Menjivar for letting us reproduce his two images here on MSI’s blog.

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Individual action IS possible

22/06/2010

We are not powerless to what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf of Mexico

Dr Masaru Emoto is the scientist from Japan who is well known for his research and publications about the characteristics of water. Among other things, his research revealed that water physically responds to emotions.  Many people have the predominantly angry emotion when we consider what is happening in the Gulf. And while justified in that emotion, we may be of greater assistance to our planet and its life forms if we sincerely, powerfully and humbly pray the prayer that Dr. Emoto, himself, has proposed.

Let’s give energy of love and gratitude to all the living creatures in Mexico Gulf by praying like this. To whales, dolphins, pelicans, fishes, shellfishes, planktons, corals, algae and all creatures ion Gulf of Mexico

I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

Masaru Emoto
May, 9th 2010

We are not powerless. We are powerful.  Our united energy, speaking this prayer daily…multiple times daily… can literally shift the balance of destruction that is happening.

We don’t have to know how…we just have to recognize that the power of love is greater than any other power active in the Universe today.

To read the article published by Dr Emoto, go to

http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/dr.emotos_message_2.html

Posted in Animals, Blogs, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Health, Holistic Living, Indigenous Wisdom, Inner Work, Leadership, Power of Place, Spiritual, Traveling, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Preschools in forests take root in US

31/05/2010

AP – Orion Knowler, 4, runs ahead of teacher Karen Olsen and other children attending Cedarsong Nature School's

AP:VASHON ISLAND, Wash. – When they’re outside, the children in Erin Kenny’s class don’t head for cover if it rains or snows. They stay right where they are — in a private five-acre forest. It’s their classroom. They spend three hours a day, four days a week here, a free-flowing romp through cedar and Douglas fir on Vashon Island in Puget Sound. The unique “forest kindergarten” at Cedarsong Nature School is among several that have opened in recent years in the U.S. Read More

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Posted in Experiential Education, Health, Holistic Living | 1 Comment »

Cell Phones Take a Toll

27/05/2010

Are these frying your head?

Buried deep within a long anticipated study about cell phones is evidence indicating a strong link between mobile phone use and brain cancer. Living on Earth host Steve Curwood talks with Dr. Elizabeth Cardis, director of the Interphone study, about the findings.

A scientific controversy that affects just about all of us has come to the fore.  The question: how safe are cell phones?

A major study that was supposed to answer that question is open to question itself. The so-called Interphone Study, started a decade ago, when scientists in 13 nations set out to learn if there was a link between cell phone use and brain cancer. At last, the findings of this eagerly anticipated study have been released, and researchers found that…well…here are some of the headlines reporting the results:

“Mobile Phone Study Finds No Solid Link to Brain Tumors”- The Guardian, UK.
“Heavy Use of Cell Phones may increase Tumor Risk.” Globe and Mail, Canada.
“Mobile Phones are Safe” Die Welt, Germany.
So if you’re confused, you’re not alone. Consider these contradictory findings: High cell phone usage was linked to a doubling of the risk of deadly brain cancers called gliomas. Read more.. or to listen to MP3 of this interview.

Editor’s Note: I childhood friend of mine is now in hospice care, with a brain tumor. For many years, he has only had a cell phone, and no land line. The doctors said off the record, they were sure it was from his cell phone use, as were many others they have seen doing brain surgery.

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Mindfulness, Power of Possibilities

26/05/2010

A Harvard Psychologist Gets The Hollywood Treatment

Does mind make the body age?

Robin Young, on her radio show, Here and Now, recently interviewed Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer and author of Counter Clockwise, Mindful Health and the Power of Possibilities about about what she calls mindfulness and mindlessness — and about the power of psychology on physical health.

Drawing on her own body of colorful experiments—including the first detailed discussion of her landmark 1979 “counterclockwise” study in which elderly men lived for a week as though it was 1959 and seemed to grow younger—and important works by other researchers, Langer discussed how studies prove that the magic lies in being aware of the ways we mindlessly react to cultural cues.

Her book shows how we can actively challenge these ingrained behaviors by making subtle changes in our everyday lives. The author describes ways to reorient our attitudes and language in order to achieve better health; she shows us the ways in which our belief in physical limits constrains us; and she demonstrates how our desire for certainty in medical diagnosis and treatment often prevents us from fully exploiting the power of uncertainty.

Jennifer Aniston is slated to play Harvard psychologist Langer, whose work helped trigger the positive psychology movement.

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Our Water Supply: Genes affected?

23/05/2010

New Book: Living DownStream – Shows evidence showing links between environmental toxins and cancer rates.

Our water: Filter it!

From Living on Earth
National Public Radio
Steve Curwood of LOE, interviews author Sandra Steingraber.
For the audio MP3 click here.

CURWOOD: Recently the journal Pediatrics reported a link between exposure to pesticides and the condition ADHD, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. It seems that almost every week we learn some unsettling bit of news about the effects of chemicals in our food, or water, or air, or the products we use.

Environmental chemicals have long been a concern for author and biologist Sandra Steingraber—particularly those linked to cancer. In a new film based on her groundbreaking book of more than a decade ago, Ms. Steingraber explains why her own cancer diagnosis as a young woman left lingering questions about the disease.

CLIP: I’m one of those people who really does come from a family with a lot of cancer in it. I wasn’t the first in my family to be diagnosed. My aunt went on to die of the same kind of bladder cancer that I had. I have uncles with prostate cancer, colon cancer, but the punch line of my story is that I’m adopted.

CURWOOD: Sandra Steingraber’s book, “Living Downstream”, laid out evidence showing links between environmental toxins and cancer rates in her hometown. Now a new edition of the book and the film of the same name expands the evidence of the relationship between our health and our environment. Sandra Steingraber, welcome to Living on Earth.

STEINGRABER: Thanks Steve.

CURWOOD: Where did you grow up and tell me why you relate the cancer you developed as a young adult to the environment in which you were raised? Read the rest this interview

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Posted in Books, Environment, Health | 1 Comment »

BP’s CEO – Does he grasp severity of accident?

20/05/2010
On May 10, 2010, British Petroleum’s Chief Executive Officer, Tony Hayward, was interviewed by Michele Norris on NPR’s All Things Considered concerning the failed attempt to cap the broken oil rig on May 8th and 9th. (listen to the interview)
The part that most disturbed me about this interview was Dr. Hayward’s comparison of this accident to the Apollo 13 mission, and the Air France Flight AF447 which crashed in the ocean last June. Here is a transcript from part of the interview:
NORRIS: Mr. Hayward, this is the deepest well blowout on record. And the people are most knowledgeable in dealing with deep water wells are at the outer edge of their expertise, even when things are going well. The Coast Guard and oil industry analysts say that drilling here is almost like visiting outer space. It’s like a great unknown. So why are you drilling there if there’s so much that is not known about this territory?Dr. HAYWARD: Well, we’re drilling because it’s a very important source of energy for the United States and the world. That is the reality. Almost 30 percent of the United States oil production today comes from the deep waters. That is where there is the opportunity to provide domestic energy security. That is where there is an opportunity to provide energy security for the world. And, of course, oil isnt all of the solution but it’s a part of the solution.

NORRIS: That opportunity obviously comes, though, with great peril. Is deepwater drilling riskier than BP believed?

Dr. HAYWARD: I think you have to go back to, you know, the track record of the industry and BP’s over the last 20 years. The industry has drilled over 5,000 wells. BP has drilled around 1,500 of those 5,000 wells, and this is the first time that we’ve had a major incident. And I think it is legitimate to draw analogies with, for example, the space program.

The space program was not canceled because of the issues around Apollo 13. It’s also legitimate to draw comparisons with the airline industry. When the Air France plane fell out of the sky coming out of Brazil, we didnt ground the airline industry. So we need to learn the lessons here. They will be learned and they will shape, I’m certain, the industry as it moves forward.

Drawing analogies between this accident and the  Apollo 13 mission makes no sense at all and he uses it to distract from the severity of this incident. There were, first off, no deaths associated with the Apollo 13 mission, and second, Dr. Hayward is completely disregarding the damage the leaking oil and gas is causing to the environment and the coastline communities.
 
The same is true of the Air France flight. Yes, 228 people died in the accident, but Dr Hayward is saying we should not stop deep oil drilling because we did not ground the airline industry after the plane went down. This analogy illustrates how disconnected Dr. Hayward is from the severity of the oil spill.  He is only seeing the deaths, and the money lost. He is not considering the vast unaccountable ecological damage the oil is causing. Moreover, the Apollo 13 mission and Flight AF447 did not lead to an economic disaster causing hundreds of people to lose their livelihood as is happening on the Gulf coast right now. Flight AF447 did not continue to reek havoc on the surrounding environments for months after the crash.
This sort of thinking is how we got into the environmental situation we are in now. People in power in these large corporations are not willing to say, “You know, this technology is not necessary, it is just too harmful.”  Their focus is always on shareholder profits, never on wider ecological impacts. Our disconnection from the natural systems that keep our communities and economies alive is leading us to our own destruction.
Think about this: people talk of nuclear power as a “clean, alternative” energy source. However, what will a CEO say when a plant starts leaking radioactive material into the environment, killing everything? Will he or she say, “We didn’t stop the oil companies from drilling when they had accidents, why should we be shut down?”
Where would we be if a hundred years ago people noticed how dirty and destructive fossil fuels were and decided to try alternatives instead?

Posted in Environment, Health, Room For Improvement | 5 Comments »

Twitter Got Us Outside Today

15/05/2010

Evil Twins?

Harrison Kaplan*

Who says computers keep us indoors?  This afternoon, Amanda was Twittering and Facebooking an article I had written a few days ago on how studies show green exercise helps mental health. Enter old friend Rob Kaplan, who  happened to be visiting his parents’ home, here in the area.  He was on Facebook the same time Amanda  was posting on FB and Twitter.  After reading the article, he thought of us, and gave us a call.

Just about that time we had decided to climb Mt. Sunapee,  so I asked Rob if he and his family would like to join us.  “Sure” he said, “just name the time.”  In about an hour, Rob, his two kids, Lucas and Harrison,  my wife Amanda and I were headed up  the old Dick Durrance trail, from Newbury, NH.

Lucas and Harrison are outdoor kids, the former is headed for Camp Coniston this summer, and both are then headed to a Boy Scout camp, (their parents will also be involved in facilitating at the camp).  They seem to be kids who love to camp, get outside and seek adventure. They seem atypical of many kids who spend a lot of time and attention in front of a computer.

Enjoying the spring green**

Facebook has helped me do everything from connect with old friends, to  keep up on an American Mountain Guides Association examee’s  experience on a recent ski guides exam.  Maybe it’s not all bad. Maybe it can, in fact, help get us outside, (I never thought I’d say that). Maybe it’s all about balance.

Jerry Mander writing in “In Absence of the Sacred” stated that technology in not neutral.  By it’s very nature, it pulls us away from nature. He wrote that the computer just doesn’t sit there, it sucks us in.  Point taken.  But it was cool how Facebook  may have pulled us together for a nice afternoon hike with Rob and his kids. It’s all about balance. As my old climbing and skiing buddy, Junji Itagaki says, “step away from the machine” …and go climb a mountain, but check Facebook on your way out, you might have some friends that will join you.

Images:
* Harrison stands by the old doubled up stump at the start of the old Dick Durrance Ski Trail, in Newbury NH.
** Harrison Kaplan, R. Richards and Rob Kaplan cross the brook near the start of the old ski trail.
Historical Notes:
The Dick Durrance Ski Trail was the first ski trail on Mount Sunapee, cut by the Newport/Mt. Sunapee Ski Club. Members also built a cabin on the mountain’s southeast shoulder, at the top of this ski trail. The cabin’s logs came from the immediate area, and were all cut by hand. Hikers can still see the outline of the ski trail by observing the old growth line at trail’s edge. The author skied this trail in about 2001 when we had a March dump that covered up all the trail, making for great backcountry skiing. It’s a bit narrow in spots, but in good deep snow, it’s great skiing. I have pictures of the old cabin which was still standing in the late ’70’s. (I’ll post these images one of these days). Back in the day, ski club members would boot pack the trail, climb to the cabin and stay the night and have races or runs on the weekends.

I wrote the Governor at the time,  in the late ’70’s, and requested permission to save the cabin. When he said no, I gave up on the idea to restore the cabin. But in hind sight should have persisted. We’d have a great skiing historical landmark today.  Oh well, I was only a teenager then.  I thought that when I got a no from the government, that was it. Now I, and others,  know better.

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Study:’Green’ Exercise Boosts Mental Health

03/05/2010

Child in Woods = It's Natural

LONDON – A new study finds that just five minutes of exercise in a “green space” such as a park can boost mental health.

Researchers at the University of Essex looked at 1,250 people and found that walking, cycling, fishing, boating or horseback riding in a park, garden or nature trail can boost mood and self-esteem.

The biggest effect was seen within just five minutes, and even more positive results were seen when people exercised in an area that also contained water, such as a lake or river.
“We believe that there would be a large potential benefit to individuals, society and to the costs of the health service if all groups of people were to self-medicate more with green exercise,” said co-researcher Jo Barton.

The study is detailed in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. Also see Richard Louv’s website. He’s the author of Last Child in the Woods.

Image:  MommyFootprint.com

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Posted in Books, Experiential Education, Health, Holistic Living | 1 Comment »

The Mind: “Just Stop It!”

10/04/2010

Be Here Now
Being in the present moment is all there  is. This light-hearted skit by Bob Newhart on MadTV illustrates this message with brevity and humor.
Amanda and I attend a wonderful “Open Hearted Listening” group along with other couples, once per month,  facilitated by the wise Don Rosenthal, about whom I’ve written in a prior post.  Last night, some of were talking about first, observing our behaviors that are like useless baggage we’re carrying around, and simply drop the behavior, like one would a hot coal.  Enjoy..

Editor’s Note: Thought I’d include something:  That those with cases of clinical depression and similar diagnosed issues, being told to “stop it” could probably cause quite serious repercussions.  I was talking with a friend today who’s a psychologist (it wasn’t an appointment). I mentioned this skit and the premise. She replied, “That’s funny, sometimes I feel like saying “Stop it” to my clients,” adding, “Who would they be without their stories.”, Indeed, who would each one of us be, without our stories.

Tolle states that the there really isn’t that much difference between a stranger wandering down the sidewalk muttering to himself, and the rest of us, only the rest of us don’t do it out loud. We’ve don’t know to find the “off button”. The instrument has taken us over. Similar to an air conditioner making a background hum, the mind makes background noise with endless commentary and thought. Only  when we “stop it” do we notice the peace. That’s something to think about.

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